Un-boxing- ‘The Pucker Up’ Fab Bag Feb’17

I have recently subscribed to the Fab Bag for a year. I was contemplating whether to review it on the blog or not. But then I though why not? There is no harm in adding a flavor to the blog, right 😉

I have already received the Jan’17 Fab Bag and I was quite happy with it. Those who follow me on Instagram must have seen a glimpse of it. I received the Feb’17 Pucker Up Fab Bag last week.

The products came in a cute white pouch imprinted with pink and purple lips and lipsticks. Getting the hint from the bag it was quite clear that this bag will be a lip product heavy one. Let’s see each product one by one.

• Sugar Liquid Lipstick Smudge Me Not 06 Tangerine Queen (Orange Coral) Full size (Rs.499) -Sugar cosmetics launched their new range of liquid lipsticks. I received an email from Fabbag to choose a shade of my preference and I went with Tangerine Queen (Orange Coral) since I have very few shades in orange. This clearly was my favorite product from the Feb Fab Bag. This liquid lipstick lasted long and also settled well. But if your lips tend to dry easily I would recommend using this with a non tinted lip balm.

• Matra Holistic Lip Care in Kiwi- Full size (Rs.199) I am a lip balm hoarder and this was a new brand for me to try. I received the Kiwi variant. This product is 100% natural and also infused with SPF, offering protection from sun. The product is barely tinted. It has a nice fruity scent to it. It is not the best in its range but worth a try.

• Just Herbs Lively Clean Honey Exfoliating Facial Cleansing Gel- 50ml (Rs.230) This is a honey based for face exfoliation and cleansing from “Just Herbs” It is gentle on the skin and smells great too. I love natural products, especially for the face since they are gentle on the skin. After usage my skin felt refreshed and cleansed. This is not a full size product but 50 ml will easily last a month, two months if used twice a week.

• Makeup Revolution the Matte Effect Concealer Stick- (Rs 550) I received this shade in MC 1. The concealer stick is smooth on the skin and settles easily. Though I thought it was a bit dry. I tried using both by direct application from the stick and by dabbing it on a brush and preferred the later one.

Over all I quite liked my Feb Fab bag and I would give is 3.5 stars. You can subscribe to the Fab Bag here

 

Book Review: A Way Back Into Love

Title:  A Way Back Into Love (Love, #1)

Author:  Veronica Thatcher

Pages: 372 pages

Plot: Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes, uncertain. People, irrational. But love…well, that makes everything complicated. And when you are caught in a tangled web of secrets, lies, and complex affairs, someone is bound to get burned.

Emily Stevens is a spunky, spirited college girl whose life gets turned upside-down when she realizes she’s in love with her best friend of fifteen years, Derek Thorpe. As Emily prepares to confess her feelings to Derek, something happens one night which changes her life forever. Five years later, Emily finds herself in Boston, alone and heartbroken. Will she ever be able to forget the past? And what will she find when she returns home…to the man she left behind?

Thoughts: I picked this book up since I wanted to read something very light and breezy. This book was definitely that. The story revolves around Emily Stevens and Derek Thrope who are best friends since the first day of school. With time their bond blossoms and so does their feelings for each other. But they dread to confess their feelings for each other in order to preserve their friendship. With one drunken night and lots of misunderstandings Emily moves out of town and Derek ends up with Emily’s mean half sister, Emma. But this is all in the past. Emily is back in Frenso for her surgical internship and she has to face Derek again.

The story is quite predictable but is still fun to read it. The plot was based in present with constant flashbacks from the past. A lot of incidences in the hospital reminded me of the series Grey’s Anatomy. But maybe it’s just me.

The narration is from a third person’s perspective throughout the book. I felt that the narration from both Emily’s and Derek’s POV would have added a flavor, making it easy for the reader to sympathize with the duo. For me the highlight was the relationship that Emily and Derek shared. I loved how they rebounded immediately after Emily’s return inspite of so much hurt and history.

This is a love story that clearly states that confessions at the right time are very important and life may not offer second chances to everybody. This is the first book in the series and I will recommend this book to whoever is looking to read a light, quick love story.

Ratings: 3/5

Buy links: Paperback – http://www.amazon.in/Way-Back- Into-Love/dp/1946641170/
eBooks – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B06WRR5FN3

PS: – Thanks to b00k r3vi3w Tours for sending a copy of the book for an honest review.

Book Review: The Legend of Laxmi Prasad

Title: The Legend of Laxmi Prasad

Author: Twinkle Khanna

Pages: 233 pages

Plot:  A collection of utterly magical stories that will leave you crying, laughing and wholly enchanted.
A gangly young girl transforms her village with a revolutionary idea. Sixty-eight-year-old Noni Appa finds herself drawn to a married man – ‘Why do people have to define relationships, underline each word till the paper gives way beneath,’ she wonders. Bablu Kewat becomes obsessed with sanitary napkins much to his family’s horror, and a young woman keeps checking the weather forecast as she meticulously plans each of her five weddings. Funny, observant and wise, this is storytelling at its most irresistible.

Favorite Quote: “Life is but a play of chance in the game of choice.”

Thoughts:  I am a fan of Twinkle Khanna’s quick wits, her sense of humor and her unapologetic views on various issues. She dares to bare her thoughts to the world which is visibly evident in her tweets and columns for TOI.  The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad is the second book from the author. I quite enjoyed Mrs Funnybones which was classified from A to Z taking us through various facets of her life.

This book is a collection of four short stories with lead protagonists breaking the ideologies and societal norms and bringing transformation in the society in their own ways. The first three stories have a strong female protagonist and the fourth one is a male character, inspired from the real life, who is working against the tide to help female hygiene and sanitation. Let’s dig in a little more into these characters.

