Heart of Bullets

by Nikhil Kushwaha

‘The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders’ Every time, they’re around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can’t see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they’ve been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.

A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, ‘Heart of Bullets’, is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy – across the border?

What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?

There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?

296 pages, Paperback

Published December 20, 2015

About the author

Nikhil Kushwaha is the author of five published books, including Aghori of Manikarnika, The Day After My Funeral (2019), Heart of Bullets (2016), The Waning Moon (2015), and Six Teen Mistakes (2015).

In addition to his work as an author, he is a professional photographer and the founder of Perx Studio, a creative photography firm.

Born and raised in Ranchi, Nikhil completed his schooling at Bishop’s School and Kendriya Vidyalaya before earning a degree in Engineering from NIST, Odisha.

Reviews

[Divya Ramnath Bandodkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story in a nutshell:

‘Heart of Bullets’ opens up with Arpan narrating to his sister his recent encounters with a terrorist. Arpan is home for a short vacation. His family is showering all their love upon him. *A happy family perfect picture*

Arpan then decides to meet his friend, Shradha. She is the love of his life and doesn’t have any idea about it. They talk about life and work when Arpan receives a phone call, a phone call from his commander. Arpan is ordered to return back for its an emergency.

Back at army quarters, Arpan learns that India is in high danger and that the terrorists are planning something big. General Puri, their commander, wants his team to avert this danger. He teams up Sam, Arpan, Zafar and a few others. Who is Sam? Sam is Arpan’s childhood friend, more like a brother to him.

Are they successful at their mission? No, they aren’t. The team loses a courageous officer, Zafar and Arpan gets shot in his leg. Sam runs after the terrorists in hope of finding some clue.

Lying wounded on bed, Arpan has nothing to do. He decides to tell is story of friendship to Doctor Kumar. The remaining pages traverse their school days, their friendship, their college and most importantly, Shradha.

The end of the story brings in another army operation. The operation is successful but it leaves Sam in the jaws of death. What was the operation all about? How was Sam hit? What does Arpan do to save his friend?


My Take:

The story is engaging. It will surely keep the readers hooked on to the book. There are very few ‘army’ incidents mentioned which is a kind of turn-off. The cover and title talks about army but the story had less to offer. I had expected the book to be speaking story like that of movie ‘Lakshya’ but it failed me. The narration is done in first person and is done very well. However, there have been occurances of many typing and editing errors. The poems are the real show stealers. They are indeed very beautiful.

Likes:
The soul-stirring poems
The operations at the army quarters.
Shradha and her dedication towards her orphanage.
Sam (If Sam was there for real, I would have never ever let him go.)


Dislikes:
The editing of the story could have been done better.
Some more anecdotes at the army quarters would have worked wonders.


P.S: I really loved the quality of paper.


I rate:

Cover: 2.5/5

Story: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

My rating for ‘Heart of Bullets’ is 3/5 stars.

[Abhilash Ruhela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am done reading the 4th book of the year this weekend and I am quite happy with the way it's moving right now. And this time I picked up Nikhil Kushwaha's 3rd book, "Heart of Bullets", which is published by one of the recently founded publication- Petal. The cover page of the book is indeed appealing and even the title. The book is basically about story of a soldier and his past life. It is spoken by one of his friends who also joins the army along with him and has been his friend since 2nd grade. I liked the idea of how author chooses one of the friend who always lost the race against his friend as the protagonist to tell the story and still kept the main hero of the book in the character of the friend who wins every time but leads a sad life through out.

I liked how the book begins with a scene based at LoC which gives a feel that we are about to read story of some great characters. A life of soldier during their vacations is also narrated in the initial chapter itself and you can surely relate with it if you know someone who is in army. And later on when the book moves towards the hero of this book- SAM, the tone of the story telling changes and becomes little mature. I liked how author has developed his character as intense and someone who keeps quiet with out letting anyone knows what pain and loneliness he feels within. And after a point of time, the book goes into a long flashback where his life is talked in detail.

And that's when I found this book going into the right direction but got really disappointed to read the whole teenage and immature love story once again. And author has narrated the whole thing in such details that it becomes irritating and unwanted after some time. Few scenes are surely worth reading but over all, I feel that it could have been cut shorter by almost half the length at which it is currently written. Coming to the climax, it is quite filmy which does not sound realistic from anywhere and therefore, you do not relate with it. Yes, indeed it is emotional and you will find yourself emotional but something that you'll soon find funny as it's quite like Bollywood of 90s when such things were done in the end to make you become emotional and feel good about the creation of the artist.

Nikhil has a great talent of writing which definitely gets proven in few of the scenes that he have written. The poems in the book are also very nicely woven but I felt they are inserted more than they were actually needed in the story. His passion for writing can be surely felt whenever he wrote regarding the life of soldier at the battle field and all the scenes he have written related to them are better and worth reading. Coming to the editors and publishers, I feel that the book is very badly edited with lots of grammatical and spelling mistakes. Also, the same story could have been completed successfully in about 240-250 pages but it seems nothing is edited out from what writer submitted as the final draft. Little effort on this front could have helped this book. I give it 2.5 stars and it surely reflects author's pure intention towards writing it. Kudos to that!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!

[Murali Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blurb - 'The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders' Every time, they're around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can't see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary. A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, 'Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy - across the border? What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime? There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?
Review -
HEART OF BULLETS, a tale of friendship, love and patriotism as name protests dedicated to Army soldiers.
Blurb and Title is quite impressive but the cover doesn't relates to story but the way author describes the story with poems and beautiful one liners it makes to read interesting manner.
Story - The story starts with a description of recent mission done by lead character Arpan, Sameer and his team, Arpan is the protagonist and the story goes with flashback and current scenarios going on in Arpan and Sameer. Sameer is an orphan having only his nana and he makes his character himself as play boy, rude. His best friend is Arpan both were so close over the years, Shraddha is daughter of their school maths teacher who joins in last year of school both Arpan and Sameer fell in first sight. But Sam makes Shraddha to fall for him, and this relationship goes good over half decade until Shraddha's dad got both red handed, then things changes Shraddha's dad took poison and passes away this makes their love breakup and Sam made crucial decision of joining in Indian Army with Arpan.
Since, all happens but both of them love inside yet even after years both didn't get marriage, Shraddha starts an Orphanage and Sam serve for nation sincerely even he misses his nana's funeral.
That was in one end and on another the important mission take by Sam and Arpan in LOC even though they win Sam gets a bullet in heart, he gets serious and heart transplantation is only way there was decision taken by Arpan sacrificing own life. He himself doesn't know for a nation or a friend or his love of life Shraddha, yes he is the one who makes Sam in hard situations by getting him red handed. At last Sam get well transplantation is successful and he takes his nana's life and named their child as Arpan yeah that's sort of filmy ending.
Likes-
Things I liked most is simple description and easy language which makes to read in flow.
Poems and one liners.
Story plot with mix of love and friendship bit of patriotism

Dis-likes -
As I mentioned one liners is best but in its in every pages so makes to skip, Other than this no dis-likes.
Read it you'll also enjoy this beautiful tale. Thank you for good gift Tushti di..

