You Say It First

First of all, Isn't the cover looking cute ??

If you are here only because of it's cover, then CONGRATS ! You have been tricked too, just like me and many others ;)

Jokes apart, here is what I felt about the cover, the story and whether being tricked is worthy or not !!

How often do you trust strangers ? Particularly when you never met them or had no purposeful connection even virtually ?

In my case, I'm 100% sure that I have 0% probability of even talking to them, forget about trusting !! (That's my problem anyway !)

But you know what? It's kind of fun to know the stories of people meeting unusually and ending up becoming thickest of friends or even life partners sometimes. 

You Say It First by Katie Cotugno is one such story. Two people (obviously a boy and a girl) Colby and Meg, meets through a phone banking call. 

Meg lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Colby lives in a small town Ohio. Since the two teens live in different states, it kind of makes sense that the possibility of them meeting in person is almost impossible. And hence, most of their conversations being through phone calls or messages is convincing.

Coming to the story line, Meg being obsessed with politics, works at a voter registration call center along side completing her high school senior year. As part of her job, she calls Colby to make him register to vote. Colby on the other side, completed his high school and works at a boring place which pays him just enough to meet his ends. He is much more rough towards all the political stuff and tough to convince. Things end up badly between them in the very first call, as either of them isn't ready to agree with the other.

But something strangely triggers between them, every time they speak with each other, despite having completely different views.

They are honest sometimes, argue sometimes, fight sometimes and also assume things about each other the remaining times. But most of the time, they think about each other. This part is certainly cute !!

Both of them have their own tragic lives, with issues, which might not be that tragic for the other. Yet, among all of that, their conversations are relieving and comforting. 

Talking to someone openly without any expectations is much more easier I guess ! 

Nobody can pull the rug out from under you,
if you decide there is no rug to begin with !!

Things have definitely changed to better in both their lives after their encounter through a random phone call. It's not something like...

Oh they found each other and everything became perfect !! 

But it's just that they found ways and courage to fix their own issues. They liked talking on phone and texting all the time. But is that all fine with a complete stranger how much ever nice you might feel ?

Once Meg literally drives 8 hours to meet her so called phone-buddy but ends up being mad at his best friends as they do not gel in well. Colby on the other side, struggles to open up with Meg about his thoughts and the differences they always had.

Family and friends also played huge role in their lives and both of them individually had a fair share of fun with their respective ones. Also, the two of them know that there might be a conflict if and when their worlds collide !

But irrespective of their differences in thoughts, life style, friends and family, they are attracted to each other, they try to understand each other, they feel happy with each other. Again, Is that just enough to be together ?

Apart from their cute little romance, the book also has aspects of politics, suicide and alcoholism which I think aren't given significant importance on how the story evolved.

However, the ending is also not how I expected it to be. Definitely it has a justifiable and happy ending. But for a book which has 38 chapters and of 8 hours 49 minutes length (I'm talking about audio book here), can it not have another 1 or 2 chapters which unfolds things even more clearly and fills the gaps in Colby's part? Rather than leaving it for reader's imagination!!

Bottom line : It's a feel good YA (Young Adult) story which has few incredibly realistic and relatable elements which made me feel happy personally, along with few other boring baseless arguments and incomplete gaps !!

P.S : Honestly I'm not completely satisfied with the book, considering how flattering the cover looks. But I'm happy that I had been tricked with the cover. (Starting to like YA books !!) 

Happy Reading :)

Source : Audio book - Storytel

The Secret

60,000 thoughts a day? Seriously?? 
Wow..more than what I can actually think of..!! 
(Well, another thought added now)

Let me give you some context here: 

Researches say that we have about 60,000 thoughts a day. And the only secret you can take from the book 'The Secret' is Law of Attraction (LoA).

Wondering what's the relation between thoughts and LoA? I'll tell you what it is in 3 simple points here.