Laxmi- Laxmi had always seen that women were treated as a burden in her village. Birth of a girl child brought a hefty load of dowry. Until the time Laxmi decides to bring a change and comes up with an idea so simple but so meaningful that the birth of a girl becomes a reason to celebrate. I loved Laxmi’s character and the fact that how simple thoughts can change lives of generations to come. I especially loved the note on which the story ended.

Noni Appa- 68 year old Noni Appa is a lonely widow, whose only daughter is settled in London. Her only support system is her younger sister Binni. Noni Appa and Binni both decide to take up yoga classes with Anandji. Noni Appa finds herself drawn to her yoga teacher and dwells on the thought ‘log kya kahenge’ until she breaks free. I loved the relationship Noni Appa and Binni shared and how supportive Binni and Noni Appa’s daughter was of her decision. I loved the fact that Noni Appa broke free from “log kya kahenge’ and set an example for the society.

Elisa Thomas- Elisa was married for five times with five weird men. Sooner than later she got back to her parents house leaving her marriage behind. Her well educated father always said that ‘a man is a man is man’. The story intended to bring out the fact that according to the society, independent, well-educated women need a man to survive in the society even if the man in her life is insane or just for the namesake.

Bablu Kewat- Inspired from the achievements of Arunachalam Muruganantham, the man famously known as the man who wore a sanitary pad. All Bablu Kewat wanted was to make a low cost sanitary napkin which will benefit the women who cannot afford the expensive sanitary napkins sold by the big conglomerates. Little did he know that his noble intentions would be misread and he will lose his friends, family and respect? But this didn’t stop him until he achieved his goal. This story stood apart in the book because it was the only story with a male protagonist thriving to make a change for the female sanitization which was considered a as a female problem, a taboo to be spoken about.

The stories are simply narrated and various issues are highlighted. There are times where Khanna’s cynical narration makes the reader grin. It is a quick read for all the Twinkle Khanna fans.

Ratings: 3.5/5

 

Book Review: Truly Madly Guilty

Title:  Truly Madly Guilty

Author:  Liane Moriarty

Pages: 415 pages

Plot: Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there’s anything they can count on, it’s each other.

Clementine and Erika are each other’s oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don’t hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid’s larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.

Two months later, it won’t stop raining, and Clementine and Sam can’t stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadn’t gone?

In Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we don’t say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.

Favorite Quote: “There is no special protection when you cross that invisible line from your ordinary life to that parallel world where tragedies happen. It happens just like this. You don’t become someone else. You’re still exactly the same. Everything around you still smells and looks and feels exactly the same.”

Thoughts:  Truly Madly Guilty, won the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards in the Fiction category. I have read a few books by Liane Moriarty and they were pretty interesting so I decided to give this book a read.

This book is about an incidence that takes place, out of the blue which changes the course of life for three families. Who thought a simple BBQ would turn into a fateful event disrupting the normal lives of three families and will leave their marriage, friendship, survival at stake? Will they be able to cope up? Revive? Get back to being normal? Read the book to find out.

The story maneuvered between two months after the BBQ and the day of the BBQ. The mystery is well built but I felt that the revelation didn’t live upto the mark. I was quite a bit disappointed by it since I was anticipating a breath stopping, sharp gasping suspense. The story did seem a little stretched and could have kept the interest of the reader higher with a tighter edit.

There are three couples Sam and Clementine, Erika and Oliver, Vid and Tiffany whose POVs are clearly dissected. Understanding each character and their thoughts, feelings and behivour was effortless. I especially loved Erika’s character and her complicated friendship with Clementine. I really liked the characterization and also the fact that wherever relevant the odd behavioral habits of the individuals were backed up with a psychosocial explanation.

Over all the narration is the strength of the book, there are a few high moments but the story line could have been better.

Ratings: 3/5

 

 

Book Review:The Doppelgänger

Title:  The Doppelgänger

Author:  Prateek Yadav

Pages: 170 pages

Plot: The perfect plan for the perfect heist-a team of con-men, foolproof disguise and a painting worth millions, nothing could have gone wrong. But something did… A man finds himself on a bus to Manali with nothing but some cash and severe memory loss. Embarking on a frantic hunt for his identity, he begins to discover that his presence in Manali isn’t an accident. The closer he gets to the truth, the more elusive it becomes. Ghosts from his past haunt him as he finds himself trapped between his doppelganger, the police, a sadistic gangster and his own dwindling sanity. The journey of the search for his identity ends up being a race for survival.

Thoughts: What if you wake up to find yourself in a bus and you don’t remember getting on it in the first place? What if you don’t remember who you are? Scary. Isn’t it? The Doppleganger is a psychological thriller that trails Sameer, who finds himself on a bus to Manali with no memory at all. He starts a search to regain his memory with the clues he finds in his path and discovers himself at the epicenter of a labyrinth of odd events, murders and circumstances.

The Doppelgänger is Prateek Yadav’s debut novel and he has done a great job with the story plotting. I personally got intruded in the story post page 50, but then on the suspense lived until the end.  The author tricks the reader in drawing a conclusion and believing it only to find out that it wasn’t true. I was constantly trying to fit Sameer’s identity as either good or the evil doopleganger. The characters are well explained to be easily understood by the reader. I loved the fact that the story had a crisp editing that kept the essence of the book alive.

For a debut psychological thriller, The Doppelgänger is a great attempt.

Ratings: 3.5/5

PS: – Thanks to TBC for sending a copy of the book for an honest review.