Review Of 'An Autograph for Anjali' by Sundari Venkatraman.

REVIEW:

Anjali, Jayant and Parth, you would think it is the same old love triangle but it isn’t. I would rather think of them as three separate bodies with their own little orbits.
Jayant is the very self-centered, business-man husband and Anjali is the wife who starts off as a dominated, dutiful wife and gradually comes into her own. Parth is the dashing, worldly author who retains his gentle core; even though life has thrown him some hard knocks. Then there is Arjun; Anjali and Jayant’s son, who brings a calmness and balance to the story and serves as a bridge connecting all these diverse characters.

The book starts with the discovery of the murdered body of Jayant and then the rest of it is about how matters got to that point.

The first thing that struck me about this story is that even though Jayant is painted as a completely selfish character, (I do not go with the traditional Indian male bit as I feel an Indian male can have traditional values but that does not necessarily mean they have to be as selfish as Jayant was) yet Sundari tries to bring in a sense of balance in his portrayal through the eyes of Arjun, who understand where he comes from. Anjali has lived vicariously throughout her life through the life of her husband and son and yearns for change. However, when she reaches tipping point, she prefers to make her journey to the light at her pace. Sundari has not allowed the story to slip into total clichéd territory of an abusive relationship or a love triangle. Despite everything, even Jayant has his boundaries and he knows it.

The second part is how Ms Venkatraman has dealt with the mental health issue. She has aptly brought out the causes and effects of these issues and how they tend to be viewed unfortunately by the general public and deftly woven it into the story. This is another reason why I like reading Ms Venkatraman's books; she always has some strong underlying issue in her books which she does not gloss over but rather deals with it in a very sensitive manner.

The strong part of this plot is the romantic parts. Romance is Sundari Venkatraman’s forte and she has proven that yet again. Those parts are soft, sensual, poignant and exciting. Anjali and Jayant are two very strong characters in the book and if anything Parth seems to suffer in comparison, which is rather odd as there, is a lot of word space devoted to him as well. However his character somehow doesn’t quite jump off the pages the way the other two do.

At the end I would like to borrow the words of Arjun, ‘it’s just two people who are very different from each other’.

THE BOOK:

AN AUTOGRAPH FOR ANJALI

by

Sundari Venkatraman

Published by Flaming Sun

Blurb

Jayant Mathur is found murdered in his bed, shot at point-blank range with his own revolver. Though she’s extremely disturbed by his death, Jayant’s wife Anjali is way more upset about something else. Who stands to gain by killing the multi-millionaire businessman?

Parth Bhardwaj is a friend and neighbour of the Mathurs. Parth is an author who goes by a pseudonym. He appears more than a friend to Anjali; while he’s also on good terms with her son Arjun who lives and studies in the UK. What role does he play in Anjali’s life? Jayant’s relatives are curious to know.

Jayant’s brother-in-law Rana is convinced that Parth and Anjali are the murderers. But Inspector Phadke has his own doubts about this theory. In comes Samrat, the private detective who appears as quiet as a mouse. Will he be able to find the murderer?

Will Anjali find happiness and peace?

Grab your copy @

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

Amazon.com.au | Amazon.ca

Notion Press | Flipkart | SapnaOnline | Bookadda |

Infibeam | Paytm | ShopClues 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In 2014, Sundari self-published The Malhotra Bride (2nd Edition); Meghna; The Runaway Bridegroom; Flaming Sun Collection 1: Happily Ever Afters From India (Box Set) and Matches Made In Heaven (a collection of romantic short stories).

2015 brought yet another opportunity. Readomania came forward to traditionally publish this book - The Madras Affair - a mature romance set in Madras.

An Autograph for Anjali, a romance with a touch of suspense, is also a self-published novel. Going a step further, the author has published the paperback version through Notion Press.

Stalk her @

               

Follow us # +Pinterest



Follow The Book 's board An Autograph for Anjali by Sundari Venkatraman on Pinterest.




Every day new links and tasks will be added. Follow The Tour Hosts of ATUW by +Sundari Venkatraman



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out The Book Club Tour Schedule 

This Tour is Hosted by 

Facebook | Website | Blog Tours | Twitter | | Linkedin

We Promote So That You Can Write 

REVIEW OF THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS BY M.L.STEDMAN.