[Cheshta Arora · Rating 5 out of 5]

To start with, I have to say that Nikhil is an amazing writer!
When you open the novel and you read the thanking note to the family, friends and late grandparents. It brings smile on the face.
Indeed, the story has its significant part as a romantic tale, without a doubt. The story is interfacing. Right from the earliest starting point till the end, the story is locks in. Dialect is straightforward. The story line genuinely portrays the penance made by officers. In a roundabout way, it just raises the admiration we have for them in our souls. I felt this book ought to have been 25-30 pages shorter for a snappy read.
The sentiment and the guiltlessness of school affection are depicted perfectly here. Furthermore, on the off chance that you ever need to recall your first squash then this book will give you a sneak peak. I could just about feel the hustle clamor of understudies in the class, the coy Soni, Shradha's state of mind towards the 'Awful Boy' Sam of her class and Arpan's undeclared adoration for her. What is strange that Arpan is never in any relationship in his life and that sort of disheartens me when he pictures his life through Sam.
I like how the writer pulled of the armed force foundation with a twist and he knows his craft, which make me, anticipate another book of his. A story that closures like no other novel has ever. The scenes amongst Sam and Shradha has been depicted with a panache and the science is sizzling yet sweet. A little bollywood for my taste be that as it may. Couples contend, have intercourse and afterward make-up, it's not generally a luxurious situation.
I cherished the way story began with a sonnet.
I understood while perusing, creator has told his own particular belief system moreover. At the beginning section, there were constantly some teachy-long winded passages. It was somewhat of something worth being thankful for.
Going to the portrayal of book I should say the writer has a dazzling method for portrayal, ties peruser to finish the book as quickly as time permits. Though, in initial two sections the story was moderate and lost its pace in a few parts. Getting nearer, The proposition, Caught in the act, The last shot can be said to be solid parts!!
The novel shows us some vital lessons of life, fate and how just the endeavors are in the hands of a man yet he decreases to an insignificant manikin with regards to the results
At first look, spread subject looks wonderful. It mirrors the tale of book. The book's dark, orange, white, and green subject looks phenomenal. Its topic mirrors a trooper life, similar to those three warrior streams, and that firearm in the inside.
I cherish it!
My Rating 5/5

[Banaja Prakashini · Rating 2 out of 5]

A one time read. The book starts with a piece of poetry with truth hidden in the verse.
Said to be a tale of brotherhood, heroism, love and betrayal the book features the story of Arpan, Sameeer and Shradha.
Arpan and Sameer are Intelligence Officers in the Indian Army and happen to be childhood best buddies as well. Two chapters down and the reader will be able to make out that Sameer and Shradha were teenage sweethearts and something happened between them because of which they live in each other's hearts but even a mere exchange of words seems a burden for them. And that " something " is what will keep the reader want to go on with the story.
The story is narrated by Arpan in both present and past participle form of tense.
The narration in past form being graspable, the present form needs some more work on it.
The story cradles in it the struggles of the army, a teenage story of love , misunderstanding, sacrifice, heart break and the naked truth behind the life of a soldier .
Everytime there is a mission to be fulfilled , there are lives at stake, there are enemies ready to pounce on you, there is a family waiting for you to return to them , but duty sees no fear , no family, it just sees the nation's well-being.
Readers who happen to be poem lovers as well would love the story as verses keep peeping in between the book. The author's poetry writing skills are worth being appreciated.

Ratings - 2.2 out of 5 stars.

The reader will have to deal with minor grammatical errors, spelling mistakes due to poor editing.

The book has highlighted quotes which could have been better.

The use of some quotes at some places doesn't build anticipation to read further, but creates confusion in the reader's mind regarding the storyline.

Each chapter starts with a truckload of advices about life which despite being true and written with effort for the well being of the reader might bore the person, especially when someone is too eager to know what happens next in the story, the reader's impatience leads to annoyance.


The best thing about the book, the reason of conflict between Sameer and Shradha is not a guessable affair because the author keeps proving the guesses wrong during the course of the story.

[Himanshika Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis –
‘The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders.’
Every time, they’re around, the thing we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but we can’t see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they’ve been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.
A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love and betrayal, ‘Heart of Bullets’, is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy – across the border?
What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?
There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one who love the most?
About the story –
This is a story about two childhood friends, Sam and Arpan. They are army officers and are very patriotic by nature. Sam and Arpan eventually fall in love with the same girl, Shradha. Where one gets the girl and other has to remain one sided lover.
There comes very ups and downs, twists and turns in the tale when in the end Sam gets a bullet on his chest while fighting with enemies. What will happen? Will he survive? Will he get his love?
My verdict –
The story is incredibly awesome and gives you Goosebumps at times. We can never ever even think about what our soldiers sacrifice for us just to keep us safe and we can never pay their debts. A huge salute to all the soldiers out there. This story is really very interesting and keeps you intrigued till the end.
But it has poor editing where the spark of this story ends. Just because of poor editing story gets on and off sometime. This one thing could make it a bestseller. Other than this, it lacks nowhere.

[Shweta Kesari · Rating 3 out of 5]

The climax of the story is really touchy, when you are about to take the final steps, you would definitely feel your heart attached to it, and feel connected to the emotions of the protagonist.Apart from being touchy, the climax of the story also makes it a bit dramatic, for some, it might be hard to relate with it, but for one who could easily flow in the pool of emotions, would feel engaged to it.

Read Full Review here : http://madhyapradesh.johntext.de/revi...

[Sonia Singh · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Take:

The story about two brave soldiers who are passionate about their country and a woman who loves yet give up easily. Arpan, the narrator plays an important role in the story. The idea is fresh and the action in the novel takes some of the excitement because this is not just a love story. Its about brotherhood and life where you could just do anything for the ones you love. Sameer, the hero is a flawed character. He is obstinate, full of himself and a rake. He plays with women for his gain and somehow that attracts the girls even more. The story of why Sam is serious in his life is narrated by Arpan- his brother from another mother. Arpan had shared a childhood with Sam and knows literally everything about his life. His love story, Shradha and his family.

The romance and the innocence of school love is portrayed beautifully here. And if you ever want to remember your first crush then this book will give you a preview. I could almost feel the hustle bustle of students in the class, the flirtatious Soni, Shradha’s attitude towards the ‘Bad-Boy’ Sam of her class and Arpan’s undeclared love for her. What is weird that Arpan is never in any relationship in his life and that kind of saddens me when he visualises his life through Sam.

Shradha come from an typical Indian family where you are raised to be the best daughter and marry off the guy that your father will choose. But her live-in relationship with Sam proved otherwise and she elopes with Sam when her father disapproves strongly. What happens to her father next shakes her to the core, a reason why she refuses to be with Sam ever again.

A book that has all the ingredients to make it a typical “Bhagat” novel yet the scenes are deeper and surprisingly entertaining. Why I say surprise? Because the book cover did nothing for me to pick up and read for sometime. This author really had some great things to say through his characters and if you are ever in the deeper end of the ocean then this novel will answer some of those unasked questions. Kushwaha is obviously very poetic. He loves inserting poetry now and then and you could also imagine a song sequence if you could sing the words. Though it does gets annoying if you want a steady flow of thoughts.
The book tends to gets too preachy and if you want the story to move on then it will take sometime for you to get past the lectures that Arpan gives. Somehow every character has something intelligent to say which is just not digestible.
Some of my favourite lines are:

“People may kneel by the power of money, but true blessings are earned by power of will, the intention to help them who are incapable of helping themselves”.

“There is nothing more painful than living a lonely life without being a culprit for it”.
What’s Hot?
I like how the author pulled of the army background with a flourish and he does know his art, which makes me look forward to another book of his. A tale that ends like no other novel has ever. The scenes between Sam and Shradha has been described with a panache and the chemistry is sizzling yet sweet. A little bollywood for my taste however. Couples argue, make love and then make-up, it’s not always a bed of roses.

What’s Not?
I blame the editor for the horrible mistakes in the book. ‘Hairs’ for Hair and silly grammatical errors that puts a reader off for a reason. The symbol ‘&’ for the word ‘and’ which really gets to me.

If you can get past the spelling mistakss, horrible editing and just long monologs of Arpan with a filmy ending then you could go for the book. The ending is just heartbreaking, yet totally how a friendship should be all about- sacrifice. Yet totally unbelievable.

