Book Review: KINGDOM COME By Aarti V. Raman

I received this book from the author on April 22, 2014 and have taken exactly 2 months to complete reading it. My sincere apologies to Aarti Venkatraman for the delay!

THE BLURB

How do you kill a man with no Achilles heel? You cut off his foot - Tom Jones.

Set against the serene beauty of Kashmir, Ladakh and Tibet, Kingdom Come is a gripping story of death and loss, vengeance and retribution, love and life. Krivi Iyer is an embittered former spy and bomb defusal expert with only one regret - that he couldn't catch The Woodpecker, a dangerous, mentally unstable bomber who ended his partner's family. He has a second chance to go after his arch enemy with the arrival of Ziya Maarten, the manager of Goonj Business Enterprises in Srinagar, Kashmir, who is alleged to be The Woodpecker's sister. Except Ziya is a beautiful distraction and not a terrorist's sister. When a tragedy in London tears Ziya's life apart, she can only rely on Krivi to give her the absolution and vengeance she needs to move on. Between training to be an anti-terrorist squad member and finding The Woodpecker, Ziya uncovers the secrets of Krivi's tormented past. But will two tortured souls find the courage to love?

MY PERCEPTION

The story has been amazingly penned. I loved every single character in the book, even the bad guys. I would have never believed that I could like a silent, dark, brooding hero but I couldn’t help falling in love with Krivi Iyer. I could feel his pain and so relate to his incredible journey as a spy.

The gorgeous Ziya is feisty and touches your heart. Her determination to raise above all the hurdles that come across her way right from the time of her birth is commendable. The contrast between the siblings - one a terrorist and the other the heroine - has been brought out very well in the story.

Noor is a lovely character and I so wished there was more of her. But she played her role very well indeed.

The story takes you from London to Kashmir to Yorkshire to Tibet to Ladakh (Have I missed anything here?) on a roller-coaster ride as Krivi chases The Woodpecker. He is determined to catch the bomber who is crazy to boot. Will Ziya be a help to Krivi or will she turn out to be his weakness? You have to read the story to find out.

The last fifty pages had me biting my nails and I was quite irritated when dinner interrupted my reading. Finishing my work in the kitchen as fast as possible, I got back to my Android to complete the book and was not at all disappointed when I reached THE END. It was one helluva ride! Congratulations Aarti V. Raman! You do have a way with words.

The book cover is just perfect with silhouettes of Krivi & Ziya against the background of a bomb blast.

If the novel was so perfect, then why did I take 2 months to read it and why am I giving it only 4 stars?

There is a reason to it and I cannot hold the author responsible for the same. The book has been miserably proof-read - for example, a simple word like ‘too’ being used instead of ‘took’. The ‘commas’ and ‘full-stops’ were horribly misplaced, an umpteen times. I found errors right from the beginning to the end. Being a professional proof-reader, I found it very difficult to read the book continuously as my eyes kept honing in on the mistakes. For this I have taken away one star.

Disclaimer: I received the PDF version of this book from the author for my honest review.

About Aarti V. Raman in her own words:

Aarti V Raman

“I live in Mumbai, 27 years old, and my publishing credits include White Knight by Leadstart Publishing out in 2012. I was also a part of the romance anthology An Atlas of Love by Rupa Publications, which came out in February 2014. I have yet another novel Lucas which is part of a Historical romance series that comes out in June by the UK-based publishing house Knox Robinson. And my future works are in consideration with Harlequin Mills and Boon, Harlequin India and Rupa Publications.”

Blog Tour: SPOTLIGHT of THE MADRAS MANGLER by Usha Narayanan

The Madras Mangler by Usha Narayanan

The Blurb

Five pretty girls from around the country, enjoying college life in Chennai, chasing their own dreams. Until a psychopath comes to town, killing girls and dumping their bodies in the rivers. The killer is smart, dangerous and very angry. Just like Vir Pradyumna, ace criminologist from New York, who is fighting his own demons from the past. Ruthless politicians, bumbling cops, beer barons and cyber criminals run amuck. The killer snatches a girl whom Vir has sworn to protect. A Hollywood action crew and the crowds at the India-Australia cricket one-dayer get sucked into the relentless buildup to a nail-biting climax. Will Vir be in time to stop the maniac and save the girl?

