By Title

Here is a complete list of the books I have reviewed in this blog, sorted by author for easier use. The list consists of both copies I have received as review copies, ARCs as well as personal copies.

Authors, publicists and publishers can contact me for requesting reviews at elgeereviews(@)gmail(.)com

Got any questions? Read my review policy before you approach me.

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 A – D

 E – H

 I – L

M – P

Q – S

T – W

X – Z

By Author

Here is a complete list of the books I have reviewed in this blog, sorted by author for easier use. The list consists of both copies I have received as review copies, ARCs as well as personal copies.Authors, publicists and publishers can contact me for requesting reviews at elgeereviews(@)gmail(.)com

Got any questions? Read my review policy before you approach me.

A – D 

E – H 

I – L 

  • Lucy Foley: Guest List, The

    • M – P 

    Q – S 

    T – W 

    X – Z 

    Like it or not, reading is social now

    Like it or not, reading is social now

    Bookish talks, discussion | 23 comments


    Most of us read to escape into new worlds of our own. Imagine curling up in the bed with a cup of coffee and a book on a rainy day. (Scratch that, I don’t need a cup of joe if it would mean I have to stop reading while I sip the drink.) What could be better than that? Maybe sitting in a library amongst thousands of books with your nose buried in a book. Go ahead tell me what else could a book lover enjoy more?

    I read comfortably in public, especially during our commute. Many of us do. Some readers put on their headset to drown the white noise, to drown the chaos around them, to focus better on their book. Few of us do not even need a headset, we zone off and turn deaf while we pick an interesting read until your mother (or someone else) pulls you back to Earth. Books and reading are our solaces, a Zen zone where nothing could go wrong or even if it did things would turn better before you reach the last page. Mostly. One way or the other.

    As far as I remember I always had a book for a company when the going got any slower. Of course, there have been phases in my life when I enjoyed sharing the passion of reading with others by discussing whatever I read with them, but they have always been short-lived. I even started this blog to primarily talk about the books I read, since I couldn’t find anyone to listening to my rants. But things have changed. A lot. You ask why? Reading became social.

     

    elgeewrites Like it or not, reading is social now Reading%2BAlone1
    Pic Credit

    Don’t get me wrong. I love being online as much as do, even more than the average Jane does. But still reading is a lonely activity for me. I like to choose my books to obsess hate or write about on my own. My reading interests do not confine to any one single genre. I read about the Holocaust with as much interest as I have about boys worshiping girls. I love Stephen King and Gillian Flynn as deep as my love for Agatha Christie and Mark Twain. I even read Warran Buffet for the heck of it. You get my drift? This means I get to ‘ ‘ship’ or ‘fangirling’ over too many characters.

    Of course, social reading is fun and there is always something on your plate to read. You get to meet so many like minded people who will love join your tribe to defend the character you so much. Someone who keeps you updated with the latest gossip from the book world. A book turning into a TV series? You will know it before others. Oh, and the free books that you get to review!

     

    elgeewrites Like it or not, reading is social now book%2Btoo
    Pic Credit

    Yet, reading these days could be exhausting.

    Once I finish reading a book, and after having the proper emotional break down the book deserves, that includes but not limited to crying, grinning, shaking your head ‘cuz you can’t even‘, scared that you would be having nightmares and even understandable relief that it ended, I update that I have finished reading the book and what I thought about it in few words on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook and only because Google is the Lord, Google+. And then talk about it in every one of the Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter groups that I am part of. Defend whatever my thoughts were and defend or accuse the characters’ behavior, as need be, in that book and the series. If someone doesn’t agree, of course, attack another character that the person loves and if you can, make them cry. Well, after all this is done, start the process over by writing a review and posting in all the channels mentioned above.

     

    elgeewrites Like it or not, reading is social now Reading%2BSocial%2B1
    Pic Credit

    Well if you think that is too much, you have not heard the half of it. We just covered the process I go through for a book I read. There are books that I want to read because  I do, I have to read because everyone is reading it, I want to own because they look cute and go with my shelf and even books whose cover do not match with the covers of the books I own in the series. Then I follow the authors, their new releases and the requests I have to place and that I have received from the authors for review. Well, it is too tedious even to explain anymore, I give up trying to.

    One of my coolest friends was telling me he stopped updating his Goodreads profile after seeing people desperately bumping their ‘read counts’  just to show off. How did a self-satisfying hobby turn into a community driven project so soon? Do we not desire to disconnect from the world anymore? Or have ‘the books’ become the next ‘cool sport’ to bond over? Is reading still a selfish, solitary process or a shared social experience for you? Let me know in the comment section.

