Book Review: A book that makes you feel everything extremely

I explore everything about the book 'me before you'.

I have delayed writing this review because I don’t want to say goodbye to this story, or because I’m unsure I can review this book well. Still, I want to do the story justice, so here it goes…

After almost finishing the book, I watched the ‘Me Before You’ movie for the second time in my life. I had watched the movie for the first time quite a few years back and fell in love with it, and had decided that I would read the book one day. However, after having the experience of reading the book, the movie, while still good, did fall short for me. Just because there were so many scenes - important scenes - that were not in the movie, especially Lou’s mother’s scene, which I personally felt was valuable in the book. It was completely cut in the movie along with Lou’s backstory. And Will’s parents were also together in the movie.

The movie left out many vital parts from the book, which weakened the story. If you enjoyed the movie but haven’t read the book, you missed a much deeper experience. The book was far superior. Emilia Clarke and Sam Caffin’s acting and chemistry were the movie’s main strengths.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Me Before You— including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here:Full Book Review! 

Book Review: Franz Kafka at his most vulnerable

 Franz Kafka at his most vulnerable 

Everything I felt while reading Letters to Milena

Franz Kafka is such a huge name in the literary world today that it feels almost unreal to believe he died thinking his work would never amount to anything. So convinced was he of his insignificance that he asked his best friend, Max Brod, to burn all of his work after his death. However, Brod did not honour Kafka’s request and instead chose to publish his writings.

In these letters, you get to read Kafka like you may have never read before. Kafka’s longing and yearning for Milena are laid bare in his letters. The few letters Milena wrote to Max Brod, which are included in the book, are equally compelling—they reveal her sorrow and the cruel play of fate with striking clarity.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Letters to Milena— including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Book Review: This Book Made Me a Fan of Emily Henry — End of Story

 This Book Made Me a Fan of Emily Henry — End of Story

Screaming, crying, laughing, healing: my full review of Happy Place.

OH. MY. GOD. I loved this — Emily Henry, what did you put in this book?? I have read only one other Emily Henry book which is — Funny Story, and I liked that book but — I loved this book!

Everything, and I mean everything, was perfect about this book — the characters, the relationships, the friendships, the character development, the dialogues, the writing. Oh my god — the writing!

This book definitely made me a fan of Emily Henry. I fell in love with her writing in this book along with the characters.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Happy Place— including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Book Review: Meeting Morrie Through Pages

 Meeting Morrie Through Pages

A deeply personal reflection on “Tuesdays With Morrie”

This book is such a revelation, truly. Throughout the book, it felt like losing a best friend. As if just like Mitch, I was losing somebody close to me too. Morrie was such an inspiration — his strength, his grit, his thoughts — everything is just so unique. I can’t believe I was crying over an old man who died long before I was even born; however, there I was, crying my eyes out over this book.

It’s so hard to believe that there was somebody in reality who had thoughts like this in this world. That Morrie was not a fictional character but somebody real — somebody who had walked this earth, just like us. I could never imagine how God can make people like Morrie and then also create people who are the exact opposite of him in this world.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Tuesdays with Morrie— including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Book Review: Babel by R.F.Kuang left me shaken (in the best way possible)

 Babel by R.F.Kuang left me shaken (in the best way possible)

A brutal, brilliant story of language, empire, and the friendships caught in between.

I just want to start this review by saying: this book made me feel everything. Sadness, anger, joy, frustration- you name it. Babel is heavy in every sense of the word- both in size and in the emotions it stirs up.

I’ll admit: I was intimidated before picking this up. Not just because of the book’s sheer thickness, but also because I’d heard R.F. Kuang’s writing can be very literary and demanding. I worried it might feel too academic or even boring. But wow- I couldn’t have been more wrong. This turned out to be one of the most compelling books I’ve ever read.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Babel— including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Critical Analysis: A Critical Study of Obsessive Passion in Wuthering Heights

A Critical Study of Obsessive Passion in Wuthering Heights

Brontë's Gothic Love Story That Was Never Really About Love

The main argument of this essay is that Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is not a conventional romantic ideal but an obsessive, self-destructive force. Through analyzing their relationship, the essay will highlight not only the darker aspects of love but also the rigid societal norms of the Victorian era that contributed to their suffering. Their destructive love story exposes deeper tensions related to class, gender, and emotional repression, ultimately impacting not only their own lives but also those of their families and future generations.

