As an author, I wish my books reach maximum people and their hearts. Their reviews are a reflection of this. My belief that my book can add positivity to the reader's life irrespective of their location and condition pushes me to write more.
The following are the top reviews I have chosen this week for my second book " A Story Between the Lines."
Review 1: A Story to be remembered for eternity: An Amazon Review
Santhosh Sivaraj's A Story Between the Lines is a "lost and found" tale that leaves us in an abyss between its lines. The story cannot be restricted to a particular genre. The message conveyed by the author is too deep to be concluded in a line, for as the title suggests, it exists between its lines.
Adi, an urban resident with high aspirations, once visits a small village where he is stunned to see how peaceful and welcoming people are in their not-so-wanting lives. Adi realizes how their simplicity has led them to be grateful for the smallest of things that metropolitan citizens often take for granted. There he meets Nila, a cheerful and full-of-life girl who cherished her being in the present.
Nila seems to be a deity a love and empathy. However, the fish in the pond is exposed to the sea only after Adi proposes to her and they get married. In a turn of events, Adi faces an accident, and his memory gets distorted. He only remembers pieces of information. To his surprise, Nila cannot be found anywhere. Will Adi ever be able to find the love of his life? Where has Nila been all this long? Well, the story is not restricted to this mystery; read out to find more.
Even though the book is divided into chapters, there isn't exactly an end or beginning of the story. The author has written in such a way that even the disturbed flow of sequence makes peace with the readers' thoughts. The helping characters are naturally integrated into the story through a commendable writing style and their lasting intellectual impact upon the main characters. The book has layers like an onion, and every time one reads it, something new shall be unravelled.
The cover page of the book has hidden meaning, and therefore, I would recommend everyone to read this book. It is a tale of finding true love, self-realization, and understanding life. Adi and Nila's story lets us envision the world from two widely different perspectives yet eventually find solace in a common goal. The beauty of love lies in its non-fulfilment, and Adi and Nila seemed to have achieved a lot beyond their physical presence.
Santhosh Sivaraj has woven a masterpiece, and it is even difficult for the critique to find flaws. For a unique, charismatic, and eternal fable that is sure to leave the readers awestruck, I am giving it a 5-star rating.
Review 2: Great Read
Life is uncertain and unpredictable. We never know what will happen, who we will meet along the way because sometimes, when we think we had it all, life decides to take a funny turn and show us who is in control.
So, this is a love story; I guess we can all figure that out from the first read itself, but one thing that is the element of surprise in this book is that it is not your usual love story. It is filled with actions and developments that one can hardly see that so much time has passed while reading it.
The story is interesting because we get to travel along the journey of the protagonist's life and unfold with her how unpredictable life can be, how it can take us to a different place in the blink of an eye, and how just how cruel it can be.
The author has created an amazing plotline for this book, the narrative techniques that are used are on point, and the language is crisp, clear and straightforward.
This book consists of parts where the writings are very light and easy to read, whereas there are some parts where it is heavy and quite difficult to process.
Although there are many things in this book, the author has weaved it in such a way where they blend and makes the book a great read.
Review 3: Don't plan so much so young; give a chance for surprises in your life, like this book!
Review by Mishhita
'Sometimes, knowing nothing and living simply is better than knowing a lot and living a distant dream.'
Starting by the simplest line, I could take out of this book because, TBH, you will love the philosophical angle presented here.
'The book is a slow, reflective read for a reason. It does not want to rush through life and get to a point. It would insist that the beauty of life is not its destination but the journey itself.
Sometimes we all focus on our future and tomorrows, where every tomorrow becomes a today, and eventually keeping us suspended on the shadowy future, rather than on the steady present.' In short, this is what Santosh Sir expects from you when you are reading.
Also, reading for all of us needs to be like this; I have always appreciated the slow readers, for they somewhere know the drill of making it much more therapeutic for themselves.
'Four out of five bad things I've worried about never happened, but the four out of five bad things that did happen never occurred to my mind as things to worry about. If you are feeling nervous about going to a doctor, your nervousness won't actually stop after your appointment. Your brain will come up with the next new thing to worry about. I understood this and decided to live with it. I also chose to add a lot of cherished memories on the way!'
Every explorer feels the same, and this is the advice I could take from the book, why I'm using the word advice has more reasons, but I will tell you one, 'try looking it from your life's perspective and put it anywhere, everywhere and look at the situation changing you somewhere to think differently about that.
"Don't plan so much so young. Give a chance for surprises in your life, like what happened today."
This book is like that!
