Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 If he had been with me  By Laura Nowlin Published Year: 2013  Page Count : 385 pages  Medium used : Paperback  Genre : Romance, Young Adult, Teenage Love, 2024-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠 This is a well written, cute, little love story. I felt very warm and fuzzy reading it .. until realization dawned on me on how it is going to end. It is definitely a sad ending but also holds some hope and promise for the future. The writing is utterly captivating. I congratulate the author on her amazing writing skills that brought this story to life!  To get to the rest of my review, click the link to wordpress.com below.  Read My Full Review Wordpress  Or Find the same review on Wix.com below Read Full Review on Wix

 The Serpent and the Wings of the Night  By Carissa Broadbent  Series : Crowns of Nyaxia #1  Published Year : 2022 Page Count : 450 pages Medium used : Paperback Genre : Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Romance, Young Adult, Adventure, 2024-read.  Rating : 3.75/5 ⭐⭐⭐💫 💫 Its an okayish read for me. At times I found myself wondering if this story is for real. A human girl fights and wins against hard-core vampires through sheer brute force and some magical abilities that she doesn't really know how to wield. She summons them in case of need but that doesn’t work always. I read the whole book and I am just as clueless, about why she is called a serpent, at the end as I was at the start. She is clearly raised with messages of wanting and needing self protection and self denial from associating with vampires in her father's(the Vampire King) court because she is a human. Why is she called a snake/serpent? Is there some part of her history that is not disclosed at this p...

Verity  By Colleen Hoover  Rating 4/5  Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller. Finished this with my heart in my mouth..sitting on the edge of my seat. Goosebumps on my arms and chills down my spine.  I was expecting that the answer to this mystery would be found in the villainification of the husband but it didn't. There is a twist or there isn't. Which version of Verity is to be believed and which is fake? Its a thoroughly knitted plot solid and hard core. Would highly recommend. I have taken off one point because like graphical abuse, too much of sexual descriptions and steamy scenes make me a bit uncomfortable. But they are obviously necessary to make the plot what it is. Interesting and gripping !! 

The Paris Library  By Janet Charles  Rating 3/5  Genres : Historical Fiction, World War 2, Romance  This story is based on a set of true events that happened in Paris during the World War 2. A bunch of librarians risked everything to provide literary support to subscribers and prisoners/patients of war by delivering books to cheer them up and keep them in high spirits. Some of them got booted for aiding jewish readers, some were sent packing back to their homelands but the group's indomitable resolve to do their part kept them afloat till the very end .. when the war is finally over and German occupancy of Paris came to an end.  Its a great idea in theory but I felt that the execution/narrative failed to really stir any hard emotions for me. Perhaps because the World/Paris where war was under progress, where people are suffering and getting sent to concentration camps and the World/Paris where the librarians were cheerfully carrying on their book del...

The Songs of Distant Earth  By Arthur C. Clarke  Rating 2.5/5 Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Romance,2022-read. Just closed the book and there are a myriad of thoughts floating in my head. This is a short book and a quick read. It is only 200 pages or so in digital format. Many of the scenes seem to hold no weight against the overall plot. I am no longer surprised to read really below average and underwhelming work from really great authors as I used to in the past. This is one of the works which Clarke seems to have undertaken to convince the science community of a point rather than make himself more successful in the line of novelisists - probably because he is already a very well established author in the science fiction genre.  The point he seems to be making is not to abandon research into alien contact and also not to stop any steps being taken towards reaching distant stars and making them home if they are uninhabited. The prologue to the book se...

The Age of Innocence  By Edith Warton  Rating : 5/5 💗💘 Genres : Classics, 19th Century, Romance, Pulitzer Prize winner 1921 , Generational Fiction.  (Setting out to write this review, I was not sure what to say and definitely didn't think that I will write so many words! )  The character development is spectacular in this book. Infact, a person is not identified for his physical appearance/features but mostly segregated and defined by their inner natures. Overall I think this is not a tragedy..even it is not a wonderfully happy story with a happy ending. It has a tinge/touch of melancholy which is inspired by things unattainable but most wanted.  The story brilliantly portrays the inner conflict a man goes through as he tries to upend the conventions and status quo of the society he has been part of since birth to follow the passions of his heart versus adhering to the dictates of an orthodoxical/ traditional society/family and suppressing his desi...

