The Girl with Seven Lives

Vikas Swarup brings back the storytelling, mystique and masquerade that defined Slumdog Millionaire. 

A swift passage, navigating through the dregs of society, the grey areas that you never want to acknowledge and the banality of scams in the Indian subculture are all woven through this tale in a crossover between the 1001 nights with a moral compass a la Jeffrey Archer's earlier tomes.

Devi is our spirited FMC, who matter-of-factly meanders through India, life and ruminates on the potholes she encountered at various points to a kidnapper who holds her for ransom in a bidding war amongst those thirsting for revenge - a bidding war based on the worst mistakes of your life! Truly a fascinating premise which has translated into a thrill a minute ride, across mores, cultures and the indignities suffered on the softer gender in each avatar that Devi keeps reinventing herself, as she seamlessly shifts and sheds names, charting a course through the length of India, enabled by her quick mastery of language and study of customs, she reads like a modern catch me if you can sans a dedicated policy inspector on her trail.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Indian twang Rea Malhotra Mukhtyar added to the narrative, her matter of fact recounting of Devi's escapades really was juxtaposed against how numbing life can be when you lose ground in life. My namastes to RBmedia and Netgalley for providing me with the ALC.

#Thegirlwithsevenlives #grittyanecdotalread #archerreminiscenttales

Tracking Snow - A guttural twist with a slasher Snow

Holy freaking fairytale retelling!!!

Forget the apple, forget the white skinned princess, Holly Roberds gives this beloved fairytale a brutal proverbial twist, with Snow, as the cheery do-gooder, fighting the streets of Boston to keep all magical beings safe! With her quick learning skills and her appletini serves, Snow slays and sashays her way into our heart, throwing swift daggers and deadly smiles. All she craves is belonging - enamored by magic and being the only human in the wild and wonderful Lost Girls collection - she is sooo darned adorable!

The Seven, I mean, what in the world!!! a split personality, magical infused mutant of a hero - who suffers from delusions of being infected with magic - bringing us full circle to where Red stood at the opposite end...The multiple change overs and personalities was like a why choose? So much bluster, insecurity and them claws came out to slash and hurt and then the remorseful puppy love that ensues - one of the BEST from the Lost Girls IMHO

And oh my, the teasing with Rap and Ryder - hold you horses folks - this could get plenty spicy!

I polished this off in a 3 hour binge fest and am going back in for sloppy seconds! read at your own peril! My heartfelt thank yous to Holly for providing me with the ARC to one of my absolute favorite series!!! this was such a fantastic, seductive and sensational retelling!!!

Styx - the River : Solitude, solace and synonymous with oaths

 A nymph who dared, the firstborn of the titans, she who was singular - this book follows the story of Styx, in Nikta Gill's prequel series of Greek retellings. Having read Hekate, I was able to appreciate the tale and the links to the characters from Hekate's perspective - Styx and Pallas and the relationship with her mother, Asteria.

Styx, is the firstborn of Oceanus, and helps her father build oceans and seas and waterways around the world, which are handed off to her brothers in the male dominated household. Her craving for solace and silence leads her to Asteria's cave, where they both discover their abilities. What follows is an aggrieved tale of a nymph and a goddess of fallen stars, who strive to build something of themselves, despite the rigid impositions of Gods and their tempestuous moods.

Bonded through friendship, nurtured through marriage, and tested through motherhood, these brave women, overcome and survive, in a society that leave them marginally handicapped and not acknowledging their true power. The depiction of modern Greek Gods was very different in this tale and really brought to fore the doom that change brings with each age.

She walks alone, the eldest, lonely until,

she found a fallen star, a cozy haven built,

through marriage she found a creator, a meeting of minds

through her choices, her legacy, she defined

My humble thank yous to Little Brown Books for young readers and Netgalley for providing the arc!

#refreshinggreekretelling #Styx #Netgalley #Septemberreads

A Snake among Swans - Courtly power ballad to the new Queen

 Bold, brutal and brilliant!

This book by Hannah Kaner, truly brought it - if you loved the maniacal power struggle from She who became the Sun, the political maneuvering that defined Game of Thrones,, then this one is an absolute MUST READ! A reverse swan fairytelling tale, where the swans rule the world, in sheer display of authority.

Tilde, the last heir of the Kithwood dynasty, is sold to their captors, to be bride to their aging KIng Liran. With six sons and a daughter besides, Liran rules his court with an iron fist and has his sons competing for power. Elise, his sole-surviving daughter, has learnt her lesson and is forced to be meek and submissive. Tilde enters the treacherous court, armed with her intellect, and her unwavering pursuit in bringing those who wrought her siblings death to account - as long or as painful an ordeal that comes to be. For Tilde has a secret, but then, so does the preen of swans that abound the court...

