Sundari Venkatraman's Blog, page 56

Blog Tour: TROUBLE HAS A NEW NAME by Adite Banerjie

MY REVIEW
This is the second book of Adite Banerjie’s that I am reading, the first one being The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal. I must say that the author has taken a huge leap in her writing style for the better. I found Trouble Has A New Name infinitely more interesting than her first one which was excellent too.

The Story:

Rayna is a super model who has been dumped by Sid – through a text message. She doesn’t have time to lick her wounds as she rushes to her best friend Milee’s wedding to Chris in the Andaman Islands. The wedding venue is Nirvana on the Beach, owned and run by Neel Arora. On an instinct, she asks him to be her pretend fiancé – to keep all the folks from her hometown off her back. 

What she does not expect is the sizzling attraction between the handsome hunk and herself. But Neel has his own set of problems it seems and is not in a state for commitment. Read the book to find out what happens to the two of them

My Perception:

The setting of the wedding at Andaman Islands is simply superb. The descriptions of both the venue and the wedding arrangements are a joy to read. Rayna’s character is simply awesome. While being a super model, she could also be a klutz – goes to show how real she could be. I loved the heroine. And the hero Neel is super hot! With a lot of layers thrown in. Being rich and handsome are not the only attributes to the hero of Trouble With A New Name. He’s also attached to his mother and sick sister. He’s human and what a combination! No wonder Rayna falls in love. 

Adite’s language is even better in this book than her first one. The dialogues are young and racy with a dash of humour. What I liked best were the smoking hot love scenes that are aesthetically penned. Can you ask for a better combo for a Harlequin romance set in Andaman Islands? Superb! 



Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Trouble Has A New Name  by Adite Banerjie




The Blurb


“Will you pretend to be my fiancé for the next few days?” 
Recently-single model Rayna Dutt does not feel like flying to her friend’s big fat Indian wedding. But she does - and when a mix up with room allocations forces her to share a luxury villa on Emerald Isle with the gorgeous owner of the hotel - Neel Arora - and best man at the wedding, things begin to look up.
Until Rayna’s ex turns up with a new girl on his arm! 
Hitting the panic button, Rayna searches for a solution. Surely Neel wouldn’t mind being her fake fiancé…? In an instant the attraction they share is fever pitch, but when scandal comes calling, Rayna soon finds herself in more trouble than she can handle!    
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Meet the Author


The Author's Thoughts
Adite Banerjie has been writing professionally ever since she graduated from college. After an exciting and fulfilling career as a business journalist, she turned to freelance writing, crunched numbers and wrote reports about consumer behavior and social development issues. Somewhere along the way she got on to the screenwriting bandwagon and wrote scripts for documentaries and spec screenplays for feature films. She was hired by a filmmaker to write a feature script based on a true story. When she penned her first romantic short story she won the 2012 Harlequin Passions Aspiring Authors Contest. Two of her books, The Indian Tycoon's Marriage Deal and Trouble Has a New Name have been published by Harlequin India. And she is currently under contract to write two more for the same publisher. She lives in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, with her writer husband. She loves to connect with readers and writers.

You can stalk her @                                         


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Blog Tour: SPOTLIGHTS for MEGHNA

The Book Club organised a Blog Tour for my second self-published novel MEGHNA. A number of people offered to do the Spotlight for the tour and I felt overwhelmed. This blog is dedicated to these six people.


Adite BanerjieI met Adite Banerjie through The Book Club. Adite has two published romances to her name through Harlequin. I loved reading both her works.

About Adite:

Adite Banerjie has been writing professionally ever since she graduated from college. After an exciting and fulfilling career as a business journalist, she turned to freelance writing, crunched numbers and wrote reports about consumer behavior and social development issues. Somewhere along the way she got on to the screenwriting bandwagon and wrote scripts for documentaries and spec screenplays for feature films. She was hired by a filmmaker to write a feature script based on a true story. When she penned her first romantic short story she won the 2012 Harlequin Passions Aspiring Authors Contest. Two of her books, The Indian Tycoon's Marriage Deal and Trouble Has a New Name have been published by Harlequin India. And she is currently under contract to write two more for the same publisher. She lives in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, with her writer husband. She loves to connect with readers and writers.

