The Ruby Iyer Diaries

Many Lives #0.2

by Laxmi Hariharan

An alternate cover edition can be found here and here.

This novelette is a companion book to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. A peek into the soul of an angry, young girl, who will come of age in a city on the verge of total annihilation. Ruby kept a diary from the age of ten till she ran away from home at sixteen. It is from here that I picked out a few diary entries for The Ruby Iyer Diaries. This short series of vignettes from Ruby's life, tells you more a little more about the origins of Ruby Iyer.

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Shapeshifters, Amazon

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2014

About the author

Laxmi is a New York Times bestselling author of paranormal and contemporary romance.
Her books have been featured in USA Today Happily Ever After and the Guardian, among others.
PS: She insists that you call her Lax!

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Reviews

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free at Amazon!
UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruby-Iyer-Dia...
US - http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Iyer-Diari...

Downloaded for free from Amazon.co.uk

This was an interesting story about a young girl who felt that she was ignored by her parents in favour of her younger brother. Ruby didn’t really like authority, and didn’t like to do as she was told, she just wanted to be loved and to feel like she had friends.

This was an interesting short glimpse into Ruby’s life when she was younger, but I have a feeling that the things she’ll get up to next will be even better.



6.5 out of 10

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (11/24/2019)! 🎁

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ruby Iyer Diaries is a prequel to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. Even though I have had this ebook sitting on my kindle since before I got my hands on The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, for some odd reason, I read and reviewed The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer first. I now regret not reading this first.

The Ruby Iyer Diaries gives us a peek into Ruby’s life from the age of ten to sixteen. The excerpts from her diaries that make up this novella are just a way to get up, close and personal with the character that dominates the pages of The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. Had I read this novella first, it would have introduced me to a character that is so spunky that she get on your nerves and has you cheering for her at the same time. Instead, since I read this novella after, I got to see how Ruby grew into the angry young girl that we meet in The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer.

The pages fly by as a reader gets caught up in typical teenage drama of Ruby’s life – the angst that probably all teenagers feel at some point of time. But it also draws you in with its honest voice and some deep rooted feelings of the protagonist. It also helps that this is where we get the most information about Ruby’s life while growing up, meet her parents and make her feel more real than ever.

If you have not read The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer yet, then this novella of twenty odd pages will give you a sneak peek at the protagonist who is sure to intrigue you. If you have already read The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, then it will help you better understand where Ruby comes from. The bottom line is, give this novella try!

[Merril Anil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chocolates for anyone who can make me understand the purpose of this novella

First of all a huge thanks to the author and her team for providing me with a copy of the book

I really want to see a link or reason behind the novella because I am clearly failing at it. If one argues that this novella was written with the purpose of carrying a glimpse of Ruby Iyer’s life or background then I am afraid it didn’t show anything except some random episodes and which too didn’t make any sense in retrospect to the main novel, The many lives of Ruby Iyer.

The characters were new and nothing was sticking long enough to make sense. The novella didn’t have anything substantial to provide as Ruby Iyer still remains as vague as what we saw her in the main book and this novella hardly brings anything new to the table except for a brief picture of her father here and there.
Another argument can be that the book was meant to show the relationship between the mother and daughter which is again invalid since you already know what exactly how their relationship was like from the first book. Even the incidents the author tried to bring up new in the book went missing because of lack of information and work towards it

The basic trouble is that the author did everything in haste and in deadly short form in the novella that nothing made sense other than what we got from the main book. This novella was as vague as they can come and completely remained purpose less for me.

I learnt nothing. I understood nothing

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diaries, where we put our most private thoughts, our emotions, slices of our lives. We are invited to see the thoughts, feelings and events that shaped the young girl who was destined to be great. Through brief snippets from Ruby’s diary we are witness to the chaotic and disjointed world Ruby lived in, effectively bringing to life the past of this girl.

Laxmi Hariharan has made use of random diary entries to outline the world as Ruby saw it. Although difficult at times to reconcile, they provide a credible reveal of the spirit and feistiness in Ruby.

Series: Ruby Iyer Series - Book .05
Publication Date: October 1, 2014
Publisher: Laxmi Hariharan
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Print Length: 65 pages
Available from: Amazon
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Beth Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a harshness to this narration that makes a lot of the introspection ring true even as it is shocking. As women we are overlooked, under-appreciated, thought less intelligent, less strong, less instinctual... we are expected to be self-aware in a way that turns us on ourselves. It's a harrowing experience and that's the amazing story Ruby Iyer tells. She fights it... and faces those fears with a need to be herself.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful short story that is the beginning of Awakened. Ruby is an amazing child looking to be loved by her mother. Superb start of a fantastic series.

