Category: Bookworm Speaks

Do Not Disturb – Review

November 26, 2025 / / 1 Comment

On my good days, I can complete a novel of 350 or less pages in a day. But if the story is not engaging and if it’s a week day, which involves picking up and dropping off the kids at their schools, I can finish off a novel in two days, in style!

Luckily, I started this one on a Saturday and by night fall, I was ready to review it. So here goes the review….

Review:

Written By : Freida McFadden

Published On : Self Published in 2021

Read By Queen Bee On : 19 th October 2025

 

Do Not Disturb, rightly starts with Quinn Alexander, who doesn’t want to be disturbed!

Why?

Because she is busy washing off the blood on her hands. She had just killed her husband Derek Alexander!

Turns out Derek is a giant A**!

Although, Quinn’s ex boyfriend, a cop, Scott Dwyer is at her main door, investigationg the neighbour’s complaint, she manages to send him off, without raising his suspicion.

All the while, the dead body is in the kitchen, blimey!

Quinn could have just used the self defense theory to get out of the murder rap, but she doesn’t.

She is mighty scared and the best idea she comes up with is to run away! (Running away is a clear cut sign of guilt, any reader of crime thrillers and murder mysteries knows it.)

The story would have ended after a couple of pages, if Quinn had just surrendered to the police, showed him the bruises on her neck and proved the abuse, but nope.

Bumbling and painfully amateurish, she manages to reach a dilapidated motel called The Baxter Motel, all the while leaving enough clues for anyone to follow her. Turns out, she has always been lucky, but smart, she is not.

From this instance, the novel turns into a thriller, even reminding me of the classic Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, which I had watched, as a teen. (Take a bow, Mr.Hitchcock. It is an unforgettable movie, made in 1960, but is still relevant. More on that later.)

We meet Nick Baxter, the owner of the motel, who has an invalid wife, Rosalie, who was once a celebrated chef, but now, she just sits by the window and spies on her husband, through a binoculars.

Then there are other characters like Claudia, elder sister to Quinn; Rob, her husband, who is a plumber. A psychic, who is a permanent guest at the motel etc.

We also get to know the back story of the motel owner and his wife. (I felt the backstory could have been a little short. It completely diverted me from the MC, Quinn.)

Incidentally, the Baxter Motel is infamous for the murder of one of its guest, Christina Marsh. (Two years prior to the current story line.)

Just as Quinn decides to run away from the motel, she is stabbed…

What will happen to her?

Is the motel owner guilty of crime?

Who stabbed Quinn?

Who killed Christina Marsh?

Who is Derek Alexander’s mysterious girlfriend?

All the questions are answered at the end. Some of them may surprise you and some may not!

P.S:

1. The novel is worth a read, probably one of the writer’s initial works. I, for one, loved being reminded of the Psycho. Go ahead and watch it, now! The movie is unforgettable.

2. It is the second novel of Freida, where the ex – boyfriend is a cop!

Till the next post, bubye.

The Boyfriend – Review

October 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

One fine Saturday afternoon,  after PTM at GBee’s school, Mr.Bee, I and the kids went to the Ashoka One Mall, which is the closest mall to his school, like less than 1km away. (There is another mall which is even closer, but it is still under construction) Incidentally,  Ashoka One Mall is GBee’s favourite mall. (KBee loves the Nexus Mall, we alternate between the malls, to satisfy them both!)

Anyway, after the usual car rides and toy train rides, both the kiddos were happy. That’s when I saw the bookstore. (During my days as a working woman, I would spend most of my lunch hours, browsing through Walden, the bookstore in our office premises.  I sorely miss those days!)

Once inside, I quickly got what I wanted. Two books by Freida McFadden and one by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I started reading the first book after returning home.

So here comes the review….

Review:

Written by : Freida McFadden

Published on : 1st October 2024

Read by Queen Bee on : 16th October 2025

This is the 4th Freida McFadden’s book, that I have read.

The book starts with Tom and his weird and mad love for Daisy Driscoll. It makes us wonder,  do people like him even exist, but I guess they do!

Tom is a poor but handsome, clever but a little scaredy guy. He loves Daisy but also dreams of killing her. He probably has some mania related to blood like hemomania because he enjoys looking at blood or imagining blood! Yuk!

Daisy Driscoll,  the school beauty, the girl Tom loves the most and the girl who loves and adores Tom.

Then there is Slug, Tom’s best friend, who has the habit of eating insects! (I have never read about two or more such characters in a book, ever.) Weird bunch, I tell you.

