InklingsInsight

Book Name: Dakini Author: K. Hari Kumar Publisher: Harper Fiction Genre: Horror  Format: Paperback/Kindle Print length: 368 pages  Rating: 4.5/5 “The temperature in the room plummeted dramatically , despite the power cut, as if the very air itself had turned cold with dread. Outside, the sky darkened ominously while distant thunder rumbled like a warning from the heavens.”  Dakini by Hari Kumar is a captivating and engaging tale that masterfully blends social commentary with it. Book Blurb On Amazon While investigating a spate of unexplained deaths in a remote village, Mumbai-based journalist Mamta learns of the dakini: a bloodthirsty entity that haunts the surrounding forests, leaving mutilated corpses in her wake. As the villagers' terror grows, so does their dangerous suspicion of women. With lives on the line, including her own, Mamta is dragged into a race against time-all whilst trying to escape her traumatic past, which threatens to turn her own mind against ...

Book Name: The Homecoming Author: Preeti Shenoy Publisher: Harper Collins Genre: Contemporary Fiction  Format: Paperback/Kindle Print length: 320 pages  Rating: 3.5/5 Preeti Shenoy’s The Homecoming is the sequel to A Place Called Home, that explores further themes and new revelations in the lives of the characters. Book Blurb On Amazon When the past unravels, is love enough to hold the future together? To the world, Alka’s life is picture-perfect—she lives a charmed existence in a beautiful heritage bungalow on her husband Subbu’s coffee estate with their two lovely daughters. But when disaster strikes after Subbu’s near-fatal accident, buried secrets begin to surface, ripping apart the veneer of perfection. Even as Alka struggles to care for her husband and revive the fortunes of the failing estate, she is faced with an agonizing choice: fight for her strained marriage or give in to the long dormant love she feels for her brother-in-law, Krish. Can Alka’s marriage survi...

2024 was a year of gaining and losing. Hahaha, you would regard that every year is like that. What was exceptional in that year? No, my friend. When I say gaining and losing, I mean embracing goodness and losing negativity, holding myself and letting go of what did not work for me, and the significant thing is carrying the ideology of everything coming to me at the right time and place, be it buying new things, collaborating with people in life, or traveling places. With that, I am writing this blog to reflect upon my year 2024. It was challenging to cover 365 days in one post, so I resolved to put it in six words that would sum up the whole year.  ✨ Struggles - Though "struggles" are what keep life in place, I still wanted to use this word to sum up. Even after trying desperately to tick off one particular thing that did not work out as expected, I remember how different lessons I learned with each passing day and month. It was then that I realized I should be determined, no...

Book Name: For Black Girls Like Me  Author: Mariamma J Lockington Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (Imprint of Macmillan) Genre: Contemporary Fiction  Format: Paperback Print length: 336 pages  Rating: 5 /5 Mariamma’s For Black Girls Like Me is a fiction that explores different themes including mental illness, belonging, racism, identity and resilience.  Blurb on Amazon In this lyrical coming-of-age story about family, sisterhood, music, race, and identity, Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor-winning author Mariama J. Lockington draws on some of the emotional truths from her own experiences growing up with an adoptive white family. I am a girl but most days I feel like a question mark. Makeda June Kirkland is eleven years old, adopted, and black. Her parents and big sister are white, and even though she loves her family very much, Makeda often feels left out. When Makeda's family moves from Maryland to New Mexico, she leaves behind her best friend, L...

Book Name: Embraces In Ink Author: Manali Desai Publisher: Self Published Genre: Poetry Format: Kindle Print length: 146 pages  Rating: 4 /5 Embraces in Ink is a collection of sixty two poems written more like letters to express gratitude.  Blurb on Amazon When was the last time you said 'thank you'? Be it to your parents, siblings, friends, the books that made you smile, the movies that made you laugh, or anyone and anything else? Was it today? Was it so long ago that you can't even remember? How often do you feel blessed or perceive a sense of gratitude for the simple joys that every day brings? We generally take the people around us for granted, failing to appreciate their contribution in our daily happiness. The same goes for things too; right from a sunny day during winters, to a rainy day after the long summers, or from the perfectly cooked dish, to the comfort of a quilt. The pages within, Embraces in Ink, make you look at these very things and people, by tappi...

Book Name: IL Cuore Author: Shilpa Suraj Publisher: Self Published Genre: Contemporary Fiction Format: Kindle Print length: 114 pages  Rating: 4.5 /5 Il Cuore by Shilpa Suraj is a heartwarming holiday romance unlike typical romance story that will drive readers crazy. Blurb on Amazon Kanak Thakkar has decided this Christmas is going to be the best one ever, and Santa help anyone who gets in her way! From gigantic Christmas trees to life size Santas, reindeers and elves, to enough decorations to cover a small city, she’s turned Il Cuore into Santa’s little village itself. And still, it doesn’t seem to be enough. She is determined to give her a child a memory to cherish forever…never mind that said child is still inside her womb and not due to enter the world for another two weeks. Summoned to Il Cuore for a magical Christmas, the gang gathers for an epic reunion. What follows is a madcap caper of hijinks, parental fails, communication mishaps, and couple wars that have even Ma...