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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Nov 17, 2021  
Stop by my blog to read part of the prologue from the contemporary Western fiction novel THE BIG EMPTY by Loren Steffy. If you like what you read, enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of the book as well as a logo hat - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/11/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-big-empty.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
When Trace Malloy and Blaine Witherspoon collide on a desolate West Texas highway, their fender bender sets the tone for escalating clashes that will determine the future of the town of Conquistador.

Malloy, a ranch manager and lifelong cowboy, knows that his occupation—and his community—are dying. He wants new- millennium opportunities for his son, even though he himself failed to summon the courage to leave familiar touchstones behind.

Witherspoon, an ambitious, Lexus-driving techie, offers a solution. He moves to Conquistador to build and run a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant that will bring prestige and high-paying technology jobs to revive the town—and advance his own career.

What neither man anticipates is the power the "Big Empty" will wield over their plans. The flat, endless expanse of dusty plain is as much a character in the conflict as are the locals struggling to subsist in this timeworn backwater and the high-tech transplants hell-bent on conquering it. While Malloy grapples with the flaws of his ancestors and his growing ambivalence toward the chip plant, Witherspoon falls prey to construction snafus, corporate backstabbing, and financial fraud. As they each confront personal fears, they find themselves united in the search for their own version of purpose in a uniquely untamable Texas landscape.
     
The Midwife's Child (WW2 Resistance Series #3)
The Midwife's Child (WW2 Resistance Series #3)
Amanda Lees | 2023 | History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Midwife's Child is an emotional rollercoaster that although is work of fiction, it's based on things that actually happened and real people with the love story element between Maggie and Jamie being based on the true story of a Scottish Commando who met a young woman in a displaced persons camp who had survived the death march.

This is the third in this series but I think it works successfully as a standalone because whilst there are recurring characters, each book is a separate story which focusses on one of those recurring characters.

The Midwife's Child centres around Maggie, a former SOE Special Operations Executive) but now incarcerated in Auschwitz following her capture. There she finds herself working in the camp hospital where the devil incarnate, Joseph Mengele, practised his infamous experiments and where Maggie is determined to save the life of her friend Eva and new born, Leah. The end of the war is fast approaching and the Russians are getting close, Eva is too unwell to go on the forced march so she begs Maggie to save her child and reunite her with her father. A seemingly impossible task but one which Maggie vows to complete.

Told from two timelines, from her time as a doctor working in the 'hospital' at Auschwitz towards the end of the war and the period afterwards, The Midwife's Child is a story of exceptional courage, duty, love, friendship and hope and a story that I highly recommended to those of you who enjoy this genre and I have to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Midwife's Child.
  
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Nikki Massey (8 KP) rated Carrie in Books

Feb 7, 2019  
Carrie
Carrie
Stephen King | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.3 (71 Ratings)
Book Rating
Strong female lead (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
Stephen King has been on my 'must read' list for many years. I've always wanted to read his books but never plucked up the courage.
I finally went down to my local library and the librarian raved about him - which books were good, what collections were interesting, all about the films, TV shows, similar authors. I was sold!
I went in expecting Carrie to be this evil witch using her telekinesis to harm others. I ended up feeling so sorry for her and in some way able to relate to her. She had a difficult time through school, singled out for being different and getting bullied for it. I didn't enjoy school myself and the people who say that it is the best time of your life are highly mistaken and lying through their teeth.
Carrie was just pushed one too many times and then all hell is let loose at her Senior Prom.
I found the writing method quite different to anything I had read in the past. It is an epistolary novel - in that it uses clippings of newspapers, diary entries and such to get the story across. It is also quite unusual in that due to the clippings you find you know what has happened quite early on in the novel but not how. I guess that is what keeps you reading, to find out exactly how it panned out.
I finished with a few questions remaining but perhaps that is part of the joy of a good novel - it gets you thinking and you end up questioning what actually happened and researching possible alternative endings.
I have found my new favourite author in Stephen King and already have Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Stand on order from the library!
  
Leah, daughter of the cheesemaker has had a hard life living with a violent father. Leah marries Judah and finds protection and care. But the land is controlled by Antiochus IV, who is descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals. When he issues a decree that all Jews are to comply with Syrian laws, the devout Jews chance it all to follow the law of Moses.

Judah's father Mattathias decides to move his family from Jerusalem Modein to flee the punishment for defying the decree. By defying the decree, it begins a war that will cost many their lives. Before his death, Mattathias commands Judah to continue the war, otherwise, the Jewish lineage and their lands would be annihilated. Leah wants peace and wrestles with her husband's decision to be the commander of the army. Will there ever be peace?
This is the incredible chronicle of the Maccabees, told through the wife of Judah, who learns what courage and sacrifice are all about.