Rating: 2.5

[Aarti Motiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name of the Book- The Heart of Bullets
Author- Nikhil Kushwaha
Description- 'The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders' Every time, they're around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can't see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary. A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, 'Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy - across the border? What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime? There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?
My take- This book is written with strong emotions, that a reader easily connects to, not only does this book happen to make us believe that true love exists, it also brings a lot more respect for the soldiers who happen to protect us risking their own lives and family.
“True love is another name of sacrifice” and this story totally gives justice to this quote.
It is one sentimental story that is going to make you cry until the end.
Coming to the storyline the story is beautifully paced and it surely grabs the reader’s attention until the end and makes sure the reader doesn’t get a chance to move his eye towards something else.
Language- the language is quite lucid and understandable, however it could have better to bring in the charm of better vocabulary
Cover and the title- The title is absolutely apt and goes along with the story and its narration but the cover could have been improvised.
Editing- One thing that has nothing to do with the author, and it lacks, better editing would have brought the book on a whole new standard, however it is not bad too.
One thing that hit me was the story was made a little long, it could have been shorter and more precise, and that would have made it a perfect novel to read.
Conclusion- It is one book, which is a good read if you like love stories and friendship, this will bring back your belief in love and sacrifice, make a little time and give this novel a read, the author has done amazingly well with little pros and cons.
My rating- 3.5/5

[Tushti Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

heart of bullets publised by petals publishers, edited by the publisher himself *i felt another good story would have been created into a disaster* as the name suggests, is a story basically dedicated to our brave indian soldiers *indian army*. the novel starts with the heroic description of the war scenes by the protagonist Arpan, followed by the friendship tales of Sam, Arpan and Shradha, ends on a good love story and of course a big sacrifice by sam's dear friend Arpan just to safe his life.
i sincerely don't want to discuss the story in detail * as i genuinely feel the story should not be discussed and i don't want to finish the suspense too* let the reader do that, but yes as the cover pic depicts it's a story dedicated to the heroes, but actually 70% of the noevl is a love story and only 30% weightage is given to the war sequences, brave incidents. well that's not the mistake of the author, it's the cover designer who got confused with the title and the theme. coming back to the story line, i feel the reader might feel dejected, as the reader will pick the copy thinking it might be a novel dedicated purely to the soldiers, but at the end that's a swet love story.
The author has rightly balanced the love story and the story of soldiers too, the 3 war sequences have been amazingly described. Nikhil has wonderfully started each and every chapter well, complimented with some mesmerizing poems * that connects with the chapters well *, punchlines and one liners which sum up the stanza well in a beautiful manner, and eventually will make you fall in love with his writings. it could have been much better if the editor would have paid some focus on the mistakes, well never mind, when a book is coming from petals * one can expect poor quality of printing, 'n' no. of mistakes, no editing, and of course grammatical mistakes and not to forget silly typos "also known as Makkkkkaaaaaaarrrrr's forte". overall heart of bullets is a delightful read, if you ignore the publisher and his forte.

MY VERDICT :
title : 2/5
book cover : 1.5/5
writing style : 4.5/5
editing : 3/5
overall : 3/5 * i've deducted 2 marks for editing and other mistakes i've mentioned above and that does not count in the mistake of author *

[Dipanshu Rawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover:-
The title and the cover is mismatched. The cliched chick on the cover with a sad look is a big turn-off. I showed this novel to one of my friend who is an SSB aspirant and his instant response was that he doesn't want to read this. It might be just another love story with just a pinch of patriotism. Well, people do judge the book by its cover.

Plot and story line:
Well, the story has its major part as a love story, undoubtedly. The story is connecting. Right from the beginning till the end, the story is engaging. Language is easy to understand. The story line truly depicts the sacrifice made by soldiers. Indirectly, it just raises the respect we have for them in our hearts. I felt this book should have been 25-30 pages shorter for a quick read.

Writer's work:
Apart from a few noticeable editing mistakes, writer's work is excellent. His poems throughout the novel are catchy and interesting. I loved his writing style. Every chapter from the book has a connecting start, that makes this novel a page turner.

Overall, I'd be giving this novel 3.5/5 ratings, deducting the stars for editing mistakes and a turn-off cover.

[Prakash Chand · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book 'd be readers' fav when he conclude that the author has written everything which was in readers mind..now nothing is left for reader to write..
     This is the case of the readers of  Hearts of Bullet... by Nikhil Kushwaha...
Story starts with gossiping of brothers nd sister...to the school....
Story was full of emotions from starting..to the end...but suspense remain continues... at every point in the novel...
Author did the work of observer...or 'd say as a mentor in his circle.
        Beautiful poems has been introduced along with some paragraphs in between the scenes...concerning to life's...
        The drawback...of the book is its length.....
       Overall... the story is beautiful , characters introduced very well,
From the one corner ...i thought that this book story can be gud story to make movie...which 'd be telecast at television on Independence Day

[Rajesh Hajare · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 Stars to Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha

First of all welcome back! I am also back with one more book review. And this review is quite special for me because I am writing this first blog post from our new home!! Okay… I finished reading a fantastic book Heart Of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha. This review was expected to be published in the last week of Feb but I apologize to the author for not publishing this review within time due to my busy schedule. Anyway, I don't want to bore my readers with a long introduction so let me come to the book review now…

BOOK COVER:



On the front cover, one can see a soldier with his sweetheart. Rifle in a standing move keeps distance between a soldier and his sweetheart. A helicopter of the army is in the background. Three fighter planes are flying in the sky in three different directions (\|/). Saffron, White and Green color of background makes tricolor. Petal Publishers' logo is printed below the rifle in the middle so it looks like a bullet. In short, Cover of Heart Of Bullets is filled with patriotism and love. So, I would give full marks to Jimmyeric Films and Media for the cover designing. Title Heart Of Bullets is quite impressive which commemorates me the title To The Last Bullet which I read and reviewed few years ago.

SETTING: There are 26 chapters along with prologue and epilogue in 296 pages. The author narrates the story in present tense as the first person.

THEMES: Heart of Bullets covers various themes like pride, patriotism, friendship, love, betrayal, philosophy, motivation, bravery, intelligence, and thriller, etc.

LOCATIONS: The story of the novel runs through so many locations like Uri, Kashmir (a place near LOC), Ranchi, Gir (Gujarat), Kargil, Banaras, Calcutta and Pakistan (Pak).

WRITING STYLE: Author elegantly uses literary terms and figurative language. This is a novel, however, author Nikhil Kushwaha mentions his self-written poems and one-liners which touch to the heart. The author wisely arranges twists and turns and keeps suspense until the end. One-liners by Nikhil Kushwaha make his writing style unique and interesting.

CHARACTERS: There are so many major and minor characters in the novel. But I would like to introduce few of them.

Arpan: Author portrays Arpan as a narrator of the story who works as a soldier in an Indian Army. Arpan is the protagonist in the novel.

Sameer Das (Sam): Sameer is the second protagonist in the novel. Author portrays Sameer as a friend of Arpan and a senior in the army. Heart of Bullets is the story of Sameer narrated by his friend Arpan.

Shradha: Author portrays Shradha as a classmate of Arpan. She loves Sameer and she works as a social activist.

Soni: Mutual friend of Arpan and Sam in school and junior college.

Dr. Kumar: Dr. Kumar is the listener of this story of Sam from the narrator Arpan.

PLOT: The Heart of Bullet starts with a beautiful, touching, sensitive and patriotic poem ‘The Story Is Old' in the prologue of the novel.

First chapter ‘Terrorists hiding' is about the humble aspects and different roles in soldier's life apart from his service. When I read about the successful mission by Arpan, I felt like a soldier for some moment. In this chapter, Arpan tells the facts about the army and their service. Arpan tells soldier's respect towards the nation and army and pride about his duty. The first chapter is filled with fun, sarcasm, patriotism and a thrill. Author Nikhil Kushwaha gives the glance of woman's life. Arpan tells the truth of soldier's leaves in an emergency. Author gracefully scribbles the tough life of martyr's family after a sacrifice of a soldier. It seems that author Nikhil has researched or have knowledge about missiles, rockets, advance 7th generation rocket science technology and Combined Defence Service (CDS). He also gives the brief information about heart transplantation. Fighting scene in the fourth chapter ‘Attack at MH' seems like a war. Indian soldier's fight till the last bullet thrills us. Author writes about the difference between soldiers and terrorists. ‘Towards a new home' comes with an unexpected thrilling scene. Some quotes and one-liners touch to my heart and relates to my own life.

Chapter six commemorates me my college days. When Sameer gets caught while stealing question papers, I remind my experience when I had raise a duster on my science teacher in SSC (Wo matter alag hai, yaha nahi padhne milega!!). Arpan elegantly defines the difference between development and growth. It is noteworthy that author make us worried about current generation's priorities in life. Story narrated by Sameer Das touches to the heart in the twelfth chapter. Poems and lullabies are also nice. The thirteenth chapter touches me. I wish the one too could thief my personal diary/diaries and find her name on almost every single page as Sameer reads secrets of Shradha in her diary.

