All we hold dear……. Nick Nichols
Jack Adams is a lawyer, struggling to return to his practice after his six-month suspension. His friend Mike Mason, who is also a lawyer offers Jack a probate case defending the estate of deceased Beth Thomson. Will Thomson, Beth’s husband of thirty years, had shot her and her 24 year old daughter who was engaged to be married. After which Will had burned down their house and shot himself as well.
All Jack had to prove was that Beth was not involved in causing the entire incident and make a wrongful death claim, so the estate could be passed on to her father Stan Knight who gets everything. Will Thomson’s side of the family was also filing a probate, but Jack had all the cards in his favor. Jack desperately needed the case so he could get back to being a lawyer again. He was very mindful of mistakes committed in his last case which had led to his suspension.
The reason for the murder/ suicide was not on the agenda. It was a simple probate case, but things turned and suddenly it didn’t seem simple anymore. Everyone around the Thomson’s seemed to have secrets and were not telling the whole truth. The reasons for the murders suddenly became the most important aspect of the case and Jack had no option but to delve into the why’s of the murder/suicide.
This legal thriller had me totally captivated. It was fast paced, and I was able to finish the book in two sittings. Jack’s character was totally devoid of drama and seemed very real. The characters in the story were very logical. The story had me interested till the end. Thank you #netgalley for the book. I enjoyed it immensely. I would rate it a cool 4 out of 5.
The Last text you sent…….. Elise Fender
Avery Walker is a happy go lucky seventeen year old whose life is centered around her brother Whit Walker, A football star who is adored by her parents, family, school and everyone around. Her life is turns topsy turvy when Whit has a head injury on the field and passes away. What follows was Avery coping with the loss of her brother. Avery is looking for closure and begins rediscovering her brother through his texts and finding a whole new facet of his personality and his life which is unknown to her and her parents. She meets Jack Crawley, a musician who helps her in this discovery and together they meet the challenges of achievements and disappointments life holds for them. Whit’s secret love life, his passion for poetry are facets which Avery discovers with the help of Jack. She delves into the field of sports medicine to understand what happened to her brother and it gives an entirely new direction to her life.
This is a wonderful book in the NA genre. It flowed beautifully and is a very easy read. Avery’s trials in finding her brothers secrets had me hooked to the story and it ends very organically. Avery’s grief of losing a sibling who she loved so much and the relationship between the sibling and cousin Margot is really beautiful. The twists and turns in the mystery where Jack and Avery look for clues while living their teenage life full of dreams has me hooked. I like the lack of drama of the climax. I root for Jack and Avery and was able to get involved with the characters in the book. I was able to read the book in two sittings and it was a really good experience. Highly recommended…… I would give it a cool 4.5 out of 5. Thank you new galley and Borough publishing house for the book,
Josh and Gemma make a baby
This is my first book by author Sarah Ready…. and boy am I ready for more of her books or what 😊 Gemma Jacobs is a quirky clumsy positive person who finds the silver lining in all that happens around her. Her new year resolution is to have a baby but the twist in the story is that Gemma is single and is suffering from endometriosis which makes IVF her only chance at fulfilling her dream. She is looking for a sperm donor who is not faceless or nameless…. enter Josh Lewenthal Gemma’s childhood crush and her brother’s best friend. Gemma describes Josh as the house plant who is always there around but never ever given any importance to.
Gemma has been badly hurt in her past relationship and her divorce with Jeremy left her damaged. She wants a clear and defined relationship with the father of her child and wants to avoid any kind of emotional baggage. She thinks she is mature and professional enough to pull through with her plans.
I listened to the whole book in just one sitting. It’s a typical Mills and Boon Romcom. The book is funny witty and really hits the spot. Having gone through IVF myself I totally understood where this was coming from…… the mood swings, the anger, the jabs, the pain, the loss, the miscarriages. But the hilarious take on IVF was something I personally think every person undergoing it needs. The easter egg hunt had me laughing like a mad woman. I wish I could read the book ten years back when I was going through the same. I wish my doc was as cool as Dr Ingraham. 😉 The book was read by Erin Mallon….. I loved her!!!! Currently I am looking for Lime Jello…. I just must have it.
I want to thank Netgalley and Swift and Lewis Publication for the free ALC of the book. Also a big thanks to Sarah Ready and Erin Mallon for the wonderful read. I would rate the book a 5/5.