Thank you so much Adite Banerjie for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Usha NarayananI met Usha Narayanan also through The Book Club. Usha has authored a thriller that’s been published by Leadstart. 

About Usha Narayanan in her own words:

“Be crazy, be creative. That’s been my mantra as a writer and a creative director ― in advertising, radio, corpcomm and web-writing. I turned up the craziness a notch by becoming a novelist, with the freedom to write exactly what I wanted. I started a romcom, changed it into a thriller and sweated and slogged to get the pieces to work together. Research, cliffhangers, suspense, clues, red herrings ― my brain was in a tizzy for days and months. 
Done, dusted off, dispatched. A few rejections, heartbreak. A contract from Leadstart, bliss. Creating a spooky book trailer with images and music I bought online. A tweak here and there, with my editor. Poring over images for the cover. Suggesting the artist turn ‘The’ in the title sideways. The book comes out on FLIPKART and Amazon first. And after some nail-biting suspense, in bookstores. Organised a launch with Suhasini Maniratnam and Rudra Krishna. Great media reviews. Lovely, wonderful blogger friends. I love being an author.”

Thank you so much Usha Narayanan for hosting my book on your blog. I am more grateful that you went the extra mile to create a spotlight all by yourself as the HTML created by The Book Club does not suit your website. 

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Adiana RayAdiana Ray is a published author from Indireads. I met her through the publisher. Rapid Falls is the book Adiana has authored. 

About Adiana Ray: 

Adiana Ray believes in the Zen tenet ‘each state has a 1000 truths’. Every person brings their own unique experiences to a situation, which makes them see things differently and interpret it in their own way.

This is what inspires her to write; trying to see each relationship in a different light, and always having a new story to tell for it. When she writes, her tale could well be a fantasy, but it will be a believable one. Something that could happen to anyone of us or to someone we know. Her focus, above all, is to entertain the reader.

Thank you so much Adiana Ray for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Dola Basu SinghI met Dola Basu Singh via The Book Club. She was kind enough to read and review my book The Malhotra Bride. 

About Dola in her own words:

"My name is Dola and I live in a small and picturesque village in Punjab, India. I am a high school teacher by profession and a writer by passion. I am also pursuing my Masters degree in Computer Applications. Being a lover of books, that’s what I am surrounded by most of the day. Except when I find myself in between the toy-battlefield of my seven year old, or when I am gulping down details of Bey Blades and Transformers, that is."

Thank you so much Dola Basu Singh for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Reet SinghI met Reet Singh through The Book Club. A Harlequin author, I loved reading her published work.

About Reet Singh:

Reet has a romantic soul, partly genetic, but certainly attributable to the romantic fiction she devours by the kilo. When she's not watching romcoms, or doing creative things with wool and a crochet hook, or playing Scrabble, she can be found in the kitchen putting together her 'world-famous' one-pot meals.

Married for three decades, her prototypical tall, handsome, and sensitive hero-husband still makes her heart skip a beat. Writing about love and happy endings feeds her romantic soul; hearing from her readers thrills her.

Having a mother that read to her, she paid it forward, telling bedtime stories to her sons and nieces until they grew too old too fast. As a reaction to them growing up before she knew what was happening, she began writing for older children, and has published children's books on Amazon, for Kindle.

Thank you so much Reet Singh for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Sonia RaoI met Sonia Rao also through The Book Club. I was super-thrilled when Sonia interviewed me on her website. 

About Sonia Rao: 

Sonia Rao is the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison (ML) for India region and she loves nothing more than motivating Wrimos to complete the mandatory 50K words of a novel to become NaNo winners because, with four first drafts of novels under her belt, she knows that the thrill of completing a first draft of a novel is unparalleled.

Thank you so much Sonia Rao for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....

