I Kissed A Frog & other short stories by Rupa Gulab

Title : I Kissed A Frog & other short stories
Author : Rupa Gulab
Genre : Short Stories / ChickLit
Publisher : Pan Macmillan India
Pages : 230
My Rating : 7/10
Reviewed For : Publisher / South Asian Challenge 2013 / IQRC 2013 / Chicklit Club

Blurb:

 

Girls arent really made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, perhaps some girls are, but those are certainly not the girls youll meet in I Kissed a Frog a collection of wacky short stories, tongue-in-cheek diaries and not so grim twenty-first century fairy tales that turn love and friendship inside out and upside down. Youll find it all here: getting even with exes, changes in male-female dynamics, crazy diet wars, besties turning into worsties, dark humour, light comedy and the startling discovery that Prince Charming may not be your pitcher of beer. Young, fun and feminist, I Kissed a Frog is just what a girl needs to chase the blues away.

Review:

 

(This review first appeared on ChickLit Club)

I Kissed A Frog is an eccentric mix of 17 tongue-in-cheek short stories which revolve around the themes of love, friendship and modern-age fairy tales highlighting most of the woes of singledom.

"Love" is a bewildering emotion in itself and the first section (Love and other four letter words) of the book addresses exactly that via four stories. “Hell's Angel” is based on the age-old adage that love is not essentially found in handsome boyfriends, instead in places we least expect it to be. In “Love in F Major”, the heroine falls for an older, married man and needless to say it's a downhill ride for her from there on. “Welcome to the Sisterhood” portrays the bittersweet relationship between the heroine and her boyfriend when he comes out of the closet and has a sex change operation. “Heavy Weather” is a sweet story of a chance encounter with a stranger, falling in love with him, getting estranged only to fall in love with him - again!!

The second section (The Friendship Diaries) sketches the complex dynamics between friendship and love through five stories. “The Ex Files” deals with getting even with your ex, with your partner-in-crime being none other than your mum!! “Best Friends and Boyfriends” is a laugh-out read about a heroine whose boyfriend and best friend hook up leaving the heroine baffled albeit a little wiser. “Au Revoir” is a heart-touching story about losing your best friend to a fatal disease. “Diet Wars” speaks about the desperation of weight loss and the extreme steps that are associated with it. “Wannabe Mum” portrays a heroine who is obsessed with the idea of becoming a mother but then gets a dose of her own medicine when she is faced with an equally daunting task of baby-sitting.

The third section of the book (Not-So-Grim Fairy Tales for Big, Bad Girls) consists of eight ultra-short stories with illustrations and hilarious morals at the end. As a child, we all believe in fairy tales, Mr Right, Prince Charming and Happily-Ever-After only to be hit by reality later in life. The author takes on the conventional fairy tales and replaces them with practical and not-so-happily-ever-after endings.

Needless to say, the protagonists are nothing like the sweet, docile variety but are sassy with a tangier side to them. The book itself has a witty and quirky tone which is refreshing. Pick this up, if you are looking for a breezy weekend read or want to drive away those blues.

Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Title : Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes
Author : Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Genre : Chicklit / Mystery
Publisher : TKA Distribution (Kindle Book)
Pages : 203
My Rating : 8/10
Reviewed For : Chicklit Club

Blurb:

Underachiever Minette "Mini" Monroe has long dreamt of how much better life would be if only she were in charge of the world, said world being the independent bookstore in Westport, CT, where she's worked for the past half dozen years. After her beloved boss Colin Quimby is murdered, Mini gets her wish and also gets a chance to solve the case, aided by hot young Officer Michael "Mickey" Maus. Despite his unfortunate nickname - would any woman really voluntarily become part of Mini and Mickey Maus? - Mini takes a shine to him, but there's no real time for romance, not when Mini has her hands full dealing with Colin's viper's nest full of ex-wives, offspring, former business partners and current business rivals, all of whom had good reason to want to see Colin dead. Who will turn out to be the guilty party? The only way to find out is to read WAITING FOR DEAD MEN'S SHOES, a madcap comedic novel that proves that the Shakespeare Unabridged Globe and the Oxford English Dictionary are still a girl's best weapons.

My Review:

What happens when you find your boss murdered one fine day? While for many of us, a dead boss might be a Godsend reply to our unanswered prayers, for Minnie it spells something quite opposite!!

Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes kick-starts with a particular "Black Friday" night when our protagonist Minette Monroe's boss Colin is knifed to death. Minnie is the unfortunate one to discover his body. The plot then moves back into the past to chronicle the day's events when Colin encounters a threat from almost everyone. Starting from his ex-wife to his present one, his former business partner, his own employee and his daughter, Colin manages to piss off each and every person on the day he is killed - giving them all a motive to murder him. Adding to the hotness quotient of the murder mystery is the smart and smoking' hot young police officer Michael "Mickey" Maus who assists Minnie on the killer hunt.

When you sit down with one of Lauren's book, you know, without any doubt, that it is going to be a side-splitter. When I started reading this one, I thought that as a murder mystery it might be a bit somber but as it proceeded I realised that Lauren has once again delivered the laughs that are her trademark. The only thing that may hamper your read is that this novel has a lot of characters that you need to keep track of since each is a suspect.

Men On My Mind by Radha Thomas

Title : Men On My Mind
Author : Radha Thomas
Genre : Fiction / ChickLit
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Pages : 270
My Rating : 6.5/10
Reviewed For : Storizen TV

Blurb:

A hugely entertaining novel about love, sex and adventure.

You’re a girl from the land of the Kamasutra. And everyone expects your love skills to comprise the acrobatic, the inventive, the superlative. You try, of course, to game- ly meet the baffling requirements of the men who walk in and out of your life. But how much can you really do, when your investments yield minimum returns and maximum weirdness? When your mothers words keep ringing in your head: You need at least five men to fulfil you, sweetie. Remember Draupadi?
From starry-eyed crushes to lustful longings, from Catholic convents to raucous nightclubs, from boarding-school bloomers to the Open Butterfly g-string, from lov- ers to stalkers to philanderers Radha Thomas takes you on a crazy ride through Mumbai, Delhi, Beijing, Rotorua and New York, in the age-old quest for The One. A wickedly funny and flirtatious book about that mysterious thing called love, Men on My Mind is a delicious mix of sex, adventure and discovery that you must not resist.

My Review:

The search for the “Elusive Mr. Right” has provided quite some fodder for a few delightfully dishy reads in Chick Lit and has proven to be a successful formula for many a RomComs. As the name suggests, ‘Men on my Mind’ is quintessentially the journey of a young, innocent 7-year old who has her moment of epiphany when she eavesdrops on a conversation between her mom & her aunt. Wherein, her mom explains to her aunt that every woman needs at least five men to fulfill her & goes on to describe each man & his usefulness in detail. Armed with this knowledge, our girl starts off the journey of finding her Mr. Right from this tender age. What follows is a series of humorous/embarrassing/painful incidents as she experiments with a series of men from possessive loonies to pathetic kissers to drug addicts to two timers. But she never loses hope, takes it all in her stride and shinnies her way through the dangerous minefield of BFFs & boyfriend to ultimately find The One who would eventually makes her toes curl & nose tingle over just a smouldering stare!! The fact that India is the land of Kama sutra & Draupadi who needed five men to fulfil her is used expended & employed by the author to elaborate on our heroine’s various shades of grey.

The cover depicts pair of legs with shoes in one foot & heels in another which perhaps depict the transition of the protagonist as she globe trots from the chaste environment at a nun-dictated boarding to across the seven seas in search of True Love. This and the other elements on the cover page (guitar, martinis and so on) give a kaleidoscope view of her social life & her various sexcapades.

Men on my Mind is a frank yet unblushing chronology of our protagonist’s experiments with men where she only has knowledge that is borrowed from BFFs or read in M&Bs or drawn from fantasies or learnt from her own past experiences. Although she studies in the celibate environment of a convent, it leaves her lusting more than ever & describes the various perils that she undergoes to start her voyage with boys. After her schooling, her family shifts from Mumbai to Delhi & she has her brush with men in the capital city. Yet “The One” remains elusive. Finally she is packed off to the States to live with her aunt & do something in her life other than finding boys who would be ready to deflower her virginity. Initially, the debauchery might be a little too much to take but as the book progresses, you develop a sense of solidarity with the heroine as she juggles with more than one relationship at a time, loses her BFFs as easily as her men and has one night stands without any regrets.

