Book Review: Time Will Tell

For all the friends of Tamanna waiting out there to know what happens next to their friend and her lover boy Manoj, here comes the much awaited climax of Tamanna Trilogy. I’m sure this book will bring a smile on every faces who have been following Tamanna’s life since ‘No Time for Goodbyes’.  J

Tamanna is in hospital with multiple injuries. Manoj, in his desperate hurry to travel from 1983 to 2012 to be with her has, by mistake, landed in 2022 and Tamanna is the only one who can bring him back. In any case, there is this sinister doctor in the hospital she wants to get away from and some recently discovered facts about her past she needs to get to the bottom of. And when Rajat, her good-looking classmate, is eager to help, she's only too happy to take him up on his offer. But matters soon go out of hand, threatening to change her life forever.

Tamanna, who had been travelling back and forth to past and present, now is in hospital after an unexpected accident. The worst part is that she is thrown back to present leaving Manoj in the past. When manoj finds a way to travel to future, he lands up way too much in the future and finds himself in 2022. Unaware of how to handle the situation, Tamanna is left with no clues to gel up with Manoj. 

This book brings up new characters like Dr. Arvind and Rajat, which makes the story more interesting. With an increase in the pace, the story makes the readers be gelled up with the book till the climax. Last few pages surely proved the talent of the author who managed well to conclude the trilogy with a happy end which seems more pleasing to read.

The descriptions of how Bangalore would be like in 2022 will definitely leave the reader in amusement. The author has poured her maximum level of imagination into the book which will surely be talked about. Unlike many sequels which brings of so many different stories into the plot, this trilogy, with no deviation from the plot in all the three books, finds a smooth and a convincing climax.

Andaleeb Wajid, with her professional way of writing, gives no chance for the readers to spot any mistakes or to think for a better climax for this wonderful and adventurous trilogy. Although taking a time travel concept is a challenging task, the author tastes success in completing a trilogy about the time travel. I would rate this book with 3.5 stars for this book and 4 stars for the Tamanna Trilogy. 

You can get a copy for yourself at Flipkart and Amazon.

Happy Reading :-) 

Book Review: Back In Time

Did anyone miss Tamanna? No worries!! She is Back in Time to steal your time again travelling back and forth into the past and the future. So it’s time to travel along with her who had No Time for Goodbyes.

Tamanna is back in 1983. She and Manoj are very much in love with each other, against all odds. But with the camera getting stolen she has no idea how she will ever get back to the present. She tries not to panic and to enjoy life in the 80s, while saving her Ajji??s house from the scheming and conniving Rukmini. And it sure is strange to be the same age as her mom, who is fortunately unaware that Tamanna is her daughter from the future! Then, just as she is beginning to get used to this life, the future starts catching up with her in a way that she could not have anticipated.

This irresistible sequel to No Time for Goodbyes will remind you of your first love andhow, no matter what, there is always the reassuring comfort of family.

For those who have no clue about No Time for Goodbyes, here is a small rewind of Tamanna’s story. Tamanna travels back in time to the past and lands up to 1982 which is almost 30 years back. She ends up in her grandmother’s house where her mom and her two aunts were younger than her. She falls in love with Manoj, her mother’s neighbor, and suffers between moving to the present, and being with her love in the past. She finally manages retuning to the present with the help of the Polaroid camera, which had been the reason of this Time-travel. Reworking the camera to act as a forward time-traveling machine she returns to the present life. Soon she discovers that she can time travel back and forth, using alternatively the photos and the camera. On one such visit to the past, the camera which was helping her to live both the present and the past life is stolen.

Back in Time begins with Tamanna staying at her Grandmother’s house with her mother, and her aunts who are now more of friends. Being around with Manoj, her love, she enjoys the past life. The story moves to the next stage when an unexpected relative, Rukmini, makes her visit to Tamanna’s granny house. With her secret plan of selling granny’s house, Tamanna smells the plans of Rukmini. Meanwhile, Tamanna and Manoj involve themselves in finding the stolen Camera.

Soon Tamanna reveals the plans of Rukmini and the whole family sighs a heavy relief. Later she gets to know that the stolen camera has been found in Madras. Travelling back from Madras with Manoj, their bus meets with an accident and Tamanna is injured. At this point, she is thrown into her present. This incident gets the attention of doctors and media as the girl who was just sleeping in bed suddenly turns to get injured.