Blog Tour: SPOTLIGHT for MEGHNA

The Book Club organised a Blog Tour for my second self-published novel MEGHNA. A number of people offered to do the Spotlight for the tour and I felt overwhelmed. This blog is dedicated to these six people.


Adite BanerjieI met Adite Banerjie through The Book Club. Adite has two published romances to her name through Harlequin. I loved reading both her works.

About Adite:

Adite Banerjie has been writing professionally ever since she graduated from college. After an exciting and fulfilling career as a business journalist, she turned to freelance writing, crunched numbers and wrote reports about consumer behavior and social development issues. Somewhere along the way she got on to the screenwriting bandwagon and wrote scripts for documentaries and spec screenplays for feature films. She was hired by a filmmaker to write a feature script based on a true story. When she penned her first romantic short story she won the 2012 Harlequin Passions Aspiring Authors Contest. Two of her books, The Indian Tycoon's Marriage Deal and Trouble Has a New Name have been published by Harlequin India. And she is currently under contract to write two more for the same publisher. She lives in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, with her writer husband. She loves to connect with readers and writers.

Thank you so much Adite Banerjie for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Usha NarayananI met Usha Narayanan also through The Book Club. Usha has authored a thriller that’s been published by Leadstart. 

About Usha Narayanan in her own words:

“Be crazy, be creative. That’s been my mantra as a writer and a creative director ― in advertising, radio, corpcomm and web-writing. I turned up the craziness a notch by becoming a novelist, with the freedom to write exactly what I wanted. I started a romcom, changed it into a thriller and sweated and slogged to get the pieces to work together. Research, cliffhangers, suspense, clues, red herrings ― my brain was in a tizzy for days and months. 
Done, dusted off, dispatched. A few rejections, heartbreak. A contract from Leadstart, bliss. Creating a spooky book trailer with images and music I bought online. A tweak here and there, with my editor. Poring over images for the cover. Suggesting the artist turn ‘The’ in the title sideways. The book comes out on FLIPKART and Amazon first. And after some nail-biting suspense, in bookstores. Organised a launch with Suhasini Maniratnam and Rudra Krishna. Great media reviews. Lovely, wonderful blogger friends. I love being an author.”

Thank you so much Usha Narayanan for hosting my book on your blog. I am more grateful that you went the extra mile to create a spotlight all by yourself as the HTML created by The Book Club does not suit your website. 

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Adiana RayAdiana Ray is a published author from Indireads. I met her through the publisher. Rapid Falls is the book Adiana has authored. 

About Adiana Ray: 

Adiana Ray believes in the Zen tenet ‘each state has a 1000 truths’. Every person brings their own unique experiences to a situation, which makes them see things differently and interpret it in their own way.

This is what inspires her to write; trying to see each relationship in a different light, and always having a new story to tell for it. When she writes, her tale could well be a fantasy, but it will be a believable one. Something that could happen to anyone of us or to someone we know. Her focus, above all, is to entertain the reader.

Thank you so much Adiana Ray for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Dola Basu SinghI met Dola Basu Singh via The Book Club. She was kind enough to read and review my book The Malhotra Bride. 

About Dola in her own words:

"My name is Dola and I live in a small and picturesque village in Punjab, India. I am a high school teacher by profession and a writer by passion. I am also pursuing my Masters degree in Computer Applications. Being a lover of books, that’s what I am surrounded by most of the day. Except when I find myself in between the toy-battlefield of my seven year old, or when I am gulping down details of Bey Blades and Transformers, that is."

Thank you so much Dola Basu Singh for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Reet SinghI met Reet Singh through The Book Club. A Harlequin author, I loved reading her published work.

About Reet Singh:

Reet has a romantic soul, partly genetic, but certainly attributable to the romantic fiction she devours by the kilo. When she's not watching romcoms, or doing creative things with wool and a crochet hook, or playing Scrabble, she can be found in the kitchen putting together her 'world-famous' one-pot meals.

