This story is about two different people from different dimensions kind of life and death balance which these two people are lacking of. The story took place in Egypt which is one of the places I had dreamt of going because it’s a place which is full of interesting past and beautiful sightings. One of the two people is at the modern Egypt, joining her whose father is a famous archaeologist and her father’s crew for Christmas. Her name is Amy Clayton. She is still carrying the guilt and blames on the death of her brother-in-law caused by a car accident tat they both were involved. Another was a boy who is at the Ancient Egypt, was once a Maryannu (The Young Hero) but found himself waking up in the barley field with no past, no memories and a identity of being a Shabti.

Both of these two people have past deeds that they have to face before anyone of them could move on. As there dimensions collided, they helped one another to confront their own past deeds. I’ve also learnt from this book that we often judged ourselves more harshly than the people surrounding us are judging us on the oblivious fact that we hid what we felt is ashamed, but it’s not true. This story reflected real life and even though its difficult to understand the story after browsing it for the first time. But after reading a few more times, one will find this story very captivating!

Book Review No.2: The Red-Headed Princess

This is the novel of Queen Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VII. Before she became the Queen, she was a princess. And this novel is about her life before she was the Queen of Britain. Elizabeth’s father cast his 1^st wife because she gave birth to Elizabeth’s stepsister, Mary. Then she divorced Mary’s mother and married Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn but he beheaded Anne for adultery a few years after the birth of Elizabeth. His 3^rd wife, Jane Seymour died of childbirth, after giving birth to a son, Edward. King Henry VII continued to marry Anne of Cleves but she was also cast aside. Next, he wed Catherine Howard but she was also beheaded for adultery. And Elizabeth’s father’s last wife is Katherine Parr. 

This experiences she went though made her trust no one even though she wanted to. This novel is a story of the many obstacles she went though before she became Queen. Obstacles like after her stepbrother who first became King and gotten sick and died, her stepsister, Mary became Queen and forced her to be catholic. Sometimes she is welcomed in the royal court and other times, she is cast out in the countryside. It’s a portrait of her finding her way to the glorious destiny that lay before her.

Book Review No.3: The Riddle of Epsilon

It’s a book of fantasy, mystery, riddle-solving story. Jess has moved to a remote island and is encountering with a mystery being that do not follow the rules of the world, in other words, something that does not exist in the world. She found the “being” when she was exploring the island in a very old cottage. The being communicate with Jess by instant messaging at first and is named as V, then when Jess found who he is, it became E which stands for Epsilon. Thought there is no records or any traces of E in the chat room. After solving riddles after riddles, she unravels the mysteries of the island she was living in, Lume. She also found writings of a boy, Sebastian whose life contains unsettling similarities. And now, she finds herself dealing with the dangers that Sebastian had unearthed in 1894.

And now she had to solve the puzzles, riddles and codes in order to stop the dark being and save his mother before she ended up like Sebastian’s mother who had gone missing. Its an exciting story as it made me want to read in till the end without stopping to find out whose the dark being and who exactly is Epsilon and how is it that both Sebastian and herself had dreamed about each other.

Book Review No.4: Alice in Love and War

This is a story of girl named Alice Newcombe, who is going though stages of her life. Alice’s father died when she was eleven years old and she had to live with her uncle in a farm. She was trapped and unhappy on her uncle’s farm and when the royalist soldiers are billeted there, it changed Alice’s life. It was around 1644, during the Civil War. She fell in love with one of the soldier, Robin. And when the regiment moves on, Alice decided to run away and join the other army women on the baggage train to be with Robin. Her days were filled with excitement, she met friends, and she was able to be with her lover.

 But all had changed when Christmas came and Robin left Alice to go home, even though Alice had broken the news that she was pregnant with Robin’s child. She still believed Robin would come for her and worked at the inn in order to stay there. Then one day, she miscarriage the baby when she was on her way to town though the windy night to order some pies for her employer. Her saviors gave her food and cared for her unlike the people in the inn. When the army troops were quartered again, she found out Robin is already a married man with two children when he first met Alice. But she still stayed to care for her pregnant friend, whom gave birth to a baby girl, Elen.  She witnessed death and chaos right before her eyes. She even saw enemies killed her friends and slashed the women on their faces to mark them as whores even though they are not. She managed to save Elen and took refuge in the village where she met Jeremiah. She opened her heart to him and they married and gave birth to one boy and one baby girl. This book is very captivating because the book described the emotions of a young teenage falling in love for the first time and witnessing the cruelty of the war, so clearly!

