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Book blitz – wonder walk

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Children’s Picture Books
Publisher: Iguana Books
Date Published: April 16, 2019
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Get out there with the curious Johnny and his patient Mommy, in this colourful, rhyming book, celebrating all the wonders of the everyday world.

Sneak Peek at the first page:
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About the Author

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Ilham (the “H” is the same “H” as in hat) lives in Toronto, Canada, with her family that includes a very lazy cat. Toronto is called a “city within a park” for good reason, due to all its public parks and greenery in every neighbourhood, from which Ilham drew inspiration for this book while out for her own wonder walks with her kids.
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Review of Virago

BLURB:

Radhika Mishra is a successful Chartered Accountant. she has everything that one could ask for. Yet, her heart desires for something more. Something else. something that requires unsettling the settled. an urge so strong, it forces her to put everything on stake. An endeavor so bold, that would mold her into a new being. Will she be successful or regretful? One needs to read to find out.

MY REVIEW:

I would suggest that you give this book a read if you haven’t till now. And if you’re wondering why I am saying this without even giving you the review, you will know by the end.

Woman are often brought up with the notion that they could do only certain things. Some activities are not made aware to them intentionally just because they are women. We also have a say that certain things cannot be done once women get married. I understand once a woman gets married, she gets a new family, a new role to play more responsibilities; but that doesn’t or shouldn’t be stopping her from what she wanted to be.

You cannot put this book only into the fictional genre. But if you read carefully or if I put it right read it in depth, the book provides you with more of motivation and positivity to go ahead with what you wanted to be.
Radhika, the protagonist here has a well settled career, but she feels that is not what she wanted to be. A 30-year-old lady, with 8 years into marriage and having a three-year-old son, well settled suddenly taking a U turn to pursue something else is definitely a head turner.

The plot is well thought about to convey a deeper understanding or a sense of self estimation to the reader. If the reader fails to go into a deeper understanding or in depth, then this is just another ordinary book telling you the story of a woman whose married life is failing.
Radhika, here is initially portrayed to being the selfless, adjustable, sacrificing and managing all character but in the later stages works real hard to mark an identity of her own. She is a role model to all women out there, to not just shut themselves up and look after the house after marriage. We have our own dreams and the right to work hard and make them come true.

The narration is simple with lucid writing style but conveys a bold inner voice of a woman. I loved the characterization. It’s a good read, but as I said it all depends on the mindset of the reader.

BOOK DETAILS:

Format: Paperback
Publisher: PAPER TOWNS PUBLISHERS (21 December 2018)
ASIN: B07MGK6H4G

MY RATINGS:

Plot: 4/5

Title:4/5

Cover:4/5

Writing and presentation:3.5/5

Overall:3.5/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ritiqa Pachauri is an English teacher who loves telling stories to children. Virago is her second novel after ‘The Affair’. She lives in Jaipur with her family.

This post has been written as part of the #BlognBookswithus Blog Train hosted by Kapila from Every Little Thing: Happiness and Kavita from the Momtastic World. We are posting about books on our blogs. So hop on and enjoy reading these wonderful posts.
Thank you Ujjwal for introducing me. I would like to introduce Snigdha.

Please check out the posts shared on their blogs.

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Review of Dare eat that

BLURB

There are people who travel to eat and people who travel for adventure.
And then there are those who travel to eat adventurously.

Divya and Vivek are one such couple.
From using sign language to haggle over ant eggs in Bangkok to being hungry enough to eat a horse in Luxembourg, from finding out the perfect eel to barbecue to discovering the best place to source emu eggs in India, Dare Eat That explores their journey to eat every species on earth, at least once!

MY REVIEW
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the cover of the book with all the creepy creatures, Bear Grylls Man Vs Wild. I just flipped through the book to notice the cover was just the preview of the creepiness and much more was waiting for me inside. My toddler kid was very much interested and eager than me to look at the pictures.
It’s basically a travelogue put together with some great foodie experiences. Being a pure vegetarian, when the book arrived, it raised few eyebrows among my family members. I did have to give them my reasons. So I settled down with the book after finally convincing them that I’m just gonna read the book and not jump out and start trying the foods listed. Divya and Vivek explore all around the world tasting all weirdest creatures we would never have thought of. It’s the connected adventures of a person who is a complete foodie and someone who is not.

