MellowDrama

Feeling grumpy? Feeling lost? Feeling happy or just planning on having a do-good day? Whatever you might be going through,  Jack Meggitt-Phillips' The Beast and The Bethany: Revenge of the Beast, will put you in just the right spirits. This is a sequel to the amazingly well written book The Beast and The Bethany (obviously!) in which we meet both these characters and other important members of the cast and crew like the 511-year-old Ebenzer who has a penchant for a good life and kept the Beast in his attic.  He would feed the Beast all manner of objects and creatures and in return the Beast would vomit up expensive presents for him. But then the Bethany arrived. But after the arrival of notorious prankster Bethany, along with her new feathery friend Claudette, they finally managed to get rid off the Beast. Now Bethany is determined that she and Ebenezer are going to de-beast their lives and Do Good. But Bethany finds that being a former prankster makes it hard to get taken o...

The Secret Life of Debbie G is the story of a teen girl named Soundarya. Her family and friends of course make for the rest of the cast of characters. But that is not the information that would want you to pick this book up and zip through it. Vibha Batra and Kalyani Ganpathy have created #agraphicnovel that is a coming of age story.  The book is very important in the number of topics it manages to bring to the fore. The writer and the illustrator have dared bring the topics generally swept under the carpet, out into the open.  What's more, with Debbie G's help and with that of the social media they have laid these bare and out in the open for everyone to pick up and examine with a lens of their choosing. Still, as you progress with the story you do realise that judgments are easy to pass especially at the younger lot who are just beginning to explore this world that adults before them have muddled up. As a mum of a teenager the book gave me a perspective on life as a teen in ...

  It happens very rarely, if ever, that you just hear one praise after the other from the members of your book reviewing community.  It happened with me for the very book that I am going to be reviewing here: (though not given to the use of adjectives much, I break the rules and.....) the hilarious, the fabulous, the must-read, the heart warming, the amazing.....DRUM ROLL.... THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY.  The book targeted for  middle grade readers  has been written by Jack Meggitt-Phillip and illustrated by Isabelle Follath. What a team have they made to bring us this delightful book! I read it with both my kids-the12 year-old and the 5 year-old and we had some hilarious times. Let me start by giving you the blurb from Goodreads.  511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep ...

All reader everywhere probably are aware of Tayari Jones' name whether or not they might have read her books or not. Her novel American Marriage won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2019. Silver Sparrow is her first UK publication since American Marriage, being brought out by Oneworld Publishers. Silver Sparrow tells the tale of two sisters, rather secret sisters Dana and Chaurisse. Set in Atlanta in the 1980s and 90s, it takes us into the secrets and doings of the two families of Jams Witherspoon junior. The book is told from the point of view of the two girls and begins with perspective of the secret daughter Dana giving us her side of the story and introducing us to the characters involved in her life- her mother, grandfather, teachers, boyfriends. The second half is the story of Chaurisee and characters that shape her. Another central character is their father's friend Raleigh who quietly plays a role in propelling and maintaining the story of all these varied char...

A psychological thriller Only Lies Remain by Val Collins is a ride which you wouldn't want to get off in a hurry that is once you have got used to the pace. It took me some time to warm up to Aoife's story but boy, once I did, it wouldn't le go of me easily. Aoife is looking for a job, her estranged husband has showed up at her door telling her that he wants to improve his relation with his daughter and wants to give their marriage another chance, not caring much whether Aoife wants it or not. Maura, her mother-in-law is suspected of killing her father-in-law whose dead body has just been discovered after years since his disappearance. The characters are well developed and seem to be full of surprises as much as people are in real life. For example Aoife seems like someone who can be easily pushed around but eventually her character progresses through trials and tribulations and she develops into someone who is strong and can hold her own in the face of adversity. ...

