Forbidden Line by Mayank Kashyap

Mayank Kashyap's 'Forbidden Line' can be described in three words i.e.- Bitter, Sweet, Remorse.
Well, this novel is a sweet romance blended with suspense, thriller, farce,social issue. The novel has variety of elements which makes it special.

Cover- The cover is very intriguing and it gives us a rough idea of its seriousness. It increases the Adrenal rush and makes the reader want to open the book.

Title- The title is 'Forbidden Line' which clearly tells the theme of the novel; something which one is not allowed to do.

Plot- The story is revolves around Virat,the protagonist, his friendship, his love and his struggle to get justice for his friend.

Theme- The novel has variety of themes like friendship, love, eve teasing and corruption..

Friendship- This is the main theme. Virat, Saurav and Ankit are  best friends who are inseparable. There friendship is tested when Saurav dies and both the friends takes a stand for not only his friend but against a social issue. There friendship serves that line- "Friendship is tested in times of need."

Love- This is a sweet love story of Virat and Manya who are school sweethearts and their surpasses all the bad situations. They are the cutest couple who are madly, deeply in love. The way they handle the situations is impeccable.

Eve Teasing- The other theme is Eve Teasing and the main motive of this novel was to highlight this issue. Mostly people the roadside people but what if they cross their limits? To stop them, we need some heros and the characters have given their best to solve this problem though the outcome was a death of a dear friend.

Corruption- This novel gives vivid description of reality and even our saviors are corrupted. The way the steps are taken by Virat to keep these people on track are commendable.

Style
Language- The language of the novel is simple, clear and had brevity. Even a ten year old child could understand this novel. 

Narration- The author has used first person narrative and it is a Personal Description.

Diction- At some places the diction is poetic and the use of some poems makes the story flowing like a river. It had some beautiful images, metaphors.

My Observation- I was impressed and depressed at the same time by this novel.  The crisp plot is the crux of the novel and the imperfect use of words is the major flaw of the novel. There was no need of 'F' words at some places. The very first line had mistakes. The story is very slow in the start but as it progresses it develops interest which takes the novel from down fall to a rise. So, I suggest my readers to read this book and find it yourself.

Availability- The book is available at PustakMandi, whatsapp, google play store, amazon.in and many other sites.

About the Author- Mayank Kashyap was brought up in Patna and he presently lives in New Delhi. He is an MBA graduate in Finance. He is a voracious reader, avid blogger and book reviewer. He can be reached at www.mayankkashyapblog.in

Sweet Revenge- A Review

Lafont's Sweet Revenge is a Contemporary Romance and a suspense novel. It can also be categorized as Dark Romance. This is an E- book which has taken away the hearts of the readers and is known for its perfect accent.

Cover- Though its an E- book yet it is not devoid of cover. The cover is very attractive and catchy which reminds you of two lovers who are intimately involved.

Plot- The plot is strong and crisp. The story is of a young painter Eve and her dark past in name of Guy Leguerec which haunts her in her present and leads to series of incidents which are enthralling and intriguing.

Setting- The setting is at two place, Boston and Paris. Though there are names of some places mentioned in the stories but basically the story revolves around these two places.

Characterization- The characters are artistically characterized. Guy's character is the round character. He undergoes change according to the situation. He is a real hero who from being the son of a fishermen becomes rich. He is typical hero of earlier times whose main possession is hard work. On the other  hand, Steve serves as a foil to Guy who is the antagonist and creates many misunderstandings between Guy and Eve but despite of his evil ways, he can't separate the two. Eve is the protagonist of the novel who happens to be a Painter and her work is beautifully reflected in her 'Nineteen Mysteries' which gets sold on the first day of her exhibition. She goes through ups and down till the end and finally all her questions are answered and suspense is revealed. On the other hand, Madame Samson serves as a motherly figure for both Guy and Eve which acts as a catalyst in both of their lives. And other minor characters also play a vital role in the moving of the story.

Style
 Language- The language is very glossy and has decorated flowery words which makes the story beautiful. And the use of French words highlights the French accent and atmosphere, that serves as a sugar coating on the cake.

French and English- In some way this novel tells us the difference between French and English through the characters of Eve and Guy. Eve is an English whereas Guy is French. Guy is in habit of speaking French when he is in his thinking mode and has that accent. The use of French words shows author's nativeness as a French author.

