I would like to welcome Anju Gattani to The Avid Reader today. Thanks for stopping by Anju. Anju will be discussing with us: "Reading To Take Flight!".
Book Title: Duty and Desire
Series: Winds of Fire #1
Author: Anju Gattani
Genre: Family Saga
Publisher: Greenbrier Book Co.
Paperback/Ebook:
Pages: 304
Purchase
Book Description
How Can Happiness Survive When Duty Clashes With Desire?
Sheetal Prasad has it all: youth, beauty, wealth and education. But when this modern Indian woman surrenders love for honor and marries into India’s most glamorous ‘royal family’, these very advantages turn against her and she is stripped of her freedom.
Meet the Dhanrajs — a powerful family bound together by a web of lies where infidelity, greed, secrets and hidden identities lurk beneath the lush tapestry. The Dhanrajs have plenty to hide and will do what it takes to mask the truth from the world.
As Sheetal peels back the layers of deceit, she confronts a haunting reality and is threatened by the blazes of passion she ignites.
Excerpt
“She loved him. She reached out to touch him and soothe his anger. “I risked everything just coming here to be with you.”
“Not to be with me. To tell me. You came to tell me you’re marrying someone else. And you expect me to do nothing?” That’s exactly what she did expect, because society required a woman to marry the man her parents chose for her.
Arvind grabbed Sheetal by the shoulders and gazed into her eyes. “Do you understand how much I love you?”
She understood. “I have no choice, Arvind.” Sheetal took a long, deep breath and clasped her fingers together. “Love isn’t enough for my father. Money, reputation, class and status. That’s what matters to him.” Until now she had ignored the imitation suede shoes on his feet and the ripped, beige, front pocket of his shirt; things she would have never have noticed if her mother hadn’t brought them to her attention a while back. “My father wants me,”—she bit her lip, knowing her words would hurt him—“well taken care of.”
Guest Post
Reading To Take Flight!
Why do you read?
For the love of language?
Of words?
Of perfectly formed sentences?
Or to be whisked away to another world?
I’ve loved – yes LOVED, to read since I was a child. I remember hugging my mother tight and reading books with her from the ‘Ladybird’ series (available in UK and Asia). I also grew up on fairy tales.
Then there was Richard Scarry’s ‘What Do People Do All Day?’ It was a huge colorful book about a town of rabbits, rodents, other friendly creatures, and their professions… like the baker’s, a restaurant, a hospital, the grocery store, a cruise liner (yes, I learned early on that running a cruise liner for rabbits is full-time job too!). There wasn’t too much text (in fine print) but there were a whole load of pictures, scenes and tiny vignettes in each location.
I’d spend hours looking at the pictures, admiring the mouse checking a lion-patient’s temperature, the rabbit spilling someone’s lunch overboard and another of a mouse who accidentally rammed his shopping trolley in a stack of apples. I never grew tired of reading this book over and over again because there was always some detail I’d missed seeing before.
Still, why did I keep going back to the beginning knowing what lay ahead? I didn’t understand at the time.
Now I do.
Reading launched me into the scene…it was like the back-story. But pictures were the wings to spread my imagination. There were no restrictions. I could choose whatever direction I wanted my story to take and finish with a different ending… like the ‘Choose your own Adventure’ series I devoured in my early teens. The sky was the limit.
And now I’ve written a book. But how did the story come to be? Where did it start?
With a visual. A day-dream. I put pen to paper 10 years ago and wrote for 1.5 years. The story, I learned, wasn’t just 1 book but 3 or 4 in what is now my ‘Winds of Fire’ series. I didn’t realize the sky was the limit again. I just spread my imagination and let it fly.
I guess there are some things about me that will never change, that will never ‘grow up’. Is that the same with you?
About the Author
Anju was born in India but grew up in Hong Kong. Her Indian upbringing and British education worked together to strongly influence her writing.
Anju’s fiction explores how the distinct mindsets and traditions of different cultures permanently shape people’s values, thinking, and behavior patterns—for both good and evil—despite the “leveling” effects of 21st century communications and travel.
Anju earned a Bachelors degree in English Literature in India and a teaching degree in the United Kingdom. She has also studied creative writing.
Anju has lived in Singapore, Australia, India, New Jersey and Connecticut. She now makes her home in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two kids. Anju is a columnist for a multicultural magazine in the USA. She is also an avid guest blogger, who loves to share her experiences in health and fitness, food, self-empowerment and great fiction reads.
Duty and Desire is her first novel.
Find the Author
Website
Goodreads
Be sure and check out all the other stops on the tour.
Tour Schedule
September 10th- My Seryniti (Review/Interview)
September 11th- My Escape (Guest Post)
September 12th- Beach Bum Reads (Book Review/Giveaway)
September 13th- Crazy Four Books (Review/Giveaway)
September 14th- Simply Infatuated (Giveaway)
September 15th- Bookluvrs Haven (Review/Giveaway)
September 16th- Lizzy's Dark Fiction (Guest Post/Giveaway)
September 17th- Reading with Holly (Excerpt/Giveaway)
September 18th- FireStarBooks (Interview)
September 19th- Tricia Kristufek (Guest Post)
September 20th- Juniper Grove (Interview/Giveaway)
September 21st- The Avid Reader (Guest Post)
September 22nd- A Bit of Dash (Excerpt/Giveaway)
September 23rd- Black Hippie Chick's Take on Books & The World (Interview/Giveaway)
September 24th- SnifferWalk (Review/Giveaway)
September 25th- A Bibliophile's Thoughts on Books (Excerpt/Giveaway)
September 26th- Mallory Heart Reviews (Excerpt)
September 27th- Day Dreaming Book Reviews (Guest Post/Giveaway)
September 28th- The Bunnys Review (Excerpt)
September 29th- I am, Indeed (Review/Giveaway)
This tour was put together by FMB Blog Tours
2 comments:
Thanks so much for hosting my debut novel and guest blog! I enjoyed sharing the childhood writing experiences with your readers and hope you'll enjoy the read of DUTY AND DESIRE!@
I enjoyed reading about your experiences of reading as a child. As I too remember reading books at an early age. I am glad that I got the chance to have you on my blog as a guest. Thanks Anju, for stopping by. I do love it when authors take time out of their busy life to visit me and leave a comment.
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