Devika Fernando's Blog, page 8
September 15, 2019
Featured - Spotlight for "More Unfairy Tales" by T.F. Carthick
MORE UNFAIRY TALES
(Carthick's Unfairy Tales Book 2)byT.F. Carthick
Blurb
A knight rescues a damsel in distress. They marry, the whole kingdom rejoices, and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.
Or at least that's what Official sources say. But what tales do insiders tell? What secrets lie buried deep inside Davey Jones' Locker?
What, dear reader, about The Unfairy tales?
The stories the Knight-in-Shining-Armour and the Damsel-in-Distress have never wanted you to know. Tales which Fairyland had kept locked up in secret and thrown away the key. Until our rogue bard went back in time and ferreted out skeletons hidden within secret cupboards of desolate mansions.
Our fearless crusader of truth and justice brings to you the second volume of revelations from fairyland.
You will find five more unfairy tales hidden within the pages of this tiny tome, the sequel to Carthick's Unfairy Tales. Stories of elves out to decipher the ways of men and dwarves seeking to reclaim their own histories. Of spurned witches and lost wolves. These stories are going to change everything you have ever believed about fairyland and give you a peek underneath the gossamer threads of glamour and magic peddled by the Fae. Read an excerpt
Grab your copy @
Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
About the author
T F Carthick is a Bangalore-based writer and blogger who has been blogging since 2008. He is an avid reader of Children’s Fiction, Science-fiction and Fantasy. Enid Blyton, J K Rowling, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams are some of his favorite authors. His paranormal thriller ‘Bellary’ was one of the three stories in the book Sirens Spell Danger, published in 2013. Six of his stories have featured in multi-author anthologies and literary magazines. He has written over 50 short stories, many of which can be read for free on www.karthikl.com.
He is an Engineer and MBA from India’s premier institutes IIT, Madras and IIM, Ahmedabad and currently works as an Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Consultant at one of the world’s leading Consulting Firms.
You can stalk him @
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September 13, 2019
Featured - Book Spotlight for "The Runaway Bridegroom" by Sundari Venkatraman
Paperback: 256 pagesPublisher: Westland Boks Publication Date: August 31, 2019Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLCLanguage: EnglishAvailable across all bookstores in IndiaGenre: Romance
Eight-year-old Chanda Maheshwari and thirteen-year-old Veerendra Singh Choudhry are married as per custom. But when the bridegroom runs away immediately after the wedding, the Maheshwari family’s world comes crashing down. They move to Jaipur to begin a new life in the city.
Fourteen years later, as a management student in Delhi, Chanda takes up a temporary job at RS Software Pvt. Ltd and finds herself falling head-over-heels for her boss, Ranveer Singh. But, for all her feelings, Chanda is still a married woman. Meanwhile, Ranveer’s secretary, Shikha, is determined to win him for herself. Even though his second-in-command, Abhimanyu, keeps getting in the way, she keeps a steady eye on the main prize. So when Ranveer starts to show an interest in Chanda, Shikha is furious. Back in Jaipur, an astrologer predicts that Chanda’s errant husband will soon make an appearance.
A secret childhood marriage, a vindictive secretary and unwelcome cosmic predictions—how much can Chanda deal with? And does anyone care about what she wants? Torn between the man she loves and the claim a missing husband still has on her, will Chanda ever find happiness?
Available across all bookstores in India
It would be great if you can add this book to your TBR
Sundari Venkatraman is an indie author with forty-plus titles to her credit, which have sold more than 1.5 lakh copies around the world. Her books consistently feature in the Top 100 Bestseller Lists on Amazon in both Romance and Asian Drama categories. Her latest romance novels have all been on the #1 Bestseller slot in Amazon India for over a month.
As a child, Sundari loved to read books with ‘lived happily ever after’ endings. They were all about good triumphing over evil. As a teenager, her favourite books were romance novels from Mills & Boon. She was fascinated by them, so much so that she began to visualise the stories set in India.
Sundari was forty when she began her writing journey, completing the first draft of her first novel in thirty-five days. She has not looked back since.
Click here to check out all the titles by the author...
You can stalk her @
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August 29, 2019
Featured - Book Spotlight for "A Night at Achanakmar" by Paromita Goswami
About the Book Title: A Night at Achanakmar (Jungle Series Book2)Author: Paromita Goswami
Genre: Spooky, Horror, Supernatural
Blurb:
Maya and her family set out for a weekend trip to Amarkantak. However, due to foggy weather and some unexpected delays later, they end up lost in the jungle. With dusk fast approaching and no way to find help in a no-network zone, their car breaks down. Will they survive or will something untoward happen to them in the mysterious jungle of Achanakmar?
Join the family in this road-trip of a lifetime that will leave you puzzled forever.
Jungle Series – Get ready to be assaulted!