[Sarika Patkotwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating- 3.5

The Ruby Iyer Diaries is a prequel to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, a dystopian set in Mumbai that has been on my to-read pile since quite some time now. Most readers have been reading the prequel after having read the first full-length book in the series. As I'm always up for novellas and I don't like breaking links, I thought I would read The Ruby Iyer Diaries first as it gives us a glimpse into the life of Ruby Iyer.

The Ruby Iyer Diaries is a collection of letters from Ruby, the main character's personal diary. These letters start from when Ruby was a ten year old school girl and go on until she turns sixteen and starts college. For a twenty odd pages short novella, this book is an enjoyable read. Ruby's convent school experiences took me back to my own school days, which always leaves me smiling and nostalgic, which is a positive point for me.

As I have not yet read The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, I cannot really say whether this novella is absolutely essential before starting with the series. I don't see why it won't be useful as it has helped me understand Ruby and it will make other readers understand the character as well. I suppose Ruby's family situation and the start to her kick-ass personality are well shown in The Ruby Iyer Diaries. I can't wait to see how Ruby stands up for herself in the future as well and what adventures she encounters.

I can pinpoint only one reason as to why the novella won't be so useful and that reason is simple. Our teenage years are a mess. We don't grow up to be who we were back then. All of us change, for better or worse. So it doesn't really matter what Ruby did or how she was before, as her present is what will matter most to readers. Also, Ruby's voice seemed very mature to me as compared to her age.

In any case, like I said before, his novella is quite an enjoyable read that has left me eager to start with the series.

[Njkinny (Njkinny's Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.njkinnysblog.com/2015/08/b...

The Ruby Iyer Diaries by Laxmi Hariharan is the prequel novelette to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. This book gives an insight into the protagonist, Ruby Iyer's life from the age of ten to sixteen. How she became the angry and sassy girl that we met in The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer and what happened to make her run away from home? All these and more questions get answered as we follow a young Ruby through her life and revisit the crucial life changing events of her life.

A book that I think must be read before you read the next novel, The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, I enjoyed revisiting Ruby and journeying to her childhood with her. Her diary entries are realistic, sometimes sad, sometimes cruel but never boring. I empathized with her and now understand her better.

4 out of 5 to it. Go read this book and then the next novel. This is an entertaining series with a sassy, independent, sometimes foul mouthed but always loyal and courageous heroine, Ruby. I love Laxmi's different take on life and look forward to reading more from her in the future.

[Heather Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is different from what I normally read. It is a great read and change of pace. I hope you enjoy this book too. Give it a try.

[Rubina · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many times have you seen a writer going deep into a character and trying to understand the point of view of her protagonist? This is the first time I've seen someone trying to understand how her protag goes through the changes in her life and turning it into a prequel before the actual story starts. Introduce her readers to Ruby Iyer.
Ms. Hariharan took me, along with her, in the journey of Ruby Iyer in her dystopian novel, The Ruby Iyer Diaries.
The first question I asked myself while reading this small snippet of Ruby's live – why is this call the diary? There is no diary entry in it, it does not speak about the day-to-day life of Ruby Iyer nor is it about events occurring chronologically in Ruby's life. It’s almost disappointing to know that the title of the story does not gel well with the narrative – till the age of the protagonist did not catch my eye.
It was then that I realized that these are the random thoughts of how a young girl, in the age group of 13 to 19, thinks, how her life is going through upheavals, feeling unloved by her family and how she cloaks her emotions to cover her feelings.
How will a young girl feel when she is almost invisible to her own mother? Her father, who though loves her, still has no time for her? How does it feel to lose your own beloved brother to fanatics and to always know that she is different from her peers?
Right now, at this point of time, I cannot say how much of the story is relevant to the series. But I can definitely say one thing that I'm very curious about Ruby Iyer. How she became a woman to be reckoned with, a messiah, a fighter. Till now I see an ordinary girl fighting for her very existence, fighting for her mother's love and slowly turning apathetic.
What happens to this girl to bring out the fire in her?
Check out my full review at :
http://www.tbcblogtours.com/tbc-blog/...

