Love after love by Ingrid Persaud – Book Review

Few days back, I completed another audio book, which definitely a five star read.

It is wonderful to see the author and the narrator both are Ingrid Persaud herself. Such a lovely book, so let’s just dive in.

Synopsis

Meet the Ramdin-Chetan family: forged through loneliness, broken by secrets, saved by love.

Irrepressible Betty Ramdin, her shy son Solo and their marvellous lodger, Mr Chetan, form an unconventional household, happy in their differences, as they build a home together. Home: the place where your navel string is buried, keeping these three safe from an increasingly dangerous world. Happy and loving they are, until the night when a glass of rum, a heart to heart and a terrible truth explodes the family unit, driving them apart.

Brave and brilliant, steeped in affection, Love After Love asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back.

My Review

The book was way different than what we get to read normally. That is why I called it as a five star read. There are three important characters in the story, namely Betty Ramdin, Her son Solo and their lodger Mr. Chetan. Each chapter of the book is devoted to these three characters.

Betty is a woman with one son, Solo. She had an abusive husband, and even though her husband is long dead, the past still haunts her. Betty’s only concern is her son. We see at the beginning of the novel, Solo is very shy and does not wish to interact with people much. Betty being young (at the beginning of the story), is suffering from loneliness. She gets involved in a few relationships, but they do not work out to her liking.

Enters Mr. Chetan to story and he becomes a lodger in the Ramdin household. But soon, we find out that he becomes a part of the family. He loves Solo like his own son, and they creates a deeper bond. (just like father and son) He falls in love with Betty but he tells her that he is gay. Understanding among them is very deep and with all these mismatches, they live a happy life, like a family.

Like any other family, they come into arguments, disputes and misunderstandings. With each of these having their own life to live, they go through rough patches in life. Finding love, heart-break, but with a lot going on, yet they stand for each other. Fate brings Mr. Chetan’s life to an end, which is the most difficult part to read. As readers, we feel the loss and the heartache of Betty and Solo.

The book is just amazing, and you are being carried out into Trinidad, into the Ramdin- Chetan household. You become a part of that life. I just love how she speaks about cooking and food. Some controversial ideas has been brought out by the book, in a simple manner.  The topic – Love after Love very well suits the story. We see how the characters find one love after the death of another. No character is left alone.

A lovely read with a deeper meaning, controversial ideas brought up in a subtle way. Highly recommend it. If you are listening to the audio book, Ingrid narrates it in a wonderful way. Great work from the author.

My Rating

  5/5 (Stars) Tremendous, I like it very much

 

That is for today folks. Do not forget to leave your thoughts and ideas on the comments below. Subscribe to my blog, to read more reviews.

Until the next post, Stay safe!

XOXOX

 

 

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella – Book Review

What will happen when a workaholic, city lawyer suddenly becomes a countryside housekeeper?? Yet another wonderful and witty rom-com by author, Sophie Kinsella. Just a spoiler, I am a huge fan of Kinsella’s work and I just love all her books.

I listened to the audio book from audible, which is narrated by Phoebe James.

Synopsis

Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

My Review

As I mentioned earlier, I love Sophie Kinsella’s books. All this time I read her physical books, but this is the first time I listened to an audio book of her work. It was amazing! The narrator, Phoebe James was brilliant.

We meet our protagonist of the story, Samantha Sweeting, a workaholic, lawyer and city girl. She has nothing in mind but to deal with her work life. She is a brilliant and leading lawyer, who is more focused on building her career. She never makes mistakes. But one fine day, her life changes completely because of one mistake that happens. Her starts to change, when she runs away from the problem, into the countryside, where her new life begins. She learns that life has more meaning to it, rather than working round the clock. I totally admire the character of Samantha, for being strong and courageous.

Her new job as a housekeeper, opens her eyes to a new world and a new life, filled with meaningful living and meaningful relationships. I felt that the book carries a deeper meaning about life. Her personality grows and she learns to appreciate little things in life. Finally, she takes the best decision for her life, even though I wanted Samantha to still be a lawyer.

The audio book was wonderful to listen to. Had so much fun.

 

My Rating

(5/5 Stars) Tremendous, I like it very much

 

Do not forget to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below. Until the next post stay home, stay safe!!

XOXOX

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams – Book Review

It is #quarantineandchill at home time, where we are supporting our countries by staying indoors. There is basically no work and essentials goods are bought to your homes, so here we are doing our duty and being responsible. After a long time this has become a good time for me to sit back and relax, to read and to keep in touch with my blogging community.

So as you may already know, I have been addicted to audible lately and 90% books are audio, and I read only a very less number of physical books. I was able to complete a few books and the last one I read was Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams.

Here is my review;

Synopsis

Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.

Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his dad died.

One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:

To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?

So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.

My Review

I had no idea about this book but I loved the cover  image. I know they say, never to judge a book by its cover, but I am so glad I did. It was a pretty wonderful and cute romantic story. We meet the two main characters of the story, Nadia and Daniel. Each chapter is dedicated and written from the point of view of, either Nadia or Daniel and the story flows from one person to the other.

Nadia, a twenty nine year old woman, after having a few bad relationships, is looking for the love of her life. Daniel on the other hand is a young man who is waiting to meet his love but lacks confidence. They both travel in the 7.30 train, and the story is about how their love life begins with this train journey.

It was such a great read and what I enjoyed most about this story is that, how they sometimes narrowly miss their opportunity to meet each other. It was witty, romantic and a wonderful read.

The audio book was amazing and I could not stop listening to it. The narration was wonderfully done by the team of narrators.

My Rating

4/5 stars – Exceptional

I hope you enjoyed this post, and do not forget to leave your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Stay at home! Stay safe!

Until the next post,

XOXOX