Book Review No.5: War of the Witches

Anaid is short for her age, too smart to be popular to be like every other teenage. When her mother mysteriously disappeared, Anaid discovered what her real identity is – a witch whose mother is THE chosen one. Her mother was prophesied to end the bloody war between the two witch clans- the Omars and the Odish whom longs for eternity youth by drinking human blood. Taught and trained by four other women of her mother’s clan, they discover that Anaid is more powerful than any other witch they have come across. She seems to be the only one that can save Selene from the rival witch clan, the Odish.

But later it was discovered that the real chosen one who could stop the war and obtain the O’s scepter is Anaid herself. And the truth was revealed to her when she found her mother in the Dark World. And the real reason why her mother disappeared to go the her clan’s rival, the Odish to draw them away from her daughter and mislead them that she was the Chosen one, to protect her daughter. Her mother even made her special medicine and hair lotion for covering up her daughter’s powers and her red hair as it is stated in the prophecy that the Chosen One’ll have fire in her hair, in other words, a red-haired Chosen One. In the end, they got out of the Dark World safely and is ready for the upcoming battles.

This book is about a young, successful and beautiful woman who had everything she ever needed in the world. However, there was still something missing in her perfect life. She decided to end everything by consuming sleeping pills. However, her plans failed and she woke up the next morning in an asylum. The worst thing of all was that, she was told by her doctor that she was going to die from a heart attack. Those words made Veronika paranoid as she only had days left before she dies. She then knew that she had to escape from the asylum.

The Hills Are Lonely – Joyce Stranger

This book is about a family that lived in the remote Highland cottage. After Gavin McKendrick’s wife passed away, he was devastated and broken. He tried to lose himself in his work while Kate, Gavin’s only child, was left to fend for herself. One day, Kate was wandering around the woods and she got lost. She found an injured wildcat who was also solitary, just like Kate. They started bonding and Kate realised that the wildcat had a grieving heart to heal. Gavin found her soon after and brought her home. With a heavy heart, Kate left the wildcat and would never forget the special bond they shared together.

The Tiger’s Child – Torey Hayden

This is about a young girl named Sheila. She was a very quiet, moody and was a victim of abuse. Her teacher, Torey Hayden, was determined to stay by Sheila’s side to overcome her fears and to build a bright future for Sheila. She experienced a lot at a very young age and she did not have to experience all that pain. Her memories were still troubling her although it happened many years ago.

Free To Trade – Michael Ridpath

This is about a man named Paul Murray. He was shocked when he found out that his colleague was brutally murdered and his body was dragged down into the River of Thames. Paul had to investigate and find out who the killer is. However, in the world everyone is living in, identity is the most important thing in a person’s life. Thus, it would be really hard to find out who the killer is. Paul needed to be more relaxed and cool in order to be able to find out who is the killer.

Wall of Brass – Robert Daley

This book is about a man who had to solve the hardest and toughest case he ever faced. The Chief of Detectives, Bert Farber, had to find out who the killer was that gunned down a police commissioner. The commissioner was well known for having lots of mistress and playing around with wives of very furios and revengeful husbands. Thus, his attacker could be anyone. There is a possibility of the murderer to be a woman, whom he ever had a relationship with, an angry husband or someone who was jealoused of the commissioner’s success in the police department. The possibilities are endless and Bert Farber had to solve this tough case.

In Japan, ju-on is a deadly curse that takes on a life of its own.
Always seeking new victims, it’s a grudge that cannot be stopped. Anyone unfortunate enough to meet up with a ghost killed by the grudge is then killed and so it spreads.

In the novel, a young woman and her son is being cruelly killed by her husband because of a misunderstanding. Her husband, Takeo, an illustrator claimed that his son, Toshio was not his own blood. Not listening to his wife, Kayako’s explanation, he kicked her at right at her chest causing her to lose her balance. Tumbling down the stairs, she felt pain at the back of her head and fainted. Takeo started torturing her when she woke up. Takeo started questioning her if Toshio’s real father was koboyashi. He was her son’s teacher. Takeo, losing his temper, grabbed a box cutter and started slashing her. When Kayako was killed, Takeo went to kill Toshio. However, he hid in the closed leading to the attic. Takeo taped up the closet door wanting Toshio to starve to death. After killing Kayako, Takeo went to Koboyashi’s place. He killed Koboyashi’s wife and ripped open her stomach with his knife. Koboyashi was at Kayako’s house intending to find out the reason why Toshio was not in. Koboyashi heard a thud from the second floor. He saw something coming towards him, to that of a demon filled with hatred and rage.

