It’s February, trembling branches are ready to welcome new leaves, smooth green leaves with silky, body and fresh new look appears to hail spring break, a desirable atmosphere is nudging our hearts. The ambiance is heartening and soon it will be taken by summer. It’s departure from harsh, cold and entering into soft, luscious, blossoming season, it’s a month that dedicated to express love, but I did some anti valentine reads and here’s the list.
This month my list clubbing from women friendship to mysterious Island adventure, funny light hearted moments with Mrs funnybones, Werewolf along with action packed thriller that settled in Egypt.
So what are we waiting for, let’s start —
The Lost Author
The Lost Author by Chris Barkley is eerie atmospheric, magical realism novel that is spiraling into an introspective narration which is masterfully crafted and blended with murder mystery plot.
Alluring, richly marinated in Gothic culture it’s a hunting beauty, story of guilt, past trauma and self awakening created a powerful emotional kaleidoscope and the riveting writing style slowly explores characters in a way that is deeply moving, plunged into your heart with a disturbing ache.
Nobody is perfect, everyone has a skeleton in their closet, each character has a deep gash of imperfections in their hearts. The way this book unwinds their flaws, it’s astonishing and scary. We all are like that isn’t it? And we are all like Euan, oblivious to his own soul Euan looking forward to someone of higher quality, always wanted to escape from the place where we are, and Malcolm knows it too well, that’s why he wrote fantasy novels.
Malcolm invited his loved ones, his family and friends to an island. Malcolm Furnival, legendary author killed mysteriously, but a few hours before, he appointed Euan to finish his unfinished manuscript which is lost.
Searching the lost manuscript became a new hunting game in Island but it slowly revealed a lot of unsettling truths about the family.
This book will stay with you for a long time, it meant to linger in your heart and in the atmosphere for more time.
Real Life
Amrita Mahale has a distinguished style of writing her characters, she portrayed them with utmost care and dignity and I left my heart inside this novel.
I picked this novel because it has wilderness, wildlife research and a missing friend, it was the first thing that attracted me, something rare in Indian literature, but what I didn’t expect was a profound realization and stirring emotional whirlpool.
A gripping whodunnit narrative, a search journey for a missing friend evolved into two friends life stories. Two girls, very different from each other, how could they become friends? Nobody knows and they became inseparable friends.
Mansi, and Tara, two very different personalities, two very different kinds of characters. Mansi, the power she was always looking for, finds it in Tara, and unknowingly they find emotional accommodation in each other.
One day Mansi read the news,Tara is missing. Mansi left her home, her husband to search Tara, little did she know that this expedition is going to be an introspective journey too.
At the end I could feel Tara was growing inside Mansi in a different way.. I don’t know if anyone felt that way.
Tara’s fiery nature is deployed in a manner that creates a remarkable picture. Her protest against the passive voice of social abuse and social hierarchy, handled carefully and shows maturity, I absorbed her each act even though they are not conventional but she never presented as a radical rather she was rational. And Mansi as a contrasting character was brilliant.
Now I know I can pick Amrita Mahale’s book any day, from now on she is my go to author.
But last few chapters felt dragged.
Mrs. Funnybones
Witty, sarcastic humourous, can eat up your exhaustion for the whole week in just a few minutes and make you cheerful.
It’s a light read & introspective at the same time. A fine concoction of mundane life and satire from the pov of ” Woman of the house”.
She knows how to find fun in mundanity and relatable everyday story became a delightful endeavour.
I liked how she dug into her own family and didn’t hesitate to make fun of her own (I always admired her sense of humour)
The chaos in her daily life seamlessly blended with humour and honesty, she served metropolitan mother’s life like a spicy bhel, amazing and kudos to her.
It was unputdownable, it was a rollercoaster. I finished this book one Sunday and believe I am feeling better.
Brutality honest everyday storytelling. Chaos of motherhood, work-life..Mrs funnybones, the sass, the spark, the beginning of it all.
If you like reading honesty, humour and cut throat narrative go for this.
The Turning
The Turning by Shannaya Chopra is a highly gripping, fast paced fantasy adventure which emphasizes the theme of friendship, trust, and a dash of teenage romance. This book not only looks gorgeous outside it’s dazzling inside too
It’s a story of Kiara a girl whose life turned upside down when she turned 18 years old. Everything changed that night except her friends.Kiara Sharma’s life is uneventful- a widower father, devoted friends and an affinity for art. But as the clock strikes midnight and a full moon rises, she transforms into a red-eyed Katrol- a werewolf so rare that only two are known to be alive.
Kiara’s fate takes her to Ordenia, a land hidden in the forests of Mumbai, where she is acquainted with the world of werewolves and memory orbs. Kiara fells a war raging inside her, but it’s just the beginning–her arrival brings howling enemies to her new home, ones that could destroy everything she loves.
As Kiara sets out on a perilous journey to save her friends, her very soul is put to the test. She knows she is being asked to flip a coin- will she let the monster inside her win or will she sacrifice her life for Ordenia?
Absolutely loved this debut author. This book has the perfect amount of fantasy elements and blossoming love. High octane adventure and nail biting thrilling twist will push you to the edge of your seat. This book beautifully captured the rhythm of the teenage energy and the chilling ambience and moreover this collector edition cover, the stencil edge complimented this book perfectly.
Highly recommended for fantasy readers.
The Golden Sphinx
The history of Egyptian land has always been my favourite theme for expeditions, who can resist its mystery and magical approach, so I picked this.
It’s a gripping action packed thriller that swayed by the mystic and age old legends of the pyramid of Egypt.
A mysterious ancient relic. A forgotten civilization. A truth that could change the world forever.
In 1906, an Egyptologist uncovered a map carved in stone inside an ancient temple. Convinced that it pointed to a lost city of gold somewhere deep in the desert, he set out on another expedition the following year. He was never seen again.
In present day Yale, a professor is brutally murdered on the university campus, and a mysterious artefact is stolen from its vaults.
Former Delta Force operator Ethan Frost is used to high-pressure situations, but when his former mentor Professor Goodwin is murdered and an old journal in his care is stolen, Ethan is pulled into a world he thought he’d left behind. Intent on bringing Goodwin’s murderer to justice and retrieve the stolen artefact, Ethan teams up with the professor’s research assistant and three of his former associates from the military.
They soon discover that the professor’s murder is connected to a conspiracy led by a ruthless Egyptian magnate seeking to re-write history and reshape the world in his image. Following the clues from the journal, the team venture to Cairo and the barren, sun-scorched deserts
With extended research work and enlightening inputs this book is absolutely rocking, blended with murder mystery and dashing character Ethan this book gives hot adrenaline rush to your blood.
All the time the book reminds me about Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise
I am glad I picked this novel.
Happy reading! ✨