Tribin and the Battle Axe by Abhijit Chaki

I received Tribin and the Battle Axe by Abhijit Chaki as a review copy from the author and I am thankful to him for the same.

The Blurb:

Sayali Deodhar is having a bad year. A professional badminton player, she’s parted ways from her coach who is also her father. She’s alone, friendless and taut as a racket gut. Her game is falling apart. In stumbles Tribin Sarkar, jaded writer and flawed human being, facing the slow unravel of a conflicted existence. An uncanny quirk of nature brings them together. He’s drawn towards Sayali. Is she amazing, or confounding? The feeling isn’t mutual. Is he a maverick, or a deadbeat? Either way, Tribin’s determined to change the narrative of Sayali’s life. He comes up with an outrageous plan to get on her inside track, and it works. But not for long. As love and hate collide, a rollercoaster ride of events culminates in the biggest sporting event on the planet. The stakes have never been higher for Tribin and Sayali…or for India’s shot at an Olympic medal at the 2016 summer games in Rio. No pressure. So, what happens when the Unstoppable meets the Immovable? The Unthinkable.

The story:

Tribin Sarkar, a journalist and writer, is writing a book, a biography for a sportsperson, and for that he is in Kerala. One day, he hears a scream. He realises that he has a neighbour. Sayali Deodhar,  a reputed badminton player who has hit a low, after an altercation with her father cum coach, and losing her ranking. She is in Kerala to mend herself.  

Tribin is attracted to her and takes it on himself to become her mental coach so that she can make it to the Olympics. So he enlists the help of Mannu, his best friend and  Sethu Raman, badminton player turned coach. 

Will Trbin be successful?

Will Sayali take his help?

Will she make it to the Olympics?

My take:

The story is different, not a romance, nor a self-help book.

This book is the story of a girl, a badminton champion on a low phase of her career, and an author. The story has so many emotions involved, insecurity, hatred, romance, drama, light-heartedness and sports. The language is simple and the story moves at a pace that was comfortable to me, sometimes, it becomes fast paced and sometimes, it slows down when the descriptions start. The descriptions are detailed that the scenes can be visualized be it the boat-rides, the badminton matches. The funny one-liners make the story more interesting.

The characters are well developed and realistic and have been described well. Tribin and Sayali are opposites and sparks fly when they meet. Their temperaments are always at war with each other, but that creates a nice read. Secondary characters, be it Mannu, Tribin’s best friend, Sethu, the satellite coach or even Sayali’s father, have important roles to play. 

I loved the matches and the way they have been described. It kept me at the edge of my seat.

Highly recommended.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I have not received any monetary compensation for the same.

Spotlight: Blood Trail by Ruchi Singh

 

Trisha is mortified as a stranger flirts with her at a society party. The very fact that he singles her out, and she gives in to her pent-up desires and attraction towards the handsome stranger, lands her in a soup so deadly that it brings danger and death to her doorstep.

Coming out of a brutal undercover assignment, busting the spine of a major illegal drug cartel, Armaan is looking for some peace and quiet. Instead his path coincides with Trisha Mehra. Sparks fly. As do bullets too.

By sheer coincidence, when they meet again, they have an accident. Again!

And IB agent Major Armaan Joshi does not believe in coincidences.

Another standalone novel under Undercover series, yet connected in spirit, from the author of bestsellers ‘The Bodyguard’ and ‘Guardian Angel’…

Book  Links:
Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

Read an Excerpt from Blood Trail

His eyes habitually scanned the view outside the hall and did a double-take. A figure in a black dress stood at the edge of the pool. Slim calves encased in multiple, thin, silver straps of her heels invited him like no other. She stood pensively staring at the water shimmering in the pool. Curiosity had him peeling himself from his post at the corner of the hall and start toward the exit leading to the pool. 

Maybe he would get lucky in all the areas today.

Without taking his eyes off her, he exited the big room. She appeared to be deep in her thoughts staring at the blue water that rippled with the slight garden breeze.

“Hope you are not thinking of diving in?”

She gasped and turned around. “Beg your pardon!” Her eyes big on her lean face. 

