#361 : More Than Just Desire By Summerita Rhayne : Review

GENRE: Fiction - Romance

NUMBER OF PAGES: 146

FORMAT: Digital

SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Review copy as a part of TBC book tours in exchange for an honest review. Thank you guys.

REVIEW:

Bollywood and that title – Just enough to grab my attention. I had read the previous book by this writer which was a historical fiction - the stories are virtually incomparable that way.

Plotline

The plot line is more of a realistic glimpse into the life of a typical celebrity. Does being a successful actress mean that she shouldn’t have humane feelings and commit mistakes just like a common man? Piya our protagonist, walked away from her marriage with the brilliant and handsome director Arfaaz. Now she is back – is it for good? Why is she here? – These are the conflicts which the writer has turned into a story – a pretty good story. The story was paced quite evenly but still had my attention. By evenly paced I meant, one high was followed by a low and the same was repeated. Typically this kind of pacing would be boring, but the writer surprised me by keeping both the highs and lows interesting. I really had to finish reading the story in one go.

Characterization and Writing

For some reason I felt a world of a difference between the historical fiction I read by this writer and this book. This story was packed with passion and deep emotions. What started as a light yet passionate banter turned into a heavyset intense emotional dialogue. The sensual scenes were “Sensual” as intended and didn’t seem erotic at all. To me, there is a world of a difference between being sensual and erotic. With crackling chemistry between the protagonists and spot on characterization, the book was a treat. The characters blew hot and cold over each other - this was executed realistically. My only qualm would be the lack of elaboration on Arfaaz’s family and Piya’s extended family from her roots.

MY SAY: Sensual read. Crackling story line with the right fireworks in play.

RATING: 4/5

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#360 : More Than Just Desire By Summerita Rhayne : Spotlight

A Passionate Romance 

by 

Summerita Rhayne 

More Than Just Desire

Blurb 

The Bollywood diva who ran away

Piya walked out of an explosive situation three years ago. She married Arfaaz for security but left him facing chaos she created. Now she's back in Bollywood and searching for the crown she gave up when she ran away. In the competitive world of starry glamour, the only way she can begin her career anew is to trash the past and get a divorce.

The man who wants her atonement

Arfaaz is determined to get his revenge on Piya for making a farce of their marriage and leaving him to face the mudslinging. He forces her to keep up the appearances and stay with him so she can play the loving wife and repent on her sins. But Piya drives him crazy with her antics. On the top of that, the attraction between them sizzles and threatens to make him forget reason.

A passionate conflict

Piya knows she has lessons to learn but she cannot let this man enter her heart. There is too much to risk and she cannot afford to forget the real reason she has come back. Success is her mantra and her worship. She can be faithful to only her goal...

Prologue

The limo slid through wrought iron gates and came to a stop in front of the entrance of the huge house designed like an ultra modern Italian villa.

‘I’m not getting out here. I’ve booked a room and I want to go to my hotel.’ She averted her gaze and stared straight ahead as Arfaaz held the door open. 

For answer, he paused. An inhalation expanded his chest, drawing her unwilling gaze. He’d discarded the ridiculous narrow jacket and the white dress shirt drew taut against his pectorals, sending something threatening and alien coiling through her. 

The next moment he’d swooped down and picked her up, taking advantage of her inattention. 

His hands went under her as he gathered her in his arms as easily as he would a bird in his hand. She had to duck her head to escape the side of the car and then he was slamming the door shut with a foot kick. 

‘How dare you!’ She flailed at him furiously, pent-up frustration escaping. ‘Let me go. Now!’

He was warm, too much so. She found her throat clogging for some unknown reason. 

Before she could react anymore, he let her slide down, but she was struggling and squirming so much, she lost her balance and fell, smack against his body. 

He stepped back as though she burned him and mortification swept over her skin at the implied rejection.  

‘You can’t force me to do what you want!’ she bit out, breathless from effort. 

‘I’ll get what I need to know out of you anyway I can.’

