Book review- Beach Read

“People were complicated. They weren’t math problems; they were collection of feelings and decisions and dumb luck. The world was complicated too, not a beautifully hazy French film, but a disastrous, horrible mess, speckled with brilliance and love and meaning.”

Beach Read, Emily Henry

Beach Read

Book Title: Beach Read

Author: Emily Henry

TW: Cults, mention of suicide and arson, infidelity

The intricacies of human heart are not so easily understood.

Paucity of time makes me look for quick reads. Since I had a work deadline, I was absolutely unable to pick a book and read it. My woe turned into happiness when I found

a) a quick read
b) it was an audiobook, which meant I could listen to it while going to the market or going for my walks.

So, the book in question, or rather answer to my woes was Beach Read by Emily Henry. I have read rave reviews of this book and had it somewhere in my tbr, but it was long forgotten.

I really liked the other book by Emily Henry, People We meet on Vacations. So I decided to give Beach Read a try.

And what a roller coaster it was. It initially started as a rom com where the protagonist, January meets her college nemesis/crush Gus after many years when she moves to her father’s beach house nursing her heart on finding out a family secret. Things start to develop between them, but both have secrets of their own. They peel each layer slowly showing underneath the complex web of emotions and thoughts of people.

Beach Read also had many layers. There was romance, family drama, writer’s block, and what it is like to overcome our fears to take the leap.

It certainly felt like a quick read, but it was not. It took me time to absorb certain facts and understand them.

So if you are in a mood for a fun but deep romcom you can give it a try.

Sound of the swing

Since the time I came into existence
Never has gone a day
When I have been idle
Swinging heartily away
Forward and backward
High and low
Sometimes fast, and sometimes slow
A source of merriment
To the young and old
Waiting for their turn
To get my hold
Years have passed
And I have aged
Worn out and rusted
My colours faded
I feel tired
And feel like coming undone
But one last swing
For the little girl waiting for her turn

