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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Unseen: No. 7 in Books

Jan 12, 2018  
Unseen: No. 7
Unseen: No. 7
Karin Slaughter | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I haven't read any previous novels with these characters so didn't know any background to them but it didn't seem to matter to me as Karin was adept at shedding light on history but not too much that the story became confusing and bogged down which can happen.

I found it to be an exciting story that, unfortunately, is very plausible in this day and age (wow, I sound like my mum!) and it kept me interested throughout. The descriptions of places, people, situations, injuries, etc were vivid and, I felt, accurate enough to enable me to develop detailed pictures in my mind as I was reading which made it all the more real.

Some of my thoughts on the main characters:

Lena - I didn't like her at first but once the character started to develop I found myself on her side and defending her like she was a real person.

Sara - annoying but likeable in a strange way. She came across to me as quite a hard and unforgiving person but I think I warmed to her in the end.

Will - my favourite loved him - a very complex character that I want to know more about. A tough exterior with a very soft centre and a good heart; brave and fearless and someone you would want on your side.

There was one negative that I found and it was that I thought the chapters were way too long - I hate stopping midway through a chapter but if you only have a short amount of time to get a few pages read, you have to with this book which I found quite frustrating.

Overall though, I enjoyed it so much I will be reading more and would definitely recommend to people who love a fast paced crime thriller.
  
<b><i>I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>Like many classics, I'm not a huge fan of <i>Oedipus Rex </i>(let's just say it was a little boring here and there and maybe I needed Shmoop to help me understand what was going on).

Anyways, despite the fact I struggled with writing an essay over Oedipus, <i>Prophecy </i>seemed interesting enough simply because of the fact Oedipus isn't the main character. Prophecy tells the story of Antigone, one of Oedipus’ daughters, and a princess of Thebes who is believed to be both blessed and cursed (the former being the most popular with the latter being an internal admission) by the gods at the same time - at least in McBurnie’s version.

There does, however, seem to be a bit of a repetition that irked me after it occurred a few times - everyone keeps telling Antigone she's blessed by the gods and she has a gift, yada yada, and it really just made the story feel much slower than it was actually going. (I mean, I totally get why but still….)

I really enjoyed McBurnie’s take of <i>Oedipus Rex</i> in <i>Prophecy </i>- the author breaks down the original story and simplifies it, yet she takes her own spin of the tale from a different perspective (Antigone). It's a refreshing take and from the way McBurnie ends the story, I'm extremely curious where and what the sequel will lead to.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-prophecy-by-coreena-mcburnie/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
Miss Peregrine&#039;s Home for Peculiar Children
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs | 2013 | Children, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.9 (128 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review can also be found on my blog <a href="themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>.

I feel the synopsis of what the book is about makes it sound a lot better than what it is. I wanted to like this book, I really did. I had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for me. I was expecting more of a ghost story. Instead I got more of a sci-fi story, and one that wasn't very good.

Jacob's grandfather tells him of a magical island of which he spent his childhood. He shows him photos and tells him stories about the peculiar children he grew up with. As Jacob becomes a teenager, he stops believing in his grandfather's ridiculous stories until something awful happens. Jacob travels to the mysterious island to find out about his grandfather. Little does he know that by going to that island he's put himself and many others in danger.

First off, I thought the word building/setting were fantastic. The author made me feel as if I was on the island. I'll give him props there. The description of the world was beautifully described.

I couldn't relate very much to the characters. I can't really place why that is. I just couldn't connect. I found myself not caring what happened to any of them. Perhaps the author should've spent a bit more time character building to make me relate to at least one the characters. The characters just felt a bit one dimensional. There wasn't even one that I could remotely say that I favourited. Okay, that's a lie. I liked Fiona, the Irish girl, but I only liked her because she was Irish, and I love all things Irish. That's it.

I found the pacing to be a bit slow. I'd read a chapter, then I'd get bored with it and go off to do something else. I really struggled with this book. There are a couple of chapters that the pacing is great in, but it's not until the last two chapters that the pacing definitely picks up.

The dialogue was easy to understand although some Americans may not get all the slang British terms. There was one scene where a character says "I was taking a piss" where he meant that he was joking around. The phrase he meant was "taking the piss" which is a British slang phrase for joking. "Taking a piss" isn't a typo either as it's mentioned a few more times. This annoyed me because taking a piss, is just that, it means urinating. "Taking the piss" means to be joking around. Other than that, the dialogue was good.

The best part of the book was the photographs found within the book. I loved that little touch! I found myself studying the photos and enjoying them a million times better than the actual book.