Grab Your Copy @ getbook.at/aNightatAchanakmar
About the Author Paromita Goswami is a writer and storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of stories and as a writer she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre specific. From literary fiction to children book to paranormal thriller and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer the variety of life to her readers. Besides writing, she is also the founder of a reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives in central India with her family.Other books by the author
Follow the author Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Amazon page
July 28, 2019
Featured - Rural Romance Guest Post by Belinda Missen
The fabulous Belinda Missen and I discovered on Twitter that we have quite some writing-related things in common. For example, we both love heroines with red hair, as well as international romance. I wrote a guest post on her blog about the challenges and fun of exotic settings. You can read it here. Today, Belinda shares why sometimes it makes sense to focus on a story in your hometown instead.
Guest Post: Love in a Local Town I know that, recently, we’ve spoken a lot about international romance and how much we both love it. It seems to be a pattern with me that, if I’m not writing stories set in my local town and surrounds, then I’ve got Australian girls packing up and heading overseas to meet the love of their life. Two of my books, An Impossible Thing Called Love and One Week ‘til Christmas (coming very soon) feature exactly that. And, really, that’s not such a bad deal, is it?
There’s something special about international romance. From the first tingling of adventure as you slip your passport over the airport check-in counter, to the screech of aircraft tires as you race to a halt on your receiving runway, and how can we forget the first flutter of the heart when you find yourself face-to-face with someone thought long gone, or someone completely news. There’s just something exciting about exploring new locales, and the feelings that go along with that – let alone with the added excitement of romance on top of it.
Still, what if you’re writing about a love in a town that’s old and familiar like a favourite pair of shoes? What if it’s a love that’s not quite gone, but buried very deep under boxes of old memories and layers of hurt and neglect? How exactly do you make that happen? Well, it’s exactly what I thought I’d try with A Recipe for Disaster.
For the first half of 2017, I’d been in a bit of a writing slump. I’d self-published four books in two years, and things were beginning to wear a bit thin. It had been a massive learning curve, full of bumps and bruises and unrealised potential, and I had to decide what I was going to do in the future.
HQDigital kind of made that decision for me when they ran a Twitter ‘competition’ for authors interested in pitching their novels. With nothing left to lose, and with great prodding from a friend, I pitched three novels and provided a sample of what became A Recipe for Disaster.
From conception to release, the book took about twelve months, cover to cover. One of the things I mulled over was: where am I going to set this book?
I could have picked London, but some of the themes wouldn’t have worked. With everywhere in Europe just a short flight away, it would have changed the book significantly. I thought about creating my own fictional town along the Great Ocean Road. It wasn’t until I went to a local bookshop that I made a decision: I’d set the book in my town.
It was part laziness and part hearing another author talk about setting their books in Queensliff. Dorothy Jackson explained that she didn’t often come across Geelong and surrounds in literature, and she was right. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Geelong in a book, except for perhaps The Biographer’s Lover. And I know I certainly hadn’t seen Inverleigh in a book.
So, off I went.
One of the biggest challenges for me was getting the town just right. It’s easy enough to walk around here everyday and take in the big picture, but what I needed was the minutiae. I needed to be able to draw Inverleigh in such a way that people across the other side of the world would be able to picture her in decent enough detail.
People had to feel the rush of a log truck on the narrow bridge as they come into town, or the see the yellowing lights in the old bluestone pub or smell the fresh chips cooking in the milk bar. We have a small suspension bridge that’s a little wobbly and a steep ascent into the new estate. If you’re not fit, it’ll take you by surprise (it still gets me sometimes).
Also, I think a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with their hometowns. I’m not exception to that rule. There are things I love: a reasonably affordable mortgage, space for Shane’s shed, and being in a small town. Conversely, some of the things I don’t love are: being in a small town (politics et al), being so far from the middle of town, the cost of fuel.
If I was going to write a book though, I had to get past the negatives and shine some love on Inverleigh and Geelong. And, honestly, it wasn’t that hard.
All I had to do was think back to the first times I saw both locations. As a teenager, my friend and I would come to Geelong often. We’d climb into her car, grab some snacks, and make our way around the bay as if it were some weekend excursion we might not come back from.
I remember feeling like such a tourist as we drove around the big roundabout at the top of Mercer Street that’s since been replaced by traffic lights. We looked around in awe at this city that was so much like Melbourne, but also so far removed from it and, yet, we were so close to the suburb we grew up in just thirty kilometres up the road.
And, so, that’s where a lot of my descriptors for Geelong come from; the love of the red brick buildings that now house shopping centres, the big grassed spaces near the waterfront, and the lights of the city at night. Some new favourites made it into the book, too, just because I love wandering around our laneways and finding new places to eat.
Okay, so onto Inverleigh before I keep you all here ALL day (and I’m aware it’s starting to look like that).
There’s a lot to love around here. I took long walks to reacquaint myself with the suburb and its surrounds. I can do a reasonable lap of our town in two hours. It’s a ten-kilometre loop, and I can cover a lot of the different faces of Inverleigh in that time.
As I start off for my walk, I’ll pass the old miner’s cottage that served as inspiration for Lucy and Oliver’s first home. It’s tight and cosy and, if I used my imagination, I could picture it as warm and welcoming, a chain of smoke billowing from a stoked fire. Combine that with their shared love of cooking, and you’ve got a cosy home indeed.
