Book Review: People we meet on vacation by Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book review: 
I loved the alternating timelines. It kept the mystery of what happened or th incident alive throughout. Though I felt that guy POV could have been more elaborate, I really wanted to know what he felt. Otherwise it was a goodread. Light and cute. Most memorable was the scene when Poppy was sick and Alex took care of her. Also the scene in the balcony of the Airbnb. It was well described.

Writing: The language was engaging.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

View all my reviews

#42 Hell inside my head

Don't tell me it is nothing 

For I know better 

I am going through it

My demons are mine

I'll tackle them in my own time 

You don't need to worry 

Stay put, keep distance 

I have history of hurting friends 

I need space to sort 

The hell is in my head

Devil lives within

Hush! He hates noise

Let him devour my soul 

Tear me apart in pieces 

I'll be back soon 

But first I need to die

Succumb to my pain 

Bleed under his torment 

And when his anger subsides

I'll be reborn, from my own ashes

Ready for another hell

Another devil, another torture

But stronger than before...

Bindnee - By Deepika Saini

This is my first time reviewing an e-commerce website. But the mere concept behind this startup, a home-grown jewel by two of my friends Deepika and Rajesh, calls for a dedicated appreciation post. So here it goes..

With ever-growing aspects of e-commerce, we see various.. frankly quite many websites selling clothes that appease your eyes, but have you yet came across one that appeases your thoughts as well?

Bindnee - as the brand name goes, is dedicated to the married woman of Indian society also called Patni / Bahu / Lugaai in various cultures. The founder, Deepika Saini, has used the very word which society uses to bind a woman in a certain role, to break free of those norms. This Bindnee is here to turn the tables. The founder herself is a fashion designer and curates her own designs through Bindnee. The brand aims to rebuild the image of an Indian daughter in law, who is tired of being in the veil. Personally, the whole concept behind the branding and designs is inspiring enough for women like myself. 

Also, If you go through their brand's bio, this brand is not only here to raise the bar for women in terms of freedom to dress but also have thoughts about the environment and sustainability in their agenda. They aim to use sustainable, organic materials without all the toxic chemicals that go into the making of fabrics in the fast-fashion industry. It's highly commendable for an individual to put the environment before their profits.

Coming on to the merchandise, they have a varied variety of Tops, dresses, Kurtas, Bottoms, dupattas, Sarees, Juttis and Jewellery. My personal favourite is their range of Handcrafted Jewellery from Chhatisgarh. The intricate design on the handmade ornaments together with the colourful threads is something I haven't seen anywhere else. I am attaching a screenshot here for the reference of what i am fawning over...

 

All in all, ‘Bindnee’ is a really great effort to break the shackles and to bring about a positive change in society through freedom of expression, women empowerment and sustainable fashion. In a society where the life of a married woman is shackled by unwritten guidelines, seeing someone dare to dream is like seeing candlelight in the pitch-black darkness. 

I wish the dreamer, Deepika Saini, congratulations on being able to materialize her dreams through hard work and enthusiastic diligence. I am quite sure that the world will be able to see the awesomeness behind the concept and the brand will touch the hearts of millions in no time. I wish you all the best for this great business venture. One thing I can say is, Bindnee is here to stay. Kudos!

#37 Warrior Princess

She isn't a princess waiting to be rescued
She is queen who can carry her crown
And your hasty judgements
With equal grace...

Neither sugar and spice
Nor everything nice
She's got fire and fury
Little sparkle and many lilies
In equal measure...

She can't be tamed
Caged or confined
She got her wings
For she's born to fly...


A/N:
Muse for the verse - Simi Sathyan. A friend. A survivor. A fighter.

To a certain Anonymous sender of books.

I have been away from here. And been very much uninterested in carrying on the habit of pouring out things going inside my head, in words.
But recently I went back and read a few things on my blog and most importantly the comments. Some comments that I read for the first time in 2 years.

First of all, for the back story, in 2015 I used to receive some books by an anonymous sender at my home, from Amazon. It was confusing.

Since sometimes authors on Goodreads keep sending ARC books for review to bloggers, I initially thought they were a part of that giveaway. But later, when I confirmed it on Goodreads, they weren't from them.
I even contacted Amazon to know about the sender's details, but it too was a dead end.
And after 2-3 of them, books stopped coming. And, so I stopped thinking about it too.

And today after 2 years. I read these comments on two old-forgotten posts of mine.

First comment was on the post The Silent Killer and the second one on A book review.


I have never done this before but I am guilty of being utterly curious here. So, If the person who posted these comments and/or sent me those books is reading this. Please let me know.

My personal email ID is deepika.vasudeva@gmail.com
Or you can ping me on my phone. You already have my phone number (I know, since I used to receive text messages from amazon before every delivery)

It's been 2 years. I would understand if you wouldn't want me to know your identity now. But I plead you to. Closures are important. I don't want to die in suspense. Please :)


Quite-late-but-nevertheless-finally-here.
Deepika

P.S.- Those books are nice. Thank you. 

#36 Beautiful Imperfections

Perfection doesn't attract me...

Scars, Broken pottery 

Dimmer star next to the brightest one in sky

Clumsiness, broken stones
Asymmetrical shells... 

There's an untold story everywhere 

I am attracted to the untold, unknown. 

#35 Falling out of love

Falling out of love

It's wonderful.

Much like falling in love.

But with yourself.

#34 Fool me twice

Oh so here, it starts again

with you dancing back in my life

Why can't you give it up! Stupid stubborn stain

so it's the same cycle on the roll..

It's been 2 years and a month

Having been through heartbreak,

self hatred, destruction and redemption

I am sorry if I can't do it again..

