Kidnapped the Wrong Sister by Marie Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lust filled love story wherein one falls in love with the one who kidnaps her.

Storyline: Diona and Darlyle Brown are two orphan sisters who lead a modest life in Britain. Darlyle one day suddenly informs her elder sister Diona, that she is going to marry Alexis, the brother of a rich business tycoon Nikias Dranias, and elopes to Greece. Diona sensing trouble immediately shoots off to Greece to save her sister from a disaster. But she gets kidnapped by Nikias and held hostage in his private island, having been mistaken as Darlyle. Her stay in the luxurious island and repeated vigorous sexual encounters with the rich, handsome and sexy Nikias brings her intimacy and ultimately she falls in love with him. Nikias, though initially mistakes her to be a schemer and master sketcher to claim some ransom from him on behalf of her sister, later realizes that Diona came to Greece just to take her sister away from his brother Alexis, and he wrongly kidnapped her instead. Meanwhile Alexis and Darlyle get married and live happily. The true love of Diona is reciprocated by Nikias by not only confessing his love to her but also with an offer to marry her; just at the time when Diona decides to leave Nikias forever, instead of just being his bed partner.

Positives: A beautiful soft story to reveal how love between two strangers can be born so suddenly, out of nowhere. Also to elicit that sometimes lust and physical attachment gives way to long lasting love and undoubtedly becomes the binding factor for two people to stay together forever. Very plain and smooth ride through the book. Good enough for a weekend time pass. Love rides though wealth gallops.

Negatives: Except for the mistaken kidnap and violent sexual encounters between Nikias and Diona, there are not much twists and turns in the story. Very few rich guys out there nowadays who do not mix love and lust together. Does physical intimacy between a male and female enhance true love? Or does it bring it down?

My rating is 3 out of 5


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TROY (A EUROPEAN EPIC WAR MOVIE - 2004)

Directed by Wolfgang Peterson. Produced by Wolfgang Peterson/Diana Rathbun/Colin Wilson. Starring Brad Pitt (Achilles), Eric Bana (Prince Hector of Troy), Orlando Bloom (Prince Paris of Troy), Diana Kruger (Queen Helen of Sparta) and Brian Cox (Agamemnon) in lead roles.

Storyline: The king of Achaea (old Greece) Agamemnon and king of Sparta (Menelaus) were brothers. Agamemnon had a long cherished wish to capture the wealthy and powerful kingdom of Troy, ruled by King Priam, who makes a peace pact with Sparta to avoid the invasion of Agamemnon. But, the younger Prince of Troy, Paris falls in love with the wife of Agamemnon, Queen Helen. He smuggles her to Troy. This angers both Menelaus and Agamemnon and gives them a reason to attack Troy with all their forces in 1000 ships. They take the help of Achilles, the greatest warrior ever born in this world, lord of the deadly warrior clan of Greece, called the Myrmidons, for this attack. Achilles, unwillingly takes up the job as he was against the principles of Agamemnon and his unjustified invasions. Achilles skillfully wins the initial war against Troy, by taking over their coveted Temple of Apollo, where he comes across the beautiful Brisies, cousin of the Prince of Troy, Hector, with whom he falls in love. Prince Hector, the elder son of King Priam, an equally fierceful warrior, defeats the Greek army with his great war skills. In his second reluctant attack Hector kills the cousin of Achilles, mistaking him for Achilles himself. This greatly angers Achilles and kills Hector in a one to one tussle, avenging his cousin’s death. Achilles repents for this act of his, when King Priam begs to give back his brave son’s corpse for last funeral rights. After a brief peace assurance for twelve days, the Greeks enter the impregnable Troy walls hidden in a wooden horse, which the Trojans mistake for a gift to their God Apollo, for having attacked Troy. The Greeks plunder Troy by burning the city to ashes, ruthlessly killing the men and the babies after raping their women. The royal family women along with Prince Paris escape through a secret passage built by Hector. Agamemnon, Menelaus and Priam along with all their great generals die in this dastard attack in the night. Achilles, also gets killed by Paris’s deadly arrows when the former tries to find his lover Brisies in the palace. Finally, Achilles is given full royal funeral pyre in the ruins of Troy by the Greeks, as a farewell to the greatest warrior that ever lived on this Earth.

Positives: One of the greatest epic war movies ever made in the history of world cinema. Another proof that mankind’s self destruction happens only due to the hunger for either power or a woman. Lot of study and research has gone into the making of this movie which has given the right aroma of excitement through hair raising scenes brought out in the greatest wars of olden days. The true story of the rivalry between Greece and Troy and the great war that resulted in destruction of one of the most prosperous and powerful kingdom of Troy is exquisitely shown on silver screen. Kudos to the production and technical team which captured every minute detail of the true epic story, on celluloid. The warrior skills of Achilles and Hector, the two greatest warriors of those days, was brought back to life as if those men exist even today, amongst us. Perfect screenplay, music, action, and result.

Negatives: Though Brad Pitt well suited as Achilles, Eric Bana as Prince Hector, seemed a little misfit. Hector was shown as too weak compared to Achilles both in physique and mental state, which is actually, not true, in history. There should have been more of Helen and Paris, whose selfish love (rather infatuation) was the actual reason behind the fall of a great kingdom and death of two great warriors.