Nineteenth chapter is about true friendship. Sameer's apologetic answer to Arpan touches to the heart. He quotes the importance of apology and forgiveness in friendship "After all, friendship means forgiveness. It means forgetting the thing that ruins it. A small gesture of apology sometimes saves a bond whose value is more than millions." Bittersweet introduction of love at first sight in the fifth chapter ‘The first time I saw' is really fantastic. Sameer's conversation with Shradha and Soni are just pleasant. Author comments on sacrifice in love and relationship "Sometimes, one needs to sacrifice the things that matters the most, for them who matters the most, and that's the truest form of love that exists. It's just stupid to breathe when there is no reason to live. When you love someone for true, you will do anything to make them happy, even if that happiness doesn't include you." "It's better to be hated for what you are rather than being loved for what you aren't. Relationships aren't built on bases of lies."

He beautifully portrays the romantic scenes. Author indirectly scribbles short description about intimacy in beautiful way in chapter ‘Once in a monsoon'.

Author comments on Indian Railway. In the second chapter ‘Sudden call', he comments on people's patriotism in an ironical and satiric manner- "People talk about politics, war and condition of country for hours, but very few do something to change it, to make it better. Everyone wants a change but no one wants to change. Being patriotic is one other thing and doing something for a county is another." He comments on inactivity of peoples "The world suffers, not because of the dirty works of bad people, but of the ignorance of good people." The author raises some other social issues. He criticizes private tuitions. He also comments on the education system in India where more importance is being given to grades and marks than knowledge. But at the same times, he remarks some positive comments about teacher's profession. Author comments on gender equality in his quote "No matter how much we change, it's the woman who has to carry a baby in womb, and the man who has to light the fire." He defines WOMEN as the World Of MEN. He comments on parents' dignity and social values more importance over children's happiness. Arpan's comments on fate commemorate me the conversation between Karna and the protagonist Vasu in novel Karna's Alter Ego where Karna explains the philosophy of fate to Vasu in detail. Author messages to the people (like me heheheJ) who sleeps late.

Unexpected but guessable suspense gets revealing in chapter 25. Heart of Bullets ends with the totally unexpected climax which is truly sensitive. I have told you so much about the story and now don't expect me to reveal the climax also, to know whether it is happy or tragic, you have to read the book.

Oneliners from the book:

"Money is like a fire. If used correctly, it can make food but if in wrong hands, it may burn the house."
"There is nothing more painful than living a lonely life without being a culprit for it."
"Love doesn't always mean togetherness, it also means sacrificing something for the one you love."
"Perhaps, true happiness lies in happiness of the one we love, that's the truest form of love people talk about all the time."

DRAWBACKS:

1.Typing and Grammatical Errors: There are so many typing errors like Apran (Arpan) on page 45 and 48, wired (weird) on page 70, punchure (puncture) on page 116, feeing (feeling) on page 225, taking (talking) on page 240, laud (loud) on page 253 and so many… I don't deserve to find grammatical errors as my own English is not too good but there are so many grammatical errors in the novel Heart of Bullets.
2.I felt narration confusing a bit because of a combination of present and past tense. In my opinion, it would be better if the story would have been told by Arpan in a past tense.
3.Some words have fainted.
4.Reference to Facebook: Reference to Facebook use by Shradha at an age of 22 (in 2002) is irrelevant because the social networking website facebook was launched 2 years later than 2002 on 4th Feb 2004.
5.The story is stretched: The story of Heart of Bullets is quite stretched but the last fight of Arpan in the climax is in brief.

REVIEWER'S FEEDBACK:



Heart Of Bullets is the fantastic novel by Nikhil Kushwaha. I liked the way author narrates the story, quotations, and one-liners touch to readers' heart and relates to own life. Heart of Bullets make you think on social issues and thrill you, the story brings tears in eyes with Goosebumps!! I have mucked almost every page of the book as my favourite. I would have liked more if the story would have been narrated within 250 pages. The weakness of the book is so many typing errors and grammatical mistakes of the book but I am sure that Author Nikhil Kushwaha and publisher will take care of this in next editions of the book. I would recommend this book to my readers because the story, theme, poems, quotes, and one-liners are much more apart from the mistakes.

MY RATING: The story of Heart of Bullets deserves at least 4 stars but I am cutting 0.2 stars for grammatical and typing errors. So I would give 3.8 out of 5 Stars to Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha.

Blurb: ‘The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'
Every time, they're around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can't see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.

A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, ‘Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy – across the border?

What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?

There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?

About Nikhil Kushwaha:


Founder of Perx Studio, a complete photography solution, and a professional photographer himself, Nikhil Kushwaha has already touched hearts of many through his previous works, ‘Six Teen Mistakes' published in 2014 and ‘The Waning Moon' published in 2015.

Born and raised in beautiful city Ranchi, he graduated in 2013 as an Electrical & Electronics Engineer from NIST, Odisha and after working for some time, he left his job to change his dreams into reality.

Heart Of Bullets' heart

Title: HEART OF BULLETS

Author: NIKHIL KUSHWAHA

Publishers: PETALS PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS

Copyright © NIKHIL KUSHWAHA

First Edition: December 2015

ISBN (13): 978-93-85440-12-0

ISBN (10): 93-85440-12-8

Language: English

Printing: Paperback (Printed in India)

Designs & Branding: JIMMYERIC FILMS & MEDIA (Facebook)

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 296 (Excluding cover)

MRP: Rs. 195

Reviewer: RAJESH D. HAJARE (RDH)

Rating: 3.8/5

Disclaimer:

This is my personal opinion about Heart of Bullets and your views may be vary.
Reviewer has used quotes and one-liners in this review with the permission of the author.
Reviewer of this book works as the Gondia district president at Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Parishad

Previous Review: Without You (Rating: 4.25/5, Visitors:6630 , 4 Comments)

Related review: To The Last Bullet ( 5 Comments)

Also Read: Karna's Alter Ego (Rating: 4.5/5, Visitors:24720 , 4 Comments)

Reviews Coming Soon: #IAm16ICanRape by Kirtida Gautam

Now Reading: Her Resurrection by Soumyadeep Koley

Read this review on my blog : http://rdhsir.mwb.im/3-8-stars-to-hea...

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[Kapil Dev · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a cradle where the characters are swinging in fluctuating timelines, Mr. Kushwaha has tried his best to bring out the best out of an old formula of a love triangle between two boys and a girl. It was my first read for Mr. Kushwaha and unfortunately, I did not like the way he represented the story in it.
The story loses its charm the moment one starts noticing how much silly proofreading and how grave intellectual and grammatical errors are there.
There's nothing special in the story, and in the name of story some random plots of Bollywood movies are intermixed and represented in front of the readers in a new packaging.
Proverbially, Nikhil is selling old wine in a new bottle. But even the proverb is contradictory here, because aged wine is better than a fresh one.
The author, don't know if deliberately, has committed a lot of silly grammatical mistakes which could've been avoided if the manuscript would have been given in the right hands. It's hard to digest that this person already has two published novels in his account as his this attempt to write something poured in love, patriotism and betrayal is way too unimpressive and pathetic!
I personally suggest him to get some tuition and attend writing workshops if he seriously wants to write something that is tangible by the hearts of the readers. Also, I am sharing some words of wisdom here with the readers of this review here and those are, “Before you start writing, read and read as much as you can. Because the more you will read; the more you’ll learn and there is nothing that can stop a learner from winning, because a learner either wins or learns he never loses.”
The only savior of this boring and tiresome script are its dialogues and the school life of the protagonists shown in between, also there are many one-liners and poetries stuffed inside which added nothing but yawns to my reading session. They (poems and one-liners) may seem beautiful and lovely to some of the readers out there but some of them are like those Indian movie songs which are forcefully entered in a movie so that the watchers can spare the poor storyline of the film.
But these four also cannot save it from the wrath of Grammar Nazis who could possibly find out even more than a hundred grammatical mistakes and proofreading errors in this novel.
As a literature enthusiast, I would like to suggest all my friends out there to not pick up this book until you find yourself having a good potential of ignoring several loopholes and foolish mistakes committed here and there. Also, here is this female lead in the novel whose liberal father (sarcasm intended) had gifted her cell phone somewhere in 1998 when she is pursuing her twelfth standard and also she had updated her Facebook status to "single" whenever she used to have a fight with her love in between 1999 and 2002. And as far as I know, cell phones were introduced in India in mid 90s and Zuckerberg didn't even think of anything like Facebook in 1999. Nikhil, in the most literal sense, has taken all the characters of his novels way too ahead of their time; but fails miserably to entertain or to touch the chords of heart of the readers.
In case you do not get what I am trying to say, I am reiterating clearly that; Oh genius author of three great books! Facebook was not even introduced in between 1998-2002 and it was under the reach of the commons by mid-2006 in India, then how can you make Shradha (read Shraddha if you want to) use it to change her relationship status to “single” in the same time interval? As a writer, one should never take his/her readers for granted and here this huge error is reflecting that how stupid some people out there think we readers are.
All said and done, I can’t deny the fact that the book was indeed a fair read as no matter how bad a book is it always gives us some knowledge and reading experience.
The cover page is OK and the paper quality is better than expected after watching the cover.

