Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts

12 April, 2020

Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj - Book Spot Light

~ Book Tour ~
Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj

10th to 30th April





About the Book:

She believes in love, family and…squiggles!

Alisha Rana is not your typical single desi girl. For one, she is on the wrong side of 30.  For another, she is divorced. And last but definitely not least, she is still, gasp, a virgin!



Alisha doesn’t want much. But what she does want is that elusive thing all women search for – A man who gets her…but a man who gets her hot! She calls it “feeling the squiggle.”



Enter Dr. Vivaan Kapoor, cute, hot, squiggle-worthy. The younger brother of her cousin's prospective groom, he’s got the squiggle factor in spades. The only catch? He's never been married and is years younger than Alisha. Basically, completely off-limits.



And then there is Arjun. Widowed, older than her by the right number of years and a genuinely nice guy. He's Vivaan’s cousin and a so-called perfect match for Alisha. The problem is, Alisha’s squiggle-o-meter refuses to budge for him.



What will Alisha choose? A lifetime together with the 'right' man or a chance at happiness with the 'wrong' one?



Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon



Read an Excerpt from Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj


She closed her eyes and let the nippy breeze cool her flushed cheeks. This moment of solitude in the middle of all the chaos felt like heaven.

“Private moment? Or can I interrupt?”

Resigned to her fate, Alisha looked up. “Are you stalking me?”

“No.” Sitting down next to her and stretching his long legs out, Vivaan laced his hands on his stomach. “It was getting a little stifling in there, so I thought I’d come out for fresh air. I saw you sitting here alone and figured I’d see if you wanted some company.”

“Terrible,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“What?”

“Your excuse for being out here is terrible. If I wanted company, I would have stayed in there. And the only thing stifling you in there were the women throwing themselves at you.”

Grinning, he pointed out, “You weren’t.”

Tossing her hair, she said, “I have taste.”

“Ouch.” Wincing, he straightened from his slouch. “That hurt. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from that.”

“Oh please. Go in there and let one of those girls slobber all over you. You’ll be fine in minutes.”

“All those tasteless girls in there? No thanks. I think I prefer the discerning one out here.” Reaching out to touch a lock of her hair he twined it around his fingers and watched her reaction.

“Cut it out.” Slapping at his hand, Alisha stood up. “You shouldn’t be flirting with me.”

Rising with her, he faced her. “Why?”

“Because I don’t cradle snatch and I certainly don’t intend to start with my younger cousin’s brother in law.” She tried for both their family’s sakes to take the sting out of her words but knew she’d failed when she saw the expression on his face.

“How old do you think I am?”

Alisha sighed. “Do we have to do this?”

“I’m trying to understand,” Vivaan said. “The age thing matters so much?”

 Alisha stared past him to the crowd now leaving the bar and yelling out goodbyes to each other. Drunk, happy and carefree. She felt every inch of her exhausting thirty three years at that moment.

“For the record, I’m twenty nine years old.” His low murmur had her closing her eyes. Twenty nine. Shit.

“I don’t think we should be having this conversation,” she said, starting to walk past him to the foyer.

Vivaan caught her hand as she crossed him and yanked her back, his grip firm and compelling. “Answer me. My age matters so much?”

“Yes,” she said, finally.

“Why? Does it make that much of a difference to who I am?”

“Why? What do you mean why? I’m older than you and divorced to add to that. You need any more reasons?” Giving her hand a slight tug, she groaned when his grasp only tightened. “Let go of my hand.”

“Does being older and divorced mean you can’t be friends with me?”

“It means I can’t stand around holding hands with you.” Staring pointedly at their hands until he released hers, she stepped back and started to move away.

“What makes you think any of it matters to me?” His question had her stopping in her tracks and turning to look at him. “I don’t care, Alisha. I like you.”

“It doesn’t make a difference if none of it matters to you. All of it matters to me.” This time when she made her way into the crowd, she didn’t look back.






About Shilpa Suraj:





Shilpa Suraj wears many hats - corporate drone, homemaker, mother to a fabulous toddler and author.

An avid reader with an overactive imagination, Shilpa has weaved stories in her head since she was a child. Her previous stints at Google, in an ad agency and as an entrepreneur provide colour to her present day stories, both fiction and non-fiction.









Shilpa on the Web:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram


Until next time,



02 April, 2020

Love, Marriage and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj - Release Day Blitz


~ Release Day Blitz ~
Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj





Releasing Today on Amazon!





About the Book:

She believes in love, family and…squiggles!

Alisha Rana is not your typical single desi girl. For one, she is on the wrong side of 30.  For another, she is divorced. And last but definitely not least, she is still, gasp, a virgin!



Alisha doesn’t want much. But what she does want is that elusive thing all women search for – A man who gets her…but a man who gets her hot! She calls it “feeling the squiggle.”



Enter Dr. Vivaan Kapoor, cute, hot, squiggle-worthy. The younger brother of her cousin's prospective groom, he’s got the squiggle factor in spades. The only catch? He's never been married and is years younger than Alisha. Basically, completely off-limits.



And then there is Arjun. Widowed, older than her by the right number of years and a genuinely nice guy. He's Vivaan’s cousin and a so-called perfect match for Alisha. The problem is, Alisha’s squiggle-o-meter refuses to budge for him.



What will Alisha choose? A lifetime together with the 'right' man or a chance at happiness with the 'wrong' one?



Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon



Enjoy the Quotes from Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj










About Shilpa Suraj:





Shilpa Suraj wears many hats - corporate drone, homemaker, mother to a fabulous toddler and author.

