Kiran Manral's Blog, page 42
September 16, 2015
And this is where the winners of the #AllAboard Lunch with me contest will lunch with me
Winners will join me for lunch at this lovely cafe at Phoenix Market City, Kurla. And who are the winners? Not a long wait to find out. I will announce the winners tomorrow. Haven’t entered the contest yet? Well, you could still give it a shot. Click on the contest icon in the right sidebar and enter your comment. You might just win. For Mumbai folk only.
Our host cafe is 212 All Day Cafe and Bar. Owned and run by Bellona Hospitality, 212 All Day Café & Bar, a casual dining space with a chic alfresco is located at Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla.
A European diner, 212 All Day serves an eclectic mix of Chef Paul Kinny’s signature fresh salads, hand-made burgers, stone hearth flatbread pizzas, a selection of gourmet entrees and exclusive cheeses from the deli counter.
The restaurant’s well stocked bar that boasts a selection of premium spirits, wines, beers and some exciting cocktails such as 212 Tsunami, Red Hot Chilli Pepper, Seductini, Hottierita make it a perfect place for an evening out.
Our host mall, Phoenix Marketcity, a shopper’s paradise located in the heart of Mumbai is an international standard hub of retail with domestic and international brands along with entertainment options and commercial office spaces.
Phoenix Marketcity Mumbai, which is spread across a retail space of about 2.1 million square feet, houses close to 350 plus brands in the ranks of Zara, Brooks Brothers, Gant, Superdry, Lacoste, Nautica, Accessorize, Claire’s, Hush Puppies, Catwalk, Puma, Aldo, Charles & Keith, Swarovski, Vero Moda, Jack and Jones, Only, French Connection, United Colors of Benetton, Luxury Boulevard, La Senza, Lifestyle, Diesel, Avirate, Hamley’s, Mango, Promod, DKNY, Boardriders and many more. Phoenix Marketcity also offers a variety of entertainment options such as Happy Planet, PVR Gold Class, 16 Lane Amoeba Bowling Alley, Snow World, What The Fun Lasertag and more.
The mall provides over 75 dining options serving quality meals that are perfect for quick lunch, pre or post shopping as well as a night out of entertainment. Phoenix Marketcity, the hub of entertainment hosts a variety of events such as plays, theatre, musical events, and live performances at the 40,000 sq.ft. European themed Dublin Square which has alfresco dining options and is an easy accessible location. Phoenix Marketcity is all about the exclusivity, expanse and the experience that will revolutionize the retail space forever.
Bangalore waasiyon, I am coming to your city.
Come meet the fabulous bestselling author Preeti Shenoy and me on the 27th, Sunday, 6 pm at Atta Galatta.
September 13, 2015
Delhi…Delhi…so much love for #AllAboard
Thank you Gurgaon Moms, Thank you Delhi Book Lovers, Thank you Vintage 31, Thank you Queen’s Bar, Thank you Tui India, and thank you Neha and Vaishali.
Interview in the DNA: #AllAboard
Sunday, 13 September 2015 – 7:40am IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna | From the print edition
Kiran Manral tells Ornella D’Souza that she’d like to pronounce, ‘Off with their head’ for many people she knows
Kiran ManralWith three books — The Reluctant Detective, Once Upon A Crush and All Aboard — to her credit, and two more — Karmic Kids expected by the month-end and The Face At The Window later this year — Kiran Manral is on a roll. Apart from churning out chick-lits, she juggles her time between being a mother and handling NGO India Helps.
What are your all-time favourite books?
There are many books I call comfort books that I keep going back to. Any book by PG Wodehouse, The Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien, Bridget Jones’ Diary, The Great Gatsby, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome and many more.
Which writer influences you the most?
PG Wodehouse. He is God to me. The principle of ‘all is well that ends well’ is evident in all his books. I love the characters of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster and the 1920s era where there is nothing wrong with the world.
If you could ask just one question to a writer, what would it be?
I am curious to learn from fiction writers how they know when to end a story. When do you stop writing? Especially, when you are writing organically and not following a structured plot.
If you were a fictional character, who would you be? Why?
The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. There are many people I’d like to say, “Off with his head!” to.
Given a choice, what would you prefer to be — a commercial success or a literary success?
Both. Commercial success is important because it ensures my bread and butter. I view literary success as the ability to make the reader smile or identify with a character. For instance, I have had middle-class women tell me that they can relate to the protagonist in my first novel, The Reluctant Detective, about a housewife who turns investigator because of her curious nature.
Do you follow a particular routine while writing?
I have a desk in my husband’s office, where I report to at 8.30am and stay on till 2.30pm. I believe in writing something everyday. To avoid getting distracted, I switch off the phone. I tweet, make calls and access the internet only during coffee breaks. For All Aboard, I first wrote the synopsis, then the chapters and then fleshed out the whole plot. However, with The Face At The Window, the words just flowed out of me.
What inspired you to write your latest book, All Aboard?
All Board is solely about romance and has not a hint of humour. It has the protagonist going on a cruise to get over a heartbreak. In that it is similar to the recent movies Dil Dhadakne Do and Queen, but I assure you the movies were not the inspiration. It was after bouncing off ideas with Vashali Mathur, my editor at Penguin, that we settled on a plot involving a person not looking for love but forced to encounter it in a contained space from which there was no escape.
