Mariyam Hasnain

Book Title: The Wedding Planner
Author: Mariyam Hasnain
Genre: Fiction/Romance

Book Title:
The book title,' The Wedding Planner ' is interesting.

Book Cover:
The book cover is an image of a couple in love. There is nothing much to be described on the cover, but definitely, the colors are bright and nice.

Plot:
The story is about two people, a boy, and girl, who are childhood friends and have grown up together with siblings and cousins around. The innocent love between them grew and blossomed into an unconditional love story. The happiness and harmony in their little world were disturbed for some unforeseen reasons, and thus the friends had to part their ways. It was only after some years, the destiny played its game and they meet together in some unaffordable situations. The evils like ego, mistrust, vengeance, and selfishness when overpowering the good virtues in a man, the relationships he or she built around him or her collapse resulting in utter dismay. In the web of these, two tender hearts had to suffer, i.e. the male and the female protagonists.

The story starts with a wedding. a wedding plan, a wedding planner and a wedding place. The wedding place holds great importance in the story. The author has beautifully used the wedding place as an object that travels through the story. It should be observed that a love story need not always be a college romance or a bubbly and cute story. Love is an abstract noun, it can happen anywhere, anyhow and between anyone. Everything in this life has a second chance and Love is not an exception.

In the book, the love story between the main characters travels between past and present where many other people are also seen involved. The love of a brother on his sister, the love, and respect for his mother, the love towards his work and the acceptance ability of any situation tangled with love are the traits of the male protagonist. Adaptability, acceptance, self-strength, and confidence are the traits of the female protagonist.

The story takes many turns and amidst these constraints, will the love story have a happy ending? Well, you must read the book!

What I liked:
1. Narration
2. The storyline
3. Matured love story

What I didn't like:
Nothing to dislike.

Narration:
Very interesting style of narration in the first person according to the characters is a great breakthrough from general style of storytelling.

Characters:
Every character in the story is justified.

Language Grammar:
Good language and rich vocabulary are used.

My Verdict:
An excellent, practical and a matured love story!

Book Title: 3/5
Book Cover: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Narration: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Language Grammar: 5/5

Final Rating: 4/5… (altro)

Book Title: Accidentally Ever After
Author: Mariyam Hasnain
Format: Kindle

Book Title:
The title of the book ' Accidentally Ever After ' is dark and intense.

Book Cover:
The cover image of the book is a picture of a couple passionately embracing each other.

My review:
The story is about Vikram, a man with extremely flaunting and Casanova personality. He accidentally meets Natasha at a nightclub. An unknown string of attraction develops between them. It rarely happens that such instant encounters prove a harmonious life after. Most of such meetings end up on a sour note for various reasons. Also, some relationships end up abruptly without leaving any trace of the identity of the people involved. Vikram faces the same situation with Natasha. They happen to meet again after a few days. Will Vikram confront with her? Will they feel the same attraction feeling even now? What does their second meeting yield?

Read this short, sweet, raunchy, saucy and sensual thought-provoking story to unearth the mystery.

What I like:
1. A new generation story
2. The concept of relationships outside the marriage is shown interestingly
3. The dark emotions are well illustrated
4. Very predictable story but the narration kept the reading interest intact.
5. The sensuality and the silk smooth feelings are very beautifully
6. The thrill quotient as the story progresses is quotable.
7. The character of Vikram is though realistic the sapiosexual personality is quite impressive.
8. The instant relations and their complexities are described very coherently.

What I didn't like:
At some places as the plotline is predictable, there was a drop in the reading speed.

Characters:
All the characters in the story are very well built with appealing personalities.

Narration:
Mariyam's books are always comfortable to read with ample amounts of entertainment quotient. There are many places where a reader will smile or shy or get nostalgic.

Language & Grammar:
A simple and clear language is used in the book.

My Final Verdict:
Petals of love and romance!

Book Title: 3/5
Book Cover: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Narration: 3/5
Language & Grammar: 3/5
Final Rating: 3/5… (altro)

Spoiler alert!
I looked up the reviews for this before electing to read it, and I am disappointed. It was supposed to be a lot better than it really was, for me anyway.
The story is set in India as Vikas and Shikha live in Mumbai. Vikas invites his childhood best friend to live in the same house as his wife for a week during his absence on a work related trip. And of course the inevitable happens. There is a twist at the end when Vikas reveals that it was a set up since he is unable to father children. And his wife does end up pregnant.
What I found hard to swallow was the fact that there is NO indication at any point that Shikha wants children! When Neil lies and tells her his 'tubes are tied' she replies with 'Yay Freedom!' So in my mind it is a cruel trick played on her by her husband because he believes that 'motherhood and childbirth are very crucial stages in a woman's life' Asking a friend to do such a thing to your wife leaving her feeling 'used like a piece of garbage' 'debilitated, weak, anxious and frustrated' basically amounts to rape! And Vikas hints that he wants her to 'have fun' with Neil in the future too, but there is no indication that, other than being sterile, Vikas suffers from erectile dysfunction and is therefore unable to satisfy her. Also, he learns of his inability to father children quite suddenly far into their marriage, and if he was unable to perform, then she would not be surprised by the news.
The idea of a husband taking advantage of a wife in this manner would make for an explosive story if it ends with her leaving him and treating him like the jerk he is. Instead this one ends with Shikha having soppy thoughts about everlasting, divine love.
Overall, sad to say, not a good reading experience, for me.… (altro)

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review**

*Warning- novella has explicit/graphic sexual scenes bordering into erotica. The book’s description did not prepare me for that.

Camouflage: Lost and Found, by Mariyam Hasnain, is a quick little psychological thriller filled with romance and deception. Mark Statler is a crime novelist living in Bangkok. He generally keeps to himself, interacting mostly with his neighbour, Sheina. After six months, Mark has finally worked up the courage to let her know he is interested in her as more than a friend. Just as their relationship is starting to heat up, Mark begins experiencing a string of bizarre incidents, from phone calls with a person addressing him by another name, to different accounts being hacked, and so much more besides. What's true, and what's merely deception?

This is an imaginative story, and would be great fleshed out into a full-length novel. Another proofing would not be amiss. There were several spelling/grammar errors, and many times, the writing came across as somewhat stilted or clunky, especially with the dialogue. That did, often, break me out of my reader zone, though it was not hard to get back in.

🎻🎻🎻… (altro)