A Revelation on the Highway

The Beginning

Don’t do that! He snapped as I tried to roll the window down to let in some air. The inside of the vehicle was stifling but he wouldn’t let me roll the window down. He didn’t look intimidating for a kidnapper. He looked like any other average young man, and I was exceptionally calm. “What are you staring at?” he said between casting a side glance at me and keeping his eyes on the road. Outside the open fields that were fringed with trees at a distance all turned into a blur as he put pressure on the accelerator.
“Do you think I am going to jump if I roll down the window?” I murmured.

Book: Spartan Heart Part Two
Author: Kristine Cheney
Published by: Astraea Press
Year of Publication: 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Warning: Contains Spoilers

“he liked the way her copper stare flashed perdition and venom. The little spitfire had reeled his head back good when she dared to punch his face. Philip liked her sass. Calculated thoughts gave away the brilliance of her intelligence. She was smart as she was beautiful. Her mind never ceased plotting. This woman came fully stocked with an impressive arsenal of mutiny.” (Chapter One)

Philip, another Spartan warrior is brought back to life from his statued existence by Demona. To materialize her antipathy towards Dorien and Evangeline, she uses Philip to destroy Evangeline. Upon probing Evangeline’s thought, Philip realizes that she is innocent but before he discerns that she  is pregnant with twins and that she belongs to Dorien, an accident occurs while she tries to run away from Philip. Evangeline slips and falls putting her pregnancy in jeopardy. Dorien is embittered with rage upon  seeing the danger his lady love is exposed to, and not recognizing his fellow warrior, he tries to make Philip pay for putting Evangeline’s life at risk but little does he know that Evangeline is carrying his babies. However, fate would have it otherwise, as Philip regrets his callousness and his contrition allows him and Dorien to reunite as long lost brothers. Dorien is taken aback when he realizes that Evangeline has kept the truth about her pregnancy from him, and he feel offended deeply, but he forgives her nonetheless. After all she is his raison d’etre.

Name: Unaccustomed Earth
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Short Stories
Published year: 2008 (Knopf)
Pages: 331
My Rating: Four and a half stars

Recuperating from a flu, I lay reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth and was silently bowled over by her powerful and engaging style of writing. The prolific author of Namesake has come out with yet another anthology of short stories that touch you, caress you, enter your heart and mind making a permanent place within it.
The book is divided into two parts, the first being separate stories of separate people and the second part comprises of three stories related to each other through the characters of Hema and Kaushik. Very true in its Bengali essence as all Lahiri’s writings are founded upon, each story is deeply moving, highly entertaining and thought provoking. All of the stories are based on U.S. based Bengali characters.

Author: Kristine Cheney
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 148 (ebook)
Year published: February 2011
Published by: Astraea Press

My Rating: 5 Stars

“The finality of unquenched pain imprinted on her soul. Fearing the brink of collapse, she placed her hand on his chest, sobbing aloud.”(chapter 1)

Synopsis:
Evangeline’s return to London after nine long years in America is shrouded in bereavement. The sudden demise of her parents under mysterious circumstances raises questions in a way that leaves Evangeline guilt ridden for being absent for a long time. As the only heir to the family legacy of London’s Greco-Roman Museum, Evangeline prepares to take over from where her parents left. Still in mourning and extremely forlorn, she wanders into  the treasure recovery room of the museum one night, and her life is never the same again.

All the chapters in The Daisy Lemmas Riff have been awe inspiring, projecting a magnitude of creativity born within such wondrous minds. To keep up with the mystique of each chapter, I hereby present my own. Please forgive me if I may have deviated from the central theme.

You are not accustomed to me, but I am. I have watched you, followed you and sometimes protected you. You are most dear to me and I require you to see me now, without losing anymore time. I bid you to come by the bridge over Black’s brook after midnight and we shall meet. Come alone.
Your well wisher
A

Once again, a poem has been inspired by one of the most fascinating characters of  the television series Vampire Diaries.  He is the ruthless, heartless and purely pernicious older brother of Stephen Salvatore. Damon Salvatore is completely devoid of any conscience, at least not until he arrives at Mystic Falls. As the serial unfolds he does show some really wonderful redeeming qualities but my poem is about another time. The character of Damon Salvatore is entirely irredeemable as Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost and yet one cannot help feeling sympathetic towards him. An uncontested dark prince of his own right but he is hunted too.

This poem is dedicated to one my absolutely favourite characters in the House of Night Series, Rephaim  the Raven Mocker. He is half raven, half man who is an offspring  of rape and lust.

I chanced upon Vampire Diaries tv series online by fluke. I had no expectations at all because in my opinion no movie, no book could parallel the twilight series fever. In my opinion no vampire could look as enchantingly handsome as Edward Cullen aka Robert Pattinson.

However after viewing two episodes of CW tv series loosely based on L. J. Smith’s vampire novels, I was bowled over by Stefan Salvatore aka Paul Wesley, the protagonist of the film. Entirely convincing as a tormented vampire, he was as good as Edward Cullen and gradually as the episodes proceeded, he became even more compelling than Edward. By the end of the first season, I had shifted loyalties from Ed Cullen to Stefan Salvatore, from Forks to Mystic Falls and what follows below is pure appreciation for the bewitching and mesmerizing character of Stefan Salvatore played with such clarity by Paul Wesley.

Edward Cullen the most alluring creation from the tip of Stephanie Meyer’s pen has taken all the young fluttering hearts in a romantic flurry throughout the world. It all started with Edward and his amazingly gifted clan of Vampires that have allowed the world to look at the dark and dangerous creatures through a incontrovertibly positive perspective. Although they are dark and dangerous creatures, Vampires no longer are mindless blood suckers with downright evil motives. Not only did Edward sweep Bella off her feet, he has swept millions of Bellas across the world who are still obsessing on the mania catapulted by him. Edward is dear not just to the teenage demographic but also to both young and older mums. This one is exclusively for Edward, my acclamation for him is found in the hour of his extreme pathos.

Romancing the Vampire, the Werewolf and the Fallen angel

We fell in love with vampires and werewolves. Are we ready to fall in love with fallen angels?

Needless to pinpoint that Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series gave the vampire an entirely new approach. Earlier, vampires were just blood drinking machines, with absolutely no remorse whatsoever. How could they feel pity when they had no brains? When they had no heart? But Meyer changed it all in a grand way. She gave the vampire a heart. Perhaps not a soul, but yes definitely a heart.

“I may not be a human, but I am a man.” (Edward Cullen,Twilight)