Book Review:Magic Study by Maria V Snyder

Title: Magic Study
Author: Maria V Snyder
Publisher:Mira
Page: 432
Genre: Fantasy/Series
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Source: ebook

Buy Magic study from Flipkart.com
Buy Magic study from amazon.com

Summary:
Being with people like her and reunited with family is not a happy tale ans she finds herself surrounded with more mystery and trouble....Learning to control her power and making good use of it is her main task under the guidance of Irys...She still longs for a life as a food taster with Valek around in the commander's palace...Slowly she discovers her  powers and the risks involved., to add there are disappearnce and death....She is still wondering about her life before prior to the life in orphanage...

Review:
Magic study is the second book of the trilogy series..First is Poison Study .,I throughly enjoyed reading that I started to read this one side by side..Inspite of gaining her freedom from being a food taster she is to forced to flee Ixia due to  an order of execution being passed ..Separated from Valek her life  is not pleasing with her brother Leif suspecting her to be a spy..United with her family and Yelana finds herself very different from her fellow Sitians..Yelana's parents shower her with all love and from then on her magic study begins.. New place brings in new characters and of course that didn't make me miss Valek....Cahil and Yelana's dislike for each other is quite obvious., he also claims to be the only surviving heir to Ixian throne..Yelana learns many things including horse ride., there she realises that she can hold on a conversation with the animals, her horse is Kiki ..This part seemed pretty amusing to be but it might appear very irritating to others....On the other hand Leif and Yelana share a love hate relationship and that is quiet understanable as they were estranged at a younger age and Leif is clad with guilt of not saving his younger sibling..I loved how Snyder developed each character with their specialization in magic or fantasy with their own weakness..Plot was interesting with mystery, hatred, magic and love..You would end up missing the vibrant characters Charlie and Janco of the previous book as much you end up liking the new ones..Snyder's writing is so well defined that any reader who hasn't read the previous book can read this and still understand the plot with clarity..By the end of this book Snyder prepares us for the next part Fire study...Yelana continues to be fantastic in this series,missing her love Valek and when they meet ., those brief pages Snyder makes it memorable...Her lessons with Master magician Irys is equally good with quircky moments as she slowly discovers her strengths and weakness..There are pretty interesting things such as her journey to Avibian planes, life in Citadel, learning about Sanseed clan., though these were good I couldn't find it great..The brilliance of Poison study is somehow missing but that definitely stop me from reading the next book either...It is a good read to anyone who loved the poison study and for those who love fanatasy for a change of genre....

Book Review: Fractured Legends by Kranthi Askani

Title:Fractured Legends
Author: Kranthi Askani
Publisher: APK Publisher
Price: Rs 192
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9381791074
Genre: Fiction/ Contemporary/ Indian writer
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: blogadda.com
Buy fractured legends from flipkart.com


Summary
Three lives string together by fractured past though in a different way yet similar to each other....

Review:
The book opens up with temple slave who a life of immortality..She eventually leaves the life for a life in flesh..She believes that a life with people surrounded by love and bit of sadness is better than a life frozen to time immemorial..There are three protagonist plus a character with a shade of grey...First protagonist , is a temple slave who takes the form in flesh at night and freezes back to rock as the day dawns, there are thousands of them in the temple..One day she decides to leave all that behind to become a human after being blessing by her queen, oh yeah these temple slaves do have their queen who has her own misery and trouble to take care of , yet she blesses her with a silver ring, that supposedly carries some magic...After becoming human She like all mortals grows up in a household surrounded by love and sibling, sister -in law ( she share s a special bond with her), and then she gets married to Narisimha..He is a lovely husband and a dotting father, she goes on to have a baby girl Pravalli..Aradya is one of the temple slave who doesn't choose a life of flesh and remains as a temple slave for ever ., as time passes she turns into a shade of grey to dark causing lot of trouble ....Aradya's soul goal is to destroy the manuscript written by the former so as to protect the other temple slaves... This introduces the reader to the next character Nandhini, she is a professional assassin..Through her actions and every moment she contemplates her life before and after her choice of work... Her own father left her at a tender age and as a newly wed she loses both her husband and mother her leaving her with yet to be born baby to raise alone...She makes her choice to become an assassin and is portrayed to have done the job to perfection till date....Her current assignment is to retrieve the manuscript .,when her own life gets entangled in a bloody affair, she has no choice but go for it as her own son's life is at stake...Then finally we are introduced to Pravalli daughter of the temple slave who grows up to hate her mother ....Her mother's secret as a temple slave as it unveils becomes very hard for Pravalli to take in and accept her...Final chapters are her long letter describing her mother ....Askani's writing is fresh and interesting,what I liked was his love for  details..I liked the way he chose the characters to be draped in saree  even Nandhini was quiet comfortable in it...Nandhini's character was the most developed she had substance and character, she was strong and a determined lady..her son Dilip was a wonderful treat to read..Fractured legends explores an agonizing past of all the protagonist,  they are all trying to forget and erase the past and move on , yet from the back of their mind it pops up time and again tormenting them...Askani's writing quite poetic during the first few chapters but the readers do get the hint that he is a debutante writer..But his love for the contemporary with a dash of grey and unique vantage makes the book enduring...