Piece of advice to Nikhil- Please get a book and learn Homophones.
Piece of advice to readers- Pick this one at your own risk, only if you can withstand “peace” written as “piece” and “interrupt” written as “interpret” and many more!

[Aditi Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart of Bullets is a story of friendship , love , betrayal and sacrifice made on the border . More or less this story is a tribute to all those soldiers who let bullets pierced deep into their heart , which might stopped their breath but their souls live forever . Story about passionate lovers and how they had separate lives even being born for made for each other. Story about two best friends who stepped into each shoes whenever needed and heart wrecking sacrifice for country and for friendship .

Nikhil Kushwaha , has totally enthralled me with his work . I always enjoyed reading and watching stuff related to my Nation and the book completely left me content . When I picked the book I wasn’t sure that it would be so good that I completed it in a single sitting . The book kept me hooked me from the first page till the last page . The content was very well researched that’s again the reason I enjoyed it . Author’s toil is reflected .

Narration- The book was perfectly presented . Each chapters were beautifully written . It keeps on flowing .

Language – The language was simple yet catchy . Readable . All the emotional segment were beautifully written and it made my eyes moist too . The other part which I enjoyed were the poems . Loved it !

Characters I enjoyed the most –

Arpan – An average looking boy but blessed with best friend like Sam who was more than a brother , a family who loved him like anything and sweet friend who he secretly admired but never confessed anything to her and above all he’s a soldier who lived his severing the nation . A true friend who , a proud son and a true human .

Sam – Sam , a boy next door , a kind hearted person who was ready to help everyone even the path was wrong . A boy who wanted to live his life at fullest , an edifier of love and a true friend . Born with perspicuous mind and a gullible heart . His only weakness was love but he defeated that also . And yes soldier like Arpan .

Shardha – Shardha was the girl next door . A warm heart nestled in a shell but then love knocks at her door and it changed her life . She sang the lullabies of love then she murmur dirge for her only friend . A believer of love and a loving daughter .

Portions which I enjoyed the most –

The book bring me back few entrenched memories of my school days where we mocked at teachers and gave them crazy pseudonyms , the rush to score well and being the most adored students be it nefarious . The other portion which touched my heart were the segments where friendship was questioned but it cleared passed every fence with spectrum of love and friendship . Another portion was of a stubborn father who brought upheavals in their lives , we see people like them . Sad but true . And the portion which left me moist when a soldier died on duty. Duty or a scarf ice .

Negative Punch –

1. The cover picture could have been better .
2. It was guessing in few chapters .
3. Editing is required a bit

Book Recommendation- I would love to recommend the book to everyone . All age groups can read this . You would find many segments related to your own childhood , school-hood and the friendship . May be you haven’t thanked your friend , may be you will surely thank him or her for being with you after reading this book .

Overall Rating- I would be honored to rate this perfect tour of love, friendship and patriotic work 4/5. A must read !!

[Rahul Khatri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who would you prefer to : Yourself , Your Nation , Your friends or Your Girlfriend ? Ok . Lets frame in other way , What will be the top priorities in your life ? ( in a broader way ) .
" Heart of Bullets " is the third book penned by author Nikhil Kushwaha which revolves around the delicate strings of different relation which will you end up giving you the answer of the above mentioned question from a Soldier's point of view . Narrated in first form by Arpan , plot is the tale of the friendship of two best friends Arpan & Sam who were together since 2nd standard and eventually ended up in army together that too in same unit ( Albeit author had skipped the description of how they again ended up together . But considering it a fable , it's possible .) So the story launched with very dramatic scenario of Arpan , who's on off from army duty for few days , received the call from senior to report back at high command ASAP 'cause of some emergency situation at his base unit . Later on a highly guarded facility was attacked by terrorist to free Shamshad , an ISI missile expert resulting in some severe causalities on Arpan's side and Sam promised to avenge the attack and the death of his sworn brother Zafar . Later while being inspected by Doctor , Arpan spills the strings about his and Sam's relation , the reason of Sam's introvert nature and Shradha , Sam's devotion .
In 293 pages , Author had depicted the story with simple & beautifully-written poems and detailed characterization of the protagonist and the surroundings . Narrator , Arpan who's embedded as the a confused guy who relies on his best friend Sam for more or less everything . Weak in academics , he used to depend on the last minute question papers which were stolen by Sam just for him and others like him . And How to define Arpan considering the parameter of Emotions ? Ummm.. I guess he's brave , yes he's brave 'cause its never easy to patch a smile on face , no matter what , and living as a friend with some one who meant more than friend to you and Sacrifice , its easy to spell the word ' Sacrifice ' but only the brave could act . Then comes our Sam , an all rounder who's always available to the disposal of his friends either its the battle field or the classroom . But it was Shradha who enlighten his soul with the kindness and the peace . She changed him to a better person . Shradha , daughter of Gorrilla ( Well that's the nick name of Sam & Arpan's Mathematics Teacher ) is portrayed as an average student but a girl with a big heart who always help other . One could relate her as teh definition of 'Kindness' , ' Simplicity ' & 'Innocence ' .
Situations :
1) Initially i felt as if the dialogues are taken directly from Bolllywood movies like Zameen and Lakhsaya which leads to unnecessary melodrama .
2) ' Ambulances ' had been called on various stages of plot without the sense of sorroundings .
3) Errors and the conflict in the standard operating procedure related to military operation .
So " Heart Of Bullets " is a light read which takes the reader on journey with stations of friendship , love & betrayal

And my answer to the question I raised initially is :
1) Nation 2) Family ( In my scenario I've best friends to whom I used to talk & they're family ) and then other things .

[Pavitr Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blurb:

'The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'.
Every time, they're around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can't see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.

A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, 'Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy- across the border?

What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?

There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most.

Book Synopsis:

A story of two friends- Arpan and Sam, who becomes friends from the childhood and their friendship. In between the way of growing up, they find various difficulties and problem which they both fights like a hero. Shradha, love of Sam and she happens to be the love of Arpan too. But Arpan, sacrifices her for his best friend and later Sam and their love becomes the reason for the loss of Shradha's father, Gorilla.
In one of the fights of their life, the bullet passes through the heart of Sam and injured him badly.
Will this bullet be the one to take Sam's life? Or Shradha or Sam will ever be with each other again? And what is Arpan's contribution to their friendship-love-betrayal? Read the book to get your answers.

Review:

'The war scene, heroism, looks so good, patriotic in movies, but in real it's so different. It's hard to explain how it feels when a friend dies before your eyes, when a father sobs on son's chest and a mother goes crazy for her dead son.' Perfectly said. Brilliant story written by the author. Cover is appropriate and according to the story and the title given, leaves you in curiosity of knowing the reason behind putting this title. Starting of the story was good, as nothing new in that. Though I like where the author has described all the scenes in a very nice way. Though somewhere it was repetitive but the story covered it. I liked it how he connected the story of a soldier. The story was very common but it was different. In the end, author revealed the secret was very much secret to me, as what I was assuming reading the novel was different. Kudos to the author for his research, knowledge, writing.

I like-
1) Sam-Arpan long lasting friendship.
2) One sided love for Shradha by Arpan.
3) Way of Narration and writing was nice.

I dislike-
1) Repetitive lines.
2) How Gorilla died.

Congratulations Nikhil, for your third masterpiece in row and Thanks to Lab Academia for providing such a nice read.
I recommend this book to everyone, who just don't need romance but full package of love-friendship-drama.
Ratings

Book Cover - 4/5
Editing - 4/5
Blurb - 3.5/5
Book Quality (Typing, Word Setting, Fonts) - 4/5
Story - 4.5/5

Overall - 4/5

Read full review at - http://pavitrasinghwrites.blogspot.in...

[Khushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice and is never result of selfishness".It takes lot of courage to sacrifice your life for someone else and for that someone who cant be with you though you love him/her a lot and to sacrifice everything for that one smile is actually called"TRUE LOVE",it may be for parents,siblings,friendship,relationship or your love towards the country.Yes it truely said that the difference between army and terrorist truly is both are fighting for their country but difference is the means of their fighting the reasons are different.The people can sleep peacefully at their homes because they know there is someone somewhere fighting for their lives and is sacrificing his own life so that he can serve the nation.For a soldier it is pride to die for the nation.
The story is about Arpan and his life as he is having his vacation from the army camp he is spending some time with his family and meeting his old friends and thinking about how life has changed and his leave gets cancelled as there was some sort of emergency in the camp.The situation was dangerous one of the army commander was attacked so fight the commander makes the team of Arpan,Sameer(his childhood friend),Zafar etc.and they start their mission and meanwhile Arpan gets shot on his leg and Zafar was dead in that mission.Meanwhile as he is in hospital Doctor Kumar asks him about Sameer as he has not turned up and when Doctor Kumar asks him about Sam's nature Arpan starts narrating his tale of friendship with Sam and also Shraddha who was his friend and was love interest of Sameer.
The friendship of them has been shown too strong as one is always ready to sacrifice for eachother.It is penned beautifully by Mr.Nikhil Kushwaha and is perfectly titled as the "Heart of Bullets"when i started reading this book i had a notion in my mind that it would be only about patriotism but its not about that its about many other things,the things we ignore,the things which we dont value.Life is really short to express so express you have is today make"optimum utilisation "of it.
Mr.Kushwaha has beautifully penned some of the poems between the chapters and i loved this lines"After I'm done with everything,just give me enough time,so that I can die for my country.Let dozens of bullet pierce my body but save my heart for him.Let me die with pain,screams but make their life beautiful" and when Arpan is telling the message to be conveyed to his family is beautifully penned and the poem for Shraddha is really nice "for the sake of smile"It is said love and friendship always doesn't mean togetherness but it also means sacrifice for the happiness.
Yes Arpan never left he will always be remembered as he said"Yes,I'm here and I still will be'
So,My opinion is this book is for them who wants to experience the tale of friendship or relationship or sacrifice one thing lacking is just the grammatical error and somewhere I think the concept of war and missile is too long and difficult to understand but overall it is a nice book!!!!

[Jesal Jani · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'
This was the line that lured me in and prompted me to pick up the book. The poetic line and the mention of soldier, this, we don't frequently find in same mention. The summary only deepened my curiousity and I bought the book.
What I loved about the book is how it highlighted the personal lives of soldiers. Oftentimes, it so happens that we forget that these people protecting us on the borders are people too, with feelings and emotions, just as us, they just hide those better and also, we don't look beyond the surface. They are portrayed as a well-oiled machine and we assume they are the machines too.
Maybe the storyline was cliché - two guys falling for the same girl, who will get the girl in the end? But what set this book apart from the rest is how the emotions are depicted so vividly, especially the few war scenes that are described. The poems I loved, it only added more feelings, but after a point you'll feel there were too many of those. The words used, the imagery, it added to the overall feeling which the author wanted to convey.
Like many books, this one too had it's failings. The love story of Sam and Shradha recounted on the flashback slowed down the pace a little. I felt the urge to skim over this part, only reason I kept reading was repeating to myself over and over again that 'this might have significance later'. Perhaps, it might be my own bias, I am not a great enthusiast for love stories in general.
Other than this, I feel the author has his forte in narration. It wins you over and there are some paragraphs I just wanted to highlight. In the beginning we have some philosophy on social issues and the narration doesn't feel too tedious to read, as is the case usually when reading those. Maybe the author knew his strengths and played to his strength but at some points I felt the paragraphs get a little too flowery with words and it was unnecessary to the overall plot.
Coming to the ending, I found it hard to relate in real life. It has this unrealistic feel to it, but for those souls out there looking for comfort and nice, happy endings, this one is for you. It goes to prove and show that selfless love does exist in this heartless world and Sam and Arpan's story of friendship is well-narrated.
A final word for the publishers, I felt the flow of reading interrupted at many points as there were just too many mistakes to ignore. They stood out glaringly and distracted you from the plot. If this is improvised, this book has the potential to be a bestseller as the scenes melded and transitioned into each other seamlessly which is one of the qualities I look for in a good story. Overall, I give this book 3 stars.

[Priyanka Lal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heart of Bullets is a story of two fearless soldiers, who would do anything for Love; Love for their Motherland, for a friend or love for a woman.
The story runs in past and present where the narrator, one of the soldiers, tells the story of his daredevil friend Sameer. Sameer as a friend, as a lover and as a brave soldier.
As both the boys have indispensable part in each other’s life we get to see narrator’s life as well.
The lady in the story has pivotal role, as her actions, dreams, innocence, ignorance, foolhardiness, answerability takes the story forward.
The story has many highs and lows, in terms of events, which are overall an interesting sequence, but nothing new. A sense of mystery is tried to be maintained, revealed in the final chapters of the novel, which are also the saving grace of this work and make for interesting reading in an otherwise laborious read.
You get a hang of the characters but they could have been more refined.
The ‘present’ part of the story when the characters are on a mission at LOC are dealt better than the flashback, their school lives.
We tend to paint our own imaginary pictures of things which we cannot experience first-hand. A tale has been woven of the days and ways; emotions and actions at LOC.
The terrorist/soldiers escapades, emotional upheaval, missions accomplished, exchange of words, appear to be more inspired from the Hindi film industry than reality. The execution could have done with some new thrills.
Not only the war scenes, but some important sequence in the boys’ juvenile phase, one liners, appear too-close-for-comfort to some Bollywood movies.
In order to pack a punch, the conversation among the teenagers have been dealt with in a round-about-way and as an observer I felt like the third wheel reading them. Being an intruder, I was unable to laugh and cry with the characters.
Poems and philosophical one liners are recurring feature in the book. Some of the poems are well worded and rhymed, but in places they become tad excessive. They and their explanation offered by the writer, using the same words, somewhere undermines the reader also challenges one’s patience.
The novel needs, extensive grammar corrections (Sad to see over 70% sentences in the book were grammatically wrong or absurd/inappropriate words were used.); editing and proofreading is at its worst. There are various technical and factual errors with time period, communication methods, and few other things. (I am not mentioning them here because it will spoil the surprise element in the book.)
The book has potential because the plot is well thought out, but journey in a rickety vehicle and unpleasant terrain can easily be not ventured into.

[Kalpana Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

About the Author: Nikhil Khushwaha

Nikhil Kushwaha, an engineer, poet and a novelist, has already entertained his readers in his first book Six Teen Mistakes. A Ranchi boy, schooling from Bishops School and Kendriya Vidyalaya, is a graduate from NIST Berhampur, as an electrical engineer. Being author by chance and a full time author now, he says that it is not necessary to have experience, degree or talent to be an author, but what’s required, is a story, passion and some patience. Believing in realism, his novels are based on what he witnesses around the people he knows, the things he has experienced and a story he wants the world to tell.

The Book Blurb: ‘The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders’ Every time, they’re around, the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we can’t see is their heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they’ve been through. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.

A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love & betrayal, ‘Heart of Bullets’, is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy – across the border?

What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?

There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?

The Synopsis: The book is an interesting read full of patriotism. Narration in chapters is sometimes really good, while in a few of them the story is lacking the push element. The chapters where the author has narrated the terrorist attack is terrific. When I went through the blurb of the book, I thought that it would be yet another love triangle, but there is definitely something more to it.Full justice has been done with the characters introduced in the book. A number of editing errors are there in the book, which I am sure will be taken care of by the Publisher in the next print.



From the Reader’s point of view: Really liked some of the quotes by the author in the book :
“We all are passengers to a train called life, the duration & destination to which is pre-planned.”
“What we are today doesn't show what we were yesterday. After all, the only thing unchangeable about this world is the constant change”

Cover Page: From the cover page, the book seems to be a story about a soldier’s life at the front, but the book is more about his personal life although references from the front are also available.


Overall Rating: 3.5/5

[Yashi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heart of Bullets: A Well Crafted Tale of Love, Sacrifice and Patriotism.