He resigned himself to his destiny, from which he knew there was no escape. Years after the murder, Kayako and Toshio’s body was left in the attic to rot; their spirits are bound to the house, terrorizing anyone who dares to enter. When a senior citizen outreach volunteer goes to work in a house in the house, she soon starts to hear odd noises. As the strange events get more and more ominous, she discovers that some acts of violence can attach themselves to a house and that some evils can reach out and touches you even after death.

Ju-on the novel, is chilling and unforgettable.

The story is told in first person from the perspective of Bella, so the reader only ever know what she knows, making Edward and his family a mystery that is slowly unravelled through out the book.  Even by the end of the book I was still thirsting for more of the Cullen family back story – hopefully their characters might be developed further in future books.  Bella herself is a well written and realistic character, shy and lacking in confidence.

Twilight beautifully written.  The descriptions of Forks leave you feeling like you can almost smell the damp air and hear the rain falling on the roof.

The romance between Edward and Bella is touching.

Dark Lover

In the Black Dagger novels the vampires are a separate species to humans, to be a vampire you have to have been born carrying vampire blood.  At the start of their lives vampires seem like humans, they have no special strengths and can go out in daylight but they go through a dangerous transition to vampire hood in their mid twenties.   Although vampires can drink the blood of humans it has little nutritional value for them and they need to drink the blood of other vampires (of the opposite sex) to survive.  A human bitten or drained by a vampire doesn’t rise as a vampire – they are just dead.

Dead To The World

It’s New Year in Bon Temps, Louisiana a time when most people would be out partying but not cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse.  She has to work.  Its a few weeks since she had to take time off from work to go and rescue her cheating vampire boyfriend Bill from the clutches of his evil ex-girlfriend and she desperately needs to earn some money to pay her bills.  She was happy to work New Years Eve because having just split up with Bill she didn’t have any party plans.  It was a busy night and she was looking forward to going home, counting her tips and sleeping.

However her night didn’t end the way she’d planned as she finds a half naked Eric running down the road on her way home from work.  She stops to see what’s up and once again gets pulled into vampire business.

Evernight

Bianca makes a half-hearted run away attempt and promptly runs into Lucas, another one of the academy’s social misfits.  At first Lucas seems determined to ignore their connection but slowly they develop a friendship that deepens into first love.  Unfortunately nothing at the Evernight Academy is as it seems.  Everyone has their secrets to hide and these secrets may end up tearing Bianca and Lucas apart.

Destiny Wu, 23, has never believed in true love: She thinks that true love is when a guy is willing to sacrifice everything for her. As she is about to end her life on that notion, she meets Alan Nah. Alan Nah, 17, does not know what love is. He does not know how to love someone for he has never loved anyone before, until he meets Destiny.

When they fall in love, Alan learns how to love, and Destiny learns how to be loved. This book is definitely thrilling from the first page and then heartbreaking when the story is about to end. Definitely a book that would not be able to leave your hands once you start reading it.

My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult

Sara Fitzgerald’s daughter, Kate, was just 2 years old when she was diagnosed with a very rare form of Leukaemia. Sara and her husband, will do whatever it takes to save her child like how any mother would protect her child. Both of them failed the blood test, meaning that both their bone marrows are not suitable to be donated to Kate.

There is only one option for creating a perfect match for Kate: Which is to create another baby – specifically designed to save Kate. For Sara, it seems like the only solution and the most perfect solution to safe Kate. In this case, not only do Kate gets to survive, they also gain another beautiful daughter, Anna.

Everything went fine until the day Anna decided to sue her parents to the right to her body. At aged thirteen, she has decided that all the decisions to take something out of her body for Kate has to be her own right – her own right to her own body. Will Kate be able to live on? Highly gripping.