Book 20 for SAC - 10 more to go!!!

 

Disclosure
I received a copy of this book to review..The thoughts expressed are my own reflection and I am not in any away associated with any third party for a positive feedback..

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

Title: Girl in hyacinth blue
Author:Susan Vreeland
Publisher: Headline book Publishing
Pages:180
Price: Rs 830
ISBN:0755305302
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Borrowed

Buy Girl in Hyacinth blue from amazon.com

Summary
Through eight short stories the book takes on the lives of owner of the painting "Girl in hyacinth blue" a fictional painting by the late Dutch artist Vermeer from 1990's to late 1660's in the chronological order...

Review
 Prior to reading this one,I read Girl with a pearl earring ...Unlike girl with a pearl earring that deals with the artist Vermeer his life and work ., this about the people who own the painting....With every change of wall where it is hung the painting goes through different mood and set of life, yet one common mood  that follows is that of longing and melancholy...The painting portrays a girl wearing brilliant hyacynth blue dress looking out of  the window with longing and dreams..The book has weaved together through threads of short stories., that depicts each owner dating in a chronological order from 1995., that is when the painting is burnt to 1665 that takes us back to Vermeer's studio...Cornelius Englebrecht is a math teacher who has a haunting past attached with the painting... His father looted  the painting from Vredengurg family in Amsterdam during the Nazi era, Englebrecht is proud of his possession yet he isn't honoured enough to display it in public, yet one day he shows off it to his colleague an art professor., who is instantly  appreciative about the strokes and painting with awe confirming its ingenuity , yet Englebrecht ends up burning the paining to relive himself from its burden...The book slowly starts to unfold Dutch history through each story as the painting journeys to a place..The painting is given as a token of love to some at times offered as a bribe ,few more stolen by the force of greed, it holds different meaning ...Magdelena is the model and Vermeer's daughter..The novel also explores Vermeer's life....Vermeer was always lost in his painting living in a totally different world away from his family, being away from a father and the longing for his love is transcended in the painting as well through her face, later after Vermeer's death  she sells it to the local baker...The chapters are written in a combination of first and third person account.. Chapter "Magdelena looking" appealed to me most, but few chapters just fell flat..The painting is a treasured possession to some and for few its just another painting...Aunt Rika wraps the painting on her illegitimate child as a bribe to her nephew Adriaan carrying a message sell the painting feed the baby in order to sustain her honour in the society..Initially sold for 300 gilder the painting is sold low even for 24 gilder, Vreeland hints upon the ignorance and appreciation of art through these and also the fact that at times in spite of the attachment people are forced to part away with it during terrible times....Each owner gets the painting to fill in with something that person has been missing so far and that ranges from lost love, child and so on...Though I loved girl with a pearl earring more , I should not forget that  both fall in a different plane all together....Vreeland has richly filled in with historic aspect of past lives of common people...The book is for all who love fiction in terms of art and artists...

Man booker prize -short list

Short list for the Man booker prize 2012 was announced on 11th September..From twelve books the competetion has been narrowed down to six...Click here for the long list nomination...The following are the books finally competing for THE DAY..

Shortlisted books include

Bring up the bodies

Narcopolis

The lighthouse

The garden evening mists

Umbrella

Swimming-home

Though Hilary Mantel's sequel to earlier booker prize winning Wolf Hall has been the current favourite..I am currently reading Bring up the bodies, Narcopolis and The lighthouse..Rest are yet to be read....Let's see who ends up with the grand prize of the year..

