Book Review : 'Gatekeepers of the Grapevine' by Jane Paterson

My Rating

Book Name : Gatekeepers of the Grapevine
Author : Jane Paterson
Genre : Fiction

Acknowledgment : Thank you, Jane Paterson, for sharing the review copy.

Blurb : Set in the gorgeous vineyard valleys of Cape Town, South Africa, GATEKEEPERS OF THE GRAPEVINE follows the lives of three women as they navigate through their friendships and changing fortunes.
Elizabeth and Carolyn both live in the lavish gated community of Vintner’s Estate, but Carolyn is harboring a secret. When Elizabeth stumbles on the truth, she plots to use the information to her advantage unaware that her own life is soon to spiral out of control.
Then when Elizabeth’s sister, Sarah starts a design business, and quickly becomes the darling of Vintner’s Estate, this reversal of fortune threatens Elizabeth’s position with the other women. As Elizabeth battles to regain control, she discovers that her own life has been as much of a lie as Carolyn’s.

Book from My Eyes : So, far most of the books I have read are based on the plot of USA, Europe, UK, India or few Asian countries; Gatekeepers of the Grapevine is the first one based on the plot of South Africa. This is the main reason I was very excited to read the book. Needless to say, I really liked the book.

Thumbs Up:

• The plot of the book revolved mainly around three girls, Elizabeth, self-declared queen of a gated community, Vinter's Estate; Carolyn, another resident of Vinter's Estate and one of the prodigies of Elizabeth; Sarah who happened to be Elizabeth's sister and nothing like her. I loved the way author Jane Paterson has penned their journey, rise, and fall perfectly. 
• The book is written in multiple POV and the trickiest thing about multiple POVs are keeping the consistency of the characters and making them distinct than each other throughout the entire novel. Author has nailed it.
• Each character has been portrayed very perfectly. The snob Elizabeth, vulnerable Carolyn, Classy Genevieve and Julie, Self content Sarah are have carried their character until the end and not even for a single moment the flow of the story lost.
• I didn't read the blurb before reading the novel. So, the secret of Carolyn remained a secret for me until the story revealed itself which was a good treat.

Thumbs Down:

• A very distracting part of the story is sometimes the thoughts of protagonists are written in the first person for example, "But am I possibly being too hard on her? The through quickly fitted through her mind, before she quickly squashed it." her very distracting. While the entire novel is being narrated as the third person, these kinds of things also could have been considered similarly.
• There are few grammatical and punctuation mistakes but those are not major ones.
• I read the blurb while writing the review. My personal opinion is the blurb should have been less revealing of the storyline as it kind of says everything.

Verdict : This is definitely a very good read and must be considered for a lazy afternoon. I promise no one would regret.

Book Review : 'Precious Gifts' by Danielle Steel

My Rating

Book Name : Precious Gifts
Author : Danielle Steel
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : Handsome, charming Paul Parker won the heart of a wealthy young Frenchwoman as his second wife. In two marriage, he fathered a challenging son and three very different daughters. But he ultimately chooses life as an international bon vivant over the demands of family. 
Raised by their mother, the three Parker sisters have become vibrant, self-reliant young women: Timmie, the oldest, a dedicated social worker in New York; sweet, nurturing Juliette, proprietor of a fledgling bakery in Brooklyn; and their younger sister, Joy, a struggling actress Los Angeles. Meanwhile, their half-brother has gone from one failure to other. 
Now, after a long illness, Paul has slipped away, and his family has gathered together to read his will. As his final wishes are revealed, his son is forced to face reality, while his daughters see a new side to their father - a caring man trying to redeem himself with a different, lasting legacy. But Paul has saved the biggest surprise for his ex-wife Veronique: a secret from the past that shakes her world and sets her free.

Book from My Eyes: Precious Gift is a book about everything but what has been described in the blurb.  As per the blurb, the novel is about Paul's gift to his family but the majority of the book describes how beautiful Veroniqua is, how kind and soft-hearted she is and about her love affair and some part of the gift. 

Thumbs Up : 

• There is nothing much I can give a thumbs up for this book. 

Thumbs Down :

• None of the characters are built consistent. Timmie, the elder daughter starts with a man-hater feminist and falls in love with the first guy she meets; Veroniqua, who has been tried to be portrayed as an epitome of kindness, love, consideration, actually has been portrayed as a wealthy woman who always try to give a impression that "You are dependent on me and good for nothing of yourself but I don't want to highlight that to you"; there was no difference in the character of Paul and Nicholas in except the fact he is Russian business tycoon and Paul was dependent on his wife for money. 
• The logic for Veroniqua being set free doesn't go well with me. Veroniqua knew Paul has multiple affairs and that was the reason for their divorce and also, it was told multiple times that she had relations but nothing very strong (which means she tried to have relations but none of them didn't work); then what was the point of being set free?
• The story is too too much repetitive. Things which were not needed are also been repeated again and again and again. Joy's affair with her manager is nothing a big deal but the same has been talked about at least 4 times, same is the thing with how nice Sophie and her mother is, how much knowledgeable Veroniqua is about art and how astonished everyone around her is because of the same
• I am still trying to figure out the reason of butterfly in the cover image of the book. Neither it was any sort of gift nor it plays any role. 