‘What do you want to know? Why am I here? Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s to lay down this ghost between us. This meaningless tie...’ She made a gesture to denote contempt and tipped up her chin at him. ‘I want a divorce, Arfaaz. And I want it as quickly as possible.’

‘Very well.’ The soft agreement dropped in the silence with thunderous force, like a rock thudding down from the mountain. ‘Don’t doubt it, Piya. You’ll get it.’

Grab your Copy @

amazon.com | amazon.in 

or grab this book free at #KindleUnlimited 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

 Summerita Rhayne writes contemporary and historical romance with lots of emotional conflict. She first got published in 2013 and has won contests with prestigious publishers such as Harlequin and Harper Collins India. She firmly believes if the inspiration is strong enough, the story characters will find a way to make the writer pen them down, even when writing time is in short supply. When cerebrally confronted with the sizzling interaction of two Alpha characters, the only way to get peace is write their book!

At heart, she's a family person and even though she loves her medical teaching profession, she happily becomes a homemaker when not at work. She loves winding down with music, romcoms, cricket (strictly watching only) and social networking.

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#359 : Cracking the "Crying" Code

A couple of days ago, I was saddened by an incident at workplace. Given that we are expected to maintain "professional" decorum, I couldn't express it then. Once I came back home, the dam broke. I wept for 20 minutes straight until my mom decided it was enough. She then went on to deliver a lengthy sermon as to why crying wouldn't accomplish a thing and how being so emotionally weak is bad. Being the thick head that I am, I hollered at her accepting that I was, I am and I will be emotionally weak. Mum being herself, didn't let it go. She kept telling me that I was emotionally attached and had high expectations from people, so, when things didn't go my way I end up crying and hurt. In fact at one point, I started to agree with her. After a night of sound sleep, I felt lighter and it didn't really matter anymore. I reasoned that she was simply protecting me from the society which would brand me weak for shedding tears.

So to the big question - Is crying a sign of weakness? More often than not, the standard reply at large to this question would be that it is okay to cry, because I am woman. After all, women and tears are synonymous. I decided to do a little replay in my head the events that eventually ended up in tears for me. I still wanted to cry and I did - locked myself up in the toilet and cried buckets. I tried doing the same exercise again - the postmortem activity - this time around however, I was clearly able to reason and no tears! Voilà! I simply had to get it out of my system. This strengthened my belief that crying is definitely NOT a sign of weakness but rather a defense mechanism to prevent us from going insane.

Sadness in life is inevitable. Circumstances, people and their behavior somehow end up dumping negative thoughts on us. Don't we all need to clean that out, immaterial of the gender? If you shout it away, you are branded temperamental. If you cry it out, you are branded weak. If you talk it away, you are branded as being clingy. If you smile all the time to ease it off, you are branded as being pretentious. Is there some way to actually to express yourself without being 'branded'?

I prefer to flush my sadness out by crying. In what way does that make me weak? Buddha didn't attain enlightenment in a day. Fat chance it happens to me in a day. However, I am getting at it. I don't let the same 'kind' of negativity affect me twice. I learn my lesson the first time around mostly. Does that warrant I won't be saddened by something else? Nope. Definitely not. We are humans. Humans are supposed to be experience emotions and learn to process them.

Weeping out of sadness or disagreement is perfectly okay immaterial of the gender. Why should men be expected to be stoic all the time? Aren’t they humans too? The society these days has begun to make amends and treat a woman equal to man. Shouldn't a man be given the same treatment as a woman when it comes to crying? Last time I checked my aptitude at biology, they had a heart too. A hear that ticked and wept just like it did inside a woman. Dissecting the gender debate with respect to crying is a worth an essay by itself. I think, this write up here in Aeon would do more just than me. Do visit this website and read the essay.

The next logical question arising would be, what of fake tears – the crocodile tears. Again, it is a stereotypical generalization that women shed tears just to garner sympathy or get things done. Not all women are capable of doing so. Moreover, I think it is fairly simple to distinguish between anguish and acting. However, when people only have enough 'intellect' to brand crying as a weakness, I think it would take a genius to differentiate between genuine feelings and acting.