Read the original here
September 8, 2015
A complimentary skin consultation voucher and samples from Kiehls if you buy All Aboard here
If you buy All Aboard at any of these bookstores, you could get a Kiehl’s voucher for a complimentary skin consultation.
Mumbai: Inorbit Mall, Malad – Crossword Bookstore
Delhi: Khan Market – Full Circle, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj – Landmark
Kolkata – Quest Mall – Starmark Bookstore
Pune – Phoenix Marketcity, Viman Nagar – Landmark Bookstore
Delhi Ahoy 11th-12th September
In Gurgaon on the 11th September at this event in association with Gurgaon Moms and TUI Travels, my travel and stay partners.
Here’s the link to register: https://in.explara.com/e/reading-between-the-wines
And in Delhi, on the 12th, at this event organised by the Delhi Book Lovers, 4 to 6pm. .
Book Review of All Aboard on The Urban Spice
” Kiran is a great story teller and till the end of the book she keeps holding reader’s attention. If you have read her past two books than you already know that about her.
There is no dramatic plot involved in All Aboard (buy it here), it is regular romantic fiction presented in a very gripping way. The female protagonist is Rhea Khanna, her tryst with a tall dark handsome hero whom she meet on a cruise while accompanying her Aunt who is retired headmistress.
How she feels the gush of love at the mere sight of Mr Hot and handsome, the obstacles they face from ex-flame and all those juicy details. In short all the right ingredients for a romantic fiction, which makes it an easy read for the times when you don’t want to apply your mind over some serious business read etc.
Reader’s Verdict: Great read for a lazy weekend, just don’t forget to put your feet up and keep a glass of chilled wine or whatever you fancy sipping along. Kiran’s third book, All Aboard, a romantic fiction, is now being released. You can order your copy here. ”
Read the original here
September 7, 2015
On Yahoo India: Romantic cruise or sailing to heartbreak? #AllAboard
“It is obvious that a romance will develop, but it is also obvious that there will be obstacles.
And this is where Manral, a journalist-turned-blogger-cum author, displays her skills. First, the cruise setting ensures that there will be a definitive time frame for the issue to be decided (so impatient readers need not fret!) as well as a range of characters and exotic destinations (Venice, Naples) can be factored it to flesh out the story without much problem.
There are the stock elements – old flames, relatives counselling prudence and parents expecting obedience, misunderstandings and misconceptions, self-doubts and the works which prove the course of true love never runs smooth, but for novelty, there is a drug smuggling racket to add some sparks.
Contributing to the book’s strengths is a sparkling, wittily subversive (from the feminist perspective that is) element in descriptions and dialogue and the deft characterisation – especially of the women who certainly are no-pushovers despite the travails (jilted, divorced with young children) but still displaying a refreshing resilience in their lives.
Rhea is sometimes vulnerable but that is due to circumstances, not to mention it helping to make her an adequate foil to the near perfect hero. Such characters have become a Manral trademark – be it housewife Kanan ‘Kay’ Mehra forced into investigating a homicide in her debut “The Reluctant Detective” (2012) or career woman Rayna De battling a stagnant job, an unspeakable boss, the terrible 30s and a non-existent love life (until an unapproachable and oblivious prospect joins the office) in “Once Upon A Crush” (2014).
“All Abroad” cannot be airily dismissed as “chick-lit” – an ungracious term which we never apply to the Bollywood films we lap up, but one, which in no case, should be used to belittle the author efforts. There can be bad chick-lits as there can be bad thrillers or mysteries, but that cannot condemn the entire genre. If you have never indulged, you couldn’t do worse that start with this one. ”
By Vikas Datta, IANS
Read the original here
September 6, 2015
#TornadoBookGiveaway2: Trouble has a New Name by Adite Banerjie
[image error]Name of the Book: TROUBLE HAS A NEW NAME
Author: Adite Banerjie
Read some reviews:
The Story:
“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!
You can also buy @
About The Author
Adite Banerjie
Adite Banerjie discovered Mills & Boon romances and their amazing assortment of drool-
worthy TDH heroes in her teens. Around the same time she fell in love with song-and-dance Bollywood
romances. Growing up in a home with a filmmaker dad who worked in the world’s largest film industry
(yes, Bollywood!) and a voracious reader for a mom, it was inevitable that she would come to love both
films and books.
During her exciting and fulfilling career as a business journalist, she found the time to indulge
her passion for both Bollywood romances and M&Bs. But after years of reporting and writing about
the real world, she chose to return to her love for fiction and turned screenwriter. She turned Harlequin
author after winning the 2012 Passions Aspiring Authors Contest.
The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal, based on the winning short story for the Harlequin contest,
was released in December 2013 in India. Trouble Has a New Name was released in 2014. Both are
available in paperback (India) and in the e-book format globally. Her third title (romantic-suspense), No
Safe Zone, will be released in May 2016.
Stalk her @
Now for the Rafflecopter:
Gather as many points as you want to. The more points you get, the more you have a chance to win it
all. Show your love for books.. Tweet, Like and Spread the Word… Thank you for being a Reader… You
keep the Authors motivated… This is our way of saying a Thank you :)
Rafflecopter giveaway
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#TornadoGiveaway is an initiative of The Book Club. Click on the icon to go to the event page of
the Tornado .. Lots of fun awaits you :)
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