Aarohi Brar's Blog, page 2
September 11, 2015
Grayson’s Ridge- Carissa Ann Lynch
Grayson’s Ridge by Carissa Lynch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sometimes, It takes uprooting your life and sowing it elsewhere to make the necessary change for the greater good. Nothing in this life is easy. Nothing is gained when it’s not earned.
Sophia Alexandra is a brave young woman, who is ready to accept every challenge life throws at her and give it back as good as she gets. She is also the widowed mother of three beautiful children. When it becomes too difficult to carry on living the life she loved before her husband died, she decides to take up residence in a town which she can afford without having to push herself to the limits just to make ends meet.
She is determined to keep her history exactly where it is and move on.
However, the house she moves herself and her children into has a history of its own. One that has been revisited by the townsfolk so many times that it has received its fair share of twists and turns before reaching Sophia’s ears.
Things quickly go downhill upon the move to Grayson’s Ridge, forcing Sophia to take matters into her own hands and bring the mystery lurking just out of reach under the harsh spotlight.
The question is, will she be able to do it?
The author has done a wonderful job of keeping the story steady paced, light and thrilling at the same time. Well done!
Something beautiful (Beautiful #3)- Jamie McGuire
The Song of David- Amy Harmon
The Song of David by Amy Harmon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The beauty about sadness, grief and devastation is that it sets you free.
From Afar- Frank Scozzari
From Afar: A Memoir by Frank Scozzari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The thing i liked the most about this story was the steady pace at which it moved. It was a story about wanting to find love, looking in even the most unlikeliest places of. In the story the narrator goes to Russia in search of love. He has had a rather unfortunate past when it comes to love, yet he is unwilling to let go of his resolve. A very well articulated story of unrequited love and coming to terms with your own self. A good read.
June 7, 2015
Imitating Art- Sarah Parry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First off, I’m going to begin by saying that I absolutely lurved reading this book. I couldn’t put it down.
The story begins with us being shown into the life of the very recent best selling author, Nell Flanagan. Not to mention, the inspiration for her debut novel, is none other than the lying, cheating and con of her ex-husband.
She is hurt.
She is tired.
She is scorned.
And the healthiest way she finds to venting away her frustration is penning down the torrent of emotions threatening to pull her under. In her book, she delightedly plays the role of a murderess who cuts the body parts of her whore of a husband and does nasty things to it. And gets away with it.
Did I say healthiest?
Oh well! Things are looking up, until she finds herself in the middle of a police investigation, with her being the number one suspect in her husband’s disappearance. To make matters worse, the evidence and clues the police find are exactly of the same nature as Nell created in her novel.
Among people and situations that are borderline crazy, Nell and her daughter Laurel, with the help of Detective Sargent Rob, attempt to unearth the mystery that is hiding in plain sight.
This book will make you laugh till you cry and you will definitely put this in your ‘Read again. It’s that good.’ list. I guarantee it.
Sincere praise for Sarah Parry! Awesome work!
June 5, 2015
Marrow- Tarryn Fisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Tarryn Fisher has done a remarkable job of bringing to us a story so dark, that it’s enlightening; so wrong, that it’s right; so confining that it’s liberating.
In the bone, there is a house.
In the house, there is a girl.
In the girl, there is a darkness.
These three simple lines were enough to capture the interest of any reader. One could not go on scrolling through potential reads without wanting to find out more about the bone, about this girl and this darkness that is said to reside in her.
If you live in a town called The Bone, then everything it teaches you, gets you to experience, gives to you and everything you take from it, is what your marrow is composed of.
Margo Moon isn’t an ordinary girl. She has issues. She has opinions. She has purpose. She has Judah. She is destructive.
She doesn’t believe in second chances. If you wrong her, she’ll make sure it is the last thing you ever do.
June 4, 2015
Venessa’s Hope- Ty Findlay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. I am a stern believer of this notion but Venessa’s Hope made me break my own rule. The cover of this book is fantastic. The different shades of color lining the face of the girl shows the years and years; layers and layers of pain she is constantly under.
Venessa has lived her whole life trying to get a control of her problems, situation, past, money and even her body. Being a high class escort helps with keeping most of her troubled life under control, but she lives in constant fear of being sucked by by the life she escaped long ago.
However when a phone call comes from the house nightmares are filmed in, Venessa is forced to do just that, embrace her past.
One thing is certain, she is never going to get the closure she deserves, at least not in the way she desires it.
With the help of a well meaning friend, Venessa manages to get her life back on track. She also makes a few life changing choices to give meaning and purpose to her life, making it healthy.
Ty Findlay has done a good job of penning down the emotions of the characters. They are deep, genuine and heartfelt.