The book lists down where to eat what and what bizarre cuisines to try. Ant eggs, horse meat and what not, it’s all there. The part where Vivek gets the Balut is where it peaked, I almost puked. Can you imagine balut is actually duck eggs which have been incubated and have a half-formed and people eat that. Leaving all that aside, it’s an engaging read for the kind of genre. I loved the glossy pages though they were very few in number.

You can definitely keep this as a gifting option for a foodie friend. Something different from a genre I usually read but I liked reading it for a different experience. Looking forward to more books from the couple.

MY RATINGS

Cover : 5/5

Plot : 4/5

Writing and presentation : 4/5

Overall : 4.5/5

BOOK DETAILS

Publisher : penguin ebury press

ISBN -10 : 0143444662

ISBN-13 : 978-0143444664

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Divya is a product manager who writes six-pagers by day
and is an author by night. She gets her best creative ideas
when she’s hanging upside down at her anti-gravity yoga
class or doodling. Her wanderlust gene is a result of having
lived in three countries and eight cities. In 2017, she won
the Juggernaut Times LitFest Contest for her short story
‘That Girl Is Trouble’. Divya has an MBA in Marketing from
SPJIMR, Mumbai and a master’s in HCI from UC Berkeley,
California. When she’s not wandering through the food streets
of the world, she can be found at home in Bangalore with her
husband Vivek. Dare Eat That is her first book.
For more photos, videos and travel stories, log onto:
http://www.dareeatthat.com.

This post has been written as part of the #BlognBookswithus Blog Train hosted by Kapila from Every Little Thing: Happiness and Kavita from the Momtastic World. We are posting about books on our blogs. So hop on and enjoy reading these wonderful posts.
Thank you Snigdha for introducing me. I would like to introduce Ujjwal.

Please check out the posts shared on their blogs.

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Must try soups/ snacks during monsoon in Chennai

Monsoon comes with various surprises The best part is the piping hot soups that you get to enjoy looking at the rain. It is a match made in heaven. Looking at the cold rain and gulping some piping hot soup is all together a different feeling. Being a chennaite, let me list down the must have soups and snacks around the city. Especially during rains, one must definitely try them out. So once you land in Chennai during monsoon, either on a personal or official trip or if you’re here for the famous music festival or marghazhi kutchery in Chennai these are must try before you take leave.

Wisconsin Cheese soup and Tomato basil soup:

Melt in the mouth cheddar mixed in farm fresh veggies makes the Wisconsin cheese soup.

A tangy tomato soup with tingling flavor of basil makes the tomato basil another must try.

Where: Haven’s sampoorna, Velachery and Besant Nagar.

https://www.havensampoorna.com/

Tom yum soup and Tofu Satay

You must be wondering why did I mention tofu Satay. Every soup has its perfect companion and yes the tofu satay is for the tom yum. Tom yum is the classic thai sour soup flavored with lemon grass and chillies.

Where : Benjarong, Alwarpet.

https://www.benjarong.in/

Lemon coriander soup

Addictive thick soup with freshly garnished coriander and a generous squeeze of lime makes this soup a big hit.

Where: Mainland China

Broccoli soup and Lasagna

The cream of broccoli soup(subject to the day’s special) and the lasagna is a match made in heaven,

Where: That madras Place, Adyar

Minestrone and Mozarella ricotta fingers

A flavourful minestrone soup made from tomato flavored vegetable stock with generously used parmesan and beans complimented with flavoursome crumbled ricotta and mozzarella deep fried fingers is the next competitive match.

Where: The pasta bar Veneto, Vadapalani.

Sundal and vada

This is a classic combo of chickpea masala with pieces of gram flour patties dunked in it. Garnished with generous sprinkle of raw onion and coriander.

Where: any roadside shop

Kalaan:

Deep fried mushroom soaked in masala broth. The combo of the crisp mushroom in the equally mouthwatering spicy gravy makes this the most soughed rainy day meal.

Where: Any roadside shop

Bhajjis and pakodas:

Who doesn’t enjoy rain with piping hot bhajjis and ginger teas. That sizzling sound of bhajjis being dropped into the hot oil wok will make anyone stop and have a bite. Equally complimented with ginger tea this evergreen combo is selling as hot cakes when it starts getting cloudy.

These are what you get to eat out. But at home the piping hot

bhisi bhela bath & potato fry

Garlic pepper rasam and potato chips

Poori and potato

Pongal and gotsu.

These are some of the common food items we love at home. Doesn’t matter even you aren’t in Chennai, do browse above recipes and relish them.Enjoying these delicacies looking at the rain from your window is really great. So just sit back and enjoy your meal. Happy monsoon.