Crying is natural. Judging a person for it is sheer foolishness.

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#358 : I Promise You This by Patricia Sands : Review + Giveaway!

​GENRE: Fiction

NUMBER OF PAGES: 324

FORMAT: Digital

SERIES / STANDALONE: Love in Provence #3

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Review copy from NetGalley as a part of France Book tours in exchange of an honest review. Thank you.

REVIEW:
This review would be from the viewpoint of a reader who has not read the previous books of the series and choose to read this book as standalone

I wasn’t able to follow the story for a while. The characters felt a bit disconnected and disorienting till about half way through the story. This edition of the series follows Katherine’s story back in Canada. Katherine is forced to come back home to Canada when her best friend meets with an accident. Coming back home floods her with memories of her parents and hear failed marriage. Adding to agony are her unstable feelings to Philippe – the man who has made her fall in love again. Would she be able to move on from her heart break and accept a man into her life again? The stories switched back to France with the thread of Katherine’s and Philippe’s relationship.

Once I was comfortable with the characters and their relationship with each other, I found the story to be nothing short of beautiful. With a pacing which was consistent and enough twists thrown in, this book was indeed a pleasurable read. The narration and the setting would be the highlight of the book. The writer had literally brought alive the sights, scenes and food of France! The countryside is so breathtaking and fills the reader with joy. The story line as such was filled with so much positivity and teaches the reader an invaluable lesson – A heart break is never the end of life.

My only qualm with the book would be a lack of that introduction for a reader who hasn’t read the previous books. The writer could have possibly spent a couple of pages giving a gist of what happened earlier so that new readers would also connect with the book and the old readers wouldn’t be bored. Also given that the characters were way lot older than I am, I couldn’t really connect much with them!

The cover deserves a special mention for being breathtakingly beautiful!

MY SAY: A must read for ‘Fracophiles’ and lovers of contemporary romance.

RATING: 3/5

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#357 : I Promise You This By Patricia Sands : Spotlight!

Patricia Sands

on Tour May 17-26 with

I Promise You This

(women’s fiction) Release date: May 17, 2016 at Lake Union Publishing ISBN: 978-1503935723 365 pages Author’s page | Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Suddenly single after twenty-two years of marriage, the calm of Katherine Price’s midlife has turned upside down. Seeking to find her true self, she took a chance on starting over. A year later, she is certain of this: she’s in love with Philippe and adores his idyllic French homeland, where he wants her to live with him. But all that feels like a fantasy far removed from Toronto, where she’s helping her friend Molly, hospitalized after a life-threatening accident. Staying in her childhood home full of memories, Katherine wonders: Is she really ready to leave everything behind for an unknown life abroad? And if all her happiness lies with Philippe, will it last? Can she trust in love again? Searching her heart, Katherine finds the pull of the familiar is stronger than she thought. An unexpected meeting with her ex, the first time since his cruel departure, and a stunning declaration of love from an old flame spur her introspection. With sunlit backdrops and plot twists as breathtaking as the beaches of Côte d’Azur, author Patricia Sands brings her trilogy about second chances to a provocative and satisfying close that proves that a new life just might be possible—if you’re willing to let your heart lead you home.

BOOK TRAILER [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYnCA72Iz8U]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A confessed travel-addict, best-selling author Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, Canada, when she isn’t somewhere else, and calls the south of France her second home. I Promise You This, is Book 3 in her award-winning Love in Provence series. Find Patricia on Facebook, on Twitter on Instagram at her Amazon Author Page or her website Subscribe to her mailing list and get information about new releases. Buy the book : Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.fr | available on Barnes & Noble on May 17

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#356 : The Florentine Deception by Carey Nachenberg : Spotlight + Giveaway!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xROaMhbKuzs&w=560&h=315]