This essay will first explore the nature of Catherine and Heathcliff’s love before examining how it transforms into obsession and possession. It will then analyze the consequences of their obsessive love and the ways in which Brontë uses symbolism to depict love and destruction throughout the novel.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on Wuthering Heights — including a deeper look at the characters, themes, and why this book stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Personal Essay: A Love Letter to Our Parents

 A Love Letter to Our Parents

A Heartfelt Reflection on Imperfect Love and Unconditional Gratitude

To Whomever it may concern,

It truly breaks my heart to see the lack of respect some children show their parents. I just wish everyone could treat their parents with the love and sincerity they deserve. Of course, I'm not talking about parents who genuinely don't deserve that title. But for those who pour their hearts into providing for their kids, day in and day out, and still offer infinite love even when their children say things that would shatter anyone's heart – those are the parents I wish we'd cherish.

I know I don't always treat my parents as well as I could, even though I have the utmost respect and love for them. Everything I am, and everything I hope to be, is because of them. My biggest struggle is the anger I sometimes carry, and I know that's on me.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on this subject — including a deeper look at the themes, and why this thought stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Critical Analysis: Prince Myshkin & Nastasya Filippovna Character Analysis: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Prince Myshkin & Nastasya Filippovna Character Analysis: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

How Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" Expose Society's Cruelty and Double Standards

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a thought-provoking novel that explores the judgments society casts upon individuals - whether by feeling threatened by the kindness of an innocent man or condemning a woman as "mad" instead of offering her compassion for a life shaped by suffering. At the center of the novel is Prince Myshkin, a man whose innocence and kindness unsettle those around him, leading them to mock him as an "idiot" behind his back. His character stands in stark contrast to the greed and selfishness of the world around him. Paralleling his fate is Nastasya Filippovna, a woman consumed by anger and revenge against the very society that wronged her. A Christ-like man who is too kind and selfless for the otherwise world and a woman who is wronged by society and when she rebels she is named a “mad woman”- both of those characters are too much relevant even in today’s world. Through Myshkin and Nastasya, Dostoevsky exposes how society isolates those who refuse to "fit in."

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on this subject — including a deeper look at the themes, and why this thought stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Personal Essay: The Art of Feeling Completely Worthless

The Art of Feeling Completely Worthless

Navigating the Unseen Burdens of Self-Worth and Expectation

To whomever it may concern,

They say failure is just part of life. And isn't it ironic? Because those very same people would probably rip it out of their own lives if they could. They say it, I think, just to make themselves feel a little less awful. So they don't have to face that gut-wrenching, entirely worthless feeling.

Sometimes, something just happens. And it leaves you feeling so utterly worthless. It's the thing that keeps you awake at night, your mind spinning, replaying everything, wondering how you could have just been better? You just wish you could be.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on this subject — including a deeper look at the themes, and why this thought stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Personal Essay: All Marriages Are Doomed to Failure

All Marriages Are Doomed to Failure.

Why I think marriage is just a slow, painful scam. 

To whomsoever it may concern,

Do you really want to get married?

Since we’re kids, everyone keeps telling us, “One day when you grow up, you’ll get married, blah blah blah.” But does anyone ever stop to actually think about it? Maybe you just don’t want to get married. And why not? Well, because—obviously—all marriages are doomed to fail.

And no, it’s not a matter of perception. Some people get out of their marriage through divorce. Some people stay in it until they die—showing the world how happy they are, while secretly thinking that if killing each other were legal, they'd have done it ages ago.

Trust me when I say: I want to believe people can stay happy in a marriage. It’s just hard to believe when you’ve never actually seen it happen.