So what happens with Manoj after the accident? Will he manage to find her love back? Will Tamanna make her way to the past again? To know the interesting climax of the story make an order of the book soon.

Andaleeb proves to steal the show time and again making the readers to travel into a fantasy world. The narration is no different from the previous book and the author succeeds with the sequels. I would rate this book with *** stars for 5 and I do strongly recommend this book for those out there waiting to read books with different plot. 

You can get a copy for yourself at Flipkart and Amazon.

Happy Reading :-) 

Book Review: No Time for Goodbye

Time Travel? Is it even possible? Common! I have only seen it happen in movies. BTW the question is not whether or not time travel is possible but it’s all about what would life be if we travel back to past. Sounds crazy right??!! Here is yet another story which will steal your time for a while.

2012, Bangalore. Sixteen-year-old Tamanna finds an old Polaroid photograph in the attic and stumbles into her mothers past.

It is 1982. Tamanna finds herself in her grandmother's house where her mom seems to be younger than she is. She also meets her grandmother, aunts and Manoj, her mothers charming neighbour. Manoj's granddad is a scientist working on time-travel but he seems pretty clueless about getting Tamanna back to the present. Even as Manoj helps Tamanna sort out the mess that she's in, they fall hopelessly in love. How will the impossible attraction ever work if Tamanna has to return?

A delicious romance, No Time for Goodbyes is tender, irresistible and unforgettable all at once.

No time for Good Byes begins with the usual description of a 16 year old Girl, Tamanna. Waiting for her collage admissions, she is already bored staying at her home with her mom and her younger sister Raina. Wanted to be isolated, she finds a dirty yet a secret place at the terrace to get involved with the Harry potter book. She finds a photograph of her mom with her sisters in their childhood along with a guy posing with them. Little did she know that this photo is going to life her toppy turvy. She decides to leave the place as her mom had already started to search for her.

When Tamanna goes downstairs, she gets a strange feeling. Finding her way down, she realizes things to be changed. The place where she was staying minutes before seems to be no longer her own house. Later she finds not alone the house to be changed but also the people inside the house were no longer familiar to her. She lands up in her grandmother’s house where her mom and her two aunts were younger than her. She also meets her mother's neighbor Manoj, on whom her mother has a crush and later as the story progress she herself was falling in love with. From Manoj, she comes to know that the photo which was taken by a camera designed by his grandfather was made to take people into the future. Due to some technical faults she lands up to 1982 which is almost 30 years back.

Though she feels strange to be in the past, she slowly falls in love with the whole bunch of people and the ambience. Does she gets back to the present? Or does she decide to make her life roll back to the past permanently? Will her love for Manoj fade away with the past? Order a book for yourself to know the unexpected end of this time travel journey.

With a seemingly different plot, Andaleeb has created a brilliant story which made me wonder how it would have been to meet my own mother, when she was a teenager. I especially loved the comparison of 1980s Bangalore with 2012s Bangalore. Though it is not that easy to write a story based on time travel, the author has succeed in bringing up an interesting story with a flawless narration. The language she has used is simple and neat which make it easier to live the character. I’m sure ever one will enjoy reading this book as I did. I would rate this book with *** stars. Looking forward reading the other two parts of Tamanna Trilogy.

You can get a copy for yourself at Flipkart and Amazon.

Happy Reading :-)

Book Review: Paper Towns

Could anyone steal the show in the very first paragraph of a book? I have never thought so until I read this one. Is this called a Miracle? Like the Miracle that happen to Q? May be it is. But here the miracle does not stop with the first few lines but it seems to continue with every turning pages. You wonder how? Here is the simple answer ‘John Green’. Got it?

The thing about Margo Roth Spiegelman is that really I could ever do was let her talk, and then when she stopped talking encourage her to go on, due to the fact that 1. I was incontestably in love with her, and 2. She was absolutely unprecedented in every way, and 3. She never really asked me any questions…

Quentin Jacobson has always loved Margo from afar. So when she climbs through his window to summon him on an all-night road trip of revenge he cannot help but follow. But the next morning, Q turns up at school and Margo doesn’t. she’s left clue to her disappearance, like a trail of breadcrumbs for Q to follow.

And everything leads to one unavoidable question: WHO IS THE REAL MARGO.

 I had absolutely no idea what a "paper town" is before reading this book. I though it to be some place having a paper mill or say just a title of a book. Then along with the journey of searching Margo, I came to know what exactly a ‘Paper Town’ is.