Journey – Low Kay Hwa

When I was ten, my mother called me “ah girl” and I had always responded to her. When I was fifteen, my mother called me “ah girl” in front of my classmates and I scolded her. When I was twenty, my mother still called me “ah girl” aloud and I ignored her completely. I know that, from her point of view, no matter how old I am, I will always be the “ah girl” who calls her “mama”.

From my point of view, my mother is just an old woman in the house who lives with me. Her responsibilities are to make breakfast for me in the morning, give me money to spend in the day, do the laundry in the evening and switching off the lights at night. For all those things that she did, she will have the authority to scold me or ground me.

Until one day, she calls me and says, “Ah girl, I’ve got cancer. I may die within the next six months.”

That is when I realize that my mother is more than that. Definitely another book that when you pick it up, you would not want to put down. This book is so touching you would be able to tear.

The tenth circle – Jodi Picoult

When Daniel Stone was a child, he was the only white boy in a native Eskimo village where his mother taught, and he was teased mercilessly because he was different. He fought back, the baddest of the bad kids: stealing, drinking, robbing and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush – where he honed his artistic talent, fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself – jettisoning all that anger to become a docile, devoted husband and father. Fifteen years later, when we meet Daniel again, he is a comic book artist. His wife teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college; his daughter, Trixie, is the light of his life – and a girl who only knows her father as the even-tempered, mild-mannered man he has been her whole life. Until, that is, she is date raped…and Daniel finds himself struggling, again, with a powerlessness and a rage that may not just swallow him whole, but destroy his family and his future.

Mercy – Jodi Picoult

“Cameron McDonald, police chief of a small Massachusetts town, makes the toughest arrest of his life when his own cousin Jamie comes to him and confesses that he killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy.

Now, a heated murder trial plunges the town into upheavel, and drives a wedge into a contented marriage: Cameron, aiding the prosecution in their case against Jamie, is suddenly at odds with his devoted wife, Allie-seduced by the idea of a man so in love with his wife that he’d grant all her wishes, even her wish to end her life. And when an inexplicable attraction leads to a shocking betrayal, Allie faces the hardest questions of the heart: when does love cross the line of moral obligation? And what does it mean to truly love one another?”

The story begins when an amusement park accident killed Eddie, an 83 year old man, simple and humble man who dedicated his life to keep the park safe for its guest and takes great pride in his work and caring for his family.

As Eddie dies, he reaches heaven and this is the place where he gains insight into his life and see how his actions impacted so many other people for the first time. Through the journey he will meet five people, each of whom have been anxiously awaiting for his entrance into heaven.

Among the five people whom he will meet in heaven, some will initiate these meeting with an introduction since when Eddie was alive he was unaware of their existence. Each and every one of them will show how Eddie’s choice impacted their life.

Title: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Morrie Schwartz was a college professor in philosophy at Brandeis University for many years. One of his students in the 1970′s was Mitch Albom. Morrie, “Coach,” and Mitch became good friends over those years. Then Mitch graduated and went on with his life, too busy to keep in contact with his professor.

Almost twenty years later, Mitch is now a sports newscaster and writer. He and his wife are part of America’s fast lane of life, doing well and striving for yet more. Then he watches Nightline one night. Ted Koppel is interviewing Morrie. And Mitch is surprised to discover Morrie is dying. He has ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Morrie is delighted to hear from Mitch again, and immediately invites him to visit. Thus begins a fourteen week, every Tuesday, visit and life lesson. It is also a funny and poignant life lesson. Morrie is able to take a look at life not only from the philosophical view he has taught over the years, but now also from the “end of life” viewpoint. He is a peace with himself and can share that peace and knowledge with Mitch and the others around him.

This book is collaboration between Morrie and Mitch. They taped their visits each time Mitch visited. They discussed the big questions of life (what is love, living, death, marriage, a relationship) to the small ones (what’s for lunch, how’s your wife, how’s your son, and the war in Bosnia). Mitch rediscovered the relationship that had never been broken. Morrie rediscovered his old friend. Also, Morrie was able to use this time to do what he loved, teach. The last line of the book is the perfect epitaph “A teacher until the end.”

Title: Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho

Dawan, a young village girl in Thailand, wins a scholarship to study in the city school. Her brother, Kwai, places second and is initially jealous, causing a rift between the two previously-close siblings. This hostility is further exacerbated by Dawan’s father, who feels that the city is no place for a girl. Dawan faces obstacles at every turn, and eventually overcomes these obstacles and proves to herself and to others that she is fully capable of handling the scholarship and the responsibility it entails.

