Skip to main content

Book Review: The girl in the forest (Swiss Stories #1) Carmen Weiz


Source: Amazon
From the Blurb:


From the pine tree forests of Switzerland, a thriller-romance which will take your sleep away… A sad twist of the destiny catapults Anna, young Brazilian woman, into a reality greater than her.

Driven by desire to help and make the good, she’ll find herself slave of human trafficking gangs, in the hands of merciless torturers ready to sell her to the richest bidder.

Only using her cunning she’ll be able to escape, helped by the Swiss officer Thomas Graff, a man with an icy heart and past he can’t leave behind. The crash between two different cultures that will make sparks fly!

This is Anna’s story, undeservedly a victim like many other women. Among intrigues, betrayal, crimes and games of fate, the young lady will fight for freedom and love.

Grab your copy





I had been avoiding romance novels for a while now mainly because I was tired of the same old plot lines with nothing much to offer to a reader. But the moment I read the blurb of this book by Carmen Weiz I knew I had to read this one. The title is not only intriguing but is also something that tickles your imagination to an extent that you want to know more about Anna!

I really enjoyed reading this fast paced novel which takes us through the journey of Anna. She has been a victim of lies and treachery, with no other option left but to fight it out. And she does that, so brilliantly that you cannot help but applaud her strength and poise. Anna comes across as someone who is confused and totally unsure about what she wants from life in the beginning but as the story progresses you witness her transformation into a confident and strong young woman.

The story takes place in the pine forests of Switzerland with scenic locales described beautifully by the author. She makes all the places come alive in those pages with her poetic prose. Exciting, evocative and touching - the narrative is one that can set your heartbeats thudding. The characters have been well defined, making them more than mere cardboard cutouts unlike other romance novels. Exploring various underlying themes like human trafficking, abandonment, debauchery, heart break and loss of loved ones in life, the author weaves a gripping tale of love and freedom. 

This epic saga has quite a handful of scenes which classify this book as an adult read. However, that doesn't take away the powerful prose and lucidity of the language used by the author throughout the novel. For a debutante she has a done a stellar job!

Recommended for romance lovers!

(P.S: I got this book for review from the author.)

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything.  What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

The Urban Gaze : Reimagining the Village in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Indian cinema has long been fascinated with the village. From the earthy, socialist realism of Do Bigha Zamin (1953) to the melodramatic lament of Mother India (1957), the village once stood as both heartland and hinterland — a space of moral clarity, rustic struggle, and often unyielding fate. But as the urban middle class began to dominate cinematic production and consumption, the depiction of the village increasingly came to reflect an urban gaze, that is, a perspective shaped by distance, nostalgia, condescension, or even outright fantasy.  In recent years, this urban gaze has taken on new shades, evident in the way mainstream and indie filmmakers alike have re-engaged with rural India. While some have tried to explore the village as a site of resistance, authenticity, or even horror, others continue to reproduce sanitized or exaggerated versions of village life that serve urban sensibilities more than rural realities.