Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Review - The Secret of Heaven (Aiden Leonardo #1)

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In his action packed thriller “The Secret of Heaven” Felix Alexander explores the repercussions of a lost Bible and the impact of the choices of one murdered man. It is a novel overflowing with secret organisations, corrupt government officials, and religious conspiracies. 

Professor of Biblical Studies Aiden Leonardo is the prime suspect for Lazzaro de Medici’s murder, who is Aiden’s mentor. With his dying breath, Lazzaro de Medici whispered, “Expose the secret of heaven” to his trusted friend, Aiden. With an encrypted letter and an obligation to his older mentor, Aiden evaded the FBI, Chicago PD, and a secret organisation to uncover the truth behind his friend’s murder. Pursued by the FBI, Chicago PD and a secret organisation known only as The Group, Aiden races against the clock to expose the secret of heaven. For hidden within the text is an ancient truth about the most controversial message Jesus left to His disciples. 

As time passes, Aiden discovers that more than just his life is at stake. Aiden has to utilise his knowledge of Scripture to decipher an mysteriously encrypted letter and find a Lost Bible dating back to the time of Christ. The lost bible could uproot the views of every religious group in the world. This is an interesting story full of conspiracy theories. 

I believe that the book has a lot of potential. It was fast-paced and non-stop action. At every turn, the characters were uncovering new clues or delving deeper into conspiracy. The story was captivating and intriguing. It kept me on my toes trying to anticipate what was going to happen next. It is full of people double crossing each other for their own benefits and you just cannot trust one person. I enjoyed the controlled chaos that the author described during action scenes and the constant battle between good and evil. It kept the reader guessing on whom to trust, which always makes a story more exciting and unpredictable. A lot of betrayals in the book. Right when I thought I knew what was going to happen, a character would do the unexpected or flip sides. 

There were many things that I enjoyed about this book including the creative storyline and character development. Even though there were a lot of characters to remember, I felt that the author did a wonderful job developing their personalities and backgrounds. My favourite character apart form Aiden was a computer whiz that added comic relief during more intense scenes.

The flow of the writing in this one is free and methodical. The way that the story is written, it’s pretty easy to understand what is happening when and which character is it focusing on. It is a pretty well written piece of literature that one must definitely read!

The portrayals, the reference and the characterisation is done brilliantly. I love how all the Biblical references are made, and that made me recall The Da Vinci Code. All characters have a defined, unique voice in the narrative. The plot is amazing and very well developed. Anyone who loves mysteries and enjoys the action of a good thriller would enjoy reading this novel.

Friday, September 16, 2016

कुछ हँस के...

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कुछ हँस के
     बोल दिया करो,
कुछ हँस के
      टाल दिया करो,
यूँ तो बहुत
    परेशानियां है
तुमको भी
     मुझको भी,
मगर कुछ फैंसले
     वक्त पे डाल दिया करो,
न जाने कल कोई
    हंसाने वाला मिले न मिले..
इसलिये आज ही
      हसरत निकाल लिया करो !!
 समझौता
      करना सीखिए..
क्योंकि थोड़ा सा
      झुक जाना
 किसी रिश्ते को
         हमेशा के लिए
तोड़ देने से
           बहुत बेहतर है ।।।
किसी के साथ
     हँसते-हँसते
 उतने ही हक से
      रूठना भी आना चाहिए !
अपनो की आँख का
     पानी धीरे से
पोंछना आना चाहिए !
      रिश्तेदारी और
 दोस्ती में
    कैसा मान अपमान ?
बस अपनों के
     दिल मे रहना
आना चाहिए...!
    - गुलज़ार

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

The Jewel

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A heart’s openness to receive 

Life’s essence sans condition
Rests on compassionate pliancy 
Of its synchronous unfolding petals
Calm in its witnessing of pure potentiality 
Being birthed into purposeless moments 
As they teeter totter to steady their gait 
Naturally breathed into the timeless flow of a
Playful tune bursting with innocence
Of a puppy hopping around in grass that’s evergreen
With guileless floppy ears following suite, 
Reaching for fanciful butterflies that tease 
Hopeful dawn into a joyously defiant uprising 
Overlapping a petulant night’s misguided oppression. 
All that’s left is the glimmering sunshine of a 
Blissful inner universe, delicately encapsulated as a 
Limpidly tentative, trembling dewdrop
Unaware of any temporal demarcations
The Jewel within a Lotus