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Meet the Author

Be crazy, be creative. That’s been my mantra as a writer and a creative director ― in advertising, radio, corpcomm and web-writing. I turned up the craziness a notch by becoming a novelist, with the freedom to write exactly what I wanted. I started a romcom, changed it into a thriller and sweated and slogged to get the pieces to work together. Research, cliffhangers, suspense, clues, red herrings ― my brain was in a tizzy for days and months. 

Done, dusted off, dispatched. A few rejections, heartbreak. A contract from Leadstart, bliss. Creating a spooky book trailer with images and music I bought online. A tweak here and there, with my editor. Poring over images for the cover. Suggesting the artist turn ‘The’ in the title sideways. The book comes out on Flipkart and Amazon first. And after some nail-biting suspense, in bookstores. Organised a launch with Suhasini Maniratnam and Rudra Krishna. Great media reviews. Lovely, wonderful blogger friends. I love being an author 

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CLICK HERE to purchase Sundari Venkatraman's romance novella THE MALHOTRA BRIDE

CLICK HERE to purchase Sundari Venkatraman's romance novel MEGHNA

Sharing: LEARNING SPANISH ON DUOLINGO

I think I am living through the best times of my life. I have always wanted to learn foreign languages since I was in school. It was either I couldn’t afford it, or I didn’t have the time, or worse still, I had to travel too long a way to do it.

But times are a-changing and how!

Last week, my daughter came home thoroughly excited after a visit to her friend’s place. She had downloaded DUOLINGO, a mobile app from Google Playstore and had begun to learn Spanish.

While the free app teaches Spanish, French, Italian and more, Vinitha chose Spanish as she had found out that it was the easiest to learn.

Pic courtesy: https://ctorres716.files.wordpress.com

I began learning Espanol three nights ago. I spend about half-an-hour every day, sometimes more, learning words and phrases along with pronunciation. There is a way the app makes you correct your diction by letting you record your voice. It’s just amazing!

Today morning, I chatted with Vinitha on What’s app beginning with “Hola Buenas dias” (Hello, Good Morning) from her end. I asked her if “Tu come bebe?” (You eat drink?) to check if she had had her breakfast.

It’s just awesome and simple to learn the language of a country thousands of miles away, sitting right here in my home. I still have a long way to go but I sincerely believe that the journey counts for everything.

“Yo hablo Espanol.” I speak Spanish!

Sharing: A RIDE ON MUMBAI METRO

Reliance Mumbai Metro

Reliance Mumbai Metro opened its services to the public of our city on June 8, 2014. I was keen to go for a ride on the metro train and was waiting for an opportunity. Yesterday, I visited my friend Pooja Gursingh at her home in Ghatkopar. That’s when we both decided to go for a ride on the spanking new Mumbai Metro.

Pooja at Ghatkopar Metro Station just before the train arrived

The first phase of Reliance Mumbai Metro runs from Ghatkopar to Versova with ten stations in between. The entire ride from the first station to the last one takes less than 25 minutes at the cost of Rs. 10 per person.

The snazzy interior

We took a rickshaw from Pooja’s home to Ghatkopar station in the East. We walked via the railway station and reached the other end to reach the Metro station. There’s a lift that takes you to Concourse 1 where the ticket counter is located.

That's me near the door

There were four lines of people snaking towards the counter but the lines moved fast as the tokens were issued swiftly. No return tokens are issued – only one way. We purchased the tickets and took the staircase as I am wary of using the escalator. There is a lift too but taking the staircase was good exercise.

Ticket counter at Versova with huge crowds milling around

Everyone's bag is scanned before getting on to the platform. There are separate queues for men and women. It reminded me of the security check at airports. This is a very important safety measure and I was impressed.

