Book Stop Corner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more.”



Basharat Peer, an Indian author, has penned his poignant memoir, Curfewed Night where he flawlessly captures the conflicted as well as forgotten pain of the pastoral state of India through his childhood days till adulthood and the author has also captivated the strong sense of one's own "home" be it idyllic or broken or tortured. Through this memoir, the author has walked down into the memory lane of his childhood days in Kashmir.

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Sister. She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.”





Laura Lam, an American author, pens a gripping and a mind-blowing psychological thriller centered around two twin sisters in her book, False Hearts where the author weaves a story where the two twin sisters who are so much similar in looks yet harbor secrets of their own, which are extremely dark. Born as conjoined twins, this story is unravels so much beyond their relationship, where escape is written in bold letters.

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My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”




Teresa Toten, a Canadian author, pens an intriguing young adult thriller about two teenage high school girls in her new book, Beware That Girl that narrates the story of a manipulative high school girl with a painful past who weaves her way through the social ladder just to reach Yale with her good nature, fake poshness and charm, thereby using a pill-survivor, moody rich girl, but their bond of friendship changes once this rich girl falls under the charms of an older man, who can open up past secrets that both the girls are running away from.

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“God know that a mother need fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul.”



Shahnaz Bashir, an India author, has penned a tragic story about a mother's love in his book, The Half Mother: A Novel where the author weaves the story of a Kashmiri mother looking for her son who has been arrested by the army in a raid following an attack by the militants in their locality. Thus begins the journey of a desperate mother looking for her son from one army camp to another to one minster's home to another police station to finally approaching the media, but with time, her health deteriorates and it seems no one is aware that a boy is missing.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars



“We accept the love we think we deserve.”





Mirza Waheed, an India author, has penned an enthralling tale of forbidden love in a state which is disrupted by war, blood and politics in his book, The Book of Gold Leaves where the author weaves a painful yet enlightening love story where two young souls meet and fall for the very first time in a war-torn Kashmir. But the politics and the blood-thirsty agenda of then Kashmir threatens to strip away the happiness of these two souls found in each other.

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Lies require commitment.”




Emma Haughton, an English author, pens a gripping and heart breaking story about a teenager in her new book, Cruel Heart Broken that centers around the life of a high school teenage girl whose life turns upside down when she acts out of line for the very first time in her life and how she is devastated and torn apart because of such incident that made her a murderer.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Better a serpent than a stepmother!"




Donna Jo Napoli, an American author, has penned a retelling of Snow White in her entertaining and charming book called, Dark Shimmer which narrates the life story of the evil queen, where she is born as a giant and is looked upon as a disgrace or rather as a monster among her island of dwarfs but only loved and accepted by her own mother, until tragedy strikes.

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My rating: 1 of 5 stars


“You can figure out what the villain fears by his choice of weapons.”





April Genevieve Tucholke, an American author, pens a chilling and mystical young adult thriller in her new book, Wink Poppy Midnight that unfolds the friendship and the enmity between three high school teenagers and the readers need to figure out who is the hero and who is the villain in this story through their dialogues and their evolving demeanor.

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