Skip to main content

Holi Book Launch - Sharvari by Ashvini

Hope you all had a fantastic Holi. May your life be painted with all the colors of Holi in the days and months to come.

On this festive occasion, here is a sneak peek into a romance novella written by Ashvini. Set in ancient India, Sharvari is the first standalone novella in the Royal Romance Collection. If you love intriguing and steamy romances with a guaranteed HEA, do grab your copy from Amazon

Sharvari (Book 1 of Royal Romance Collection)


Betrayed in love and war, Sharvari makes one final attempt to save her people by offering herself to the victorious rival King of Sindh, Brihadrath. The handsome king gives her hope of a new start. But life at her new home is ridden with challenges. While she is coping with a slew of palace intrigues and assassination attempts, the man from her past haunts her. Can Sharvari overcome the hurdles and find love again?

Excerpt






“Move!” The goad hit her shoulder. She heard another soldier forbid the first one from hitting her again. It did not matter. She had grown numb to the pain. The second soldier caught hold of her bound hands and yanked her back to her feet. Many pairs of eyes stared upon her dusky hued limbs, a feast to eyes, for the wolf skin tunic that had made for the most of her clothing had been cast off long before. Save for the ragged jute that covered her breasts and her loins, her youth was on a display.


Modesty was the last of things on her mind as her legs gathered whatever strength they could to walk in to the court. Her lips quivered at an odd lewd word she heard while walking ahead, the ropes still pulling at her hands. But her eyes stayed fixed on the ground, on the marble flooring of the court hall, on the art that adorned the floor, on the flowery carpet that covered the stairs to the throne seat and on to the feet that wore the intricately carved sandals.

The Victorious King! Her gaze froze there. A cheer erupted in his name. “Long live King Brihadrath!”


Sharvari felt her limbs go numb. With an effort, she lifted her gaze to sight the blue silken Dhoti held in place by an ornate golden waist band. She then saw the garland of flowers around his neck, a whiff of their fragrance swept till where she stood. Strings of precious gems shone against the sunlight. King Brihadrath knew to groom himself! Or at least he knew what it took to impress a woman at the first sight.

Is what I heard about him correct? She prayed it was. As disgusting as the idea was, that was the only way she could save them all.

Her eyes met his. Sharvari saw them widen for a second before his lips parted as he signalled to the general to come closer.

“Were women captured and dragged along?”

The forbidding frown that momentarily passed on his forehead locked her gaze upon his face. Sharvari thought fast. She was ready for this. At least she thought she was.

Found the excerpt interesting? Download the book here: Buy Link: hyperurl.co/m0d8cl




About the author

Ashvini is a management professional turned storyteller. She loves to dream history and waves romantic fantasies set in ancient India. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and daughter.












Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Basu Chatterji's "Balcony Class" Films

Basu Chatterji's Rajnigandha was like a breath of fresh air in the 1970s film universe of Bombay. At a time when the Angry Young Man was beginning to dominate celluloid screens, Amol Palekar was as un-hero-like as you could get. He was the Common Man who traveled in buses, did not have hero-like mannerisms and did not breathe fire and brimstone at his opponents. Basu Chatterji's Middle of the Road Cinema burst on to the scene and surprised the movie-going audience with its everyday situations and storylines that had an undercurrent of humour. Chatterji catered to an audience that he liked to call the "Balcony Class".  Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author of Basu Chatterji and Middle-of-the-Road Cinema writes an entertaining and heartwarming account of the life and work of Basu Chatterji, one of the most under-rated directors of Indian cinema. Recall of Chatterji's brand of feel-good, slice-of-life movies is perhaps highest for his Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Baaton Baa
4 comments
Read more

'Pure Evil' has been my biggest and most complex project - Author Balaji Vittal

Love them or hate them, you simply can't ignore them. That cliche is perhaps most apt when it comes to the bad men of Bollywood. In fact, some of the most memorable lines of dialogue have been mouthed not by the heroes but by the villains of Hindi cinema. So it is only fitting that these shining stars of the dark world (after all, antagonists are the protagonists of their own stories!) deserve to be spotlighted. Balaji Vittal , the author of Pure Evil: the Bad Men of Bollywood undertakes this onerous task of highlighting the world of these evil characters and how they have come to occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of movie goers.  I spoke to Mr. Balaji Vittal, a National Award winning and MAMI Award winning author of Bollywood books, a columnist for News18, Outlook India, The New Indian Express , a Bollywood commentator and a public speaker, about his journey of venturing into the world of Pure Evil .   Here are some excerpts:   Your book "Pure Evil: the Bad Men
Post a Comment
Read more

Review of Vikram Vedha - The "Kahani" lets the film down

If there is one movie that is perhaps the Godfather of all dirty-cops-and-gangsters movies, it's gotta be The Departed by Martin Scorsese. Interestingly, it was an adaptation of the hit Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs . While the latter was itself a very popular film, it may not be wrong to say that The Departed has surpassed it by acquiring near cult status.   So, it was with this in mind I wanted to watch Vikram Vedha which is a remake of the Tamil film of the same name. The original film starring Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi was a huge blockbuster and it was no wonder that the filmmakers were keen to remake it in Hindi with Saif Khan and Hrithik Roshan in the roles of Vikram and Vedha. However, the Hindi remake failed to recreate the magic of the original. Even though the film is supposedly an exact copy, made by the very same filmmakers who directed the original.  While there has been a bunch of theories about why the Hindi version failed, the consensus has been that "
Post a Comment
Read more