Thursday 21 April 2016

Finding Juliet by Toffee: a promotional tour!


RELEASE BLITZ- FINDING JULIET BY TOFFEE



Title: FINDING JULIET

Release Day: APRIL 23, 2016

Published by: JUGGERNAUT BOOKS

Genre: ROMANCE

BlurbAn incredibly nice guy turns into an irresistible flirt and learns the fine art of seducing women. A hilarious and heartwarming novel with some surprising nuggets of wisdom.

Cover: 


Links to the book will be available after the release of the Juggernaut app! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 


Toffee is just another Indian youngster who became an Engineer first and then discovered his true calling. He was a typical Sharma ji ka Ladka, until Engineering happened and changed his life completely. After surviving college, he joined a reputed MNC as a Software Analyst, but a dramatic turn of events made him an author. Toffee is passionate about writing, so much so that he writes code by the day and books by the night and does everything else in life in between. A huge Rajkumar Hirani fan, he loves writing stuff that is both entertaining and insightful. And through his books, he wants to narrate stories that touch people's hearts and change a part of their life, forever.

Toffee’s first book titled ‘An Idiot, Placements and IntervYOU’ was published by the Times Group Books and it went on sell around 5000 copies. ‘Finding Juliet’ is his second book and Juggernaut Books is publishing it exclusively on their mobile app.

AUTHOR LINKS: 


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Tuesday 19 April 2016

Forget me not, Stranger by Novoneel Chakraborty: a review

I have read Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger; both the books hooked me so much that I HAD TO read Forget me not, stranger. Novoneel Chakraborty has always been a writer whose quotes have influenced me and have been an answer to whatever problems that I have faced in my life. Forget me not, stranger has also done the same thing. Somehow, defined whatever I am going through. After many guesses (like everybody) on what the stranger is doing with Rivanah, I had failed but I was glad to know that who I had guessed to be stranger is actually the stranger. The story was never about the stranger, though. It was always about Rivanah and rightfully so. The blurb does its best to hook the readers for reading the book.

According to the blurb- I’m Rivanah Banerjee, 23/F/Mumbai. Some of you might already know how my life is on a razor edge. Those of you who don’t, just know this: I may be killed soon… by the Stranger. I don’t know who or what he is: a ghost, a person or a figment of my imagination? All I know is he isn’t just one thing: he is sexy and scary, terrific and terrifying. What I don’t understand is why a young, harmless girl like me, who works in a big city, stays away from her parents and has a screwed-up love life, would be of any interest to him. Unless there is something about my own story that I do not know… In the hotly anticipated final instalment of the Stranger trilogy, Rivanah will learn the answers to her many question- What is that binds her to the dead Hiya? Who is the Stranger? Why has he been following her all this while? - leading to an intense, breathtaking climax.

To begin with, the cover. I loved the covers of Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger. While the cover of Forget me not, stranger completes the way the covers are formed and it shows the face of Rivanah, somehow this concept didn’t work for me. I didn’t find it as breathtaking as the others but the title, no doubt, is wonderful. When you turn the book and you get to the place where the blurb is written, you get to see the stranger. Well, the silhouette of the stranger but that is no doubt a reason why you would feel like turning its pages and read the book. But yes, early warning. Do not read the last page first. Start with the first page first.

When you open the book, the first thing you encounter is the prologue. Now speaking of the prologue, Chakraborty always has the habit of gripping his readers with it. This book was no less either but having been a regular reader of his work and an admirer too, a bit change in the writing and I guess it. This happened with the prologue of this one too. No doubt gripping, this prologue didn’t have the essence (for me) which the other books had. Or maybe I felt so because the prologue of this book came in much after All yours, stranger released, thus fizzing out the essence the book had in the first place.

Coming to the story, Marry me, stranger and All yours, stranger had something in them which hooked every reader to it. So the expectations with Forget me not, stranger were very high. It stood to its expectations or not, I will come to that later. I would first talk about how the story proceeds. The proceeding of the story was in a very typical Novoneel Chakraborty way, with twists and turns in every chapter. You turn the page and you get a twist or a turn. This, in turn, keeps you hooked to the book till the end.

Again, in a fashion which only the author can do, he leads on the readers to thinking about somebody else totally and then brings about something which is just not what the readers have been thinking all this while. That is one thing that every loyal reader of the author looks forward to in his books. This book was no exception as you think about something and something just the opposite happens. But you know what? Somewhere down the line, for the first time, I felt that the story has been dragged in this book. Moreover, while I am at the end of the story, I was surprised with the ending. Never had I expected such an ending. As I have already said, who the stranger is, doesn’t matter but why the stranger doing all this is is what matters. I could see Rivanah’s growth from the first book to the last book and that made me feel proud of Rivanah but, the reason given by the Stranger on why was he doing all this was, I don’t know what to say, too out of the films. Nonetheless, given the trademark of the author, you flow with the book and feel the book with every page. Is there any take back from the book? I would leave it to you to decide!

