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Book #2 in the WISE Enquiries Agency series
When Henry, a Welsh Duke, decides to be married, there are a myriad of traditions that he is expected to uphold. One such tradition involves Morris Dancers leading the happy couple through town from the church back to the familys estate. After one of the dancers vanishes, the WISE Enquiry Agency is hired to look into the matter.
I really enjoyed the team of women doing the investigating in this story. Their distinct personalities work well together, as each has her own strengths to bring to the group. That and the Welsh countryside as the setting made this a very enjoyable read for me.
Visit <a href="https://booksthething.com/2016/11/02/the-case-of-the-missing-morris-dancer-guest-post-and-giveaway/">my blog</a> for a guest post from Cathy Ace explaining just what Morris Dancing is!
<i>I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy.</i>
When Henry, a Welsh Duke, decides to be married, there are a myriad of traditions that he is expected to uphold. One such tradition involves Morris Dancers leading the happy couple through town from the church back to the familys estate. After one of the dancers vanishes, the WISE Enquiry Agency is hired to look into the matter.
I really enjoyed the team of women doing the investigating in this story. Their distinct personalities work well together, as each has her own strengths to bring to the group. That and the Welsh countryside as the setting made this a very enjoyable read for me.
Visit <a href="https://booksthething.com/2016/11/02/the-case-of-the-missing-morris-dancer-guest-post-and-giveaway/">my blog</a> for a guest post from Cathy Ace explaining just what Morris Dancing is!
<i>I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy.</i>
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2488 KP) rated The Last Detective (Elvis Cole, #9) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
While PI Elvis Cole is watching his girlfriend Lucy’s son, Ben is kidnapped. The caller says it is payback for something in Cole’s past, but he can’t figure out what that might be. As more people get involved in the case, the kidnapping puts a strain on Elvis’s relationship with Lucy. Can he find Ben?
This is a thrilling read from start to finish. Since we have gotten to know Lucy and Ben over the last couple of books, we care about the outcome here. I was so pulled in at the climax that I didn’t want to stop. The characters are strong as well, including Elvis and his partner Joe Pike. They are becoming more human. The flashbacks to Elvis’s past help with that, and they manage to be as engrossing as the main story instead of slowing it down.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/11/book-review-last-detective-by-robert.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
This is a thrilling read from start to finish. Since we have gotten to know Lucy and Ben over the last couple of books, we care about the outcome here. I was so pulled in at the climax that I didn’t want to stop. The characters are strong as well, including Elvis and his partner Joe Pike. They are becoming more human. The flashbacks to Elvis’s past help with that, and they manage to be as engrossing as the main story instead of slowing it down.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/11/book-review-last-detective-by-robert.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2488 KP) rated Spy Ski School (Spy School #4) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Ben Ripley is thrilled to be officially called for his first field assignment. He’s going to Colorado to learn to ski. While there, he needs to befriend a girl so he can get close to her father and figure out his evil plans. However, Ben soon realizes getting close to his target isn’t going to be as easy as he thought. With the clock ticking, can he save the day again?
While the target audience might be middle graders, this is a delightful read for anyone. The story is strong, the pace never lags, and we get some fantastic complications and nail biting action scenes along the way. The characters are fun as always, and we get some good growth in a couple of them. There’s plenty of humor as well.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/10/book-review-spy-ski-school-by-stuart.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
While the target audience might be middle graders, this is a delightful read for anyone. The story is strong, the pace never lags, and we get some fantastic complications and nail biting action scenes along the way. The characters are fun as always, and we get some good growth in a couple of them. There’s plenty of humor as well.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/10/book-review-spy-ski-school-by-stuart.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2488 KP) rated E is for Evidence (Kinsey Millhone, #5) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
A couple of days before Christmas, Kinsey is asked to investigate a fire for the insurance company she sometimes works for. Everything looks routine until she is called in to defend her findings and sees pages that were not part of her original file. Afraid she might find herself accused of insurance fraud, she starts investigating the situation. But is she the target or an innocent bystander?