Drop your token in that slot at the end of your journey

We swiped our tokens before entering the platform. The Metro Train came within a couple of minutes and got pretty crowded as we entered the first compartment. But it was Oh so Cool - both literally and metaphorically. We had to wait for a few minutes for the train to start as it was the first station. Then it took off smoothly across a section of Mumbai that I am not very familiar with.

Street Food @ Versova 

Stations:

1. Ghatkopar
2. Jagruti Nagar
3. Asalpha
4. Saki Naka
5. Marol Naka
6. Airport Road
7. Chakala
8. Western Express Highway (WEH)
9. Andheri
10. Azad Nagar
11. DN Road
12. Versova

Pooja going up the escalator

The ride was smooth and pleasant. It got better when most of the crowd got off at Andheri. We reached Versova and everyone got off the train. We dropped the tokens in the slot allotted before getting out of the platform. In versova, the staircase and escalator were beside each other. It was convenient for us as Pooja is quite happy going up and down escalators. We went down a couple of floors to the concourse to purchase our return tickets.

Station Control Room

There was a token vending machine at Versova and it was manned by a Metro employee. He pushed some buttons, fed the Rs. 20 note that I gave him and got two tokens from the machine before handing them over to me. While there were no notice boards warning us about not taking photographs, we were told not to take any by the guy at the vending machine.

Pooja kush huyi - sitting inside the cool compartment

The two of us went to a snack bar at Versova station called Street Food and ordered a plate of Batata Vada (Rs. 40); one Cappucino (Rs. 40) and one Cafe Latte (Rs. 45). The vadas were quite small and the prices steep. But they were not too bad.

We went to the platform to catch the return Metro to Ghatkopar. This time round, we were smart enough to walk further along the platform and took the third or fourth compartment that was not too crowded. We got seats and thoroughly enjoyed the ride back home.

THUMBS UP to Reliance Mumbai Metro! Looking forward to seeing the Metro spread its wings all around Mumbai.

CLICK HERE to read about my awesome experience on Delhi Metro

 

Sharing: MEGHNA

I have some super news to share with my readers. My third novel (this time it’s a full-length one of 52,000 plus words) MEGHNA, also a romance fiction, has been self-published on Amazon under my banner Flaming Sun.

This is one more story that has been stored on my PC since 2001. Recently, I wrote it and re-wrote it many times with the help of feedback from my sisters and TBC Members. I have to thank my sisters Sujatha, Jayashree, Lakshmi; my friend Nilima and TBC members Rubina & Neelesh for taking the time, reading my original version and giving me their honest feedback that helped reshape my book to its present form.

I have to thank Artist Nithin Narayan for his book cover design. I love it Nithin!

Thank you The Book Club for launching MEGHNA!

MEGHNA was published on June 8, 2014 and only God knows how I managed to finish getting it edited, re-written, proof-read and formatted by then. Believe me folks, it was an amazing ride.

The Blurb:

The young and dashing Rahul Sinha lives in England with his parents, Shyam and Rajni. He is an only son of the rich banker. Rahul is totally attached to his father but does not care for his mother. Read the book to find out why….
   Rahul is exulted with his efforts at work paying off and plans a holiday with his best friend Sanjay Srivastav who lives in Mumbai with his wife Reema, kids Sanya and Rehaan and most importantly, his sister, Meghna. Rahul recalls meeting Meghna just before they parted six years ago.
   Meghna works for a website and also teaches modern dance as she loves it. She’s thrown for a toss when Rahul comes visiting. She had thought he had forgotten them.
   But how could Rahul do that? Sanjay’s his best friend and Rahul had always treated their home as his own. Sanjay’s mother had been more of a mother to Rahul than his own. Rahul had stayed away after moving to England or so Meghna believes.
   Thus begins the story between Rahul and Meghna, the teasing, the flirting, the anger, the tears… …will they find love?