Beautiful Blogger award!!!!!!!!!!!

I am definitely running out of words., being a book blogger with just 4 months of book blogging  I am definitely thrilled by this award....It means a lot to me...I thank Aditi Gupta of The readioactive book blog for nominating me, she has an amazing blog, do check it out......There are certain rules of course..

1. Few random facts
2. Nominate other bloggers.

Few random facts :

1. One my first day at work entering my class , when the class stood to greet me , I turned to my back in surprise much to my own embarrassment., it really took a while to get used to the transformation of being a student to a lecturer..
2. Research is my first love and so I left my job to turn into a full time research scholar..
3. I never get tired of ECR (east coast road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry ) drive..
4. I love to wake up to the soft aroma of hot steaming cup of mom's coffee though now I can only wish for it..
5. I love to watch the sun rise upon the beach horizon ., living in the west coast of India I get to watch only the sunset....
6. I love star gazing and in spite of all these years I get confused with constellations..

My nomination

Babbling books

Thoughts & Musings

Tyrony

The bookshelf

Stuck on reading

I Hope I keep winning many more awards and enjoy my reading and writing...Good day..

Sophie's turn by Nicky Wells

Title: Sophie's Turn
Author:Nicky Wells
Publisher: Saphire star publisher
Pages: 203
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Review copy

Buy Sophie's turn from amazon.com

Summary
Twenty eight year Sophie Penhelligan finds herself in a cross road as she finds herself engaged to two men..How will she ever resist  her teenage idol and rock star Dan and what about Tim her boy friend who has finally proposed her...

Review
Sophie Penhelligan has a great life., with her career being a journalist  friends and a boyfriend Tim who has been there for two years, though her relationship with Tim turns her off  time and again., she hopes that someday he will propose her..And then eventually does get engaged but then she gets engaged to the rock star Dan too...The book opens up with a flashback though a slow runner things got a lot better as I hung on to it...Tim is shy, can never really express himself always messes up things and tries hard to make it up to her at times forcing his way , he has a weird obsession with slugs, forgets his rings when he planned to propose  later apoligising .....That is him a cross contrast of Sophie that makes her think something is definitely wrong somewhere...All along the way Sophie has been a great fan having a larger crush for Dan the rock star and a  member of the famous rockband TUSK ..Dan is portrayed as every girl's dream and luckily for Sophie Dan re-entering her life, did I say re-enter?? well she did meet him back in her teenage years at back stage prior to one of his performance., and now she ends up being proposed, she is in cloud nine (obviously) with chorus of angels singing around her but the only trouble is that she is already engaged to Tim.... Kudos to Wells for bringing out the teenage adrenaline rush in Sophie .,when she meets Dan, those crazy moments are real fun to read...But for now she is with Dan too.,in short she is  engaged to both men...Things take quite a roller coaster ride and before she gets a hang on things everything seems to fall apart..There is suspense, thrill, adventure around Sophie, never a dull moment with her.. Edinburg mystery was well done too...Sophie can get on nerves at times driving you to the edge ,in spite of her smartness she can act real stupid., but she is quick enough to reconcile and correct her mistakes but at times the situation itself don't go as she wants  complications upon complications..Sophie keeps pushing her morale benchmark at times getting things right and at times losing it...The ending was a quiet unexpected one and I liked Wells for that..This book is a wonderful for a relaxing read....

Excerpt

“What the hellis going on here?” I hissed, trying to prevent others from hearing our exchange.

“Oh, Sophie, Dan’s turned up. Isn’t it amazing?” she beamed at me.

“I can see that,” I kept hissing, “But what is he doing here?”

Rachel was quite drunk herself and looked at me with those bleary eyes that usually meant she was up to no good. “Sophie,” she declared solemnly and rather loudly, “you have broken the man’s heart. He has come to reclaim you.” She wobbled unsteadily and I gripped her arm. Usually one to hold her liquor, party-girl Rachel had clearly gone too far tonight.

“Shshshshshshshsh!” I admonished. “Will you keep your voice down? What are you talking about?”

“Dan is completely besotted with you, and he said he couldn’t bear the thought of you getting engaged to Tim so he had to…hic…come and check him out…hic!” Oh God, she had the hiccups. She would have to spend the night in the guest room. Once Rachel got the hiccups, she was beyond salvation. I gave her twenty minutes before she collapsed. I had to extract critical information fast.