Married for three decades, her prototypical tall, handsome, and sensitive hero-husband still makes her heart skip a beat. Writing about love and happy endings feeds her romantic soul; hearing from her readers thrills her.

Having a mother that read to her, she paid it forward, telling bedtime stories to her sons and nieces until they grew too old too fast. As a reaction to them growing up before she knew what was happening, she began writing for older children, and has published children's books on Amazon, for Kindle.

Thank you so much Reet Singh for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....


Sonia RaoI met Sonia Rao also through The Book Club. I was super-thrilled when Sonia interviewed me on her website. 

About Sonia Rao: 

Sonia Rao is the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison (ML) for India region and she loves nothing more than motivating Wrimos to complete the mandatory 50K words of a novel to become NaNo winners because, with four first drafts of novels under her belt, she knows that the thrill of completing a first draft of a novel is unparalleled.

Thank you so much Sonia Rao for hosting my book on your blog.

Click Here to check out her spotlight for Meghna....

Book Review: WHEN I SEE YOUR FACE by Devika Fernando

Thank you Devika Fernando for the copy of your book When I See Your Face . I enjoyed reading your work.

The Story:

After less than two years of marriage, young Cathy runs away from her abusive husband Mark who is a rich and powerful businessman. She takes refuge in a small and beautiful village, living in a guest house run by Mrs. Grindle. She gets the shock of her life when she runs into Michael at the local grocery shop as he looks like Mark’s twin. Later on, she finds out that Michael couldn’t be more different then Mark in character. And the two men have nothing to do with each other, least of all their surnames. Finding herself attracted to Michael, Cathy slowly works towards wiping out her horrible past. But things suddenly get out of control and her life falls apart yet again. Will she survive the pain this time round? 

My Perception:

This is Devika Fernando’s debut novel. Considering that, I must say it’s simple awesome. I loved the village background, the descriptions of the place and the atmosphere. 

The characters are very well drawn. While Cathy is petrified of her soon-to-be ex-husband, that does not stop her from creating a niche for herself and getting on with her life.

Mark has been drawn out to be an excellent bad character. Well-etched! 

I liked Michael best of all. He’s perfect hero material - a guy who has chosen to give up his rich business life to lead a quiet one in a village amidst nature and preferring a creative life to his prestigious one in the city. This character is superbly developed. 

The storyline is beautiful and very well written. The cover is perfectly suited for the book and so is the title. I enjoyed reading this one by Devika Fernando. Looking forward to reading more from the author!

There are a couple of things I would have liked to see in this book though. I have travelled to almost all over the globe through books. There is no name mentioned of the city or village where Cathy is put up, not even a country. She takes a bus to another town with no name. I really missed that. It would have helped better visualise the setting. 

When Cathy narrates her life story to Michael, it would have been nice if we could have seen the scenes instead of a list of occurrences. Anyway, this is just my opinion and it does not in any way deter one from the read, which is very good.

Congratulations Devika Fernando, way to go!

Disclaimer: I received this book in the form of PDF from the author in return for my honest review. 



Click Here to purchase your copy of When I See Your Face

About the author: 
Devika Fernando
Almost as soon as Devika Fernando could write, she imagined stories and poems. After finishing her education in Germany and returning to her roots in Sri Lanka, she got a chance to turn her passion into her profession. Having lived in Germany and in Sri Lanka with her husband has made her experience the best (and the worst) of two totally different worlds – something that influences her writing. Her trademark is writing sweet, yet deeply emotional romance stories where the characters actually fall in love instead of merely falling in lust. What she loves most about being an author is the chance to create new worlds and send her protagonists on a journey full of ups and downs that will leave them changed. She draws inspiration from everyone and everything in life. Besides being a romance novel author, she works as a self-employed German web content writer, as a translator, and as a faithful servant to all the cats, dogs, fish and birds in her home. When she’s not writing, she’s reading or thinking about writing.