Burning embers

Festival of lights
A joyous occasion
Set off their tragedy
And nights of desperation
Flickering flames
And the evening breeze
Smoked their sanctuary
With relative ease
A small mistake
Cost them a ton
Every one sympathised
But no one to share the burden

~~~

The Last Thing I Expected

Ooty ( Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/ph_C-DERTqE?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink)

Our journey started at a very famous hill station riding amidst the southern hills, Ooty (in Tamilnadu, India), a place famous for many things; coffee being one of them. Not far from where we stay, my friend and I got a decent window to travel to this getaway as a recluse from our hectic city lives, courtesy to a national holiday which was very cleverly placed on a Friday. As always my friend made a detailed itinerary of our three day trip utilizing every last minute.

So we packed our bags and reached Ooty by bus. Overnight journeys can be very advantageous, you get to sleep and get a fresh start in the morning. The hotel, although cheap, was situated near all the tourist spots. To get the best travel experience, we decided to embark on our local journey on a bike. Stopping for long luncheons and travelling every nook of this mountain city, we discovered marvels travelling off-track the normal tourist course provided by the city guides. With every bend in the road we found monkeys on pine trees, sunset points, hidden chocolate factories, coffee plantations, and old museums.

The next day, taking the auto we covered the remaining places within an hour. Being one to seize the day, my friend immediately started googling and finally we landed at the city bus depot in search of a forest reserve with beautiful lakes and a waterfall. The bus came one once every two hours, but luckily we got it after waiting for only half an hour. This reserve felt like a complete package which made us more excited. But after a while, the journey started proving to be otherwise. The roads were bumpy and the bus overcrowded. After a while, the road became bumpier and the crowd started thinning. The surroundings looked like a village with big farms, but with people scarce. However, we were much distracted by the road ahead of us. It was a thread of a road, and the bus had to maneuver over it. We were unsettled but the driver was not. And with every bend in the road and every hike in speed we prayed for a plain road which was not to come.

“We have reached, please get down”. The words seemed like bliss and we hurriedly got down. On getting down, we were amazed to find ourselves amongst one of the most peaceful places. Hurriedly we started towards the reserve to avoid any further delay, when we were informed by the guards, “The reserve is closed today for maintenance”.

***

Recollecting an old quirky memory of mine since I am missing traveling badly.

Traveling and books have always been my saviors, when life had become difficult. Living away from home, I have been constantly travelling for the past decade. Now that I have started working, I don’t get much time going around. Adding salt to the wound is the pandemic which seems like an endless nightmare. I hope to travel again and rekindle my love for all things undiscovered in a journey. Till then I plan to travel through books.

ARC Review- The Lighthouse Witches

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

Title: The Lighthouse Witches

Author: C.J. Cooke

I was looking for a spooky mysterious read this October and then I received the advanced copy of this book.

The story revolves around a mother and her three girls who move to a small island in Scotland where some strange things start happening with them and all the family except one go missing. Fast forward to twenty two years where the only one surviving founds her sister however she is still seven, the age she was twenty two years ago, when she went missing.

The book moves forward in multiple timelines. The author painted a very picturesque, albeit mysterious environment surrounding a defunct lighthouse named “The Longing”. There is a central theme of witches but it was really hard to figure out what was going to happen next. It was totally unpredictable.

What I liked:
I really liked the characters, they were not shown as either white or black but had shades in between. I also liked that the mother, Liv had a mind of her own and refused to believe in so called superstitions. A lot of historic insight was also given regarding the treatment women and children used to face in the olden days when they were branded as someone practicing witchcraft in Scotland, which was something I was not aware of. The cover of the book is really beautiful.

What I didn’t like:
Though the book definitely had plot twists and was full of suspense, I wished the book would have been a bit more spooky.The ending became a bit sloppy and stretched out. There were a few grammatical errors which I hope were fixed in the final copy.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐3/4

P.S. : Do check out the acknowledgement section. It has some really interesting facts.

The Love Hypothesis – Review

Book: The Love Hypothesis

Author: Ali Hazelwood

The Love Hypothesis revolves around a grad student in the third year of her PhD, who gets “involved” with a faculty of her department to help her friend’s love life take off. Thus starts a series of fake morning coffee dates, PDAs but then things eventually things serious.
The idea of the story is not original as there have been many novels and movies previously written on the same concept. However, what drew me to the book was the scientific aspect.
The book shows not only the budding romance of a PhD candidate with a faculty, but also the trials and tribulations one faces with such a relationship. Additionally, Ali Hazelwood also addresses issues of sexual harrasment and research misconduct which have unfortunately become very common nowadays in the academic field (and most go unreported).

What I liked about the book: The humour, I was laughing out loud so many times that my mom was giving me a strange look as I am not a person who laughs out loud pretty often. Relationship between Olive and her friends, Olive had very easygoing and loyal friends who always stood with her through thick and thin, Olive’s character development as the novel progresses.

What I didn’t like about the book: the first half was very entertaining, funny, their friendly banter was interesting. However the second half was a bit dragging. Some things I felt were not really required.