Narrative- The author has used point of view technique. And in this he has used first and third person narratives which shows wideness in the work.

My Observation- It took me just three hours to finish the 175 page novel. I especially liked the use of right word at the right time. The description was so artistic that I could visualize the scenes and the characters. Though French words are the highlighters yet they go in negatives too. Some words in French makes the reader confused in understanding the meaning of the language. It is a dark romance novel and cannot be called as erotica though the cover reveals so. I would strongly suggest to read this novel if you know about art, about the correct use of language. Further, it can also be used as source material for improving writing skills.

Availability- This novel is available on amazon. com; amazon. in; amazon.uk.in; kindle edition and n other sites.

About the Author-Olivier Lafont is a French author, screenplay writer, and actor. His novel 'Warrior' was published by Penguin Random House, and was shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize. He has just released his new contemporary romance novel 'Sweet Revenge' exclusively on Kindle. 'Purgatory: The Gun of God' is a fantasy novelette published in South Africa. 

Lafont has written a number of feature film scripts before. The first film he wrote opened at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to win seven awards at film festivals worldwide. 

As an actor Lafont has acted in Hollywood and Indian films, in TV serials, and in over 80 television commercials. He acted in '3 Idiots', one of India's all-time blockbuster hits, the critically-acclaimed 'Guzaarish', and the Lifetime film 'Baby Sellers', amongst other films. 

IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam

IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam is a perfect Suspense Novel.

suspense: the main character may become aware of danger only gradually. In a mystery, the reader is exposed to the same information as the detective, but in a suspense story, the reader is aware of things unknown to the protagonist. The reader sees the bad guy plant the bomb, and then suffers the suspense of wondering when or if it will explode.

Social Novel: In some way this novel is a social novel as it highlights the social issue rape and the whole scenario is setup around it.

Psychological Novel:  We can label this novel as a psychological novel as it deals with the psychology of not only the characters but also with the readers.

Cover: The cover of the book is intriguing and the animated picture gives us the idea about the issue.

Title: 'IAm16ICanRape' is the main highlight of the book. The author has justified her title in the novel by talking about a trend on twitter that deals with the various view points on rape.

Praise for the book: Many people have praised the book in the start which shows that the novel has already gone for the pre publish reviews.For instance:

" A well written psychological thriller! I got attracted to this book because of the sensitive topic, Rape, But as I started reading it, I realized how real and powerful the book is." - Shipra Chandra

Dedication: The book is dedicated to Nirbhaya, the woman who bravely told the tragic story of her worst nightmare to the world and awakened a nation from its slumber.

Reading Guide: The strange thing I noticed while turning the pages is the way the author has made a guideline chart for reading the chapters. The chapter starts from chapter 9 and then the chapter 1.

Plot: The plot is well knit and depicted smartly. It revolves around Aarush Kashyup who is accused of a rape and the whole story revolves around the point whether he has committed this grave sin or not.

Themes: There is a wide range of themes in this novel. The main theme is the theme of Rape. Subhangi is raped brutally and the consequences she faces after the rape is being delineated. Mostly, the mindset of people towards rape victims is very abnormal. they treat them as culprits. Instead of pointing the culprit, the girl is accused of roaming late night. This theme highlights the issue and the way the characters deal with it.

The other significant part is the theme of relationships and how they change after the certain act committed by the culprit. Aarush- Rudransh , Gayatri-Aarush, Ananya-Aarush, Mrigank- Aarush's relationships undergo a drastic change after the rape act.

Further, we can notice the theme of friendship. Subhangi and Tabrez's friendship is best highlighted in the novel. The way Tabrez takes a stand for the victim can make anyone motivated. This friendship is contrasted with the friendship of Shrini and Aarush.

The minor theme of love or attraction can be seen between Aarush and Pihu. They have genuine feelings for each other but the opinion of Pihu does'nt change about Aarush until she finds out something about him.

The mind game is the sub theme of the novel.The way Aarush plays with the characters confuses the readers as well.

Characterisation: Kirtida has beautifully scripted her characters. Some are round, some are flat while some are bit complicated characters and above all, Aarush Kashyap can be called as the masterpiece because his delineation sounds the toughest task of the author.