To think that nothing is above true friendship, and to say that great friendships come with greater sacrifices; this book did full justice to its plot, narration and story. The writer has very finely knitted the emotions of a soldier’s family, his friends, love and his fearless heart when he is at the border, serving his nation and presented it in a platter full of strong characters like Arpan, Sameer, Shraddha and of course their families.

A magnified view of the personal life of a an armyman, this book will instantly connect with those having an army background. The story revolves around two best friends- Arpan and Sameer and their pasts.

Starting from the innocence of childhood, school days, friends, first love to surviving on the battlefield, this tale will engage you in an emotional whirlwind.

The story is narrated by Arpan about how they flourished together from being kids to boys to men and how they joined the army together. He juggles his narration around Sam’s life, his past, why he was the ultra charming bad boy and was a favorite among girls. Arpan explains how Sam was a born winner and yet he ends up being the saddest person he knew.

Arpan is madly in love with Shraddha, a girl who was raised in a typical Indian family, who, on the other hand, runs away with Sam, the bad boy, succeeding which something terrible happens to her father, something that affects her in a way that she absolutely refuses to be with Sam ever again. Arpan, on the other hand, is intense in nature and more of an introvert.

I liked how after every chapter, the writer has intensified the breadth of his characters.

The climax, however, seems to be more like a Bollywood movie scene and you must read the book. It would be unfair to reveal more about the book that’d keep you hooked.

Being a poetry lover, I also appreciate the writer’s ability to fit some soul stirring verses amid the powerfulness of the storyline. Overall, it’s a good story and is worth a read.
I would love to read more of the writer’s work.

One thing that totally blew all the positives of this book was bad editing. The editor didn’t do justice to his part and thus, it should be focused upon from the next time.

Also, the cover of the book might not attract you to pick up the book and actually read it. It could have been designed in a better way. I’d suggest you to start reading it anyway, if you are an admirer of a good storyline.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars overall, and I believe is definitely worth a read!
You can buy it here :
http://www.amazon.in/Heart-Bullets-Ni...

[Krishna Burnwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heart Of Bullets


Author: Nikhil Kushwaha


Publishers: Petals Publishers


ISBN: 9789385440120


My Review:-
What is the first thing that came to your mind when you read the title of this novel?
Think before I shall share my experience with you.
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The first thing that came to my mind reading the title of the novel "Heart Of Bullets" was bravery and pain. Though dying for the nation is pride for every soldier and his/her family, the body wrapped in the tricolour always brings tears in the eyes of the people.
This pain must be felt by every countrymen and the sacrifices made by soldiers must always be remembered.

Heart of Bullets is the story about two best friends, Arpan and Sameer who are the soldiers of Indian Army. Both of them are childhood friends and are best companion to each other. A girl, Shradha comes into the lives of both these friends and takes away the hearts of both of them. But the girl falls in love with Sameer and Arpan becomes a one-sided lover.

The story starts with Arpan narrating the incident about his latest fight with the terrorist before visiting the family for a vacation. On the second day he goes to meet his childhood friend, Shradha. While he was talking with her, suddenly he recieved a call for immediate reporting at the camp.


Why was Arpan asked for immediate reporting in the camp?
What changes does Shardha bring in when Sam falls for her?
Will they end up together or remain seperated forever?
Why does Shradha's father consume poison?
Did Arpan really sacrifice his love?
Why did Sam and Arpan join the Indian army?
At the end, who will sacrifice his love or will betrayal lead to the end of their friendship?

You will know the answers to all the questions in your mind once you read this beautiful novel.


The story starts at a very slow pace in the beginning which should have been avoided. A story should always be written such the reader doesn't feel boredom reading it which I felt in the beginning. But the way in which the author ends the story is marvellous and mindblowing. I have read very few stories which has such a beautiful ending as was in this case.

Moreover I would like to bring the attention of the author on spelling mistakes and sentence construction. Though I am not a hardliner at it, but writing/printing peace instead of piece or vice-versa is just a big blunder which must have been surely avoided with proper editing.

Overall it is a good rom-com read with full of action just like a bollywood movie. Simply awesome. I would like to recommend this book to everyone especially those who like reading books about the lives of Soldiers and those who want to take a dip into their childhood days.

[Vaidehi Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author: Nikhil Kushwaha
Publishers: Petals
Price: 195 INR
Pages: 293

Blurb:
'The only way to get close to those glittering stars in heaven is, to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'
Every time, they are around, the thing that we see is the bravery inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they've been tough. Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.
A tale of brotherhood & heroism, a tale of love and betrayal, 'Heart of Bullets',is about two best friends, Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their friendship, untold story of their love, Shradha, but what happens when Sam gets hit by the enemy- across the border?
What will Arpan do to save his friend? Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?
There is a decision to be made, is the life without love, and friends, better than dying to save the one we love the most?

Review:
This book is a song with various many melodies. As the blurb indicates, it is a tale of love, brotherhood, friendship, heroism and betrayal. Soldiers being unsung heroes of all time are respected in the society. But, the other face of life which they go through is something more than what we see in movies. In this book, author has deliberately tried to pen down the actual stories behind the scene, which are quiet convincing.
Coming to the narration of book I must say the author has a captivating way of narration, binds reader to complete the book as-soon-as-possible. Whereas, in first two chapters the story was slow and lost its pace in some chapters. Getting closer, The proposal, Caught red handed, The last bullet can be said to be strong chapters!!

Positive Punches:
• Touches heart, soulful read, a read to relish relations!
• Thick Narration, cannot be put down easily!
• Characterization, at a few points you find yourself talking to characters!

Negative Nudge:
• Book cover! Bah a big big big disaster to this work! Could have been much better! Cannot attract reader!
• First two chapters, story is really slow, more than required. Can disappoint readers who judge the book from first few chapters.
• Ending, it actually broke my heart man! By the last chapter reader starts feeling 'This story should end on a better mode!' and it doesn't. Sobs
• Editing mistakes! Need to be looked upon seriously!!

Ratings:
3.5/5, (0.5 is down for book cover, one down for first two chapters and one down for ending. By the way, why I am explaining my ratings?)

Overall, Heart of Bullets is a book of its own kind. A read which will not be regretted!

Order your copy now at:
Heart of Bullets https://www.amazon.in/dp/9385440128/r...

[Ishan Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great man once said,"Diamonds can not be polished without friction,nor man perfected without trial". This novel bears a perfect testament to the mentioned quote. Its only after the relentless struggles of life that the best comes out even from the worst of the creatures.The way time and again Sam and Arpan's bond is tested and everytime it manages to come at the top amidst all the dangers and challenges that the life throws at them deserves a special mention.To be honest, i really felt a greater connect with the bond of friendship between Sam and Arpan more than the bond of affection and love which either of them shares with Shraddha. It only approves the common saying, "I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth i know not where , And the song from beginning to end , I found again in the heart of a friend"
Coming to the story , it is indeed well crafted (with lot many typos though) and the characterization has been given due importance too. Here also, the poems have been the real show stealer. I am actually enjoying this new discovery of the contemporary writers to include such proses in between which develops a greater connect with the story .
However, I did not like the fact that its more of a love story and our defence and army is just used as a mere backdrop as if they are just to grab the attention of the readers.The cover pageofthe book is indeed appealing , even the title and quality of paper is good too but i have to say , the editing has been really poor . The story could easily cut short by around 70 odd pages . At times, the story becomes dull and other times it gains pace. There is a lack of uniformity and consistency in the novel.
Having said that, its indeed a brave attempt by the author to bind such vulnerable virtues of sacrifice , love , friendship, courage , bravery into a single novel . And his face do bears a starking similarity with Arnab Goswami .
The novel teaches us some important lessons of life , destiny and how only the efforts are in the hands of a man but he reduces to a mere puppet when it comes to the outcomes.It is well summed up in the words of Shakespears which goes like this:
" There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood , leads on to fortune;
Omitted all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and miseries."

[Samriddhi Tiwari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blurb

'The only way to get close to those glittering stars is heaven is , to look at a soldier with stars on his shoulders'.
Every time , they are around ,the thing that we see is the bravery awards, medals, the pride, but what we cant see is the heart that lies inside the iron chest, some untold stories, sacrifices, and the hardship they have been through .Every soldier has a story that is unique and extra ordinary.
A tale of brotherhood and heroism, a tale of love and betrayal, 'Heart of Bullets', is about two best friends,  Arpan & Sam, and the untold story of their love, Shradha ,but what happens when Sam gets hits by the enemy-across the border?
What will Arpan do to save his friend?
Will love prevail over friendship of lifetime?
There is a decision to be made , is the life without love , and friends , better than dying to save the one we love the most?