How Selfish! is a soon-to-be-released word and picture book by Clare Helen Welsh and Olivier Tallec, published by Quarto Publishing Group. The book tells the story about a Duck and her friend Dot. Duck finds a stick but Dot makes away with it. duck tries to get the stick back from Dot but ends up losing all the other toys to her as well. And Dot though now has things, she learns a most difficult lesson about friendship and sharing. Beautifully illustrated and with excellent (and minimal) writing this book catches attention and manages to deliver an important message , teaching children not to be selfish. The quirky illustrations are not your run of the mill ones. They capture the child's imagination. I read the book with my 5 year old and after we were done, he went back to it to just look at the pictures. Quarto publishes fantastic books for the younger audience and I am a big fan of their Little People, Big DREAMS series which bring to life various world leaders for smaller...

I am a reader of course but I since I began my second innings as a reader I have mostly been hooked to mysteries, thrillers and crime novels. In between, I have often found that up comes a book- sometimes a non-fiction, a classic, a children's book or any other -that just blows me away. And today if I were to typify the book that I am going to be taking about then I would put it in league with my two other favourites from the similar feeling genre- Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us  and Vibha batra's Glitter and Gloss . Rebecca Serle's In Five Years, isn't really a book that I can put in a particular genre. I might have called it a romance because love runs all along the book as a theme but so does friendship and sisterhood so maybe, women' fiction but then well there are elements of a mystery too in the early pages. So you see my problem and also why I absolutely adored this book and you might too. In Five Years is the story of an up and coming lawyer Danni...

What would you think of a book that is set up in a retirement village and features a heroine who is well past her prime? Meet Clemmie or Helen who will dispense all your preconceived notions about who can do what and at what age. Helen had a tragic past and to escape it she changes everything about herself and her life. She chooses to become Clementine and we meet her at a retirement village called Sun City where she is now living in her old age. She has keys to the house of her next door neighbour Dom- for emergencies. Not having seen him for a day or so,Clemmie goes to investigate about his welfare. She finds the villa almost as if no one has ever lived in there and also finds a glass dragon whose picture she clicks on her phone and shares with her nephew. And like they say all hell breaks loose. The glass piece apparently belongs to a drug dealer who will go to any length to get it back. As he arrives in Sun City, we begin too know more about Clemmie's past- how she was rap...

When I Was You by Minka Kent is a thriller which I found an easy read and highly recommend if you are scared of the gory stuff but still like to be surprised in the realms of suspense. It is a bit predictable though the bits which are unpredictable are pretty good. I read this one soon after finishing Luanne Rice's Last Day  which was hardly as much a thriller as a story about secrets, sisters and sisterhood. So getting back to When I Was You. Well the book is told via two perspectives Niall and Brienne. Brienne is a victim of a mugging and now lives scared and traumatised. She suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)- a mental health condition which is triggered by a traumatic event. Its symptoms include severe anxiety, flashbacks and nightmares among other things. She lives in a huge house that once belonged to her grandparents but since her attack, rents out a portion to Niall who is an oncologist and a very caring, considerate man. But of course, things are ha...

I had been advanced a copy of Luanne Rice's thriller Last Day by NetGalley and let me thank them, the author and the publisher at the outset. Last Day is set in Connecticut and is a story of four women who have grown up together. Though touted as a thriller, I found it hard to see it as one purely. Rather Last Day is an emotional journey about friendship and sisterhood. Beth Woodward is found dead in her bedroom. Her head has been smashed and she has been strangulated with her lace panties. The killer had put the air conditioning at the highest to ensure that the body decay is slowed down and maybe had violated Beth before extinguishing the flame of her life. Beth was six months pregnant. A painting that hung in her bedroom is gone. Beth was discovered by her sister Kate who is a pilot and who raised an alarm after she had failed to get any response from her sister, who was going through a difficult pregnancy, for three days. Beth was home alone as her husband had on...