Wayward Son
Wayward son is the second in the Ed Runyon series by author Steve Goble. Ed Runyon is a Former NYPD Police officer who subsequently settles in the Ohio country, where he was born. He is haunted by his past cases where he was witness to a lot of cruelty especially towards children. After his yet another unsuccessful stint, he finally decides to start his own PI agency specializing in finding children. His first case in that direction is the case of finding 15-year-old Jimmy Zachman. Jimmy belongs to a very religious family. His parents are homophobic and extremely averse to atheists. What follows is the pursuit of chess wizard Jimmy, with Ed pursuing any clues that he can find along the way.
The book is based with the backdrop of social issues of color, choice of sexuality, cybercrimes and of course the deadly virus. The author deals with all these issues very beautifully without losing the reader or the main plot. I loved that the book is an easy read, and I was able to finish the book in a couple of sittings. I particularly liked the Rajnikant kind of action in the book 😊. (What can I say, I am a fan of Thalaiva) The book has the potential to keep the reader engaged. I wouldn’t have dropped the book halfway.
Do give it a try, the book is releasing in August this year. I would rate it a cool 4 out of 5.
#waywardson #netgalley
Jasmine builds on shifting sands
Jasmine is an ambitious talented college going girl who gets a lucky break into the fashion industry. What follows is Jasmine’s trials, challenges and her methods to cope with her changing circumstances. She meets interesting people in her journey who help bring about changes not only to her professional life but also into aspects of her spiritual journey towards maintaining a balance in her life and excelling in her professional life as well, thereby contributing to her coming into being a wholesome person.
The book is self help book by first time author Sanjay Desai who tries to give a formula of manifestation to the universe, using a metaphor of Jasmine and her trials in the fashion industry. The metaphor is intricately woven to make the reader understand the delicate nuances of the spiritual journey which otherwise would come across as a lot of “GYAN”. This easily taps into the reader’s modern mindset.
The Characters of Jasmine, Prasad, Bala. Shaheen, Anjolie, etc are well woven keeping the book light and not bowed down by the heavy spiritual theories which is sometimes gets difficult to read.
I particularly like the prologue. The conversations between Ma Krishnamayi and Sanjay in the beautiful backdrop of Kedar was very enticing. The picture that was painted was very beautiful peaceful and serene. The rules of mindfulness as I know it being explained by Ma Krishnamayi was quite profound. Past is the dream power, memory of an impression we carry, also the default state and the creation power where we can actually make changes and probably bring any changes in the world we are living, a state where we can exercise our power to manifest.
The world that was given to us has not been created by us. It is there by default within which we have to survive. Hence depending upon our creation power is all that we can do to make any changes to our shifting circumstances. A quote I liked from the book which will stay with me was :
“To see with the Inner Eye is to believe
To believe with unwavering Faith is to Manifest “
Another takeaway from the manifestation formula was the focus and alignment factors which lead to the achievement of our goals:Focus on the goals and Alignment to the circumstances.
All in all an easy and quick read which no fancy trimmings. Only my wish is that the editing team paid more attention to grammar and spellings. I found that a huge pitfall. Looking forward to reading more interesting reads from the author.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Amidst all the confusion of life and the pandemic I happened to read a crazy masterpiece. There are few psycho thrillers which you read that you already have an opinion about when you start off and you are so sure that this is how it is going to turn out and then when you read it, it not only stops you in your tracks but for some time you go comatose. Verity is a book just like that. It is simply brain shattering. I read it amidst cooking and all my chores and almost started a fire in my kitchen.
There are always two sides of a coin, in life we all have our preconceived notions of good bad evil. What is good from one person’s perception is completely different from another person’s view of life. Our definition of things in life are very different and the same thing can have different meaning for another person. This book questions all such perceptions takes you to the edge and pushes you off. The book questions the most basic thing and the beginning of every life, mother. We all have definitions of motherhood but this one is scary terrifying….. I’m scared to put in an epithet here.
The main antagonist and probably protagonist of the book is Verity, a successful best selling author who writes thrillers but with a twist. She writes books from the murderer’s point of view. Her books are evil and twisted and that makes her books, bestsellers
Verity meets with an accident which puts her in a vegetated state. She and her family have had a bad year, where within a span of a few months her twin daughters died in separate mysterious circumstances and then her own accident. Lowen Ashleigh is a lesser known author who writes thrillers like Verity. She is called on by the publishing house to complete the series that Verity was working on. She has troubles of her own, personal and financial. So its given to say that she needs the job badly. The story starts with her moving in to Verity’s home to help acquaint herself with the research, writings and drafts if any made by Verity for the series so that she can restart writing from where Verity had left off.
Once she moves in she finds a manuscript of an autobiography written by Verity just before her accident. The autobiography is dark and twisted and questions everything that has happened, everything that appears is probably not as it seems, there are two stories for everything that has happened or maybe not. The happy go lucky beautiful family consisting of Verity her husband her twin daughters and her little son may not really have been so happy and beautiful after all, or is fiction afterall just fiction.
