Review: Bet Me

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I so so so loved this one! Its a light chick-lit, with loads of humor and BFFs and a sassy heroine. Perfect for a lazy summer afternoon. This book proves again why Jennifer Cruise is on my auto-read list.
The story is about Min, a big - boned, healthy (F-A-T) girl and Cal, a gorgeous god! They meet because of a bet and then fight attraction all the way. The story was very filmy (a la bollywood) with music and food and voices in the head shouting THIS ONE!. Its almost like a family flick with friends, mothers, fathers and nephews running around the story!

The dialogue is amazing and all the characters are a little wacky, but so real! Its a must-read for chick-lit lovers. I want to read Liza's story, I hope Jennifer Cruise writes it soon!

Review: Twelve Sharp

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read Stephanie Plum after a looong time.. and Looved it! absolutely Loved it! Ranger and Stephanie sizzle through the book.. Ranger is toooooo HOT!. Even though the story is similar to the other Plum books, the fact that I was reading one after a long time made it great.




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Review: The Mistress of Spices

Book: The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Details: Magical, tantalizing, and sensual, The Mistress of Spices is the story of Tilo, a young woman born in another time, in a faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. Once fully initiated in a rite of fire, the now immortal Tilo--in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman--travels through time to Oakland, California, where she opens a shop from which she administers spices as curatives to her customers. An unexpected romance with a handsome stranger eventually forces her to choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life. Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy and sorrow and one special woman's magical powers.




Review: Having seen parts of the movie, I was curious to read the book. The book, written in first person, starts off with the protagonist, Tilo, explaining about her life before she became a spice mistress. She goes on about how she was born special, amassed wealth, became a pirate queen, spoke to serpents and then swam to an island to learn to become a spice mistress. Whew!

The major part of the book concentrates on how Tilo, as a spice mistress is supposed to help Indians (yes, only Indians, as at one place it is clearly said that others have their own people to help) wherever she lands. Tilo lands in USA! Surprise! Surprise! The book goes on and on about the problems faced by the Indian community in the US, about the eternal tug of war between your roots and the culture where you currently reside and about Tilo's lust for an American.

A large part of the book focuses on Tilo's 'love' for an American, who she is first attracted to as he is wearing nice clothes! Also, there is a lot of focus on spice mistress rules; thou shall never leave your store, thou shall live like an old woman, thou shall
not get too involved, thou shall never touch another person.. and on and on.. There is no explanation though of why these rules exist.

What I didn't like about the book was - Tilo. She is portrayed as a very very flawed character who is proud, rebellious, a know-it-all and not really a nice person. She tries to rationalize all the times she breaks rules by the 'it's not for me, its for others' logic. The author was probably trying to show that all of us have a dark side, but i think she went a little overboard, making Tilo thoroughly unlikeable. What I also don't understand is the fairytale type thought process, where despite of all her flaws, everyone loves Tilo a lot and forgives her everything! This really does not happen.

All in all a not so great read with its long-winding prose, but others might enjoy the book as it talks about the "exotic Indian culture"

Rating: 1.5/5

Review: Matilda

Matilda by Roald Dahl


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the first Roald Dahl book I have read and I completely regret not reading his books when I was much much younger (Deprived childhood!). While there are some books which you enjoy whatever your age when you are reading them, Matilda, for me, was not one of them. I have seen the movie of course, but reading the book was very different. The movie seems more politically correct.

The story revolves around a super smart, gifted little girl, Matilda, who is stuck with highly unimaginative, almost dumb parents. They don't understand or encourage her in any form. While I understand from an adult's perspective, that children mostly see things as black and white, but Matilda punishing her parents for scolding her seems highly excessive and aggressive! Most of the book revolves around her "punishing/getting back" the unfair headmistress, Ms Trunchbull, or her parents and her love for Ms Honey, the best teacher who not only encourages her but in the end adops her as well.

While, Ms Trunchbull is the worst teacher unimaginable, almost the human version of the wicked witch, is Matilda, the gifted child any better? As adults, such books make it clear to us the evolving of our own thought processes and how we start accepting "greys" in our characters and lives.

Anyways, it is a perfectly delightful book for kids, though I am not happy about the punishing of parents as it goes completely against my Indian heritage, where children are supposed to respect/obey their parents no matter what (atleast till they are teenagers and get too rebellious ;))





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Review: The Untamed Bride

The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The book is the first in the Black Cobra Series. It has characters from the Cynster and Bastion series coming in. While it was good to read about the stories of the side-characters from other series and follow-up on characters of the older series, the book itself was very O.K.

The story of the Untamed Bride is the same, a group of officers with the East India Company, posted in India are summoned by the Governor to stop the menance of the Black Cobra, a cult which has terrorized the country and the Englishment residing there. The guys figure out in the first few pages itself who is the lynchpin, which obviously is a well-known member of the British Aristrocacy (coz to eliminate an Indian dacoit during the Raj would not merit a series after all). The series revolves around how these four officers plan to bring this guy to justice and find true love on the way (of course! what did you think this was about?).

As I read more books by Stephanie Laurens, I find them increasingly formulaic, even the writing is stale and repetitive. The themes are the same and the books are seeming increasingly verbous. I can safely skip over a few pages every now and then and be assured that I dont miss anything important to the story line. Its almost like the afternoon soaps!
I doubt I will be reading the remaining series.


*Read if you have not got enough of the Bastion or Cynster books.