Soon, I pass a paddock of cows and llamas and cross the suspension bridge. If you get it at the right time of day, light dapples through the trees above and tinkles from the small creek that runs underneath.
There’s a scene in A Recipe for Disaster that has Lucy and Oliver crossing the bridge and climbing the steep hill to a party in the newer estates. While the bridge doesn’t bother me, the hill certainly does. It takes a good bit of practice before I can take that hill in one fell swoop.
Compared to the older part of town with lots of weatherboard homes and 1980s brick veneer marvels, the new estate on the hill is fall of large sprawling houses, spruce trees, and some fancy architecture – some of which served as inspiration for the house and party Lucy and Oliver attend.
Of course, a long lap of town isn’t complete without a trip to the pub. It’s one of the first places mentioned in A Recipe for Disaster, but certainly not one we can get. Recently refurbished, you can get great meals and cold drinks here. It is bluestone and beautiful and, when recent rains threatened flooding, it was the first place sandbagged.
I think that last, but certainly not least, the centrepiece of the novel: the café. A lot of people have asked if I drew inspiration from our local café, Red Door. The answer is yes and no. I adore the building, and I can see exactly how Lucy’s and Oliver’s restaurant dreams would fit into it. It’s in the exact spot I pictured their café being – just in the slip lane off the Hamilton Hwy/High Street, and a short walk from the miner’s hut they lived in.
I could picture Oliver mopping floors, a slightly different floorplan, and Patrick carting a circular saw around, pencil behind his ear and getting his Han Solo attitude on. Most of all, I could picture it as a nice homage to that homely thing I love to do – baking . . . but I’ll save the baking chat for later.
Photo of Inverleigh Pub: me
Photo of A Recipe for Disaster: me
Photo of Red Door Café from: https://tetkelly.wordpress.com/2013/0...
Guest Post: Love in a Local Town I know that, recently, we’ve spoken a lot about international romance and how much we both love it. It seems to be a pattern with me that, if I’m not writing stories set in my local town and surrounds, then I’ve got Australian girls packing up and heading overseas to meet the love of their life. Two of my books, An Impossible Thing Called Love and One Week ‘til Christmas (coming very soon) feature exactly that. And, really, that’s not such a bad deal, is it?There’s something special about international romance. From the first tingling of adventure as you slip your passport over the airport check-in counter, to the screech of aircraft tires as you race to a halt on your receiving runway, and how can we forget the first flutter of the heart when you find yourself face-to-face with someone thought long gone, or someone completely news. There’s just something exciting about exploring new locales, and the feelings that go along with that – let alone with the added excitement of romance on top of it.
Still, what if you’re writing about a love in a town that’s old and familiar like a favourite pair of shoes? What if it’s a love that’s not quite gone, but buried very deep under boxes of old memories and layers of hurt and neglect? How exactly do you make that happen? Well, it’s exactly what I thought I’d try with A Recipe for Disaster.
For the first half of 2017, I’d been in a bit of a writing slump. I’d self-published four books in two years, and things were beginning to wear a bit thin. It had been a massive learning curve, full of bumps and bruises and unrealised potential, and I had to decide what I was going to do in the future.
HQDigital kind of made that decision for me when they ran a Twitter ‘competition’ for authors interested in pitching their novels. With nothing left to lose, and with great prodding from a friend, I pitched three novels and provided a sample of what became A Recipe for Disaster.
From conception to release, the book took about twelve months, cover to cover. One of the things I mulled over was: where am I going to set this book?
I could have picked London, but some of the themes wouldn’t have worked. With everywhere in Europe just a short flight away, it would have changed the book significantly. I thought about creating my own fictional town along the Great Ocean Road. It wasn’t until I went to a local bookshop that I made a decision: I’d set the book in my town.
It was part laziness and part hearing another author talk about setting their books in Queensliff. Dorothy Jackson explained that she didn’t often come across Geelong and surrounds in literature, and she was right. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Geelong in a book, except for perhaps The Biographer’s Lover. And I know I certainly hadn’t seen Inverleigh in a book.
So, off I went.
One of the biggest challenges for me was getting the town just right. It’s easy enough to walk around here everyday and take in the big picture, but what I needed was the minutiae. I needed to be able to draw Inverleigh in such a way that people across the other side of the world would be able to picture her in decent enough detail.
People had to feel the rush of a log truck on the narrow bridge as they come into town, or the see the yellowing lights in the old bluestone pub or smell the fresh chips cooking in the milk bar. We have a small suspension bridge that’s a little wobbly and a steep ascent into the new estate. If you’re not fit, it’ll take you by surprise (it still gets me sometimes).
Also, I think a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with their hometowns. I’m not exception to that rule. There are things I love: a reasonably affordable mortgage, space for Shane’s shed, and being in a small town. Conversely, some of the things I don’t love are: being in a small town (politics et al), being so far from the middle of town, the cost of fuel.
