Don’t be afraid to
Drop it, as if you’ve
Grabbed a piece of
Hot coal.
Don’t be hesitant to
Forget someone
If they’ve left and
Done their part.
Don’t be ashamed to
Stand against the crowd
If you’re loud enough
And there are eyes.
Who’s to decide
Right & Wrong?
Meanwhile do everything
That the situation warrants
And be proud.
– Meera
There’s
Nothing
Here, but a
Carefree passage.
A no-restraint smile.
Stray afar from those that
Offer no joy. But weep at
Even the slightest consoling.
They’d rather the bleak way than mend their
Say. So why dim and squint at a drab sight?
When you can look not hither & thither but
Guffaw at such imbecilic play.
- Meera
This nail art is inspired by a background seen in Katy Perry’s This Is How We Do music video. The colors used are slightly different in terms of shades but the idea followed is same..
– Meera
Disclaimer – All images courtesy of Google. I do not own any of the images used in this post.
I know a lot of people don’t really care about the condition of their books or fret over how someone else may handle it, but to the 10% of us even unnecessarily flipping the pages will reward you with the stink eye. Here are 9 things you don’t do with a borrowed book! (or atleast my books) :
1. Dog-ear the pages.
Ever heard of a thing called “bookmark”? Yes? USE IT! And stop being aesthetic with your triangular creases on my book pages. Some people shamelessly fold the edges to continue from where they stopped the last time. Here’s an idea, if you are that interested in the book – remember where you left off! Or atleast be humble and use a bill to mark the page.
2. Write on it.
No, you don’t need to leave sticky notes or highlighted segments in my own book. I know how to appreciate 
a good text without you having to draw circles or lines to help me remember. Also if you’re the kind to scribble phone numbers or reminders on any available surface, carry a notepad please. I’m really not interested in finding out what you’ve been upto lately through the careless scrawls on my book.
3. Lend it to someone else.
There’s no need to “share the book-love”. I am parting with my book so that you may enjoy it, aren’t I? That’s more than enough of sharing I can deal with. Now if you go behind my back and lend my book to someone else, don’t expect to have a merciful death!
4. Eat or drink while reading.
Spare the book and be multitasking some other time. While you are reading, keep them hands away from anything that could possibly spill and leave a stain on the pages. I don’t want to have to decipher words through gravy splotches or watered down letters.
5. Lose the book.
You DO NOT borrow my book, if there’s even the slightest chance that you are so aloof, you don’t realize you lost a book, a three dimensional object in your possession. Given the minute case that you do indeed lose it, be smart about it, buy the same copy and return it to me without a word. Feeling honest and open? You might as well bring a coffin with my copy of the book!
6. Take forever to read & return it.
I may have been patient enough to read that 600 paged volume, but that’s where my patience ends. If you 
think you can borrow my book and subtly make it a part of your bare minimum collection, then think again. I will hunt you down, if I have to, for even the thin comic that you took and never returned. When I say, “please return it soon”, I don’t think I meant two months. More like two weeks, and that’s if I am feeling generous or you are just a nice person.
7. Peel the plastic over the book cover.
Some people have this infuriating habit of picking at the plastic layering on the surface of book covers. They are there for a reason. And no, it doesn’t make the cover look anymore beautiful. So stop with the exploring! How would you feel if I were to run my nails against your skin, hoping to peel or scrape all that’s on the surface. Surely you have more than one layer of skin, right? So that should be okay, right? Pfft.
8. Crack the spine.
Book spines rank top in one of the things why we pay extra for a fancy cover. I like to be able to read the name of the book and author when it’s stacked on my bookshelf. Unnecessarily flipping through the book or stretching the pages wide apart (just because you can) will leave these horrible cracks from top to bottom of the spine. I’m sure you aren’t awaiting the day you are all bony and crinkly skinned, neither are these books.
9. Damage it in any other way.
While I’ve covered almost all the major ways people might be neglectful and stupid with respect to a borrowed book, there are those artsy ones who manage to capture a bug in between the pages or even return it with a rather thick smattering of dust. What did you do? Wait for Tinkerbell to spread fairy dust? Oh wait, did you like the depth of narration in page 112? Is that why you decided to rip it out for your convenience? Come on, be nice to my book. Atleast as nice as you expect me to be with you!