- By Pinakini Naik

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Review - Pet-Friendly Francie Scores a Pooch

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‘Pet-Friendly Francie’ by Kat E. Erikson is an utterly charming tale of young Francie and her remarkable adopted dog Scrimmy. Gently humorous and touching, Pet-Friendly Francie is an entertaining story for children that is compassionate and fun to read. I especially liked how clever Francie is and the pleasant temperament of here dog Scrimmy. All good relationships have that in common.

The story follows Francie Waggit and her family. France wants to have a dog but her father never agrees to that, one day they meet a stray dog at a 49ers game, who grabs everyones attention by taking the ball from the players and Francie’s father agrees to give Scrimmy (the name Francie gives to that dog) a trial period. There are a lot of fun hi-jinx throughout and all the characters are extremely loveable, specially Scrimmy. The writing is really easy to read, which is a great aspect of any children's book. The book teaches a lot of lessons which can be learnt throughout the book.

The book covered the absence of Francie’s mother for 4 months, who is working abroad, and how the family dealt with it and the feelings about it. It also covers the fact that the family had to make sacrifices (renting out the top floor of the house) to be able to live the way that made them happy and do the things they wanted to do as well as working hard.

The book covers not just lessons about dogs and wolves and their behaviour, it also teaches a number of life lessons. Francie shows kindness and love for all animals and humans (diversity is covered) and how it is good to be nice, even if it's to a bully as they might have their own problems. All of this is fantastic and covered in such a way that a child can understand and learn from it while it all being a very fun story to both tell and read.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I felt connected to the story through out the whole book being a dog parent and lover myself. I almost cried when Scrimmy was lost and Francie couldn’t find him. And I could feel their happiness when they found him back. The behaviour of the dog was also depicted very accurately.

Aside from being a fun read, it evokes the peculiar passionate attachment between humans and their pets and the richness of life when the two harmonise.
The San Francisco cityscape and Francie's unusual family are also charmingly portrayed. The writing is upbeat and light-hearted, also being full of word play and puns. I can't think of a better book to delight a young reader with the playfulness of language and pets!

I especially liked was the representation of strong female role models. Francie is not only loving, compassionate, and an animal-lover, but she likely gets those traits from her mother, who is helping elephants in Africa. Kudos to the author for writing a girl character the way girls deserve to be written. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Highly recommended this book, specially to all the dog lovers.

ThankYou for reading,
Stay Happy. Stay Blessed :)
Harshita Sharma

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Friday, March 11, 2016

उम्मीद हूँ

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उम्मीद हूँ , अरमान हूँ, सतरंगी आसमान हूँ,
जुनूँ हूँ, सुकूँ हूँ, ख़ामोशी भरी दास्तां हूँ,
आँसू का एक कतरा हूँ, मुश्किलों से जूझने का जज़्बा हूँ,
सहारों की ज़रुरत नहीं मुझको, मै खुद ही अपना हौसला हूँ।
लिबासों के हज़ार रंग
पहन लेती हूँ मौसम कान में झुमकी बनाकर जब, तो बादल आसमनों में भी अक्सर मुस्कुराता है।
सुबह जब धूप की पायल पहन कर घर से निकलूँ मैं, तो यूँ लगता है मेरे साथ लम्हा गुनगुनाता है।
लिबासों की तरह मेरे हज़ारों रंग है लेकिन, बदल जाना मेरी फितरत में शामिल नहीं है।
खुद अपना हौसला हूँ ज़िन्दगी में इसलिए शायद, मैं जो चाहूँ करुँ कुछ भी यहाँ मुश्किल नहीं है।
मगर जब भी मिटाओगे मैं वापस लौट आऊँगी, के जैसे पत्थर की आँख में एक फूल खिलता है।
मैं मनमानी हवा हूँ रास्तों से मुझको क्या लेना, जिधर चल दूँ उधर ही रास्ता हर बार मिलता है।
नारी शक्ति को समर्पित
हर नारी मे है कुछ खास...।

Not written by me.