If I was going to write a book though, I had to get past the negatives and shine some love on Inverleigh and Geelong. And, honestly, it wasn’t that hard.
All I had to do was think back to the first times I saw both locations. As a teenager, my friend and I would come to Geelong often. We’d climb into her car, grab some snacks, and make our way around the bay as if it were some weekend excursion we might not come back from.
I remember feeling like such a tourist as we drove around the big roundabout at the top of Mercer Street that’s since been replaced by traffic lights. We looked around in awe at this city that was so much like Melbourne, but also so far removed from it and, yet, we were so close to the suburb we grew up in just thirty kilometres up the road.
And, so, that’s where a lot of my descriptors for Geelong come from; the love of the red brick buildings that now house shopping centres, the big grassed spaces near the waterfront, and the lights of the city at night. Some new favourites made it into the book, too, just because I love wandering around our laneways and finding new places to eat.
Okay, so onto Inverleigh before I keep you all here ALL day (and I’m aware it’s starting to look like that).
There’s a lot to love around here. I took long walks to reacquaint myself with the suburb and its surrounds. I can do a reasonable lap of our town in two hours. It’s a ten-kilometre loop, and I can cover a lot of the different faces of Inverleigh in that time.
As I start off for my walk, I’ll pass the old miner’s cottage that served as inspiration for Lucy and Oliver’s first home. It’s tight and cosy and, if I used my imagination, I could picture it as warm and welcoming, a chain of smoke billowing from a stoked fire. Combine that with their shared love of cooking, and you’ve got a cosy home indeed.
Soon, I pass a paddock of cows and llamas and cross the suspension bridge. If you get it at the right time of day, light dapples through the trees above and tinkles from the small creek that runs underneath.
There’s a scene in A Recipe for Disaster that has Lucy and Oliver crossing the bridge and climbing the steep hill to a party in the newer estates. While the bridge doesn’t bother me, the hill certainly does. It takes a good bit of practice before I can take that hill in one fell swoop.
Compared to the older part of town with lots of weatherboard homes and 1980s brick veneer marvels, the new estate on the hill is fall of large sprawling houses, spruce trees, and some fancy architecture – some of which served as inspiration for the house and party Lucy and Oliver attend.
Of course, a long lap of town isn’t complete without a trip to the pub. It’s one of the first places mentioned in A Recipe for Disaster, but certainly not one we can get. Recently refurbished, you can get great meals and cold drinks here. It is bluestone and beautiful and, when recent rains threatened flooding, it was the first place sandbagged.
I think that last, but certainly not least, the centrepiece of the novel: the café. A lot of people have asked if I drew inspiration from our local café, Red Door. The answer is yes and no. I adore the building, and I can see exactly how Lucy’s and Oliver’s restaurant dreams would fit into it. It’s in the exact spot I pictured their café being – just in the slip lane off the Hamilton Hwy/High Street, and a short walk from the miner’s hut they lived in.
I could picture Oliver mopping floors, a slightly different floorplan, and Patrick carting a circular saw around, pencil behind his ear and getting his Han Solo attitude on. Most of all, I could picture it as a nice homage to that homely thing I love to do – baking . . . but I’ll save the baking chat for later.
Photo of Inverleigh Pub: me
Photo of A Recipe for Disaster: me
Photo of Red Door Café from: https://tetkelly.wordpress.com/2013/0...
July 26, 2019
Featured - Book Spotlight for "The Lost Princess" by Preethi Venugopala
Get the book here: mybook.to/TheLostPrincessBookBlurb:
HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO PROTECT THE ONE YOU LOVE?
Ishaani, the newly crowned nightingale of the Indian music industry has it all: a dream career, a loving family and loyal friends. Yet, the man she has loved all her life will not warm up to her.
Rajeev, a hotshot movie director, has feelings for Ishaani. But she is his sister's best friend and has been like another sibling to him. Yet, what can he do if he feels compelled to make her his own?
Then, Ishaani's life changes overnight. She is no longer a lowly commoner but a princess.
She has to make some tough decisions to protect the man she loves.
Her choices lead them both down a path filled with shocking revelations and devastating consequences.
Will true love prevail?
Or will the many twists of fate tear them apart?
Excerpt:
Talking to your best friend can be excellent therapy. But it can be a headache if you’re in love with your best friend’s brother. Ishaani was realizing it the hard way.
"I saw the screenshot you sent. I can’t believe that idiot replied with a ‘thank you’ to your WhatsApp-essay! Why are you wasting your time on that slob? I’m ashamed to call him my brother…"
Ishaani moved her mobile phone away from her ears as Rashi’s voice began to grow shriller and louder by the minute.
"Girl... don't shout. I can hear you alright. I didn’t write an essay, okay? And he might be busy." Ishaani rolled her eyes and cursed herself mentally. In her eagerness to get over her frustration, how did she forget that Rashi loved to troll her brother?
"It qualifies as an essay. It might not get an A if you submitted to Mrs Ellen. But it would definitely win a prize for the longest and cutest WhatsApp message till date."