Style:
Stream of Consciousness :The author can easily deal with the minds of her characters because she herself is the psychologist and she can depict the thoughts easily. This novel somewhere depicts the different thoughts of the characters about a single thing, Rape.

Epistolary: The novelist has used diary entries in the character of Shrini which makes the novel slightly epistolary.

Point of View: The author has used names of characters instead of chapters. This way the readers can understand the point of views of the characters.

Language: The author has used simple, easy and lucid language. This makes the readers understand her thoughts easily but the scientific jargons makes the writing complex.

My Research: For the first time I did research on a certain novel and I don't regret on my research, infact it has helped me understand various concepts. Honestly speaking, The reading guideline sounded like an over confidence of the author. I thought it would make no sense but when I started reading this made some sense and I understood that the author somewhere wanted to show a flashback technique but ended up with these chapters. Anyhow, this proved out to be in her favor.
Further, after reading the characters, I noted down the nature of characters. For instance:
"Gayatri as kind hearted, emotional, dramatic, understanding. "

Then I made a note of certain scientific jargons and there meanings. Like:
"Transaction is a communication between two or more systems."
In the end the Psychological analyses makes some sense to the novel.

Conclusion: This is a perfect novel with correct blending of suspense, thriller, darkness, techniques,themes and a unique style of writing. To add more, the characterisation is pictographic and acts as a catalyst for the novel whereas the jargons, phsychological hypothesis makes it bit complex and terse. So, I suggest my readers to go through it.

You can find this book on Amazon. in , Goodreads, Kindle and many more sites..

Book Reviews - A New Trend

Trends keep on changing in this Era like change of clothes. Be it Mr. Prime Minister's Swachch Bharat Abhyaan, be it Orange Colour as fashion, be it No Shave month for Men, be it Selfie with daughter and many more. These are all trends that have suddenly emerged in our day to day lives. Coming to writing or literature world, setting up publishing houses, readers corners have come up. And the latest in this field is "Book Reviews".

Yeah, I have grabbed your attention with my inverted commas. So what according to you a Book Review is? For some people its just the feedback what we give after reading the book. So the feedback right? Then it means you need to rate it whether its good, better,best ,okay or worst. Is that a book review is? Many of my fellow writers cum book reviewers think that it is merely a short summary of the novel or any writeup. While writing their reviews they end up revealing the secret. I mean are you guys crazy that you just revealed the whole suspense of the novel for which a writer might have struggled hard  for months or rather say ages. The novel is not just a story for the author. It is his life which he has invested in it. Rather consider it as his baby which he kept it in his womb like a mother and weaved his story till it gets ready to be published. He has impregnated his thoughts in it. Therefore, the novel is more precious than his life because that's the piece which can make him immortal even if he dies someday. People might forget him as a person but they wont forget him if  he gives something valuable.

I am also a book reviewer. When I was a novice to this particular form, I have made blunders. I ended up revealing the things as I never knew the knack of Book Reviewing. And the ironical part was, I was appreciated everywhere for my book reviews and God knows what they saw in my trash. Yes, I call it a trash now. Had this been told to me last year I would have felt offended but now I have learnt from my mistakes. This sudden learned thinking came when once I showed my book review to my Phonetics teacher. I have always admired her true reviews so I was very excited and expected a "Wow" or some "good work" but what I got was a shock. She told me that I need to learn the tact of book review and my book review was a summary not the analysis of someone's work, infact I had ruined the suspense. She sounded very blunt but that was the point which made me realise. The next part was I asked her to teach me this book review technique. She gave me the mantra and now I follow it. But its just me who knows it now, what about the others who are still novice and end up making blunders which nobody realise because they hardly know about it. This post is dedicated to those novice book reviewers because I feel the right guidance and knowledge will improve us.

Some basic points that we should keep in mind while book reviewing:

NO STORIES: One thing should be kept in mind that you are hear to critically analyse the novel not to re write a summary of it. This is the biggest mistake we make.

DON'T REVEAL THE SUSPENSE:  The author has worked hard on his suspense and revealing the suspense will spoil the mood of the reader. If he will know the whole story then what is his need to buy the book and read it.

