Fresh off the press titles

There's never a dull moment when you immerse yourself in the pages of a title you just can't put down. Here's a list of what February has to offer for your reading club.

Grave Intentions (A Harith Athreya Mystery)

The second Harith Athreya mystery: A Golden Age-esque cosy crime set in contemporary India, for fans of Lucy Foley and Knives Out. 'A rollercoaster... perfect for fans of Agatha Christie' Harini Nagendra, author of The Bangalore Detectives Club.

Seasoned detective Harith Athreya is back, this time to investigate suspicious thefts on a riverside dig in the heart of remote Bundelkhand, steeped in myth and history. Here the legend goes that anyone who sets foot on nearby island Naaz Tapu will be cursed forever. When an archeologist defies local folklore, the fallout is swift and deadly. Is the death a result of the ancient curse, or is it a more down-to-earth case of murder? Athreya needs to unravel the truth from legend before the curse strikes again...

The Parent's Complete Guide to Ayurveda: Principles, Practices, and Recipes for Happy, Healthy Kids

A comprehensive and user-friendly guidebook including over 50 Ayurvedic health and wellness practices for children, ages 3–16, with healing plans for common ailments—co-written by an Ayurveda specialist with over two decades of experience in pediatric health.

The traditional holistic health system of Ayurveda offers a wealth of effective lifestyle advice and remedies for the whole family.The Parent's Complete Guide to Ayurveda is an accessible primer to pediatric Ayurveda, with simple, commonsense dietary, herbal, and self-care practices to both address various ailments and promote vibrant health and well-being in children ages 3–16.

Dr. Jayarajan Kodikannath, an Ayurvedic specialist, and Alyson Young Gregory, an Ayurvedic health counselor and educator, provide a wellness roadmap that parents can tailor to their children's individual mind-body type, known as prakriti. This book first gives parents the tools to determine their child's prakriti and then offers customized everyday diet and lifestyle guidelines based on traditional Ayurvedic principles for a healthy body and mind, including yoga, meditation, breathing practices, and daily wellness routines.

The advice offered in this book includes:

l How to prevent and manage common ailments and disorders with diet and home remedies

l How to encourage healthy habits around sleep, diet, exercise, and screen time

l Easy-to-make tonics, teas, and soaks to alleviate a number of conditions, including tummy aches, stress, colds, insomnia, sluggishness, and dehydration

l Ayurvedic perspectives on digestive, metabolic, respiratory, and emotional disorders prevalent in children today

l And much more.

ONE WAY TO LOVE

Young Tehzeeb Hasan negotiates life, relationships, career, and romance in this sizzling love story. Tehzeeb Hasan's family home, Jasmine Villa, may be a villa only in name, but she loves it dearly. Living there with her father and two younger sisters, working a job she likes and deftly dodging the many marriage proposals the neighbourhood aunties keep sending for her, Tehzeeb has a happy life. Marriage is the last thing on her mind, until fate conspires to bring her face to face with Ayub Ahmed.

Young and handsome Ayub Ahmed is one of the most eligible bachelors in the city, but he has no desire to get married. However, when he meets the utterly charming Tehzeeb, he changes his mind. Smitten by each other, the two decide to marry, and suddenly Tehzeeb finds herself struggling with her new life. Not only is she expected to be a perfect bahu at all times—dressed in flowy ghagras, and heavy jewellery—she has very little in common with her new family. Stifled by the numerous vapid parties she has to attend, she yearns to break free.

Will Tehzeeb be able to hold on to her own identity amidst the well-coiffed ladies who lunch? Will Ayub's love for her override their many differences? Will the young couple actually be able to make their marriage work despite all odds? An irresistible romance, One Way to Love is the first book in the Jasmine Villa series.

LOVING YOU TWICE

Amongst the three sisters of Jasmine Villa, Ana Hasan has always been the reserved and self-possessed one. She keeps her feelings closely guarded and is good at pretending things are fine even when they are not. When she finds herself seated next to Luqman Ahmed on a flight, Ana is disconcerted to discover her control over her emotions slipping. Suddenly she knows why she has avoided men like him all her life.

Tired of taking long transatlantic flights for work, Luqman is seriously considering relocating to the US. But his plans go awry when on one such flight he is seated next to Ana. Captivated by her understated charm and good looks, he soon can't stop thinking about her.

The attraction they feel is hard to deny, but before the two can even confess to it, their lives are thrown far apart and brought dangerously close at the same time. Will Ana and Luqman's budding love survive? Will they be able to withstand the double whammy that fate has planned for them? A heady, exhilarating romance, Loving You Twice is the second book in the Jasmine Villa series by Andaleeb Wajid.

TANTRIK AGHORANAND (PART 1)

The cult of the Tantra is an ancient esoteric tradition. Many consider it a spiritual science. It is mentioned in Vedic texts and in Buddhist and Jain texts too. There are various Hindu tantric traditions within Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism.

Anil Shekhar 'Amas' was initiated into the mystical world of tantric practices in 1992 as a twenty-year-old by his guru Dr. Narayan Dutt Shrimali. This first part in a series of riveting tales covers the making of Tantric Aghoranand based on the author's own experiences.

DHRAKHNI

The worship of Devi Drakhani involves a bloody sacrifice. On the night of Kaushiki amavasya every year, the temple drenches itself in the blood of 365 goats, and one woman. No ordinary woman, but one who has been marked to be the Rajmahishi, the wife of Raja Chakrabarti Indrashish. The festivities go on for seven days, and on the seventh day, on the auspicious occasion of ashtamangala, King Indrashish chooses a virginal woman as his consort. The chosen woman enjoys a charmed life as the queen of Rajchakrabarti. Till the next puja, when she is made ready for the goddess. She is then beheaded at the gold-cast altar. While her head is offered to the goddess, her body is washed away by the currents of the Lurni river.

The virgin handpicked for the Devi Drakhani ritual this year is the daughter of a farmer. Urmi's mother Mugdha cries at the rotten luck of her daughter. Will Urmi be able to break the cycle of this macabre tradition?