He couldn’t help but smile at her ‘convent-educated’ reaction. The garden lights cast a shadow making her look enigmatic and royal. Tall and slim with a shoulder-length bob-cut framing her delicate face, she was almost his height in the sexy, foot-breaking heels. He was not used to women matching his height.

“I was just curious. You have been staring at the pool for quite some time. I wondered if you were having some self-destructive thoughts.” He smiled. The water in the pool was just two feet deep.

A shapely eyebrow arched sophisticatedly. “And you decided to come to my rescue?” 

“No… no… please carry on.” He waved his glass in the air. “I have no intention of becoming a knight.”

“Wouldn’t that be anticlimactic since you sought me out to save me from my untimely demise?” Her eyes changed from being pensive to playful.

He suppressed a smile at the encouraging transformation. “So you do believe in heroes, in this era and age!” His own eyes glinted with an answering whimsy.

Ready with an answering retort, she opened her mouth, but her phone rang. She exhaled, threw an exasperated glance at him as if annoyed at the disruption and answered. “Yes… yes, of course, I’m coming.” She looked at him and stepped around, “If you’ll excuse me.”

He inclined his head, and she left.

Author of the bestselling romantic thrillers, Ruchi Singh is an IT professional and novelist writing under Romance and Suspense genre. She is a bilingual author and writes in both Hindi and English.

Winner of the Times Of India WriteIndia Season 1, she began her writing career writing short stories and articles, which have been published on various forums. She has been a contributing author to a number of anthologies and has published many short stories under various genres. She has also won the Indireads Story Competition, in ‘crime’ genre.

A voracious reader, she loves everything—from classics to memoirs to editorials to chick-lit, but her favourite genre is ‘romantic thriller’.

Ruchi on the Web:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Cover Reveal: His Accidental Princess by Kyra Seth

A reluctant princess and a cranky bodyguard…

All that Sona Singh has ever wanted was a family of her own.

Abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage, she wants roots. All she gets is a grumpy cat.

All that Maj. Samar Deshmukh has ever wanted was redemption.

A chance to break free of the memories that still hold him prisoner. What he gets is having to babysit an accidental princess and her man-eating cat.

Sona believes that her life can’t get worse than it already is. And then, she discovers that she is the long-lost princess of Nagaur. Which would be a good thing, if not for the fact that someone is trying to kill her.

In this incomprehensible world of snooty royals and their stuffy protocol, Samar is Sona’s only link to reality. And safety.

But when she falls head over heels in lust with the surly ex-commando, she realizes that a threat to her life might be the least of her problems.

Can Sona ever find happiness with a man who refuses to love her for fear of losing her?

His Accidental Princess is an exciting, passionate and funny royal romantic suspense about love and redemption.

Book Links:
Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

About the Author:

Kyra Seth is a Mumbai-based author who loves romance, comedy and action equally.

She writes exciting stories that are funny and steamy in equal parts.

Kyra on the Web:

Website * Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Newsletter

Ruin: A Hot Enemies to Lovers Bodyguard Billionaire Dark Romance (Bastard Billionaires Book 2) by Aarti V Raman

I received an ARC of Ruin: A Hot Enemies to Lovers Bodyguard Billionaire Dark Romance (Bastard Billionaires Book 2) by Aarti V Raman and am thankful to her for the same.

The blurb:

Billionaire for hire, Shane McRae has too many ghosts haunting him from his time working covert black ops. Now he’s out, but he isn’t truly free. Tortured by all the bloodshed. His most forbidden ghost is the tempting princess he’d once loved recklessly.

Now, Lena has become a defiant woman intent on changing the world. And it is his job to protect this rebellious, grown-up Lena from an assassin’s bullet. But, the more time he spends with the contrary princess, the more his desires overrun his objectivity. His protector oath.

And all he wants is for his best friend’s little sister to be his only Ruin.

Princess Lena Heinrickson has many sins to atone for. She’s been the Party Girl Princess for too long. She’s hurt her favorite brother. She wants to be anyone but herself. So, Lena runs away from the castle and tries to do some good. She doesn’t count on a relentless tracker finding her half a world away – Shane.

