ALL YOURS STRANGER Book Review

ALL YOURS STRANGER got me like…ALL YOURS WRITER!! JUST GIVE ME THE GODDAMN NEXT BOOK.

Has it ever occurred to you while reading a series of bad books you wondered if you lost interest in the idea of reading? Or maybe, Books now are just genuinely bad...? Well quite recently I have been going through that phase, and quite frankly I was very much on the verge of giving up on the upcoming Indian  fiction writers.

While my  craving for Indian fiction just turned out to be pure starvation because of all the poorly written novels, comes around the Stranger trilogy by Novoneel Chakraborthy. And hopes restored. Having read, one of his previous book, 'A thing beyond forever' I was sure to read something unexpected but boy oh boy was this a treat!

Mistake on my behalf I happened to pick the second book of trilogy first although even if I haven't read the book, there is no confusion or lack of incomplete feeling with the reading. The writer clearly made sure, the readers understood everything, most importantly without being repetitive.

All yours stranger is one epic romance thriller novel that will keep you hooked until the very end and once it ends, the wait for the next book is sure to turn you into a lunatic. There wasn't one tad bit of cliché, not one ounce of melodrama but just to the point story that keeps shooting mysteries at your face and you keep going like…

The turn of events, the way the mysteries in the life of Rivannah unfolds, the way stranger interacts with her, the unveiling of parts of the mystery and the more mysteries arising from it just makes you even more desperate to know the reality behind all the shadows. Unlike my other reviews I genuinely do not want to give any brief on the storyline as that is exactly what readers would call major spoilers and I don't want to do that.

Excellent screenplay, compelling storyline and subtle darkness in the current relationship scenario in India  all put together, All Yours Stranger is a must read and a great treat for the readers, of course after you finish reading the first book.

Now I'm off to undo my mistake by getting back to the first of trilogy while you better start with the first book, to enjoy this mystery ride authentically.

Needless to say the book truly deserves a five star rating and a special place in your bookshelf.

THE SECRET WISH LIST Book Review

THE SECRET WISH LIST now includes death due to boredom and time travel to the time when facebook didn't exist. Guess what? It did happen when I read this book.

Preeti Shenoy managed to pick one of the most ignored topic in Indian society, the suppression an indian housewife goes through, which although is quite appreciated, is also a story that is already known to everyone.

The draggy narration of how the protagonist's husband uses as housemaid and sex toy as if is not painful enough, it is repeated in every tenth page making sure the readers still continue to hate him.

We get it miss, you are a timid housewife raising a child and your husband is a jackass and?

So the story goes like one day Diksha, the protagonist when goes to meet her cousin Vibha, recently widowed, comes up with a secret wish list of her own due to all the pushing from Vibha. Diksha's wish list includes a lot of things like learning salsa, snorkeling, getting drunk and sex with another guy and stuff like that. Now that an annoying cousin that Vibha is, although is willing to help her tick off everything, keeps reminding her that except for the last wish, she can have everything, ALL THE TIME.

Bad ass that Diksha is, manages to tick off all the things in her wish list with just a gallon of drama from her husband added in between. Yes, even the sex part. And quite the happy ending there was, she manages to get away with her affair guy Ankit, give a long speech to her family about how they ruined her life and salutes her husband with middle finger and takes off with her kid.

Now questions from all the women across the world with jerk husbands, We didn't have high school affair and nobody is taking us anymore, any suggestion for us and our marriage?No? OKAY.

FUNNIEST PART OF THE STORY: Now there is a mention of social networking site where people register about their education and jobs and meet people from the same places if you lost contact with them, now if you think this is Facebook, gotcha buddy, you are wrong!! This site has the lamest name and quite creepy in some sense 'Blast From The Past'. The writer managed to keep even the name draggy enough to bore you to sleep. I really wonder if anybody wants any kind of blast from the past anymore.

Person: HEYYYYYY!!!! Remember we did our 3^rd grade together, I've been searching for you all over. How are you??? Where have you been???

Me: *blocked* You cannot send message to this person anymore.

So the narration is repetitive, dialogues are lame and downright bland, the depth in the storytelling that should make the readers dwell inside the story made us dwell into sleeping.

I would like to give two stars to this book, one for the topic raised and one for the representation of a mother in law, completely opposite to the stereotypical ones.