Let Me Go by Shriram Iyer

Best friends Indu and Anshu meet in school and bond over all things innocent and fun. They start ignoring each other  in college but what happens when they part ways is what we call life. When they get a second chance to meet and be friends , it is going to test both of them to the limit to decide how long to hold on to each other. 

Sometimes you start reading a book with some apprehension and expecting to be entertained for a while. And it is good as that allows the book to surprise you in so many ways. This book is a ode to friendship with love. And I am so happy someone wrote , perhaps a little cliched but still a story that so much is believable and close to truth.

Anshu and and Indu have always been best friends and nothing more. Even in their differences , they have not thought to hurt each other though Indu's actions however selfish , have always been for love and to make her relationship work. When Anshu falls in love and decides to marry , he has no plan to think of his past life but it still comes to crash the party. How he manages his friendship while juggling with everything else is beyond imagination.

This is a story of messed up priorities , reckless loving and living. It talks of dreams and how we get derailed from achieving that. There is no judgement , nothing wrong or right in friendships sometimes.  This is a well plotted and inspiring story. The story pulls you along very easily. There is no pretense or lofty ideas in there. It is a simple book that is meant to make you feel good when you finish.

I really enjoyed this book and am so glad I spent one weekend with these characters.

My rating : 4/5

#Review: Friends and Other Liars by Kaela Coble

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started this book with some expectations based on the Goodreads review.  And they were all met but in a way I had not expected. I expected the secrets to be really more sinister and maybe directly hurting the narrator.  But in bargain , the way the secrets impact the people close to them and the everyone's life is so amazingly captured in the book. I hated some characters ,empathized with some and in the end , I fell in love with each one of them. That's how this book hooks the reader and make you feel concerned. This was a beautiful story. Tragic ,but so full of real wise words. I had a hard time letting this one go.

About the Author: 
KaelaCoble lives in Burlington, Vermont, and is a member of the League of Vermont Writers and a graduate of the WoMentoring Project. This is her first novel.

Website: https://kaelacoble.com/


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Review: Memories of Fire by Ashok Chopra

Memories of Fire by Ashok Chopra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Memories of fire is a book about five friends in the 1950s who grow up witnessing or being affected by the political and economic changes in India and Pakistan. They meet not so frequently but have lot of letter exchanges and two of them are in habit of keeping a journal, through which we are told a major part of the story.

I have mixed feelings for this book. I think this book is more of a personal recollection of events and places mixed with a fictional story that is not linear at all. Even in flashbacks , there is not a clear flow. There are letters and paragraph that read like a wikipedia posts , so dry and to the point. While you may enjoy those nuggets at times as per your interest, area,  it takes away attention from the story. Some places I did not want to go back to the fictional part of the book at all , so good was the setting and details of the real events. I really could not add up the two in many chapters. The book appears to be inspired from true people and events from the author's life but the fictionalization is a little too sketchy.

It makes an okay read for people who do not like historical fiction at all.

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#Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a long long time I encountered a book that I liked and disliked equally. It's like reading about Aza was as exhausting as her friend Daisy felt about being with her. But then, Aza and her life together with the wonderful conversations of Davis made this book so so beautiful to read.

Aza is stuck with the thoughts of her own mind , thoughts on being sick , thoughts of not being good and thus thought spiral is getting out of control. She seems self obsessed most times while always wanting to be the other way. Daisy is fun, free and a normal teenage girl that wants to escape her poor life and be famous and live to the fullest. Together they chance upon the mystery of finding a fugitive billionaire in order to win a reward. That's how Aza ,who knew the son Davis meets him again and that's the most beautiful part of this book. Not the love story but how their crazy thoughts and life coping mechanism fit together , as long as it lasts.

The book is an essay on mental health , the beauty of love , friendship and dealing with loss aswegrow up into adults.

You have to read John Green to have your heart broken and mended , same time.