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2844 KB
Print Length: 173 pages
Publisher: Flaming Sun; 1 edition (8 June 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUPUURS

The book comes with a WARNING:

This book has been written only for the purpose of Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment! If you are looking to learn something or improve your lives after reading this work, then this book is not for you. I am not trying to get into competition with the Author Biggies of this world. I wrote this simply for the fun and joy of it. One thing I can promise the reader though: Well proof-read, perfect language that I feel is very important for every book that's written in any tongue.

So what are you waiting for? Begin your fun-ride right here on Amazon......

AMAZON.IN | AMAZON.COM | AMAZON.CO.UK | 
AMAZON.CA | AMAZON.COM.AU

Blog Tour: SPOTLIGHT for INDIA WAS ONE by An Indian

India Was One by An Indian

The Blurb

…Suddenly, he saw something shiny at the bottom of the abyss. He squinted his eyes to see what it was. He ran back to his binoculars and turned them to see what it was. Sharp barbed wires that separated the two mountains came into focus. He had come as far as he could in his country. But she was standing in another country.

He was in South India and she was in North India…

Have you ever imagined India being divided into two countries? What happens to the millions of Indians who are from South India but are now residing in North India? Kaahi & Jai were two such people who got trapped in this situation. Everything was going smoothly for them and suddenly, their world turned upside down.

How will they get together? Will India become one again?

Take an exciting journey with them from their college days in Mumbai to their life in the US and back to India when they find out that India is divided.

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Meet the Author

The Author calls himself An Indian. We have no pics of him. But the Author does have something to say to every Indian out there....

Dear Readers,

I wanted to tell a story peppering it with Indian languages and narrating my experiences, inter-weaving them with some imaginary tale. When I mentioned this idea to my wife, her very first question was, "who is your target-audience?" That made me "think outside the box". After reading the book, you'll agree that there is no target-audience. I'd say - 10+, any sex, from any country, any ethnicity, any religion - is the intended audience.

When I wanted to tell a story, I wanted to "lull" the reader into thinking that they are just reading a travelogue. Making them wonder where (if at all anywhere) the story is going. Is it just another boring experience written by a NRI? AND THEN BOOM. It hits you. Suddenly, along with the characters, the reader's dream-world shatters.

This book is broken up in 3 parts. And it is intentional. Let me explain why.

The first part is about the Indian culture. Most Indians (in India) already know it. But what about NRIs? They may find it nostalgic. And what about their kids. They may have a better understanding about their roots and culture. And the non-Indian find it very fascinating. 

The second part is about life in the US. Readers who are in the US may find it a bit like a travelogue. However, others may find it very interesting. Those who can't be here get a glimpse into the US life of an Indian (and the US life in general).

The third part is for everyone. 

Hence, you'll notice that different people react differently to this book. There is something for everyone.

I hope this helps you.

Thank you,
An Indian   

The author was born and raised in Mumbai, India. He came to the US in 1989 and lived in New York.  This book is for those who like travel, history, romance, culture, cuisine, sports, political-thriller, etc. It’s dubbed as a realistic-fiction. A fiction based on some real events.  He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

He is very clear about his Target Audience..  

Audience	How will the benefit?
Age 10 and above	Will learn about India
Any Religion	Will Understand India
Indians in India	Will feel proud of India
NRIs	Nostalgic moments
Kids of NRIs	Will connect with their roots
Non Indians	Will want to visit india
People who Love India	Will know what the book is conveying
People who want to know about India	Will fall in love with India

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CLICK HERE to purchase Sundari Venkatraman's romance novella THE MALHOTRA BRIDE

CLICK HERE to purchase Sundari Venkatraman's romance novel MEGHNA

Blog Tour: SPOTLIGHT, REVIEW & INTERVIEW of SUMEETHA MANIKANDAN & her THE PERFECT GROOM

My Review

I started reading in the night and could not stop reading till I finished Sumeetha Manikandan’s book at 1.30 am. All I can say is The Perfect Groom is a perfect novel with all the right ingredients.