This blog is a part of a #BirthdayBlogTrain hosted by Gunjan Upadhyay Tuggu n mommy and Neha Sharma , Growing with nemit.. I would like to thank Ghazala Naseem from Indian beauty blooms for introducing me to this blog train and would further like to introduce Anoushka Goel from bookishthings to share her take on the prompts.Picture credits : pixabay

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The feast #WoWe

Married to an orthodox family, Mithila was nervous and desperate to get a good name. Though Arvind had already given her lessons of how the family traditions are, the ways they good, she still seemed tensed like a student who is appearing first time for the boards. Yes, Mithila and Arvind were in love and after a long struggle they had gotten married. Their traditions, customs everything deferred except for the love for each other which remained the same. They had an intercaste marriage.

It was the day when Arvind’s relatives were invited home for a feast. This made Mithila even more nervous. Taking a guess, yes Arvind is born in a strict Brahmin family who feast on vegetarian food, not even onion garlic or other foreign vegetables included in their food. Mithila on the other hand is a hard rock non vegetarian meat lover. Giving up on meat was the last thing she would have ever thought. But she had to.

The date was fixed for the feast and as a family tradition the new daughter in law was supposed to cook the famous paruppu urundai kozhambu. Had they asked for mutton kola or some other non-vegetarian gravy she would have happily danced her way into the kitchen and finished it off in a jiffy. SO she geared up for the challenge in front of her. She browsed through all possible sites for the recipes and had them practiced in her mind.

The next day she had it all set up, the ingredients, the ground paste and all other items needed to prepare the dish. And in a matter of half an hour she finished it. Arvind, his mom and his sisters tasted it and they all had the same expression. Well, did Mithila succeed? Well her mother in law was kind enough to point out that the dish was ok but it lacked the authenticity of a typical Brahmin dish. So she added whatever was needed and yes it was done. The dish was served to the guests and they were more than happy to taste and appreciate Mithila for being an excellent cook.

Wondering how this would relate the prompt? Nobody except Arvind knew that Mithila was from another tradition. But her way of cooking brought her out. Yes, his sisters were able to identify that. Her style of cooking was unique and known only to the people of her area. How did they know? They had colleagues from the same area who cook the same way. Now that they know, they casually tease Arvind and Mithila that they would let out the secret. SO even though Arvind tried to make Mithila as one in the family, her style of cooking gave out who she was. At least, to his sisters. So a wolf can only be a wolf, even if it dons sheep’s clothing.

This post is written as part of the #WoWe Blog Hop hosted by Mayuri and Rashi.

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A day for moms to paint, we’re not saints

We were eagerly waiting for July 6th. No we were waiting to take rest and sit back. It was our much awaited paint party as part of Chennaimomtribe’s third meet up at Klay prep school, Annanagar.

Being a toddler mom, I had so many expectations. I was eager to paint, but was also happy that I could do a site visit of the much talked about playschool. Located at 15th Main Road Annanagar. The building looks bright and appealing.

Every visitor making an entry into a book at the entrance showed the safety measures taken up by the school. On entering you could see a cute shoe rack with neatly stacked toddler shoes.

I had to leave my daughter at the senior toddler room and then move to the place where we had paint party. And yes the room was rightly named walkers (above 3 yrs).

Pragati teaching us

We had Pragati Gunasekar, an artist or heartist as she says guide us to paint. She brought in a master piece of hers, which we had to recreate. A dark night, with an orange full moon and trees in silhouette.

As a preliminary start we did swatches, color mixing to get new colors from primary colors. After about two and a half hours we completed our very own masterpiece. We helped each other, borrowed colors and in the end, it was truly an original accomplishment by each mom. Some of us had our toddlers with us throughout the entire painting session and yes that deserves a pat on the back.

Either you are a working mom or a stay at home mom, you need to find your tribe, meet them, pour out all you have and most importantly have a lot of fun. I have found mine and if you would want to be a part of it, don’t hesitate to drop in a DM to Chennaimomtribe on Instagram. We would be happy to be have you on board.

And now about the small tour that Supritha gave me around the playschool. The school has been planned to have a joyful, bright and aesthetically appealing design, with safety measure being done as and where needed.

I was shown the infants room, a subtle calming lighting with an alphabet playmat on the floor. I loved the cradles that were placed for the infants to nap.

I was then shown the junior and senior toddler rooms. Each room has been planned after a clear thought process of what a child of the age would need to keep them engaged.

I loved the depiction of voice levels in a chart on the wall.