When I started with the first chapter I thought that it was a memoir of sorts. However, as the novel progressed, I found it to be a well paced, candidly penned story. In addition to the character of the protagonist, the secondary characters (or more accurately – the various men in her life) are all well developed. However, there was an overload of men that tended to seem a bit of a drag towards the end. The ending, too, seemed a bit abrupt as if rounded off hastily which may leave the reader unsatiated. Of course, after following our heroine’s journey tediously from one loser to another the reader would always want a full blown account of the elusive happy ending at the end. But, since this is the first part of a trilogy, I guess the author has purposely kept it a secret & built up the suspense for the second book. All in all, this is a light, funny read which can be breezed through in a single sitting.

(The review copy has been provided by Storizen TV. This review is entirely my own personal & honest opinion. I do not receive any kind of payment or monetary gains for my review.)

Find the best price for Men On My Mind by Radha Thomas at ShoppingWish.

Operation Lipstick: Mission for Mr Right by Pia Heikkila

Title : Operation Lipstick: Mission for Mr Right
Author : Pia Heikkila
Genre : Mystery / Chick Lit
Publisher : Ebury Press / Random House India
Pages : 304
My Rating : 6.5/10
Reviewed For : Random House India
 

Blurb:

Anna Sanderson is not your average thirty-something. She’s a war journalist based in one of the most troubled countries in the world Afghanistan. Tough as nails, Sexy, and ballsy as hell, she won’t stop at anything to get her scoop or the man she wants. But the game changes when she meets Mr Delectable handsome, aloof, and secretive, he frustratingly keeps Anna guessing if he’s into her or not.

Things take a nasty turn when Anna’s best friend Kelly discovers that her boyfriend, Rich, has been cheating on her and Anna unearths a series of secrets which tie in her man. The mission Operation Lipstick takes Anna on a journey like never before into the heart of the Helmand province, and the lair of the most feared movements of the world the Taliban. Will Kelly get her revenge? Will Anna survive to tell her story? Will she get her man?

 

My Review :

With the readers constantly on the lookout for something new, authors are exploring uncharted territories & bringing out quite new intriguing concepts. One such read is Pia Heikkila’s Operation Lipstick: Mission For Mr Right which dwells in a unique setting – the war pillaged Afghanistan. When I initially read the blurb, I found the setting of the plot intriguing & after reading the book I have to say that Pia Heikkila takes the dating scenario to an “entirely new level” with her debut work.

So what if you are in one of the most troubled countries in the world?? This ain’t stopping our war-zone chick Anna Sanderson from pulling up her combat zone stockings & hunting for her Mr. Right!!! Keeping up with the context of this plot is its cover which is quite slick with our protagonist all decked up with an even glossier lipstick (Operation Lipstick it is!!). And a man with a gun reflected in the glares of our lady just sets up the war mood!

Anna Sanderson, the protagonist, is a war journalist currently based in Afghanistan, working for a UK based news channel GNN.  But in addition to being on a constant look out for “Breaking News”, our heroine is also searching for her Mr. Right. The country is swarming with army men & Anna, our girl in the man’s world, is surrounded by men all around. Yet she cannot find that one single guy with whom she can settle down & spend her entire life with, the special one who tugs the strings in her heart. Ironic, right?? Alone, frustrated & horny as hell, she has only her best friend, Kelly & cameraman Tim as her BFFs. But then on discovering that her boyfriend Rich has been cheating on her, Kelly spills out the dirt on Rich tying him to the dangerous Taliban. Anna being the loyal BFF decides to help Kelly in having her revenge (Ohh the sweet lure of revenge) and drags in Tim too. They name the mission as “Operation Lipstick” but Operation Lipstick opens up a Pandora’s Box that leads the trio (Anna, Kelly & Tim) into the heart of Taliban and life threatening consequences.

Pia has drawn on her experience as a war journalist & has portrayed the perils, the lows & highs and the adrenaline rush that comes with it quite comfortably. That combined with equal doses of drollness & brashness keeps the readers hooked. However, I found the first half of the book a bit of a drag with the plot gaining some momentum as it proceeded towards the second half. The narration does take a turn towards some racy, action-packed sequences from here. But again the ending seemed a bit rushed and abrupt which might leave the reader unsated.

Another thing that left me unsatisfied was Mr. Delectable aka Mark’s character development. He turns out to be quite the “knight in shining armour” for our “damsel in distress” but Pia has left him as an enigma throughout the read. Also, Pia has punctuated the read with Anna’s debauchery sessions which might make a few readers cringe (eventually making them skip those parts entirely). All in all, this one makes a good weekend read of a feisty heroine’s journey in a war ravaged backdrop!!

