Book Review: Happy Relationships- At Home, Work and Play by Lucy Beresford

Book Name: Happy Relationships – At Home, Work and Play

Author: Lucy Beresford

Publisher: Fingerprint Life

Price: Rs. 250

Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Why do some relationships give us great joy and others become toxic?

What role do we play in our relationships?

Are our relationship skills weakening in the age of social media?

From the moment we are born we rely on others for our survival. But as we get older, we can sometimes find relationships upsetting and frustrating.

In this insightful, well written book, psychotherapist Lucy Beresford cuts to the chase of how to have harmonious, fulfilling relationships.

Whether it’s with our partner, our kids, our boss, or our mother-in-law, or perhaps most importantly ourselves, all our relationships require – at some stage in our lives – a little bit of tender loving care.

A helpful toolkit in dealing with everyday dilemmas, Happy Relationships at Home, Work and Play will boost your confidence, encourage insight and empower you to be the best you can in all your relationships.

Review:

One can rightly call ‘Happy Relationships’ to be a Relationship Manual. Lucy Beresford has done a great job by writing this book.

Read the full review on New Asian Writing Website.

If you want to add this book to your collection, go to Amazon.

Book Review - Let the Game Begin by Sandeep Sharma

Book Name: Let the Game Begin

Author: Sandeep Sharma

Publisher: Inspire India Publishers

Price: Rs. 165

Blurb:

Two kingdoms, Chaturanga and Sarprakt, separated by a mystic mountain range are at war with each other since ages. Chaturanga ruled by King Viratha, is soon bestowed with a dynamic heir, and the whole kingdom is drowned in rituals and festivity. On the other side, Sarprakt is executing a cruel conspiracy. King Viratha, crippled by the conspiracy, urges the mysterious man of the mountain to devise a method of recreate the conspiracy and that gave birth to 'The Game of Chess'.

Serial killings shock the nation as the police are rendered clueless. The killer leaves behind a trail of chess pieces with a strange message. Random people are murdered. Connoisseurs of different fields - History, Chess and the Security forces - have united as the next intended victim is the most powerful person of the country. How is Chess involved in the whole scenario? How will they find a man who died 4000 years ago? Can a person defy the laws of nature? Does history really repeat itself? Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Review:

'Let the Game Begin'- the title is intriguing. The blurb of this book has been excellently written.

The story covers up approximately 170 pages and each page promises you an awesome read. The story has the ability to keep you hooked on to the pages. The book is a real page turner.

The story has been narrated in 3rd person narrative. Author Sandeep has researched the history of chess very well. The plot has been thoughtfully crafted and characters sketched very well. The thrill has been maintained until the very end. Some incidents from the story gave me goosebumps.

Likes:

• The plot.
• Book cover is amazing.

Dislikes:

The wait for the next part - Let the hunt begin

I rate:

Cover: 4/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Story: 4/5

Overall, I rate 'Let the Game Begin' with 4/5 stars.

Buy this book on Amazon now!

Book Review : Just For You by Rahul Saini

Book Name: Just for You
Author: Rahul Saini
Publisher: Penguin Metro Reads
Price: Rs. 175

Blurb:
When you love someone,what's there to prove? Everything!
It looks like life is teaching Rohit a lesson. His publishing deals, his relationships, even his job - nothing seems to be working out. To make matters worse, Karun is still trying his best to ruin his reputation as a writer. But when Nisha leaves him, it's the ultimate blow.

To win her back Rohit must prove he loves her enough to do things that matter to her. As Rohit takes control of his life, he begins to find things slowly changing.

But will Nisha be happy with that? Will she come back to him? Just for You is an adorable, bittersweet story about love and its responsibilities.


Review:

*Shouting out to all readers out there* Read Rahul Saini's Paperback Dreams and only then, start reading this one.

Rahul Saini has written another marvel - Just for You. I stumbled upon his book - The Orange Hangover and fell in love with his story telling. Later on, when Paperback Dreams was out, I was lucky enough to receive it through a contest. I was on cloud 9 then. I am on cloud 9 now.

Just for You is a simple, sweet story that cpuld happen to any of us. I liked realism from this story.The story doesn't contain many twists and turns. There is innocence, love, friendship,anger,cheating and much more. The story has been narrated from multiple point of view which makes it an engaging read. The one-liners/ feelings of the character before the start of each chapter are the cherries on the cake. They have been thoughtfully written.

