Review:- Hidden Husband by Shikha Kaul.

Hidden Husband

Publisher:- Gargi Publishers

Author:- Shikha Kaul

ISBN:- 9789384382070

My Review:-
There is a very famous poem in Urdu. I would like to quote a part of it here.
"Yeh Ishq Nahi Aasan
Bus Itna Samajh Lijiye
Aik Aag Ka Darya Hai Aur
Doob Kar Jana Hai"

This poem suits best on this story.
Here the novel "HIDDEN HUSBAND" written by Shikha Kaul and published by Gargi publishers introduces us to the protagnist, Aisha who is well-educated and independent to take a decision. She takes one such decision when she marries Raghav but she is forced to hide her marriage from the outside world, even from her parents. No, she has not done any wrong yet she cannot bring her relation out. This turns out to be an actual test for the couple. She performs all her duties of a good wife but it is not that can make or changes all the things in her favour. There are times when she is pressurised by her parents to marry, unknown of the fact of her marriage status. Thier decision of being together comes out to be a real test for both of them. Will they succeed and their love will sail along or will it end, seperating them forever. You'll have to read the novel to know all about it.

The authoress has very beautifully brought out several social issues like female foeticide, dowry, etc and she has showed and described it in a very good manner. One of the key thing which I liked is that the author succeeded in showing all the various social elements clearly and without mixing all of them.

One of the important thing struck  my mind was that why it is always felt that marrying someone outside the community or having a love marriage is seen as going against the family and culture. Is it so? Can't we marry a person whom we love and the only reason for it being that the other person belongs to some other community. Is our culture so narrow? Lord Krishna, whom we worship in our daily life married Radha because he loved her. Did he ask for her community before marriage? Then why do we restrict our children or oursleves? We must change our thoughts and work towards it for making this world a better place to live in.

The authoress has very beautifully portrayed all the characters. She very nicely intoduces us to the protagnist, Aisha taking us into her life and then bringing out the other characters at the right time. The authoress has divided the whole story into six parts and her smartness in this respect is commendable. All the parts takes us to the different parts of Aisha's life showing step by step how her life changes along with time. I personally think that the story slows down a bit in the middle but at the end the authoress picks up her pace ending it beautifully. The best suspense of the story is hidden at the end. I am not going to take it out but I have a question? Does such situation really come out? I can't predict about the probability of such situation in real life of a person but my personal view on it is that such situation seems good upto the novel but not in the real world.

The title "Hidden Husband" is catcy and attracts a reader as it raises many questions in the mind as soon as the title is read. The subtitle "Some secrets never leave you" adds some more, to the suspense that gets created by reading the novel's title. The cover too is appealing and suits the title showing that there are many things which are hidden and is needed to be opened for knowing all about it.
Overall the story is good with very nice characters and various messages which it gives out indirectly. It also raises and throws various questions to us which shall make us think as to where are we leading to, challenging our thoughts on various things. Overall it is a very good read and it shall be liked by all those who want love stories along with some social elements in it. Since the authoress hopes to continue her writing, I think she shall give out some of the best novels in the coming years and she shall be an authoress to be looked upon in coming days.

About the Book
Aisha is trapped in her own secret which makes her feel hell. Her love for Raghav is true. But hailing from two very different cultures is the basis of their continued friction. Aisha is a Punjabi girl from Gurgaon and Raghav a Bihari from Ranchi. Raghav’s family will certainly not accept a girl from outside their community. And yet, he continues giving her false hopes through his efforts and promises.And then they take step which entangles her life further.Will she manage to come out of this quandary or must she continue to live in her self-created web? Explore her journey that makes her realize the atrocities being committed on women in the Indian society and the tough decisions she must take, keeping her most loves one oblivious to everything happening in her life.

