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Salvation (Protectors #2)
Salvation (Protectors #2)
Sloane Kennedy | 2018 | Crime, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
can't split narration from the book!
When I listen to a book, I try really REALLY hard to write a bit about the book then a separate bit about the narration.

However! Part of the reason I am enjoying these Protectors stories is the narration by Joel Leslie! So I cannot split them!

I'm not a fan of READING first person books and I make no apologies for that but LISTENING to them is becoming a firm favourite! Joel Leslie put so much emotion, feeling so much of the character's very soul into his work, and by god you feel for these guys, you really do!

I have no doubt, no doubt at all, hat I WILL be listening to the others books as they come out in audio. I don't want to switch to reading, I might not enjoy them so much!

5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
The Last American Vampire
The Last American Vampire
Seth Grahame-Smith | 2015 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Rare Case of The Sequel Being Better than the First Book
I loved this book. Honestly, I'm not certain that I didn't like it even more than "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter." One of my favorite things about both of these books is that Smith writes them like history books (complete with footnotes and actual photographs of things like Teddy Roosevelt posing with an elephant he'd just killed and Jack Ruby with his gun jammed into Lee Harvey Oswald's stomach). The facts he uses in his book are so... FACTUAL! I mean, seriously, the only thing keeping a person from reading these books as absolute truth is the fact that s/he doesn't believe vampires actually exist. But if a person DID believe in vampires? Oh yes, everything in these books is absolutely plausible. I can honestly see some confused people who are on the fence about whether or not vampires are real reading this book, finishing it, slamming it down, and saying, "I KNEW IT! I -KNEW- THEY WERE REAL!" Ha. Seriously though, the realism in these books is what makes them so much fun and so wonderful.

The thing I like about this book so much -- the thing that very possibly makes me enjoy this one more than the original -- is all that cameos in the book -- Mark Twain, Howard Hughes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Eliot Ness.... I mean, HELLO?! What a stellar, badass cast of cameo characters. Although, honestly, "cameo" is not the most appropriate word because some of these characters played pretty major roles in the novel. It was fantastic. Viewing Howard Hughes' eccentricities and insanities through vampire-colored glasses is simply... perfect. It doesn't seemed forced at all. Wait, after a plane crash, Howard Hughes was turned into a vampire? ... Yeah, I can see that. That makes perfect sense. And it DOES! It is such an easy transition from mentally ill billionaire to crazy vampire. Not such a stretch. And Rasputin? OH yeah. That guy was TOTALLY a vampire. :-p

Anyway. Now I'm kind of rambling. But seriously, this book was fantastic, so much fun. There wasn't a single part of this book that I didn't love.
  
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Immortal in Death (In Death, #3)
J.D. Robb | 1996
6
7.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

I read the first two books in this series quite a while ago now and the only thing I remember is Eve and Roarke's relationship progressing quite quickly.

This has taken me a long time to finish and I think that's due to its length. I'm not the biggest fan of long books and the fact the writing in the kindle app for PC is so tiny tells me it's a long one. I've been reading it in spurts between other books but as the investigation into Pandora's death got going I decided to just concentrate on this one and finally get it finished.

So Pandora is a successful model, loved the world over for her style and flair but also loathed for being vicious and cruel. When she's murdered and the prime suspect is Mavis, Eve's long time friend, Eve is determined to help solve the mystery and get her friend off the charge of murder and find the real killer.

I loved the twists and turns in this. I, like Eve, thought that they'd found the killers at about the 66% mark but then like how did they go about proving it? And then it turns out it wasn't those people?! I was like, WHAT?!

Of course, this one also contains Eve and Roarke's wedding and the stuff that leads up to it, including dress shopping, hen and stag nights and picking flowers. Admittedly, we don't get the wedding in this as such, just Eve getting dressed and walking out to make her promise to Roarke.