[Shilpa Garg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diary is like a confidante that is deaf and dumb and in it one pours their private, secret thoughts, emotions and turbulence of mind, all through the events of daily life. In a diary, one doesn’t just express themselves more openly than they could do to any person; they create themselves. A diary is a vehicle which gives them their sense of selfhood and charts their individuality. And it does just that for Ruby Iyer, a free-spirited, rebellious girl.

The Ruby Iyer Diaries (Ruby Iyer Series, 0.5) is the prequel novelette to The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer. In this short novella, Laxmi shares snippets of Ruby’s life from age ten to sixteen. It gives a peek into the life of a girl who would stand up for herself, who would follow her heart. I am half way through with the sequel, so the incidents in this prequel are some decisive moments of her life that have probably helped shape her personality and character. Ignored by her mother, a 16-year-old runaway, struggling to survive the crowded streets of Bombay and the secrets she won’t admit even to herself. It’s all inside the pages of The Ruby Iyer Diaries.

The Ruby Iyer Diaries if read as a standalone book does not have much to offer in the form of a story that is. But it is a shadow of things to come. I liked this concept of building up for the sequel, The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, which is the actual story of Ruby.

The writing is incredible and narrative flows smoothly. The language and style of this author is impeccable. The characters are very easy to either love or dislike and they are very relatable and fascinating, and very easy to root for too.

The Ruby Iyer Diaries (Ruby Iyer 0.5) is followed by The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer, (Ruby Iyer 1) and The First Life of Vikram Roy (Ruby Iyer 1.5).

Go on and pick this 10,000 word novella and you would want to pick the sequels soon after!

http://shilpaagarg.com/2015/11/the-ru...

[Aline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ruby Iyer Diaries 3.5 Stars


This novelette is a sneak peek on Ruby’s life. The readers have a perspective of her thoughts from age ten to sixteen through pages she wrote on her diary. You don’t need to read the novel to know how smart Ruby is and how strong she becomes on the novel “The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer.” You can understand that by reading the prequel.
Ruby is an intriguing character. Some of her actions left me a little confused, I could never foresee what she would do or think, but that’s not a bad thing since I saw Ruby as a character with mixed feelings trying to find herself.

“Too busy being a boy. When you finally want to be a girl, no one is going to look at you.”

“Sometimes it feels as if I have been scared all my life…Tried very hard to belong, know what I mean?”

“I too want to be a part of a club, and have a cool friend like Nancy with whom I can share all my secrets.”

Although she seems to be trying to find where she belongs, it is very clear that she fights for what she really wants.

“It’s only right that I get back at her in some form.” The writing is okay, the introduction to her origins is good and the pace is steady. However, there was a mistake on the plot that I can’t oversee on a novelette and something that I still can’t put in words is missing, consequently not allowing me to fully connect with the main character. The development though, wasn’t as good as I expected, sometimes the jump from age to age on her diary entries, are not well evolved, which left me with a wrong impression of what really happened as it’s lacking explanation.
Overall is a okay prequel.

http://alinemattos-reviews.tumblr.com

[Sachin Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prequel novelette(? is that shorter than a novella?) to the The Many Lives of Ruby Iyeris a blazingly fast read - it's a peekaboo into the turbulent fragile mind of Ruby Iyer - the heroine of Laxmi Hariharan's Series set in Dystopian Bombay; her formative years that seeds the foundations for a girl forever at war with the rest of the world.

The story zips through the beautiful bylanes of a forgotten Bombay taking us through the events that shapes up Ruby's childhood, events that would later shape her into the willful stubborn adult who loves to walk on the wild side of life. It's pretty intense and very evocative - like opening the lid of a sizzling cauldron, the emotional equivalent of a sleeping volcano as Ruby struggles to comprehend her mother and father's relationship, the aloofness of her mom, the estranged scientist dad who indulges his daughter's curious mind, the sibling jealousy, the growing up angst & rebel-yell of a teenager in school, the strange new feelings for boys - it's all there and it nicely builds up to help us understand Ruby. the story unfolds like a series of diary entries at crucial years of Ruby's early life - eminently readable and definitely a must-read that goes well with the First book in this series.

[Inderpreet Uppal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as it slowly led me to realize that it was just the beginning of things to come. Ruby Iyer Diaries reads like a diary but it lets us see into the lives of not just Ruby but the other people she comes across too. Her mother, the sad, cynical lady and the friends she makes and how she ends up where she is.