“Why did you introduce him to Tim?” I continued my interrogation. “Couldn’t you have sent him away?”

“Ooohnoo, Sophie. I couldn’t turn this lovely, heartbroken man away.” She looked at me with big, innocent, and totally unfocused eyes. “In fact, we were just looking for you. You seemed to have… hic… hic… hic…disapp-hic-eared.”

“What did you say to Tim about who Dan was?” I needed to know.

“That he was Dan, of course. Your boy-hic-friend from Tusk!” She dropped this bombshell completely nonchalantly.

“You what?” I squeaked. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Noooo, I’m s-hic-erious! Ti-hic-im thought it was very funny. Hic.”

I wrung my hands and barely prevented myself from tearing at my hair. If Tim had thought it was funny, he must have thought Rachel was being facetious or winding him up. He had seen her drunk before (and the experience hadn’t done anything to endear her to him in any way), so it was likely that he hadn’t paid the slightest bit of heed to the truth she was spouting. But I had to move, and fast.

“You,” I said to Rachel, grabbing her by the shoulders and steering her toward the stairs. “You have had enough to drink. You are going to bed.”

“I hic-am?” Rachel asked, surprised.

“Indeed,” I confirmed grimly and marched her up the stairs. “Right, here you are. Guest room.Bed.Now.” I propelled her forward and she flopped on the bed like a rag doll.

“Very ti-hic-hic-red,” she mumbled before passing out.

I, on the other hand, had sobered up dramatically and had only one thought left: damage limitation. I blundered back downstairs, racing quite unladylike in my high heels, and skidded to a halt in the lounge. There they were, companionably sitting in front of the stereo, playing DJ.

I clattered across the floor, grabbing a bottle of champers and three glasses off a table as I went. Tim looked up, and then sprang to his feet.

“And here she is,” he announced to Dan with no small measure of proprietary pride. “Doesn’t she look gorgeous?”

Dan rose to his feet, somewhat unsteadily, and looked me up and down. A sad smile played on his face for just the briefest of moments.

“She looks stunning, indeed. Congratulations to you both.” He walked over to me and planted a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Well done,” he said softly, and Tim beamed gratefully, completely unaware that the comment was aimed solely at me. In fact, he seemed completely besotted by Dan’s manly, famous presence.

“Dan here and I were just discussing rock music,” he informed me as though Dan were his new best friend.

I shuddered for a moment. God forbid.

“Dan has some very interesting views about the movement, you know?”

I winced and smiled a secret apologetic smile at Dan, but he was too drunk to notice anything patronizing in Tim’s comment. I had to separate the two before things got out of hand. Luckily, one of our other guests absolved me of thinking up more ruses by descending on Tim and whisking him away to the kitchen.

Dan and I regarded each other in silence.

“You do look beautiful,” Dan repeated, suddenly sounding a whole lot more sober.

I wanted to cry. “What are you doing here?” I whispered, not trusting my voice.

“I don’t really know,” he acknowledged. “I just felt…lonely. At a loose end. I had to see you and convince myself that…well, that it really is too late. You know?”

I was simultaneously touched and petrified. “I thought we’d agreed…,” I started, but Dan interrupted immediately.

About the author

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star

and the girl next door. Her debut novel, Sophie’s Turn, is the first part in her Rock Star Romance

Trilogy. Not unlike Sophie, her heroine, Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.

When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and teaching assistant. Nicky is also a featured

author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives

in Bristol with her husband and two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a

researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in

London and Washington, D.C.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course,

an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star

Romance Trilogy. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook.

Website

Twitter Handle: @WellsNicky

Facebook 

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. 

Racing with the wind by Regan Walker

Title: Racing with the wind
Author: Regan walker
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing group
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9781938876004
Genre: Historic novel
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Source: Review copy




Buy links

All Romance 

Amazon

Apple iBooks

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Summary

The intrepid daughter of an earl leaves Regency London for the Parisian court of Louis XVIII, where she finds adventure, mystery, and above all, love...Hugh Redgrave Marquess of Ormand and only son of Duke of Albany loves to be the adventurous Nighthawk working for crown Prince rather being a lover and a husband but with Mary he finds his walls crumbling down...Together they explore many important things and the main drive to each other finding true love....