About the Author
Shikha Khanduja Kaul is an Indian author who was born in Amritsar, Punjab. Her family moved to Gurgaon in 1992 and she has seen the city grow from a small town to being the Millennium City of India. She completed her schooling from Gurgaon and later graduated with Honours in Physics from Sri Venkateshwara College, Delhi University. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (HR) from Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning. She found her passion for writing not too long ago. Her debut fiction novel is a love-story with a touch of the realities prevailing in the Indian society that form the foundation of the biases against women for centuries. She hopes to come up at least one novel every year for as many years as she can. With the plethora of ideas that the author in her is eager to offer, she wishes her readers ‘Happy Reading’.
She can be connected with at:
Facebook:facebook.com/shikhakaulauthor
Twitter: @shikhakaul10
Email:shikha.kaul.author@gmail.com

Review:- We're Corporates by Sudarsan Nagarajan.

To get the meaning of the word "Corporate", I took a dip in the dictionary. Stating from the dictionary, Corporate means of or relating to a corporation.
Whenever we learn or hear about corporate, we get a big corporation or a big company in our mind where many people might be working, bosses, managers, 10-6 office and many things like that.
Corporate world just does end here. It has many things which we can never think about or even imagine of(only if a person has never worked or has been associated with a company).

About the story:-
The novel "We're Corporates" is a simple story about the struggle of three people of the corporate world who are either thrown and dumped out of the company or they themselves resign from their job. Ajay is a young father of a girl child. He resigns from his post for he feels that there is much more than the corporate life. Even after a lot of persuation from his boss, he remains firm with his decision. He calls his wife, Krithika to give her the news of his resignation. As soon as she hears it, its as if all her treasures have been taken away from her. She starts crying and continously persuades her husband to take up another job as she fears of the loan they had taken and about the young girl she had just given birth but Ajay firm with his decision tries to make her understand but fails to do. He informs her about his future plans of writing various exams and taking up other jobs after passing the exam.

On the other hand, Meghna, a young girl in her early 20's is working in a software company. She is very good in her works and does her work in time. But this has lead to more pressures on her. The manager starts giving her maximum works due to which she spends her maximum time in her office and if she completes her assignment on time and decides to leave for home, she is again burdened with some more works. Its a regular office day and she is working in her office when her manager calls her in the meeting room. Unaware of his intentions, she goes on to meet the manager and the boss. But unfortunately she doesn't find her boss there. The manager on the other hand tries to touch her in a bad manner and take advantage of her. She runs away from there saving herself from his bad intentions. Frustrated from her corporate life, she doesn't go to her office for a week after which she is expelled from the company. She is happy about this but her parents are not. They ask her to take a new job but she declines their thought. At last with no choice, she is given 2 options either to marry or take up a new job.

The third main protagnist is Suraj, a hard working, passionate and confident software engineer. He works very hard which fetches him many recognition and rewards. He even goes to U.K. for a project where he stays for 6 months. But during the recession period, he is first who is thrown out by the company followed by many others. He loses his morale and is not able to cope up with the situation. He is so much disturbed by the action of the company that he does join any other company as he fears from another expulsion. His parents are too worried about his actions and fears of his future. Due to financial crisis, his father takes up a job. Suraj is very much hurt by this. He decides to do something but nothing comes his mind. On the beach, he meets a young boy. Talking to him for few minutes gives him a new energy to work with his passion.

Will Ajay be able to pass his examinations and get a good job?
Will he be able to get rid of all the loans and make her wife proud of him?
What will Meghna choose- Job in another corporate house or to marry as per the wishes of her family?
What will happen when Meghna and Suraj will meet?
How will they rise from nowhere to owner of a leading company?
What happens at the beach when both of them meet accidently?
What happens when the loan for the new company is not sanctioned by any bank ?
How will Ajay help both the bestfriends in achieving their dreams?
There are many more things that shall enfold in the story and will amaze you at certain times.
I appreciate the author's efforts in bringing out the various atrocities that occurs and happens in the corporate world. But the thing which I didn't like were the grammatical mistakes and the no. of characters other than the protagnists. The no. of subordinate characters are too much which creates a lot of confusion. I would like to recommend the author that he must always take care of the grammatical mistakes as it takes away the beauty of the novel. Overall it is a good story with many things to learn such as
1. Never give up
2. We dont know what is coming in our way
3. Live your passion
and many more.
I would like to thank the author Sudarsan Nagarajan and Author Paradise for the review copy.

