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When their friend's father is robbed of a rare comic book, Nick and Tesla use their new self-built robots to try to find the thief.

Kids will enjoy this one. The characters are better than the first and in keeping with a middle grade novel. The plot is strong and actually threw a twist in there that surprised me.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Amazon's Vine Program.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/11/book-review-nick-and-teslas-robot-army.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
TC
The Chase (Fox and O'Hare, #2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
FBI Agent O'Hare and wanted criminal Fox must team up to recover a stolen Chinese artifact and return it unnoticed before an international incident occurs.

The plot was quite fun and twisted in some unexpected ways. Plenty of tense moments hoping our heroes could pull off the impossible. The characters are still on the shallow side, but this book is fun, fun, fun!

NOTE: I was sent an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/03/book-review-chase-by-janet-evanovich.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
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Animal Defenses
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Animal Defenses by Mary Lindeen is a non-fiction book for early readers. This book is about how animals use their natural defenses that keep them safe. From rolling to a ball to spraying a nasty smell, animals are depicted with nice pictures and an illustration of their defense. The pictures are large and visually appealing, the animal species are varied  the information is educational and the information is presented in a way that is easy to understand.

I received this ARC from Norwood House Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
A Body&#039;s Just as Dead
A Body's Just as Dead
Cathy Adams | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I got the book, A Body's Just as Dead as an arc. I truly wanted to love this book. I think it's very well written but it never grabbed my attention. I truly felt for the family, the men just couldn't get it together and the women tried their best to keep a level head. One minute someone's in jail, the next they're getting married. I wish there was just more of a following of what happened after the shooting in Walmart. Cathy truly made me feel every emotion the family went through.
  
Lies You Never Told Me
Lies You Never Told Me
Jennifer Donaldson | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I won this ARC from a Goodreads Giveaway and had been looking forward to reading it. However, I was pretty disappointed with this book, with all the great buzz that had been created so far. I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. For all the drama I felt like it really lacked excitement until the last three chapters and it still was wrapped up extremely quickly once you reached the part that was a real page turner. I did enjoy the chapter switch from each character narrative.
  
Star Wars, Vol. 5: Yoda&#039;s Secret War
Star Wars, Vol. 5: Yoda's Secret War
Jason Aaron | 2017 | Comics & Graphic Novels
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
As Yoda himself would say: "largely pointless, this is".

In reality, this is a story-within-a-story-within-a-story, with Luke Skywalker reading this from 'Old Ben' Obi-Wan Kenobi's journal whilst in the cockpit of his X-Wing, chasing after R2-D2 who has decided to rescue (on his own) the captured at the end of The Final Flight of the Harbinger C-3PO from the Imperials.

And, as the arc ends, (presumably) R2-D2 is still in transit, with C-3PO still in custody.
  
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery
Jude Law's Dumbledore (0 more)
What really happened. I mean really. (0 more)
Kind of a Buffer but with hints of what's to come
I actually quite liked this film as it filtered more into the wizarding world I know and love from the HP films. We see Hogwarts and we get more of Newts back story...

However not a whole lot happened. I believe that they intend to make 5 films in the story arc and this one felt like somewhat of a buffer... Its set itself up for an exciting next installment though!
  
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Christopher Hobbs recommended Vampyr (1932) in Movies (curated)

 
Vampyr (1932)
Vampyr (1932)
1932 | Horror
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The distinguished director of The Passion of Joan of Arc in a moment of strangeness. He said Vampyr was not a horror film. Certainly, in a setting where images and voices fade through a sort of ghostly mist and shadows take on an independent life, where the leading man drifts from one bizarre and unsettling episode to another with a look of incomprehension on his face, an atmosphere of threat and unease is created, but it is the unease of dream, of nightmare, and is ultimately more unsettling than Hollywood’s brash efforts."

Source
  
The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, #2)
The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, #2)
Brent Weeks | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
6
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
<strong>A worthwhile chore</strong>

I must admit, this was a chore to get through. But it came together in the end. I struggle something with Week's prose. There are some habits of his that just erk me somewhat. I also haven't read many series bigger than a trilogy, so the overall arc is feeling perhaps a little steep for me at the moment. I'm sure it's as much me as it is the book. Saying all this I never felt like DNFing it, and definitely moving onto book 3 imminently.
  
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Meghan Udell recommended The Odyssey in Books (curated)

 
The Odyssey
The Odyssey
Homer, E.V. Rieu, Peter Jones, Dominic Rieu | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
7.3 (17 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"On the surface the Odyssey is a hero’s book about journey and adventure, but just beneath the main storyline rests a feminist arc of subtly navigating a man’s world without sacrificing your ideals. For me, Penelope, Odysseus’s faithful wife, is my favorite character. A skilled manipulator, Penelope cunningly evades unwanted suitors by claiming to knit or weave (depending on the translation you read) a funeral shroud for her elderly Father-in-Law. She pledges that upon completion of the shroud, she will remarry, but as a stall tactic she secretly undoes her work at night."

Source