“A social thriller with a not so happy ending” That is how the author had always defined the book and the book is just that. It surely is a social thriller with a not so happy ending. The idea that Chakraborty wanted to bring forth in the book was wonderful but the way it has been handled wasn’t exactly up to the mark. With the way book 1 and book 2 led the readers thinking, half of book 3 was exactly that. You would learn a lot when you end the book and even you would grow with the book but when you read the end you might be left a bit shaken. With whatever happened. Given my personal reaction after this book ended, I took a lot of time to digest what exactly happened with the whole story. Disappointed? I don’t know. Happy? I don’t know that either. Clueless, I would say.


Coming to the errors of the book, I have already said a lot about it but there is one blazing mistake in the book which I am sure is a typo error but I am also sure that after reading that, die hard stranger fans would want to strangle the author. At least I wanted to. Being an admirer of his work, I would wait for his next book and hope that it is as wonderful as the other books were. Having said all that, wishing the author all the luck in the world, this book gets 4 out of 5.

Sunday 10 April 2016

World's Best Boyfriend by Durjoy Datta: a review

Durjoy Datta. Isn’t the name enough to spark an interest? I guess so! A bestselling author, a successful entrepreneur, a ladies’ man- Durjoy Datta has it all in himself BUT does his 11th book World’s Best Boyfriend has it within it to catch the readers grasp? It is for the readers to decide. I will be very frank and very true here; I am not a Durjoy Datta fan. Having read very few of his books, If it’s not forever is the only one that stayed with me even after I was done reading the book, many years ago. Being a ‘book buff’ I wanted to read this book because it somehow appealed to me. I felt that he has done something in this book which he hasn’t attempted in the others and that is what made me pick up the book. Of course, reviews from my fellow reader friends and the constant e-mails asking me to review this one acted as the cherry on the cake. When I picked up the book, the blurb said a lot to me.

According to the blurb- Hate, is a four letter word. So is love. And sometimes, people can’t tell the difference... Dhruv and Aranya spend a good part of their lives trying to figure out why they want to destroy each other, why they hurt each other so deeply. And, why they can’t stay away from each other. The answer is just as difficult each time because all they wanted is to do the worst, most miserable things to another. Yet there is something that tells them: THIS IS NOT IT. If you want to know the answer to it all, read the book.

I really have no idea what you are going through after reading the blurb but I somehow felt that this book should not be missed. Very unlike what people have a notion about Datta; this book had something in it which sounded a bit odd. Odd I say because, the blurb might be giving you notions about it being his regulars but I felt that there is a catch somewhere. So finally I started with the book. Here, I would take a moment to talk about the cover of the book. There are two covers. One, that was originally launched and the second is a cover that came up after it being tagged as a bestseller. For me, even though I read the book when it had its first cover, the second cover caught my eye.

Coming to the characters, Aranya is a girl who suffers from a disease called vitiligo since birth and because of which she has been subject to a lot of dislike in her life. When the first time Dhruv and Aranya meet, he too laughs at her. Kinda clichéd? Well, that is how Datta writes. Something clichéd mixed with facts with spices of humour, sex and fiction as condiments is a typical recipe for him. And boy does it work! Dhruv, on the other hand is a person who has seen a lot since childhood. After ‘falling in love all thanks to their differences in school’ they face a situation where one decision changes everything they had between each other. The other characters of the book- Raghuvir, Sanchit did a wonderful job in supporting the main leads. Even though I do not have a favourite character of the book, Raghuvir is someone who I liked. What I felt after reading the characters is that Datta could’ve written in a bit more details about the supporting characters and could’ve cut short a bit on the childhood of the main leads. Given the fact that this is the thickest of all of his books, I guess this was the maximum he could do.

Next, the story. A boy and a girl meet during their school days, they fall in love. Misunderstandings happen. They move on with their life hating each other (hating??) and then they bump into each other again during college. Trying to bring each other down and themselves on the up slot, they realise they are in love. I guess you are getting the flow here. I wouldn’t say more. In the beginning it is introduced that Aranya has a disease about which, apart from a few instances, nothing is mentioned. Either the author could’ve skipped that part or since he wanted to take the bold move, he could’ve written a bit more on it. How the girl lived her life, what she faced etc. Dhruv, too, seemed to be a very reckless person and carefree person and he could’ve brought him live but somehow something was lacking. It also goes without saying that the story was predictable.

Coming to the writing style, I would say that Datta has tried to improve himself a lot. But I personally feel, he does better with a co writer like If it’s not forever rather than writing alone. The command of his language when he is writing with a co writer is much more visible rather than him leaving it to the flow when he writes alone. Datta is known to be a writer who writes a lot of ‘sex scenes’ throughout his books. This book was no exception. Being a ‘book buff’ I would be very true here, I felt like he has to work a lot on his skills. There is a thin line between the brutal honesty in a scene and a cringe worthy scene. For me, in this book, it was the latter. Keeping all these points in mind and wishing him all the best for his future works, I would give this book 2.75 out of 5.