     Tom Sherbourne takes a job as a light house keeper on a remote island off the western coast of Australia to escape his nightmares and guilt for returning alive from World War I. Isabel is the Head Master’s daughter in the small town nearest the lighthouse.
      She has her eyes set on Tom from the very beginning and despite Tom’s misgivings he agrees to marry her and take her to live with him on Janus Rock. Life is idyllic till Isabel has a series of miscarriages which in a heightened emotional state she blames on the island and their life there; even though she is the one who continuously refuses to seek medical help. In this tense atmosphere, a boat is washed ashore with an infant in it. There is a man in the boat as well, who is dead. Despite his serious doubts about the morality of the situation Tom is persuaded and manipulated by Isabel to keep the baby and raise her as their own. They have the perfect family life shut off in their own little cocoon till they come to know whose baby she really is. Fierce as a tigress, Isabel is ready to hold on to her daughter and not let go come what may. It is Tom who treads the higher moral ground and is torn between his love for Lucy and Isabel and doing what is right. He finds it all the more difficult when he realizes that he has met her biological mother before and sees the state she has been reduced to by the tragedy of losing her only child.
         He tempts fate by sending messages to Hannah and is eventually caught. This causes the three main protagonists to be sucked down into a vortex of anger, desperation and guilt from where there seems no escape. A tender heartfelt story of how we fool ourselves to believe what we want to believe, how we build up chains of lies around us, how we take decisions that are impulsive and that haunt us for years to come and the all important question at the end; if we had known what were to follow, would we have done things any differently?
        It’s a beautiful read about people, relationships and their emotions. The author paints a vivid picture of the little town and the era it has been set in, of the war veterans and the scars they come back with, of the effect on the families of these men. She is unsurpassed when she talks about the little island and the life of a light housekeeper. I say this, as it is such a dry subject which she has breathed life into. I loved the female characters; the human foibles and effervescence of Isabel; the forlorn drifting of Hannah, the ambivalence of Gwen, carefree, spunky Grace/ Lucy; they all strike a chord. However, I would not say the same thing about the male characters Tom was this good, stolid man who was so ridden with guilt that he seemed to have no voice or wants of his own, besides always being morally right. Hannah’s husband was this amazingly forgiving man who always found the bright side in everything. At the end I found both these characters boring with their martyr’s complex. The one male character who was vivid and attention grabbing was Septimus (Hannah’s father). Unfortunately he didn’t have too big a part in the story.
        The other thing I thought was uncalled for was the last few pages. Here was this thoroughly engrossing read and then I got to the end and I felt somebody had decided that everything needed to be dusted and tied up with little blue bows. It was absolutely brilliant without it.
        Despite these shortcomings, the story came together wonderfully well and even though it was not an action packed saga, it did grasp me and time flew as I read it. It is for this that I give it four stars and definitely recommend it as a captivating read.

Review of The Madras Mangler authored by Usha Narayanan

Usha Narayanan has given us a fast paced thriller in ‘The Madras Mangler’.  In true whodunit style you only get your answers in the last few pages.
Kat, Moti, Lolita and Minx are four close friends studying at SS Padmaja College. Each of them come from very different backgrounds but in college they find kindred spirits in each other and giggle, chat, live, laugh and support each other.  They are young girls enjoying life and living from day to day until the decomposed, strangled bodies of girls start being fished out of the water. Enter Vir, the Criminal Psychologist from the USA who has been called down by his friend Bishnu to help crack the case. Packing a mean punch, he brings his own dark motivations to the bearing of this case.
Even though they know that the murderer is targeting college girls, each of the girls are too wrapped up in their own lives to really take it seriously. Lolita, Moti and Minx are all facing trouble from different quarters due to their actions. A whole plethora of shady characters are stalking each of them separately.  The killer is on to them as well, trailing them at every turn. They only realize the true implications of the ‘Mangler’ when a friend of theirs disappears and her battered body is found later.
The book takes us through the trials of their college and personal life; with Bishnu and Vir struggling to come up with some meaningful clues to find the killer who is always one step ahead; it culminates in a desperate chase to save them.
The author’s forte lies in the action packed scenes. Her description of the HATCHET HQ and the conversations on criminal profiling and strategy between Vir and Bishnu are brilliant, as are the menacing ‘asides’ from the murderer which help build up the suspense.  The key male characters are well developed as are the four female protagonists. The conversations between the male characters is realistic and sharp, unfortunately I did not find the same attribute in the dialogue between the girls, where I felt the exchange was stilted. Besides every male character at that college were absolute degenerates.  Would have also preferred fewer secondary characters, as at times it became a bit confusing keeping up with who they are and their connection to the story.
However, these are really trifling issues when we look at the book as a whole and I am definitely no expert on college life in Chennai.  All in all an appealing read that maintains a good pace throughout. I would give it four stars.

What do we do with our secrets?

REVIEW OF THE HUSBAND’S SECRET (AUTHOR LIANE MORIARTY)

                Set in the suburbs of Sydney, Liane Moriarty picks up the silken strands that are the lives of Cecilia, Tess and Rachel and laces them deftly together over the ‘Easter Week’.

                Rachel’s daughter was murdered when she was seventeen, a tragedy she has still not come to terms with over twenty five years later. She now faces the daunting prospect of her grandson moving away. Tess finds out that her husband and her best friend who is also a much cherished cousin are in love with each other. Shattered, she retreats to her mother’s house in the suburbs with her son. However, it is Cecilia; the one with the perfectly organized life, the one who always seems to have it all together, who finds ‘the letter’ from her husband. Will she open it or not?

                Over a period of just seven days we have events from their lives woven together with a skill that would have made Athena proud. Circumstances, decisions, consequences and the circle goes on.

                This was a sizeable book, it was set in the suburbs and there wasn’t any great mystery here despite what the title suggests. On the face of it there was nothing that should really grip your attention but enthrall me it did. I couldn’t put it down and I was surprised myself at how fast it went. Kudos to Liane Moriarty for being such a great story-teller.

                She draws you into the perfectly ordinary lives of these women and you don’t even realize you have actually been pulled into the room with them. Fear, lies, loss, weakness, adultery she throws them all at you and it eventually boils down to the choices these women make in their lives. What I appreciated is that the characters were not black or white, they were human with all the foibles that humans have and Ms Moriarty just presented their story, she never judged them. That she leaves to us.

                The only part which I question is the need for the character of Tess and her story. It was a great story but I didn’t quite get the connection with the main plot. Also the ending felt too much like a ‘done and dusted’ affair. Minor drawbacks at best.

                It categorically deserves a five star rating and what was the icing on the cake for me were the brilliant little truisms’ that her characters come up with either as snippets of conversation or in their thoughts. E.g. one from Cecilia

‘She’d learned that with her daughters. Don’t say a word. Don’t ask a question. Give them enough time and they’d finally tell you what was on their mind. It was like fishing. It took silence and patience.’