Title: An eye for color  

Growing up against the backdrops of Table Mountain and the iniquities of apartheid, Basil Kushenovitz – Jewish and white – sees through teenage eyes the constant contradiction between the physical beauty all around him and the insidious ugliness of a political system rooted in prejudice. With wry humour and moving honesty he describes the shifting ground of relationships within a society driven by an awareness of colour. He tells of Skollie, the old tramp who lives on the wasteland – when he’s allowed to; of desirable, wonderful Hester-across-the-road whose whiteness is in question; of first love and last resorts. Often painful, always truthful, An Eye for Colour is essential reading for young people concerned with the basic issues of human rights.

Title: the girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence, but her aged uncle Henrik is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who is recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate the case together with Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four year old punk genius hacker.

Schoolgirl by day. Socialite by night. That is the inside girl- Flan Flood. She thought she could run away from her friends who were obsessed of her gorgeous older brother, Patch Flood. Her plan was to go to a neighbourhood high school. A school that was different from her friends. Neighbourhood high school was new to her and she decided to change herself as a totally normal girl. Well, she was anything but normal. Just as school started, she realized it was not as simple as she expected. She had two new friends, Judith and Meredith. They were very sweet and friendly. However, if they knew who Flan really was, they would not trust her anymore. Flan- who had a superstar in her room, the famous club promoter of New York City in her living room and a socialite crashing in her guest room- did not want to lie to her best friends but she did not want to tell as well because they were not those type of people. In the end, she made a party that will combine her two worlds together.

The Ashleys- Jealous? -Melissa De La Cruz

Everyone at Miss Gamble’s school knew the Ashleys. They were the three popular, rich and beautiful girls. Some loved them but some hated them. They were the girls who knew all about the latest fashion and big parties in the city. Lauren had a dream of being like one of them. She wanted to take them down and be the next Ashley. However, there was a problem. Nobody ever came close to the Ashleys. Not even sitting at their table during recess. Lauren knew they would not accept her that easy. Except for fame, popularity. She used her father’s project as her plan to make them like her, and that was her father’s brand new television show. Throughout the show, she realizes that the Ashleys were not that bad at all. They were friendly and fun to hang around with. However, they were not as friendly towards each other and Lauren had to make it right.

Emma’s Baby -Abbie Taylor

Pregnant at 25 without a husband, life was definitely hard for Emma. Her parents were dead and her friends had their own life to settle with. She had no one, not even the father of the child. After she gave birth to her adorable baby Ritchie, life was not that difficult as before. Money from her mother’s savings was enough to last for months and she even got a new house for both of them. However, she was still struggling as a single mother and she sometimes wished her thirteenth-month-old Ritchie would be dead. When one quiet Sunday evening, Ritchie was abducted by a stranger from the London Underground. Emma could not believe that her son was taken right in front of  her eyes. From then, she realizes that she could not live without him. She realizes that he was everything to her. But the police do not seem to fully believe her story. So, it was up to her to get her baby back. With the help of a stranger named Rafe- the only one who seemed to believe her- she goes in to search for her baby. She was determined to get her baby, no matter what it takes.

A Child Called ‘It’ -Dave Pelzer

He never wanted his childhood to change. When he was young, his mother gave him warmth, love and protection. However, when he turns 4 years old, his life changed. He was living a life full of loneliness, fear and starvation. He was also beaten by his abusive mother all the time. He was even forced to eat his own vomit, swallow soap, ammonia and Clorox. He was the only one in the family who was treated this badly. After all those years of nightmares at home, the abuse really impacted his self-worth. However, he survived the abuse and rise above it all.

The Hot Flash Club -Nancy Thayer

The Hot Flash Club was a club for women who had skills, experience and the brain. Faye, Shirley, Marilyn and Alice were members of the club. After spending most of their time together, they realizes that they share more than raging hormones and lost dreams. After much discussion of motherhood and family, they vowed to help one another, and themselves. For the first time in their lives, they realized they can have what they wanted again. They could have their bodies, their brains, their spirits and their sense of fun. Although they were old, feeling sexy has no expiration date. With the help from friends, they could start over again, and never ever give up what matters most.

by Jodi Picoult

In this book, the novel is about beneath the surface of a small town to explore what it means to be different in our society.