Also, there is Alison, bestie of Daisy, who hates Tom. She is one of those rare individuals who knows about the kind of a guy Tom is. She gets a weird vibe from him.  These are one side of the story.

The story alternates between two sets of characters.

The other set of characters include Sydney Shaw, who has been unsuccessful in love and is into dating apps. She wants a steady boyfriend,  marry him and settle down. But all she ever meets are weirdos like Kevin, who later becomes her stalker.

Sydney has two girl besties, Bonnie and Gretchen. Bonnie is in a serious relationship with a doctor, not even her friends have seen him.

Suddenly,  Bonnie is found in her flat, dead, apparently tortured to death.

How did she die? Is the stalker Kevin the murderer or the super of the apartment Randy, who always gave Bonnie the creeps?

Meanwhile Sydney begins to date Dr.Tom Brewer, who has many secrets of his own.  Who even contacts his girlfriend from a burner phone? Who lies about his name and place of work? Only suspicious individuals do.

Then there is Jake, Sydney’s ex, a cop who is set on finding Bonnie’s killer.

Just as Sydney begins to put two and two together,  to guess the killer,  she is in grave danger.

So many innocent people end up dead because of one supremely psychotic brain,  so who is the killer?

What I like:

Each chapter is a page turner. It has twists and turns, rightly so, since it is a thriller.

What I don’t like:

The heroine Sydney is a little slow. She is gullible too, she is like a lesser liked version of Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

When Sydney is in a near death situation,  the only thing that’s on her side is, luck. She does nothing to save herself.

I don’t like the killer getting away with crime, after killing innocent people.  No, not one bit!

But that’s not a good enough reason not to read, go ahead and read it. Tell me what you make of it.

P.S:

1. The next time someone in power like a cop, volunteers to do a background check on the person you are dating,  ALWAYS  say yes, take help. This is my advice to all potential heroines in thrillers and mysteries!

Let me bring my bowl of puffed rice. Time to read, Do Not Disturb!

Cheerio…

The Housemaid – Review

September 3, 2025 / / 1 Comment

It’s been so long since I read a novel and while I was busy with my usual online window shopping, I came across these books and bought them without second thought.  I always buy the books of authors I know about or read about,  this is the first instance I bought books without knowing anything about the author or without reading the preview!

The best thing about having no expectations is that, if it’s good, then I will be mighty happy with my choice of book, but if it turns out bad, I never really had any expectations to begin with, so I won’t be sad either! It is a win-win!

That’s what I had in mind, when I started reading the book…..

Let’s get the review started.

Written by: Freida McFadden

Published in : April 2022

Read on : 14 August 2025

Genre : Psychological Thriller

The novel starts with the police entering an attic and finding a corpse and a woman is being questioned….

Then the narrative shifts to Millie Calloway, who is at the Winchester house, attending an interview for the job as a housemaid. She is an ex- convict, who is out on a payroll and has been fired from her last job.

Nina Winchester, an amiable and lovable person, wearing a full white attire is the interviewer. She hires Millie as a housemaid,  even without references and that sets the pace of the story.

During the interview,  Millie is taken to the attic at the top of the house, through creaky stairs, where she is to stay, while working as an stay-in housemaid. Although she loves the house, Millie finds the attic disturbing. It feels claustrophobic,  there is only a tiny window, which can’t be opened and the door can only be locked from outside!

After the interview, the muscular, over 6 foot something tall gardener Enzo gives Millie a foreboding message, Danger!

Millie suspects that the house must be haunted, but even then, she decides to work there. She has no prospects at any other jobs, she is an ex-convict, who served 10 years in prison!

While she is attending interviews and awaiting call backs, Millie is living in her old and beaten car, as a home! Nina Winchester hires Millie, which in itself is suspicious.

She enters the house and is again warned by the Italian gardener, Enzo. The room in the attic gives off weird vibes, but then, it is better than the car home, anyway. Millie decides to save up as much as she can and leave.

The house, which had been spic and span during her interview,  is now in bad shape and needs serious cleaning.

Millie soon learns thar Nina is borderline neurotic and her moods are as bad as an oscillating pendulum. One minute she is charming, and another minute she is menacing and scary.  Nina, is the wife of Andrew Winchester,  a handsome uber rich young business man, who is apparently in love with his wife, inspite of the trouble she keeps causing him daily.

As Millie starts living with them, she learns that Nina Winchester had been to a “loony bin” and even tried to drown her own baby Cecelia!