The hot and beautiful man she’d once loved so hopelessly was a lie. The real Shane is the one before her. Remote, cold… Forbidden. He is still tantalizing, but Lena knows not to trust her desires. With a target on her back, she is forced to live with her bodyguard 24/7. Unraveling his secrets…Knowing her brother’s much older best friend just might be her favorite Ruin.

The Bastard Billionaires are ruthless, dangerous, powerful, born of secrets, sins, and ambition. Tempting the one woman who makes them burn with dark desires in a lush and dangerous world. Hate is just another word for want and love is the ultimate chase for them.

RUIN is a 100K+ word standalone, interconnected, enemies to lovers, age-gap, slow burn, billionaire romance set in the world of the Bastard Billionaires with a guaranteed Happy Ever After.

The story:

Shane Maxwell McRae, former Lieutenant of the US Marine Corps, current operative of Sagitta Consulting, a top-tier black ops security firm does the opposite of saving lives, he takes them, remorselessly. He meets Princess Helena Heinrickson in Paris and has not been able to forget her ever since.

Now, seven years later, he has another job, to protect Princess Lena Heinrickson. And the most difficult part for him is to hide his feelings and act neutral. Plus there is Alexander, Lena’s brother and his best friend, who had lied by omission when they were working in the Marines.

My take:

This book is a romantic thriller that moves back and forth between what happened seven years ago and the present. The story is a fast paced thriller once you get a hang of it.

Both Lena and Shane are as different as chalk and cheese, but their mutual attraction is sizzling. She is not your proper princess and he is a unique security agent. And the assassin, the way the author has portrayed her in the story kept me guessing.

The characters from the previous books make an appearance in the story and have important roles to play. The descriptions are detailed, be it the protest, the palace, the hotel or the apartment. I felt that the ending could have been more detailed.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have not received any monetary compensation for the same.

Beautiful Mess

Yuktha Asrani’s second book in The Malhotra Series, Beautiful Mess, is the story of Chirag Malhotra and Kajol Kapoor.

The Blurb:

Whoever said you can’t have your cake and eat it too, had yet to meet Chirag Malhotra. Born into wealth and fame, Chirag has a life many could only dream of. Constantly on a winning streak with the ladies, Chirag is the most sought-after bachelor in Delhi. The unexpected strikes and Chirag is smitten from the moment a curly-haired hot mess steps out of a plane. Kajol is completely off-limits, but the sparks between them can melt glaciers.
Kajol Kapoor is down in the dumps, living a hard life in New York City. But a surprise thrown her way turns her life topsy-turvy. It just so happens that Kajol needs a favour and Chirag is more than happy to oblige. Chirag is her best friend’s brother. He is the one-man Kajol truly wants but knows she can’t have. She hopes to mask her insane attraction for him just like she had been doing in the past. As Kajol gets to know the real Chirag, she discovers there is more to the man behind the fat bank account and the Casanova image.
Would she complete her project with her heart intact, or would she give into temptation?

The story:

Kajol Kapoor is a poor little rich girl who lives and works in New York. Her rent for two months in overdue and she does not have a job as she quit her job on a whim because she did not want do her boss personal favours. And she does not want to ask her family for money. She wants to be an actress and even attends an audition for the same.

And then on her thirtieth birthday, she receives a call from her late grandmother’s attorney saying that her grandmother has willed her property, a farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi, to Kajol and her twin brother, Rahul. And Kajol convinces her parents and brother to allow her to come to India and convert the farmhouse into a Bed and Breakfast. Her friend, Saanvi Malhotra who is married to Sean, an NYPD detective, accompanies her to Delhi.  And Saanvi’s family offers to host Kajol during her stay in Delhi.

Kajol has a huge crush on Saanvi’s brother, Chirag. And Chirag is a playboy, whose motto is work hard, party harder.

My take:

This book is the second book of the Malhotra Series and I loved how the characters from the first book continue to make their presence felt in this one too. The language is simple and the story has been written beautifully.

The characters are well developed and the conversations and interactions between them are realistic. This story, like the previous one, is about, family, friendship and love.  I loved the bond between the parents and the children as well as that between the siblings, be it Rahul and Kajol or Chirag and Saanvi.  

Waiting for Rahul’s story next.

