Review: UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn

Usually people when they r on thier holiday they download music in their Apple devices, but I download books on my device. Boring me. I m on my 2 weeks vacation in States. Visiting my awesum brother n sweet sis-in-law. As usual took out time to read a book on my Apple iPod Touch via Kobo. Though I downloaded quite a few books but was happy to start one and even finish it in 2 days. This book is amazing. Didn't feel like putting it down, but had to cuz of 2 adorable children whose my first priority. The name of the book is "UnEnchanted" by Chanda Hahn. Here's the review.

When I saw UnEnchanted in the ibooks store I thought….What the heck?!?! It’s only 99 cents. But i got this book for free on Kobo App on iPod Touch. After reading it, I know that this is the type of novel that deserves to be on the shelf of every Paranormal Romance and YA Literature fan.

As I read UnEnchanted I was completely immersed in the story. Chanda Hahn managed to create some of the most likeable and relatable characters I’ve read about in a long time. I felt like I was on the journey with Mina. Mina is every girl! She’s quiet and likes to blend in but she born to stand out.

I was impressed with the flow of this book. I couldn’t stop reading until I finished Mina’s story. I needed to know what was coming next! I was so drawn to her character…every time Mina felt pain, I did too. Every emotion she felt, I was with her.Readers will want to be Mina. They’ll want to have a best friend like Nan. And they’ll definitely want a Brody Carmichael! They’ll even want a Jared.


I’ve read things about the spelling and grammar errors in UnEnchanted….Keep in mind that this is a self published book. Chanda Hahn is a rock star for releasing UnEnchanted to the world! Those little flaws are easy to forget when the story is great and this one is! Also, her blog says that UnEnchanted edits are pending and will be corrected soon.


Buy this book! Read it, fall in love with the characters, and dream about what’s next for Mina. I know I did and will! I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

How Do I Read A Book

Last night at a dinner table, myself, my hubby n my son were having a chat on the Reading Club my kid joined in the library yesterday. My kid is 9 1/2 yera old. He is a very gud reader n when it cum to completing the challenges in the reading, hez is worst than I m. In Reading Club he has to finish reading the book, rate it and review it. I let him join in Goodreads. Though he gave couple of reviews, but they r not impressive,m teaching him how to give reviews and stuff. Atleast its better than Facebook and those Wii, iPhone, iPod Touch n iPad that he has. I taught him the other use of these devies that he has and can make the better use of them than just playing games, and that is, downloading iBooks, Wattpad, and other reading apps. And m glad hez taking interest in these things.

This is how I read my book and I thought him the same. First of all, make your goal massive and unreasonable so that you freak out a little. :). The average book I read is maybe 250-300 pages. Some are larger, some are smaller. I break this down to 40 pages a day, which I read early on so I can get it over with. It’s an easy, manageable goal, which doesn’t seem nearly so daunting as 52 books in a year. This is critical to managing your emotional state, making it feel like it’s totally reasonable. Than break down these 40 pages in a day, according to my convience, But it SHOULD be 40 pages or more but not less. This way I know I can complete this book within a week or in a week. . This eventually encourages me to reach my goal n finish the challenge. I use every moment. I wake up very early in the morning, sleep late, when I take kids to swimming, while they r swimming I read, In the park, or even when I my husband is driving I read.

I told him, "Sometimes its OK to give up on it - just for now. You can do this when you’re ahead of schedule and it won’t screw with you too badly, and then you can go back to that book every little while until you finish it." I did this a number of times this last year, which means the number of books I started was probably in the 60-65 range (I finished 54.)

If I think m cuming close to deadline, I cheat. I cheat in the sence, I read small books. You might say, "This si cheating", I would agree. But the short term cheating to help yourself succeed in the long run on this goal is more important than hard-headed idea that every book you read has to be frikkin War and Peace. It doesn’t. This is to enrich your life, not to make you feel like crap. By the way, small books r also incredible.

To conclude, reading has made me a much better, more complete, and happier person, quite person. All the world’s wisdom is contained in books– most of it is not on the internet or known by people in your social group, so this can really help you expand, if you let it. Try it !!

HAPPY READING !!!