The House of Mirth  By Edith Warton  Rating :5/5 🤩😈 Genres : Classics, Romance, Historical. When I read the first few pages, thought this is going to be an inconsequential and boring read. But the story caught up with me as the events churned out Miss Lily Bart the protagonist down the social ladder that she so desperately wished to ascend. It is a story with a deeper moral in it that even if one doesn't possess the wealth and superfluous fame that everyone craves for, what really matters to keep a person happy despite everything else is solid rooting in the form of a cherished family and love. I am very touched at how Lily comes into realization of this but at the very brink of her setting on a real journey, life is cut short. Perhaps there is a lesson in this - true happiness is not meant for all. :/  Lily Bart is a young, attractive socialite that is highly admired by men and adored by women. She is adopted by her aunt after the death of her mother who di...

Sentimental Education  By Gustave Flaubert  Rating : 3.5/5  Genres : Classics, France, Romance, Revolution. An ok,ok read. I thought that throwing in elements of revolution and strife into an otherwise peacefully going romantic story created some discord in my mind im relation to the intactness of the plot. This is a story with elements of idealization of love which is unrequited, betrayals and debauchery, unfulfilled desires and aching hearts coming to terms with things as they turned out to be.  So, a young man Frédéric meets a married woman on a boat trip and falls instantly in love with her. Where others find her quite plain and of mediocre attractiveness, he attributes all the traits of Venus to her. He establishes a connection to her husband M.Arnoux who is a passionate businesses man but also a swindler and prone to getting into several shady deals unknown to his family. He also has several adulterous relationships among who one is notable - a...

Fingersmith  By Sarah Waters  Rating 5/5  Genres : Historical Fiction, Romance, Lesbian love, Suspense, Twisted Tale Multiple twists in the story make it quite suspenseful and put me on the edge - especially as it drew towards the end. Although it has elements of lesbian romance and love, I didn't find it getting too deep, going into the zone of gross/uncomfortable. What the author tried to portray is true/selfless love between two girls who are forced into plotting against each other by circumstances and their desire to gain some vile objective. But the pursuit of this vileness hasn't smeared their love - only edified it because of how easily they sacrifice it.  The scenes in the madhouse has me shocked and reeling at the absurdity of it all - how easily a woman could get committed to a madhouse and not see the outside world forever if her husband chooses so - during the times the book is set up in. The more truthful the committed patient tries to be, th...

Norwegian Wood  By Haruki Murakami  Rating : 3/5  Genres : Romance, Mental illness, Japanese, Literary Fiction. This happens to be one of the most read novels by Haruki Murakami. It literally lifted him from shadows of obscurity into international stardom.  In this book, he creates a world in itself. He has interleaved elements of love, friendship,hope with those of selfishness, melancholy, depression and shock. This is my second book by him and I guess I will always have a bit of discomfort with his explicit sexual descriptions but he also makes them  very center stage to his stories that without them the depth of his narration will fall apart. Like all his other works i read, this one is gripping and gives a totally immersive reading experience. The main figures in this book are teenagers who are coming to terms with loss/death of their dear ones and their ability to handle the pain without falling apart. The important lesson to take away from this...

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  By V.E.Schwab  Rating: 4/5 Genres : Historical Fiction, young adult, Soul, Devil, Romance, 2022-read  This is my first book by the author and I am pleasantly surprised by the depth and insight she has into human nature and her grip over human emotions. I am trying to search for the right keyword to describe this book..its not great or amazing or any of those things..I would say the word would be impactful, heavy, deep and literally dealing in soul. A young girl makes a deal with the devil/darkness/God of the woods and sets off a game spanning over 300 years with him chasing after her trying to seize her soul..but she successfully evading him. He pushes her into situations where embittered, frustrated and broken she should be ready to offer him her soul but adamant and stubborn as she is, she chooses to live time and time again. Yes! Addie LaRue is a young girl of 23 who born in a small village town of France has big drea...