Although I didn't enjoy this as much as previous books, I think that was down to me not being in the mood for a mystery/crime/romantic suspense book as well as it's long length. Nevertheless I will be reading more books in the series at a later date.
  
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Harshini (25 KP) rated Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) in Movies

Jan 4, 2018 (Updated Jan 13, 2018)  
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
2013 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
2
5.8 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Annabeth's hair and eye colour matched the books (1 more)
"Stop walking on my roof"
Some scenes that should have been in were cut (4 more)
Some scenes were in that shouldn't have been
Some scenes were in that weren't even a part of the book they were producing
The author of the books hates the movies
The initial scene is of something that is never mentioned in the books - and I'm still kind of confused as to what the actors' characters are meant to be doing
Big Fan of the Books, Not So Much of the Movies
Contains spoilers, click to show
I had a huge issue with the first movie as is, so this may end up being a rant.


I have been a massive fan of the books for about 9 years now and can say with a fair amount of certainty that this movie does not echo its book source. Yes, they had the same characters (for the most part), but the characters being from the book does not mean that it is the movie of the book. It means that the book gave inspiration. Sure, some events that were in the book were in the movie - such as Tyson's slip with the winds, or Tyson's story at all - but some fairly important scenes were not to be seen in the movie - such as (what should have been the initial scene) the dodgeball game that reveals Tyson's immunity to fire, Siren Bay, or Circe. Not to mention the events that were changed in the movie - such as the fact that Polyphemus' island became a fairground instead of a lush paradisal island with man-eating sheep, or that the ship Clarisse is commandeering doesn't end up in Charybdis' stomach and that they avoid the two monsters all together. I'm not even counting the scenes that the director placed in this movie that should have come much later - like Percy's fight with Kronos, which shouldn't have taken place until the absolute last movie. When I saw the first movie, I said something about the way it was made, and I'll say it again: it's like the director hired someone to read the book and tell him what happened, the person read all the books and then decided to pick and choose their favourite parts and create an absolute mess of the books. I mean, it's a sign if the author of said books is the person who hates the movies the most.

That being said, I can attest to there being some good things about the movie. Alexandra Daddario (who plays Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena) did end up changing her hair and eye colour in the movie to the described blonde hair and grey eyes (though the eyes do look very fake). I am not sure whether or not this was just because so many fans were offended by her brown hair and eyes in the first movie (which was also terrible), but I am glad that it got changed to be more in-tune with the source material. Above all, I can say that there are about five seconds of this movie that I love - and that I will stomach the surrounding minute for - and that is when Luke Castellan tells Percy to 'stop walking on [his] roof'. It is by far the funniest part of the entire movie. However, I won't lie and say I'm not glad that the series isn't going to continue to be shown on the silver screen.
  
One Perfect Lie
One Perfect Lie
Lisa Scottoline | 2017 | Thriller
6
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Here's my disclaimer: I seem to rate audiobooks harsher than print books. I guess it's because I'm not as focused. I'm not sure why. Anyway, on to my review.

I've read a few other of Lisa Scottoline's books, so I thought I'd give One Perfect Lie a chance. I will say that the title really does fit with what the book's about.

I went into this book expecting something more sinister when it came to Chris, but what I got was something totally different! I won't go into details because of spoilers. I will say that the whole government angle kind of put me off the story, but I continued since I was already invested in this audiobook. I think others would enjoy the story very much, but these government type books aren't really my thing. I wish I had known it was more a government type book before I started listening to it. I will say that this book has some great plot twists, and it does answer all questions before ending.

The characters are done well and are interesting enough. I feel they are fleshed out to be believable. I kept hoping that Heather and Chris would end up together throughout the book. They seemed like they'd make a great couple!

As for the narrator, he did an okay job. The heavy breathes he would sometimes take were somewhat annoying, and sometimes his Russian accent would falter.

Overall, One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline is just an alright read. There's nothing that special about it, but it'll help pass the time. I'd recommend it to those who are into big government plot books.