Mini-reviews: Books I read recently

I’ve been on a book blogging slowdown lately, but that doesn’t mean my reading has slowed much. Honestly, I am up to my eyeballs in books I’ve read and just haven’t featured yet. And some, such as [highlight]Snow Falling on Cedars[/highlight] by David Guterson, I have pretty much given up on even writing a complete review.

Or who knows, maybe I will. I seem to be on fire this week when it comes to the blog. Tons of half-written and edited posts. Let’s see if this book review finally sees the light of day.

Anyway, in this series of short reviews, I am going to feature some other books I read recently of the Indian fiction chick-lit variety.

The Spectacular Miss

The first book I read was [highlight]The Spectacular Miss[/highlight] by Sonia Bahl. In plot and style, it was very similar to Hedon. Again, it’s a coming of age story of a girl having a crush on a much older man.

I liked the book, primarily because I liked the protagonist – Nira – tomboyish and stubborn to a fault, who struggles with fitting into society’s expectations of her. When she meets Bir, her older brother’s best friend, he understands and supports all her eccentricities, and of course she falls madly in love with him. And of course, he is unreachable, because where is the charm in an accessible love when you are an intense teenager?

The rest of the book deals with all the ups and downs of her life, her attempts to forget Bir, their wonderful interactions together, all leading towards a happy ending for them both? Well, for that you need to read the book 🙂 .

Overall, a very sweet and simple story that I liked a lot.

Buy from Amazon.

I am big. So what?

The next book I am featuring here is [highlight]I am big. So what?[/highlight] by Shuchi Singh Kalra.

As you can guess from the book title, it is about an overweight girl who finds love. When Roli meets Kabir as part of an arranged marriage go-see, she bonds really closely with him, until she realizes he is the boy who tormented her the most about her weight in school.

Oh no! What to do? The drama starts, and the rest of the book deals with how she deals with these issues and whether she can forgive Kabir for his schoolboy sins and give him a second chance or not.

What I liked in this book was how Roli refuses to let herself be body-shamed by anyone. That said, at times I thought she was a bit too touchy and defensive about her weight, but then I suppose if someone is taunted so much about one’s weight as she seems to be, then it is only natural.

The romance was fun and light. The book was pretty fast-moving, and overall a couple of hours sped by pleasurably reading this book.

Buy from Amazon.

The Pleasure is all Mine

And now I come to the last book I read recently.

This is one of those erotica novellas that seem to be coming in fashion these days. This book is authored by Shanaya Taneja and is part of a [highlight]Dark Temptations[/highlight] series. At the time, I accepted this book for review, I didn’t realize this was erotica. The blurb sounded and read like a thriller, which is one of my favorite genres.

Still once I got it, I thought I’d give it a try, and then really regretted it afterwards. Not because it is erotica, I am not particularly prudish that way.

But because it is almost a line by line copy of a book I have read many moons ago – [highlight]The World is Full of Married Men[/highlight] by Jackie Collins. The set up, the dialogues, everything mirrored this old Jackie Collins book set in the 70s. And I ended up speed-reading it hoping there would be some twist or something that would surprise me.

So, there was a twist, and it was a good one. And the erotica was also decent. But overall, this story was just too derivative, and it’s not something I would recommend if you are looking for something well-written. But then [highlight]50 Shades of Grey[/highlight] was pathetic too, but still became a huge hit.

Who knows, this book might click in the same way too.

Huge thanks to Fingerprint Publishing for sending over [highlight]The Spectacular Miss[/highlight] and [highlight]I am big. So what?[/highlight].

[highlight]The Pleasure is all Mine[/highlight] came to me from Srishti Publishers.