The author Angela Hunt has done an incredible amount of research and has produced a powerful history lesson entwined with her own creative writing. The author has a way of captivating the reader's attention while teaching us historical content. I like the way the author writes her novels through the eyes of people that were actually there, teaching us history through their eyes.

This is an excellent read, especially for those who love history.


 I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
  
Subject B will do anything to get his life back. But the dead have other plans…
Kidnapped by the brilliant Professor Worthe, Vietnam vet Marcus Holt is forced to take part in a sadistic experiment. Worthe's game has one objective: to see how much fear a man can survive. Now known as Subject B, Marcus is about to discover the answer to that question… Whether he likes it or not.
Trapped in Worthe’s haunted village, Marcus and his team stumble across Subject H, a frightened young mother eager to reunite with her child. She soon becomes the target of a ghost drawn to her fear and anguish. A wrathful spirit that stalks them all from the shadows, waiting for a chance to wield his razor-sharp knife—to carve out the heart of any mother he can find…
Marcus must call on every ounce of strength and courage to protect Subject H from the terror that hunts her. But even if they can escape Worthe’s latest horror, another enemy lurks in the village… a deadly spirit Marcus has faced before.
This vicious ghost is about to end Worthe’s experiment once and for all… By killing Marcus Holt.

I have read every single one of Ron Ripley's books and I love them all!!
I would definitely recommend these books to anybody who loves horror; these books are the ones for you.
I'm hoping there will be one more to give some closure to this one.
I get so involved with the characters that the ghosts are expected. I can't get enough!
The plot and pace are perfectly tuned.
Definitely recommend reading!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
  
The Big Heat (1953)
The Big Heat (1953)
1953 | Classics, Drama
8
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Fun Classic
I can imagine that some of the cool scenes that happened in The Big Heat were well ahead of their time. One scene in particular was a car explosion created with strong sound, camera rumblings, and a bright flash of light outside of a window. Seems simple and subtle, but its impact was jarring at that point in the movie.

The film missed a few steps, wasn't perfect by any means. In fact, one can argue that there was one glaring plothole throughout just staring at you the entire time. I didn't realize it until there was about half an hour left, but it made me stop and say, "Wait...what? But why didn't they just...ok. Whatevs." Call me old, but I'm learning to let things go. Good doesn't mean perfect. The Big Heat falls well of perfection but it gets the job done.

There is a lot to digest throughout the film so make sure to keep up. This isn't a film you watch while browsing Google or folding clothes. I had to rely on protagonist Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) to keep me on track. His screen time has a way of captivating you as you quickly come to love this character. In a town full of "yellow-bellied ninnies", Bannion wasn't afraid to stand up to the mob and what he knew to be true. Dude was so tough he gave others the courage to stand up as well. Props.

The film did lose me in spots and lost a few points as a result. At its core, though, is a movie that ultimately gets it right. In Bannion's efforts to get to the bottom of a cop committing suicide, the audience is taken on a thrilling journey that I hope to revisit at some point down the road. I give The Big Heat an 81.
  
Haka Ever After (The Sin Bin #7)
Haka Ever After (The Sin Bin #7)
Dahlia Donovan | 2018 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
a really fitting end!
There comes along, once in a rare while, a book that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzie inside. A book that is far too stinking cute for its own good. A book that wraps up an ENTIRE series in so few pages. A book that is simply, brilliant.

This is book 7 in the Sin Bin series, and if you are just coming across this book, you should at the very LEAST read book two, The Caretaker, which is where Freddie and Taine meet. You should read them all, though!

Taine plucks up the courage to ask Freddie to marry him, but first he asks for Freddie's fathers permission. Since their first meeting wasn't exactly a tea party, Taine has reservations they won't chop him up and hide the pieces! But the fathers surprise him, and then Taine has to actually propose.

The proposal delivers, for me, the best line of the book!

Freddie asks, "why marriage?" Taine replies, "When they write our story after we're gone, it should read that I loved you more than anything else in the world. More than rugby. More than you love cheese. I want our names connected - intertwined. Legally. So no knobdobbers can claim I wasn't dedicated to you. So, will you marry me?"

The wedding plans are amusing, with all the previous characters taking part. So you can imagine what they all get up to! There is, of course, some messing about with food, cos ya'll know Ms Donovan's boys like to play with their food!

Bit that made me cry?? When all of Taine's rugby team mates perform the Haka at the wedding. That bit made me cry more that what happened on the honeymoon!

It's always sad to see a series end, but what a way to go!

5 stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**