Ishaani chuckled. After putting the phone on speaker, she placed it on her bed. Picking up a scrunchy from her dresser-drawer, she rolled up her long hair into a top bun. Their high school English teacher Mrs Ellen would have called it purple prose. But a girl had to say what she had to say. Who texted perfect literary pieces to crushes? Long winding flowery sentences with a lot of smilies and ellipses were her style. Before writing to him, she had watched Rajeev’s ZBC television interview twice. And she could be eloquent when she wanted. No wonder Rashi had called it an essay.
"You know your brother's word quota per day. I’m happy he replied this time. Usually, I have to be content with the blue tick." Her silly heart raced when blue ticks appeared on the WhatsApp-messages she sent him. How pathetic!
Ishaani lived by only one rule. She welcomed anything that put her in the vicinity of her long-time crush, Rajeev Ratnam. The elusive movie director who owned her heart. It didn’t bother her that he either ignored her or treated her like a mere acquaintance when they met in public. And when she happened to meet him at his home, he treated her like he treated Rashi. Like a kid who needed guidance at every point in her life. Yet she always rallied her spirits by focusing on what was important. She loved him. Nothing else mattered.
"Keep munching the crumbs he throws at you and he would never treat you to a proper meal."
"No worries. I will cook him a lavish dinner instead. One day soon," Ishaani said, sounding more confident than she actually felt.
"Don't waste your culinary expertise on him. Cook Mughlai biriyani this Sunday. I’m coming."
"Done. What will I get in exchange?"
"What do you want?"
"Full details about his shooting schedule." That way, she could accidentally bump into him without appearing too clingy.
"Say whaat? Not interested in the list of the handsome actors he roped in?
"Nope." Why the heck would she need a list of handsome men when she had lost her heart to ‘the most handsome one’ among the lot.
“Aren’t you interested in the list of the actresses who might throw themselves at him?"
“Not at all.”
"You know what? You’re a tragedy waiting to happen."
Ishaani snorted and bid her friend goodbye before disconnecting the call.
July 25, 2019
New Poem: Allow Yourself to Be
This poem was inspired by a multi-author chat, where we 'girls' talked about women needing to come into their own, and how difficult it can be to just say 'no', to demand time, to gain some independence, or strive for the love (and life) we deserve.
Thanks for the conversation and inspiration, Andaleeb, Aarti, Preethi, Ruchi, and Milan.
Allow Yourself to Be
Allow yourself to feel
Give it time to heal
Trust yourself, keep that chin up
Nobody else can make it stop
It’s in your hands, even if they tremble
Sometimes in life you need to gamble
You’re stronger than they think you are
Life goes on, you’ve already come so far
Take care of yourself, first and last
To brave the future, embrace the past
Allow yourself some time
Self-acceptance is no crime
Dig deeper, fight harder, keep going
Enough with the scraping and bowing
You’ve learned your lesson the hard way
Regret won’t make the pain or scars go away
It’s in your hands now, even if they shake
You’ve given so much, it’s your turn to take
You aren’t weak for needing a break
Persevere, there’s so much at stake
Allow yourself to hope
Take your time to cope
Slow and steady does win the race
Tackle challenges at your own pace
Move on, whether you crawl or run
Don’t permit yourself to come undone
Acknowledge your power that they ignore
Spread your wings so you’ll eventually soar
Unleash your inner dragon, your witch
Seek shelter within, get out of this ditch
Allow yourself to simply be
Unrestrictedly, unashamedly
'No' is a word you’re permitted to say
Nobody can ever force you to stay
Dust yourself off and dry those tears
Relearn to love and to face those fears
Your fate lies in your hands, even if they’re unsteady
You’ll know it deep down when you’re finally ready
It’s your body, your mind, your heart to give
It’s nobody’s business, it’s your life to live
Thanks for the conversation and inspiration, Andaleeb, Aarti, Preethi, Ruchi, and Milan.
Allow Yourself to BeAllow yourself to feel
Give it time to heal
Trust yourself, keep that chin up
Nobody else can make it stop
It’s in your hands, even if they tremble
Sometimes in life you need to gamble
You’re stronger than they think you are
Life goes on, you’ve already come so far
Take care of yourself, first and last
To brave the future, embrace the past
Allow yourself some time
Self-acceptance is no crime
Dig deeper, fight harder, keep going
Enough with the scraping and bowing
You’ve learned your lesson the hard way
Regret won’t make the pain or scars go away
It’s in your hands now, even if they shake
You’ve given so much, it’s your turn to take
You aren’t weak for needing a break
Persevere, there’s so much at stake
Allow yourself to hope
Take your time to cope
Slow and steady does win the race
Tackle challenges at your own pace
Move on, whether you crawl or run
Don’t permit yourself to come undone
Acknowledge your power that they ignore
Spread your wings so you’ll eventually soar
Unleash your inner dragon, your witch
Seek shelter within, get out of this ditch
Allow yourself to simply be
Unrestrictedly, unashamedly
'No' is a word you’re permitted to say
Nobody can ever force you to stay
Dust yourself off and dry those tears
Relearn to love and to face those fears
Your fate lies in your hands, even if they’re unsteady
You’ll know it deep down when you’re finally ready
It’s your body, your mind, your heart to give
It’s nobody’s business, it’s your life to live
June 26, 2019
Book Club Spotlight for "The Clockmaker" by Paromita Goswami
check out the schedule here
THE CLOCKMAKER
by
PAROMITA GOSWAMI
BLURB
Can you change destiny? What if you can?