Blog Tour: INDERPREET KAUR UPPAL reviews MEGHNA

Inderpreet Kaur UppalI got meet Inderpreet Kaur Uppal through Write Tribe thanks to Corinne Rodrigues. Inderpreet is now also part of The Book Club. She was enthusiastic enough to do a review and Guest Post on her blog for my book Meghna’s blog tour. Thank you so much Inderpreet for all your time and effort.

About Inderpreet:

Inderpreet Kaur Uppal is a Freelance Writer, Blogger, Editor and Lecturer. She has a Masters Degree in Human Resources Management and loves to read, travel, discuss and write. Writing comes to her naturally as a gift from her parents whose love of the English language and correct expression has become a way of life for her. She writes about what moves the heart and awakens the mind and celebrates beauty in everyday life. She can be contacted for writing and editing assignments, book reviews, blog posts and articles. What you have in mind will be on the paper. She likes demystifying the dynamics of excellent expressions with simple sentences for all your writing wrangles. 

You can read more of her writing at http://www.inderpreetkaur.blogspot.in  

Inderpreet’s review:

As I turned the last page the love story of #Meghna, it left me with a smile – the secretive, funny smile we readers of romance get when we find a truly mushy, well written, romance novel with just the right mix of love, real life and drama.

Click Here to read the complete review.

Guest Post on Inderpreet’s blog:

As you all know that since I talk a lot about women on my blog I asked Sundari if she could share her views on the heroines of her novels and what goes in her mind when she develops their personalities. What is her inspiration for the leading ladies that she writes about? The strong willed, positive and confident heroines and how they are like today's women.

Click Here to read the full post.

Blog Tour: CHOICES by Ruchira Khanna

My Review
The novel is about Leonardo, the teenage son of Albert and Amelia. The couple have migrated to the USA from Portugal when Albert loses all his family property. He is the warden of the prison facility that is mainly dedicated to changing the lives of convicts. He takes his job seriously and works very diligently. Amelia is a homemaker who is also part of a knitting club that donates all the scarves created to charity. Leonardo is a brilliant student who is on his way to becoming a computer engineer. The three are a close-knit family, leading a middle class but happy life. When an unexpected turn happens, how does Leonardo deal with it? What choice does he make? That’s what the rest of the novel is about.

The book has a lovely cover and quite apt for the story concept. The story itself is heart-warming as it takes the reader through the journey of self-discovery by Leonardo and how he arrives at the particular choice that he does at the end.

The first few chapters are dedicated to Mateo and his family. Mateo works in the same facility as Albert. I didn’t understand the purpose of developing the story around this character. Leonardo’s story begins in the middle of Chapter Four and I needed to read a few more chapters before I realised the story was about them and not about Mateo. Why would three and a half chapters be dedicated to side characters (Mateo, his wife, his baby, his father, his parents-in-law, more about his mother-in-law’s background) - with great detailing - is beyond me.

The whole story has been written in the present tense, as one would write a play. It’s probably a new trend, but just not my cup of tea. Moreover, present and past tenses (and those in-between) have been mixed up badly. The ‘commas’ and ‘apostrophes’ are totally askew.


It’s a good story that needs a strong hand at editing to make it tighter and more readable.

Choices by Ruchira Khanna


The Blurb Leonardo is a young man who is standing on a crossroad of life, facing choices. One road leads to a high stress career that brings in big bucks; the other is a chance to make a real difference in lives of others. He has a few questions, questions that all of us have faced when facing choices that can change our lives. Does fate make a man, or do his desires? Do ambitions and desires actually lead a person to true happiness and fulfillment, or does providence and life changing events actually show a person the true path to follow? 
‘Choices’ raises these questions, and attempts to answer them. It is a slice-of-life, a book written from the heart.(

Buy @   Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble |              Watch it





Meet the Author

Choices: A Novel talks about how we all come to crossroads in our respective lives, and then the impact it makes by a choice we make.
A biochemist by profession made a mere choice of enrolling myself into a technical writing course. Now, little did I know that this small decision would take me on a path to creative writing and eventually publishing a novel.