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on this subject — including a deeper look at the themes, and why this thought stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Personal Essay: Where is God & Where you can find him?

 To whomever it may concern,

Anything related to God is a heavy yet fascinating topic, not just for me but for many others. Growing up in a religious household—much like almost every other household in India—you witness people going to sacred places in search of God, praying to every deity they can find, some even praying for personal gain. It makes you wonder: how can these people believe so strongly in something they have never seen? What drives their faith? What do they hope to gain from it? Peace? But is peace truly attainable in this life?

Is it wealth? How can one expect to gain money without putting in the effort to work? Is it success in exams? Can someone pass an exam without studying? Is it marriage? If a person struggles to find a good partner, is it impossible to live alone? And if not, why not explore marriage websites instead of seeking divine intervention at a temple?

I’ve shared my complete thoughts on this subject — including a deeper look at the themes, and why this thought stayed with me — on my Substack newsletter.

Read the full essay here: Full Essay

Book Review: A Novel Love Story

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

Quote:  

"Because even after the people were gone, there were still stories. There were always stories. Other people took the heart of her books, and kept them close, and nurtured them and grew into something new, because nothing could ever stay in stasis. Nothing ever stopped. Nothing was permanent. Art lived and breathed, like love, like friendship. Life-like works of art-was transformative. It persisted. And through them, so did we."

Book Review: Fourth Wing

 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Quote:  "If they need a fucking pep talk, then we both know they're not flying out of the quadrant on graduation day. Let's get real. I can hold their hands and make them a bunch of bullshit empty promises about everyone making it through if that helps them sleep, but in my experience, the truth is far more valuable. In war, people die. It's not glorious like the bards sing about, either. It's snapped necks and two-hundred-foot falls: There's nothing romantic about scorched earth or the scent of sulfur. This isn't some fable where everyone makes it out alive. It's hard, cold, uncaring reality. Not everyone here is going to make it home... to whatever's left of our homes. And make no mistake, we are at war every time we step foot in the quadrant. So if you won't get your shit together and fight to live, then no. You're not going to make it."

Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Quote: 

"Could he, by some miracle, keep this going? Could they hide here until the war ends? Until the armies finish marching back and forth above their heads, until all they have to do is push open the door and shift some stones aside and the house has become a ruin beside the sea? Until he can hold her fingers in his palms and lead her out into the sunshine? He would walk anywhere to make it happen, bear anything; in a year or three years or ten, France and Germany would not mean what they meant now; they could leave the house and walk to a tourists' restaurant and order a simple meal together and eat it in silence, the comfortable kind of silence lovers are supposed to share."

Book Review: Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2)

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Quote: 

 "But I must remind myself that sometimes we write for ourselves and sometimes we write for others. And sometimes those lines blur when we least expect them to. Whenever such happened in my past... I remember that I have only been strengthened by it."

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Quote:

 "That was love, wasn't it? It wasn't just a quick drop - it was falling over and over again, for your person. It was falling as they became new people. It was learning how to exist with every new breath. It was uncertain and it was undeniably hard, and it wasn't something you could plan for. 

Love was an invitation into the wild unknown, one step at a time together." 

Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Quote:

"Most people go though their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close with anyone."

Book Review: Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Quote: "He's devastating. Everything about him is stunning and sharp and stealing my breath away. But it's the way he's looking at me that suddenly makes swallowing seem like a struggle, breathing seem like a chore. I've never been looked at like it's a privilege to be in my presence,, an honor to hold my gaze, a gift to get a glimpse of me. Not until I met him." 

Blurb: The Elites have possessed powers for decades, gifted to them by the Plague, while those born Ordinary are just that, banished from the kingdom of Ilya and shunned from society.

No one knows this better than Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary posing as a Psychic to blend in with the Elites. When she unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya's princes, Kai Azer, she's thrown into the Purging Trials, a brutal competition showcasing the Elite's powers. 

If the Trials and the opponents within them don't kill her, the prince she's fighting feelings for will if he discovers what Paedyn is... completely Ordinary. 