Verdict : I wouldn't recommend investing money behind this book.

Book Review : 'Marry Your Billionaire' by C.J. Anaya

My Rating

Book Name : Marry your Billionaire
Author : C.J.Anaya
Genre : Romance

Blurb : Six years ago, Midge Knightly walked away from her trust fund, her Hollywood producer father, and the expectation that she would join the family business. Avoiding handsome playboys with hidden agendas was just an added bonus. Now one semester shy of graduation, she is shocked to discover her scholarship has lost its funding.
Her estranged father is having problems of his own. A contestant on his latest reality TV series has canceled two months before shooting.
His solution?
 Midge gets her trust fund back if she stands in as a potential marriage candidate for the dating series Marry Your Billionaire. Twenty women competing for one arrogant guy. Not Midge's cup of tea. Agreeing to this proposition sucks her back into the world she happily broke ties from, but no trust fund equals no college degree.
Brody Prescott, CEO, and owner of an online dating company has recently been pegged as a heartless playboy-among other things by a disgruntled female after a disappointing date.
His solution?
Become the first bachelor on Marry Your Billionaire and hope that one of the contestants holds some potential. So what is he supposed to do when the woman who intrigues him the most wants to be eliminated?
Marry Your Billionaire is a fun, romantic romp set against the backdrop of reality TV. Throw on your PJ's, grab some chocolate and popcorn, and settle in for an entertaining love story.

Credits: Thank you, C.J.Anaya for sharing the review copy.

Book from My Eyes : 'Marry your Billionaire', by the name and by first few pages of the book I got an impression that this book is going to be too much inspired by 'Fifty Shades' series as the guy is billionaire, the girl is into literature and they both were mesmerized by each other on the first site. But as the story progressed, I was proved wrong and honestly speaking I am really happy for that. I loved the way the story flow, I completely felt like watching a reality show on  TV. 

Thumbs Up:

• Characterization is done very neatly. Each character continued the way it started. I loved, adored Midge, always been in awe of Brody Prescott, hated Corbin Knightly for being such a ruthless and business oriented man and then somehow started loving him.
• Brody Prescott has been portrayed as perfect dream man for every girl. The chemistry between them, even without any erotic scene, is sizzling and to die for.
• Though the story line is about a boy meets girls and does everything possible to achieve her, a very common plot for all love story, but served in a completely new taste. 
• The story is written in multiple POV. Most common mistake authors make with multiple POV is, the narration of all the POVs sounds similar but that was not the case with 'Marry your Billionaire'. Each POV is unique and can be identified differently from others.
• Cheese and Crackers & Sweet Maple Syrup! These phrases have been used too much but now I find myself saying the same consciously or unconsciously.

Thumbs Down 

• Initial few pages are two fast. Once in a while, I felt like the author is in a hurry to go to sets of the reality show 'Marry your Billionaire'.
• The concept of hacking has been overused and sometimes it seemed logically flawed. Lisa could hack into anyone's computer any moment without even knowing the proxy, network or anything, seemed a bit bizarre to me.
• I hated the cover of the book. This book deserves a far better cover.

Verdict : Cheese and Crackers & Sweet Maple Syrup!! This book earned C.J.Anaya a dedicated fan and I would definitely look forward reading all her previous and coming novels. But this book is a definite read.

Book Review : 'Fifty Shades Darker' by E.L. James

My Rating

Book Name : Fifty Shades Darker
Author : E.L.James
Genre : Erotica

Blurb : Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.
But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.
While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

Book from My Eyes: Once I realized, the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' is finished in a sudden jerk without making things clear, I couldn't resist myself from picking up 'Fifty Shades Darker'. As much as I didn't like 'Fifty Shades of Grey', I loved this book. This book has everything a novel should have, a story to love and cherish, perfectly captured emotions, if not fifty shades but definitely multiple shades of Grey and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.

Thumbs Up : 

• The flow of the story is perfect. It moved from getting back Anastasia in Christian's life to the entire journey to a happy ending very smoothly. It was never too slow to loose interest or never too fast. 
• I loved the way different shades of Christian has been pictured, a control-freak CEO, a lover to die for, a loving son, a sex partner, a caring-over-possessive-insecure  boyfriend, a child and a dream man to every girl.
• The love story between Anastasia and Christian would definitely set a love goal for many couples.
• Though the story had quite a happy ending but the not needed last paragraph will definitely make sure the readers buy the third part of the book, 'Fifty Shades Freed'. This is definitely a thoughtful move when the business is concerned.

Thumbs Down :

• There are not much of thumbs down but this book is also very much repetitive as it's previous part, 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. The same thing what Anastasia feels about Christian, what Christian says to Anastasia has been repeated again and again and again.
• Though Anastasia's inner goddess, subconscious mind, and Anastasia herself are not as boring as part one but still they were boring.
• Mia falling for Ethan is nothing but a cliché!!

