iRead Book Tours: Welcome, Reluctant Stranger! by E Journey

 “In the conventional storyline, I’m supposed to be the one slaying dragons to save you, the princess in distress. So, you see, I feel odd being the rescued.” 

 Welcome, Reluctant Stranger! (Book 3) by E Journey


Book Description:

Frantic flight, peaceful life. Act of treason on an island country. Cauldron of warring emotions. Exotic beauty, ace with a gun. Hunk with gifts for mockery and cooking.

Nine-year-old Leilani and her family mysteriously flee the island country of Costa Mora, leaving her father. Years later, her peaceful solitary life in California ends when she rescues Justin Halverson from thugs and she learns a devastating truth about her father. As she agonizes over her father, Justin comforts her, and they’re drawn closer together.

With Justin, she returns to her birthplace to get her father quietly out. There, she reconnects with her past, but can she forgive her father and accept him for who he is? Can she finally be at peace with who she is? Welcome, Reluctant Stranger interweaves a love story into a tale of past political intrigue and Leilani’s inner journey, accepting her past.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Such a powerful novel about love, healing and redemption. Leilani's past is always with her even though she leads a fairly peaceful life. She might be helping others but she can't come into terms with who she really is. 

When she rescues Justin from being beaten up, everything comes into head. She knows that she has to face her past to save herself. And goes back to Costa Mora, looking for hr father. JUstin too is a broken man, lost and trying to find himself.

This novel has it all. Political turmoil, inner conflicts, romance and the healing that has to come from within, not from any therapy.

It made a good reading, flowed well and grew into me....

iRead Book Tours

iRead Book Tours: Hello Agnieszka by E Journey

Hello Agnieszka by E Journey

Short Synopsis
A passion for music. Her oldest son’s suicide attempt forces Agnieszka to reveal a past she has kept from her children. A young Agnieszka discovers a passion for music upon hearing her grand-aunt Jola, a concert pianist in Poland, give a recital. Jola hones her talent and feeds her dreams of becoming a concert pianist.
Shattered dreams. But real-world problems, thorny relations with a mother tied to her roots and betrayal by lusty Aunt Jola a shatter her dreams.
A 70s love story. Young Agnieszka finds love that renews her hopes for happiness. Sadly, it ends, cut short by forces outside anyone's control. Sustained by music and memories of her first love, Agnieszka grows and gets a second chance at happiness. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many layered writing, filled with emotions, makes for good writing. The characters come out alive on the pages and evoke strong emotions for the reader too. It moves back and forth between present and past effortlessly. Grips the reader with its plot and the pace is good.

Characters are very realistic. Agnieszka is a very strong woman and a mother who can go to any length for her children. The story is replete wit history oof her life and the consequences of that. Such a rich and deep novel.

I loved reading it. It opened my eyes at many levels...

iRead Book Tours

iRead Book Tours: Hello, My Love by E Journey

This book is a modern slant of a Jane Austen novel. Elise is a law student, bright, beautiful and very focused. She meets Greg in one of the dinner parties thrown by her parents. They keep meeting on and off. Initially Elise keeps her distance but slowly she likes Greg and looks forward to meet him. Greg is engaged but that does not stop him from hankering after Elise.

One year after after their meeting, just two days before his wedding, they end up spending a night together. Lori, his fiancee, is bent on revenge and that tears them apart. They are left questioning themselves, the way they behaved.

They meet again after a couple of years, Greg is as enamored with Elise as before but accident happens. Is it Lori again, who is hell bent on destroying them? 

This book has that suspense element, which keeps us hooked. I liked the way the romance developed, the characters developed. 

 I loved the romance with that right element of whodunit!!

iRead Book Tours

Wet Silence by Sweta Srivastava Vikram

I am a woman
who can be left in a desert,
and I'll come back smelling of jasmine. 

Title: Wet Silence
Author: Sweta Srivastava Vikram
ISBN: 9781615992560
Publisher: Modern History Press/2015
Pages: 72

A poetry collection that hits hard. Gut wrenching emotions pour forth. How do I review it? Being an Indian, I have heard, seen, felt enough. So close that the mind shuts down. 

Widowhood is a curse even now in many parts of India. She is made to shun all worldly pleasures. She can't attend any auspicious functions. Can't wear colours, can't have certain foods. I have heard it all and more. In my paternal grandma, who was widowed at 18, with a two year old son and carrying another in her womb. And then she lost her second child at 28 years of age. She brought up my dad single-handed, with virtually no support from her so-called family. 

When I was old enough, I could even feel her longings, her deep sadness. Yet I also saw the strength. 