DON'T RATE: Yes rating. Who are you to rate his work? Now the answer will be book reviewers. And your rating will give a negative remark to the reader. Suppose you didn't like his work and you gave the less rating and this will affect the sales of the book and indirectly spoils the image of the author. You are here to review, then simply do that , why you becoming teachers as if you are some scholistic person. Yes, you are not. Review is given according to the view point. You might like some point but I might hate that point. Then how can a rating justify anything? Does it justify that you didn't like the plot or a certain segment of it? No.. So kindly avoid it.

BE FAIR ENOUGH: Since you are the reviewer then its your biggest responsibility to be fair in your judgement. Just say the truth doesn't matter if its bitter. While reviewing you are just the reviewer not anyone's friend, sister, mother or girlfriend or vice versa for male people.

NO NEGATIVE POINTS, POSITIVE POINTS: I don't think there is a need of separate points for good and bad parts in the novels.You can mention at one place. Plus no repetition of remarks.

WHAT TO WRITE THEN?

Oh.. these are the No's and I exactly do these things. Is that you are thinking? Trust me I am too good in reading minds.(winks) Don't repeat the things after reading this post. It will surely help you improve.

Critically analyse: You need to critically analyse. Try to make headings starting from the cover of the book. Then go for the title, plot, its techniques, narrative, style, diction. This is the first step and use seperate headings for these things. This will make it brief and precise.

Paragraphs : It is not necessary to follow the heading technique, you make up seperate paragraphs too as they suggest a new idea or add transitional paragraphs to develop your previous paragraph.

ADD OTHER REVIEWS: This is optional.You can add other reviews from newspapers or various blogs and if you are going for newspaper reviews then go for THE HINDU as they are technical.

REVIEWER'S COMMENTS: You can't rate it so what to add? Is it what you thinking? Yes, you are!

Add your true comments including the likes and dislikes. You can even add your suggestions for the improvements, there is no harm in it. Please be specific what you like the most and what you didn't. For positive and negative you can add two different paras in order to avoid confusion.

ADD YOUR FAVORITE LINES: While reading the novel, mark the favorite lines. The benefit is nothing. It will just make the author happy and he will be on cloud nine. Its obvious it will motivate him.

So, I am done with these techniques. I have been reading book reviews a lot and I felt there is a need to guide you. And I had no intention to target someone or embarase you because I am also one of you. I don't say blindly follow. JUst read it, react on it. It is on you whether you take the advice or not. Take it or leave it. Sorry if I sounded bit harsh at the first but I had to take it out. I couldn't handle wrong things. 

Karna's Altar Ego- A thought provoking Novel

Karna’s Altar Ego by Surendra Nath is a Stream of Consciousness Novel. This novel deals with the inner conflicts of a person. This novel has great mythological relevance as the protagonist compares his life with the great Karna.

Vasu is the main character in the novel whose struggles are clearly related to Karna. He is the mouthpiece of Karna. But I feel these are the thoughts of the author hence Vasu is Author’s mouthpiece.  The author has beautifully narrated the tales of mythology and many instances have been narrated from the point of view of Karna.

If we go in depth, the cover of the novel is really appealing. It gives the reader a vibe to read the book. Further, the title is very intriguing and it clearly shows the story would be from the point of view of Karna. Technically speaking, it is a novel that follows point of view, as the saga is being retold through Karna’s point of view. The story is divided into chapters and each chapter is a story in itself. The whole life story and his struggles have been delineated in the book.

The Treasure scene is purely fictional. It has a long lasting effect in the minds of the readers. Further, the hijack scene also grabs attention of the readers. The heroic act of Vasu ,by saving the passengers from the terrorists wins the hearts of the readers. Through this novel the author challenges the oldest Epic written by Vyasa. According to the author, many things have been ignored while writing this tale. Hence, The author’s source material for this piece is the original version of Mahabharta by Vyasa Dev and other writings by Devdutt Patnaik, Kavita Kane and others.

According to the author, Vyasa Dev had remained quite on many aspects which would have gone in favour of Kauravas. There were gaps in his story. That was where the authors should have taken liberty to dive into those gaps and fill their own stories. And he did the same.

Karna’s Altar Ego brings questions in the minds of the readers: What we are told through stories is true or not? Was their any injustice? Who was wrong? Kauravas or Pandavas? Did Krishna played any games and were they justified? 