Verdict : If one has read 'Fifty Shades of Grey', can't do without reading this one and if haven't read the 'Fifty Shades of Grey', then this book won't make much of sense. This book is a good read and I would definitely suggest reading.

Book Review : 'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James

My Rating

Book Name : Fifty Shades of Grey
Author : E.L.James
Genre : Erotica

Blurb : When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires. Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. 

Book from My Eyes: Fifty Shades of Grey is one of the biggest bestsellers of our time. However, the book is not as thrilling to read as I expected it to be, going by its sells figure. This is book really made me feel horrified about the sex part at least. There are more negative points I can figure out than the positive ones about this book.

Thumbs Up : 

• I like the way infatuation between Anastasia and Christian Grey has been depicted in the book. They way the can't keep each other's eyes off from each other, the way Christian is possessive about Anastasia is definitely given everyone a love goal.
• I loved the description of first love making part between Christian Anastasia.
• E.L. James wanted to portray Christian Grey as a control freak bastard and she didn't leave any single stone unturned to prove that which is commendable. In fact, all the characters have kept the consistency from the begging to end. 
• Though the story was quite boring sometimes in between, but it has an abrupt ending that will make sure the readers buy the second part of the book, 'Fifty Shades Darker'. This is definitely a thoughtful move if the business is concerned.

Thumbs Down :

• Anastasia a beautiful and independent girl, who is not aware she is beautiful. Cliché!! She is in love with Christian Grey, the billionaire, who claims not to do love but only fuck hard, who don't believe in sex, who is a control freak and tried to control everything Anastasia does. On the very 3rd or 4th meeting with Anastasia, he throws the contract of being his submissive on her. She is always scared of him, can't be herself with him, but still she sleeps with him on the 4th meeting. On the other side, her inner goddess claims her as Whore for taking expensive gifts from Christian but she justifies herself well enough that she has no way of not accepting those. She tolerates the beating from Christian though she doesn't like that and has no guts to say that. A bigger Cliché!! Which independent girl does that?
• Christian Grey a man of mid-twenties, had a disturbed childhood until 15-16 years age, been submissive for Mrs Elena Robinson for 6 years after that and then 15 submissive of his own, and still a billionaire. I am really wondering if years of Christian Grey are of 1000 days each or what. It very unrealistic to me.
• How a man, which such a big business to handle on his own, can keep track of Anastasia's each and every activity.
• No one knows anything about Christian Grey. The entire world, including his own mother, used to think he is a gay but Kate knew he had commitment issues. Another cliché!! 
• The book is very much repetitive. The same thing what Anastasia feels about Christian, what Christian says to Anastasia has been repeated again and again and again.
• Anastasia's inner good, subconscious mind and Anastasia herself, three different entities has bored me to the death. 

Verdict : One is not going to loose anything if doesn't read it. But if you really want to give it a read, I would suggest buying entire trilogy as you can't resist your self from reading the second part as this has ended really abruptly. 

Book Review : 'Since She Went Away' by David Bell

My Rating

Book Name : Since She Went Away
Author : David Bell
Genre : Suspense Thriller

Blurb : Three months earlier, Jenna Barton was supposed to meet her lifelong best friend Celia. But when Jenna arrived late, she found that Celia had disappeared—and hasn’t been seen again. Jenna has blamed herself for her friend’s disappearance every single day since then.
The only piece of evidence is a lone diamond earring found where Celia and Jenna were planning to meet, leading the national media to dub Celia “The Diamond Mom.” And even though Jenna has obsessively surfed message boards devoted to missing persons cases, she is no closer to finding any answers—or easing her guilt.
But when her son’s new girlfriend—who suddenly arrived in town without a past—disappears, a stricken Jenna begins to unwind the tangled truth behind Celia’s tragedy. And as long-buried secrets finally come to light, she discovers how completely lives can be shattered by a few simple lies.

Book from my eyes : Often our lives turn upside down with very small and apparently unpredictable steps we take. So does happen to Jenna Barton, a nurse in a small town of Kentucky. One fine day she makes a place to relive her childhood memories by meeting her lifelong best friend, Celia at a wee hour of the night. But when she reaches their usual meeting place, she finds Celia has been kidnapped leaving behind an earring as the only evidence of her being there. Worried, lost, guilty Jenna takes it completely as her responsibility of Celia's kidnap. If she would have been there a couple of minutes earlier, she wouldn't have to lose her friend to the night. Since the night, her only priority becomes finding her best friend Celia, which led her to became the puppet of media, upbringing her son in a house where visits and interrogation by cops became a regular affair. But still nothing changed, no one could find any trace of Celia. As the novel progresses, slowly knots of Celia's disappear starts to loose or may be more complecated. But finally, when the mystery resolves, no one, could have even thought in a nightmare of that possibility.

Thumbs Up:

• This is a good suspense thriller read, with every new evidence, every new victim, I felt I am bit near to the revelation of criminal but most of them were just a hallucination created by David Bell and I fall for that. I just loved how the author convincingly made me fall in the trap he created and proved me wrong. That's the best way of writing a suspense story.
• The flow of the story was very crisp and smooth, kept me on the hook every second of it and not even for a second I got bored. 
• The emotions of Jenna and his son Jade were captured too well that anyone could feel the same while reading the novel.