The novel begins with 9 year Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, and his neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman, discovering a dead man at a park. Q, who is scared, wants to run from the place whereas Margo wants to know why and how did he die. Though this dead man has nothing to do with the story, this little incident clearly describes the characteristics of both main protagonists. After that incident, they quite drift apart.

At high school, Q has his own geeky circle of friends, not a big circle though. Ben and Radar being the best among them, are planning big for the prom show. Margo, who is the queen for her followers, doesn’t hang out with Q in school. When she comes to know that she is betrayed by her friends, she decides to take a revenge on them. On a fine night she turns up to Q’s window to summon him on her revenge trip. The next morning, when Q manages to turn up to the school, Margo doesn’t shows up.
Later on, Margo’s parents finds that she has left the house like she had done before. Her parents who are fed up with her behavior, seems to give up on finding her.

Q, who has spent the night with Margo on the revenge trip, couldn’t wait till she gets back to her house on her own. He wanted to find her out. With the help of his friends Ben and Radar, he finds the clues that Margo has left for him to track her. Lacey, Margos’s friend and also Ben’s girlfriend, joins them in their journey which turns out to be a very adventurous trip. The end of the story reveals the answer for whether or not Margo was found and what was she doing all these days.

The most interesting part of the story was the clues that Margo had left for Q and how he manages to figure of the clues. Here Margo’s character is portrayed with brilliancy. Ben and Radar, who travels throughout the story, have bought humor into the story. Q, though is not portrayed with heroic stuffs, still steals the show with his willpower to find her.

To sum up my review, I would say John Green has done an adventurous work in this book and I would rate 4.5/5. Though it seems to have some influence of his previous work, this book has proven it own way to reach the people. I very strongly recommend this book for all book lovers.

So people what are you waiting for? Go join Q in the journey of Finding Margo.

You can get a copy for yourself at Flipkart and Amazon.

Happy Reading :-) 

Book Review: One in a Million

There is always a special happiness when you read a book that is written by your friend. Harshita Srivastava and I were readers while we entered Mechanical engineering course but she passed out as writer while I am still a reader. I took “One in a million” along with me during the travel from Chennai to Madurai and I should really say it kept me away from boredom.

With one glimpse on the cover page of the book you can conclude that the story revolves around a female and the title really impressed me. The cover page is attractive and thanks to Prakansh Rathaur for it. The story revolves around the beautiful protagonist Priyanka. The story clearly shows how love changes a girl to women. The story starts on a rainy day and the rain has also equally played a role. She falls in love for the first time with Shashank on her school days and loses him. She then finds his best friend Vishal, falls for him and loses him too. Fed up with both defeats she concentrates much on her life and her passion. Soon she gets friend with Shashank few days later. How did Shashank change priyanka’s life and how did Shashank’s life get changed after Priyanka’s entry? Did their friendship last? Read it to know further.

At first, the story was little weird and seemed predictable but all my prediction faded away as I turned the pages. I should say Ms. Srivastava has done perfect justice to the story and has perfectly narrated the story. The bond between Priyanka and Vishakha has been written well without missing any emotions. Throughout the story the author has not missed anything and has penned down all the emotions perfectly. The story also answers few questions about Long Distance Relationship, Double crossing and social network site’s love. The way the author ends the story is cool and the poems in between the narration are awesome. “If the love is true then it can happen anywhere and can exist wherever you are” is the underlying theme of the story. Reading the whole story I found the title syncs well with the story and is well suited.

Ms. Srivastava has done a commendable job with her debut book. The author has brought out all the emotions perfectly and has kept the language simple. All characters are well defined and the best thing I liked in the story is that the characters are given a chance to speak at different situations. Though it was sometimes silly, it makes the story complete. The climax is the best part of the book and I enjoyed reading the Dating sessions of Priyanka.

Overall it was an entertaining read and I would give 4/5. Kudos for the first book and I heard the author is working on the second book “Bad Romance”. All the best for it and I would like to read it soon.

You can get a copy for yourself at Infibeam.

Happy Reading :-)

(P.S.- I am yet to receive my signed copy :( .)

Book Review: The Virgins

Reading a coming-of-age book is always fun and this book gives you no disappointment. 

Not every book gives you the chance to re-live your sweet memories but this story will surely bring back those memories which you have always cherished. 

How does one become a man?
Three young friends are about to find out.