I truly enjoyed this book since it starts out with a great mystery that doesn’t involved a murder. Of course, when murder does enter the picture, it only gets more compelling from there. What few supporting characters there are in the series are mostly missing thanks to the Christmas time frame, but I found it a great way to develop Kinsey more, and the new characters were fabulous, doing their job as suspects perfectly.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-e-is-for-evidence-by-sue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I truly enjoyed this book since it starts out with a great mystery that doesn’t involved a murder. Of course, when murder does enter the picture, it only gets more compelling from there. What few supporting characters there are in the series are mostly missing thanks to the Christmas time frame, but I found it a great way to develop Kinsey more, and the new characters were fabulous, doing their job as suspects perfectly.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-e-is-for-evidence-by-sue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2488 KP) rated Paint the Town Dead in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Rory Anderson is thrilled about the decorative painting convention coming to Vista Beach, California, her hometown. She’s looking forward to the classes and helping her mom, one of the vendors for the event. However, she is shocked when her friend collapses and dies just as the week is getting under way. The police think it was a tragic accident, but Rory is sure it was murder. Can she prove it?
I love the beach, so the beach town setting is perfect for me. The characters are good, although I did feel they could have been just a little stronger. However, the plot was plenty strong with things progressing at a steady pace all the way to the climax. I was sure I had it completely figured out multiple times only to change my mind a couple of chapters later.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-paint-town-dead-by-sybil.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I love the beach, so the beach town setting is perfect for me. The characters are good, although I did feel they could have been just a little stronger. However, the plot was plenty strong with things progressing at a steady pace all the way to the climax. I was sure I had it completely figured out multiple times only to change my mind a couple of chapters later.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-paint-town-dead-by-sybil.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1 in TV
Feb 13, 2018
Some of the cast are atrocious (1 more)
Takes a dip after a few episodes
Darker than your normal Star Trek
This series of Star Trek comes in after Enterprise, but before the original series, The Next Generation etc. It chronicles the battle of Starfleet against a resurgent Klingon empire.
Gone is the usual Star Trek single episode storylines, where the ship encounters a race or problem and everything is wrapped up in one episode. Everything within the series links together as a whole long storyline without much deviation. In hindsight, I think knowing this would have made me more engaged with the first few episodes, I think I got a bit bored after the first couple.
The series as a whole is good and sets up a nice second series at the end.
One thing that really bugged me was the atrocious sub-Shatner ham acting of Anthony Rapp (Stamets) and Michelle Yeoh chewing the scenery in the last few episodes.
Gone is the usual Star Trek single episode storylines, where the ship encounters a race or problem and everything is wrapped up in one episode. Everything within the series links together as a whole long storyline without much deviation. In hindsight, I think knowing this would have made me more engaged with the first few episodes, I think I got a bit bored after the first couple.
The series as a whole is good and sets up a nice second series at the end.
One thing that really bugged me was the atrocious sub-Shatner ham acting of Anthony Rapp (Stamets) and Michelle Yeoh chewing the scenery in the last few episodes.
Clare Parrott (294 KP) rated Boys Next Door in Books
Feb 13, 2018
Hot steamy action from the first page but soon wears a bit thin as there's more sex than storyline to the book and I'm finding I'm scanning through the sex scenes the further I get in to the book just in the hope of finding some thing more interesting. This would have been a good book if a little more thought had gone into the writing, it needs more depth. I disliked the crudeness of some of the descriptions and it could have been more sensual but THEN, just when I think this is going to be a standard read the last couple of chapters are captivating. They have feeling and emotion, everything the rest of the book didn't have and I'm now feeling robbed that the rest of the book wasn't the same.
In the end the last few chapter more than make up for the rest, this is an adult read and I did enjoy it in the end.
3.5 Stars
In the end the last few chapter more than make up for the rest, this is an adult read and I did enjoy it in the end.