1. LoA is a process whose input is your thoughts.

2. It processes your thoughts and attracts similar kind of things.

3. And then LoA reflects those similar things back to you.

In short, Law of Attraction gives you what you think about !!

For example, If you are complaining, the Law of Attraction brings you more situations to complain about. 

So, to avoid that, the LoA says control your thoughts and automatically you'll be able to control your life. But, imagine how exhausted you'd feel to control all those 60,000 thoughts !!

And it's impossible to monitor each and every thought. So, now comes feelings. The Secret says thoughts, feelings, emotions, all are inter-related and if you can control one, you can deal with the remaining.

But the question is, can you control any of them even if you try? 

Before reading this book, my answer would be a big NO. Because, according to me, all my thoughts are based on my circumstances, my surroundings and my current life. Agree? Everyone's thought process would be almost in a similar way right ! Your thoughts align with your current life situations !!

But, The Secret says, its the other way around. Your thoughts are the triggering events. Everything you think and everything you feel is creating your future. If your thoughts are conscious, you'll have the power to control your feelings, your circumstances, your love life, your health, wealth, energy, everything under the universe. So, here I'm, leaving few ideas from the book to control your thought process:

• Meditation. This is one of the best ways and can be incredibly powerful if practiced for at least 3-10 minutes a day.
• Make a Secret Shifters List : These should be the things/moments that can change your feelings in a snap. (It would be defying the law if you are feeling good but have bad thoughts)
• Think in advance. Every event. Every day. Thinking in advance helps you to be clear in mind, what you actually want. Then believe in it as you already achieved what you want. At the end of the day, before going to sleep, go back through the events of your day. Identify those which did not happen in your favor and replay them like how you wanted.
• Be Grateful. Gratitude is another powerful process to shift your energy to what you have and change your feelings.
• Make feeling Good as your main priority. Visualize. As you picture yourself seeing things that you wanted, you are actually generating feelings of having it now.
• LoL. Yes. Laugh out Loud. Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity and leads to miraculous cure for anything.
• Last but not the least..Be Aware of your thoughts. When you are aware, you are in the present and you know what you are thinking.

But another question here. How to be aware??

• Well, Stop and Ask yourself 'What am I thinking now?', 'What am I feeling now?'. The moment you ask - you are aware. You have brought your mind back to the present moment.

"Remember to remember and become Aware." 

If you understood The Secret from what I wrote, then well and good. Else, read the book to get into the details and some examples on how LoA worked for few people.

If you still did not understand The Secret even after reading the book, Then start using it. The more you use it, the more you'll understand.

Till then....Happy Reading :) 

P.S : I have mentioned few lines 'as it is' from the book. Because sometimes you cannot generate the same beautiful effect if you try rephrasing it !!

P.P.S : It is really difficult to follow all the mentioned ideas. Try one by one and stick to the one which you are happy with.

Let me know which one worked for you and how. 

Also let me know if you think LoA is complete trash and why.

Source - Audio book : Storytel

 

Veronika Decides to Die

Why on the earth would someone wants to die???

Precisely - but even more daringly - why would anyone wants to commit suicide??

Before starting with Veronika, let me ponder on some possibilities first : Had a terrible break up? Lost loved ones? Life is not how you planned it to be? and the list goes on...

Now coming to Veronika, a young woman from Slovenia in her mid-20's, seems to have everything that she wished for - Beauty, Boyfriend(s), Perfect Job and a Loving Family. Yet, she feels some kind of emptiness in her and do not want to continue with her life by following the same mundane routine every-single-day. 

And hence, Veronika Decides to Die..!!

And Veronika did take an overdose of sleeping pills..!!

Unfortunately, she wakes up from coma in a Villette, a local mental hospital. She comes to know that she partially achieved what she wanted, when the staff tells her that she only has a week to live. By then, she is half frustrated and half impatient..!!