This novel, Choices helps answer many questions about man's ambitions and desires and how is it a road towards happiness and contentment that could eventually become your destiny. This is a "slice-of-life" genre thus, impacting all humans who have made a choice sometime or the other in this lifetime!

Stalk her @
        

Blog Tour: PRIVY TRIFLES reviews MEGHNA

Privy TriflesI met Privy Trifles aka Namrata through The Book Club. Privy has been kind enough to read and review my
latest book Meghna on her blog. She’s also interviewed me in her blog. Thank you so much Namrata.

About Privy Trifles:

Namrata is an investment banker who dreams of making a difference to the world, one word at a time. She romances life through her writings and aspires to make love the universal language. She is a contributor to various anthologies and e-zines along with having recently published her first solo e-book called Metro Diaries: Seventeen LOVE classics. She is also the editor for Writer's Ezine, apart from being a reviewer for leading publishing houses.


CLICK HERE to buy Namrata’s book - Metro Diaries: Seventeen LOVE Classics

Privy’s review:

After a long while I read a light breezy read which I finished in 45 mins. I had a huge smile on my face as I completed reading this book.

There was a time when I used to thrive on such candy floss romances. Though today I feel I have come a long way from there. From believing in love like this I now believe love is me.

Click Here to read the complete review on her blog Reviews & Musings.

Click Here to check out the interview on Namrata’s blog.

Guest Post: NEO MARKETING by Rubina Ramesh

Rubina RameshIt was a blessed day when I met Rubina Ramesh on social media a little more than a year ago. She has been a friend, guide, philosopher and a lot more to me. If I am a self-published author who is also successful today, I will give full credit to Rubina. She’s like a Tornado who works 24/7. Living on the other side of the planet, I don’t quite know how she manages to stay up most of the night to be in touch with us members of The Book Club . 

Incidentally, this is my third blog tour with them and I have to mention that the past two tours have been supremely successful. I am quite confident of the outcome of the present one for Meghna as well. 

I can’t think of a better person who can write about promoting Indie authors through Blog Tours which is what The Book Club has been doing since its inception. And here we have Rubina Ramesh writing about NEO MARKETING. Thank you so much for the Guest Post, Rubina! 

CLICK HERE to check out Rubina Ramesh's blog...



NEO MARKETING
Thank you Sundari Venkatraman for giving me this opportunity to talk about Neo Marketing! Here I take the liberty of using the 1999 cliché of marketing Cluetrain Manifesto, ‘Marketing is Conversation”. When I first entered this field by accident, (another cliché), the first thing I noticed is to write a book is damn tough. It takes hours and months and years of planning, plotting, characterization and visualization. In my words, “Years of labor pain”. And then comes a part when your book is either rejected by the publishers or they are lost in the sea of books published. We can’t blame the Almighty publishers too… they have a company to run and our public is damn fickle-minded.  Who would have thought a few years ago that Modern India will lap up Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy, especially when Avengers and Gladiators were in vogue? 

But more than writing a book, the pain is felt when you market your book. How many of us are born marketers? So, many stories are lost is the digital world - some of them due to lack of marketing and some due to lack of editing. But who is at the loser’s end? Of course - the Writers. Some of them, or rather most of them don’t even see .01 percent royalty. So, how do we do this? Is writing after all worth the pain?

But then, even in an overpopulated India, we plan our kids ;). How can our stories be any different? They are born within us. We have to deliver. Here are some of the things I have learnt after we started The Book Club. I don’t mind sharing them with you. (Okay... I am preening in my knowledge and want to boast about it.)

YOU HAVE TO BE HEARD!

If you have written the book for yourself, by all means close your lappy and sip your cup of tea. But if it is meant for your readers, before the publicist picks up your book, it becomes your duty to shout about your book in ALL social media.

YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN!

