Book Review : Secretly Yours

Vikrant Khanna has penned a teenage romantic thriller in his latest offering "Secretly Yours " . He has two bestsellers to his credit, namely "When Life Tricked Me "  & "Love Lasts Forever " . He loves music .He writes poems as well. He knows to play the guitar. Vikrant Khanna is a resident of  New Delhi. He is employed in the merchant navy, as a captain.

This latest book is published by Penguin Books. Need anything else be said ? ! The cover shows a girls' face with a lost look in her eyes. There is a reflection as well.The reflection is on glass , it appears.The reflection is hazy . The background is bluish with shades of buff colour.The book has 271 pages. The book is dedicated to the author's family members at the start of the novel.It is followed by  the prologue in which the author talks about love & its profound effects. There are sixty two chapters in all. Lastly comes the extremely  short epilogue.The chapters are very short .Most of them are two - three pages long.The longest chapter is five pages. This egged me on to complete the novel faster & faster. 

This is the story of Sahil, a seventeen year old teenager. He is an excellent guitar player.He writes songs. He is part of a band with his friends.He just manages to survive schools & studies in the same order as all teenagers do. He is nagged by his worried grandma.He resents his family & himself.And this prods him now & then to self destruction.

He meets a girl, Anya at the Shimla festival.And he falls for her, hook , line & sinker. And she says that she cannot fall in love with him. Sahil fails to find any logic in Anya's statement. And he feels that Anya is the chosen one for him. Anya is all sweetness personified at times.At other times, she dispapears as mysteriously as she appears. Sahil  is baffled & yet ,cannot ask Anya for fear of losing her. Sahil meets with an accident. As he recovers slowly, he learns that he is able to read minds. And then , there is  no holding back.He tries to read Anya's mind. He is able to read it.Can he decipher ,what he reads ? Sahil is bewildered as he tries to unravel Anya's thoughts.He is afraid. What is his fear ? What happens to the Sahil Anya love story ? Are they made for each other ?   Does their love remain same or does it get stronger ? What is Anya's secret ? What about her friends ? And what about the grotesque murders which are happening all over Shimla ? Who is the murderer ? And what could be the reason behind the murders ? All this & more, makes for  an easy read .

The teenage angst is nicely captured. The teenagers are constantly eating junk & this is aptly described in the story. The rebel without a cause title  is  for the teenagers & Sahil is one teenage  rebel,a true representative of generation next. And though ,I have visited Shimla, I feel that I have missed so many places worth visiting there. Hence, need to visit soon.

The novel has its share of wry humour " germ filled eatables " & "what goes on in the minds of teachers while deciding on a place for a picnic " .Its another matter, that teenagers enjoy germ infested eatables as also picnics .I could relate to all the teenage rants as I have a teenager at home. This novel has given me a glimpse into  the world of teenagers .Thank you, BlogAdda for that !

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Facewash

Now a days ,I hardly buy or use soaps.I am not having any skin problems or allergy to soaps .Very soon ,I may develop some.This is because,I end us using facewash to cleanse myself ! I am not super rich  ! In fact ,I am trying to economise !

My terrible teen of a daughter, has been buying face washes left ,right & centre.She elects facecleansers & then discards them, one by one.How can I, just throw them away ? I decided, that I must use them.Since there are so many,I felt, that the best way to utilise them was to use them as body wash .

I use them completely.After  the squeezing actions stop working,I roll over a rod on the facewash tube to extract what little is left.Then ,I painstakingly fill the facewash tubes  and or containers with water & shake them vigorously.And keep them for a day or two.Then ,I pour the watery contents & use them to wash myself

                                             Picture is for representative purpose only.

When the prices of the face cleansers ( across all brands ) are extracting all my money,I must go all the way to utilise all the washes till the last drop ! And ,yet,I feel, my methods are still wanting in this regard.

I  am cross with them who asked my daughter to do something about her pimples.On second thoughts,I must bill them, for all this  brain wash. All these face washes have been brought by her to deal with pimples & acne.My advice, that pimples will go away after some time cuts no ice with her.

One of the face cleansers which is one of the most expensive ones was found to be allergic for use.I use it now ,only for hand wash ! After all this never ending exercise ,I am sure ,I will be left faceless. I may be even wiped out ,  as I am using  them to clean up my body as well !

I must admit, that all these face wash ,cleanser,scrub,pack are just misnomers for brain wash !

This is the sixth post for the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2014

Sharing blog posts of two of my felllow bloggers :

Sfurti Sinha

Afshan Shaik