Book Description

A seemingly mundane computer clean-up leads to an electrifying quest for an enigmatic—and deadly—treasure in this gripping techno-thriller.
After selling his dorm-room startup for millions and effectively retiring at the age of twenty-five, Alex Fife is eager for a new challenge. When he agrees to clean up an old PC as a favor, he never expects to find the adventure of a lifetime waiting for him inside the machine. But as he rummages through old emails, Alex stumbles upon a startling discovery: The previous owner, a shady antiques smuggler, had been trying to unload a mysterious object known as the Florentine on the black market. And with the dealer’s untimely passing, the Florentine is now unaccounted for and ripe for the taking. Alex dives headfirst into a hunt for the priceless object.

​What starts out as a seemingly innocuous pursuit quickly devolves into a nightmare when Alex discovers the true technological nature of the Florentine. Not just a lost treasure, it’s something far more insidious: a weapon that could bring the developed world to its knees. Alex races through subterranean grottos, freezing morgues, and hidden cellars in the dark underbelly of Los Angeles, desperate to find the Florentine before it falls into the wrong hands. Because if nefarious forces find it first, there’ll be nothing Alex—or anyone else—can do to prevent a catastrophic attack.

The author is donating all of his proceeds from sales of The Florentine Deception to charities to help underprivileged and low-income students.
1,620 books sold,  $8,173.00 donated as of December 31st (with $182 pending)!

Let's help him reach his goal of selling 2,000 books and donating $10,000!

Visit http://florentinedeception.weebly.com/charities.html to see the list of charities.
​
​Buy the audiobook:  Amazon  ~  Audible
Buy the book:   Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble

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About the writer

Carey Nachenberg is Symantec Corporation's Chief Engineer and is considered one of the inventors of Norton AntiVirus. As Chief Engineer, Carey drives the technical strategy for all of Symantec's core security technologies and security content. He has led the design and development of Symantec's core antivirus, intrusion prevention and reputation-based security technologies; his work in these areas have garnered over eighty-five United States patents.

In addition to his work in the cyber-security field, Carey has also recently published his first novel, a cyber-security thriller entitled “The Florentine Deception,” and is donating all proceeds from sales of the novel to charities supporting underserved students and veterans. Carey holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from University of California at Los Angeles, where he continues to serve as Adjunct Professor of Computer Science.

Connect with the author:   Website   Twitter   Facebook

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#355 : False Ceilings by Amit Sharma : Spotlight

FALSE CEILINGS 

by

AMIT SHARMA

Blurb

Born in the lush mountains of Dalhousie in 1930, Shakuntala is a pampered child of a wealthy builder. On her wedding night she is gifted a secret to use wisely when the time comes. 

From the green valleys of Dalhousie to a village in Punjab reeling under the communal violence of 1947; from the Delhi of 1950s with its intoxicating smell of freedom to the Delhi of 1970s soaked in the hippie culture; from the Delhi of 1984 smelling of burnt tyres to the Delhi of 90s raising its Frankenstein of urbanization, the cancerous secret breathes with her, infects her. It is accidentally passed down, hidden under insecurities and jealousies, locked in its meaninglessness and leaving a trail of ruin. 

When her great- grandson accidentally discovers the secret in 2065, he is perplexed by the malice that flowed in his family's blood. Was it just the secret or his family would have destroyed itself even in its absence? Why was their love never greater than their unsaid expectations from each other? 

Grab your copy @

Amazon.in | Flipkart | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amit Sharma

Amit Sharma's first fiction book titled False Ceilings has been published by Lifi Publications. The book launch happened on 12 Jan 2016 in the World Book Fair in Delhi. 

Amit has been working in a Software Firm since the last ten years. He lives with his family in NCR. His wife is a teacher and they are blessed with a daughter who is in her terrible twos. 

Amit always keeps a book and a portable reading light in his bag (much to the amusement of his fellow travelers). His other hobbies include watching world cinema, travelling, digging into various cuisines, cooking, listening to music, painting, blogging, making his daughter laugh and helping his wife with her unnecessary and prolonged shopping.

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