Dawn’s Desire: A passionate, contemporary, second chance romance (Shades of Night Book 3) by Shilpa Suraj

I received Dawn’s Desire: A passionate, contemporary, second chance romance (Shades of Night Book 3) by Shilpa Suraj as a review copy from BookR3vi3ws and I am thankful to them for the same.

The blurb:

One night of passion, a stolen moment of joy and six years of pain…

Rishi Khatri cannot forget the beautiful woman who swept into his life for one incredible night and then disappeared…with the contents of his wallet and large chunks of his heart.

Until the day, he meets Sehar again and he realises that he cannot forgive her. For, Rishi has made a cardinal mistake. He’s fallen in love with his one night stand.

Sehar Mirza’s one night of rebellion destroyed any chance of a normal future. But her heart cannot regret her choice. For in that one night, she laughed, she loved and she lost. She lived an entire lifetime.

When their paths cross again, Sehar and Rishi find their feelings for each other haven’t dimmed. All they want in life is another chance, a second chance.

But Sehar has a secret. One that will destroy their tentative happiness.

Can they learn to look beyond their past mistakes and hope for a shared future? Can Rishi forgive a betrayal so large that it leaves his already battered heart in pieces at Sehar’s feet?

Can love win? Or will loss claim their destiny for its own again?

The story:

Sehar Mirza was about to be engaged to a man her parents chose for her, and she decides to enjoy one night before she is tied. And with a presumed name, she visits a bar and meets Rishi, and leaves with the contents of his wallet and large chunks of his heart. Six years later,

Sehar is the Vice President of Marketing for one of the largest FMCG companies in the country. She is one of the most balanced girls of the trio of Avni, Diana and Sehar. She is the best friend, confidant, mother hen to two very confused, messed up girls who cannot live a single day without her.

Rishi is a corporate lawyer for a big multinational firm and fighting in the ring is one of his hobbies. His best friends are Dev and Manav. He had fallen in love with Sehar when he had met her for the first time

And when they meet, they realise that the attraction is still there.

How long can they pretend to be strangers when their lives are entangled through their best friends and their hearts….

And what about their secrets….

My take:

I had been waiting for Sehar and Rishi’s story ever since I saw the sparks fly between them in the previous books of the series. And once the book was live at 12 MN on 4^th Nov, I started reading it and only put it down once I finished it at 4 AM in the morning.

The characters are familiar as we had been meeting them in the previous two books of the series and meeting all the six of them again made me recall the other stories as well.

The story has been written in first person from the point of view of both Sehar and Rishi and that made the story very real. I just wished that we could see some reconciliation between Rishi and his father.

The language is simple and the story just flows in such a way that it was difficult to keep the book down.

Now that the series is over, I will miss the characters.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-book from BookR3vi3ws on exchange for an honest review. I have not received any monetary compensation for the same.

Incognito: Lights. Camera. Undercover by Vibha Batra

I received Incognito: Lights. Camera. Undercover by Vibha Batra as a review copy and I am thankful to her for the same.

I received Incognito: Lights. Camera. Undercover by Vibha Batra as a review copy and I am thankful to her for the same.

The blurb:

Aarav is on the run. From a gun toting, trigger happy, blood thirsty mobster, no less. That’s right, a dreaded gangster has sworn revenge, like, on his entire family. Forcing them to go into hiding. Which means, bye bye school, friends, old life! And no cell phone, no laptop, no iPad, no FB, no Snapchat, no Instagram, no Wii, nothing. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, he has to assume a whole new identity. That wouldn’t be so bad – things were pretty sucky at school, anyway. Except, he has to pretend to be – hold your breath – a girl. Now Aarav may be the best actor around (and not just compared to his mom and brothers), but a girl? To make matters worse, he has the World’s Biggest Crush on his employer’s cute daughter, while the pesky son digs, ahem, him. With a dangerous criminal hot on his heels and a startling discovery that throws light on his father’s unsolved death, things only promise to get more complicated. Will Aarav’s cover get blown sky high or will this go down as the role of a lifetime? Will he manage to escape incognito or will he be finito?