So that’s that. Next time you want to borrow a book, keep these in mind. Its really not nice to have to buy another 
copy of the same book because some idiot friend didn’t care for it enough. Also, we don’t like to be bitter about such things, after all we are book-lovers (the best kind of lovers in the world, really). Hence be thoughtful and let’s all just live in a happy world filled with books.
– Meera
This second book in the series takes the reader further into the life of Alicia Trent and her friends. Magic, forgery, betrayal, and fabulous jewels surround Alicia as she struggles to find the reason for her friend’s death.
Grab a copy:
Wings e Press I Amazon I Barnes & Noble
Excerpt:
We were nearly halfway up the stairs when I heard Lawrence groan. I turned to see what had happened. He was deathly white, and while I watched, he sank down on the closest step. He was sweating heavily and clutching his stomach. He didn’t seem coherent enough to answer any questions, so I ducked into my room and called for an ambulance. They only took about ten minutes to arrive, but it was horrible to wait. Lawrence was obviously in great pain, but couldn’t tell me what was wrong.
The ride to the hospital took an eternity. They wouldn’t let me ride in the ambulance, and I was so afraid of what would happen before he arrived. I was shaking and behind the wheel of a car was the last place I should have been, but as the ambulance tore through the streets with the siren blaring, I was right behind them.
I ran from the parking lot into the emergency room just in time to see them take Lawrence through a set of swinging doors where I couldn’t follow. I slumped into a chair, and for the next two hours I sat in a waiting room with dull green walls and hard metal chairs. I never moved while I waited. My mind was busy begging Lawrence to hold on.
Since I was the only one waiting, when I saw an exhausted-looking man dressed in scrubs walk into the room, I took a deep breath and hurried to his side.
He said, “Are you the relative who brought Lawrence Hall in tonight?”
Afraid they wouldn’t tell me anything if I confessed to not being a relative, I just nodded.
“Mr. Hall is a very sick man. He’s been poisoned, and we think he must have eaten poisonous mushrooms. Our tests indicate they were probably green-spored lepiota.”
At this point I wanted to scream at him to just tell me his condition. He could explain the details after I knew how Lawrence was.
However, he wasn’t finished explaining. “This particular mushroom doesn’t normally cause death, but among its other symptoms it can dangerously lower blood pressure. Mr. Hall must be on some type of medication that has the same effect, or at least exacerbated the effect of the mushroom, because we nearly lost him. It’s a good thing you got him here when you did. We have him stabilized now, and he should make a full recovery.”
I barely heard anything the man said except the last statement. Lawrence was going to be all right! My knees weakened with relief and I sank into the nearest chair.
He continued, “He’s awake, and we need to monitor him closely for a while. We want to keep him tonight and tomorrow for observation, but he can probably go home after that. If you want to see him, you can visit for a short time, but first, can you tell me what type of medication he’s taking? He was still pretty confused when I talked to him and wasn’t able to tell me.”
“I don’t know the exact medication. Lawrence is bi-polar, so it has to be something for that. I’ll see if I can find out the name for you.”
I got the room number and was practically running in my need to see for myself that he was alive and recovering. I burst into the room, nearly knocking over a nurse on her way out. She cautioned me the patient needed rest and, with a frown in my direction, left the room. I pulled a chair up next to the bed and took Lawrence’s hand. “You look so much better already. You have some color back.”
He said, “You look terrible. You can relax. I’m going to be fine. I was a little worried in the beginning because the confusion felt the way some of my episodes used to begin. The confusion is gone now, and I really am fine. It’s left me very tired, but they don’t want me to sleep yet. Tell me exactly what happened. I’m sure the gory details will help keep me awake. The last thing I remember is starting up the stairs, and then brief moments in the ambulance.”
I wanted to answer in the same matter-of-fact way he’d asked the question. I tried, but before I could begin, tears were running down my face and I couldn’t find my voice. I didn’t sob or howl. Strangely, I didn’t make any noise at all. I just stared at Lawrence, horrified because he might have died trying to help me. All the while the silent tears kept coming.
He said, “Ali, we can’t have this. I’ve seen you go through some horrible times, but I’ve never seen you cry. There’s no need for you to be so upset. I promise you I will be out of here tomorrow, and all will be well. Even the doctor says so.”
I gulped a few times trying to find my voice. It didn’t sound good, but I managed to say, “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. When you get out of here, you’re going right back to Scottsdale! I should never have involved you in any of this.”