Thumbs Down :

• There are certain situations which were quite a bit of coincidence and seemed to be unreal, like
• Tabitha's father's arrival in the kitchen, Tabitha being in the kitchen, Detective Poole leaving the place unguarded and Jeena's online friend reaching there, all at the exact time and sequence how is needed is quite a bit of coincidence and truely unreal.
• Every important incident like Ursula plotting Jade in TV, Jenna hugging Celia's husband and Ursula seeing the same, Tabitha reaching Jenna's home, The online guy tracking Jenna and coming to meet her, Ursula disappearing from her home and finally the revelation of the mystery, everything happening within a couple of hours. These all also seemed a bit planned and unreal.  
• Certain things are given overly importance, which I doubt is really a big deal. One being Jeena's use of 'F' word in the national television.

Verdict : This book is a good read and will definitely keep you in suspense until the last moment until when it's beyond imagination who is the main culprit. 

Book Review : 'My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry' by Fredrik Backman

My Rating

Book Name : My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Author : Fredrik Backman
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa's greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones, but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

Book from my eyes : I picked this book due to my fondness towards PS I love you as this book is based on the concept of letters by Elsa's late grandmother to be delivered to different people whom she wants to say sorry and Goodreads rating of 4. But not to be mentioned, this was the utterly disappointing novel. I know I shouldn't compare one book to other but I am saying this considering this novel as a unique novel. First of all, I couldn't understand the concept of this novel up to first 110 pages and after that, this book still made some sense. But by then this book lost the charm to impress me.

Thumbs Up:

• The concept of merging fairy tell with real life is a good and unique one.

Thumbs Down :

• I couldn't understand the concept of the novel up to first 110 pages. Till then, it was very boring, because of weird terms used to describe the different kingdom, different animals. When it started making some sense, it seemed to be very dragging and boring.
• As the story is mainly narrated from Elsa's point of view, there are many things which really didn't make any sense.
• Almost everything, be it an incident, be it feeling, be it some words has been repeated again and again and again which is utterly boring. The book might have content of hardly 100 pages but because of these repetitions, it became one of 370 pages.
• Characterization is really poor. Elsa, a girl of just 8 years of age is smarter than anyone and everyone. The same person can be a doctor, a father at a church, an attorney and many more thing which is really unrealistic.
• Some people do the same thing all the time, like someone making eggs or running, someone offering cookies, someone drinking coffee is too much to handle. 

Verdict : I am disappointed with this book and will not promote anyone reading this.

Movie Review : Me Before You

My Rating

Movie Name : Me Before You
Directed by : Thea Sharrock
Written by : Jojo Moyes
Cast : Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer 

Plot : Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of color. And neither of them knows they're going to change each other for all time. 

My take on the movie: Everyone I know, loved the movie. I wouldn't say I particularly loved this one but yes I definitely liked it. When I say I didn't love this movie, doesn't mean that there is something wrong about the movie, but I had read the novel just a week ago and so I had really really high expectation from the movie. J. W. Eagan said, 'Never judge the book by its movie' and I will say never watch a movie if you have read the book already. Me Before You is definitely a good movie but I particularly am not that impressed as my most favourite parts and the the things which I felt was situation turner, are not been included. But saying that, we need to consider that everything a novel has couldn't be included in the movie. 

Thumbs Up:

• The movie is based on one of my most favorite novels. So, the no need to say the storyline is the best thing about the movie. 
• Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin did really give a life to my imagination while I was reading the books.

Could Have been better : I would not say below points as thumbs down for this movie, as the people who haven't read the novel actually loved that

• 1. The movie went on real fast pace chopping out some real important parts of the books which should have been included 
• Most importantly, Lou's effort about bringing Will to normal life was not detailed at all. Some part of those like her joining the chat rooms, buying a laptop for Will which is speech operative, planning the trip with all sky diving and everything else for quadriplegic which got canceled due to his Pneumonia should have been included. 
• The chemistry between Lou and her sister Treena was a vital point of the movie however, that was completely ignored in the movie.
• Upon knowing about Will's wish to die, Lou resigned from her job and Mrs. Camilla Traynor and Treena convinced her to join back which was kind of vital for me but is ignored.
• During their vacation in Mauritius, when Lou learns that all her efforts are failed and Will is still stubborn about his decision of ending his lie, Lou leaves the place and doesn't talk to Will or anyone from Traynor family until Mrs. Camilla Traynor requests her to come to Switzerland to fulfill Will's wish of she being there. Between those days, she lived a life of keeping herself house arrest.
• The entire part of Lou moving in with her boyfriend Patrick and then with Will is missing in the movie.
•  There are couple of factual error which were explained properly in the book but were 
• Will has tried to cut his wrists in a suicide attempt, though this would be physically impossible to do this due to his quadriplegia. It is in fact explained in the book that he ran himself in his wheelchair into a sharp edge multiple times.
• Patrick fights with Lou about she going on a vacation with Skydive, luxurious spa and room service which is not her job. But there was no skydive and spa in the movie during Mauritius trip. In the book, there was a USA trip planned which got canceled due to Will's illness which justifies this fight but not in the movie.
• There was a scene in the movie of Lou's mother Josie getting mad about Will's decision and not allowing Lou to visit him at Switzerland and Lou is fighting for the same. It happens as soon as Lou reaches home after the vacation from Mauritius. But the question is while Lou herself was so mad about the incident, how was she fighting with her mother. But book justifies this situation as well.

