BLOG TOUR: Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi

Hello Everyone, and welcome to my tour stop on the 

Star-Touched Stories Blog Tour by Roshani Chokshi!

It is indeed an honour to be a part of this blog tour for an author I admire, and for a collection of short stories that stole my heart. Let's begin!

Title: Star-Touched Stories (The Star Touched Queen #2.5)

Author: Roshani Chokshi

Publication Date: August 7th 2018

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 2.5 of the Star Touched Series

I Got A Copy Through: Wednesday Books via NetGalley

Buy Links: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.
Death and Night
He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes. 
Poison and Gold
Now that her wish for a choice has come true, Aasha struggles to control her powers. But when an opportunity to help Queen Gauri and King Vikram's new reign presents itself, she is thrown into the path of the fearsome yet enchanting Spy Mistress. To help her friends, Aasha will have to battle her insecurities and perhaps, along the way, find love. 
Rose and Sword
There is a tale whispered in the dark of the Empire of Bharat-Jain. A tale of a bride who loses her bridegroom on the eve of her wedding. But is it a tale or a truth? 

I am A HUGE FAN of Roshani Chokshi’s absolutely breath-taking writing style, and I have been since I read The Star Touched Queen, more than two years ago. I don’t usually describe writing like this, but if you’ve ready any of Roshani’s books, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

In fact, it was so good, that this short story collection didn’t even feel like one. I was immersed, spell bound and Star Touched Stories is one of my FAVOURITE reads of the year and also, probably the BEST short story collections I’ve ever read.

I’ll review the three short stories separately:

Death and Night:

This was probably the story I was MOST excited for. I loved the PLOT behind book one, The Star Touched Queen, but somewhere in the middle, the story lost structure. Death and Night is the story of how Maya and Amar met for the first time, before the Shadow Wife’s curse and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. Where The Star Touched Queen was tortured and lacking structure, Death and Night was witty and filled with such beautiful lines and AAAH I LOVED IT!

Poison and Gold:

Truth be told, that while A Crown of Wishes is one of my FAVOURITE books and Vikram and Gauri are one of my favourite desi couples, I didn’t care much for Aasha, who debuted in Vikram and Gauri’s books. Poison and Gold is about Aasha’s story after A Crown of Wishes, and while it was nice, and I LOVED THE LGBT REPRESENTATION, I just wasn’t as into this story as I was with the other two.

Rose and Sword:

I honestly didn’t know what this story was about, before I started reading it.

And when I found out, MY TINY HEART FREAKED OUT BECAUSE OH. MY. GOD.

I honestly didn’t expect to see this plot twist that was hinted at in The Star Touched Queen, about a character I fell in love with in A Crown of Wishes, but this story, YOU GUYS, THIS STORY WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I’VE EVER READ AND IT WAS JUST SO GLORIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL AND IT ALMOST BROKE MY HEART.

With the small short story, (and I don’t even LIKE most short stories) Roshani Chokshi’s characters have permanently cemented themselves in my heart and I AM JUST SO HAPPY AT THIS MOMENT.

Would I recommend this book? YES, but only after you’ve already read The Star Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes. ESPECIALLY A Crown of Wishes. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen and A CROWN OF WISHES. Her middle grade debut, ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME, released April 3, 2018 from Disney/Rick Riordan Presents. Her next young adult novel, THE GILDED WOLVES, is slated for Winter 2019. Chokshi's work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. She was a finalist in the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the Locus Top Ten for Best First Novel. Her short story, "The Star Maiden," was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.

Have you read any of Roshani Chokshi's books? What do you think of them?

Who do you like better - Maya and Amar or Gauri and Vikram?

I'd absolutely love to hear from you (and what you thought about the creatives I made above!)