Ashish, a passionate clockmaker is frustrated with his life - financial insecurity, his ongoing nightmares and his family, wife Lata and son Vicky, are driving him crazy.
Lata is having a tough time in life with her arch-rival, Rashmi. Vicky wants to be a biker than rather join the family legacy of the clockmaker. He also has a crush on Kavya who is more interested in supporting her family than romancing around.
Lately, Ashish starts hallucinating things. The black hooded man, who traumatizes him in the nightmares, warns him of dire consequences if he doesn’t return the timepiece that was given to Ashish by his father at his deathbed. Burdened with despair, Ashish wishes he could change his destiny and end all his miseries. By sheer chance, he discovers the power of the timepiece. Ashish was still figuring out what to do with it when an incident shatters his life completely. Without second thoughts he uses the power of the timepiece to change his destiny. But, can he really change it?
Amid the chaos of the busy by-lanes of the East Delhi unfolds a paranormal, supernatural, Indian drama that will leave you thrilled.The Jungle Series – Get ready to be assaulted!
Grab your copy @
Amazon.com | Amazon.in
About the author
Paromita Goswami is a writer and storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of stories and as a writer, she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre specific. From literary fiction to children book to paranormal thriller and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer a variety of life to her readers. Besides writing, she is also the founder of a reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives in central India with her family.
You can stalk her @
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We Promote So That You Can Write
Book Club Spotlight for "Her Man Friday" by Sundari Venkatraman
Print Length: 161 pagesPublisher: Flaming Sun (Indie published) Publication Date: May 24, 2019Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLCLanguage: EnglishAvailable on Kindle UnlimitedGenre: Romance
Rituraj realises he’s in love with the Gaekwad princess, Sitara Devi. The timing is slightly wrong though. Just ten minutes ago Sitara Devi married Harishchandra Gajanan. All of seventeen and nursing a badly bruised heart, Rituraj takes up boxing, hoping to build his strength and heal his wounded soul.
When destiny gives them a second chance, hope springs in his heart.
Rituraj grabs the opportunity of becoming Sitara’s bodyguard-cum-assistant. He’s the only man in her life but he’s just her Man Friday. Since his father was merely an employee of Sitara’s father, will he even be considered as a prospective life partner for the Gaekwad princess?
Sitara, and Rituraj are crazily attracted to each other, yet they are unable to move forward. So where is the hitch? Why the fear in taking the relationship to the next level?
Class Barriers! Debauchery! Sexual Perversion!
It looks like ‘Ne’er the twain shall meet’.
Read the book to find out if Sitara eventually gets together with her Man Friday.
It would be great if you can add this book to your TBR
Sundari Venkatraman is an indie author who has 43 titles (39 books & 4 collections) to her name, all Top 100 Bestsellers on Amazon India, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon Australia in both romance as well as Asian Drama categories. Her latest hot romances have all been on #1 Bestseller slot in Amazon India for over a month.
Even as a kid, Sundari absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as she 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, Sundari 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! And Sundari Venkatraman has never looked back.
Click here to check out all the titles by the author...
You can stalk her @
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June 17, 2019
A to Z of Writing: Using the Senses
A few of my author friends and I have decided to join forces in a blogging challenge. Our A to Z of Writing posts will shine a light on various aspects of being an author. This week, we're focusing on letters like U. Please make sure to check out the other blogs. Click here for a list of all blog posts per letter.
Adite Banerjie | Paromita Goswami | Preethi Venugopala | Reet Singh | Ruchi Singh | Saiswaroopa Iyer | Sudesna Ghosh
Using the Senses in Writing They’re part of all kinds of fiction (and nonfiction): descriptions. Regardless of the genre or scene, they play an important part because they make things clearer while also immersing the reader into the situation and creating a connection. Want something to feel as real as it can? Then don’t restrict yourself to the visuals; use the five senses in writing!
Using the 5 senses in writing
The five senses are SIGHT, HEARING, SMELL, TOUCH, and TASTE. The one we use most commonly in writing is sight, followed by hearing. We all describe what something or someone looks like, and we include sounds sometimes. But what about unlocking the other senses? Especially incorporating the sense of smell can add authenticity to a scene. If someone walks through a forest, what would they smell? If you enter someone’s place for the first time, what fragrances linger? If you’re in an intimate scene with a loved one, what’s their scent? Similarly, a reader might feel ‘right there in the middle of things’ if you make him/her think of how something feels. Textures can be described and compared in all sorts of manner and for all kinds of situations. Someone’s weapon, clothes, plants, the air on skin, a body to be explored… As for taste, it isn’t just important when it comes to food in fiction. Imagine a childhood memory, a love scene, a certain tang carried on the wind. Doesn’t that invoke a closeness with whatever is happening as well as a closeness to whomever it’s happening?