For me the character of Verity is so prominent it wipes out all other characters. They seem to fade into oblivion. Her husband her son Lowen they all seem totally forgettable. I like the way the author has handled the character. It is dark, keeps you on the edge and wipes out any preconceived stereotypical ideas you may have.
For me I had to hug my daughter to sleep. Even as I say this it is a given that you have to read it.
Irrationally passionate – Jason Kothari
Irrationally passionate is the passionate journey of Jason Kothari’s entrepreneurial venture from being a rebel to be successful turnaround business expert.
On first glance the book appears to be a lot of gyaan on entrepreneurship, something like a text book on entrepreneurship. I was prepared to be bored, but the very first page of the book hooked me. Jason Kothari takes you through the travails of his life from his childhood to his story of becoming a turnaround business genius. He gets you involved in his journey as he bargains with the Agra road side vendor for a chess set for Rs 30 from its original quoted price of Rs 500. Next you root for him as he fights his demons and acquires Valiant entertainments. The challenges in his personal life pushing himself beyond his capabilities and some more to prove he deserves his title of being a turnaround entrepreneur.
We have all loved comics in our childhood but i have never heard of anyone acquire his favorite comic company from bankruptcy. The episode of buying valiant was thrilling and I rooted for Jason as he ran around warehouses looking for documents studying and finding loopholes in bankruptcy laws, as well as studying for his projects in Wharton, all this at the age of nineteen.
We often see stories of people who achieve so much in life but they cant handle their success or failures with the same tenacity. Jason on the other hand is a fine example of balancing both success and taking losses with a grain of salt. I like how he takes a page from everything he faces in life, his feeling of being a misfit in a land he didn’t think he belonged to, his setbacks in his personal life to his health breakdown or lessons from finding answers in his spiritual endeavors, lessons from his experiences laying off people, or his Thai Muay fighting bouts.
Turning around Housing.com and getting Snapdeal, freecharge, vulcan out of the woods was just as interesting. We had all read about the flipkart trying to take over snapdeal story. I got the real and whole story from the horses mouth. From my side i had never known that Softbank was into so many projects in India. The Emaar story was a bit flat but I think after reading so many interesting accounts I was craving for more unputdownable stories. I liked how Jason ended each of his business endeavors with a win win feel. I guess we all wish to achieve that but few of us actually manage to attain that. For one person to achieve so many turnaround opportunities in such a short duration of time plus the grueling work that goes into each one makes his relentless journey very interesting.
The book ends with Jason’s seven pillars of a start-up. All in all it was an easy read and gripping with absolutely smooth flowing easy to comprehend language. A must read for all start-up entrepreneurs and also entrepreneurs in peril.
Flower 142 Rouge, Pink Rain lily
Last week we had a huge storm cyclone and torrential rains. Though it lasted only for a few hours the howling wind put the fear of “Winds” in all of us. As the wind howled and screamed at our windows threatening to break the glass, my little daughter snuggled into my lap and stayed put the whole day. What came out of the awful storm was lot of fairy tales and stories woven by my little daughter’s awesome imagination and this beautiful Pink Rain Lily whom we have named Rouge. Another first bloom for me !
This is such a pleasant surprise for me as I had totally forgotten which color bulbs I had got. I am always amazed by these awesome natural events like the May flower, which blooms every year in the month of may without fail. All year round it shrivels with no leaves or flower but come May a leaf sprouts out and out comes the most beautiful flower. Another of this awesome natural events is the rain lily which blooms every time it rains. No matter how much you water it from different water sources and creating different rain scenarios, (I have tried it all) it blooms only when it rains from the sky. I wonder how it knows the difference.
Flower 141 Rain Lily
This is varsha my first rain Lily who finally made an appearance for the first time since I planted her a couple of years ago. Bulbs I had got online from nurserylive.com. And what an appearance, She grew in so quietly I never even noticed. We had some sudden storm and rains and there she was!!!! In all her glory. It was one of those blind purchases where i forgot what color rain lily bulbs I had got. Such a pleasant surprise.
The c19 pandemic has caused havoc all over the world. We have been in lockdown since the last three months now. It has caused our life to pause, a big comma. The silver lining in this really dark cloud is that there has been a drastic decline in the pollution levels and that has caused a horde of bees to visit my garden. That and the low pollution has caused all the flowers to bloom at an alarming rate. Plants that were totally forgotten and written off are now flowering and flourishing. Proves there is a silver lining to every dark cloud.
Lets pause and smell some beautiful roses!!! Stay safe all !!! God bless!!!