When my dad passed away 13 years ago, I saw my mom reach out for white sarees, and shun certain foods. My brothers and I did not allow it. How could we? 

Sweta Vikram has made the women reach out to us. Somehow it saddened me. Her poetry reaches out. Yet I had mixed feelings. Maybe because it was too close to home. 

Posted for Poetic Book Tours:

 https://poeticbooktours.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/wet-silence-by-sweta-srivastava-vikram-blog-tour-aug-21-sept-18/

Sweta's Video:

https://youtu.be/QqbUenw4h58

iRead Book Tours:Two Hearts by James Eric Richley & Guest post

Book Title: Two Hearts: When I Said I Do, I Meant Forever 
Author: James Eric Richey
Category:  Adult Fiction, 426 pages
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: JER Books/2014

I have been reading a lot of romance and I grabbed this chance to read this too. It is big novel for a romance but I liked it. Two childhood sweethearts marrying young appeals to me. However, the path of living together is not smooth. They face hardships and challenges in the following years. Jason is a very nice person, very likable. Annie is shown to be good but she turns out to be jealous, suspicious and very insecure.

In real life, it is like that in any relationship. One has to deal with all kinds of emotions. The author has made us do that in this novel. I liked the vivid descriptions of the mountains. It made the place come alive for me. 

Such a beautiful love story which touches the heart. I like the ending where we see hope. That is real life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST BY JAMES ERIC RICHEY


What Am I Becoming

Do you ever stop and ask yourself, “What am I becoming?”  Are you doing what you need to do, to become what you want to become?

Success in life is definitely a journey and a slow process. I think there are three things successful people do differently than others. First, is their attitude, second their resolution and determination to achieve goals, and third is the mind set of never giving up.

Our mind and our thoughts are so powerful! Thinking negatively limits opportunities to succeed. Our thoughts determine who we are and who we will become. We are going to become what we are constantly telling ourselves. In order to succeed, it is so important to think positive, uplifting thoughts rather than degrading ourselves and our abilities.

A positive attitude is key to achieving the goals we set.

The second quality of successful people is their resolution to pursue goals and their determination to achieve the goals they set. Someone once said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of knowledge, not a lack of strength, but rather a lack of will.”

Self-discipline is vital in order to achieve goals.

The third characteristic of successful people is the mind set to never give up. Throughout history there have been people that did not give up. Thomas Edison failed two thousand times before inventing the light bulb. Without his continuous efforts we would probably still be using candlesticks for light. Another more recent example would be Michael Jordan, the famous basketball star. Michael Jordan missed 9,000 shots in his career. He lost almost 300 games. 26 times he was trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. He has failed over and over again in his life, and that is why he has succeed.  

He never gave up.

The three most important mannerisms people need in order to succeed in life are: attitude, goal achieving, and never giving up. If we work hard to do these things, we will lead a successful life.

iRead Book Tours

Teaser/Intro: Upper West Side Story by Susan Pashman

I stood up to face Stephen, a lump swelling in my throat. “It is simple,” I cried. “I can’t stand all this conniving and second-guessing when the truth is perfectly obvious. It’s always some stupid game with you politicians. But they can’t play games with our son, Stephen. That’s just not going to happen!”

I tore down the hall to our bedroom and stared out at the city. Down every street, behind every window, lives were being ruined – choked by greed, poisoned by ambition, obliterated by self-interest. The city stared back at me, a professor of political theory, a stalwart campaigner for a more just world.

Title: Upper West Side Story
Author: Susan Pashman
ISBN: 9781941861035
Publisher: Harvard Square Editions/2015
Pages: 286


The story is about two families, one White, other Black. Bettina is white and Viola is Black. Both forge deep bonds with each other and are good friends. Their sons, Max and Cyrus are in the same school and are very close to each other.

Both had gone to a field trip and Cyrus dies due to an accident. Max is held responsible for it. Bettina gets to read Max's diary and finds great insights about Max and Cyrus's friendship. Hard hitting, thought provoking, loss, racial prejudice and however hard one might try not to be affected by it all, one gets embroiled in the midst of it.

The divide is there, ever present despite best efforts, and unfairness of it all when a boy is wrongly punished for something he did not do. Bettina does not give up. She has to save her son. She also feels for Viola who has lost a son. Her loyalties get torn yet she has to save her son. 

This book grabbed me and kept me enthralled till the end. I felt for both the mothers and the helplessness, the utter loneliness of the characters. Love, forgiveness, redemption, isn't what we want?

This novel covers those and more.....


