BookReviews by Reshma Ranjan

THE INDUS CHALLENGE by R. Durgadoss Blurb Bharat is in chaos. While the kingdoms fight each other, Alexander’s forces gather for the assault, their leader lured by tales of supernatural weapons and the elixir of immortality. Only one man can save the subcontinent from domination by the Greeks: the young Chandragupta Maurya, trained under the aegis of the ‘dark brahmin’, Chanakya. When an ancient seal is found, sharing the secrets of the brahmastra, the redoubtable weapon of the Mahabharat, it is up to Rudra, young commander of the Mauryan Nava Yuva Sena and lifelong friend and confidante of Chandragupta, to decode it. Along with his fellow commandos, and with the able guidance of his guru, Rudra embarks on a quest that takes him from the snowy peaks of the Himalayas to the seas of Rameshwaram, hunting the clues that will lead him to the brahmastra. On the way, he meets the Chiranjivis, ancient beings tasked with divine duties, and learns the secrets be...

Packing my bags, Ooty here I come! Me and my other two, the one in white( with her pure white wings fluttering and her halo bright still in the world Sundari Venkatraman had created), and the other in black (with her red horns beacon like and excited about the love story) are eager to visit Ooty again as it has been so romantically pictured without letting go of the local flavor and adding to Ooty’s picturesque beauty with Sundari’s vivid imagination. As always an avid romance lover and I am waiting to grab the next of Sundari Venkatraman as it hit the shelves of Amazon. She churns book every month like a well maintained machine. I have often wondered isn’t she ever hit with a writer’s block or one of those moods.  But you know what, even that small gap is becoming hard for me to wait for the next. Well, that I guess guys is the magic of Sundari Venkatraman. Once you are pulled into the whirlpool of her story telling there is no going back. And as to my first exclama...

A beautiful journey! It is from Siddharth's perspective we see the story unfolding and through him , we slowly see the plight of Hazel. A journey of friendship, parenthood, love, pain, separation, hurt, betrayal and reuniting. Hazel has a lot happening to her in this journey called Key to My Soul. If you think I wept with Hazel, no! But I wanted to know her story.  The innocent love between Siddharth and Hazel is very sweet, their stolen moments equally endearing. Slowly when the endearing meetings become much more, the volatility of the age is reflected. There is friendships, the bonding, the mother-daughter and father-son bonding. A woman’s position in our society, remarriage for a widow is either frowned upon or in the name of financial security and place in the society she is married to an older man or a divorcee. And her struggles in that relationship further on are never looked upon. There was a slight reference to the scenario but the author did not dwell ve...

Are excerpts alluring?  Excerpts are a quick glimpse of what the book holds. There have been times when more than a book cover or the book title the excerpts pull you in. I have picked a lot of books when the excerpts have pulled me towards it. And trust me it is too alluring that you cannot escape it and seriously which book lover would want to. So when my friends tagged me to put an excerpt from my book I couldn’t ignore. Here is an excerpt from my first book “Love Sees No Reason”… Hope you all enjoy it just as I had enjoyed writing it.  In one quick stride she moved forward and buried herself in his tall broad frame. Ria was crying and laughing at the same time, she couldn’t stop. His hands remained at his sides. She was about to move away when suddenly he let his arms close around her slim body. His grip was vice-like, crushing her against him. She felt his arms wrapped around her in a strong protective embrace. She had never felt this safe before. But she ne...

Reshma Ranjan with   Live Wire Rubina Ramesh   Some call her the Head Mistress in The Book Club, some a Warden. She is a powerhouse, of different roles. A mother, a wife, a dreamer, a blogger, a novelist, a writer. But trust me when you get to know her you see the naughty, wickedly humorous, wacky and a little looney side of her as well. It’s easy to fall in love with all her avatars. She is that mother hen of the group who holds us together. She prefers to say it is like a family, an extended family where you fight, you discuss, you have fun, but it is one big family. Me: Who is Rubina Ramesh? Rubina: Ohh…I think you have answered me, I am a wife, I am a blogger, I am a woman, and more than that I think I am a mom. First and foremost I am a mom. But coming to your question of being a writer, well that was one of the last things I had ever thought would happen to me. I knew I loved writing. But writing a romance novel was never the part of the plan. I am a softw...