I stand by what they say 

"Fool me once shame on you

Fool me twice shame on me"

So honey, I am drained and can't do it again..

I am done feeling and dealing

with you and your mood-swings

Now that you are past my tolerance limit

It's time for you to go baby :)


This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Happy birthday to the real Weird Wordsmith ;)

I think, in your entire life..
If you have impacted another's life - you have achieved something.
If you have saved one soul from self-destruction - you have succeeded.
If you have touched one heart - you have truly lived.

You have been all three of those people in my life. It is least to say I’ll never forget you.
Our paths may diverge...
Our conversations may stop...
One day you might as well forget my name...

But for me you'll always be the special friend.
A systematically weird, wisely stupid, insanely intelligent and perfectly imperfect friend. :)

I like you in spite of all your activate-deactivate wali harkatein, rude- polite wale mood swings, friends-strangers wale bizarre days, silent and bak-bak wale alternate attitudes … I like you with all your imperfections… because in the long run, as they say, what matters is not what you say or do (in your case - what you don't say) but how you made someone feel.

And I... feel peaceful whenever we talk. You bring the absolute calmness in a life full of panic, deadlines and pressure. A ray of sunshine.

They say, people come in your life as phases or friends... I might have been a phase that passed but you will be here in my heart as true friend... always.

Happy birthday ❤️

Book review : God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

I had the pleasure of reading God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian. 

Thank you Blogadda for sending me this book as a part of book review program..

The cover graphically asks a question “Is Revenge a Crime?” Once you start reading the book, you discover only crimes but no revenge. So is it deceiving?

Nope, hold your fire till you reach the end of the book. It fires up slow with seemingly unconnected events happening in distinct parts of the world. Every chapter adds layers to narrative, slowly building up the tension and the mystery. Initially the plot takes time to build up but during the second half the book you can’t put it down even if you want to. And when you think it’s the end, wait for the last page. It will twist everything once more! For a person like me with no knowledge of finance it took time to be understood in the starting, in grasping the technical terms related to banking; else it’s a smooth read moving through the ups and downs of the corporate world.

Individuals and their private lives aren’t much communicated for the reader to connect to any person but portrayal is enough for the story to move quickly leaving the details to reader’s imagination.

Books seems to be a well-researched; relating to a few real life happenings too. It introduces the reader to fairly new concept of bitcoins. All the essential information is nicely incorporated through the discussions so the reader doesn’t feels confused or runs a Google search for each new term that comes up (though I still did to have a better understanding on the go).

It doesn’t create a world of its own but holding the reader in reality, it demonstrates what all happens in the world not-so-known. It perfectly blends up various colours of the corporate world. Casual revelations about the personal lives of the characters amazes the reader. It covers everything- love, lies, murders, cons, dishonour, schemes, corruptions, theft and VENGEANCE! The book is, hence, a seamless blend of fact and fiction.

In a single line I would say: A brilliant read after a long time. A page turner.

My rating : 4.5 out of 5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Game of Blogs : Story Weavers (Part 29 of the story)

Read first part here and previous part here.

-O-

It had been half hour since they were travelling towards Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. All were silent except the one unmasked terrorist who kept holding his satellite phone and kept calling "Karachi 42 come in" whole through the journey, with no answer from the opposite side.

Tara wasn't as oblivious of the confused looks that passed between the two armed men. Something was not the way they anticipated and that means it was better for them.

"What's happening?" asked the masked man.

"No reply from 'karachi 42'. I wanted to have a green signal before we started with it."

"So does that mean we are not going to be blasted in air?" This came from Tara. Quite amused to be supposedly blasted in some time.

"Don't worry! You are no time getting out alive out of this. Excited?"

"Very!" came the sarcastic reply.

With that, man went back to "Karachi 42, come in" for the rest of the journey.

-o-

Shekhar with his team were surrounding Ferozeshah Kotla stadium, waiting for 'go' command from the bomb detection squad.

Yet again, he was amazed at how his family kept getting tangled in this all chaos and then kept helping in their own rescue. Camera in Tara's shoe may have been bad at giving visuals but the audio was clear enough.

Because of that camera they were now at stadium even before the van could reach. And he planned to use the surprise element of their attack to their advantage as much as he could.

"Sir! We found 5 bombs in the stadium. The information was correct. They planned to blow this whole up. Now if they don't have any more of explosives with them in van, I guess stadium is secure."

"Are all the 5 bombs have been taken care of? Can my team now go inside? "

"Yes sir! You may proceed. "

"Go team! Go go go. Take positions. Make use of camouflage and darkness. Be my ninjas. Invisible but potent. You know what has to be done. Mark your target, keep regard of the hostages and shoot right between the eyes. No more face disfigurement. We need to be able to run their faces on facial recognition. Dismissed. "

-O-

"Is it activated now? " Aryan asked.

"What? No! You asked me to program it. Not activate it. Also I can't activate it actually. "

"Then who can? And how?"

" Just a few seconds. It's done. " The guy with spectacles and a gum in his mouth, continues playing with his keyboard some more. "Here! Say your password in your as steady voice as you can."

"Jihad ki jeet"

"Thank you. Your password is saved."

Aryan smirked. "Now tell me who can activate and deactivate it? And how?"

"Why, of course you sir! Say that while pressing this button-" he said while pointing at one yellow button on the device "- and it'll tell you it's activated or deactivated. And of course me. No one can break-in my programming except me."

"Very well. Your work here is done" One instant the computer guy was grinning, happy about himself, other instant his eyes went cold with blood oozing out of his heart.

Aryan pressed the yellow button and said carefully "Jihad ki jeet".

"Your device is now active." 

-o-

Read the next part of the story here.

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”