The Thorn Birds  By Colleen McCullough  Rating 3.75/5 Genres : Australia, Vatican city, Cardinal, Romance, Generational fiction, Historical fiction  Bah. I dont know. I felt this is just an ok sort of book. The only aspect that stirred me and struck a chord with me is the all encompassing, soul level love between Maggie and Father Ralph de Bricassart. Everything else - no matter how juicy,emotional or dramatic just failed to make an impact. The story covers the lives of three generations of women of the Cleary/Armstrong family line - their cherished dreams and dashed hopes, their hurts and heartbreaks over unrequited, failed loves..their finally getting what they wanted but it not being fully enough.. well, it sounds and feels like a roller coaster.  And whats more..there is plenty of repeat in the events of their lives..what has happened to the mother, happens to the daughter and so on..  Coming to the story. Maggie Cleary is brought up with a ...

 The House of the Spirits By Isabel Allende  Rating 5/5  Genres : Magical Realism,  Drama, Romance, Politics, Fantasy  In some 400 odd pages, the author covers the life history and important events of three generations of the Trueba and Del Valle families. The plot is just awesome and the prose style is magical and very mesmerizing. I just got sucked into the surreal and eccentric world of Clara Esteban who is a dreamy character conversing with spirits and with her head lost in the clouds and wild imagination.  Esteban Trueba is a practical young man who falls head over heels in love with an angelic looking woman Rosa del valle. But before they could get married, Rosa dies in a tragic accident. This breaks Esteban's heart  and he devotes himself completely to the task of repairing his land and setting it up into a successful business center. To quench his sexual appetites, he occasionally turns into a monster ravaging the worker and peasant...

 The Great Alone By Kristin Hannah Rating 5/5 Genres : Historical fiction,Alaska, romance,drama, violence, World War ii. I am not a hopeless romantic or a sentimental freak but this book had me tearing up real bad towards the end. Its a profoundly touching story that is bitter, scary,sad and beautiful all at the same time. It conveys a beautiful message that Love thrives and lasts - in some form or another - through time and forever. Alaska is referred to as the great alone In this story. People from far and away often make their homes in the state to live peaceful, independent and secluded lives. Those who are survivors can make it but those who can't, they go elsewhere. I didn't like Alaska- no, more like scared and horrified by it (although the heroine loves it and calls it her true home) - its a cold and isolated place with no electricity and where people lived entirely to survive the harsh climate and get through dangerous winters. Leni is a thirteen year ...

 Dark Matter  by Blake Crouch  Genres : Science Fiction, Thriller, Parallel universes, suspense, gruesome, romance, alternative worlds, 2021-read, thought-provoking,good-twist Rating : 5/5 ✌👍 Fun, super fun, exhilarating, mind bending/head spinning and absolutely unpredictable!!!  I am feeling a little shaky as I write this - with a mixture of  excitement and fear at what I just concluded reading. This is absolutely one of the most imaginative, mind blowing sci-fi stories of all time - no doubt!  What Blake Crouch conceived in his head and put onto the paper for us to read is like nothing I had tasted  before.🙏😋 Its awesome and rich enough to tingle all my nerve centers of thought in brain. 💗  We all know of the three dimensional world we live in, the three dimensions x,y,z and also of a fourth called 'time' - which is not that hard to grasp. But physicists and proponents of Quantum mechanics suggest that there exists a fifth dimension - the s...

11/22/63  By Stephen King (2011)  Genre : Historical fiction,thriller, science fiction,time travel, horror, suspense,alternate reality,romance , 2021-read,big book, dystopian Rating 5/5 😍🥳 Stephen King - everyone knows is a genius with words. He has written a ton of books of which I had read a handful and liked them very much - but I say with conviction that this book is the best of all I had read. It's a blend of all elements that make up fiction. It's bone chilling,tenseful,fastastic, unputdownable - but  also  prompt to give nightmares to those that can't quite put it out of their mind. But still, I think Stephen King managed to infuse subtle - but certain - humor into this macabre and desolate story about a hanging-in-the-distance  bleak, dystopian future. 🤗 Coming to the story, Al Templeton is a cook at a diner and he finds this portal/"rabbit hole" that could transport him to a different time in the past. Precisely to a specific date and time in the yea...