Charming, Enlightening, Hilarious // REVIEW: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Title: Norse Mythology
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publication Date: March 6th 2018
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
Part of a Series?: No, A Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || Infibeam || Foyles || Waterstones || WHSmith || Kobo || Books A Million || Chapters Indigo || Google Books

Blurb Description: The great Norse myths, which have inspired so much of modern fiction, are dazzlingly retold by Neil Gaiman. Tales of dwarfs and frost giants, of treasure and magic, and of Asgard, home to the gods: Odin the all-father, highest and oldest of the Aesir; his mighty son Thor, whose hammer Mjollnir makes the mountain giants tremble; Loki, wily and handsome, reliably unreliable in his lusts; and Freya, more beautiful than the sun or the moon, who spurns those who seek to control her. 
From the dawn of the world to the twilight of the gods, this is a thrilling, vivid retelling of the Norse myths from the award-winning, bestselling Neil Gaiman.

 

There are some books that just take you by surprise, and for me, Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology was one of them!

I’ve always been interested in the different kinds of mythology, especially Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse. My interest and love for Norse grew with the Thor movies (which I now know aren’t fully accurate?) and after watching Thor: Ragnarok (three times in theatres) it’s become something of a new obsession.

Still, I don’t read much of either non-fiction or short story collections, but it was Neil Gaiman AND Norse Mythology and so, when Bloomsbury India offered me the chance to read their newly published (gorgeous and shiny) paperback edition, I jumped.

MY THOUGHTS:

1.       If there was one thing I didn’t expect this book to be, it was funny. There was so much humour involved in the retellings of these myths and it really made me fall in love!

“There were things Thor did when something was wrong. The first thing he did was ask himself if what happened was Loki’s fault.”

~

“Your head,” said Brokk. “If we win this contest, we get your head, Loki. There’s a lot of things going on in that head of yours, and I have no doubt that Eitri could make a wonderful device out of it. A thinking machine, perhaps”

2.       The book was enlightening. I LOVED learning more about Thor, Loki, Odin, Ragnarok, how the world came to be, their children, their cunning and bloodlust and EVERYTHING else. It was an in-depth collection of some of the most fascinating tales in Norse Mythology that Neil Gaiman brought to life.

3.       There were SO MANY interesting tales in the books, and facts I didn’t learn in the movies including:

-          Where Thor got Mjollnir from, Fenris (the huge wolf we see in Thor: Ragnarok) and where he came from, Loki’s shapeshifting, the real foretold Ragnarok, how the Nine Realms came to be and I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

4.       There was also a short story where Thor had to dress up as a bride and IT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING I’VE EVER READ. It totally made my day.

5.       Let me just end by saying that (because who doesn’t judge books by their covers. Or endpapers, if you’re hardcore) this new paperback edition is STUNNING. I love the shine, the art AND the endpapers and I can’t wait for more from Neil Gaiman.

A true Norse Masterpiece that is enlightening, just the right amounts of funny and an overall heartfelt collection of stories that will make you smile. 4.5 stars.

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandmanand novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). In 2013, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards.

Are you a fan or Norse Mythology, or any kind of Mythology?
Do you have any books/ TV Shows/ Movies you'd recommend to a Mythology Junkie like me?
Are you a fan of the Thor series by Marvel? Which oart was your favourite?
I look forward to hearing from you!

Jane Austen's Stories in Contemporary Pakistan // ARC REVIEW: Austenistan by Laaleen Sukhera

Title: Austenistan
Author: Laleen Sukhera
Publication Date: December 6th 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
Part of a Series?: No, A Standalone!
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Flipkart || Snapdeal || Infibeam || Kobo || Google Books

Blurb Description: Heiress Kamila Mughal is humiliated when her brother's best friend snubs her to marry a social climbing nobody from Islamabad. Roya discovers her fiancé has been cheating on her and ends up on a blind date on her wedding day. Beautiful young widow Begum Saira Qadir has mourned her husband, but is she finally ready to start following her own desires? 
Inspired by Jane Austen and set in contemporary Pakistan, Austenistan is a collection of seven stories; romantic, uplifting, witty, and heartbreaking by turn, which pay homage to the queen of romance who lives on among us

Like almost every girl who has the book, I fell in love with Mr. Darcy, from the widely acclaimed Pride and Prejudice novels at the age of fifteen. Even when it was well past midnight, my friends and I would watch and re-watch the movie, the TV show and the web series. In short, we were – I am – obsessed with anything Jane Austen, predictably Pride and Prejudice.