Review

This story revolves life of  soldier . Arpan was back at home, he was reciting his war stories to his brother and sister. His family was happy to be with him after a long time. He got a call from his duty and he sacrificed his holidays , his family for his duty. Their was war and terrorist, death, blood gives tense situations. In the hospital Arpan narrates story about his best friend Sam how they used to enjoy their school life. Meanwhile , the story turned cute about Sam and Shradha's  tale of love story. The author has flow to keep his readers on track , I loved all the poems and quotations it makes me feel great to read. I can't even predict its lovely ending full of suspense. This book really made me realise that true friendship and selfless love still exists.

Positives

The story was rich with tons of feelings. I like the narration and message of selfless love for someone's happiness. Quotes and poems made this book more beautiful

Negatives

Their were many errors and some paragraphs are not necessary. Book must be edited again.

Favourite quotations

No mater hail, storm or rain, wounds, fever or pain, he has to walk, and has to walk for miles.

Relationships have a starting date, ending date but love doesn’t. Love starts and stays forever.

Rateings

Cover -3/5
Title- 3/5
Characters- 4/5
Overallrateings- 3.5/5

Recommendations
Must read for everyone and specially who believe in selfless love.

Available at Amazon.

[Ritu Pandey · Rating 3 out of 5]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Founder of Perx studio, a complete photography solution, and a professional photographer himself, Nikhil Kushwaha has already touched hearts of many through his previous works, ‘Six Teen mistakes’ published in 2014 and ‘The Waning Moon’ published in 2015.
This book being his third, is entirely different from his previous works.
A tale that includes both genera- Patriotism as well as Romance.

BOOK TITLE AND COVER :

As the book suggests, the book title as well as the cover is accordingly set and made.
The book title where speaks about bravery and pain, the book cover clearly supports it along with the element of romance.

LANGUAGE :

With the timely dose of beautifully written quotations as well as poems in the start or in the end of almost every chapter, the language is anything but complicated.

NARRATION :

The book is perfectly written. It starts with Arpan narrating his recent adventure tales to his siblings, while he is home for a short vacation.

Story revolves around three main characters of this book- Arpan , Sam and Shradha.
Arpan and Sam, being in Indian Army have been through several adventures together and are best companion to each other.
Although, their love interest being the same, is what complicate the things, with Sameer getting his love and Arpan becomes an one-sided lover.
Although, something happen in between Sam and Shradha that drift them apart. And to know about this ‘something’ readers are compelled to finish the story in one go without any distraction.
In one of the fights, the bullet injured Sam very badly, which gives rise to several questions in reader’s mind and hence can only be answered in the end.

DISLIKES :

1. Although the cover is according to the book title, yet it could’ve been improved better.

2. Repetition of lines.

3. Death of Gorilla – Shradha’s father.

4. Minor grammatical mistakes

5. The editing of the story could’ve been done better.

LIKES :

1. Touching poems as well as quotations.

2. Description of the operations, at the army quarters.

3. Book title is very impressive.

4. Simple yet grasping language has been used.

Above all, a very common tale yet with a very different flavour of love , friendship and sacrifices.

RATINGS : 2.8/5

[Jenny Arora · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first thing that you see – the cover is not as intriguing. The blurb is very promising though.
The book heart of bullets is about the protagonist Arpan who is an Army Officer fighting the enemies for India. The story revolves around Arpan, his best friend and partner-in-crime Sam and their Love interest Shraddha.

The book is a full pack of Fights, Violence, Patriotism, Friendship, Love and Sacrifice altogether.

The best part about the book are the poetries that you get to read every here and there in the book.

While the ‘Bromance’ between Arpan and Sam will keep entertaining you, the complicated love story of Shraddha and Sam will keep you hooked and wanting more.

The thrill begins right from the start. There are scenes of Violence and War and Army Attacks. The book succeeds to portray the life of a Soldier pretty well. Though after a certain point in the story, you start feeling that the story turns less about it’s original theme – a Soldier’s Life, and more about teenage lives involving attraction, jealously and infatuation.

The story ends at the Sacrifice made by Arpan for his buddy Sam, which seems quite illogical and filmy to me (strictly personal opinion) but yes, emotional. Well, Arpan claims to do this Sacrifice to rectify his mistake of creating so many misunderstandings that between Sam and Shraddha, knowingly or unknowingly. Whether his mistakes are rectified or not, that’s for you to decide.

Talking about the writing skills, the narration pace is slow and reveals the characters gradually as the story proceeds. The poetries steal the show. Though the editing could’ve been a bit better. And the one-liners are too much than required. So much that it becomes almost annoying.

About the quality of the cover and paper, I’ve said this before, and yet again, Petals publishers provides the worst quality of Paper and cover. It just puts a reader off at the first glance itself. (The pages were stuck together from top when I received the book. I had to pull of each page with a ruler before I could read.)

Overall, it’s slightly above an average read for people reading thriller and romance. Giving it a shot won’t be bad.

I would give this book 3/5 stars.
And would recommend it to anyone who, as said above, likes reading Romance and Thriller with a tinge of Violence and Crime.

[Sonal · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Author:

Nikhil Kushwaha has already touched hearts of many through his previous works ‘Six Teen Mistakes’ and ‘The Waning Moon’. Engineer by education and professional photographer as well as
writer.

Writing Style: 2.5/5

There is a famous dialogue from 80’s movies which means human needs only three things to live. They are food, clothes and house. Well, in modern times two more has got place in them. Smartphone and Love. In popular English fiction 90% of the literary works are based on love and trust me as a reviewer I find it quite disappointing. Yet as the job demands…

‘Heart of Bullets’ is written by Nikhil Kushwaha. A love story of two soldier friends and a girl. Arpan, Sam and Shradha. A love triangle based on span of war. Like every love story, this one also have same ingredients like love, jealousy, betrayal, society, sacrifice and all. Story nowhere in novel comes as a fresh breeze. Writing style is also good but in some scenes it feels stretched unnecessarily. Detailed description can ruin the spark of literary work. The poems between lines were really fantastic as they provided soul to the novel. Scenes from school life are quite refreshing and joyful. If am not being grammatical Hitler, also noticed few errors. This novel won’t be out of blue as it has a repeated storyline with filmy ending. The ending reminded me of old time movies and can quote few, too. Haven’t gone through his two previous works but this one hasn’t impressed in anyway. Language is not naïve yet missing the unique touch.

Giving my best regards for the writer’s literary carrier.

My overall rating for this work is 2.5/5.

Genre: Fiction
Paperback: 293 pages
Publisher: Petals Publishers.
Language: English

[Sonia Motwani · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Heart Of Bullets”
by Nikhil Khushwala is a story of friendship, a story of love and sacrifice. The story revolves around the life of solider. Every soldier has an extraordinary tale to tell. The sacrifices, the hardships, the struggles that they had been through for the love of their mother nation. The story is about love , sacrifice and undying friendship of two childhood best friend – Arpan and Sam. The author elegantly uses the literary terms. The story is keeps the readers engaged with the one liners used and the heart wrenching poems that gives rhythmic touch to the book. The story begins with the scene at LoC that Arpan narrates to his siblings about the life of solider when they get attacked suddenly by enemy, about the life of people that are connected with them, when he is back at home for leave .The story then focuses on the hero of the book – SAM. Arpan then narrates his flashback with all details that happened with him and his best friend Sam since the farewell night. And then the story with twists and turns flows from soldier’s life to teenage immature love, where minor misunderstandings broke the lifelong bond but the beautiful poems in between makes the reader to flow through the book. The last part of book i.e. the climax is indeed emotional but quite unrealistic but the way it is penned down is really applaudable. The author has gracefully scribbled the life of martyr’s family after the sacrifice of of soldier. The fight of Indian Army during attack arose patriotism besides thrill , though the last fight of Arpan ended too soon. But the story by Nikhil Khushwala that thrills you and even melts eyes with Goosebumps is a worth read. – Sonia Motwani