The Sins of The Father - Jeffrey Archer

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• Overview:

     New York. 1939. Tom Bradshaw is arrested for first degree murder. He stands accused of killing his brother. When Sefton Jelks, a top Manhattan lawyer, offers his services for nothing, penniless Tom has little choice but to accept his assurance of a lighter sentence. After Tom is tried, found guilty and sentenced, Jelks disappears, and the only way for him to prove his innocence would be to reveal his true identity - something that he has sworn never to do in order to protect the woman he loves.

     Meanwhile, the young woman in question travels to new York, leaving their son behind in England, having decided she'll do whatever it takes to find the man she was to marry - unwilling to believe that he died at sea. The only proof she has is a letter. A letter that has remained unopened on the mantelpiece in Bristol for over a year.

• Review:

     With this being the second book of the Clifton Chronicles, I couldn't wait to carry off where the first book left me off at. That was a major cliffhanger that got me impatient to carry on with the novel. To my surprise, this book has put be through major ups and down, so much stress and cursing!! That was amazing, for a book to get you to experience different feelings and to feel like you're actually part of the entire book that was special! 

     Now, when Harry was arrested in New York, it felt like the world has been falling apart, for him and for me. No matter how much he tried to say that he was not Tom Bradshaw but indeed a Harry Clifton, no one really believed him. The time plot for the novel was sometime around the 1940s and as I am reading this in 2016, the timely effect the book gave was astonishing. You get to experience the simplicity of life and the sacrifices where there was no technology as there is nowadays, only telegrams and letters. Very vintage-y at some point and suitable. I admired the fact that once Harry was sent to jail for a crime he had not committed and decided to sacrifice his own life for the sake of Emma having a grand one of her own was simply what true love is all about. When I say love, it's not what everyone thinks it is, it's more like being human and wishing and doing what you can for the happiness of the other party although it breaks you apart, yet there's nothing you can do about. It's fate. The best part of his time in prison is him taking things seriously and giving up to reality and deciding to do his time and more importantly have a goal while being there, to be a librarian and write a diary about his time there. I would love to read "The Diary of a convict". It's a diary I would do anything to read actually, but sadly it's fictional only. The plot twist all of a sudden with Harry where he was given a chance to join the military and get to change his name back to being Harry Clifton dropped my jaw, I mean whaaaat?!

     Then there's Emma on her journey across the oceans for hope of finding Harry. I have to admit to yet again admiring all the effort she put into finding him, I mean she didn't easily give up and to mention it she had to leave her baby back in England.  Words can not express how happy I am with the fatal end of Hugo, that sounds a bit odd but boy he deserved it!!

     As for the reunion, I must say I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a little more of it, it felt like Harry has just gotten back from a month's trip and it felt very normal though I wanted it to be more emotional dramatic maybe? But not to dramatic. It was nice as of it. I shall not forget to rant about Emma's emphasis on her British accent while she was in New York, I loved that part very much it felt like she was forcing into showing the world where she was coming from and to prove Harry's innocence as well, that deserved a huge thumbs up!

     With the third book already in stock with me I have to say that the cliff hanger at the end of this book got me again cliff-hanged. I mean I was rushing through reading the remaining pages hoping to know who would eventually inherit it all Harry or Giles after that 13 hour session and then I'm left there in thirst!!

     I'm so glad I've driven my way into this series because it's that one series you do not regret spending the time on and ofcourse all the emotions on!

Only Time Will Tell - Jeffrey Archer

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"Once upon a time, there existed a book thief wandering around the stacked bookshelves of a public library wondering what to read next. The best shelf to look into was the "best-selling" shelf. What a colourful shelf that was indeed, with various genres and captivating titles that made your fingers itch...."

I think that's enough with the dramatic effect, back to business.