When I got the email from my favourite Bloomsbury Publicist saying that an advance copy of this BEAUTIFUL book was coming my way, I jumped with joy.

If you haven’t heard of Austenistan just yet, it’s a collection of short stories inspired by Jane Austen’s stories from 200 years ago set in modern day Pakistan and it is all kinds of Desi and BRILLIANT.

Let’s divide this story wise:

The Fabulous Banker Boys

This gorgeous book is a Pride and Prejudice retelling and I am SO GLAD that it came first. Though it is initially told from Jane’s (Jahan’s) mother’s point of view, it quickly changes to Jane’s and it is EVERYTHING. This story only encompasses the scene when Mr. Darcy and Jane’s Pakistani alter egos meet but I STILL LOVED IT.

Begum Saira Returns

I honestly don’t know how much I liked this story. I loved the feminist element that this story contained with a 40 year old widow trying to live her life without her husband as she re-enters the social scene. And yet, the ending left me feeling odd and I wish that it had been a little longer

Emaan Ever After

A BEST FRIEND ROMANCE! YAY! I absolutely loved this book, with Emaan and Haroon being such different, fun characters and the whole story in general. It really brought out career satisfactions and have I mentioned that BEST FRIEND ROMANCE IS MY ACHILLES HEEL OF ALL TROPES? Gaah I loved it.

The Mughal Empire

THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE STORY IN THE ENTIRE COLLECTION, HANDS DOWN. It was all about a scorned woman who had spent her whole life knowing that there was one man she wanted and then he ran away and married someone else while her brother married that girl’s sister. It was a powerful story about career, love and your expectations of people and I loved every minute of reading it. This particular story is already one I know I’ll re-read.

The Autumn Ball

I don’t really know how I felt about this story, being nineteen and not in the middle of a marriage where my husband doesn’t seem to care anymore, but I loved the intense writing anyway.

Only The Deepest Love

This story fell somewhere in the middle for me as well. It was a good enough tale and yet, I failed to connect with any of the characters. I did love the fact that there was gay representation, or rather, how gay people are forced to live in Pakistan because not many books talk about it out here.

On The Verge

The premise of this story definitely excited me, but I was left a little put off by the main character at the end of it. How DO you fall in love with someone you’ve never met or looked at, and then claim you’ve given up on love after he (OBVIOUSLY) didn’t meet your expectations? It showed promise but at the end of the day, it fell flat.

Honestly, I REALLY loved reading this entire collection of Jane Austen stories. I could tell the love each writer had for the original Jane Austen Characters as well as the Pakistani versions that they created. Austenistan a lovely collection of stories that lived up to its promises and brought to life Jane Austen’s works in contemporary Pakistan. 4.5 Stars!

Laaleen Sukhera is a British Pakistani writer and media professional and the founder of the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan. She is the Editor and one of seven contributors of Austenistan, an anthology inspired by Jane Austen and set in contemporary Pakistan, published by Bloomsbury India in December 2017 and forthcoming from Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury USA in 2018.

Based in Pakistan, Laaleen works as a magazine editor and a communications consultant for international development, heritage, and branding. She was recently profiled in The Times (UK), Vanity Fair Italia, and  1843 magazine, and is currently being interviewed by the British Council, the BBC, and NPR. On the occasion of Ms Austen’s bicentennial death anniversary, Laaleen was quoted in The Atlantic and The Economist as an authority on the subject. She has appeared as a literary panelist and speaker on women’s issues at events in South Asia and the United States. Her upcoming literary appearances for Austenistan include the Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2018 and the Times Lit Fest Bangalore, 2018.

Are you a Jane Austen fan? Are you JUST AS Obsessed with Pride and Prejudice as I am? 

Who is your favourite character from her books!

If it's Mr. Darcy please do let me know and I'd LOVE to fangirl with you in the comments!