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Hearts Abroad (The Atlas Series #1)
Hearts Abroad (The Atlas Series #1)
Skye McNeil | 2019 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
really rather cute!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Londyn takes a nanny job, while thinking what to do about her play writing. Since her 'boyfriend' stole the last play she wrote, she thinks she might give up. A summer out of town, looking after two little girls, might give her the clarity she needs. She just never expected to fall in love with the girls or their daddy. Callum is a museum curator and spends a lot of time away from his family. But the new nanny makes him see, really see, what that is doing to his girls. He just didn't see Londyn coming!

This was a really great, fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

It's well told, with both Callum and Londyn having a say, in the third person. We get all of Londyn's stressing about her playwriting, and how much fun she wants the girls to have. We get all of Callum's fretting over his feelings for the nanny, and we get his dawning realisation that it might not just be infatuation.

I liked the marked differences between Londyn and Callum, it made me giggle in some places!

It's funny, it's witty, it's sexy and it's emotional. It has a little bit of everything! It's one of those books you just fall into, you know, and the book runs out before the afternoon does.

It's the first book I've read of Ms McNeil, and I look forward to reading more.

A very well deserved 4 stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
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Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Unbelievable in TV

Oct 16, 2019  
Unbelievable
Unbelievable
2019 | Drama
A hard to watch but a must watch mini series
This is a true-crime story done so right. It focuses on a series of rapes so if that’s a trigger for you; stay well away; there is detail about the rapes.

I came across the story from a podcast episode on This American Life which had based an episode on the Pulitzer Prize-winning article “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” and was rerunning the story because of this series coming out. It’s a hard-hitting story that strongly shines a light on the issues between differences of how victims can be treated. This adaptation does the story justice and is an engrossing watch.

We start off meeting Marie a young woman fresh out of the foster system who is raped by an intruder; her story and in particular how she is treated are hard to watch but important for people to understand the full horror of having to come forward as a victim.

As the series progresses we still see Marie’s journey but more of the action is on investigations into other rapes in different jurisdictions. We meet Det. Karen Duvall and Det. Grace Rasmussen who are both great and the story gets easier to watch as we see them get down to some hard-hitting police work.

What sets this apart in the current influx of true-crime TV is the real focus on the victims rather than the all too common focus on the perpetrator. It works so well; making a strong emotional watching experience.
  
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Kaz (232 KP) rated Inkheart in Books

Jul 8, 2019  
Inkheart
Inkheart
Cornelia Funke | 2003 | Children
6
7.6 (38 Ratings)
Book Rating
The idea of the book, characters (0 more)
Everything was too drawn out, lack of drive in the plot (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I read this novel for the Smashbomb book club and, even though the premise is good, it missed the mark for me.

The characters were very well crafted, I particularly liked Dustfinger, because he's a complex mixture of good and evil. The interaction between the characters was very good.

The problem for me, was the plot. The idea of book characters coming to life in the real world, sounded really appealing. When I started reading this, I expected it conjure up the magic I experienced when I read stories as a child. What I found was, that the plot of this book revolved around the characters going to a location, being captured, escaping and being recaptured and taken back to where they were before. This meant that.even though this was over 500 pages, I felt this book completely lacked drive.

I liked the message of reading books being magical, but I felt like this idea was integrated into the story in a forced way. By the end it felt like it was preaching a little bit in my opinion.

I also didn't like some of the decisions the characters made. It took a long time for any kind of resolution to happen and even then, the plan they carried out, felt a bit feeble and slightly rushed.

I wanted to love this, but unfortunately, it was just an ok read for me.
  
Gretel & Hansel (2020)
Gretel & Hansel (2020)
2020 | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Grim not Grimm
396. Gretel & Hansel. Do you remember the tale of Hansel and Gretel by the the Grimm Brothers? Well throw it away, because it's 2020 and Girls Rule so Gretel's name is first! Hell, Hansel didn't even make the movie poster! And maybe because its her fault for getting kicked out of their mother's house for not getting a damn job cause times are tough, so get out, and take your brother with you. Thanks mom! At this point, it seems instead of going towards civilization they go further into the woods, tripping on shrooms at one point. After walking for a bit, hunger kicks in, so they break into a house, nice, cause there's a table with a bunch of food to be seen. They get busted of course by the owner, Holda, who takes pity on them and invites them in and feeds em. Too fatten em up to eat them right? Like I said this is 2020, not 1812!! This time Gretel learns the ways of the witch, there's creepy figures in black roaming the woods at night Hansel learns to chop down trees, he's in a trance, whats going on?? In the end, I think it's an arthouse movie about a young girl coming of age, equipped with first period and all, shot like those old Christopher Lee horror movies of the 70's. Also suffers from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves curse, everyone has the same accent, except the freaking star of the movie Gretel! HaHa! Filmbufftim on FB
  
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey by The Beach Boys
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey by The Beach Boys
1990 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I’ve got a weird story about when I first heard “Good Vibrations”. I was really scared of going to the dentist and my Mum had made me this appointment. I was literally terrified, we were sitting in the waiting room, there was a radio and “Good Vibrations” came on. Then they called my name to go into the dentist and I was still really scared, but at the same time this beautiful thing was coming out of the speakers “When I went in, they had the radio on in there as well. It was absolutely mad and my emotions were on edge, but I just couldn’t get over hearing that song. I don’t know if it was because I was in that situation and really hyped up emotionally, but every time I hear that song I remember that feeling. “It really stuck with me and obviously when I hear it now, it’s such a brilliant record, but it’s great that you can hear something that brilliant when you’re sitting in a waiting room, in a place where you’d hardly expect to have a musical revelation. “It’s funny how you used to listen to the radio more back in those days. I wouldn’t have had the ready cash to go out and buy “Good Vibrations”, so I’d just listen to the radio until it came on. People did that more, you’d have little transistor radios everywhere and you’d be waiting for your favourite music to come on, and when something came on you loved you’d turn it up"

Source
  
I absolutely loved this book! Suzanne Woods Fisher is a new to me author and I was excited to read her new book. The characters were all unique and personable, I laughed and was sad with them. I felt like the characters were friends whom I knew by the end of the book. Not many authors I’ve read can do that for me. There were several different sets of characters that I got to meet in this book; after finishing I found out that several of the characters are in other books that Suzanne Woods Fisher has written, but I would definitely say you could read this one as a standalone.

Other interesting things about this book were the topics; The Amish taking in kids from foster care, struggles between newlyweds, dealing with Gods calling on your life… So many great topics and Suzanne Woods Fisher did a great job in my opinion of weaving them all together in a believable way. I loved her use of something unexpected coming up in life that you are totally unprepared for and God showing you how to use it for His good. I needed that reminder!
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for originality, the great sets of characters, and making me interested enough to get the rest of the series! I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one by Suzanne Woods Fisher.
I volunteered to read this book from Celebrate Lit it return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.