The story:

Aarav Pandey lives in a joint family with his mother and two brothers. His scientist father is missing, presumed dead, a case of suicide. Also living in the same household are his paternal uncle, aunt and two cousins. He is interested in drama and dancing and even is expecting to bag a role in the school play.

Happy-go-lucky Aarav is in for a shock at the urgent family meeting called by his uncle. A gangster is out to seek revenge on his family and the entire family has to go undercover- new identities, new passports, no phone, no internet, no social media. But that is not all, Aarav has to play the role of a girl, because a mother with three boys in a new city would raise suspicion. When he resents this, his brother tells him his theory and Aarav agrees to do it.

What does his brother tell him? Are they able to come out of hiding? Read on…..

My take:

This is an interesting book by the author and it really kept me on the edge of my seat as I kept guessing, WHODUNNIT?

The characters are realistic and well developed. I loved Aarav Pandey alias Ria Verma. Even the other characters have justified their aliases well. The secondary characters have been given importance as well.

The language is simple and the story moves at an incredible speed. And the way the author has written it makes it all the more interesting. The story has suspense, drama, action and dance as well.

Though it is a YA novel, but I am sure it would appeal to adults as well.

Joyoti: A gripping saga of loyalty, love, and sacrifice by Sunanda Chatterjee

I received Joyoti: A gripping saga of loyalty, love, and sacrifice by Sunanda Chatterjee as a review copy from Booksprout and am thankful to them for the same.

The blurb:

“Find your father.” That was her mother’s dying wish. Despite her grief, twenty-two-year-old Maya sets out on a quest that takes her from sunny California to the busy, smoggy streets of Kolkata, India, to unfold events that took place six decades ago.

In 1940s pre-independent India, Chandana is a scrappy teenager brought up by the kindness of her relatives. Amid a country dominated by foreign rule and a budding revolution, she must abandon the simple pleasures of childhood with her best friend Saira, picking up odd jobs to supplement her family’s meager income.

Courageous and driven, Joyoti cares only about two things: food for her family and freedom for her country. Spying on the British Commandant while working as a hostess allows her to fulfill both her needs. But the famine ravaging Bengal and her ill-fated attraction to a British Captain force her to walk a dangerous path.

Spanning 1940s India and 2000s California, Joyoti is a saga about three headstrong women whose lives intertwine through loyalty, love, and sacrifice.

The story:

1940, Calcutta

Chandana Biswas, a five year old motherless child is handed over by her father to her grandparents and aunt because her stepmother does not want her around. So Joyoti, her aunt, who is ten years older, takes her as her younger sister, protects her. And Chandana is happy with her Joyoti di. She has a friend Saira Baig, who looks a lot like her, studies in the same school and class and whose mother is like a mother to her.

Joyoti is also involved in the freedom struggle activities and even resorts to spying for her country. She supports her family through her jobs and protects Chandana from everyone. Chandana and Saira also try to support their family’s incomes.

And then comes the Bengal Famine and also the struggle for independence intensifies.

2001, California

Maya lives in California with her mother, and they are best friends. She does not know her father but then as her mother is dying she asks her to find her father.

And that opens a Pandora’s Box…..

My take:

Three women. Two timelines. Two cities. Two countries. Two stories. And where do they meet?

This story is about love, trust, friendship, understanding, patriotism, sacrifice and so much more. The story moves back and forth between 1940s, Calcutta, India, pre-independence and  2000s in California. Though the story moves back and forth between the past and the present, not once was I lost.

The story has been written in first person from the point of view of three main characters, all of them women, Joyoti, Chandana and Maya, all of them very strong.

Chandana, a little motherless girl, whose father leaves her when she is five with her aunt and her grandparents; Joyoti, who takes care of her, protects her even if it she has to sacrifice and Maya, who travels across the world, just to fulfil a promise she made to her dying mother.

The author has portrayed the characters beautifully and even the supporting characters have been given important roles, be it Chandana’s friend, Saira’s family or Maya’s friends.

The immense research that has gone into the book is visible in how the author has created the setting of the pre-independent India and also the changes sixty years later. The freedom struggle, the atrocities people faced and the Bengal Famine have been described in great detail.

A must, must read with a warning to keep a tissue box handy and time on hand as this book is unputdownable.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-book from Booksprout in exchange for an honest review. I have not received any monetary compensation for the same.