13 1/2 by Nevada Barr

Through my long voracious reading habits, I continue to find that writers can generally be classified in one of two groups: fine literary writers or terrific storytellers. Because the skill set and high level of artistry required is quite different for each group, rarely do the two groups meet and mesh. But Nevada Barr stands neatly balanced, with one foot inside each of these two groups. She is a fine writer, with literary finesse, and she is one heck of a storyteller.

Barr kept me awake with her storytelling, but not before messing with my head a bit, along with my sleep patterns. When I first opened the cover of 13 ½, I was thrown into a horrific scene of sexual molestation. Polly, a girl not yet nine years old, is being raped by her mother’s whiskey-chugging boyfriend. Rather than protect and defend her daughter, Polly’s alcoholic mother gets jealous and angry with her. Too frequently, this scenario is all too real. Victims become victimizers, and Polly’s mother, her own self-esteem nonexistent, allows her daughter to become victimized. At such a very tender age, this child understands the male psyche far beyond what she should.

Enter another main character: Butcher Boy. This child, Dylan, wakes into a family massacre, his parents murdered with an axe, his baby sister dead, his older brother badly wounded. He alone is whole, however dazed. Eleven years old, he is dragged to court and prosecuted for the vicious murder of his family. The boy hardly seems able to function as his mind and emotions shut down under the weight of something so immense, so incomprehensible. Only his surviving brother stands by him.

 Barr does a wonderful job of describing a juvenile justice system that is highly dysfunctional. Children who end up in juvenile delinquent homes, more often than not already coming from abusive homes, are often subjected to more abuse by the very staff who is supposed to help them rehabilitate. Reality, alas, matches fiction, and Barr has shone an important spotlight on a growing problem in our society. Dylan is thrown away, with no one caring enough to deal with his problems, and he spends years in a world where guards beat and rape little boys, psychologists and social workers conduct unethical experiments on their young prey, and wardens look the other way. The only person left who seems to care that Dylan is even alive is his brother Rich.

Another character to whom we are introduced is the Woman in Red. She reads Tarot-cards and is big, and loud, and impossible to miss. Almost no one notices that inside this woman is complete emotional devastation—another victim of abuse. Barr excels in her literary descriptions when Polly and this woman meet.

Although I do have to confess here that I had the mystery solved long before the conclusion of the novel, it did not slow my eager reading by one half of a page turn. I did not want to miss any of Barr’s pulsing-with-life descriptions, deep dives into the most shadowy parts of human nature, and the intricacies of dance between victim and victimizer. I wanted to see justice done. And I wanted to read exactly how Barr would put it into words. The images she created are lasting long beyond the final page. The important messages she illustrates remain even longer: abuse of any kind causes unspeakable damage, and those of us who do nothing about a broken juvenile justice system, or the increase of domestic violence, or look past the suffering of the battered, make such crime possible. This novel is more than a thriller.

Review: The World Without You

It's been a long time since my last post. The reason being, my kids summer vacation. And you all know, with kids the time is always running. Their swimming lessons, karate lessons, library visits n wat not. So was kind of very busy, but some how managed to finish my TBR books in between, late nights. They used to swim n I used to read. So here I cum with a review of "The World Without You" by Joshua Henkin.

This story is abt FAMILY. A family comes together to their summer home for their son Leo's memorial.

I loved this book...it drew me in from the very first page. First of all...it takes place mostly in the Berkshires...an area that I love. Then the book tackles the issues each member of this family face as they come together for Leo's ( brother/son/ husband ) memorial service.The flashbacks are huge in this book. Everyone has baggage and everyone has issues and no one is really coping very well at all.Marilyn has decided to leave David. One daughter is desperate for a baby. Another daughter lives in Israel and has no clue who she is or why she married her husband. Leo's widow is there... lost, sad and worrying about telling everyone about her new relationship. Another daughter is in a long term relationship with no plans to marry or have children.Those are the small stories within the big story. And sort of always hovering in the background is Gretchen...the 94 year old matriarch with tons of money who rigidly supports everyone. 

This book was very touching, moving, and has a very thoughtful ending. Give it a go, u won't b sorry.

Happy Reading !!!