At times however felt that sometimes these emotions were over described. Multiple sentences were used to explain the same thing, causing hindrance in the pace of the narration.
Otherwise the book is a good read and a good attempt by the author.
June 1, 2015
Sedich (The Annals of Lusiartha #1)- R. Ann humphries
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m so glad I got a chance to read this book, Sedich; the first book in the trilogy, ‘The Annals of Lusiartha. As I normally do before staring with a new novel, I held off on reading too many reviews. Otherwise I tend to form an opinion and later write my review of the book along the lines of the reviews I previously read. Long story short, I went in not knowing what I would find.
And what did I find?
I discovered that in a world far, far away, there exist four Islands by the name of Cailath, Mailyn, Shain and Setu, governed by a regiment formed of Cailath soldiers, who work under the reign of Sovereign Izhara. The people of Cailath are considered superior to those of other islands. Despite the brutal discrimination, it is the people of Setu who suffer the harshest of treatments. But Rilan Crendu has had enough, has seen enough, has endured enough and has been patient enough. He wants the Regiment overthrown, peace to be restored and the freedom gifted back to his people. Despite the markings of a warrior, the will to fight, supreme wisdom and resourcefulness, he’s helpless. After all, how do you take down a whole army of carefully trained soldiers?
Oppressed under the wrath of the Sovereign and the soldiers, things cannot possibly be any worse. Except the death of the sovereign, causing his son to take over, does indeed make things worse.
The new rules and regulations at Dren; the so called school every child from the four islands attends gets pulled under the control of the regiment, causing the Setu students to flee.
One by one, each student gets rounded up, for a fate far worse than being whipped in a public setting at Dren.
All but one.
All but Rilan Crendu.
Is this the one chance he had been praying for?
Is this the one chance the entire Lusiartha, save Cailaths has been waiting for?
Read to find out
R. Ann Humphries has done a phenomenal job. The writing is smart, intelligent, believable and has an uncanny ability to keep your thirst perpetually alive, despite the plethora of information being constantly fed to you.
It’s brilliant.
May 30, 2015
The Tales of Willowdean Forest: Short Stories- William D Batts
The Tales of Willowdean Forest: Short Stories by William D Batts
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Tales of Willowdean Forest: Short Stories is an enjoyable read with various intriguing accounts of fascinating creatures that inhabit the Willowdean Forest. A place called home by beings ranging from Scarecrows to Dragons, flora and fauna in full bloom and free flowing rivers, the Willowdean Forest has been witness to many an incidents. Be it the wild animals living in the open, until they are forced to retreat deeper in the jungle upon the arrival of humans, looking to build their homes in Willowdean; or a wizard saving the life of a baby dragon.
William D Batts has done a beautiful job of putting together an anthology of these accounts. I loved his writing. It held fluidity and richness, with just the right amount of magic.
I strongly recommend this book.
May 23, 2015
The Portrait of Stella- Susan Wüthrich
Portrait of Stella by Susan Wüthrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Portrait of Stella is the story of a woman, from whom the knowledge of her birth was withheld for no reason other than to protect her from the ugliness of the societal conduct she would otherwise have to endure. This book illustrates the phrase ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ in a way no other text has ever been able to.
The story has been set in two different eras. The 1950’s and 1980’s. An unprecedented revelation about the identity of Jemima Ashton, or lack thereof leaves her baffled, threatening to shake the very foundation of her existence on Earth. Upon learning that her birth certificate was falsified and that there are no records of her Father’s identity in Archives at the repository, Jemima sets out on a journey to trace the path her mother traversed before settling down with her father in England. As with most mysteries, the unraveling of her comes up blank initially, until she discovers she should have traveled to South Africa in pursuit of her answers.
Little by little, she learns the truth of her parents’s relationship and their respective families. From the time of the war, the extermination of jews, apartheid taking root in South Africa to the 2000’s, the author has explained everything in vivid detail. The main characters of the story experienced it all first hand. Forced apart on more than one occasion, be it by the laws that encouraged complete segregation of all races or the difficulty of communicating with loved ones halfway across the world or by their own people turning their back on them, caused darkness to be a constant bystander in their excursions.
And what do we see when the dots finally connect to form the true big picture? Why, the portrait of Stella of course!
For the first time in my life, I find myself at a complete loss for words. I don’t know which words to use to review this book. Not because I have a problem with expressing myself but because I have a feeling that the words I have at my disposal can in no way justify the quality of content this book offers. My respect for Susan Wüthrich is beyond words.
The writing is wonderfully clean, refined, pure and impelling. The pace of narration is steady and keeps the reader hooked. It had been a while since I read a story with a historical backdrop and I can say with complete conviction that this one alone was enough to satisfy the long standing thirst.
A
MUST
read guys!