From grand machinations to the little powerplays to influencing the 'perception' of power by the common folk. Hannah plays piper to the tale, dragging us along skipping, wincing or dancing to her tune, as the song turns melancholy, the pursuit of revenge is bloody and you often lose yourself in its headwinds. Tilde forms an entendre with Elise, who also comes to her own, but the tale galivants across the kingdom, pitting princes, dukes, and princesses to bring their worst in this massive powerfest!

I scrummaged through the tale in 2 days and my effusive thank yous to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me the opportunity to participate in the Hunt!

She came, a viper to a swan's nest,

In green and brown, she came blessed,

Siegebreaker, the one to whom rebels knelt,

The Wing, to her, the kith woods bent,

Blessed be she of raven hair, the black swan queen, just and fair!

#AvonandHarperVoyager #Septemberreads #Asnakeamongswans #Powerplays #Courtlyintrigues

The Pumpkin Bride - Novel Shrek retelling

 If you enjoy the sunshine of fairytales and the reflection of what it is to truly live in one, with magic and curses and creatures, locked in an autumnal wonderland, then you will absolutely cherish this rendering by Fiona Buttercup!

Will Watt and Moira Quirk alternate their reading of chapters, in this honest to goodness, delightful retelling of a princess breaking a curse with true love. First off, the story is soo STINKIN CUTE! Absolutely loved the intrepid and intelligent princess Marigold and her grief over Bram. And Jask, as her cursed true love, forced to hide himself from her - such agonizing and torturous attraction - LOVED IT! Add in the mysterious neighours, the cider, the pumpkin patch and building a community - you have a beautiful, whimsical tale to cocoon yourself in for the fall season!

Usually narrators alternate characters, but in this one they read alternate chapters, if I was more partial to Will Watt's Jask and Moira's Mare - that may just be my short-hearing-ness. they pulled the magic into the air with this fairytale retelling of sorts.

The wide eyed princess, lost her knight,

Who found himself cursed, to cruel Crispin's delight,

Stuck on a farm, in the aspect of an ogre,

He mulled his lost love, over and over,

Until she, one day, escaping a sinister plot,

Turned up at his door, he could believe it not,

They muddled together, each trying to hide,

Their true love beckoning them to each other's side...

My jack-o-lantern thankyous to Harlequin Audio and Netgalley for proving me with an ALC! I listened to it in a day! it was soooo GOOOD!

#Shrekthrowback #Pumpkinbride #Fairytalerespin #Septemberreads

She who was once the Sea: Undulating novella around mermaid lore

 If you are looking for a quickie bookie that enmeshes modern and age old legends, kotowing a fine line of curses and cycles, if the prospect of curse breaking, enemies to lovers and fall hard, fall fast, appeals to your inner romantic, then pick up this one from Dana Shea.

Being a novella, this does miss the coup in terms of explaining the nature of the curse breaking and i felt the technological aspects could have been more pulled out in research instead of libraries - i mean I love google and am spoilt by it... 

Marella and Garett are poles apart on the power scale and yet come together in an effusive, effervescent and refreshing take on siren lore. the lyrical aspects of the ocean being her home, the waters speeding fast and dark while also comforting, are all brilliantly played! I also enjoyed the moral code followed by the trapped sisters, although one wonders why they didn't band together and went separately instead, as if they could not stand each others downfall...

All in all it was a happy, fast paced and completed 3 hour session with this book! My effusive thank yous to the author and Netgalley for sharing the work!

#Septemberreads #sirenlore #enemiestolovers #novella

Hawk & Sparrow - Old fashioned detective work meets magical mayhem

 If you love a good old fashioned detective story with more of hitting the pavement than google, if magical mysteries and slow, bumbling misunderstood feelings play well with you romantic inclinations, if class divides, rich vs poor and not too many backfills also turn your pages, then this book will be an absolute delight to read!

I loved Ayana Gray since I had the pleasure of I, Medusa - this book is a completely different genre - think back and white detective spiels with magicians and a convoluted plot. I think a star was lost as I felt the gaps could have been filled better, but for the offered storyline, it certainly merits a breezy read, which I completed in 2 days.

Vesper and Max are unique characters driven by prejudice and fearful to trust, the way they build their bonds, uncover each others secrets and work around the societal mores and the challenges thrown their way by the enigmatic mastermind are great to follow. I loved the twists in the storyline, when they take 2 steps in deduction, they are set back and reset and restart, which i quite enjoyed!

My thank yous to Macmillian Children's Publishing Group and Netgalley for this opportunity to read!

#Septemberreads #Hawk&Sparrow #Retrodetectives #Murdermystery