An avid reader with an overactive imagination, Shilpa has weaved stories in her head since she was a child. Her previous stints at Google, in an ad agency and as an entrepreneur provide colour to her present day stories, both fiction and non-fiction.









Shilpa on the Web:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram


Until next time,




25 October, 2017

The Story of my Second Marriage by Mahesh Sowani - [Book Review]

Book Details: 

Book Title: The Story of my second marriage
Author: Mahesh Sowani
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Blue Flower books
Length of the book: 146 pages
Source: A free e-review copy from the author

Blurb:
Marriage, does it really make a person happy? Or is it all about adjustments? Intense, haunting and evocative, The Story of My Second Marriage is a delightful rumination on marriage, adjustments and human nature.

My Review:
This is the story of Manjunath, a government officer hailing from rural Maharashtra. It is about his first love, marriage, problems, divorce, his friends, his second marriage to Yamini, problems, and adjustments. I have read many marriage stories in the perspective of women, but this is the first story I am reading from a man's perspective.

Manju is insecure, afraid to take risks in his life and afraid to take important decisions by himself. Even though I don't like this character personally as he forces his opinions on his wife, I can relate to this type of attitude in some men that I know. Manju divorces his first wife due to her dominating personality and fights and marries  Yamini who is also a divorcee. I didn't like that I couldn't understand the characters in the story except Manju's. Yamini lies consistently with Manju and loses his trust. Neither the reader nor Manju can understand her. Santhosh seemed like a person who uses Manju to make him marry Yamini and misguides his friend with the worst advice when Manju and Yamini have problems. But, Manju won't understand that Santhosh is misguiding him and considers him as his best friend. Manju's boss's character is also not portrayed properly. She disappears because of believing in one news about Manju from an outsider and never tries to learn the truth from Manju directly. Characterization is a major setback for this story. Another setback is grammatical errors and improper editing

The narration is ok but fluctuates between past and present without clear marking. The moral the author wants to convey is that a married couple has to reduce their expectations and forgive each other for their mistakes and move on. This is good but the author doesn't talk about the root cause of the problems between the couple.  

My Rating: 3/5

PS: I have received this e-book from the author and this is my honest opinion on the book.

Purchase Link:
 Amazon (free in Kindle as of now)

About the Author:

Mahesh Sowani is a writer, poet, book reviewer, speaker and a legal professional. He holds masters degrees in Law and Management. He was a faculty member for Master of Laws course at the University of Mumbai. He has a keen interest in yoga, meditation, English literature and financial management.

Many of his writings have been published in leading English and Marathi publications like Hindustan Times, Outlook Traveller, Maharashtra Times, Yuva Sakaal, Kalnirnay etc. He writes on his blog http://maheshsowani.blogspot.in/ He is contributing author of the books Defiant Dreams, Winged Hearts, Love Stories Around Us, Friendship Bonds Beyond Time and Unbound trajectories that changed course of life

His twitter handle is @maheshsowani and facebook profile https://www.facebook.com/mahesh.sowani


Until next time,


28 June, 2016

Jamba The Joint Family by Sriram Balasubramanian - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title:  Jamba, The Joint Family
Author: Sriram Balasubramanian
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Read out Loud publishing LLP
No of pages:208
Source: A free review copy from the author through book r3vi3w tours


About the Book:


In an age when families are becoming more nuclear, Karthik's family was an aberration: It was a large joint family with its own complications, contradictions and commonalities. Two love stories and a wedding get intertwined within the family at the same time. One of them could make or break the joint family, will the family survive? Will the love story succeed? Will the younger generation respond to the needs of the family? How will the older generation respond to the changing perceptions of the younger generation? Will the family eco-system survive?

In an India swamped by globalization, this racy and humorous story tries to dissect the generational changes in Indian society and how the Indian society is responding to the changes.

My Review: 

Jamba is about a joint family in Chennai and the story covers the drama that unfolds during and the preparation of a marriage ceremony. The  author walks us through the incidents and introduces us to different characters and their attitudes with a pinch of humor.  This is an easy and quick read.  If you already knew something about Tamil Brahmin community, their traditions, the food and Chennai city, you can relate to the story well and you will enjoy for sure. I did enjoy, as it brought back memories of my hostel days in Chennai and the marriages I attended in Tamil Nadu. 

I like the cover photo, but I didn't find the title very apt. The narration is easy to follow as if you are talking to a friend. The  plot is somewhat predictable but interesting. I felt bored at one point of time when there is no story going ahead and only marriage preparations are depicted. It was dragging a bit in the middle. The climax is great. 

Loved these lines from the book and these sums up the actual message given by the author at the end.

Families are meant to be the core of our culture. They are the unifying point. They have strict rules and stereotypes but they will NEVER leave you alone


A joint family is an inclusive set-up, never exclusive, and that’s why our culture has survived for centuries.

My Rating:


4.5/5

PS: I have received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review and this is my unbiased opinion on the book.


Book Links:

Ebook

About the Author:

Sriram Balasubramanian is a Writer who has contributed extensively to international publications such as NYT, WSJ, Foreign Policy, Forbes India, and The Hindu among others. He has interacted with a variety of global business leaders and policy makers in his experience as a journalist and writer. His main area of focus has been on human development, education and socio-economic issues with a global context.
Besides this, he has a Master’sDegree from University of Southern California and is pursuing another degree at Columbia University in NYC. He is also authoring another book on the World Chess championship which was held recently.
He is very passionate about India, its cultural ethos & socio-economic evolution. He can be reached at @Sriram316or http://www.facebook.com/jambathenovel20orhttp://www.srirambala.in


Until next time,

This Review is a part of the Blogger Outreach Program by b00k r3vi3w Tours
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