The best part of the novel is the foreward by Ruskin Bond. Ruskin Bond is well known for his work and if such an established person writes for him then there is something unique about the novel. If you guys really want to know what are those hidden stories that are uncovered by the author then read this novel and find the answers of your questions.

The book is available on flipkart, amazon.in, goodreads and other sites.

An Intelligent Book By Abhishek Agrawal

Abhishek Agrawal's I Will Not Regret Losing You' is an intelligent book. Yes, guys an Intelligent book! Mostly people write about love, relationships and he has written the same but in a different way. The book is very intriguing and the reader may be glued to it until he finish it.

The plot of the story is simple and has been developed in an artistic way. The story is of a guy named, Aratya who comes from a land of dreams, Kota. He is a man of protocols. He can do anything and even break the rules when it comes to his friends and family. What he does and what he gets is the story. 

Life takes a turn when he loses his love because of a misunderstanding. And after that series of events takes place with friends who use him for their own needs. And when he is in need of them they refuse to help.

The story has action, thrill, romance and all the crispness. The planning and plotting incidents by Aratya makes the story filmy. It makes the reader laugh, wonder and even tears are shed at times. The ending of the novel is totally filmy and as expected as well.

The story moves in flashback technique where the hero talks about his life and the story ends with his coming out of his flashback. It has a moral behind it, that one should not blindly trust anyone and all get selfish, at some or the other point. The poetry at the start of the novel and in between the novel gives new vibes to the story. The author has equally characterised his characters. There is variety in their characters which keeps the reader intrigued. The cover of the book is eye catching. 

As they say, every coin has amother side. There are things which marks negativity. The title on the side of the cover has a wrong spelling which directly gives a negative impact. This novel is unedited and sometimes you can't ignore the errors. Still the novel leaves a long lasting impression on your heart. 

The book is available on amazon.in,  goodreads and other shopping sites. If you ll read this book, you won't regret it.

Adhira Love: Lost &Found.. A Review

Aditti Gaur's Adhira is a new beginning for an Independent Women. The novel focusses on the life of a woman named Adhira. It highlights the struggles, past experiences of her which become the major segment. Adhira is not some normal story or love story. It is the interesting saga of love that Adhira got after so many barriers.

The cover of the book is intriguing which excites the reader to read the book.

The author has used third person narrative which is impersonal and in some chapters personal narrative can be noticed. She has used sentences ranging from simple, compound to complex.This maintains the syntactic order in the novel.The novel is beautifully organised with events. Ridhima's wedding is the main in the novel. Shikhar 's betrayal backs the second set of issues. Coherence can be noticed in her work.There are some transitional paragraphs which are catches the eye of the reader. The use of Hinglish doesn't make the piece fragmented. Further, the author has composed her songs which are so beautiful and will make you feel at ease. One may get philosophical after reading the lyrics. The novel is so intriguing that I ended up reading in one go. After reading the novel you will think about it for sometime. 

This novel not only talks about the struggles of an individual but it also highlights the thoughts of a girl before her wedding. For a girl wedding is the biggest decision of her life and it's not easy to leave her family. It also talks about a girl's fear before her marriage. As they say Marriage is like gambling, you are never sure whether it will work or not.You will have zillions of examples infront of you. Some will be of success and some will be of failure. But failures scare us the more. So, Ridhi represent all those girls who fear before their wedding.

 The novel depicts the lovely bond of friendship between Ridhi and Adhira, who are like Juno Swans. The love bond between Shikhar and Adhira is spectacular.The way Shikhar helps Adhira by going out of the way makes him an amazing character in the novel. Adhira's characterizations are very powerful. Even the villain in the story has so much power. The minor characters are full of mysteries. But I felt the minor characters were highlighted more as compared to the major ones and some characters were completely ignored. Maybe my expectations are more as a reader. further, the author talked about the disease which has been elaborated very artistically. Personally speaking, I didn't come to know when the novel got completed..it just left me with an "Awww". I congratulate Aditti Gaur for coming up with such a fantabulous piece.

Additional details :

Name of the book: Adhira Love: Lost & Found 

Author: Aditti Gaur 

Published by: Authors Ink India 

Publisher: Aniket Kapoor 

Editor: Jonali Karmarkar

Genre: Romance 

Isbn no.: 9789385137136

Price: 250

Availability: Yes

Sites: Kindle edition, Amazon Paytm and Google Play Store