Release Blitz: Dawn’s Desire by Shilpa Suraj

 

One night of passion, a stolen moment of joy and six years of pain…

Rishi Khatri cannot forget the beautiful woman who swept into his life for one incredible night and then disappeared…with the contents of his wallet and large chunks of his heart.
Until the day, he meets Sehar again and he realises that he cannot forgive her. For, Rishi has made a cardinal mistake. He’s fallen in love with his one night stand.
Sehar Mirza’s one night of rebellion destroyed any chance of a normal future. But her heart cannot regret her choice. For in that one night, she laughed, she loved and she lost. She lived an entire lifetime.
When their paths cross again, Sehar and Rishi find their feelings for each other haven’t dimmed. All they want in life is another chance, a second chance.

But Sehar has a secret. One that will destroy their tentative happiness.

Can they learn to look beyond their past mistakes and hope for a shared future? Can Rishi forgive a betrayal so large that it leaves his already battered heart in pieces at Sehar’s feet?

Can love win? Or will loss claim their destiny for its own again?

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

Read an Excerpt from Dawn’s Desire

“Partay!” Di yelled into my ear as I left my sad little family reunion and started towards home. My cab driver seemed to think he was racing in the Formula One so we would probably reach really soon. 

“No,” I told her. “Not tonight.” 

“Yes tonight. Come on, Termi. Don’t be a bore,” she wheedled. “We can’t party without you.” 

“Yes, you can. I’m going home to my book.” 

Someone hissed at her in the background and then there was a loud clatter that sounded like the phone falling. I was about to hang up when Manav came on the line. 

“Dude, you have to come,” he hissed. “The girls are really drunk and Dev and I need help.” 

I groaned and scrubbed my face with both my hands. I knew what my answer would be even before I sighed and said, “It should take me half an hour to reach.” 

I gave the driver the new destination and sat back, my mind still on my father and his requirements. Join the family firm, marry the perfect girl, produce two perfect children, win a lot of cases, get some high profile criminals acquitted, die with dignity. 

I could feel the noose of his expectations tightening around my neck even after a brief dinner with him. What had my mother lived with every day of her marital life? 

The cab pulled up outside the nightclub Manav had mentioned. I paid up and got out taking another deep breath. From the frying pan into the fire. 

I shook hands with the bouncer who recognized me and made my way into the crowded venue. It took less than a second to find them. 

Avni appeared to be pole dancing with Dev in the middle of the dance floor and by that I meant, Dev was the pole. A very embarrassed pole.

Diana and Manav were doing some version of Patrick Swayze’s Dirty Dancing moves except with a lot more enthusiasm and a lot less finesse. Manav seemed to be spending more time stopping her from falling and less time dancing. 

And Sehar…Sehar was on the bar. ON the bar. Her hands in her hair, her eyes closed, she was swaying to a beat only she heard in a burgundy jumpsuit that clung to the mouthwateringly svelte shape of her body. Even from this distance, I could see the crowd of hungry men eyeing her and slowly closing in. 

I made it to the bar in record time. For once, I was grateful for my size. By the time I glared at the men with bloodlust in my eyes, they accepted defeat and shuffled away. 

Her eyes were still closed and she still hadn’t noticed I’d arrived. 

“Sehar, get down.” I wrapped a hand around her ankle and gave it a gentle tug.

Every muscle in her body stilled. She stopped the gentle swaying she was doing but stayed exactly where she was. Hands in her hair, eyes shut, a slightly heightened flush to her cheeks. She made my traitorous heart ache. Did the bloody idiot want to be trampled to dust for the second time?

“Get down,” I said again, my voice dropping to a whisper but she heard me. 

She opened her eyes and looked at me and it was six years ago, all over again. She was still the most beautiful woman in the place. She still made my blood hum and my heart thump. She had the power to bring me to my knees. 

And she knew it. 

She dropped to her knees on the bar counter and looked at me. I knew she was drunk and yet, in that moment, she looked at me with perfect clarity. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

And before I could even process the apology, she was kissing me. The world dropped away as her lips met mine for the first time in forever. 