Here are 3 tips for using the senses in writing:
Don’t overdo it. It doesn’t have to be all senses in one scene, and certainly not in consecutive sentences. Imagine yourself in that scene and decide what you would notice when and how, then decide whether that’s important to the plot.Use comparisons and descriptive words that will ring a bell with the reader but also fit the character’s ‘voice’ and the relevant situation. If you feel like it, you can mix your metaphors, for example by making a loud sound seem like ‘an angry explosion of red’. Make sure to use not just ‘X smelled like Y’ or “X tasted like Y’. There are whole groups of sensory words to use for each smell, and even new words or word associations you can try out. Adjectives help, like ‘tinkling laughter’, ‘coarse firmness’, ‘seductive sweetness’…Make it personal. The way a protagonist sees, hears and especially smells or feels/senses things can be different from stereotypes. Make use of their background to describe a situation – or turn things around and use the description of something to give the readers a glimpse of their past, their preferences or their plans. A woman who knows what silk feels against her skin or who remembers a certain flowery perfume is a different woman than one who thinks of squalling ever-hungry infants when a machine makes noises, for example.
And here are 5 instances when appealing to a reader’s senses is a great idea:
When first describing a location or person (so much can be revealed with so little, like a heroine noticing the hero’s laugh or an investigator hunting after a particular smell)When a character’s senses are heightened, e.g. due to imminent danger (we tend to pay close attention then, like noticing the absence or presence of a certain sound)During an intimate scene, even just a kiss (when feelings come into play, we love to focus on every detail – but often end up dwelling on one the most, one that will stick with us and then later on trigger memories)When something is completely unfamiliar to the reader (especially in world building for genres such as fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian YA where creatures, plants, places and magic might need descriptive passages and explanations)At the very beginning of a book or chapter, to set the scene. Again, this works for all genres. Sometimes, a descriptive passage that appeals to the senses can appear in one version as the first lines of a book and in a different version as the last lines, to emphasize change. Or they can be the same, to show that the story has indeed come full circle.
As an example for descriptive writing that uses the senses, here are the first few paragraphs of my royal romance novel The Prince's Special Bride:
Marie hadn’t seen that much of the world yet, but she was sure of one thing: The Maldives had the most beautiful sunset on earth.
There was something inexplicably magical about the way the countless, unashamedly blazing hues of the sky were reflected by the endless expanse of the sea. No skyscrapers and smog like she remembered it from her early childhood. No sudden, dulled outburst hardly remembered, but a drawn-out concert of colors, the sky flirting with the ocean until it was suffused in its glow. Even the busiest and most hard-hearted of the tourists took a moment to admire the spectacle, to bask in its glory for a fleeting moment of natural bliss.
As the Night Manager, Marie was always on duty shortly after the sun set upon the paradise that was Kuramathi Island in the Rasdhoo Atoll. Yet she never missed these few moments of calm and reverence. She had a favorite spot to watch it, and she knew the path so well she could walk it blindly.
A little away from the hustle and bustle of the hotel, someone had once thought of building a small tree house at the border of the palm grove encircling the resort. Marie suspected hardly anyone knew about it, apart from the occasional lifeguard who perched there during daytime. Nestled among foliage whispering in the gentle sea breeze, it was only visible if you knew what to look for, but it provided her with a breathtaking, uninterrupted view of the horizon.
Marie shook some sand off her feet—all the staff were barefoot at this hotel—and reached for a rung of the rickety ladder. A soft sound made her stop in mid-movement.
Adite Banerjie | Paromita Goswami | Preethi Venugopala | Reet Singh | Ruchi Singh | Saiswaroopa Iyer | Sudesna Ghosh
Using the Senses in Writing They’re part of all kinds of fiction (and nonfiction): descriptions. Regardless of the genre or scene, they play an important part because they make things clearer while also immersing the reader into the situation and creating a connection. Want something to feel as real as it can? Then don’t restrict yourself to the visuals; use the five senses in writing!Using the 5 senses in writing
The five senses are SIGHT, HEARING, SMELL, TOUCH, and TASTE. The one we use most commonly in writing is sight, followed by hearing. We all describe what something or someone looks like, and we include sounds sometimes. But what about unlocking the other senses? Especially incorporating the sense of smell can add authenticity to a scene. If someone walks through a forest, what would they smell? If you enter someone’s place for the first time, what fragrances linger? If you’re in an intimate scene with a loved one, what’s their scent? Similarly, a reader might feel ‘right there in the middle of things’ if you make him/her think of how something feels. Textures can be described and compared in all sorts of manner and for all kinds of situations. Someone’s weapon, clothes, plants, the air on skin, a body to be explored… As for taste, it isn’t just important when it comes to food in fiction. Imagine a childhood memory, a love scene, a certain tang carried on the wind. Doesn’t that invoke a closeness with whatever is happening as well as a closeness to whomever it’s happening?
