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Never an Amish Bride
Never an Amish Bride
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ever heard the saying once you read one you have read them all? Well, that is what my husband told me when he saw that I was reading an Amish book. He said, “How many differences can you see in the Amish, isn’t the point that the Amish are plain, as in nothing ever happens with them?”. I dropped my book. Case in point, Never an Amish Bride by Ophelia London.

This book is the first in a series and I loved the introduction to all the characters. This Never an Amish Bride is different and intriguing. I loved Ophelia London’ s character variations, their emotions were realistic and not over-dramatized, and the conflicts were believable. Both Lucas and Esther were engaging characters that I loved reading about. Ophelia London engaged my emotions in this book and appealed to my heart.

The main themes of this book are Faith, Trust, and Forgiveness. Ophelia London did a great job of showing those themes through the eyes of her characters. I particularly liked how Lucas handled the trials he went through; I wish I could handle situations as well as him.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for the creative characters, the interesting storyline, and for making me look forward to the next book in the series.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
The Vault Between Spaces
The Vault Between Spaces
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What a story!!
Christian fantasy is a new to me genre this year, and I am loving how each book is so completely different! This book The Vault Between Spaces takes me into a world fighting against evil, people losing faith until hope shows up unexpectedly and a unique way of describing our Creator. I loved getting a glimpse into Chawna Schroeder’s creative and imaginative mind. She used earth elements, music, and faith to tell the story of how much our Creator loves us. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters gradually throughout the whole book. They seemed to grow into themselves as the story progressed, which for me means it’s a story well written.
“You do not stop being what the Creator designed you to be because you no longer do what He created you to do”.
That quote right there is what this book is about. Finding your strengths, learning to listen, having faith, and of course fighting the good fight. Even when life takes unexpected turns, we need to remember that God created us as who we are supposed to be, and that fact will not change just because our circumstances do. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for the way in which Chawna Schroeder captured my imagination, the great characters, and the overall storyline.
*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Michael Apted recommended Pulp Fiction (1994) in Movies (curated)

 
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
1994 | Crime

"The last one is Pulp Fiction. Me and my, as he was then, I suppose, eight-year-old, nine-year-old son, thought it was great. I just loved, again, the way [Quentin Tarantino] used time, the way he moved backwards and forwards in time, which I thought was sort of groundbreaking, although it may not have been. But I thought it was. And I saw the energy and the vigor of it all, and just the images of it. I just love that film. I watch it now and again, as it were, and it never palls for me at all, but I just thought he kind of invented a way, or kind of storytelling technique, which is sort of second nature to us all now, but again, that nonlinear business — for me, it was a revelation. I’m sure there have been other films like it, but this seemed to work so well within a very contemporary, very fast-moving, very original piece. To have the courage to play with the structure, and tell things backwards and forwards and all that sort of thing, I thought, was not just cute, or just showmanship. It actually enhanced the drama, trying to figure out where you were and what was going on. I found that a very creative effort, and so did my son, which thrilled me. He wasn’t fazed by it at all."

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The Bounty
The Bounty
Janet Evanovich | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy, Romance
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hunting Gold
FBI Agent Kate O’Hare and semi-reformed thief and conman Nick Fox are on loan to Interpol to stop a theft at The Vatican. Nick is shocked when he recognizes the thief – his father Quentin. Quentin made it out of The Vatican with one part of a map that is supposed to show where stolen gold was hidden during World War II. Who is he working for? Is there gold? Can Nick and Kate figure out what is going on?

This is an over-the-top book that would have made a perfect action movie. You have to let go of logic and just enjoy the ride, and if you do, you’ll find that the book is fun. The story can be a bit repetitive, but the set pieces (and there are several of them) are filled with creative, over-the-top action. The characters are a little thin, and we really only have three returning characters, but they are developed enough to keep us engaged. Nick and Kate’s relationship seems to have recovered a little from the previous book, but it isn’t where we left them at the end of book five. If you are looking for something serious or realistic, don’t even think about picking up this book. But if you are in the mood for mindless over-the-top action (sensing a theme?), you’ll enjoy this book.
  