A guide on how to wash your hands in the restroom was another notable feature.

There was a wide variety of books arranged on the shelf near the playarea at the reception.

There were miniature ovens, stoves and appliances with a cute little table-chair set up. With all these in place no kid would say no to attending preschool.

Their outdoor play area looked refreshing with lush green grassing and a slide, which the kids enjoyed. Which especially my daughter kept repeating even after going home. For someone who said no to school, I am happy that having taken her along with me to paint party, she has finally agreed and yes it’s a major win for me. All thanks to Klay and the management for having set up a good environment for kids to enjoy and learn at the same time.

And to wind of the paint party we took group snaps and yes we had goodie bags to take home too. It contained discount coupons from superbottoms, sochgreen and yummy snacks and a millet dosa mix from slurpfarm.

So as a takeaway for a mom, I’d invite you to join our tribe. Click here to visit us.

And for your kid, if you are looking to send them to a second home, I’m sure you should definitely have Klay on your list.

Klay prep schools:

H-1982, H Block, 15th main road, Anna nagar, Chennai – 600040 near Café Coffee day

Mobile: 7676708888

Website: https://www.klayschools.com/

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Review of how to win the world cup in pyjamas

BLURB:
This Father’s Day, celebrate the special bond between fathers and their child in this new children’s book that empowers kids with mental toughness!
The bestselling picture book–from the creators of the Grow Grit series–about how to achieve success using visualization and other mental toughness techniques. Written in a fun, how-to style, Emma gives 5 essential tools for winning the World Cup, including how to build grit (writing down goals, keep practicing, and reaching within to find your inner strength when times get rough), how to use visualization (tap into your 5 senses by smelling the turf, dribbling the ball, and focusing on performance and not the outcome), and how to use mantras and positive body language (taking deep breaths and staying confident and upbeat).
Filled with energy, warmth, and sprinkled with humor, this is a great gift for a father or grandparent, and perfect for lap reading and discussions!

MY REVIEW:

A cute little story on how little girl Emma wins the world cup in her pyjamas is what we see in this book.

Emma is confident of what she does and she says she has won the world cup many times. SO what are the tips she has for the readers to make them win.

She gives us the 5 tools to win world cup in pyjamas.

Working on developing grit – Initially we need determination to win. Does it come all of a sudden. No, this starts way more earlier. Writing down goals and working towards them with great motivation is what you need to do. When you notice that it is getting tough, reach it from within. SO what you need to do is practice with motivation.

Perform usual rituals– Do you regular activities on the day of world cup. This gives you a sense of calmness, keeping your mind relaxed and confident.

Visualize the field from an open space– Feel the ground, dribble ball and make it listen to you. Ignore the mistakes and stay focused on your goals.

Use Mantras to keep you focused – Something like work hard, you can do it, It’s just right here. Relax and take a deep breath, think of next moves and strategy to get it executed.

Make sure to keep up positive body language – Having a good posture, being up and down on your toes, staying confident is more like it. Fire the ball past opponent, let it fly and you can hear the crowd cheer up. Enjoy the taste of victory and thank people who helped you win.

This book is a confidence booster not only for kids, but also adults. These 5 mantras listed can not only be used for world cup but any goal in life. I just loved how the author conveyed the winning strategies from the words of a little girl. I am very sure kids and adults reading the books would greatly be benefitted.

These important life skills are much easier to learn because of the lovely illustrations which makes it easier for kids to understand. You cannot teach life skills much simpler and an enjoyable way than this. This is a great book to be gifted to any kid you know. I’m sure it’s going to earn you a lot of appreciation for getting this.

The narration is simple and brief. Illustrations support the narration in a great way.

I loved the after read activities shared in the book as well.

BOOK DETAILS:

  • Publication date: 11 Jun 2019
  • Publisher: Grow Grit Press
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B07T2676HD

MY RATINGS:

Title :4/5

Plot:4.5/5

Cover :4.5/5

Writing and presentation:4.5/5

Overall :4.5/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kobe Nhin is inspired to write to help others overcome any negative self beliefs that may hinder their growth as it did his. He has learned to develop a storm-chasing mindset, always looking for obstacles to overcome. Kobe lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Mary Nhin loves being the guinea pig for all her husband’s kitchen creations. She is a mom of 3 boys, life coach, and author. For 20 years, she has been enriching people’s lives successfully through her companies, Nhinja, Lean CEO, and Grow Grit. She has been awarded the Forty under 40 and Inc 5000.