Here are 3 tips for using the senses in writing:
Don’t overdo it. It doesn’t have to be all senses in one scene, and certainly not in consecutive sentences. Imagine yourself in that scene and decide what you would notice when and how, then decide whether that’s important to the plot.Use comparisons and descriptive words that will ring a bell with the reader but also fit the character’s ‘voice’ and the relevant situation. If you feel like it, you can mix your metaphors, for example by making a loud sound seem like ‘an angry explosion of red’. Make sure to use not just ‘X smelled like Y’ or “X tasted like Y’. There are whole groups of sensory words to use for each smell, and even new words or word associations you can try out. Adjectives help, like ‘tinkling laughter’, ‘coarse firmness’, ‘seductive sweetness’…Make it personal. The way a protagonist sees, hears and especially smells or feels/senses things can be different from stereotypes. Make use of their background to describe a situation – or turn things around and use the description of something to give the readers a glimpse of their past, their preferences or their plans. A woman who knows what silk feels against her skin or who remembers a certain flowery perfume is a different woman than one who thinks of squalling ever-hungry infants when a machine makes noises, for example.
And here are 5 instances when appealing to a reader’s senses is a great idea:
When first describing a location or person (so much can be revealed with so little, like a heroine noticing the hero’s laugh or an investigator hunting after a particular smell)When a character’s senses are heightened, e.g. due to imminent danger (we tend to pay close attention then, like noticing the absence or presence of a certain sound)During an intimate scene, even just a kiss (when feelings come into play, we love to focus on every detail – but often end up dwelling on one the most, one that will stick with us and then later on trigger memories)When something is completely unfamiliar to the reader (especially in world building for genres such as fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian YA where creatures, plants, places and magic might need descriptive passages and explanations)At the very beginning of a book or chapter, to set the scene. Again, this works for all genres. Sometimes, a descriptive passage that appeals to the senses can appear in one version as the first lines of a book and in a different version as the last lines, to emphasize change. Or they can be the same, to show that the story has indeed come full circle.
As an example for descriptive writing that uses the senses, here are the first few paragraphs of my royal romance novel The Prince's Special Bride:
Marie hadn’t seen that much of the world yet, but she was sure of one thing: The Maldives had the most beautiful sunset on earth.
There was something inexplicably magical about the way the countless, unashamedly blazing hues of the sky were reflected by the endless expanse of the sea. No skyscrapers and smog like she remembered it from her early childhood. No sudden, dulled outburst hardly remembered, but a drawn-out concert of colors, the sky flirting with the ocean until it was suffused in its glow. Even the busiest and most hard-hearted of the tourists took a moment to admire the spectacle, to bask in its glory for a fleeting moment of natural bliss.
As the Night Manager, Marie was always on duty shortly after the sun set upon the paradise that was Kuramathi Island in the Rasdhoo Atoll. Yet she never missed these few moments of calm and reverence. She had a favorite spot to watch it, and she knew the path so well she could walk it blindly.
A little away from the hustle and bustle of the hotel, someone had once thought of building a small tree house at the border of the palm grove encircling the resort. Marie suspected hardly anyone knew about it, apart from the occasional lifeguard who perched there during daytime. Nestled among foliage whispering in the gentle sea breeze, it was only visible if you knew what to look for, but it provided her with a breathtaking, uninterrupted view of the horizon.
Marie shook some sand off her feet—all the staff were barefoot at this hotel—and reached for a rung of the rickety ladder. A soft sound made her stop in mid-movement.
June 10, 2019
Featured - Book Club Spotlight for "Shiva Stone" by Ajinkya Bhoite
check out the schedule here
Shiva Stone: Hampi's Hidden Treasure
by
AJINKYA BHOITE
BLURB
Mithila is a senior archeologist on the Hampi site along with two other UNESCO scientists. They decide to open some secret vaults in the underground Shiva temple. Treasures and artifacts from the 18th century make the headlines but the Shiva Stone was kept a closely guarded secret.
When a RAW officer hires Mithila on a secret mission to safely transport an ISRO professor and the Shiva Stone to Bangalore, she knows something is up.
Why is the stone called the Shiva Stone? Why are archeologists, UNESCO, ISRO, and RAW interested in a discovery at Hampi? Why is Mithila working for RAW? Is she the only agent on the mission?
Shiva Stone will take you on a thrilling adventure through the historical site of Hampi. Buy it now!
Grab your copy @
Amazon.com | Amazon.in
About the author
I am an Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer with an inclination towards reading and writing. Besides, being Engineer, I enjoy running.
My first novel is Shiva Stone which is self-published on Kindle.
I was born in a small town called Wai, near Panchgani, Maharashtra. Moved to Satara for High School.
Under-graduation from Pune University and Masters from California State University, Long Beach.
Currently, working as a Cloud Support Engineer for Amazon Web Services.
You can stalk him @
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