The novel happens in Sterling,  New Hampshire, Peter Houghton, 17, a high school student has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of  Sterling’s residents.

Even those who were not inside the school that morning find their lives in an upheaval, including Alex Cormier. The superior court judge assigned to the Houghton case, Alex—whose daughter, Josie, witnessed the events that unfolded—must decide whether or not to step down. She’s torn between presiding over the biggest case of her career and knowing that doing so will cause an even wider chasm in her relationship with her emotionally fragile daughter. Josie, meanwhile, claims she can’t remember what happened in the last fatal minutes of Peter’s rampage. Or can she? And Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis Houghton, ceaselessly examine the past to see what they might have said or done to compel their son to such extremes.

Second Glance

by Jodi Picoult

This novel is about a developer who has slated an ancient Abenaki Indian burial ground for a strip mall, and now strange happenings have tiny Comtosook, Vermont, talking of supernatural forces at work. Ross Wakeman is a ghost hunter who’s never seen a ghost-all he’s searching for is something to end the pain of losing his fiance Aimee in a car accident. He tried suicide-any number of times. Now Ross lives only for a way to connect with Aimee from beyond. Searching the site for signs of the paranormal, Ross meets the mysterious Lia, who sparks him to life for the first time in years. But the discoveries that await Ross are beyond anything he could dream of in this world-or the next. Expertly entwining a powerful drama of the heart’s redemption and the disturbing real-life history of the VT eugenics project of the 1930s, Second Glance asks if truth is always something that can be measured… and if what can be measured is indeed always true.

A thousand splendid suns

by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.

Memoirs of a Geisha

by Arthur Golden

This novel is try say the true confessions of one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha.

Its speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love, always elusive, is scorned as illusion.

Sayuri’s story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Through her eyes, we see the decadent heart of Gion–the geisha district of Kyoto–with its marvelous teahouses and theaters, narrow back alleys, ornate temples, and artists’ streets. And we witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men’s solicitude and the money that goes with it. But as World War II erupts and the geisha houses are forced to close, Sayuri, with little money and even less food, must reinvent herself all over again to find a rare kind of freedom on her own terms.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book of nuances and vivid metaphor, of memorable characters rendered with humor and pathos. And though the story is rich with detail and a vast knowledge of history, it is the transparent, seductive voice of Sayuri that the reader remembers.

A dazzling literary achievement of empathy and grace by an extraordinary new writer.

The tenth circle

by Jodi Picoult

The novel is about a girl named Trixie Stone is fourteen years old and in love for the first time. She’s also the light of her father’s life – a straight-A student; a freshman in high school who is pretty and popular; a girl who’s always looked up to Daniel Stone as a hero. Until, that is, her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence…and suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family – and herself – seems to be a lie.

For fifteen years, Daniel Stone has been an even-tempered, mild-mannered man: a stay-at-home dad to Trixie and a husband who has put his own career as a comic book artist behind that of his wife, Laura, who teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college. But years ago, he was completely different: growing up as the only white boy in an Eskimo village, he was teased mercilessly for the color of his skin. He learned to fight back: stealing, drinking, robbing, and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself, channeling his rage onto the page and burying his past completely…until now. Could the young boy who once made Trixie’s face fill with light when he came to the door have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a man with a history he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back in order to protect his daughter.

The Tenth Circle looks at that delicate moment when a child learns that her parents don’t know all of the answers and when being a good parent means letting go of your child. It asks whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime or if your mistakes are carried forever — if life is, as in any good comic book, a struggle to control good and evil, or if good and evil control you.

And the book is interesting such a way that there’s a secret message in the book.

Author: Sonia Singh

Maya Mehra is a 30-year old single woman who really can’t be bothered to be married and settle down like how her Indian family wants her to. Written at a backdrop of glitzy Los Angeles, goddess for hire tells a story of a stylish woman who realizes that she is actually a reincarnation of goddess kali when she officially turned thirty. Of course she only realizes this when some weird taco-bell loving priest from India comes to Los Angeles to inform her of her powers.