Story:-4/5
Characters:-3/5
Writeup:-3/5
Overall:-3/5

Review:- The Plight of the Pilgrim by Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra

The Plight of the Pilgrim is a collection of 12 wonderful short stories by Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra. All the stories have their own light which shall take you to an another different world.

The synopsis of all the stories are given below:-
1.FREAK SHOW
It is a story about a college student who gets messages from a facebook friend who he studied to be dead in the morning. The story goes on to plot the reaction of the boy in different situations.
Overall it shall be a treat to those who loves horror stories.
2.HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
The story is about Jonaki and her mother Shiuli. Shiuli is under arrest and in jail for various reasons. Jonaki goes to the jail to meet her mom. This story show the love of a daughter for her mom who has been seperated from her and is meeting her after a long time. This story also shows the importance of mother's day in one's life.
3.LOVELORN
The story is about one's love and how he get himself motivated through his passion when he loses his love and has nothing around, finally embracing and accepting downfall and finding inner peace.
4.CHOICE
This story is about a teenage girl who does folk dance for the survival of herself and her ailing mother. The story goes on to show how a single step in one's life goes on to affect the future of the person and saves her from being trapped.
5.APPU
Appu is a monkey which is given as gift to the main protaganist.  They live like brothers ever since they meet each other. The story is about how life is tough and has its means to show you the way where it wants to take. It also shows the tough paths that a mother chooses just for her son.
6.LIBIDO
The main protagnist of this story is a terrorist who is on his way to kill people by the bomb worn by him. The most important part lies when he meets the love of his life at the bombing area. The story shows a manupulated mind who wants to go to heaven by killing people.
7.THE WHITE CALF
This story is about a couple who answer the question about how they met. This question is asked by none other than their own little son. This story is about emotions and feelings shared between a mother and a child and the unconditional love prevailing inbetween them.
8.JADED DREAMS
This story is about a boy who has the most amazing ability in the world; to go to places in his dreams. The protagnist meets a girl in his dreams who commits suicide. However the protagnist falls in love with her. The story is interesting and will definitely make you read twice.
9.TIME
Here time is shown in four perspective. All the 4 perspective shows the importance and value of time along with the changes that time brings in one's life. All the perspective teaches us great lessons which can be useful for a lifetime.
10.THE CRIMSON DIARIES
This story is about a Rajesh, a person who has multiple personality disorder. This disorder causes him to land into jail for killing various people including his beloved.
This story shall serve as a good read who likes reading Crime stories.
11.VHRIDHASHRAM
This story is about a couple who send their parents to old-age home. The story goes around how children treat their parents when they get old forgetting that they shall also be in the same state after few years.
12.VICTOR
The story revolves around a person who takes part in a marathon of sand. He faces difficult situations in that and at the end he tries to kill himself but the process which he choose to kill himself saves him unexpectedly.

All the short stories are better than the other. Actually no comparison can be made between them. However there are various errors which shall make the reader annoyed.
Overall a good ebook with many things to learn.
Thanks to the author for the review copy.

Story:-4/5
Writeup:-3/5
Characters:-3/5
Overall:-3.5/5

Review - Urban Love by Akshay Chitre.

Author:- Akshay Chitre

Publisher:- Notion Press

ISBN:- 978-93-84878-60-3

Pages:- 203

When I read the title, I thought it must be a romantic novel involving two people from big cities who have lavish lifestyles. But the author proved me wrong. 

The story is based in Mumbai and it revolves around the three girls - Priya, Anusha and Meghna. 

About the story:-

The three girls meet for the first time in a local gym in Mumbai. The first meeting itself gives a kickstart to their friendship. With time they become soulmates sharing each and everything among themselves. But Priya hides everything about Anuj untill she meets Vikram before leaving for Goa and on the way she tells everything to Meghna. 