The Swap by journalist Shuma Raha is a story that is based on the trend of swinging or what is commonly known as wife-swapping. The story is set in Delhi. Priya is a journalist who is married to Akash for six years but now the once-in-love couple have grown apart, maybe distant as well. There is a lack of intimacy and as happens  after years of togetherness, things have become boring for both of them. During a dinner party at their house, a guest called Tarun Paul tells everyone gathered there about the very happening thing in Delhi social circles- the swinging parties. Going by the keen interest that almost everyone at the dinner party had shown on the topic, Tarun extends to them all an invite for the next one which was being organised by their friends. Though reluctant, Priya gives in and goes with Akash to the party. Things which should have gotten better after the swap, become even worse and Priya finds Akash distancing himself further from her. Priya though has a extrama...

What a beautiful beautiful book is this Portrait of an Artist: Claude Monet! Lucy Brownridge's words bring the life of this French painter alive in an unparalleled way, educating and inspiring the littlest of readers. Claude Monet was the painter whose painting gave the name "Impressionism" to a style of painting which left heroics and heroes behind and focussed more on nature. This book brings into focus Monet's life and his evolution as a painter. Accompanying Lucy Brownridge's text, illustrations by Caroline Bonne Muller give us the glimpses of Monet's life and to add further to a reader's delight, the book also showcases various works of this master artist which are, I think, a great point to start your child's (or your own) education in art. The text and illustrations also go beautifully hand in hand telling us and inspiring along with it to keep at something that we really really want to do. Monet's story and its characters- Eugene Bou...

 The Devil's Apprentice is the first book in The Great Devil War Trilogy. Written by Kenneth B. Andersen, the book has been translated from the Danish into various languages and came out in 2018.   The book is apt for readers in middle grade, but honestly who cares, this is such a fabulous book that age can not stop you from thoroughly enjoying this fiery ride. This book tells the story of Philip, a 13 year old boy, who finds himself Hell because of a case of mistaken identity. Philip is a good boy, make that a very good boy, who never even lies, who finds himself face to face with who else, but the Prince of Darkness. Satan or Lucifer on the other hand, is withering and needs to put his replacement in place and now has this very good boy on his hands. The road looks difficult for the two main characters of our book who will have to go. Philip repeatedly fails at every task meted out to him and Lucifer sees no way in which to evoke the evil that lies buried deep within Ph...

So I follow Cara Hunter on Twitter. It happened so that her latest book was up on NetGalley for review and. the blurb sounded so wonderful that I applied and got rejected. But I discovered DI Adam Fawley in the meantime, so I had to pick up the first in the series na, keeping with my personal agenda- reading the first book in a series where a DI makes her/ his first appearance. So here I am with the review of Close To Home the first book in the DI Adam Fawley series that was released in 2018. An 8 year old girl Daisy Mason goes missing, apparently from her house where a huge party is going on. Gradually it is found that no one can confirm seeing the child at the party. Then it comes to the knowledge of the Detective Inspector Adam Fawley who is heading the investigation that neither of the parent can say for sure if they had seen their child since the time she left for school in the morning. Things began to get shadier as it is discovered that the father has a roving eye and the mot...

You Are Mine by Miranda Rijks is a spell binding thriller which I managed to read in a span of two days. I doubt if it would have taken me even that much time, had I not been a mother of two and a little unwell. This is a story about obsessive love. Rupert, rather Sir Rupert has spent a long time, looking for a perfect woman to marry and eventually manages to find one. Now all that remains is to make her see how alike they are and make her realise that she has to love him completely with her heart, body and soul. And he will not let anything stand in the way of fulfilling his.... their destiny. You Are Mine is gripping and engaging as you really don't know what to expect rom the next few pages. I had recently seen the very brilliant series "You" on Netflix and that kind of made my imagination even more proactive in conceiving the scenes as the story progressed, though both- this book and the series (also based on a psychological thriller) are very different from each...