    I came across the fourth volume of the Clifton Chronicles at a local book store hoping that it would be as exciting as its brief summary on the back of it. Little did I know that was the fourth book. For some reason I ended up purchasing it was boy wasn't it a hock to find out that it was the "fourth" book, FOURTH BOOK! Woah, that was a shock I couldn't contain. Upon the second visit, I was determined to get myself a copy of the first volume and wasn't I just lucky enough to get it. I have to admit though, this book sat on my shelf for quite some time before I mastered the courage of read it, and when I did, I read the first few chapters before deciding to keep it as a "second-hand" book while I read something else. Little did I know, little did I know indeed. Once the primary book on my list was read, I grabbed "Only Time Will Tell" and continued. Though for the time it remained untouched on my shelf I had this urge to read it, there was something about the story line, the plot, the writing, basically everything about it that got that feeling in me of wanting to read it.

    This was the very first book I read by Jeffrey Archer and to my surprise his books were all over the libraries I've been to and I couldn't help but ask myself "How come I've never heard of you?" and things like "What is it with your writing that makes you pop out everywhere?". At this moment, I understand why. There are a lot of writers out there that make your heart ache for a few chapters then you simply get sick of that and just feel it got too drifted away. Others will make you feel anxious and excited to know what's to happen next, but as things get taken too seriously and dramatically you simply stop reading the book. Jeffrey Archer is a whole lot different. I have to admit though, despite my intensive reading habit that's getting a little out of control now that I'm interning, I have never came across a mind gripping novel as this one. Literally, just literally from page one to that very last page of the book, I was simply living in an endless loop of excitement, anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, and shock literally! How can someone make you feel gripped till that last page of the book, how? Goodness this was simply beyond the best adjective in the entire dictionary that would fit in to describe this novel. What made it the best of the best is how the story line was carried out from all the main-character's perspectives, and that was smoothly done. Some writers focus on the perspective of one of the characters or two and fail to keep that goodness for the other character's perspective.  I fit weren't for the different perspectives approach, I would've lived the story from Harry's point of view only and that would've bored me to death. But Archer did not, he took the story from Harry's point, Old Jack's point and even Hugo's point of view and did so so very perfectly I could cry from the magnificence it brought to life. You get to taste the ultimate feelings of friendship, sacrifice, loyalty and unexpectedly hatred and power-abuse it's not joke.

    I do have to mention the fact that I couldn't wait to finish reading this book and start "The Alchemist". I remember half-way through the book I felt like I've got the entire basic idea of the Clifton Chronicles and decided to mark this as the last book I read and not continue with the entire series, but when I came to read the very last chapter of the book I was in complete I shock I simply lost  control on my thoughts, and most importantly my mental state. It was the most unexpected and most unanticipated twist in the entire book! How can I not read the second volume? Now that would simply be intense torture to my soul.  I don't want to get started with how magnificent the book cover by itself make me delighted to carry around, I haven't got the chance to carry a red book with an abundance of goodness to read.

    Now I know why Archer is all over the place, and he sure deserves it for the master piece he's created. This book is not like any other book with a story line told from all the main character's perspective it does not even give you a moment to doubt any of the characters for yourself it's pure grandness. That's the main reason I've without a doubt given this book a 5/5 stars without a single hesitation because it was more than that <3 

The Kite Runner

© Teenink

“For you, a thousand times over” - Khaled Hosseini

  This marks the second book I've decided to read by Khaled Hosseini, and I do not regret spending the time and reading it, however, I just miss the few - literally - few days I spent reading it. We've heard people say "I just couldn't put the book down." this is the book where this quote literally applies to. At first, I did not know what to expect as I read the book but half way through the book the title started to make sense. Hosseini, unlike any other author out there, makes you literally "live" the story and that I mean very much because while reading this book I was picturing the scenes and imagining the characters speaking. That's a rare skill that most authors are still failing to accomplish. After Amir and Hassan's childhood flashback, I was gripping the book so hard I thought something was going to happen to me. The intensity of the words, the events and the way the sentences were written makes it even harder for me to describe how I felt as I read the book. When Amir went back to Pakistan to begin his journey of bringing back his nephew, that was shocking. The delivery of news, the anxiety of reading the letter Hassan finally wrote after teaching himself how to read and write, brought me to tears literally. Upon reading the news of Hassan's death and Amir's denial as the news was delivered to him I was already tearing apart. The way Hosseini engaged me in this novel was super marvellous  I don't think I can easily express in any good way to match its standards. 