Frustrated because, she is in a MENTAL hospital where everyone around are insanely crazy. And Impatient because, she has almost zero chance to escape from there so that she can atleast try to be successful in her next attempt. And with no other choice left, she had to wait for one whole week.

Accepting the fact that she is in a MENTAL hospital and knowing no one would judge or care about her, Veronika decides to spend that one week on her own terms doing whatever she wanted and being however she liked.

But her stay in villette and her dying condition, changed the perspective towards life for the other people who met her in the villette. Among them were Zedka, a clinical depression patient, Mari with panic attacks and finally Eduard with Schizophrenia.

(It's a MENTAL hospital remember? No one is present there for having fun. So, everyone has their own tags..!!)

Meanwhile, the Villette's head Dr. Igor, along with treating the patients, works on his thesis which actually became the source of the main twist in the story. And Dr. Igor is really eager to put an end to his thesis which is also accomplished at the end - All thanks to Veronika..!!

Coming back to Veronika, because of her new found freedom, she discovers things that she never felt before and things that she never knew were existed in her - Hatred, Fear, Curiosity, Love, Sexual Awakening. 

There after, every moment is like a choice between life and death for her. She discovers a new world around her and want to experience it everyday facing new opportunities and challenges. Veronika realizes that she did not do a lot of things which can actually make her happy and fulfilled.  

With only few hours left, in her so called dying life, she escapes from the villette with Eduard (the schezophreniac) to witness the world one last time. But there are still some surprising twists and turns in her life yet to be unboxed..!!

Based on Paulo Coelho's own life events, 'Veronika Decides to Die' talks about the meaning of madness which few people like to enjoy instead of fitting into the societal norms of being normal.

Read this book to know five stories (not one), who met in a MENTAL HOSPITAL and who are actually not meant to be there in a Villette. 

P.S : I already mentioned the 5 names here..!!

Happy Reading :)

Source - Audio book : Storytel

The Unexpected Guest

Want to read a book?...No? 

Want to know the story-line?...Still No?

Well..you have no other choice, since you are already here!

Here is a brief  review of one of my recent reads..!!

The Unexpected Guest is originally a play by Agatha Christie which was later novelized by Charles Osborne.

First of all, since it is written from a play, you can notice that, most of the story and the conversations will be happening within a room or two. And if you're aware of Agatha Christie's books, you can easily guess the genre of this - which is a murder mystery.

Here goes some fresh views on this piece as I'm new to both their works.

The novel starts with a stranger, whose car gets stuck in the middle of the road on a foggy night. He decides to take help and enters a nearby isolated house. The stranger then tries to explain his situation to a wheel-chair bound man only to discover that the man is dead. Soon after, he notices a woman (the dead man's wife) with a gun in her hand, admitting for her husband's murder citing his abusive behavior. 

The stranger then decides to help her and they both concoct a story which works perfectly well when the police suspects an acquaintance from the past as the murderer.

Isn't she pretty? If not, what else could be the reason for the stranger's help??

***Spoiler alert***

As the investigation of the police continues, new facts reveal and the stranger gets to know that the woman(the dead man's wife) did not kill her husband and has a boy-friend whom she is trying to save out of this murder. The case becomes even more entangled, when it is revealed that the woman's boy-friend is not the actual murderer.

The story keeps changing its focus to every character as everyone in the house has a secret, but no one wants to talk about it publicly. So they end up telling everything to the stranger. And there reaches a point where the entire family will be having a common suspicion.

Finally, after a series of other shocking revelations, the story ends, when all the family member's common suspicion turns to be true, while the suspect himself admits guilty for the murder. 

But, Is he the actual murderer? even if he's found guilty??

Read this gripping story to know the actual mystery..!!

P. S : I'm usually not much into murder mysteries, but wanted to try Agatha Christie knowing the hype around her books. And I'm glad that I picked it up in the first place. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I'm also keen in trying her other books..!! 

Any suggestions??

Happy Reading :) 

Source - Audio book : Storytel