Verdict : Though there are a couple of things which could have been improved in the movie but this movie is definitely a good watch. My friends who didn't read the novel found this is one of the best movies of this year.  :)

Movie Review : Junooniyat

My Rating

Movie Name : Junooniyat
Directed by : Vivek Agnihotri
Produced by : Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar
Written by : Vivek Agnihotri
Cast : Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam, Taran Bajaj

Plot : Indian army captain Jahan Bakshi (Pulkit) who rescues a damsel in distress, Suhani Kapoor (Yami) swimming in a restricted area in Sonmarg, falls in love with her.When everything started working well between then, family comes in between. As three members already died in Indian Army, Suhani's father didn't want her to marry any army man. Then comes the second part of the movie where Jahan saves the life of an NRI guy who came to India to get married and insisted Jahan to accompany him for his marriage. The bride turned out to be Suhani. Though at this point rest in very predictable but I would still leave it for the audience to watch.

My take on the movie: Initially I didn't plan to watch Junooniyat expecting it as Sanam Re part 2. But then somehow changed my mind. It's another Bollywood love story of boy meets girl, gets into a fight and then falls in love, separated from each other for some misunderstanding and then unites again. There is nothing new which Junooniyat has offered. Especially the second half of the movie is real cliché. But yes, it's not Sanam Re part 2 which I couldn't bear even for first 30 minutes and way better than that.

Thumbs Up:

• I liked the first half of the movie. Yami Gautam and Pulakit Sharma really makes a nice pair.
• Costumes, especially for Yammi were really elegant and eye catching.

Thumbs Down:

• The major drawback for this film is its second half. I felt like I am watching DDLJ remake which really turns out to be really irritating these days as we already have watched all possible remakes.
• Actingwise, Yami Gautam seemed to be a bit over acting in times.
• The story is not really concrete and there are flaws. Especially on the part of Jahan's engagement. Getting into an engagement when he is just out of one relationship and breaking it off just a few minutes before the event is a real cliché. A bigger cliché was Suhani's fiancée's sister telling about the incident to Jahan.

Verdict : Though it's not a great movie, but definitely time pass and can be watched over a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

Book Review : 'Me Before You' by Jojo Moyes

My Rating

Book Name : Me Before You
Author : Jojo Moyes
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

Book from my eyes : Me before you is a novel which I loved from the core of my heart. This is a story about a very ordinary small town girl Louisa, who doesn't any ambition in her life, always lived under the shadow of her sister and burden of responsibility of her family, always been the second priority in everyone's life. Once a day after losing are the six-year-old job, she was forced to take up a job as a caregiver of Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Though initially, she didn't like the job but slowly the job changed her life, redefined her and gave her a meaning and reason of life. The book is written so efficiently, not for a second it seemed to be not a part of real life. Every incident with Lou evoked the same emotion inside me. I hated Lou's father for always being obnoxious towards her, I hated Patrick for being the kind of self-centred man he was, I hated Will for being such an 'arse' and then I fall in love with him for making Lou understand the value of her own life. With the novel I lived every moment of Lou's life as if it was mine. I hated her for moving in with Patrick, for 'slapping her happiness on Will's face', for not knowing he is not the person she should be with. My heart broke every time when any of Lou's plan failed. I expected till the end that Lou will be successful in convincing Will to change his mind. My heart ached when she couldn't; at the same time I felt happy for her that at least all these has changed her life, made her a person to look forward.
This book is the best thing I read in long time.  

Thumbs Up:

• Characterization was perfect. 
• I loved the conversation between Lou and Will. It really made jealous of not having such a friend
• I loved is Will didn't change his decision for Lou. Many people might disagree with me, this might not be legal or something. But Will being a man what he was before his accident, it's a real painful for him to be dependent on someone else for entire life. Even for a small thing. No happiness can make his suffering a bit less. If the climax would have been different than this that would have been drama not reality. 
• Pace of the book was perfect. It never felt dragging or too fast. 
• Everything else about this book deserves thumbs up.

Thumbs Down : NOTHING

Verdict : This book is a MUST read. 