  Most readers of this book talked about how Hosseini was trying to make them like Amir better, personally speaking I dreaded Amir for being a coward and a selfish person. Hassan no matter how life sucked up for him, he showed the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and honesty. He was the perfect example of all of life toughest traits despite being treated lowly by his society. This shows what life really is all about. No matter how awful your life is, no matter how " bad " you think you're being treated, just look at the bright side, always because there's always that little thing that's going to bring a smile to your face and really make your day. I can not imagine the regrets Amir will live with for the rest of his life for ruining Hassan's life and for raising his son who eventually turned out to be his nephew, I really can't imagine the pain and regret that will fall upon him for having to watch his half-brother's son every single day and remember how awful he treated his father, that can end up killing you being it's inevitable.

I salute Hassan for his honesty, loyalty, courage, and yet again his loyalty.

  This book is just amazing, though it was criticised for its content and I have no right to comment on that whatsoever, regardless of all that, it was the novel of this year so far for me. Later on, I found out it was adopted into a movie, I struggled to find the right subtitles so I ended up watching in a language I've never heard before, but it was a good movie. To me it wasn't as good as the book because as always movies do not 100% adopt the book. I think it's just me, I always prefer books over movies but watching the characters come to life is really nice.

  For the second time, Hosseini impressed me and got me speechless, I'm already reading through his third novel "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and frankly its a masterpiece so far. 

  Taking the time to read after months of a lot of studying and working feels great, makes you think twice and trice to always make that time to open your book and just read. Always make that time no matter what.

And The Mountains Echoed

I've had this book for a year now and have always wanted to read it ever since. I actually started off last summer but then something made me lose interest in it so I just stopped reading it. I thought taking a break from it would make me want to go back to reading it. I've literally tried reading it again for the second time but something about it made me stop. A few days back I've decided to read another book after finishing  "The Missing One" and "And the Mountains echoed" was tempting, so I thought why not take the time and finish what I started. I'm just overwhelmed with what I was about to lose, sitting on my bookshelf. This book was the very first book where all my needs about all the characters mentioned are fulfilled. Every single character that conspired to building this novel had their life and background briefly explained throughout this book. It's what made me love every page of it, it wasn't a mess, it was very well organised and written, I just loved it very much. I knew who was who and how they contributed to the excitement and agony of the story, it was marvellous.

This is not your typical novel though, its about love, family, life and all the hardships that bring you down to make you take decisions that will eventually drain you out. It's for the best but it hurts very much. At the very end, when Pari grew old and had a family of her own that I couldn't stop thinking about what happened to her brother Abdullah, how was his life afterwards, did he get married and had a family of his own? Yes he did and how events escalated to the siblings meeting each other was my top most favorite part of this entire novel. It was too late that's for sure, but still it happened regardless of it being like what 53 years?

A masterpiece of life and reality.

Nicci French - Waiting for Wednesday

Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead

(A very short Review with no spoilers)

Now this book was quite interesting. A complete different approach to my preferred good reads, but I really liked it. I would definitely go for it's sequel but I'll read it as a bedtime book or when I need a little change from my regular reads.

A few notes , I never thought I would go back to YA but a friend of mine insisted on me reading this so I thought it would be worth the read. In fact it really was worth it, although it was short but it was really intense and I have to admit, Rosa is just the it girl! Her bad-girl attitude got me hooked!

This is not your typical high school/boarding school type of book (it's a 6 book series), but it's really fun to read, it sort of gets you so caught up you do not want to put the book down.

The movie as a side note was EPIC! The cast and plot and everything portrayed the book really well, and again this movie was yet another of my fave book-turned-movie movie where I liked the movie better.