Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan

Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan is a story of three women ~ Angie, Serena and Ruby, all different from each other in age and personality, on their rocky road to motherhood. The story is set in Ireland. This is the author's second book, first one being Designer Genes. To know more about the author visit here.

Angie Breen, at the age of 40 is successful in her career but is still single. This is not the kind of life she thought she would be living at the age of 40 and she is worried she might end up single and childless. Her life changes when she expectantly discovers she is pregnant after a night sling with some one she barely knows. Serena Doyle is the ultimate epitome of glamour and sophistication. Married to a dynamic businessman, she wants to be a mother to complete her perfect life. But fate has planned something  else for her and she struggles to conceive. It turns her life upside down and in the quest of conceiving she discovers a startling secret about herself. Ruby White, a 16 year old girl is infatuated with her best friend's father - Damo and after a eventful night in  a pub ends up bearing his child. Her parents are worried and conjures up a plan to save her daughter's future. What will happen to Angie, Serena and Ruby? Is Angie's pregnancy a blessing in disguise? Will Serena be able to cope up with the circumstances that has marred her perfect life? What future has in store for Ruby and her baby? That's the story all about. Absolutely Chick lit.

After reading the book, I have mixed feelings for it. It took me almost 3 weeks to finish this book and I could not read more than 3-4 chapters in a go. May be the baby related drama was just too much to take at a go or may be I was also spending a lot of time watching the Cricket World Cup. The writing style is not very appealing and some times, I felt I could not to connect to the story. I liked the character of Angie as she seemed real and was kind of annoyed with Ruby at the beginning. Infatuation with your best friend's dad, thats too much to digest! She seemed to be a careless teenager but through the end of the novel, one could feel the way she matures. The novel is written in third person switching between Angie, Serena, Damo and Ruby. The characters are well developed but there is something amiss which makes the story monotonous if read at length. It was sort of one time read and I would recommend it to someone who likes full blast chick lit stuff.

Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer

Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer is based on a true story. It is the story of George Mallory who dreamed of conquering the Everest and perished on his third attempt. On searching about it in Google, I found that his body was found in 1999, and it still remains a mystery whether he ever reached the summit. He was last seen six hundred feet from the top.

Story Summary from the book:

Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary, Neil Armstrong, and Lewis and Clark are among such individuals. But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

Paths of Glory, is the story of such a man. But only after you’ve turned the last page of this extraordinary novel, inspired by a true story, will you be able to decide if George Mallory’s name should be added to the list of legends, in which case another name would have to be removed.
                                  --------------------------------------------------------------
The book summary speaks pretty much a lot about the content of the book. The cover page of the book also said, 'He loved two women and the second one killed him'. That was intriguing at first, but soon I figured out who this second lady was.

The book starts with George Mallory and how even as a kid, he showed his natural talent for climbing. He is married to the love of his life and is blessed with two daughters and a son. After his education is finished he takes up a job as a school master. But his passion for climbing never dims or dies. The novel also touches on the horrors of World War I and how life of common people were affected by it. What, I liked about the novel was the love Mallory had for his wife and how they wrote letters to each other when Mallory was off to his Everest expeditions. In fact, a good part of the novel is told in the letters they write to each other. But, in the end Mt. Everest proved to be tough lady to please and whether Mallory reached the top or not remained a mystery and a controversy. But, in the end, Archer made clear what he felt the truth was.

The writing style is average and Mallory is portrayed as a hero throughout even though there are other fellow climbers who seem quite good. There are some shallow details about the adversaries of nature on high altitudes, the preparation involved in mountaineering and the perils involved but all that did not make the story more convincing for me. To me it sounded more fictional than real.When you read something involving adventures, it should make you excited as well. This book failed to ignite that excitement. The book is different from all the other books I have read of the author. It is kind of rather slow paced than I would like it to be.
I was not amazed or annoyed by it. For me it falls into the average quick read.

To know more about the author and his works visit http://www.jeffreyarcher.co.uk/site/

Wordless Wednesday- Roses

#5 Teaser Tuesdays

After a break  last week, I am back with a teaser this tuesday. This comes from the book, The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.

'Blaze studied the table top, toying with the pile of salt. When Ronnie didn't answer Marcus rose from the table and headed for the door without turning back' 
Page: 77

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

Holi Wishes and little chit chat!

I know my wishes are coming a day late, but still its never late to convey best wishes on festive occasions. Hope you all had a happy, safe and colourful 'Holi'.

Holi is the Indian festival of colours. It marks the victory of good over evil and to celebrate it people play with colours. It stands for reaffirmation of hope and goodwill. To know more about it read this.

We had a holi celebration event here this weekend. There were a host of cultural performances followed by circus plays. Then, we played with colors and danced to holi songs and the recent bollywood dance numbers. It was great fun!

Holi is also a time for good and festive food. We also had our share as I prepared some festive dishes!

It was a fun week overall but it was a lazy week in reading. I am still to finish Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan. Hopefully, I will finish it this week. Most of the time, I was cooking or watching cricket. A big match awaits India on Thursday when they play the Aussies. Fingers Crossed!