“Whoa there, girl! In the first place, I’m a grown man and you can’t involve me in anything I don’t choose to be involved in. In the second place, you and your crazy mixed-up life are the main thing keeping me from getting old and bored. Bad things happen sometimes, but none of this is your fault. Now dry those tears and tell me how I got here.”
I hiccuped a few times but got myself under control. “Okay, I’m not trying to take the blame for what happened, but I was so scared. It seems you were poisoned. I wasn’t in much shape to listen to the doctor, but it was some kind of mushroom. There were mushrooms in the food we ate at supper, but we both ate those. Someone targeted you specifically. At the moment, I have no idea why they did it, but I don’t think whoever did this was trying to kill you. The doctor said the symptoms were severe but not normally fatal. The problem seemed to be a reaction between the poison and your medication. Whoever did this couldn’t have known that you take anything, or at least not that your medicine would react with the mushrooms. The doctor asked me to find out the name of your prescription.”
“I vaguely remember him asking me, but I was pretty confused then and couldn’t remember. It’s Geodon. They tried dozens before, but nothing worked until this came along. I’m one of the lucky ones, because it not only keeps the problem in check, but I don’t suffer from any severe side effects. This reaction with poison mushrooms is something I certainly never expected. I should have told you ages ago in case of a relapse or some bizarre circumstances like these.”
“I’ll let the doctor know the name of the medicine. I don’t know if your medication lowers your blood pressure, but it dropped dangerously low. That’s what had the doctors worried.”
“I don’t know either, but the doctors will figure it out. I understand I have to be in here until tomorrow evening, even though I tried to talk them into letting me go sooner. You need to promise me you won’t do anything the least bit dangerous until I get back. One day isn’t going to make any difference. Whoever did this may have planned it to separate us for some reason. So promise me you’ll be careful and not spend time alone.”
The frowning nurse came back and warned me I needed to leave. Visiting hours were over and the patient needed rest.
I said, “Don’t worry about me. I promise I will take every precaution until you’re out of here. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon and will drive you to the house when they release you. Just get well!”
Outside the room, Detective Wilton was waiting for me.
About the Author:
From living off the grid in the Arizona desert, Eileen has moved to the woods of upstate New York. She has authored a standalone adventure novel called Desert Shadow. She is also the author of Alicia Trent Series. The Black Cane : Dowager Diaries Book 1 is her latest release.
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– Meera
I received this ebook as part of the Blog Tours hosted by Book R3vi3w Tours. Thank you!
Antique Magic is a short supernatural novel that revolves around the unraveling of mysteries left behind by Bernice Hall, a very ambitious antiquarian with an even riddled motive behind her obsession. Alicia Trent, the protagonist of the story, gets employed in the Hall mansion, after Mrs. Hall’s death, so as to evaluate and sell the enormous collection of antiques nestled in every corner of the house. Thoroughly enjoying her job, Alicia doesn’t see the large sledge hammer about to turn her into a human slush. Someone is trying very hard to make sure she doesn’t succeed in her job and they are not being subtle about it. With multiple threats looming in the horizon and even more number of suspects, Ali has no clue why anyone would have a problem with harmless, kind-loving Bernice Hall, or her either.
The story started off extremely well. It builds a thrilling atmosphere and pushes you to find out what happens later. So good that I was sure it would definitely be worth a 5 star. And that was for the first 5-6 chapters. Then the quality of description tapered off for a bit. That’s where sections of the novel started to go awry. I didn’t like the protagonist much and so it was difficult to understand her. She behaved without reason and was often immature in her decisions. Many of the dialogues fell flat and weren’t so promising. As for realistic depiction of characters, I found Mrs. Baylor to be a relatable personality who helped Ali throughout and was supportive. The style of narration is rather fun, it covers in detail everything that Alicia does during the day, almost like a journal. And I absolutely love journals made into books. The plot is what sold me into reading this and is a very creative concept to come up with. Kudos to the author for that. I’ve never read any book where antiques played a major role in the storyline and Ali’s job seems to be real fun, apart from when she is dodging death threats. As a reader, we are made to stand on our toes, wondering who is the culprit and there are so many characters, that it is mind boggling. The number of potential love interests for Ali, in the novel, is ridiculously hilarious. All in all, it was a quick, nice read.
Ratings – 3 stars on 5.
Meera
Bright day blues, challenges
And muse. Where ought I go, when
Even paths won’t show?
– Meera