Maintaining anonymity if you write erotica or you have a political and religious reasoning is understandable. But to hide under a pseudonym just to create a mysterious aura is foolishness. I am sorry if I sound blunt. A reader wants a face of the author. Why? No idea. Victoria Gordon hid behind a pseudonym but there is a difference. He (yes it is a ‘he’) created a whole new personality with that name. You cannot hide behind a profile pic of flowers and cartoons. In the erotica world yes… anonymity is the essence. But every other genre needs a personality. Create one.

YOU HAVE TO BE TALKED ABOUT! 

The more the media and the blogging world talk about you, the better. Check out some of the latest books on the stand. Are they all selling because of the stories? Or does marketing play a huge role? I really wish I could take some names but I am not earning enough to pay the bail, if arrested. :D 

Get reviews and spread those reviews. The review world works in a very quirky fashion. The bloggers need to be heard too, if they are spreading your word. Help them to spread your word by posting the links when they review your book. Good or bad. Any publicity is a good publicity. 

YOU HAVE FREE SOCIAL MEDIA AT YOUR DISPOSAL - USE IT! 

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Flickr and many more are there. They are free. Use them. 

START YOUR OWN SCREAM TEAM!

This is mainly for authors who have already written a few books. Have your very own Scream team. (Will write an article about that later)

GIVE AND TAKE POLICY!

You want everything free? Then help others to spread the word. If you promote other authors, they will promote you too. Their audience will see your work. There are more readers in this world than books. So, spreading the word helps.

IF YOU CAN’T – HIRE THE BOOK CLUB!

BE AS SHAMELESS AS ME  :D

About Rubina Ramesh:

   Rubina Ramesh is by profession a Homemaker. After completing her MBA from The Liverpool University, she had dreams to take the corporate world by storm. But two little bundles of joy entered her life and she settled down to enjoy domesticity. But life had other plans for her and she found herself going around the world with her two kids and DH. She does not regret any moment of her constant travels, though many feel that she leads a bohemian lifestyle. 
   She was introduced to the blogging world by her brother and after that she has never looked back. Writing short stories, reviewing books in every genre gave her the much need individuality. She is currently working on her two manuscripts. One story deals with reality and the other mythology. Hopefully, they will be published soon. 
Her published works include:
   ‘Home is where Love is' a short story in the anthology Writings from the Heart. Ed. by Beth Ann Masarik
   ‘You Stole My Heart’ and ‘Let me Go’. Short stories as a part of the anthology ‘Long and Short of It’ by Indireads.

Blog Tour: MEGHNA by Sundari Venkatraman hosted by The Book Club

MEGHNA by Sundari Venkatraman



The Blurb
     The young and dashing Rahul Sinha lives in England with his parents, Shyam and Rajni. He is an only son of the rich banker. Rahul is totally attached to his father but does not care for his mother. Read the book to find out why….      Rahul is exulted with his efforts at work paying off and plans a holiday with his best friend Sanjay Srivastav who lives in Mumbai with his wife Reema, kids Sanya and Rehaan and most importantly, his sister, Meghna. Rahul recalls meeting Meghna just before they parted six years ago.      Meghna works for a website and also teaches modern dance as she loves it. She’s thrown for a toss when Rahul comes visiting. She had thought he had forgotten them. But how could Rahul do that? Sanjay’s his best friend and Rahul had always treated their home as his own. Sanjay’s mother had been more of a mother to Rahul than his own. Rahul had stayed away after moving to England or so Meghna believes.      Thus begins the story between Rahul and Meghna, the teasing, the flirting, the anger, the tears… …will they find love? 
A FRIENDLY WARNING: This book has been written only for the purpose of Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment! If you are looking to learn something or improve your lives after reading this work, then this book is not for you. I am not trying to get into competition with the Author Biggies of this world. I wrote this simply for the fun and joy of it. One thing I can promise the reader though: Well proof-read, perfect language that I feel is very important for every book that's written in any tongue. Yours truly, Sundari Venkatraman
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Meet the Author