Nithya is the elder daughter of a widow and they are dependent on an uncle and aunt who are quite nasty. When Nithya gets married to Ashok in the USA, everyone insists that she is the luckiest woman on earth as all expenses are taken care of by the groom’s family. But is that the truth?

There is Vasu who has also been ill-treated by the same uncle-aunt duo. His is a rags-to-riches story. He goes to California to receive an award. That’s where he meets Nithya after a ten-year gap. Nithya is excited, but feels that she has no right to be. Will she ever find happiness?

From Chennai to California to Mumbai, Sumeetha Manikandan has woven a lovely story about Nithya’s life in the first person. Having lived in Chennai myself and also having undergone immense interference from a number of relatives, I could so relate to the circumstances surrounding the widow and her young daughters. There is an excellent twist in the tale and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best part was that the author has not shown any of the main characters as bad, just different. Beautifully penned! Congratulations Sumeetha!

And why would Ashok get married if he is not interested in his wife? You will have to read the novel to find out.

Rating: 

The Perfect Groom by Sumeetha Manikandan

The Blurb

Very little has gone right in Nithya’s young life. So, when a proposal from a young, handsome NRI comes along, her mother jumps at the opportunity and packs her daughter off to the US with her perfect groom.

Nithya seems to have settled in with Ashok, ostensibly happy, if as yet childless, in her new life. When an old flame comes back into her life, however, the cracks in her perfect marriage begin to show…

Meet the Creator of THE PERFECT GROOM

Meet Sumeetha Manikandan, the creator of The Perfect Groom published by Indireads. This is her debut novella and I must say that I found the story very interesting. It’s also very well written for a first time author. 

Sundari Venkatraman: Hi Sumeetha Manikandan, welcome to Flaming Sun. Give a description of your novel THE PERFECT GROOM ‘twitter’ style, in 140 characters. 

Sumeetha Manikandan: Meet Nithya, the bride of #ThePerfectGroom, a woman who rises above her #socialmileau to reclaim life on her own terms @Indireads #romance

SV: They say that debut novels generally verge on a lot of incidents from the author’s life, at least the characteristics of the protagonists. How much of The Perfect Groom follows yours? 

SM: Very true. Though The Perfect Groom is based on a true incident, I found it comfortable to set it within a background which I am familiar with. And many of my own characteristics are mirrored in Nithya’s.

SV: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? A full time author or...? 

SM: I would love to be a full time author. 

SV: The Perfect Groom is your debut novella. I read that you got the idea from something a friend said. For myself, I loved the Tamil setting in Mylapore that I could so relate to. What about your next book? I saw the title “These Lines of Mehendi”. Does that mean it is set in North India? Can you share something about this new venture?

SM: These lines of Mehendi is not set in the north. It is a story about a mehendi artist who lives in Mylapore. It is a typical romance. I will reveal more about it soon :)

SV: The Perfect Groom is a romance. Do you plan to continue writing in the same genre or…?

SM: I would be writing more romance novels in future. I am also toying with a plot idea for a historical fiction, which is in the research stage. 

SV: Any pitfalls that you would like to warn new writers about? 

SM: Have an open mind for bad reviews and rejection slips. I have always believed that we just need to keep doing what we really love to do and we will get our due, one day. Write, write and write more. 

Thank you very much Sumeetha for that interesting view into a writer’s life. I hope you enjoyed answering as much as I enjoyed asking the questions. Wish you all the best in your writing ventures. Looking forward to your new romance novel, These Lines of Mehendi. 

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Meet the author

The Author's Thoughts

An author and a freelance writer, Sumeetha Manikandan has been writing for many years now. After working in dotcom companies, like Sulekha for over a decade, she started freelancing from home. 

Her debut novella, 'The Perfect Groom' was initially written in a script format, which was later converted into a novella for Indireads. The Perfect Groom touches a taboo subject that is most often shrouded in secret whispers and exclamations in the tambrahm community. Inspired by a real anecdote, 'The Perfect Groom' is in parts the true story of a girl who rose above myriad challenges to make her own way in life.

     

  

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