Memories

She: We are making memories that shall hurt tomorrow.

He: We are making memories that shall be cherished tomorrow.

Image Source: Pexels

Book Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

The Hating Game is a debut novel by Sally Thorne. Seriously?! How can she write so profoundly, keeping you hooked with all the expectations and amazement while reading ? Dear Sally, I love you. You have excellently defined the thin line of hate and love and how love exists under all the intricacies, always!

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers (08/09/2016)

The Hating Game is an adult contemporary romance novel which revolves around the love-hate relationship of Lucy Hutton & Joshua Templeman. Man! I loved his character. They hate each other so much so that they could strangle. Though it is predictable they will ultimately fall in love. But it is just not about love, Sally Thorne has described the complexity of one’s personality and relationships.

Lucy is quirky, always joyful and everyone “likes” her but it’s because she comes across as a ‘people-pleaser’. Saying ‘No’ is difficult for her.

Joshua is uptight, with no smile, esoteric and a complete badass at workplace. Why is he so hard to please and employees are scared of him is a result of his life as a child and young adult.

Lucy and Joshua are busy with the Staring game at work, neither of them waving the white flag. Their love blooms in first few chapters. Confessing love doesn’t come easy for either Lucy or Joshua.

 

I had expected the office romance will come to a steamy end. But I was baffled the way the story goes on.

Lucy comes up close to the hard shelled Joshua and can see pleasant personality underneath his rebellious nature. Female readers will swoon over Joshua Templeman. He is a character you will find difficult not to fall for and wish for him to be true.

The highlight of the book for me is second half where Lucy uncovers the mystery behind Joshua’s sternness.

Sally Thorne portrays how expectations from parents can damage a child’s mind. “Fitting in” and carrying on family profession is not a hard fast rule. Joshua gets entangled in his father’s expectations and after being labelled as a ‘quitter’ wears an armour of disgust. With all this going on, Lucy hates him a little more and finally loves him more than the hate.

I will summarise this book as: Hilarious. Addictive. Incredible writing.

I can't help but share few of my favorite lines from the book:

Both love an hate are mirror versions of the same game - and you have to win. Why? Your heart and your ego. 

His smile is worth a thousand of anyone else's. I need a photograph. I need something to hold on to. I need this entire bizarre planet to stop spinning so I can freeze this moment in time. 

There's a little candlelight flicker in the vicinity of my heart. 

Photo by Crystal Shaw on Unsplash

She is Phoenix

She has an aura of glamour 
She can be stylish
She can be blunt 
She carries her silence 
Like an armour 
She isn't fragile 
Her words can shatter your soul
She can be kind 
She can be cruel
Yet she will love you
Till eternity 
Can you see the invisible wings? 
She can flap them to create a tornado 
Or wrap you in them to keep you safe
Make the mistake of caging her
She will break the bars
She is a free bird 
You burn her
She will rise as a Phoenix 
From her own ashes
Again, Forever... 

Copyright: Beyond Horizon

Photo by 小胖 车 on Unsplash

Words & Soul

Everyday I hunt for words as beautiful as your soul but all goes in vain.

©Beyond Horizon

I Still Miss You

And I still miss you
Like the crescent moon in the morning sky and
The one I can never have

©Beyond Horizon

Book Review: You're Never Weird On The Internet by Felicia Day

I finished reading Felicia Day’s memoir – ‘You’re NeverWeird on the Internet (Almost)’ without even knowing who Felicia Day is. Yes! I picked this book because it was much raved on Goodreads and the titled intrigued me.

Felicia Day comes from a family where ‘intelligence’ runs in their blood. Day with her satirical writing narrates her homeschooled life, being a geek and her college life, violin prodigy and raving about her perfect SAT score at age of 16.

I haven’t read many memoirs but this book crosses the “usual” style of writing a memoir. She makes you laugh and inspires you with her life experiences. Her nerdiness, making her stamp in online gaming community and reaching to Hollywood wasn’t easy.

The end feeling after reading her memoir will be, “I am not alone.” Felicia did not shy away her mental health problems. She brought her anxiety and the long depressive years of writing script for “The Guild” into light.

Felicia candidly explains how she was striving to outdo her own expectation which was set high after the success of the web series (The Guild). To read about the struggle to make first few episodes of the series is heartrending (filmed in garage, actors working for free).

Felicia tasted the success in the era of birth of YouTube and social media. She worked hard, way too hard for it and writes about how living a life online is difficult especially for a woman. She has dedicated an entire chapter ‘Gamer Gate’, an online harassment campaign against women in gaming world. She has included the hate notes, tweets from trolls in this chapter.

I dragged myself to continue reading the initial chapters but from the point she began writing about The Guild, the hard work to make it successful, drowning in self-doubt, friends alongside her throughout the dark phase of her life, made this book worth a read.

Felicia day embraces her being weird unapologetically by saying: My weirdness turned into my greatest strength in life. It’s why I’m who I am today...

Internet is a weird place: We want followers, likes, we fear FOMO, the feel-good feeling after many likes and comments but one negative spark can ruin life even though internet is not a place that we ‘live in’.

Take away from this book:

 “No matter what you feel is holding you back in life, you can attempt anything.

Music Doesn't Need Language

They may not understand each others language
They speak the language of love
Has anyone defined the language of love? 

Likewise music touches the soul despite the lyrics. It is magical, you might guess the essence of the song even though it is in the language you do not know. 

I request you to listen the song from the movie Ennu Ninte Moideen - Kaathirunnu Kaathirunnu. I am sure you would feel the emotions. If not, let me know!