 

(The review copy has been provided by Random House India. This review is entirely my own personal & honest opinion. I do not receive any kind of payment or monetary gains for my review.)

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Title : I've Got Your Number
Author : Sophie Kinsella
Publisher : Random House
Pages : 448
Genre : Chick Lit
My Rating : 9/10
Reviewed For : Random House India

 

Blurb:

I’ve lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive :) !!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

My Review:

For Chick Lit buffs, Sophie Kinsella is a household name. For me, however, a Sophie Kinsella novel is like my favourite flavour of ice-cream, with which I can just sit back & treat myself to a pleasurable indulgence over & over again!! Kinsella (the pseudonym of British writer Madeleine Wickham) got famous with the best-selling Shopaholic series but apart from that, Sophie has written five stand alone novels, I’ve Got Your Number (IGYN) being the latest of them.

This book is pure, unadulterated chick-lit, starting from its cover to the last word. On the cover, standing out amongst the bright colours, is a Girl with a Cell phone in one hand & a ring above her!! There is also a mysterious guy with trail of alphabets between the girl & the guy. And well, that is really the gist of it.

Poppy Wyatt, our 29-year old protagonist is a free-spirited & charismatic physiotherapist albeit a bit clumsy. After a whirlwind romance of six months, Magnus (tall, handsome & a famous university lecturer) ¹ goes down on the knee with his heirloom ring for Poppy. Poppy just cannot believe her luck that after being in the disaster zone as far as the dating scene went; she managed to bag an intellectual Greek God himself!! But then, what’s life if it’s entirely perfect??!! Catastrophe strikes twice as Poppy loses the emerald engagement ring at champagne & cupcakes party with her female friends and then her cell phone too! However she gets a lucky break when she stumbles upon another phone in a nearby trash bin. The phone belongs to the former assistant of Sam Roxton, a handsome & socially aloof executive at a consulting firm. Sam wants the phone back but Poppy convinces Sam to allow her to keep the phone until her ring is found whilst fervently promising to forward his emails & messages. And thence hilarious chaos reigns as Poppy & Sam share a single communication device & their lives get enmeshed.

In this age where high-tech gadgets have become almost a part of our anatomy, the loss of a phone can have disastrous consequences. Sophie Kinsella has used exactly this premise & developed the plot adding her usual trademark humour & wittiness which frankly, just makes this read unputdownable. The best part without doubt is the marathon exchange of texts between Poppy & Sam, the stark contrast between their text replies being inevitable. While Poppy’s texts are gushy with loads of hugs & kisses (xoxo), Sam really is a man of few words (literally!!)

Honestly speaking, when I first read the blurb for IGYN, I feared that Poppy would be a character similar to other Kinsella heroines. But as I read the book, I realised that apart from being endearingly predictable, she was rather different. Poppy is an appealing character, someone that you & I might turn out to be. Struggling with her own insecurities & driven by the need to be accepted by everyone, she turns out to be a people pleaser subconsciously. However, she is vivacious, has an affectionate personality and is extremely burbly whilst being whacky at times. In short, someone whom everyone ends up liking. Sam, on the other hand, is snippy, sharp, stoic & brutally honest!!  Needless to say, a volley of insane & rib-tickling events are triggered as a result of the interaction between Sam & Poppy. Plus, you cannot really blame Poppy for her inquisitiveness as she snoops around in Sam’s phone opening a Pandora’s Box!!

Kinsella has taken two diametrically opposite characters with strong personalities & has developed them as the plot progresses. Both gain a refreshing perspective from each other & realise their own flaws. From being strangers to having something undefined between Sam & Poppy, is the kind of build up that the readers will be rooting for & Kinsella gives them just that but with her own unique spin! The only downside is that a few of the instances seem unreal & a bit over the top but then, Kinsella is known to have heroines who are drama queens. On the whole, this is a light-hearted & warm romantic comedy that will liven up an otherwise drab day. So what are you waiting for??

1. Impressed by the footnotes in Magnus’s book, Poppy tries to include a lot of footnotes throughout the narration whilst her life is on a roller coaster ride. And well, I thought it is a fun concept so even I included one. J