Movie Review : Udta Punjab

My Rating

Movie Name : Udta Punjab
Directed by : Abhishek Chaubey
Produced by : Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Aman Gill,                            Vikas Bahl, Sameer Nair
Written by : Sudip Sharma
Cast  :  Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Diljit Dosanjh
Genre : Crime-Drama

Plot : Tejinder "Tommy" Singh (Shahid Kapoor) is a London-born Punjabi musician who lives a luxurious lifestyle assisted by his successful music career. Together with ostentatious crew that is led by Tayaji (Satish Kaushik), he indulges in uncontrolled consumption of cocaine. Tommy, also known as 'Gabru', is popular for his adrenaline-pumping songs that both were written with the help of and are about intoxication. However, Tommy has no qualms about his songs glorifying violence and drug-addiction. However, his frequent bouts of drug-snorting cost him his contract and land him in jail. In prison, he meets two of his die-hard fans who remark how Tommy's lifestyle had 'inspired' theirs. Realizing that his songs have adversely and negatively affected teenagers, Tommy decides to change his ways upon release. Few days later, Tommy engages in an altercation with Tayaji and accidentally shoots him, injuring his ear. This causes Tayaji to send Tommy and his crew to a farmhouse so that he can prepare for an upcoming concert.
Working on a farm is an unnamed Bihari migrant (Alia Bhatt), frequently called "Bauria" by a co-worker in the fields, whose dreams of playing national level hockey for the country were shattered. She came to work as a slave for a local patriarchal family who use agriculture as a front for drug peddling. One night, while roaming around in the farm, she finds a packet. Upon tearing open its contents and tasting it, she realizes that it is some kind of drug, and hence, resolves to sell it. Her search for a potential buyer lands her in great trouble as she is chased and captured by a gang of drug peddlers. They forcibly keep Bauria at their place where she is sexually and physically abused, given drugs and prostituted to several men including police officers from the local police force. Some weeks later, Bauria manages to escape from the house.
In this neighboring town also lives Preet Sahni (Kareena Kapoor), a doctor-cum-activist who runs a rehabilitation center. Sartaj Singh (Diljit Dosanjh) is a class-two policeman attached to the town's station who knows about the smuggling of drugs his seniors are allowing on a large scale. But when it affects his family, his brother, Bali (Prabhjyot Singh), overdoses on Chaand (locally-made drug) and is brought to Preet's clinic, he realizes the grave situation. She educates Sartaj about the drug problem and partly accuses him of his brother's state. Together, they decide to find the root cause of the problem.
Appearing before his audience in the concert, instead of singing, Tommy starts preaching. Infuriated by his speech about how one should lead his/her life, his fans try to admonish him and start throwing bottles at him. Tommy gets angry and urinates on the crowd.Making a run out of the concert to save himself from the crowd's angst, Tommy goes and hides inside a dilapidated structure. There he meets Bauria and together they start sharing their stories. However, the next day, Bauria is recaptured by the same gang who had kept her imprisoned.
Preet has been working in Punjab actively with drug abuse survivors and their families. She runs her own clinic in the area where she operates a residential rehab center. With help from a reformed Sartaj who discovers that his own brother is hooked on a locally-made drug, manages to find that the antagonist behind the drug problem in Punjab is an elderly man called Vikrant who has flourished with the support of MP Maninder Brar. Sartaj and Preeti go to extreme measures to collect evidence against the Parliamentarian and put together a report to be sent to the state's Election Commission to thwart Brar's campaign for another term in power. Sartaj develops feelings for her and asks her out to which she reciprocates willingly. However, one night, after returning from work, she is apprehended and fatally stabbed by Balli, who was being treated against his wish at her rehab center. The policemen who come to investigate her murder also come across her report.
In the presence of the drug mafia, Sartaj is questioned by his senior about the report. At the same time, Tommy, who is on the run from the police and has been searching for Bauria, jumps and enters the enclosure, alerting everyone including Vikrant and the senior policeman. He fatally hits Vikrant with his hockey stick and tries to make a move upstairs. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sartaj grabs his senior's service revolver and shoots everyone but Tommy. He then rushes inside the house to get his brother Balli, who is being held captive by Vikrant's wife. He shoots her and frees Balli, while Tommy goes upstairs and helps Bauria beat her captors. Finally, as Tommy and Bauria run off, Balli kneels down and cries in front of his brother whose face is expressionless. Later when Tommy calls Bauria on his crew member's phone to ask her real name. Sitting by a beach, she catches sight of a foreigner having fun. Inspired, she utters "Mary Jane"(Marijuana), the only name she knows.
*Plot is copied from Wikipedia* 

My take on the movie: Probably this was the most awaited movie of the year, especially after the controversy it faced. The movie had a very strong storyline but still the movie didn't go well with me. It started well with showing how the system itself is involved in drag dealing and what's the impact drags is causing on the youth of Panjab. The story was flowing in multiple POV , but none of them was established properly. The problem was stated very clearly but when it came to showing a solution, there was nothing which made this movie more of a documentary than a complete movie. The mass shooting at Sultanpur seemed like an extended version of Gangs of Wasseypur. 

Thumbs Up:

• - Alia Bhat as Bihari girl just amused me. Not for a single second, it occurred to me that she is Alia Bhat. She was flawlessly perfect. Superb acting, flawless bhojpuri pronunciation proved once again she is here to concur. You Rock Girl!!
• - Diljit Dosanjh was another actor who added life to his character. He has amused me as Satraj Singh, the corrupt police officer, a loving brother, a secret admirer of the girl she loves. With Diljit Bollywood definitely have got a horse of long race.
• - The song 'ik Kudi' just making me nuts. I might have heard the same for million of times and still want to hear it another millions of time.

