Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2016

A lovely, warm story to get lost in (Book Review - Pamela Ford's Fresh Brewed)

Title: Fresh Brewed          (The Continental Breakfast Club - Book Two) Author: Pamela Ford Genre: Romance

Fresh Brewed, the second in Pamela Ford's The Continental Breakfast Club series is another sweet love story.

The narrative is first person, as is in Over Easy. The difference is that now the protagonist is Bree.

Bree is on her way in search of the man of her dreams.
"man of my dreams... It is simply an all-encompassing description of the man I intended to meet while on vacation."

The three crusaders (the three friends - Megan, Allie, and Bree, that is) are at it again. They are searching for the perfect man.
Not Allie. She found hers in Over Easy...
"Technically, Allie didn't meet Jax at continental breakfast, anyway-she met him because of continental breakfast."

The three friends have plans to go on a leisurely vacation, and find fun and romance.

The list of the three friends for a perfect man is still the same. The S list - straight, sober, solvent, stable, and…
1 comment
Read more

A fun, adventurous, clean romance (Book Review - Pamela Ford's Over Easy)

Title: Over Easy           (The Continental Breakfast Club - Book One) Author: Pamela Ford Genre: Romance
Over Easy, the first in Pamela Ford's The Continental Breakfast Club series is a warm and cozy romance. 

Three friends, Megan, Bree, and Allie, and their misguided quest for true love takes us on this journey that starts with Allie's story.

Allie Parker, the dog groomer, who belongs to a family of doctors and lawyers is the central character in this episode of The Continental Breakfast Club.
At twenty-eight years of age, Allie is still treated as a kid by her family.
Her conviction that the right man by her side will gain her respect from the rest of the family is reminiscent of some movies I have seen and books I have read.

What the three friends choose to do and the consequences make for a different, chucklesome read.

They join the gym in hope of meeting the perfect macho guy. Instead they just end with with some advise for the sweaty guys in the gym...

"Believe me when I say …
1 comment
Read more

A love story of re-discovering self told beautifully (Book Review - Terri Lee's Paper Castles)

Title: Paper Castles Author: Terri Lee Genre: Romance/Women's Fiction
"Sometimes life has a way of just slapping the sass right out of a person."
These are the words of Neenie to the protagonist of Paper Castles, Savannah.  Neenie reminded me of Mammy of Gone with the wind. The ever-present, at times taken-for-granted warmth, security, and sane advice.
Savannah got everything she wanted in life, only to realize with time that she had desired all the wrong things.
Now trapped in the life of a socialite, with a husband of seventeen years, who couldn't care less about her, she is trying to re-discover herself.
"Savannah's fingers rested on the fork beside her plate, tracing the delicate pattern of her wedding silverware. She picked it up, cold and heavy in her hand, and stabbed at her dessert as if it were a voodoo doll. Looking at Neenie, she sighed from somewhere deep in her soul where dreams went to die."
With a murder in the family that Savannah is suspected of…
1 comment
Read more

Different Problems, Same Pain (The Story of a Suicide by Sriram Ayer)

Title: The Story of a Suicide Author: Sriram Ayer Illustrations: Ghana www.StoryOfASuicide.com
How to react when a brilliant mind chooses to end its' journey?
What words to use to express the angst over the brutality of a beautiful soul suffering?
How to ensure that he/she does not feel lonely?

I don't have the answers. But as I read Sriram Ayer's The Story of a Suicide (available for free on http://www.storyofasuicide.com), I did feel that there were so many variables that lead to the suicide.

Acceptance... that is all it would have taken.
Acceptance of a child's word when he gathers the courage to mention sexual abuse. With a hesitation and shame as if he is the guilty one.
Acceptance of a grown-up's sexuality without judging it by the standards of what the society chooses to believe is 'normal'.

Had just a single reaction been different, the ending could have just been a new beginning.

Sriram Ayer's The Story of a Suicide begins with a suicide note addressed to …
Post a Comment
Read more

Interesting Story with a Social Message (Book Review - Paromita Goswami's Shamsuddin's Grave)

Title: Shamsuddin's Grave
Author: Paromita Goswami

With Shamsuddin's Grave, author Paromita Goswami has weaved an emotional story of struggle, in the backdrop of social ostracism in India, and the plight of supposed illegal refugees who have come from Bangladesh to India.

Latika and Snehlata are two gentle souls who are example of those who rise above the discriminations and unjustice of the society.
Snehlata has provided living quarters for Shamsuddin for years. 
Latika is back to her hometown, Guwahati after having known the fast life of a metro city. 
The story of a simple man, Samsuddin. He leaves his village, works hard, lives through difficult times, feels guilty if he is not faithful to his wife. He does it all to make a good life for his family.
Things do not turn out as he expects them to.
Shattered and disappointed, Shamsuddin still holds on to hope.

Shamsuddin's Grave's pace is a little slow in places. But I think it serves the important purpose of giving details of …
1 comment
Read more