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    App in the Air

    App in the Air

    Travel and Productivity

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    App

    App in the Air - your personal flying assistant that keeps you up-to-date with your flight: real...

    Club Penguin Island

    Club Penguin Island

    Entertainment and Games

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    Hi Penguins!
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    NAVIONICS SKI

    NAVIONICS SKI

    Navigation and Sports

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    The most comprehensive app for ski and snowboard! Navionics Ski app includes maps of over 2,000...

Ayesha At Last
Ayesha At Last
Uzma Jalaluddin | 2019 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A book that deserves to be read A LOT!!
I absolutely adored this book. If I could unread it and then read it again for the first time, I would!
It’s Pride and Prejudice set in modern Canada with a Muslim cast. Ayesha wants to work to pay her Uncle back for all the help he has given her and her family, but her real love is poetry, not teaching High School. She is asked by her rather spoilt cousin, Hafsa, to cover for her at a mosque event meeting under the guise of being Hafsa. There, she meets Khalid, and finds herself falling for a devout, conservative Muslim - something she doesn’t want to do - who is also shy, kind and handsome. However, when Khalid’s controlling mother organises marriage between the real Hafsa and Khalid, knowing the identity of the Hafsa that Khalid has met, both Khalid and Ayesha realise that they haven’t necessarily got what they want.
There was so much heart in this story - I particularly loved the characters of Nani and Nana. They acted as the voice of reason on more than one occasion. I also loved the Shakespeare quotations: Nani always had the right quote at exactly the right time (and it was all very meta - Shakespeare quotes in an Austen retelling!).
Even the more unsavoury characters were written in such a way that I felt sorry for them - life and experiences clearly making them the way they were.
I read this on The Pigeonhole app (one section, or stave, per day for ten days) and I can honestly say that I looked forward to every single stave. If I’d had the book in my hand, I would have read it in one sitting. So I’m actually glad that The Pigeonhole forced me to savour and enjoy this gorgeous book for longer. It deserves to be savoured, and it deserves to be read a lot too!!
I really do highly recommend this book!
  
House of Rougeaux
House of Rougeaux
Jenny Jaeckel | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautifully Interwoven Stories of Family & Spirit (0 more)
A Bit Hard to Keep Track, Non-Linear, Lots of Characters (0 more)
A Family Saga Spanning Generations and the Globe
I won a copy of House of Rougeaux through a Goodreads Giveaway (my first time winning!) I don't think I would have normally picked this up - and I try to enter myself in giveaways for just this reason - to discover new authors and read stories I wouldn't normally seek out.

House of Rougeaux was a wonderful story of a family spanning across the globe and across generations. The saga is non-linear, so it jumps around a bit. I had a hard time following in the beginning and there are quite a few characters to keep straight. But once I got a few chapters in, it was fairly easy to keep track. The family tree illustration in the beginning is super helpful and I fell in love with this family - and the way the author connected the generations was clever and didn't feel forced at all.

From the early 1800's at a sugar plantation in Martinique with Abeje, a healer, and her brother - facing tremendous brutality and loss - only to survive and start the legacy of this story and this family. To more present day with Eleanor, a musician in Canada - faced with a harrowing situation and tough choices, coming full circle.

There is magic and wonder, healing and suffering, as well as music and love. You see these aspects reflected across bloodlines, across generations, from slavery to freedom and across the world. Things are passed down, and you see a bit of some characters in other, through an intricate weaving of layers. But it's easy to see how this family changed and progressed over 100 years, and the spirit that lives within them all.

The story was captivating and the writing, eloquent. Thanks to Goodreads, Jenny Jaeckel and Raincloud Press for the opportunity to read and review.
  
Flashback - Single  by Mathew V
Flashback - Single by Mathew V
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Mathew V is a singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, Canada. Not too long ago, he released a heartfelt music video for his emo-pop ballad, entitled, “Flashback”.

“I’m weak, is that what you make of me when I had to get up on my own. Seventeen, when he put his hands on me, and I had to find my way back home. But I, oh I, I’d never play you for a fool. But now, I’m here with nothing left to lose.” – lyrics

‘Flashback’ tells a bitter tale of Mathew V’s personal experience with sexual violence/rape at the age of seventeen, and how it affects his personal life today.

Five years ago, the above-mentioned incident occurred, and ever since then, the 22-year-old survivor has been trying his best to cope with the recurring flashbacks of him being violated sexually.

‘Flashback’ contains a relatable storyline, ear-welcoming vocals, and piano-driven instrumentation flavored with sentimental elements.

“Writing this song was one of the hardest things I‘ve had to do in my life. I wrote this song about my experience with sexual violence/rape at seventeen years old, and how that situation has influenced and affected my life today. It was something that I always knew I had to process and had always avoided. But with every new song I wrote, I still had this in my closet, this weight on my chest.” – Mathew V

After 10 years of classical operatic vocal training, Mathew V moved to London, England at the age of 17 to teach himself how to write pop music.

Since then, he has penned a deal with 604 records and his debut single, “Tell Me Smooth”, went Top 40 on Canadian Radio (Hot AC/AC) for 18 weeks, peaking at #18.

Mathew has written with the likes of Dan Mangan, DiRTY RADiO, and on stage, he’s opened up for the likes of Betty Who, Hanson, Daya, MAGIC! and more.

https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/mathew-v-flashback/