Thumbs Down:

• - Karina Kapoor is the biggest thumb down to me for this movie. It felt like she completed her MBBS during 3 Idiots and now in posting to Punjab. Her make-up and dupatta never went unmanaged for a second which was just so unreal.
• - Shahid Kapoor has raised his bar very high with the movies like Kaminey, Haider, Jab We Met. But here he came across more of a jocker than anything else. His acting in Shaandaar was better than this. This movie seemed too much of overacting from Shahid Kapoor.
• The movie was more like a documentary 

Verdict : A one time watch. 

Book Review : 'Love, Rosie' by Cecelia Ahern

My Rating

Book Name : Love, Rosie (Also known as 'Where Rainbows End')
Author : Cecelia Ahern
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S.
She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex.
Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.

Book from my eyes : So lucky is a person who's best friend remain a best friend forever and nothing changes between them. That's how were Rosie and Alex. Childhood best friends who always had each other's back at any situation. But destiny always had something else planned for them, though nothing could take them away from each other,
but destiny never let them be together also. This book is a completely different type of a novel because of the writing style. The entire book is written in the form of e-mails, letters, notes which make it more interesting to read and not monotonous at all.

Thumbs Up:

• This book has a very fresh storytelling style. Not a single line was written in a descriptive way and everything was in the mode of conversation or emails which really attracted me. 
• The ease language and flow always flowing story kept me glued until the end. 

Thumbs Down :

• The book is written in multiple POV which demands a way of all the protagonists speak in their own way. But here everyone seems to speak in the same way as other which is a major drawback for me.

Verdict : I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. And I can say that I am now a fan of Cecelia Ahern. 

Book Review : 'Your Dreams are Mine Now' by Ravinder Singh

My Rating

Book Name : Your Dreams are Mine Now
Author : Ravinder Singh
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : ‘It can’t be love . . .’ he thinks and immediately his heart protests. 
They are complete opposites! 
She’s a small town girl who takes admission in Delhi University (DU). An idealist, studies are her first priority. 
He’s a Delhi guy, seriously into youth politics in the DU. He fights to make his way. Student union elections are his first priority. 
But then opposites attract as well! 
A scandal on campus brings them together, they begin to walk the same path and somewhere along, fall in love . . . But their fight against evil comes at a heavy price, which becomes the ultimate test of their lives. 
Against the backdrop of dominant campus politics, Your Dreams Are Mine Now is an innocent love story that will tug at your heartstrings.

Book from my eyes : Your dreams are mine now is a novel which is claimed to be against the backdrop of campus politics, from the prologue itself it was very clear that this novel is based on the brutal Delhi gang rape of 2012. And if you see from my eyes, this novel failed to do any sort of justice to campus politics or the gang rape. Rupali, a young and ambitious girl from Patna comes to DU, her dream university to study commerce. She encounters with a respectable professor, Mahajan, of the same college who is involved in molesting a lady peon. Being a girl of strong morals, Rupali couldn't keep herself as a distant spectator and gets adamant to punish the culprit. In this process, she meets Arjun, a senior and presidential candidate for college opposition party. They work hand on hand in getting Mahajan behind the bars and gradually they got involved in a relationship. They spent some great time, personally and in growing Arjun's party. But Mahajan took his revenge.

Thumbs Up: 

• I personally didn't like the book and there are many reasons behind the same. However, the thing I liked the most was the prologue has again been repeated in the chapter called '42 hours later'. Because most of the time author leaves the prologue at the very first page and then never bother to connect it back. But Ravindra Singh has taken a good move here.

Thumbs Down : As I already told I didn't like the book and there are many reasons behind the same. I would start from the first page or rather I should say, from the cover of the book,

• As it is claimed in the blurb, the book is against the backdrop of campus politics, however, from the cover of the book, its looks all about romance. Also, the image which has been used are of real humans. I believe, real images should only be used as a cover of any book only if the book is a biography or if the cover is from the movie. But none is the case here. The heart-shaped pendant, which has been mentioned again and again in the story, is not same as the one in the cover picture.


• Storytelling is very poor, it seemed more like a direct translation from Hindi to English. And in this course of the same, depth and feelings good moments have lost. 


• Characterization is very poor. Sometimes, I was feeling if I am reading a novel or watching a daily soap where guys are just silent spectators and girls do everything. Arjun was called youth icon, but there was not a single big thing which Arjun did, instead it was Rupali was driving every situation, starting from filing FIR against Mahajan to proposing Arjun to finding out the flaws in Arjun's party have to identify the course of action. Arjun was always a silent admirer of Rupali, nothing more, nothing less.


• Though it is claimed campus politics is the backdrop of the story, but campus politics has always taken the back stage. There was not even any name of the political party Arjun and Rupali belonged to, it was always 'Arjun's Party' even for the opposition as well. Mahajan, who was out on bail for supporting campus politics, had not much contribution over there than plotting to rape and murder attempt of Rupali.