Why is Nina always dressed in white? Why do the Winchester’s have peanut butter in the house if little Cecelia is allergic to it? Why does Cecelia always dress in uncomfortable frocks ? Why did Andrew marry Nina?  So many questions intrigued me….

There is also a scene where Andrew and Nina fight at night, a loud crash is heard and Millie suspects Nina hurt Andrew! Even the blood on Nina’s night dress is suspicious. Luckily, he is unhurt.

At one point in the story, even I was scared about what Nina Winchester might do to Millie, since she is young and beautiful and it is clear as day that Andrew  seems to be attracted to her ( by the end of 3 months) Nina is obviously a jealous wife.

Turns out plain looking Nina is older than Andrew and was a working single mom, before she met and married him.

The first part of the story ends with Nina being thrown out of the house by Andrew and Millie is promoted from a housemaid to a girlfriend!

Just when I was scared for the safety of Millie, Freida McFadden throws a juggernaut and demolishes the theory I had in my mind, while reading the book. (Like any reader, I was trying to guess what happens next)

She manages to turn the story on its head and how!

I am stopping at this. You have got to read the book to know the clever writing and memorable characters. For once I was happy reading about both the female characters Nina Winchester and Millie Calloway.

This is one of those novels which gets a 5 out of 5 from me. Good going Freida McFadden!

P.S:

I also bought two other novels in the Housemaid series.

Fingers crossed!

 

 

The Unseen Bridegroom!

March 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

As I was busy surfing for new books to add to my e-library, I came across The Unseen Bridegroom, an ancient novel by Canadian writer,  May Agnes Fleming, I decided to give it a try. The title was interesting and intriguing at first glance.

Let’s just dive into the review.

Novel : The Unseen Bridegroom

Author: May Agnes Fleming

Published in: 1912!

Read on: March 1st 2025!

 

As I mentioned earlier, the title was interesting enough for me to download it, but it had an alternative title too, Wedded for a Week! If I had seen this other title of the same novel, I would’ve guessed it to be a story about some hot headed couple, marrying and divorcing in a jiffy and would have skipped reading it!

Anyway, the story starts with a millionaire heir, Carl Walraven, returning home to his widowed mother, after 20 long years! He ran away from home at the age of 19 years. I sympathise with the mother, who had to stay strong all along. While Carl Walraven is busy flirting with Blanche Oleander, to get himself a wife, there enters Miriam Dane, a gypsy looking servant lady wearing worn out rags. She threatens to expose Carl Walraven and his deeds, if he doesn’t adopt Mollie Dane, daughter of Mary Dane.

So, off he goes and brings home the 16 year old, golden blonde haired beauty, a stage actress, Mollie Dane. Everyone suspects that she’s Carl Walraven’s illegitimate child and still love her dearly. Carl then marries Blanche inspite of opposition from both his mom and Mollie Dane. (Turns out they were correct about Blanche, women’s intuition indeed!)

As a debutante in the high society,  Mollie captures the hearts of most eligible bachelors around her. Mollie is a loving and down-to-earth person,  but her only folly is, her flirty nature. She has Hugh Ingelow, Dr.Oleander and Sardonyx competing each other for her affection. She rejects all the three of them brutally, infront of a septuagenarian Baronet, Sir Roger Trajenna, whom she agrees to marry! She is in love with his title, money, social standing and old age too!

On the day of her wedding, she is kidnapped and held captive by a male in black mask, who agrees to free her, if she gets married to him! Within two days of captivity, she agrees to marry him. She is married off by a reverend (who was also forcefully kidnapped) and sent home within a week.

Once home, Mollie decides to find out who her husband is. She is ready to forgive her kidnapper, if he turns out to be Hugh Ingelow! (She comes to the realisation that she is in love with him during her captivity), but if the kidnapper were Dr. Oleander, she plans to kill him off, with Strychnine no less, since she hates and loathes him.

I am not going into details, but Mollie is kidnapped a second time, trying to find her masked husband and held captive again, the kidnapper being Dr.Oleander.  She is finally rescued by Hugh Ingelow.

The truth about birth of Mollie Dane is also revealed here, which is a little unexpected.

All is well that ends well and Mollie ends up marrying Hugh Ingelow.

What I liked:

1. The easy language and editing.  I didn’t have to skip any boring paragraphs or pages!

2. It tells us about the people in the olden days, their thinking and life before any major technical advances in America.

3. The 17 year old protagonist,  Mollie gets a redemption arc. She changes from flirty minx to a matured adult by the end. ( To make her change, the author put her through suffering!)