The cover is also something I loved about the book. How freaky does that little girl look??? The German cover looks even better. It's the same photo, just with a green hue. If I was marking the book based on the cover alone, it'd get 5 out of 5 for me.

The title of the book doesn't really leave anything to make you wonder what the books about. It says exactly what the book is about - a home for peculiar children.

All in all, this book left me feeling empty. I didn't really feel much of anything reading it until I got to the last two chapters where it got exciting. However, I will not put myself through the torture of reading the second book in the series especially as I don't care about the characters or what happens to them. I'm just glad I won this book in a competition and didn't buy it.

I was going to give this book a 2 - 2.5 star rating but the ending saved it a bit.
  
The Wife Between Us
The Wife Between Us
Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
7
8.1 (37 Ratings)
Book Rating
Not the spellbinding thriller promised but still a twisty read
I never do this, but I'm copying in the tagline for this one, because I don't want to give away any spoilers:
When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.

This was a fascinating and twisted thriller, I'll give you that. It flew under my radar for a while, enough that I wasn't interested enough to ask for an ARC. Finally, I read enough GR reviews that I caved and grabbed a copy from the local library. Now I don't know if I'm just cynical or jaded or what, but while I enjoyed this one, I didn't find it to be the rave-worthy thriller that so many others did. Perhaps if I'd picked it up in the ARC stage, before reading so many reviews, it would have been a little different, but I think maybe I went in looking for all the twists.

The book is divided into a couple of parts (4 or 5) and I guessed the big twist of the first part flat out. It's well-executed, but I saw it coming from a mile away. The rest were a little harder to guess, so kudos to the authors for those. I won't lie--this one is quite the compulsively readable thriller, no matter what. I am, however, a little tired of unreliable, female alcoholic protagonists, by now--this trend was kicked off by The Girl on the Train, and I'm sort of over it.

I won't go into much more, because I don't want to reveal anything for those yet uninitiated. I'm still glad I picked up the book - it was a good diversion for a couple of evenings and a fun thriller. Not quite the most amazing book ever I was promised, but still a twisty read. More at http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/.
  
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TIGERBABY18 (0 KP) rated Amazon in Apps

Jan 1, 2018  
Amazon
Amazon
Lifestyle, Shopping
9
8.9 (260 Ratings)
App Rating
Shop from home, quick delivery, cheap prices, free two day shipping (0 more)
Love my Prime membership
Amazon is incredible. I can find items I could not find in regular stores. It's a great convenience. I love the movies I can watch with my prime membership and the Kindle First is an amazing way to have a new book each month and experience a new author too.
  
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Dean (6927 KP) rated The Boy (2016) in Movies

Aug 20, 2017  
The Boy (2016)
The Boy (2016)
2016 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Lauren Cohan (1 more)
Great location
Decent Horror film
When I first heard this was a creepy doll movie I didn't get my hopes up. Surprisingly I did enjoy it. Lauren Cohan of The Walking Dead is good as the Nanny. The Mansion is almost a character in itself looking like a Gothic Castle. It has some neat twists and was much better than I expected.
  
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl
10
8.2 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
I truly enjoyed this story and was glad it was a story that got told. I remember reading it in high school, and I think we had just finished discussing The Holocaust history so everything was fresh in my mind. I liked that we got a different point of view for this type of story and that it was told from a young girl's perspective.
  
The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
2018 | Horror
I enjoyed it!
Wasn't sure about this at first but I did end up finding myself quite attached. The jumping back and forth between the past and the present took a little getting used to, but once you got your head around that part it was good, although I was a little disappointed that the ending was a bit predicable for me, I still enjoyed it :)
  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
Loved the acting, story and Goose (0 more)
I went to this movie thinking that I wouldnt like it but wound up enjoying it a lot. Briee Larson does a great job as Captain Marvel and I am a 90s kid so I loved the music in the film as well. Goose is my new favorite Marvel character and him and Nick Fury are amazing together.
  
Slither (2006)
Slither (2006)
2006 | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
So bad it's good!
Slither is one of those movies that i always forget about but when I finally rewatch it I enjoy it just as much as the first time.

It's over the top and gorey and a lot of over acting at it is freaking wonderful.


Plus to top it off i am always a sucker for a horror movie that uses practical effects.
  
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Scott Tostik (389 KP) Apr 14, 2018

It has one of the all time top 5 one liners I've ever heard in my 42 years... He looks like something that fell off my dick during the war...
Awesome movie