• Also, there are many flaws like, it was never cleared what was the source of income for Arjun's family, from the nation of his mother it seemed they are not wealthy but Arjun owns a personal jeep. I am not well aware of the girls hostel of DU, but it did seem to me quite awkward at a guy can have access to the lawn right next to the hostel anytime including 5 a.m. in the morning. The masturbating part of Rupali just ruined the art of masturbation. And there are much more...


• Last but not the least, a novel should be unique in its own way but using a brutal real incident as plot is something didn't go well with me.

Verdict : I wouldn't recommend anyone to read this novel. There are lots of scope to improvement and research.

Movie Review : One Night Stand

'

My Rating

Movie Name : One Night Stand
Directed by : Jasmine Moses D'souza
Produced by : Pradeep Sharma, Furquan Khan
Written by : Niranjan Iyengar
Cast : Sunny Leone, Tanuj Virwani, Nyra Banerjee, Khalid Siddiqui, Ninad Kamat

Plot : After a steamy night filled with passion, Urvil (Tanuj Virwani) and Celina (Sunny Leone) return to their regular lives. He is a typical young achiever with a lovely wife by his side, who has no idea about his sexcapades. Celina is devotedly married to a top-notch businessman and has the most picture-perfect family. But, Urvil cannot get her out of his mind. He becomes an obsessive stalker who wouldn't settle for anything less than either having her or destroying her.
*Plot is mostly copied*

My take on the movie: I watched the tailor of 'One Night Stand' in Youtube in between one of the music videos and it really caught my attention and I was kind of waiting to watch this movie. Finally, when I got a chance to watch, I was optimistic about watching a real life projection on the screen. Urvil a young achiever in event management world often ends up having one night flings and like many other men, he is proud of his achievement and always a loving, caring and romantic husband at home. But then there comes a lady in his life, Celina, during one of his work related trips to Thailand and they have a great time together including a hot, steamy and passionate night. But this time it was not like other trips of Urvil, he actually falls for this girl and keeps hunting for her, who turned to be devoted wife a diamond tycoon and their starts the journey of Urvil's revenge and going down to the ladder of his successful career.

Thumbs Up:

• Apart from songs for this movie, I actually couldn't find anything else which could be considered as thumbs up. Songs are really good.

Thumbs Down:

• One night stand, a very common thing our society always been undercover and never given its due importance and potential damages it causes in one's personal life. With a movie, being completely on this script, it was expected to be more focused on this subject but the movie failed terribly.
• Sunny Leone seemed to be very artificial, as Ambar, As Celina, as a mother, as a girlfriend, she always seemed to be acting and not for a moment she seemed to be real.
• Most importantly, the movie failed miserably to deliver any sort of message or make any point. As a normal audience, I wouldn't even think about this movie for a second after coming out of the theater.

Verdict : 'One Night Stand' is not at all worth watching and if you don't want it, definitely you won't lost anything but definitely you can save time, money and energy.

Book Review : 'Who Do You Love' by Jennifer Weiner

My Rating

Book Name : Who Do You Love
Author : Jennifer Weiner
Genre : Fiction

Blurb : Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she's intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy's taken back to the emergency room and Rachel's sent back to her bed, they think they'll never see each other again.
Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.
Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they've been running toward each other all along.
With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters, and a love story you'll never forget.

Book from my eyes:
'Who do you love' is a novel about two childhood sweethearts, Rachel and Andrew, met first time at a hospital at an age of 8 years, one with a broken heart(as the author has picturised the hole of Rachel's heart) and other with a broken hand, became friends in no time and shared some special childish moments. As happens to every patient in any hospital, they went apart from each other with no contacts to meet again after another 9 years. Slowly, they became sole mates over decades. The love between Andrew and Rachel has been crafted so nicely that everyone, at least every girl, will definitely dream of having the same love story as them. But as life is never a bed of roses; things started falling apart from Andrew and Rachel as well. Their priorities changed and misunderstanding created a wall between them, throwing each other away. Again sooner or later the cloud vanishes and they again unite and over multiple break ups and patch ups, finally to come to an 'All's well that ends well' end.
In parallel to the love story, the book has also fabricated the rise of a young boy through all thick and thins and making it a grand to Olympics and the fall from the top.

Thumbs Up:

• Though the novel is another love story but not a very normal one. It has been crafted very nicely. The love story of a rich girl and a poor boy is an eternal thing, but the author has been successful to give it a new dimension and been successful in keeping intact it until the end.
• The rise of Andrew from being 'Zero to Hero' and falling from being 'Hero to Zero' along with the mills and boons which come as parcel of this journey, has been written flawlessly.
• A man's psychology behind every extra-marital affair or cheating seemed to be so real; I personally could feel that I am going through the same.
• Last but not the least, the book cover is too perfect. When I picked the book, I didn't like the cover but then along with the story, when I learnt the meaning of book cover, I am sure nothing could have been a better cover for this book.

Thumbs Down:

• First few chapters seemed to be too prolonged and dragged. Prologue didn't add any value to the story.
• The twist about Andrew's father was barely needed as it didn't add any value to the story than increasing couple of page. So were few details about Mr. Sill and Rachel's job and sorority.

Verdict : This book is a decent read and the happy ending definitely adds feel good factor upon finishing the same.