The Author's Thoughts
Even as a kid, she absolutely loved the 'lived happily ever after' syndrome as Sundari grew up reading all the fairy tales she could lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy end. Soon, into her teens, she switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine.
Her imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years. Then came the writing - a true bolt out of the blue! She could never string two sentences together. While her spoken English had always been excellent - thanks to her Grandpa - she could not write to save her life. She was bad at writing essays in both school and college. Later, when it was time to teach her kids, she could manage everything from Science to Mathematics and History & Geography.
When it came to writing compositions, her kids found her of no help at all. All this changed suddenly one fine day in the year 2000. She had just quit her job at a school's office and did not know what to do with her life. She was saturated with simply reading books. That's when she got home one evening after her walk and took some sheets of paper and began writing. It was like watching a movie that was running in her head - all those years of visualising Indian heroes and heroines needed an outlet and had to be put into words. That's how her first novel, The Malhotra Bride, took shape.
While she felt discouraged when publishing did not happen, it was her husband who kept encouraging her not to give up. There was no looking back after that. While publishing took a long time happening, Sundari continued to write novels and then short stories. Her luck turned when Indireads approached her to write for them and Double Jeopardy was born.
Now it’s all about self-publishing her books on Amazon. She has published The Malhotra Bride (2nd Edition) and Meghna so far while planning to publish her fourth book - The Runaway Bridegroom -  in September 2014. 


You can stalk her @                                               

Book Review: BFF: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER by Supriya Parulekar

Author Supriya Parulekar wrote to me for a review of her book. She sent me a copy end of June 2014 after I agreed to do it.

THE STORY from Rediff

BFF: Best Friends Forever is a first person narrative by Tanishq Sehgal who talks about his life as a confused, restless teenager and the mischief-monger who diligently writes his destiny. In boarding, lonely Tanishq often converses with the mischief-monger, blaming him for the wrongs in his life. He has to prove himself and he does so by beating Mike, national level skate champion. Thus things change for Tanishq and the gorgeous Mira seeks him out. Tanishq's buddy Varun is madly in love with Mira. Hence, Tanishq tries to maintain a considerable distance with Mira which eventually angers her. Tanishq is ignorant about his best friend Priyanka's feelings for him back home. Priyanka goes away to London as he grapples with his parents' crumbling marriage. 10 years later, when he comes across the love of his life, he is in a much better position to understand his feelings for Priyanka.

MY PERCEPTION

BFF: Best Friends Forever is a very cute story written from the perspective of Tanishq Sehgal who is a fourteen-year-old at the beginning of the story.

I am amazed at the way the author Supriya Parulekar – probably in her thirties – has been able to write from the view point of a teenage boy. She has brought forth the workings of Tanishq’s mind beautifully. It’s totally relatable.

The budding friendship between Tanishq, Varun and Raghav, the mischief they come to on school campus, Varun’s love for Mira and more have been beautifully sketched.

While it appears rather over the top that Tanishq is all set to solve everyone’s problems and play God, especially in the case of Mike and his drug problems, it does not seem impossible, considering that he is the hero of the story. It also shows him for the sensitive boy that he is.

I think Supriya Parulekar is one great storyteller. Kudos!

That said, I have a major peeve with this book. While good storytelling goes a very long way in making an author out of a person, it also counts that they are excellent in the language that they want to tell the story in.

The English in the book is pathetic, to say the least. I can understand an author making a few typos with spelling and grammar mistakes. While there’s no problem with the spelling, the grammar is horrendous. It was like wading through muck to get to the story.

And what were the editors and proofreaders doing at the publishing house? Sleeping at their desks? Or are they non-existent?

Believe me when I say that I had such a difficult time reading this book because of the language. I actually took a pencil and marked the errors. After a couple of pages of black smudges from the first line to the last, I just gave it up as a lost cause. Why the hell was I taking the trouble?

Alternately, the author can use a ghost-writer with perfect language skills as I have to accept that Supriya Parulekar has a wonderful story to tell. It’s the tool that she’s using that does not seem to work.

Regarding reading the book, I leave it to the audience. I personally feel that if I continue to read such books, my language might go for a toss.


Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in return for my honest review.