Just when you think the story could not get any more complicating, enters the hero of the book, Tahir Varun Sahni. Tahir is actually a guy who like Maya does not want to get married but his parents fixed an alliance anyway and so he had to get to know Maya better. At their first meeting, they only have hatred for each other but they soon do become friends. But the book is not that clear-cut and there are many complications including the fact that Maya still had no control over her powers. There is also the suspicious priest’s assistant who apparently think that goddess Kali will only bring destruction to the world and so must be stopped. Ofcourse, the good always triumphs over evil but how is the question here, and also what happens between Maya and Tahir? Read the book to know more.

Title: Howling at the moon: tales of an urban werewolf

Author: Karen Maclnerney

This book is about a girl named Sophie Garou who looks like any average girl unless it is a full moon, that’s when she turns into werewolf. Not a full but half werewolf, as her father was a werewolf and her mother was a gypsy.

Sophie has never seen her father as he had to leave her before his wolf pack found out about her and her mother because werewolves are not allowed to mix with the humans. Ever since Sophie was born, she and her mother have been traveling around trying to find a place where there are not many werewolves, because they do not like anyone coming in their territory. How long will she able to keep herself hidden? And there is one werewolf who has noticed her. To find out if she is her friend or foe, you will have to read the book.

Title: Ibiza Summer

Author: Anna-Louise Weatherley

Like what the book title suggests, this book is a very breezy and romantic read. This book tells a story of a 17-year old, Izzy, who comes to Ibiza with her elder sister and her friends, for the summer. Izzy, one night attends this hip party with her sister and friends and there she meets Rex who happened to be the DJ of the party. It was love at first sight for both of them but they only realize it after a few dates together.

The story runs through the pages smoothely as the two lovers start to fall in love with each other even more deeply, until the climax comes. The climax of the book is that the sweet and charming Rex is already close to his 30’s and Izzy realizes that he thinks that she is a 20-somwthing year old woman! Afraid that he will stop liking her because of the huge age gap, Izzy hides this truth from him. On the other hand, Rex has started to take their relationship seriously and even thinking of marriage. Just a few days before she has to return to London, she decides to tell him the truth but then a tragedy occurs. It’s quite deep in places, not all about fluffiness like some other books aimed at girls my age. What actually happened and do they end up together? The ending is surprising and emotional.

Title: the secret life of a teenage siren

Author: Wendy Toliver

This book is about a girl named Roxy who is your average nerdy girl. She realizes that she is actually a teenage siren when she turns sixteen. Turns out that her grandmother was  a siren too and now Roxy is one as well. like all the other sirens, she possesses beauty and a musical talent that she can use to make any male do what she orders. But she has to follow two rules and they are, that she can’t tell anyone that she is a siren or else she will lose her powers and that she can’t fall in love or else the guy will face a horrible death.

The book is able to hold the reader’s interest as each chapter unfolds in a very exciting way on how she messes around with her powers. There will be a few points in the book which expresses a normal teenager’s reaction when she is bestowed with so much powers. Like the times when she will ignore her true friends as she is too distracted from what her powers has to offer. At one point of time she would nearly lose her powers and go back to being the plain Roxy that she was. Why does that happen and what actually happens in the end is all but a big suspense. One has to read the book to know the ending and enjoy the thrill of the book.

Title: Salaam Paris

Author: Kavita Daswani

Salaam Paris tells a story of an Indian-Muslim girl with extraordinary beauty who comes to Paris to meet the suitor that her family has arranged to meet. It was Tanaya Shah’s wish that she goes to Paris instead of her suitor coming to Mumbai, where she stays with her traditional family. She is only 19 years old and comes to Paris and stays with her aunt and cousin sister when she is there. She meekly tells the guy that she does not want to marry him as she does not want to be tied down just yet. After she rejects him, she continues to stay in Paris with her cousin and desperate to live there, she takes up a job as a waiteress where she is discovered to be a model and before she knows it, she is the “next big thing”.

Tanaya’s beauty is, nothing short of legendary: passed down from generation to generation, the “Shah streak, a swath of silver-gray across the hairline”. That it skipped a generation in Tanaya’s mother, whose husband left her because of her appearance, remains a source of tension between mother and daughter. The fashion world not only gives her fame and fortune but also dilemmas as she is worried by her cultural heritage. She soon starts to miss her grandfather who is angry with her for putting the family into shame and refuses to talk to her. The ending is a bit predictable but it’s an interesting read anyway.