Review
The novel opens dramatically with Nighthawk sneaking into Napolean's general's private space stealing highly confidential documents consisting of Napolean's army advances...There are things about a book that appeals to you from the beginning and this novel had every ingredient to grip me into it....Lady Mary Campbell is not taken away by the glitz and glory of the ball, nor she finds any solace in gossips..It is solely for the sake of her dear Uncle who gave her life a new direction by encouraging her to read a lot and letting her to ride the black stallion midnight...Yet., she is taken away by a tall, and dashing man staring intently upon her and she knows nothing would be the same from then on...Surprisingly that is exactly Hugh  feels after he sets his eyes upon  Lady Mary gliding away in the ball like a Swan so elegantly .,something in her set ablaze in him ..He pursued her much to the amazement of his own struggling will to keep love at bay....He is even more attracted to her as he is introduced to her officially, her knowledge about varied range of books, ideas on world politics and her opinion on mundane things casts a magical aura around him, with every single acquaintance., they cross that normal line as he struggles to behave like a gentleman ., yet his reputaion as a rake comes in between them not letting Mary to pursue her heart for the fear losing her heart..Things are pushed to a larger arena as Mary accompanies her Uncle to Paris for a diplomatic venture, she uncovers certain secrets right through the area of action getting herself into big trouble than she couldn't even have imagine...Rescuing Mary and being enthrusted of her safety by her Uncle, Mary and Hugh are forced to confronts their true feelings for each other ., things don't come up to a happily ever after tale without few other twists and turns that I enjoyed...

The characters of the novel are well developed though one between Mary and Hugh are the best ., Mary is unorthodox for her time., riding in breeches and boots, immersing herself in philosophy and world politics  rather spending time grooming herself... She is quite easily put off with girly things and never looks forward to attend any ball, she even postponed her season as a debutante  to be with her Uncle and sweeps some secret from meeting for the benefit of her Uncle earning her a nickname "the swan" from Prince Regent...Hugh on the other side is rusty , debonair and an intelligent man who stays away from the luxury of being a Duke to be useful to the Prince spending his time away from his home and continent immersing himself into some danger and thrill and it is too obvious that to see the spark to between Hugh and Mary...Mary's Uncle a diplomat to crown Prince is a kind and a father figure to her who takes her into under  his protective wing after her father's death., while her mother is a soft and slender woman who has given up on her daughter to keep her in line like other girls of her age...Elizebeth is Mary's best friend., it is her she is comfortable apart from her family , book and midnight..There are few Lizzy-Mary moment filled in fun girly moments ...Lizzy eyes on Lamberth who happens to be Hugh's best mate and like him earned a name of rake..Walker has been able to beautifully built a period romance taking the reader into 18th century with all ..The lives in Paris and London is brought alive by London's social circle streets, coffee shops and Paris's rich gallery and people...Real characters like Prince Regent, Germaine De Stael ,Vicomte Decazes form the part of the novel giving it a real touch of non-fiction....Walker has worked her way to describe each of the scene and the surrounding to perfection that I felt like watching the characters through garden, streets and riding rather than just reading...An amazing dose of drama, romance, betrayal, melancholy, surprise, friendship makes the book for a wonderful read... I am very much looking forward to read the next part of the Trilogy...

About the author 

As a child, Regan loved to write stories, particularly about adventure-loving girls. But by the time she got to college, more serious pursuits were encouraged. One of her professors thought her suited to the profession of law. Regan says, “I became a lawyer because I thought it would be better to be a hammer than a nail.” Years of serving clients in private practice and several stints in high levels of government gave her a love of international travel and a feel for the demands of the "Crown" on its subjects. Hence, her first romance novels involve a demanding Prince Regent who thinks of his subjects as his private talent pool. Regan says her stories will always involve adventure as well as love.

Regan lives in San Diego with her Golden Retriever, Link, who she says inspires her every day to relax and smell the roses.

Her links

website: www.reganwalkerauthor.com/

blog: http://reganromancereview.blogspot.com/

Website  http://www.boroughspublishinggroup.com

Blog  http://www.boroughspublishinggroup.com/blog

Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/boroughspublishing

Twitter  http://www.twitter.com/BoroughsPubGrp

Disclosure:

I am a member of I.O blog tours..I received a copy to review..I have not received any payment from any third party and the opinions expressed in my blog are my own..