Posted this review for iRead Book Tours

The Antigone Poems by Marie Slaight and Drawings by Terrence Tasker with an INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

This voice
Is afraid to speak

Afraid
Of the brutal metal
Of its words.

Words that scrape
Words that scar
Words that have no peace.

If I utter this voice
This great
Aching scream

Its horror will echo forever

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Title: The Antigone Poems
Poetry: Mary Slaight
Art: Terrence Tasker
ISBN: 9780980644708
Publisher: An Altaire Publication/2014
Pages: 92

I did not know about Sophocles play. Antigone was a stranger to me. I have not read much of Greek Tragedies. Reading The Antigone Poems was a revelation. The despair, the bleakness and rebellion came across strongly. The poems jumped out of the pages and hit my guts hard. So so visceral.

I could even see parallel to our Hindu mythology. The Daemons are a manifestation of everything that ought not be, the evil. However, they connect the Gods with the Humans. Maybe we need that manifestation of Daemons to understand the goodness.

The struggle, the strife and suffering is not confined to Antigone. It goes beyond and we see it manifested everywhere in the present world. In any kind of war, women suffer the most. The detailing is morbid, yet it attracts the reader, the rhyming and Alliteration pulls us in. We may despair for the protagonist, but we appreciate beauty in words. The imagery, metaphors and allegory defy descriptions.

The charcoal drawings are so evocative. Sun, daemons, death pervades in most of the poems. The female spirit is the essence here, sad, tragic, despairing yet rebelling. Pleasure and pain are interchangeable.

The poems are stark and striking, appear to simplistic but encompass emotions of epic proportion. Highly recommended for all poetry lovers....The book is a keeper and I will read it again and again.....

PS: I did check out Sophocles play after reading this....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posting this for TLC Book Tour

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: The Antigone Poems

Thanks the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone interested to read poetry is welcome for the giveaway. Just leave your email id in the comments section. I will make a draw on 22 May. This is International....

Reconnaissance by Anne Higgins

Title: Reconnaissance

Author: Anne Higgins

ISBN:978-0692300046

Publisher: Texture Press/2014

Pages: 104

Poetry is very close to my heart. I read it and write it all the time. Reconnaissance by Anne Higgins is divided into six parts.

Binoculars

Like the Eye of the Insects

Knowing Again

Debriefing Magritte

Interrogations

Safe House

Her poems deal with birds, insects, gardens, human diseases, and life's journey, ending in death. Beauty of her poem lies in the poignancy and sadness. One can relate to her poem because she speaks of the quirks of life, the dead end, and inevitable death. When she writes about aging, illness and people, we nod our head at that as if she is talking about us.

The section, Interrogations was not easy to understand. It encompasses life yet it is somehow surreal, happening at another unknown plane. I had to read that section twice to understand it. I am glad I did. 

Her poetry looks at everyday things in a new light, another dimension. That appealed to me. 

One poem which struck a chord is Perdita. It spoke to me. Sharing it here to know why:

PERDITA

If I had a daughter, I would name her Perdita.
Of course, the time when I could have a daughter is long
gone.
But that name, the lost one, calls to me tonight.
Like Anita, and Rita, and Jacquita, Lolita, Florita, it is Latin and
lovely
but it’s lost, too.
So my lost eggs, long ago shriveled up,
and lost nest, more recently, fried by radiation.
Perdita, your name wouldn’t go well with my last name,
or the names of any of the men I would have married,
but you are the lost one,
the invisible one,
the one I never would have had the patience
to toilet train, to least train like a puppy,
to train like a stubborn adolescent.
Never meant to be be a mother,
today, more than old enough to be a grandmother,
I think of long lost tempests,
and you.

I recommend this book of poems for all poetry lovers..

Posted it for Poetic Book Tours

The Robot Scientist's Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey

Cesium Burns Blue

Copper burns green. Sodium yellow,
strontium red. Watch the flaming lights
that blaze across your skies, America—
there are burning satellites
even now being swallowed by your horizon,
the detritus of space programs long defunct,
the hollowed masterpieces of dead scientists.
Someone is lying on a grassy hill,
counting shooting stars,
wondering what happens
when they hit the ground.

In my back yard in Oak Ridge,
they lit cesium
to measure the glow.
Hold it in your hand:
foxfire, wormwood, glow worm.
Cesium lights the rain,
is absorbed in the skin,
unstable, unstable,
dancing away, ticking away
in bones, fingernails, brain.
Sick burns through, burns blue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Title: The Robot Scientist's Daughter
Author: Jeannine Hall Gailey
ISBN: 9781936419425
Publisher: Mayapple Press/2015
Pages: 82

When I was asked by Serena Agusto-Cox to review this poetry book for Poetic Book Tours, I did not think twice. I had read and reviewed Becoming the Villainess way back in 2009. I liked what Jeannine Hall Gailey had penned in that.