Book Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Quote: "He needed to tell her... what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn't pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he'd begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near." 

Blurb: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price —and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone.

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

My Personal Views: Brilliant writing, captivating plot, amazing characters. I don't think any praise in the world can explain my fascination and love for this book. Oh. My. God. I feel like screaming about this book on top of my lungs and recommend it to every person that I know. All the praises that I have heard about this one are not enough.

READ THIS BOOK, KID. READ. THIS. GODDAMN. BOOK. You will thank me later.

Coming to the amazing plot and the well-written story line, it was just awesome and so badass. Heck, even each and every character was so badass. I am so in love with each crow, especially Kaz. He is morally grey but cool. 

Love, love, and love all the ships in the Book. Kaz & Inej, Matthias & Nina and Jesper & Wylan. They are so adorable together and each couple has these power scenes together. I love it!

The scenes, the dialogues, the writing, the plot, everything is so thoroughly planned, that it is so shocking to see how can a human write and have this super amazing imagination?? Hats off to Leigh Bardugo, truly. She has created this world and these awesomely-cool characters that I have become a fan, heck, I think every person who has read Six of Crows has become a fan.

The slow burn between Kaz & Inej, the enemies-to-lovers trope between Nina & Matthias, the funny romance between Jesper & Wylan is so cute. And ohmygod the ANGST!!! So amazing.

The Grishaverse is everything and nothing like how I imagined. 

Now, onto the second book of the series! <3

Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5

Book Review: Better than the Movies

 Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Quote: "I fell in love with teasing you in the second grade, when I first discovered that I could turn your cheeks pink with just a word. Then I fell in love with you."

Blurb: Liz Buxbaum has always known Wes Bennett was not boyfriend material. You would think that her next-door neighbor would be a prime candidate for her romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only proven himself to be a pain in the butt, ever since they were little. Wes was the kid who put a frog in her Barbie Dreamhouse, the monster who hid a law gnome's severed head in her little homemade neighborhood book exchange. 

Flash forward ten years from the Great Gnome Decapitation. Its Liz's senior year, a time meant to be rife with milestones perfect for any big screen, and she needs Wes's help. See, Liz's forever crush, Michael, has just moved back to town, and- horribly, annoyingly- he's hitting it off with Wes. Meaning that if Liz wants Michael to finally notice her, and hopefully be her prom date, she needs Wes. He's her in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz her magical prom moment, she's shocked to discover that she actually likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow close, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love- and rethink her own perception of what Happily Ever After should really look like. 

My Personal Views: If you are someone who absolutely loves rom-com movies like, 10 things I hate about you, when Harry met Sally, 500 Days of Summer, How to lose a guy in 10 days, etc. like myself, then this is the perfect book for you. 

This book CARRIED the enemies-to-lovers trope. You know that trope where the female lead thinks that the male lead hates her and she hates him too but in truth, the male lead has been in love with her all his life. If you LOVE that trope, then this book IS FOR YOU!

I can not explain it enough how good this book was, but throughout the whole book while reading I was smiling goofily that probably I might have made a fool of myself whenever I had been reading it in public. However, my favorite part in the whole book was WES BENNETT.

Oh, my adorable golden retriever energy, Wessy Boy <3

He is my favorite character in the whole book of course. I mean, how can one not fall in love with Wes?? That man is the goal, ladies. 

The book was great but what I think personally, would have made this book just perfect would probably if we would have gotten Wes's point of view as well instead of only Liz's. We do get some of his point of view in the 'Better than the Prom' book however, it just wasn't enough for me, I feel. Also, I don't know if you have read it or not (I personally would think you're an idiot if you have not read it yet), but we got to see jealous Wes!!??? Man is so dreamy. 

This book is very wholesome, trust me. Sorry for all the fangirling over Wes Bennett, but he is pretty impressive. 

We also have this book's sequel coming out next year, for which I cannot wait enough. Would be getting my hands on that book as soon as it releases for real. Also, I have a feeling that we would be getting a movie of this book pretty soon, I don't know why.

Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5