If you are a fan of the romance genre then chances are quite high that you will recognise the name of the author of Our Song, Milan Vohra. An advertising professional, Vohra is India's first Mills & Boons author. Our Song is a love story that takes place in Bengaluru on no, not an IT campus but in the corridors, park and offices of a Pharma company. Ragini is a struggling music composer who has been hired by Andrew Arya, the young gun heading this Pharma company, to compose a song for their 25th anniversary. Their is chemistry of course, between Ragini and Andrew, and also a sort of shared past- they went to the same school where he was her senior and she had a crush on him. Andrew tries to hide the immense attraction that he feels under the guise of the need to keep an eye on Ragini and makes her come to his offices in order to interact and observe the people behind the company to be able to write the song. Ragini though feels hugely attracted to Andrew, is (at the beginnin...

A fast paced thriller that is going to make your week or weekend (depending on the choice of the day you pick it up on)! So, it is well established by now that I am a thriller's fan. I have also managed to ascertain that sometimes it is destiny which leads me to read some books. This past month has been quite a thing for me. First, both my kids fell ill, taking turns at keeping me on my toes 24X7 and then a day before Diwali my husband came down with an infection which looked like a common cold but ended up being as troublesome as Pneumonia. So there I was before and through this, going from book to book and singing 'Kahin lagta nahi dil, main kya karoon'. Let me explain- I had started no less than 5 books from varying genres and wasn't feeling happy or satisfied (if you know what I mean then a virtual high-five) with any one of them. And, I had also started to spend more time than was usual on social media (hospital waiting rooms do that to you, no?) Wel...

What an excellent and important this little book is! This is a book that I would gladly recommend to all the grown ups and all the children alike because everyone worries and mostly no one knows how to deal with it. The author not only addresses the many guises that often the smallest of worries dons on and comes knocking or to use a phrase from the book 'has no manners and barges in'. I loved the way the author has given everyday causes and symptoms that any child might be able to relate to, to explain what does a worry feel like, how it can manifest itself as a physical ailment or a mental block and how to conquer it. The fact that Wolff and Savitz have not only spoken about how and what causes worry-a bully, first day of school, fear of sleeping alone to name a few- but also the ways in which it can be tackled, makes the book a keeper to be reached out for when you are feeling a little lost as a parent or even as an individual. The illustrations on my Kindle probably ...

A fun, light romcom that you can easily breeze through over a weekend, Once Upon A Crush by Kiran Manral is the story of a 29 year old girl Rayna De. She is much like the girl next door, with parents who are after her life to get married to a guy called Sid Bose and a boss straight from hell, ensuring that her life, well for the lack another appropriate word- stays interesting. Time for a twist in the plot and walks into her office a man named Deven Ahuja who sets Ms De's heart a fluttering and she sees Mr Darcy and a certain vampire with very good looks Mr Cullen, in him. Unfortunately, as is often in such cases, the man has been claimed. He has a girlfriend and if Page 3 reports are to be believed by one and Rayna, then they seem to be pretty happy together. So, as Rayna reasons by herself, there is no reason why should Deven throw even a sideway glance at her. But does he? Or is Sid Bose able to woo our heroine? To know this and some more you will have to pick up your own c...

A complex ad intricate book, that will need your complete devotion to be able to solve the crime with the little hints that the author keeps throwing your way via the characters and their observations, some tangible others not so tangible. And no it is not a police procedural. ***************************** Drishyam may have been inspired by the book but is very different from the novel I became a Keigo Higashino fan in an instant. Via some friends in a Facebook group on reading I came to know about the fact that the film Drishyam starring Ajay Devgan is based on a book by the Japanese author. I had seen the film and had found it immensely good. Surprisingly the book was also not difficult to acquire and so I read it soon after this FB intervention.  Devotion of Suspect X was such a mind-blowing read which I had not come across till that time ( I have since then read No Time for Goodbye by Canadian author Linwood Barclay which was a brilliant mystery and It Ends wi...