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Review by Ronica Wahi                      9 to 5 Cubicle Tales: A Race Against Time By Harish C. Rijhwani First published: December 28, 2023, Self-published. Paperback Pages: 182. ISBN: 9789360761394 9 to 5 Cubicle Tales: A Race Against Time is a fitting sequel to Part 1 – 9 to 5 Cubicle Tales - of the series. This Part 2 relates the next few milestones on the personal and the professional journeys of the protagonist Hridaan Rajdev. The sequel maintains the style, tone, pace, and everyday aspect of Part 1, the review for which can be read here . The race is in the work targets – yes, but a major race – A Race Against Time ­ – that Hridaan runs is to reach the finish line of his MBA interview while faced with the hurdle posed by “a mysterious rash”. As the multiple races in the book are run, in the reader’s mind race snippets of past experiences, and similar stories and memories. In the early portion (Chapter-2) of 9...

  Review by Ronica Wahi The Curse of King Midas By Colleen M. Story First published: May 13, 2024, Midchannel Press. Pages: 426. ISBN: 9780999099179 Spectacular is the story that Colleen M. Story has told! Vibrant, colourful, and arresting the tapestry she has woven! The Curse of King Midas isn’t history or myth, but a mythological fantasy , and must be treated as such. It borrows from history, and myths and legends, and uses what it borrows beautifully. But what it essentially serves is an innovative, flavourful, and delectable preparation that has power struggles, politics, thirst for revenge, love, and magic as important ingredients. The Prologue is gripping, and immediately draws the reader into the story and gets him /her invested in the fates of Karem – the future King Midas – and his little sister Elanur. The haunting scenes of the Prologue proudly showcase the writer’s gift of storytelling and of generating immense interest. The book presents more dimens...

  Review by Ronica Wahi A Tale of Mermaids By Ann Parker Published: July 26, 2022, The Book Guild. Pages: 170. ASIN: B0B7S1GK7J Set in the late 17 th century, with sea life forming a sizeable chunk of the narrative, A Tale of Mermaids takes the reader into a world that existed long ago. While fraught with tussles, revenge, sadness, and loss, this is yet a world that fascinates, for it tells of a reality that presently survives in only history books and historical fiction. This tale is not of the mermaids of folklore who have mesmerized writers, artists, and others, but of – if the word mermaid is to be considered in its literal meaning – two young women who spend an invaluable part of their lives on the sea, on a pirate ship aptly named Mermaid. Ann Parker creates two entirely different backgrounds for her two protagonists, and creates two equally interesting plots separately before chance brings the protagonists together. These early portions of the novel, in wh...

  Review by Ronica Wahi One Way Ticket By Mark Phipps First published: November 29, 2022, Lost in Paradise Publishing. Kindle Edition Published: December 4, 2022. Kindle Edition Pages: 217. ASIN: B0BNLK3BF2   Twelve years of travelling! This sure sounds exciting and may be on the agenda of many. To those who harbour such dreams, One Way Ticket , Mark Phipps’s debut book, provides a reality check. A life of travel is not a bed of roses, and it certainly is not everyone’s cup of tea. The reader gets to know from Phipps how his mindset developed. He created opportunities or grabbed them along the way, with no other plan than satisfying his love for travel, adventure, and newer experiences. You Can’t Get Lost When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going ­ – this subtitle aptly expresses his approach. There are some interesting things to make note of for readers inclined to travel, some wonderful experiences to know about, and some heartwarming incidents of kindness...

Review by Ronica Wahi 9 to 5 Cubicle Tales By Harish C. Rijhwani First published: November 24, 2022, Self-published. Paperback Pages: 316. ISBN: 9789357017589 This is the kind of novel that will remind a reader who’s experienced corporate life in any capacity, not just as an IT professional, of his/her own experiences, often bringing a smile to the lips or a wistful thought to the mind. It is the kind of book that speaks of the author’s lived experiences that are so similar to the lived experiences of countless people, and so becomes a winning piece of work in terms of how authentic and relatable it is on multiple levels. 9 to 5 Cubicle Tales is not just about the monotony and the confines of an assigned cubicle within a corporate office, but also about what happens beyond the space of that cubicle. The protagonist Hridaan Rajdev is on a journey of which the cubicle space is a big part but not its entirety. Hridaan’s journey starts from a brave promise, moves on to dedi...

Review by Ronica Wahi   Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life…and a Man By Reenita Malhotra Hora Published: August 22, 2022, Zenith Publishing. Pages: 220. ISBN: 9781958503089 Cute, light-hearted, entertaining, and at times, funny, Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life…and a Man by Reenita Malhotra Hora is a young adult novel, whose protagonist – well – does exactly what the title and the subtitle suggest. Ila, the protagonist, is a teenager who – like all teenagers – has certain issues with how her mom wants her to live; part of what her mom wants is that she give up her obsession with Ali Zafar and find a boyfriend for herself. Ila, helped by her best friend Deepali and one of Deepali’s three boyfriends – Dev, whom Ila herself is attracted to, sets out to find a man for her single mother instead. The plot is fun, and the narrative flows really smooth. The best portion of the novel is when Ila, afte...