3.5 Stars
Awix (3310 KP) rated The 5th wave (2016) in Movies
Jun 13, 2018
Thick-headed attempt to secure a slice of that lucrative post-Hunger Games YA demographic pie wastes the talents of Chloe Grace Moretz, Liev Schrieber, and various CGI technicians. Aliens show up and start conquering the world really slowly, starting by shutting down Instagram and moving on to floods, bird flu, etc etc. Plucky teenage girl sets out to save her young sibling while juggling the attentions of a couple of carefully-differentiated young hunks.
Painfully obvious and derivative, leadenly assembled; mostly just plain bad. What moves it beyond the inept and into the realms of the regrettable is a plotline about child soldiers - if this is trying to make a real-world point it does so with incredible crassness, though it may well be the film simply doesn't operate on that level of awareness. So-so box office returns means it appears we may be spared the threatened sequels; who know, maybe there is a God.
Painfully obvious and derivative, leadenly assembled; mostly just plain bad. What moves it beyond the inept and into the realms of the regrettable is a plotline about child soldiers - if this is trying to make a real-world point it does so with incredible crassness, though it may well be the film simply doesn't operate on that level of awareness. So-so box office returns means it appears we may be spared the threatened sequels; who know, maybe there is a God.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) in Movies
Jun 15, 2018
Umpty-tumpth Tarzan movie goes back to Burroughs and features most of the stuff you'd expect from this kind of thing: posh English couple cark it somewhere in Africa, leaving infant son to be raised by wild apes. He grows up, quickly learns to wear a loincloth so as not to outrage the censor, rediscovers his heritage, and so on.
Christopher Lambert is pretty good as the Lord of the Apes, though the script has to explain exactly why Tarzan has a French accent; Ralph Richardson and Ian Holm are really better in supporting roles, though. If the film has a problem it's that it's just a bit too downbeat and glum for a Tarzan movie - you can take gritty realism just a bit too far, and director Hugh Hudson seems determined to make serious angry points about the evils of imperialism, colonialism, and the British establishment. Still, it's probably preferable to most of the previous, ultra-silly Tarzan movies.
Christopher Lambert is pretty good as the Lord of the Apes, though the script has to explain exactly why Tarzan has a French accent; Ralph Richardson and Ian Holm are really better in supporting roles, though. If the film has a problem it's that it's just a bit too downbeat and glum for a Tarzan movie - you can take gritty realism just a bit too far, and director Hugh Hudson seems determined to make serious angry points about the evils of imperialism, colonialism, and the British establishment. Still, it's probably preferable to most of the previous, ultra-silly Tarzan movies.
Gail (4 KP) rated Froze (The Melted Series Book 2) in Books
Jun 4, 2018
Froze by Tarrah Anders
Four Stars
Jacob and Beth were a couple I wouldn’t have imagined together. They’re night and day but their relationship worked. The give and take was even and their relationship doesn’t require one to be less than who they are. The author did a really good job bringing these two together. I feel like the odds were against them and they proved everyone wrong. I loved that Beth stood by him when the going got extremely tough. She could've left him when his past came into their lives. The drama and trouble was too much but her love for him was so much more. Well written characters and a great story line is what you will get from this story. I feel the author added the right amount of drama and relationship goals. I liked that the characters from them previous book were included but didn’t over take the book.
Four Stars
Jacob and Beth were a couple I wouldn’t have imagined together. They’re night and day but their relationship worked. The give and take was even and their relationship doesn’t require one to be less than who they are. The author did a really good job bringing these two together. I feel like the odds were against them and they proved everyone wrong. I loved that Beth stood by him when the going got extremely tough. She could've left him when his past came into their lives. The drama and trouble was too much but her love for him was so much more. Well written characters and a great story line is what you will get from this story. I feel the author added the right amount of drama and relationship goals. I liked that the characters from them previous book were included but didn’t over take the book.