What I didn’t like:

1. The female lead is kidnapped twice, as if it’s normal! Was the period around 1912 not safe for women in America?

2. Mollie is forced to marry, which is regressive.

3. The description of the lead pair or the other supporting characters is not particularly good. I only know Mollie had golden blonde hair which was curly and that she is beautiful and that the male lead is handsome! With such description it is difficult to picture them while reading the novel.

When I read the Harry Potter series, I could imagine what everyone looked like and felt I was in their world, which is saying something about the author, because there were hundreds of characters in all the books combined!

P.S:

1. Just because I have listed some cons in this novel doesn’t mean it is a bad one. It only shows the evolution of English literature.

Jane Austen books are so big, with flowery language, that it gets boring to read and needs full concentration. But, her books are popular even now because of their ability to explain the people of that era in minute detail! ( Her observations are accurate and clever) Every writer has their strengths and weaknesses.

2. I have few more books of May Agnes Fleming and I can give better insight about her writing style, only after reading the other works.

3. Do you know about Stockholm Syndrome? It is the psychological state of mind, where the victim of crime such as kidnapping or abuse etc begins to sympathise with their kidnapper or abuser! It really does happen! In this novel, Mollie almost forgives the kidnapper, hoping it was Hugh Ingelow!

I have started watching a Chinese limited series and let’s see how this goes.

Till the next post, bubye.

The Namesake

January 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

As my loyal readers know of our brief life in the US of A, Mr.Bee would go to his office at 11 a.m. and I would pack my canvas tote with my black vertical striped apron and my wallet, booking an Uber to go to the Monroe Road studio of Clayworks, where the potter’s wheel was all I could see, as far as my passion was concerned.

Some days, when I felt low, even the pots and cups I made would turn out bad and I would leave the studio early (artists would understand!) On such afternoons, I would make a snack for myself and sit in the Ashley’s chocolate brown couch in our living room, with a parrot green woollen throw blanket and watch movies.

By chance, I had come across The Namesake,  by Mira Nair, starring Irrfan Khan and the talented Tabu and decided it was worth a watch. It was a revelation. I liked Irrfan Khan too (It was the first time I watched his movie). It was a memorable movie, but this post is about The Namesake, the Pulitzer prize winning novel.

This is the first time I watched a movie first and read the novel on which the movie is based on, later. I have been to the recent book exhibition,  the yearly ritual of my maternal family.  I got myself a copy of The Namesake and interestingly, the lone thing I remember is Irrfan Khan and Tabu, in the awkward photo from the movie. It’s been more than 9 years since I watched the movie and it tells a great deal about the actors’ and their performances. (I couldn’t find the photo online). No wonder the lead pair is known for their talent.

The Gangulis

The Names

It is about a Bengali couple Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima, in an arranged marriage,  whose life as immigrants is at once relatable. It starts with the marriage of Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli and progresses at steady pace to the births of their children Gogol and Sonia. The focus shifts to Gogol and that’s where the novel gets it’s name.

Gogol goes from a phase where his name is just a nickname to, where he loves to be called Gogol , to a phase where he hates it so much , he changes it to Nikhil, gets to know the real reason behind his name and finally regretting the change of his name.

Gogol doesn’t like that all his parents’ friends are desi families. He doesn’t like Indian food and the time it takes to cook. He struggles, as they say, ABCD – American Born Confused/Conflicted  Desi. He sees the contrast between his parents and the lives of his American girlfriend and her parents. Gogol hates being told what to do by his parents,(most Asian parents do that) but ironically, ends up always submitting to his girlfriends and his wife. He performs fairly well in studies but since he takes decisions based on his rebellion against his parents,  he falls flat. Like choosing a college to stay away from his family and not because it is better! He gives up studying at MIT, it is exasperating!

Ashoke Ganguli, in his own way had adjusted to the life in America. Interestingly, Ashoke ‘s friends had predicted accurately, that Sonia is a true American,  right after she was born. But Ashima never feels at home, neither in Calcutta where she lived before marriage nor America,  where she stayed for more than three decades. Neither here nor there.

The Ganguli family dynamics changes with the sudden death of Ashoke. Sonia, the daughter who had stayed away for studies reaches out to her mother during her mourning and shows us subtle glimpses of her character.  (She hardly get 2 pages worth of space in the whole book)

After two failed relationships and 1 death in the family, Gogol a.k.a Nikhil meets Moushimee Majumder. Both have emotional baggage of their own and that leads to a disaster in waiting,  which is their marriage.  I didn’t like her at all. Nor did I like Gogol. He was a good man but he had his weaknesses and drawbacks.