Coming back to The Robot Scientist's Daughter, I liked the title. When I read the introduction by the poet, I was hooked to the poems. I could relate to the scientific stuff mentioned in the poems. My dad used to talk Physics to us during meal times. He explained the complicated scientific stuff in a very simplified manner. Theoretical physics still is part of my life.

I have done my Masters in Inorganic Chemistry. When Gailey writes about various Elements and their properties and mentions Geiger–Müller counter, I know exactly what she is speaking about.

These poems speak to me, reach out to me. When we say Nuclear, everyone thinks Nuclear bombs, Nuclear wars. No one thinks of the nuclear debris, which is more devastating then the bombs and wars. Why? Because it kills slowly, and spreads over generations.

Gailey has personalized the poems and that connects to the heart. I paused at times, reflecting on the words, was saddened too, now and then. Rural childhood is mixed with straight laced scientists, consequences of our mindless nuclear experimentation. To what effect? Destruction in one way or the other. 

Each of the poems that talks of The Robot Scientist's Daughter, in one way or the other, fills us with poignancy, helplessness and stoic acceptance. I find poetry books hard to review but this one was easy for me despite being on a difficult topic of science, which most don't relate to.

Posting this for Poetic Book Tours

Muscle Cars by Stephen G Eoannou

Griff stood in the bedroom doorway and watched his wife count the money a third time. Val’s hands trembled as she piled the fifty dollar bills on the bed in stacks of ten. When she was finished, there were ten neat stacks on the bedspread.
Val looked up at Griff. “Five thousand ,” she said.
Griff nodded. He had counted it twice before she got home.
“Tell me again how you found it.”
“There’s not much to tell,” Griff said, leaning against the doorjamb, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “My shift ended and I found it when I was cleaning the back of the cab.”
“So it belongs to your last fare.”
Griff shrugged. “The envelope was under the backseat, like it had been dropped and accidently kicked when the person was getting out. I don’t know who it belongs to."
“You must have an idea. A suspicion.”

~~Auld Lang Syne, Muscle Cars...

Title: Muscle Cars
Author: Stephen G Eoannou
ISBN: 9781939650221
Publisher: Santa Fe Writers Project/2015
Pages: 250

Short story collections are hard to review. The same goes for this collection too. I loved the stories but do not quite know how to explain those. One thing I discovered reading the stories is that, most have endings which are open-ended. It is for the reader to decide how he or she wants to explain it.

The stories depict the male point of view and cars are important part of the stories. The stories are about males and for males. Yet I loved the book. The title story sets the mood. The narrator goes to his neighbour's place to complain about noise and all but ends up bonding with the young boy and his friend by revealing about his brother.

The narrators of each story end up knowing something other than what they expected. Sometimes the consequences are not so good. Many a times, things are not what we think or expect. Life will always throw a curve when we least expect it.

I loved the build up of each of the stories, be it tragic or otherwise. If you want to read something that exercises your mind, makes you think, I recommend this book. The author knows his job and knows how to play into the readers mind.

Posting this is for Poetic Book Tours

Tuesday Intro/Teaser: Doll God by Luanne Castle for poetic book tours

Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit has started promoting poetry at POETIC BOOK TOURS. The author sent me a copy of the book for review.

it began
a mirror for good

the child's round nose
seed-pearl teeth

doubled by the bundle
she cradled in her

arms, then hung
by one of its

limbs or curved belly...

~~~Prototype, Doll God by Luanne Castle 

Title: Doll God

Author: Luanne Castle
ISBN: 978-0692334881
Publisher: Aldrich Press/2015
Pages: 86

With beautiful imagery, softness and at times gut wrenching, this debut collection of poetry touches the heart.

At times, I paused and savored the poems. There is violence, yet redemption. There is that rawness that hits the guts, yet childlike.

I liked the second poem, From Both Sides, which chipped the mountain, the mighty mountain which always stands tall....

Doll Gods are so endearing, so lovable. There is whole gamut of emotions imbued in those. The poems are reflective, mirror our inner most thoughts and have a sense of purpose...

A few poems also comment on the scientific reality of life, yet the metaphysical and spirituality is never far away...

Man made and natural objects get juxtaposed here, blended so very seamlessly....

I am a poet myself. I really enjoyed reading the collection and look forward to more of her work...