With six unmarried sisters and a perennially drunk father, Pinku, a 19-year-old school dropout, has only one dream left: to marry the plump girl who’d caught him stealing flowerpots. His friend and confidant, 17-year-old Bhandu, is not faring any better — his parents are divorcing, his father has abandoned him, and the American tourist he is infatuated with doesn’t even know he exists. Bhandu and Pinku seek solace in the distracting shenanigans of their friend Guggi — a pampered rich brat who can do anything for a thrill. Guggi’s reckless hedonism lands the threesome in a series of 'sexpot' escapades — each adventure weirder than the one before.
But their seemingly innocuous joyride is about to end.
With their Class 12 exams around the corner, Guggi, restless to leave a mark, takes over the school’s notorious protection racket in a violent coup. The fallout drags the trio into a murky world of heartbreak, betrayal, and bloody vengeance . . .
Fast, funny, and earthy, The Virgins is a coming-of-age novel that marks the debut of a promising writer.

“The Virgins” is about three friends living in Banaras – Pinku, Bhandu and Guggi. Pinku is a school-dropout, with responsibilities towards his family, dreams of marrying a girl he loves and he is all of nineteen. Bhandu’s life is a mess. His family is not the perfect family and he is also searching his way on the road to love. Guggi is always up to no good and trouble, thanks to his friends as well. Besides this, they have their class 12 exams round the corner and life couldn’t get more exciting. From there on in this small town India, their lives begin and take on a different turn.  

A remarkable story of friendship, love, deceit and how teenagers grow into men by learning the hard way. Siddharth style of writing is incredibly witty and fast paced making it a page turning adventure. Set in the back drop of Banaras, this book will be interesting for those who had lived their childhood in such small towns. The title is catchy and so is the colorful cover page. The character formation was balanced giving equal importance to each characters. Overall a funny, entertaining and touching story.

To sum up my review, I could say Mr. Siddharth Thripathi has done a commendable job producing this book. He doesn't seem like a first time writer and he definitely has his own style which is totally different. I would give 3 stars for his story and I would like to read his next book soon. All the best Siddharth Thripathi.

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on TheTales Pensive.

You can get a copy for yourself at flipkart.

Happy Reading :-) 

Book Review: The Homing Pigeons

I still feel so much involved into the story though I have finished my read few minutes back. I think it’s the author’s spell on the readers. Surely a un-put-down-able book that keeps me wondered about the author’s imagination. No other Indian contemporary has left such an impact like this and no book has ever made me so excited to review.

In the middle of the catastrophic 2008 recession, Aditya, a jobless, penniless man meets an attractive stranger in a bar, little does he know that his life will change forever…..
When Radhika, a young, rich widow, marries off her stepdaughter, little does she know that the freedom that she has yearned for is not exactly how she had envisioned it…..
They say Homing Pigeons always come back to their mate, no matter where you leave them on the face of this earth. Homing Pigeons is the story of love between these two unsuspecting characters as it is of lust, greed, separations, prejudices and crumbling spines.

“The Homing Pigeons” by Sid Bhari is the book which has an excellent narration. This is a story of Aditya and Radhika. One chapter narrated from the perspective of Aditya and another from Radhika’s, so you get to know what each character feels from their points of view.  The first few pages started with suspense making us to get engaged with the book. Aditya is out of a job, as the book starts. He is well on his way to being an alcoholic. He passes out in the bar of a fancy hotel. Divya, a traveling professional woman, rescues him. She has a proposal for him, an indecent one.In the meantime, Radhika is on the brink of marrying off her step-daughter. She is a rich widow and looking forward to an independent life finally.

The best part of the book comes when both the characters, Aditya and Radhika, are showed to be diverged roads of same square, when we get to know that once both had been together, and its when we get the title justified! Instantly, reader gets confirmed about that both shall meet finally but Sid again proves himself and lets you wonder, the term 'how' until you are at the very end of your journey.

Aditya and Radhika have a common past, but do they have a future together?

Coming to the style of writing, it’s easy to read and is a page turner. The pace is very good at the beginning of the book but somewhere in the middle and end, the story slows down. The English is simple and easy to understand.

To sum up my review, I would say Mr. Sid Bhari has done an appreciable job in his very debut. Unlike other authors who just come out with typical college love stories as their debut, he has really changed the exceptions of reader from debut authors. I rate 4/5 for this poignant debut. I strongly recommend this book to everyone and I would like to read his next book soon. 

This book review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program. To get free books log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com

Get a Copy for yourself at Flipkart.

Happy Reading :-)