The book ends with the hint of Sonia’s upcoming marriage to Ben,  Ashima’s plan of moving back to India and well, Gogol, still coming to terms about the journey of life!

Overall,  the Namesake is a slow paced story and at the end I did feel sad for Gogol and Ashima (both the troubled souls). It is worth a read, if you are not an avid reader, I suggest you to watch the movie for first class acting,

P.S:

1. Coming to the author Jhumpa Lahiri, her writing is easy to read and understand but at places it gets overly descriptive and lengthy. I found myself skipping paragraphs! I need to read more of her works to comment better.

2. Although we know little about Sonia, I liked her!

3. I went on to watch Irrfan Khan in Piku, Talwar , Jurassic World and Life Of Pi.

4.  I will be back with a Sookshmadarshini review soon. Ciao!

The Magic of the Lost Temple

February 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Although I am a self confessed book worm, I have read very little books by Indian authors.  That being said, the only children’s books I have ever read were comics like Tin Tin, Aesop Fables, Hans Andersen’s stories, later progressing to Nancy Drew mysteries, Hardy Boys and my all time favourites the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton (which made my childhood worthwhile!). Then I jumped right into the world of murder mysteries and never looked back. (Its either mysteries or biographies for me. I know it is a weird combination!)

Years later, when I wanted to introduce GBee to some good books, I began my survey and came across Ruskin Bond. (GBee is still  5 year old, so getting him to sit at a place is something on its own, making him read will be a mountain of a challenge, for now).

I decided to pique his interest in books through puzzles and meanwhile, I stumbled upon books by Sudha Murty(who needs no introduction), during a recent car trip to the temple town of Yadagirigutta, a 2-hour drive from Hyderabad.

The title of the book forced me to buy it and I wanted to know her writing style.

Here goes the review, after an apparently lengthy intro.

Book :  The Magic of the Lost Temple

Author : Sudha Murty

Published in :2015

QB Bought in : 2023

Genre : Children’s book

The story is about Nooni, (short for Anoushka), a city born only child to her Doctor father and bank officer mother.  Her life is filled up with school, studies, summer camps , swimming classes and yearly trips to Coorg. (Did I say, she is from Bangalore?)

Anyway,this city born kiddo is sent to Somanahalli, for her summer, because of her mother’s training in Delhi. She lands in paternal grandparents house and this is the turning point of her life.

She gets to learn many things first hand, about almost everthing. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to my own childhood.

Sleeping under the stars and counting them, admiring the Moon (which generally plays hide and seek with us, from our city apartments), the types of plants and medicinal trees in Indian village houses, similar to the garden my ammamma (maternal grandmother) had in our village. Aaji giving hair massages to Nooni and washing it with home grown Shikakai with a bucket of hot water (so unlike the showers we take in cities) reminded me of my mamma(paternal grandmother) doing the same for me, in Laxmi Nagaram.

Nooni never knew sweets were made at home during festivals and marriages. She only knows buying the sweets over the counter at Haldirams!

As the story progresses, Aaji tells the story of Somanahalli step-well, which mesmerizes Nooni. The step-well might have been a fiction, but Nooni discovers the said step-well! (here the story reminded me of Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, because of the adventure involved).

A Step well looks like this

What I liked:

The values. It reminds of the good old days, where the families helped each other during any function. They were there, whether it is a celebration or a death, to give us a helping hand. (Today we find very little of that)

The rules. The elders before us, often made rules for a reason. If they say, don’t open a temple during an Amavasya, it had a valid reason. There is a reason the elders dictated that one should enter a temple only after cleaning themselves. That was proved beyond a doubt during the time of COVID pandemic. We began to understand how important cleanliness is.

The style of writing is as simple as that of Ruskin Bond. Let me tell you a little secret. It is very difficult to write in simple prose. So if you find a writer who specializes in simple prose, BINGO, it means the writer is a gem!

P.S:

  1. I loved the back story behind the idea for the story. Goes to show a small incident is enough to create beautiful stories, if you are a creative person.
  2. Hans Andersen is the Dutch writer, who wrote the most famous stories of The Mermaid, The Emperor’s new clothes, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and more. He is a legend as far as children’s books are concerned. If you have not read any of those, go ahead and read them. If you have forgotten them, read them to refresh your memory. I just wonder what must it have been like to be a famous author during those times!

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