This Post has been written as part of the #BlognBookswithus Blog Train hosted by Kapila from Every Little Thing: Happiness and Kavita from the Momtastic World. We are posting about books on our blogs. So hop on and enjoy reading these wonderful posts.
Thank you Snigdha for introducing me. I would like to introduce Ujjwal.

Please check out the posts shared on their blogs.

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Excerpt promotion – The clockmaker

check out the schedule here


THE CLOCKMAKER 

by 

PAROMITA GOSWAMI



Excerpt 




About the author

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Paromita Goswami is a writer and storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of stories and as a writer, she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre specific. From literary fiction to children book to paranormal thriller and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer a variety of life to her readers. Besides writing, she is also the founder of a reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives in central India with her family. 


You can stalk her @

      

         

Follow on Instagram

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Book spotlight- The clockmaker

check out the schedule here


THE CLOCKMAKER 

by 

PAROMITA GOSWAMI



BLURB


Can you change destiny? What if you can?


Ashish, a passionate clockmaker is frustrated with his life – financial insecurity, his ongoing nightmares and his family, wife Lata and son Vicky, are driving him crazy.


Lata is having a tough time in life with her arch-rival, Rashmi. Vicky wants to be a biker than rather join the family legacy of the clockmaker. He also has a crush on Kavya who is more interested in supporting her family than romancing around.


Lately, Ashish starts hallucinating things. The black hooded man, who traumatizes him in the nightmares, warns him of dire consequences if he doesn’t return the timepiece that was given to Ashish by his father at his deathbed. Burdened with despair, Ashish wishes he could change his destiny and end all his miseries. By sheer chance, he discovers the power of the timepiece. Ashish was still figuring out what to do with it when an incident shatters his life completely. Without second thoughts he uses the power of the timepiece to change his destiny. But, can he really change it?


Amid the chaos of the busy by-lanes of the East Delhi unfolds a paranormal, supernatural, Indian drama that will leave you thrilled.

The Jungle Series – Get ready to be assaulted!


Grab your copy @



About the author

M3_06260.JPG


Paromita Goswami is a writer and storyteller by passion and a rebel by choice. She says the world is full of stories and as a writer, she loves to pen them down. Her work is not genre specific. From literary fiction to children book to paranormal thriller and women fiction, Paromita Goswami‘s books offer a variety of life to her readers. Besides writing, she is also the founder of a reading club that enhances book reading habit in children. She lives in central India with her family. 


You can stalk her @

      

         

Follow on Instagram

This Tour is Hosted by 

Facebook | Website | Blog Tours | Twitter | Linkedin

We Promote So That You Can Write 



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Book spotlight- her man Friday

Print Length: 161 pages

Publisher: Flaming Sun (Indie published) 

Publication Date: May 24, 2019

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

Available on Kindle Unlimited

Genre: Romance


Rituraj realises he’s in love with the Gaekwad princess, Sitara Devi. The timing is slightly wrong though. Just ten minutes ago Sitara Devi married Harishchandra Gajanan. All of seventeen and nursing a badly bruised heart, Rituraj takes up boxing, hoping to build his strength and heal his wounded soul.


When destiny gives them a second chance, hope springs in his heart.


Rituraj grabs the opportunity of becoming Sitara’s bodyguard-cum-assistant. He’s the only man in her life but he’s just her Man Friday. Since his father was merely an employee of Sitara’s father, will he even be considered as a prospective life partner for the Gaekwad princess? 


Sitara, and Rituraj are crazily attracted to each other, yet they are unable to move forward. So where is the hitch? Why the fear in taking the relationship to the next level?


Class Barriers! Debauchery! Sexual Perversion!


It looks like ‘Ne’er the twain shall meet’. 


Read the book to find out if Sitara eventually gets together with her Man Friday.  

It would be great if you can add this book to your TBR


Sundari Venkatraman is an indie author who has 43 titles (39 books & 4 collections) to her name, all Top 100 Bestsellers on Amazon India, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon Australia in both romance as well as Asian Drama categories. Her latest hot romances have all been on #1 Bestseller slot in Amazon India for over a month.


Even as a kid, Sundari absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as she grew up reading all the fairy tales she could lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy end. 


Soon, into her teens, Sundari switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine. Her imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years. 


Then came the writing – a true bolt out of the blue! And Sundari Venkatraman has never looked back.

Click here to check out all the titles by the author…

You can stalk her @

      

        

Grab Your Copy From


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We Promote So That You Can Write