Coming Back Home - Book Review

Coming Back Home is the second novel by author - Anuradha Prasad. I got an author signed copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

At a glance:

Title - Coming Back Home
Author - Anuradha Prasad
Genre- Fiction
Pages-305
ISBN - 987-93-52017-45-4
Price - I got a review copy.
Available in print and ebook format

Overview of the book:

The story revolves around two people and a few others set in Bollywood or rather about the life in Bollywood.
Arpita is the fresh face of Ponds India and has landed in a big role in one of the popular channels. Riku is from a small town and in search of a major break in the film industry. His good look does little in getting him a role though.
The two meet and the fate of Arpita and Riku takes a turn.

Book Review:

The book is divided into 7 chapters, each with a title -Struggle,A new beginning, Afterwards,The big break,The glass ceiling,Regret,Gratitude.

Read the rest of the review on my other blog. Click here..

Age of Azmoq - The Valantian Imperium - Book Review

It has been a while since I read fantasy novels. When I read the blurb , I knew I had to read it!!

At a glance:

Title - Age of Azmoq - The Valantian Imperium
Author - Rajamayyoor Sharma
Genre- Fantasy
Pages-397
ISBN - 9789352917778
Price - I got a review copy.

Overview of the book

Azmoq is the rarest and most coveted metal on the planet. It’s the ultimate source and symbol of real power, and the Valantian Imperium controls it all in Valantia.

Or so they thought…

For the first time in generations, the Valantian Imperium, masters of the Valantian continent have glimpsed the first tremors of fear. There are rumors abound. Rumors of legends. Legends of both ancient Azmoqian weapons and men of godly powers, long thought to be myths.

As these rumors grow, a small group of people, from various walks of life, some commoners, some within the mighty Valantian Imperium itself, by pure coincidence, have set in motion a chain of events. The legends, if true, along with these set of events, might reignite the flames of a revolution.

A revolution the Imperium had long suppressed. A revolution that might alter the balance of power in the continent, and eventually the entire world…

Book Review:

The book has a prologue, 7 chapters and 48 sections , Epilogue,Appendix,About the author page.
The story starts with a prologue where two creatures - the demons of the sea and land -hold two sorts of swords and waiting for something that they don't even know!

Tenth Avatar : A Quest for Knowledge - Book Review

In the book selection process I am drawn towards mystery, thrillers and mythology. When this book came up for review I was intrigued by the category that it falls into - Science -Mytho fiction! The Mytho part pulled me into reading this novel.

At a Glance

Book- Tenth Avatar :A Quest for knowledge.
Author - Dr. Kanchan Joshi
Pages- 242
Publisher - The Write Place
ISBN - 978-8-19342-993-8
Price- INR 350/-

The author is a scientist and no wonder that he has used his field of expertise in weaving this story.
The story is written in 17 chapter with each chapter having a title and an adage below it.

The story starts with Hanuman asking his father, General Kesari, to tell him a story of the famous battle that he fought in.Through this story Hanuman learns about the history and beautiful geography of their homeland.

In the next chapter we are introduced to Krishnanujam, one of the rising stars of theoretical physics and mathematics and also the other hero of our story, who is at present in modern day California.
Often Krish, as he is referred to by his friends and colleagues, experiences some out-of-body events that baffles him. He does not know how and why they occur!

Krish is working out a way to explain the happenings / secrets of the Universe through complex mathematical formulas.

The government is after is his research paper on Quantum Communication and so are some other groups who want to get their hands on the research paper and use it for their gain!

His life is in extreme danger and people around him get killed.There are several attempts on his life! Even the FBI agent sent to protect him is killed while on duty.

Intrigued! Want to know what happens next? Hop over to my other blog to read the rest of the review.Click here...

Humble Pie - Book Review

This is the first read of the year. I got this a couple of month's back and decided to start the year with an autobiography of a person who has intrigued me!

Gordon Ramsay is not a new name to anyone, thanks to his personality on TV shows! Going by his looks on the cover of this book and having seen him on TV made me wonder what he was really like! And that is one reason I picked up this book.

As seen on the cover, this is an autobiography of the world's best and world's worst chef!

The book is divided into several chapters and each chapter talks about a certain phase of his life but not confined to it.

I took almost a week to finish this as I very little time for reading.

The book talks about his parents and how his father was very abusive,childhood, his love for football and how that career ended, his struggle to gain a footing in the culinary world, working with the best in the field, his rivals, opening the various chains of restaurants and fine dining, his family etc.

My thoughts on the book:

• It is an honest account of his life, which is something that an autobiography really needs. He does not mince words or facts. Through his words we can see how much of abuse he and his family have tolerated and yet in the end he goes to see him in his final days,which I feel, shows his respect  for his father. With the same honesty he admits when he has been off the line or created problems or made mistakes!
•  From what I read, I can see that his rude attitude is from his experiences right from childhood - abusive father, poverty, working ungodly  hours under prominent chefs and the stress that comes with it, struggle with money and career.. Well all this does affect ones personality.
• We get to know a lot of things that happen behind the scene in a restaurant. The real scenes in the kitchen, the life of a budding chef, the struggle and stuff.
• The language is really very simple 
• He uses a lot of expletives - the F- word once too often!!
• The chapters in this book are not written in chronological order but experiences and events in various stages of his lifetime.
• In all, you can see how much he worked and struggled to reach his goal of becoming the best in the business.

Linking this to

1. Foodies Read Reading challenge
2. Creativity reading Challenge

The Queen of the Comeback : Book Review

The Queen of the Comeback by Nidhika Bahl : Book Review

I haven't read that many self help books and I haven't  written reviews of those either.When the publisher team contacted me for review, I thought it might be a good place to start reviewing self help books.

The Queen of comeback is a book by Nidhika Bahl with a forward by Gerry Robert. The cover has the tag lines - 7 ways for anyone to bounce back from life's obstacles. Win at everything from Careers and wealth to relationships and spirituality [And all else in between].

I received a signed copy of the book.It took a little time to start this one as I had a couple of books that came in earlier to be reviewed.

The book has 7 chapters and 7 survivor tales, lot of quotes and diagrams!

Read the review of this book on my other blog.Click here...

The Official 2018 TBR Pile Challenge

I found yet another interesting Challenge this year - The Official 2018 TBR Pile Challenge.
12 books published before 1/1/2017 to be read in 2018. That is quite easy as it is only 1 book a month! I can definitely do that part.

Here are the 12 books and the extra two to switch with, in case  I can't make to the last page of any of the original 12.

1. Emma
2. Three men in a boat
3. Arushi
4. The second Lady
5. The mistress of Spices
6. The girl on the train
7. Lanka's Princess
8.  Boss, job and the Lady
9.  Kane and Abel
10.  The Prodigal Daughter
11.  Mistress of the Throne
12. Mother of the Bride.

The guardian Angels 

The Kitchen God's Wife

I will post the reviews and also link it up over here. Can't wait to start!!!

Foodies Read Reading Challenge 2018

Foodies Read Reading Challenge 2018- This is one of those challenge that I want to sign up for each year but I end up not doing it or doing it just half way.

With the number of cookbooks that I have around, I am keep my fingers crossed to finish off a few. And also this will be a great opportunity to cook a couple of recipes from the book I read so that I am also able to do the Cooking from cookbook challenge for my food blog - Seduce Your Tastebuds.

Since there are no levels in this challenge, I am hoping I can read a decent number of books for this event.