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The Dark Side of Fame: My Thoughts on Spotlights and Shadows

  “There’s an unwritten law of the universe that fame hunts those who flee from it— and even briefly crossing its path can rewrite an ordinary life in extraordinary ways. This cosmic joke.” This was likely the best book I have ever read. I feel like I lived this story and it has stayed with me for months. I became very emotionally involved in the characters. It was a slow build up but by the end, I really had a hard time letting go and for months afterwards would think of them, feel them as people, reconsider the story, evaluate my response. I knew from the sound of the blurb that I was probably going to like it - because there’s nothing I love more than K-drama Star Romances! BUT!!! This was sooo much better than I could’ve ever hoped for. “If I wanted to torture you, I’d suggest stilettos.” He kissed her hard, then pulled back. “Don’t google the address.” “Their reunions were worthy of romance novels, the kind with an inordinate amount of ahem detail.” We hope all through the boo...
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DUBLIN SISTER SERIES REVIEW

  Dublin Sisters is a romantic fiction series by Hayat Khan, set in and around the lives of South Asian families living in Dublin, Ireland . The story blends love, cultural expectations, emotional conflict, family loyalty, betrayal, and redemption. BOOK #1 - FACING FATE Review: "Whatever you lost through fate, be certain that it saved you from pain." Seriously, I read it all in one sitting because I could not put it down. The characters drew me in immediately & the whole time I needed to know what would happen next. I found myself rooting for all the characters and really felt for Nawal. "But if patience and kindness could bridge the distance between them, he would give her everything he had." You root for both men in Nawal's life and the author does a great job by making you want to keep reading to figure out her decision in the end. It was the perfect combination of emotional & hopeful. I felt like the...
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Book Review - DEAR HERO

 Author: Hope Bolinger & Alyssa Roat Pages: 432 Review:  This book is the most emotionally devastating read of this year for me. It’s funny and also heartbreaking. A hero and a villain who flirt, argue, traumatize, bond and accidentally heal each other??? “I’m tired of pretending that I’m fine when I’m breaking in places no one can see.” Online banter Emotional vulnerability Slow Burn found family Opposites Attract  Villain-hero  “You say you’re a villain, but I’ve met heroes who cared less than you.” The emotional intimacy & tension is so strong. And the slow build?? OH MY GOD. It is EVERYTHING. I genuinely sat in silence after reading this book because it had taken me on such a emotional ride that I didn’t know how to come back to real life now. Both Cortex and Vortex are surrounded by people yet they have this feeling of loneliness with them. For both of them, the messages become a lifeline, and soon after their insults become a base for their connect...
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Book Review: AMRUT - THE GREAT CHURN: THE GLOBAL STORY OF INDIA'S FIRST SINGLE MALT

AMRUT - THE GREAT CHURN: THE GLOBAL STORY OF INDIA'S FIRST SINGLE MALT By Sriram Devatha PAGES: 267 ABOUT THE BOOK: One fine day in Ooty, Bangalore-based businessman Neelakanta Rao Jagdale mixed single malt whisky with peated whisky, both crafted in his family-owned distillery. This blend would put Amrut on the world map, succeeding beyond Jagdale’s wildest dreams. He had crafted nectar fit for the gods, much like the one that rose out of the great churn of the Puranas, a whisky that would captivate connoisseurs worldwide—Amrut Fusion. India is a land of whisky-drinkers—of the sort made from molasses, yes, but also premium Scotch. For the latter lot, anything Indian was anathema. Jagdale, a visionary, dared to dream beyond the molasses-based whiskies that India was known for. His strategy was for Indian whisky to be acceptable to Indians, it would first have to be accepted by the Scots. And thus began the journey of Amrut Whisky and its many expressions, the most popular of which r...
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Book Review - Safecracker

Safe Cracker By Jesse DeRoy Page : 416 BOOK SUMMARY: Jesse Deroy’s debut is a taut and deeply inhabited dive into the criminal netherworld that unfurls with surprising heart, wild specificity, and the tactile pleasure of an intricate well-executed plan. Grantchester “Duke" Ducaine was born and raised a thief, so working the straight and narrow the last two years has felt like surfing without water. His dad is in the pen and his sister is . . . well, Duke doesn’t like to think about all of the things that are his fault. He’s got more pressing problems, like a bookie who wants to break his thumbs, and a couple of possibly shady Feds who want him to break into an unbreakable safe. When Duke agrees to take the job, thinking he might have the answer to his problems, he discovers that some things are best left unopened. REVIEW: If you enjoy heist thrillers with lots of technical detail then read this book. I was hooked by Duke, the man behind the heist, as well as the excitement of the ...
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The Restaurant Kid - With Colored Pages Book Tour

The Restaurant Kid  By Rachel Phan  Book Description: A warm and poignant narrative about finding one’s self amidst the grind of restaurant life, the cross-generational immigrant experience, and a daughter’s attempts to connect with parents who have always been just out of reach. When she was three years old, Rachel Phan met her replacement. Instead of a new sibling, her parents’ time and attention were suddenly devoted entirely to their new family restaurant. For her parents—whose own families fled China during Japanese occupation and then survived bombs and starvation during the war in Vietnam—it was a dream come true. For Rachel, it was something quite different. Overnight, she became a restaurant kid, living on the periphery of her own family and trying her best to stay out of the way. As Rachel grew up, the restaurant was the most stalwart and suffocating member of her family. For decades, it’s been both her family’s crowning achievement and the origin of so m...
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Author Interview - Russell Gaynor

Exclusive Q/A session with the Author of The Mind of the Man-child,  Russell Gaynor Hello and Welcome everyone!  Today, we have the honour of hosting an author interview with Russell Gaynor. Thank you for joining us, and let's dive into this enriching author interview together! 1. What motivated you to become a writer, and when did you know this was what you wanted to do? The blame falls to my grandmother and her invaluable integrity. Around her, if you couldn’t do a thing, don’t say otherwise. One day, a very young boy wanted to watch Mighty Mouse instead of her preferred black & white movies, and he made the claim he could write better stories with one hand tied behind his back. To her credit, she did NOT tie my hand behind me, but she did provide a stack of pads and a box of pencils before saying, “Prove it!” I was passing the halfway point of the second pad (keep in mind, I was 5 and my words took up three lines!!!) when she picked up the first one and star...
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