Overall I would like to rate this book
⭐⭐⭐1/2
for addressing some serious issues in a light, funny novel. Definitely worth reading if you are also looking for a light, fluffy romance.

In Five Years – Review

Book: In Five Years

Author: Rebecca Serle

Year of publication: 2020

I am going through a weird phase in life right now and was looking for a fun light read. I read the excerpt of this book and it sounded pretty interesting and fun and I decided to buy it. Boy, was I wrong. This book started alright but it quickly got heavy with emotions. I felt happy, conflicted, angry, sad and at the end confused.
The book revolves around the protagonist Dannie ( short for Daniella) and the relationship she has with the people in her life and how they teach her eventually how to live instead of just making future goals and planning everything to a t.
The book was a short read and I finished it within a few hours.

What I liked: it easy to read, the characters were relatable, there was character building too which I really appreciate nowadays, the story was mostly realistic.

What I didn’t like: the blurb is misleading. It felt forced in the story and was not really needed. It seems as though that part was added to sell the book to make it seem something which it wasn’t. Also I did not like the overly described beauty of some of the characters, but that is something I feel are overused descriptions used to fill pages.

What I expected: a light romantic comedy
What I got: a story about love, loss and life.

My rating: I was left confused and unsatisfied with the ending. I believe that the story needed a better ending.
⭐⭐⭐

Once Upon A Broken Heart – Review

Magic? Check!

Romance? Check!

Making a deal with the devil, oops, Jacks? Check!

What more can a girl want? But this book has more, so much more. It also gives an essence of loyalty, friendship, sisterhood (albeit partially) and the comic scenes are an added bonus.

The book revolves around Evangeline who to save her love from the clutches of a “cursed marriage” decides to make a deal with the prince of Hearts in exchange for three kisses, but there is a catch, there always is. The premise of the book really hooked me and what made me go through this book in one sitting was the protagonist Evangeline. She is one hell of a strong character, though a bit emotional at times, but every one has flaws, right? And the one who will keep me hooked on to this series is our beloved prince of Hearts, whose mystery is alluring. Ms Stephanie Garber has created a beautiful world with singing bells and magical arches. The overall world building has been pretty excellent.

The side characters are also an interesting bunch having layers in their character. The one complaint I have with this is that there is next to nil chatacter development of Evangeline. I also wished to see Jacks opening up a bit more. But it might be there in the succeeding books. Here’s to hoping that.

Oh yes! I received an ARC in exchange of an honest review from netgalley. Thanks to the publishers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars

New Books!!!

So, as I mentioned in my last post I already had dozens of books to finish reading. But guess what I did? Instead of reading the dozens of books, I just added two more to the list. And I finished those two… Talk about being tardy and on time.

So anyway, the books that I started was the ones pretty hyped recently. One being Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (being a Potter fan since infancy :P)

(Image source: Internet)

and the other rather famous (maybe infamous among some) is … drum rolls …

(Image source: Internet)

Thirteen Reasons Why. So I just wanted to get the feel of this book and really wanted to know what is all this hype around this book. I am relatively new to this YA genre in books, so I thought why not give it a try (I am always up for trying new things).

Unfortunately, both of them turned out to be disappointments, albeit small.

The first book was totally not what I had expected. All that melodrama in a Harry Potter book. Probably it is a sign that I have grown up. Totally predictable and sloppy story line. Above all, the book is written in a dialogue form for theater just makes it a waste of time for me. I would recommend this book only to die hard HP fans only.

And now, the much hyped, recently turned into television series, Thirteen Reasons Why. Well those thirteen reasons according to me were not enough to justify the suicide of the main girl character. Maybe it was just trying to show how weak some people are that they will blow over in only a mediocre storm. Trust me when I say this, she was absolutely weak and tbh unlikable character. However, I heard that the producers have made some enhancements in the series, so I guess I might me seeing that if I ever feel like it.

On the other front, I have progressed with The Fountainhead, but it is sooooo boring. It is really difficult to continue with it without dozing off. The story was pretty interesting in the beginning but it is just dragging now, what with the perspectives of all (literally all) the characters. Still I will try and continue it as books are my savior, however boring some may be. You can just transport in some other world, some other life when your life becomes a tad too monotonous.

Reading multiple books at the same time…

It feels like you are trying to juggle many things at the same time, there is always fear that something will fall. Similarly, there is always a fear that when much time has passed and its turn has not yet come, I will unknowingly drop the book.

But such has been my dilemma nowadays. My mind has been wandering lately and begging me for a short break from work that books, which are my ticket to another world are not able to seize my attention the way it used to be.

Writing for me puts things into perspective. Everyone needs a medium to vent their emotions and for me the medium is writing. I write so that I can understand myself better. Sometimes you don’t say certain things out loud but it easier to write them down.

Any who, here is the list of books I am currently reading and I really hope that I finish all of them this year, to say the least.

1. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
2. Quiet by Susan Cain
3. The Gene by Dr. Siddharth Mukherjee
4. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
5. Yes Please! by Amy Poehler
6. The Waves by Virginia Woolf

PS. Upcoming mini vacation. Yayy for my parents for planning this. You see, parents always know what their kid wants! Thank you!!