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
1985 | Comedy, Family

"My personal favorite comedy growing up, and something that really influenced me, was Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton. I love this movie because Paul Reubens is just brilliant; [he] plays this character Pee-wee Herman, and the creativity that’s put into this movie, it was like, what else can you add to make this movie [funnier]? Just the opening shot of him waking up, and there’s like a Rube Goldberg contraption of how he makes toast and breakfast in the morning; he drops a ping-pong ball, it hits a candle that turns on and burns a rope that breaks and swings a hammer… It was so creative. I remember being a kid, I watched that movie probably 300 times. I memorized it. I used to do the voice; I had to stop doing it. It’s a movie, to me, about how far can you dream. Someone steals his bike, and he tries to get his bike back, and through this adventure he ends up pitching his story to a movie studio, which makes his adventure into a feature film at the end. It’s just great that he thought this movie up and wrote it, with Phil Hartman, who was one of my favorites from Saturday Night Live. It’s for kids, but it’s for adults. He’s just such a good actor in this movie – Paul Reubens should have gotten an Oscar for this."

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The Rocky Road to Ruin
The Rocky Road to Ruin
Meri Allen | 2021 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder Served Ice Cold
Riley Rhodes has returned home to Penniman, Connecticut, for the funeral of her best friend’s mother. After the service, she sees that Caroline and her brother, Mike, are fighting over what to do with the property that the two of them were left, including Udderly Delicious, the ice cream shop where Riley worked as a teen. The next morning, Riley finds Mike dead. Knowing that Caroline will be a prime suspect, Riley tries to figure out what happened. Can she do it?

Riley has a fun background for an amateur sleuth – CIA librarian. And yet this is definitely still a cozy, and the warmth pulled me in right away. This book has a bit of a bittersweet vibe. We get the wonderful characters and setting we love in a cozy, but the beginning is appropriately somber. It really works well. The pacing was a little uneven in the middle, but the book had a strong beginning and ending that make up for it. I had a hard time putting the book down the closer I got to the climax. There is more than enough talk to ice cream to make you drool, and two recipes inspired by the more creative contributions are in the back of the book. Now’s the time to enjoy this debut. Me? I’ll be having a second helping of ice cream while I wait for the sequel.
  
The Protecting Veil by John Tavener
The Protecting Veil by John Tavener
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a record that got me through quite a difficult point with The Verve. I was expecting my daughter at the time and we were recording A Storm In Heaven at Sawmills in Cornwall. It was pretty remote. We'd polished off a bottle of wine at dinner and we were smoking quite a lot as well. I just needed to go and get my head together for an hour before I went back to making the record and this was the album I listened to. I see it as a very ecstatic and comforting record. And I've played it to people since and the reaction seems to be, "This is terrifying!" But I really don't see that at all. To me it was just disappearing into something for an hour that was heavenly and ecstatic, which was exactly what I needed. I was conflicted and worrying about my future – whether I was doing the right thing. For a long time I had this feeling that what I was doing was a complete joke and I'd be exposed as a charlatan. There was a general sense of paranoia – that working class thing. Lots of people around me were saying get a proper job. My thinking on the whole thing was that it was all going to end rather badly, which wasn't really conducive to being creative. The album was a freebie from Virgin, and it had a huge comforting effect on me."

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Tyondai Braxton recommended Tracers by Ben Vida in Music (curated)

 
Tracers by Ben Vida
Tracers by Ben Vida
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"""Ben Vida is a composer and sound artist whose work I really love. This record he did pairing his idiosyncratic electronic voice with percussion is a favourite. I suppose everyone I have given on this list has a strong character. The thing I love about Ben too is that he's so good at synthesising sounds and he has such a strong compositional voice. But his music has such a great sense of humour too – some of the sounds are absurd. They are really high quality, well made objects, but in a lot of ways it's so funny. I'm always excited to listen to anything that Ben does. And it's great to get a chance to work with him too. He's been a long time collaborator. I also sought him out to work with me as a performer on my HIVE project. When I first started the project, it was this installation where there were these five wooden mushroom-like pods. It's a piece for three percussionists and two modular synths. Being a fan of his music and having known him for a couple of years, I asked him to do that with me. And so we ended up touring that around together. I ended up adding some vocals to some records that he did. He did a record called Slipping Control a couple of years ago, that I worked on with him. So it's been a very rich creative relationship."""

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