    Like it or not, reading is social now

    Book review: Forsaken

    Paranormal | 14 comments

    Who in their right mind would reach out for a horror novel when they already know that they are not sleeping well at night? Who chases witches when they are being haunted by demons in their own nightmares? No one, except yours truly I suppose. But again how does one let go off a chance to read about the witches and their crafts, and probably have a bit of nightmare contributed by them as well? So how did Forsaken by J D Barker fare on the scare scale? Read more to find out.

    Name: Forsaken
    Author: J D Barker
    Genre: Fiction Paranormal
    Characters: Thad, Rachael, Ashely McAlister, Clayton Stone, Christina

    The story revolves around the McAlistair family – Thad a bestselling writer, Rachael his pregnant wife and their daughter Ashley, and a deal that was made years with the Forsaken by one of them unwittingly. Though Thad’s first novel failed to hit the roof, his second and third novels shoot him up to the stars. He barely questions it, even when he understands subconsciously something was amiss.

    Rachael takes pride in her loving husband, adores her daughter Ashley and expects her second with equal zest. She has not quite forgotten the rough start they had and that her husband had cheated her once. When the Forsaken wants to take back what was promised to Her, they have to deal with it in their own respective way, separately. Do they give in to their weaknesses or they put their family first, forms the present day storyline?

    The story that Thad writes set in the 17th century, rather a parallel universe, narrates about the life of the witch and how She ends up hunted. We are taken to the magical world where time is subjective and manipulatable by Her. Physical appearances are mere disguises and often deceptive. The narrator and the reader oscillate between the sides – the young girl whom the narrator is attracted to or the witch who haunts people. She much like the folktales forces people to sign their souls off with the blood. Who is real and where does the fiction stop and reality begin?

    The novel alternates between different point of views and time-lines, which works pretty well. The pace of narration is consistent and doesn’t slacken a bit. The storyline might seem familiar and the climax quite a bit overused, but the real strength of the novel is the vivid description of the scenario and the terror that engulfs the McAlistair family. The author makes it look like we are watching a movie, a scary one at that. Realising the story uses a famous character from Stephen King‘s novel creates a thrill that only a fan would understand.

    elgeewrites Book review: Forsaken forsakenI am no scaredy cat in general, and the nightmares are something I have to accept as a part of the life of a horror addict. But just as I started reading Forsaken by J D Barker, I realised it was going to be much harder because it involves a pregnant woman and it somehow made me queasy. Thankfully, the writer did not take us down that road.

    Despite all these strengths, I took a day more than usual to finish. Why? I couldn’t get to understand the characters, much less like them. I would have liked to have known the characters better and deeper, I felt they were pretty one dimensional. There was just a small part (less than a chapter) to explain the witch’s effect on the young girl, which could have been a tad longer and stronger. It might just be me, but I couldn’t help imagining ‘the minions’ from the ‘Despicable’ movies instead of the creepy, evil witch worshipers. My bad but I just could not.

    For someone who is eagerly awaiting the release of the movie ‘IT’ and is gathering her wits to read the book, Forsaken acted as the right place to start. With an obvious and expected influence from Stephen King, Barker could be an author I might have to watch out. If you wanna read quick, fast, creepy thriller, I recommend Forsaken by J D Barker.

    https://elgeewrites.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/forsakenP.png

    What are your nightmares about? Do books help you have more of those vivid dreams? Have you tried to stop reading such books? No I have not. Let us talk more.

    Like it or not, reading is social now

    #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14

    Quotable quotes | 12 comments

    The last stretch before I reach my milestone of  #100daysofbookquotes. Stay back and take a look at how things have been around here. 

    Like our page to be updated as and when it happens – Our FB page is here

     

    092

    There were always in me, two women at least, one woman desperate and bewildered, who felt she was drowning and another who would leap into a scene, as upon a stage, conceal her true emotions because they were weaknesses, helplessness, despair, and present to the world only a smile, an eagerness, curiosity, enthusiasm, interest. – Anaïs Nin

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 092

     093

    “The battle you are going through is not fueled by the words or actions of others; it is fueled by the mind that gives it importance.” 

    ― Shannon L. Alder

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 093

     095

    “We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them 

    behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.”

    —Tom Stoppard, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead

     elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 094

     095

    “Of course it’s possible to love a human being if you don’t know them too well.” 

    ― Charles Bukowski

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 095

     096

    “I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year.

    Scout” 

    ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 096

     097

    “When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.” 

    ― Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak”

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 097

    098

    “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” 

    ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

    elgeewrites #100daysofbookquotes: Quote week: 14 098