Just for You teaches you a few lessons on life. It also gives you a glimpse of harsh realities of literary world.


Likes:

• Rohit and his innocence. 
• Rohit's love for Nisha. 
• The friendship that Rohit and Pranav share. 
• The book cover. 

In one line, Just for You is like chat - sweet, spicy, sour, crispy - you will not be able to ignore it if you start reading it.

I rate:
Cover:4/5
Characters:4.5/5
Story: 4/5


Overall, I rate 'Just for You' with 4/5 stars.

The book is available on Amazon for purchase.

Book Review - Honour for a Ransom by Rajnish Gambhir

Book Name: Honour for a Ransom

Author: Rajnish Gambhir

Publisher: Frog Books

Price: Rs. 375

Blurb:

April 13th, 1978

Kartar Singh, an upper caste agriculturist, guns down his newly married daughter Simran and her lower caste husband, for the sake of 'upholding family honour'. His ex-love, Sarah Jefferson (a British psychologist) visits him in jail to discover that Kartar has been a victim of ruthless manipulation at the hands of his politician father, Dilawar Singh, who is known to unconditionally despise the lower caste.

Vowing justice for Kartar, Sarah embarks on an intriguing mission, venturing to turn the tables against the unscrupulous Dilawar, who by now is a powerful minister in Punjab cabinet.

Curiously delving into his boyhood days, she is astonished to learn that young Dilawar was in fact an 'affable-boy-next-door' who too had a love life, having lost his heart to a beautiful girl in Lahore...

What then caused this drastic transformation in his attitude and personality?

With time fast running out, can Sarah succeed in nailing Dilawar as the chief culprit for the honour killings? Will she be able to reunite with Kartar - the only man she ever loved?

A heartrending love story - Honour for a Ransom unfolds through the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, horrifying hazards of partition, romantic strolls by the Thames and the unbending complexities of the rigid caste system.

Review:

Honour for a Ransom is a kind of book that will leave the readers pondering about the story long after he has finished reading it. The incidents from the story have been narrated so realistically that the reader is sure to feel it happening in front of his eyes. The characters have been well sketched. The reader discovers things about the characters little by little, page by page and that adds beauty to it.

The book is divided into parts - each part telling the story in different character's perspective. The form of narration differs - some parts have been narrated in 1st person narrative, while some in 3rd person. The reader is bound to find new words throughout - the book added more words to my vocabulary.

Honour for a Ransom makes a place in reader's heart. The reader will feel love, anger, hatred and compassion for characters. Its a good book to read and recommended to all.

I rate 'Honour for a Ransom' with 4/5 stars.

You can buy this book here.

Book Review : A Road Not Traveled by J Alchem

Book Name: A Road Not Traveled

Author: J Alchem

Publisher: Story Mirror

Price: Rs. 175

Blurb:

Niorgast Stinvins, a motivational speaker by profession, wakes up one day to a strange phone call from an unknown person asking him to attend a meeting. There he is introduced to two more strangers, Doilin Flenk(Political advisor) and Bakintin Lenit (Journalist) and to a mission : "Can the world be a single country?" Thus begins a journey on a road not traveled, learning new lessons, unlearning a few and finally realizing that life is much more than what you think it is. Accompanying him on this journey are his personal demons, some ghosts of the past and few random memories of the near future with his loved ones. One day he reaches a stage where he doesn't know if he will be able to live or not. Can the world be a single country? Will they be able to take this mission from a closed room to a goal post? What circumstances are they going to face? How will their journey be?

Review:

A Road Not Traveled - The book is as intriguing as its name.

The moment you open up the book, the acknowledgement steals your heart. It is beautifully written. Inspite of it being long, the reader won't feel bored to read it. A wide smile was glued on to my face until I finished reading the acknowledgement.

The story began with an unusual telephone call to the protagonist. From then onwards, the story takes you series of ups and downs. It makes you feel love and friendship. 'Can the world be a single country?' is the question. I won't dig deeper into the story (I don't want to present a spoiler.) The narration is in 1st person narrative. The simple and engaging language makes you read more and more.

Likes:

The plot. It was an area that was never traveled before.

The motivational quotes from the book - they make you think.

The fluent flow of events in the story.

A Road Not Traveled is a cocktail of friendship, love, hope, dedication and disappointment. It ia certainly worth a travel.

Overall, I rate 'A Road Not Traveled' with 4/5 stars.

You can buy your copies here.