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All Signs Lead Back to You by Aniesha Brahma

Every time Aniesha writes a book / story , I feel so happy knowing that it will heal my soul whenever I decide to read it. Of course , getting a review copy is one of the pleasures that keeps this blog alive. I have read all of her books and one thing that shines about her writing is the way she makes everyday stories special. Not just for the characters, but also for the readers.

It takes so much brilliance to show that there is a love story at every where we look with love and care for the feelings. And if you think teenage romance is so different from the way we love at later age , you do not know love at all. Be at any age , people make stupid mistakes and some brave choices every time there is heart involved. This is a tale of friends and lovers and how we switch between two , 'cause friends can be soulmates too !

Afraid of the future and being hurt , Diya Rai breaks up with Ashwin , hurting him not for the loss of love but more for the friendship that they shared. For both Diya and Ashwin , they were the most suitable person in the whole world - opposites and yet inseparable for the whole time they were together in school. Diya, the sensitive girl with a hurtful past found strength in Ashwin and later in Nina , her new best friend in college. Nina later becomes her strength and guide when Ashwin and Diya meet again , but refuse to have anything to do with each other's life.

I liked Nina and felt Diya was little too stupid for my taste. Ashwin is adorable and charming most times but it is the other two characters that deserved more than being caricatures in this drama.

Overall , A lovely sweet read. Do give it a chance to heal you when you feel low some day.

My rating : 3.5/5

When Our Worlds Collide by Aniesha Brahma

I have always admired Aniesha's books. For some unexplained reason,they remind me of my younger dreamy self. And then there is the poems she weaves into the stories. Like icing on a fresh yummy cake :D

One night last week,I started reading this book just to get it started so I would finish it next day. 2 hours later, i had finished the book and had such a huge smile on my face.

This is a story of Akriti ,Zyan and some more people who are a part of their world. Akriti and Zyan are as different in approach to life as much they are similar in interests and understanding of life. But this book is not about the plot but more about how Aniesha has treated it with her words and understanding of characters. There is this whole range of love and friendship saga that we all go through and sometimes we do realize its neither the end or the beginning of either. It is a ride life offers us at times and one should just enjoy it.

Aniesha is one of the few authors who really write YA in true sense. The way the changing emotions and trends are captured in this novella is brilliant. The book size is perfect , flow of the story too. This is a book for readers of all ages and taste.

My rating : 4/5

Buy When Our Worlds Collide (General Press) here

A Bowlful of butterflies by Ritu Lalit

Synopsis : This is the heartwarming story of an inseperable threesome, Chandni, Amrit and Soma. The girls are an exciting bunch but have a rather uneventful life in the sleepy town of Majhi Nagar. They are completely focused on their impending Class XII boards, until Chandni’s handsome cousin Jogi comes to live with her family. His presence brings to the surface many hidden truths that the girls must deal with.

The story spans a period of four months, in which Chandni and her family deal with many complex modern day relationship issues. A Bowlful of Butterflies deals with serious issues but is written in a light hearted vein. It is an engrossing tale dealing with the transition of Chandni and her friends from school girls to womanhood.




Nimue Says : Teenage.You remember the first crush ? The first time you wanted to know more about love and if its true ? the first kiss or when you imagined about it ? Being jealous with your best friend ? reading this book was a trip into those memory lanes. The way Ritu defines all characters  - the mother who left singing yet gave the knowledge to her kids , the content and experienced father and his brother , the ambitious and rebellious eldest son , the younger son bearing the effects of other's actions , Chandni the central character , Jogi - her cousin who silently bears allthat happens around him and at times being the reason behind it too ; her friends and other characters that connect all these people as family and friends. the story is predictable abit but that does not spoil the pleasure of reading this book. The family drama as you can term it, is both real and interesting to read.The emotions are spontaneous and well expressed. I literally smiled and felt sad at the events that were incorporated in the book.

A total heartfelt book !


Rating: 4/5


Also check the book trailer here :

Other Details :
Number of pages: 220
ISBN_PB: 9788129118455
Price :  156 @ flipkart


Ritu Lalit is one of my fav blogger.Check her amazing fun posts here

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