I found the writing so pertinent to the characters, most of it are Ruby’s thoughts but so right to her personality. The author has managed to spin a good intro story for the readers, whetting their appetite for more. The background on the various characters is well explored and I wanted to read more.


I was not aware that it is a prequel to the main book. A concept I have rarely found in Indian books. Full marks to Laxmi Hariharan for making it super interesting and fun. A dysfunctional family, a rebellious girl, a mother lost in her world and the big, bad world where they all coexist.


Tempted? You should be :) Off to get the next book on the Life of Ruby Iyer.

(I got a copy of the book from Amazon as a free download. )

[Lata Sony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't really call The Ruby Iyer Diaries a novella, although it is described as one. In fact, the title itself seems too grand for a collection of 10-12 excerpts, with just about enough content to fill the first few pages of a single diary. However, if you keep aside these objections, The Ruby Iyer Diaries is a brilliant character sketch of a young girl, the protagonist of the sequel "The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer." Ruby is quite different from the average girl you meet in novels. She is athletic and spunky but socially awkward, a misfit in her school as well as her family. It is amazing how the author manages to show the making of Ruby Iyer, from age 10 to 16, through just these few excerpts. You can see what makes Ruby tick. A compelling read, The Ruby Iyer Diaries leaves you wanting more.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time changes females more than men and it makes us more subversive. While we try our hardest to not become what we're expected to become - the weaker sex myth, enclosed and contained and polite despite the world ending around us -- the battle only becomes harder the older we get. Most of us do at least fight nowadays. And Ruby Iyer captures that fight from childhood, adolescent and into adulthood. There's a battle waging between our instinctual strength of character and the way the world pits us against ourselves. Images of sexy perfection and objectified beauty influencing our perspective, warping our right to just be ourselves, to see ourselves uniquely.

[Saloni · Rating 3 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW COMING SOON

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Laxmi Hariharan’s Many Lives books (each of which I’ve separately reviewed). It’s a total 5-star series and for anyone who has missed it I strongly recommend that you download it (best with the full series boxset as it’s so addictive you’ll want all of the books). For those who are also fans, Origins: The Ruby Iyer Diaries (Many Lives Prequel Book 1) is great backstory. For both fans and newcomers it’s also a very well told tale in its own right, finely scripted and with strong characters. I’d give it 5 stars on a standalone basis, so for fans it’s an even stringer recommendation.

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruby's childhood wasn't a pleasant one. Picked on by her classmates. Ignored by her Ma. Feeling alone and invisible. She grew up into an angry woman.

This T&YA Emotions & Feelings title is frenetic. This collection of diary entries chronicles portions of her childhood. It's probably worth reading if you have or intend to read more of the books about her life.

Easy-to-read. Entertaining. Romantic. Tragic. Unpredictable. Whimsical. Wonderful characters.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure how long I had this book on my kindle, but I decided to give it a try. I was disappointed sadly. We are given snippets into the life of Ruby Iyer but I have no clue who she truly is, and I felt lost. This was just not for me at all. It may be for others who maybe have read the other books but I felt it was lacking some things. Short read for those that want to give it a try.

[Laura Henman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riviting

I actually really enjoyed this novella. For a change there was none of the usual highly sexual activities that tells you, you're reading one of Lax's books. The story or diary excerpts are interesting and fresh and gears you up ready to read the next book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, for being so different, I can barely wait to hear what's going to happen next!!

[Malissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting

It was very disjointed and jumpy and like it was meant to be... Snippets of a very separated childhood. Little love, less friends, and so much spontaneity. Intriguing beginning.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which was a quick read. Understanding a character can make the next book in a series even better and I would highly recommend this book to all who read the many lives series from Laxmi.

[Charlotte Hope Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruby's story

It is good. It gives you the background for why Ruby acts the way she does. In a way, it is sad but you have the next book where things get better.

[Shae Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. The introduction of Ruby; who she is and how she has become who she is. Can't wait to get to the next book.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay then..

Just enough to intriguing. Who is Ruby and what is her story? Well, I’ll just have to move on to the next book and find out!

[Santhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting introduction but not enough to seek the series for now

[Cyndi Babinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting short read that gives you a snippet of Ruby's life growing up. It definitely prepared her for what was to come.

[Jennifer Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

What a good story, I need to know what happens next. I need to k n ow what she does.