bookyeller's reviews
654 reviews

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

I liked to follow main character's mundane adventure. I'm going through a burnout and wouldn't want to read a heavy book with a strong plot or many things going on. So this book helped me to indulge in a book without stressing about those complexities .

A Respectable Woman by Easterine Kire

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I loved the book simply. It was like peaking into life of people from past. I do not remember not liking anything. But it was not also a very amazing read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the book. The characters are lovely. And it is aesthetic?? I do not know what kind of aesthetic. But when  I read the book it reminds me of a small old mansion surrounded by greenery. 90% of the book is very lovely and nice. it gives comfort and a few sad things here and there. But then the rest of the 10% is like a punch in the face. very shocking.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Did not finish book.

It is just a cheesy science fiction book. I like science fiction books but like Ted Chiang stuff. 

Left Hand of God-Right Hand of the Devil: The Eroded Scissors by Kazuo Umezu (Umezz)

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 I will finish this in a short review.
It was a creative, refreshing, and fun read. Different societies and their different stories and morals and how they live and their history. It was not that gripping but it was not that boring to not pick up again. The book has so many short stories about different societies so you get something new after every story.
I love reading AU genre so this book was an apt choice for reading with my girlfriend. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

0.0

Completely 800+ pages disaster.
Lacks creativity. Annoying characters.
I will not write a full critisising review. This book is not worth it or I just wanna be done with this book.
Avoid this book.
Instead reread your favourite books or something that is good

I guess, this is just a very mediocre book that could have been wrapped up in 300-400 pages but making this book 800+ pages long...
Author just tried to drag the book for this long for just sake of filling pages.
Only 2-3% book was fast paced.
Where they wrapped up everything immediately.

Grievances Of Life by Shilpa Pitroda

1.0

My rating : 0.6/5

Grievance of life had three short stories.
‎One was about finding out about a boy's life's shocking truth. Second story was about the boy and his lost love.
And third about a heart breaking betrayal.
‎ A boy lives in a boarding school, where his divorced parents come to visit him sometimes. He kind of feels that he isn't part of the family. After the sudden death of his father he finds out the bitter truth about his father through his mother.
‎. Second story was about a boy who falls in love with a girl via social media and who was going to meet her in Goa. After making a big fuss about going Goa with his mother, he decides to sneak out of the house and goes to Goa. But life doesn't want them to be together.
I don't even want to mention the third story.
‎ I didn't get any message from the story though. Maybe it wants to convey, "sometimes moving on is for the better"?
‎I don't know if the book was supposed to be a light read, or what?
Author tried to give a message but failed miserably. Not gonna recommend this book.

8 Hours (Numbers) by Upendra Namburi

3.0

My Rating : 3/5

When everyone is trying to jump at the company like hungry wolves to take over it, Aratrika, the heir of ARYA, makes some harsh decisions to save it. It seems everyone is in this for their selfish reasons. Story is about business, crime, greed and corruption. Also about the dark side of bussinessmen. And how she gets abused by her father Madhusudan, and betrayal from her uncle Jagannath whom she admired. But eventually she finds out all this and but she's now more mature then she ever was.


You need to understand the complexity of a bussiness and of each of the characters to read this book. You have to focus on the story so you don't miss out anything imporatant or you might have to re-read. Characters and situations are nicely described but I think some readers might get bored. Vocabulary is on point. Author really tried to make this book simple to be understood by readers like me, but maybe he failed to make it happen. This book requires slow pace reading. I did not know what was happening in the book until some chapters later. I had to re-read some chapters for understanding the whole story better. I found this book boring because it had less conversation among characters. The author only focused on describing situations and bussiness deals. Pick this book if you are into bussiness stuff or something.

Strangers with Known Faces by Gautam Dutta

3.0

My Rating 3.7/5

This book starts with two major accidents caused by two millatry drones that exploded in a crowded place and the murder of Shanaya Mishra. Later in the story we find out that she was invovled in the Lehockzy deal. In her will she has left behind some tokens/gifts for her old friends, whom she was not in contact with anymore. Following these traces CBI finds out that her old friends were trying to contact her before her murder.. CBI took them in and interrogated them based on Shanaya's will. Each friend related their bit of the story after their split with her and why they wanted to reach Shanaya. And then they come together, forgetting their past differences, to solve the conspiracy.
While reading this book I felt like it was a contemporary young adult drama, but afterwards the story gets intense and with every chapter unfolds a new mystery. Vocabularly in this book was awesome too. I loved how the author reveals every character's story flawlessly. This story releases little bombs of action in the last chapters and gets extremly gripping. First the chapters hold conspiracies and then the murder case, which was enough to grip readers in this potent story. But I'm still wondering why all the main characters' married life was almost null or every character seemed to mutually want to have sex with the other. This story tells that how little decisions of our life leads to butterfly effect and we face big consequences afterwards. And life doesn't give everyone a second chance. Overall this story gets from a little murder mystery to a national wide conspiracy. Although it wasn't that good I still read it in one sitting, and still recommend this awesome book.
I received this in exchange of honest reviews.