While attending Nidhi's marriage, Priya finds the love of her life in Raj. However she doesnot reveal anything to Raj about Anuj nor does she tell anything about Raj to Anuj. The most important twist takes place when Anusha says some bitter words to both her friends leading to breakup of their friendship.

Will the girls get together as they were before?

What will happen when Raj and Anuj shall confront themselves and how will Priya react and justify?

What were the bitter words that broke their friendship?

Will the girls get their love?

Will Anusha confess her love?

Shall Meghna find anyone who will love her irrespective of her past?

All this shall enfold when you will read the story.

The thing which I liked most in the story was Anusha's love and respect for her father. She just took away the heart. She is a dream daughter a father can have.

The boys in the story are dream lovers and husbands a girl can have. It is hard to find such boys who are real gentleman. However it isn't impossible.

The things which I didn't like was there where some major mistakes which must be rectified. I did find misprint of names of certain characters which just disturbs the flow.

One more thing which I didn't liked was Meghna's one night stand. It is not necessary for a woman to sleep with any random guy just to be equal. 

The portray of characters are good and you will get to know the actual lives of the people of cities.

Overall the story is a good read. It has emotions, feelings, and much more. The reader is going to enoy the ride. So with this wishing the author Akshay Chitre all the best for future. 

Story:- 4/5

Writeup:-4/5

Characters:-5/5

Overall:-4/5

Review:- LOVE BEYOND WORDS By Himanshika Sharma

Author:-Himanshika Sharma
Publisher:-Author's Ink Publications
ISBN:-9789385137
Pages:-171

Love beyond words. What does it mean....? When one says "love beyond words" what is the first thing that comes to the mind....??

Love means an intense feeling of affection and care towards another person whereas beyond means greater than or in addition to.

• 
  

Summing up together, "Love beyond words" means feeling of affection and care which are far beyond the words spoken. More importantly it refers to that care, affection and emotions shared between persons when one person understands another even when the other doesn't tell anything.

Love cannot be restricted to just care and affection. It is much beyond that. One must understand and respect wants or desires of the other person. They must understand each other even when they donot make any oral communication.

About the story:-
"Love beyond words" is the story about love and friendship. It is about the bond shared between two people who love each other overseeing all the disabilities of the other. The story is a tremendous ride of love, care, emotions, friendship and many more. It shall also inspire the reader in many ways. Kriti, the protagonist though suffering from Arthritis, she never thinks herself any less from others. She enjoys her life like any other simple girl.

 The protagonist, Kriti becomes an introvert and remains to herself after the demise of her only sister at an early age. But later when she joins her higher school,  she meets three girls who changes her attitude towards life and goes on to become her best friends for life.
In the meantime when she is in the school for some paperwork after her class 12 exams, she is informed by Aman(Friend of Kunal) that Kunal wants her in his life. He says her that he wants her in his life like any other girl whom he can use as a toy.
Kriti plans and decides to teach Kunal a lesson for life for his thought and deeds.
The next day Kunal proposes her. She accepts his proposal only to dump him the next day.

Will Kriti dump Kunal....or she will accept his love?
Will Kunal and and Kriti ever get together?
What surprises will Kriti get on her birthday?
What reply does she give to the person who advices her to give up study and tries to demotivate her?
Will their parents accept their love or they will be seperated forever?
All this shall enfold when you shall read the story.

The best part of the story is the positive attitude of Kriti towards her life. Along with it, the love, care, understanding and emotions shared and showered by Kunal shall touch hearts bringing tears to the eyes.

Some things that I didn't like in the story was synchronization of events in the story along with things in real life. Along with it, I did also found some wrong in sentence construction and grammatical mistakes.

Overall the story is a good read. It will make you cry at times but you enjoy it throughly. I think the author Himanshika has done justice to the story.

Story:-4.5/5
Characters:-4.5/5
Writeup:-4/5

Overall:-4.5/5