My rating is 4.75 out of 5

Goal Setting: How to Get Everything You Want In Less Time by Josh Adams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A simple guide to set your goals in career or personal life. One can read this book when one has short time in transit or waiting for someone. Goal setting is easy if one has a zeal to excel but difficult when he or she fears failure and procrastinates. Various points of how to set goals based on self belief, inner desires, priorities in life, commitment, honor, time allocation, self discipline, resources and rewards.
Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Rewarding, Time Bound (SMART) goals are always the best and good to pursue, as per the author.

My rating is 2.5 out of 5


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PERCY JACKSON: THE SEA OF MONSTERS (HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE FANTASY MOVIE)

Directed by Thor Freudenthal, Produced by Michael Barnathan/Karen Rosenfelt, Starring Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson), Brandon Jackson (Grover), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), Douglas Smith (Tyson) and Jake Abel (Luke). Music by Andrew Lockington, Cinematography by Shelly Johnson.

Storyline: Camp Half-Blood is a little township where the children of Gods live in peace and harmony. This is where Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon-Greek God of the Sea) and his friends Annabeth, Grover, Luke and Tyson (Percy’s half brother) live. Long ago, a girl called Thalia, daughter of the eldest God, Zeus, sacrifices her life to protect Annabeth, Luke and Grover against a monster attack. Her death leaves her to be transformed into a pine tree and form a protection layer to the Camp. One day Luke, the great grandson of the evil Titan God Kronos, tries to revive him from his coffin through the Golden Fleece, and seeks Percy’s help, since he believes that Percy is the only living child of the eldest Gods, as per a legend of the Oracle. Percy turns down Luke’s proposal. Luke in protest, poisons Thalia’s tree and disappears. The Camp elders now know that the tree can be saved only through the Golden Fleece, which has magical powers to heal and raise the dead. Percy and his friends set out to obtain the Fleece from Polyphemus Lair in an island in the middle of the Sea of Monsters. Percy adventures to get the Fleece from the monster man and while returning is confronted by Luke. The Golden Fleece is used to raise the Kronos from his coffin, by Luke. But Percy valiantly kills the Kronos with his Riptide, a cursed blade gifted by his father. Percy and his team bring back the Golden Fleece to the Camp Half-Blood and revive the dying Thalia tree and restores the protection layer. In the process, Thalia also comes back to life due to the magical power of the Golden Fleece only to reveal her true identity and surprise everyone.

Positives: An visual treat for all age groups. Though the story line is a little confusing for those who haven’t seen the first part in Percy Jackson series, one gets to enjoy the extensive graphics used and great screenplay assisted by beautiful cinematography. The visual effects are so rich and colourful that the audience is virtually carried into a different world, when watched on big screen.

Negatives: The story line is confusing for those who haven’t watched the previous Percy Jackson movie “The Lightning Thief”.

My rating is 4 out of 5

Love Gone Mad by Mark Rubinstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A deadly fiction based on psychiatric disorder of a man who loved his wife very much.

Storyline: Conrad Wilson, a sexually abused child by his adopted father, grows up to be physically strong but with a psychiatric ailment called paranoid delusional disorder. He believes that his beloved beautiful wife Megan Haggarthy cheated upon him by bearing a girl child which doesn’t belong to him, but of a person called Dr.Adrian Douglas, a cardio surgeon. The reason behind which he ventures to kill both of them. Megan takes a divorce from Conrad and lives with her daughter separately, under police protection.
Dr Adrian, a divorced man, who is desperate to live a life with a beautiful small family of his own, gets attacked by Conrad even before he ever met Megan. Adrian meets Megan once accidentally, after the attack, and they immediately fall in love. Conrad makes multiple attempts to murder the lovers and ends up in jail followed by a court trial wherein his lawyers prove that Conrad was suffering from insanity and a psychiatric disorder due to his abused childhood. The twist in the story and the reality comes in when Adrian and Megan discover that the child of Megan does really belong to Adrian, when Megan conceives with artificial insemination of the sperm from Adrian at the sperm bank. This is unknown to both of them. This secret is found out by Conrad due to his extra-ordinary animal trait of being able to smell the genetic odour of the child matching with that of Adrian, even before the donor and the recipient knew about it. This as explained by the experts is due to the extra large olfactory node present in Conrad like in animals that can smell the scent of their offspring. This secret is held by Megan as she couldn’t conceive through Conrad and wanted to keep the marriage intact.
Conrad is sent to a rehabilitation centre from where he again escapes cleverly by pretending good behaviour with the authorities, only to attack the married Adrian-Megan couple, once again, to take revenge for being cheated by Megan, whom he loved very much and wanted the same in return. The couple is saved by the police in the nick of time and Conrad gets killed in the tussle.
The original secret gets cremated forever between Adrian and Megan while the police and court thinks that Conrad suffered from a psychiatric disorder.

Positives: A very interesting page turner right from the beginning. A scintillating thriller. The medical link to legal trials and the outcome involving a set of doctors and lawyers trying to show their each other’s superiority in the court is commendable. The psychiatric disorder of Conrad and the way it is used to save Conrad from being convicted by his lawyer is worth reading. Overall, the scientific reasons behind Conrad’s behaviour and his animal traits in being able to identify his offspring through his ability to smell is hair raising. A perfect blend of love, law and science makes the book highly thrilling.

Negatives: The dis-integrating human values in the society is a matter of concern once again. The absurd behaviour of irresponsible parents towards their children which lead to the making of such psychos in the society challenging the security of the good ones. This book might give the readers the fear of such impending danger.



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