It was like the years between had never happened. Her tongue slipped into my mouth as she cradled my head and brought me closer. She licked and nibbled and nuzzled. And God help me, I let her. 

Even as the voice inside my head screamed at me to be better, to be smarter, to be wiser. I let her. 

Because, Sehar was my weakness. The chink in my armour. The mistake I could never regret. The ‘what if’ I couldn’t forget. The girl who’d stolen my heart and never given it back.

About the Author:

Shilpa Suraj wears many hats – corporate drone, homemaker, mother to a fabulous toddler and author.

An avid reader with an overactive imagination, Shilpa has weaved stories in her head since she was a child. Her previous stints at Google, in an ad agency and as an entrepreneur provide colour to her present day stories, both fiction and non-fiction.

Contact the Author:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Newsletter

Spotlight: Ruin by Aarti V Raman

 

She’s royal. She’s his best friend’s little sister. She hates him!

Princess Lena Heinrickson wants to shed her Party Girl image. Desperately.

So, she runs away from her royal obligations and finds solace in anonymity.

She doesn’t count on the world’s best tracker hunting her down at the request of her Royal Brothers…Shane McRae, the man who destroyed her heart, after a brief fling in Paris.

Now, with her very life on the line, Lena has to pretend she’s not crumbling inside.

All while trying to not fall for the most forbidden and broken man on the planet – her bodyguard.

Former soldier and current billionaire for hire, Shane has too many ghosts haunting his dreams.

The one ghost he can’t forget is Princess Lena – the most famous woman on the planet.

Now all grown up, more guarded than ever, and still as enchanting as she’d been when they first met.

Tasked with protecting her from a terrible danger, Shane knows the smart thing to do would be to keep it strictly professional.

Especially, since his own demons rear their heads to torment him.

But, his desires threaten to overtake his common sense. The path to his certain Ruin lies in Lena’s arms. Most of all, he wants it almost as much as he’s afraid of it…

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

Read an Excerpt from Ruin (Billionaire Bastards #2)

“I stay up nights thinking of ways to tease you.” He was deadpan in delivery but sweetly, sexily earnest.

“You know what?” She went on her toes because she couldn’t stand one more second of not kissing him.

“So do I,” she whispered against his lips.

Their kiss was deep, slow, sugary as honey twined in molasses, their hearts beat as one even as he stooped low to accommodate the differences in their height. His tongue sucked on hers, as if he was tasting a rare sweet delicacy, made just for him and her inside were slick with wet and wanting.

Already anticipating how this night might end…

His eyes opened, lush green and filled with enough fire to melt her in the middle of the small, private park they’d discovered on this midnight picnic. “I think I might love you.”

Lena’s heart stuttered. Then beat faster, surer than it ever had.

She wanted to say, me too. Me first. From the second I saw you. But I’m scared because I lose everyone I love, one way or another and losing you will hurt till the end of time.

She let her fingers wander down to his zipper, found rock-hard evidence of his desire.

She smiled and caressed it while she whispered in his hot ear what exactly she wanted to do to him.

“I think I’ll go down on my knees. The grass is soft, isn’t it? And we’re alone tonight. No useless guards. And you opened that bottle of Krug I hate so I might as well put it to some good fucking use…”

She sucked on his lobe, pulled at the tender bottom with her teeth. Felt his erection leap into her palm. “Would you like to know how champagne and you taste on my tongue?”

About the Author:

Hi, I’m Aarti V Raman aka Writer Gal. I have been a former journalist, editor, and even a sometime-teacher before I plunged into my dream job. That of being a full-time writer.

In fact, my three favorite words are ‘happily ever after.’

This comes in handy as I primarily write bestselling contemporary romantic women’s fiction, which is all about living happily, after going through some hard times.

My more notable works include the Geeks of Caltech and Royals of Stellangård series, Something Old, Something New, More Than You Want, and The Perfect Fake among others. My chicklit family drama, The Worst Daughter Ever, has been picked up for screen adaptation.

I always love to hang with you, my dear reader friend. I’ve created Writer Gal’s Reader Pals on Facebook for this reason and I hope to see you there.

If not, I’m there on all social media but I’m most active on Instagram. 

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