Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Ian McCulloch recommended Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA in Music (curated)

 
Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA
Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA
1993 | Rock

"The first interview we did was with The Face, and we were all sitting in a room and it wasn’t going too well. When it came out they must have thought we were the most awkward bastards. Will wasn’t helping much – he was in bed with a torch under the sheets, presumably so he could see his knob. I was asked my influences and I said Lou and Bowie, and I said I loved Abba. The others afterwards said they wished I hadn’t have mentioned Abba, but I didn’t say it for effect, they were this side thing that helped. Every time a song came out it was like, ""fucking hell""! Just utterly brilliant, great melodies, and Agnetha, the best female voice of all time – and the other one wasn’t bad either. It was just so cute – I hate that word – some of the awkward lyrics, but over time was it charm, or just genius lyrics. The relationship songs are just brilliant – I wish I’d have written them. ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’ – you can’t get away with that now, what with the Catholic Church and Jimmy Savile having destroyed all the foundations of decency."

Source
  
Going into this book I was not sure what to expect, as I do not often read books where the main character is in middle grades. It is the first book in a series about Ginny West and the adventures she goes on while growing up (think Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn, only geared toward a younger audience. So, the book is filled with real-life examples, valuable lessons, and interesting dialogue between Ginny and her crew of characters. This book deals with Ginny figuring out how to get a new mom and making a packed with her best friend Tilly over how to accomplish this goal. It was cute and a good lesson in second chances, dealing with your emotions and growing up.

I enjoyed this story, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series to learn more about Ginny’s adventures. 4 out of 5 stars for the creative storyline, fun characters, and applicable life lessons.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
Heartstopper Volume One
Heartstopper Volume One
Alice Oseman | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
8
9.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com/

A Romance Reader's Reviews

This was a recommendation on Goodreads after finishing Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda so when I saw it on Amazon today as a 99p deal, I just went and bought it. As a graphic novel, it's a quick read and I did find it very cute.

So Charlie is an openly gay young man in an English all-boys school. He's a really good runner and is invited by his form group seating partner, Nick, to join the rugby team as they are needing new players. The pair grow close as they spend time practising the game and talking in their form group and spend time around at each others houses. Charlie quickly falls for Nick but Nick's straight, right?

I did really like this. The storyline was engaging and I really felt for these two characters.

The artwork was a little strange at times but really detailed at others. I loved head on shots, the dog ♡, the trainers/converse near the end.

I would love to continue this at some point since it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger.
  
The Assassin's Blade: The Throne of Glass Novellas
The Assassin's Blade: The Throne of Glass Novellas
Sarah J. Maas | 2014 | Children
8
8.6 (21 Ratings)
Book Rating
Exciting (1 more)
Interesting
Character development (0 more)
Love the history
Contains spoilers, click to show
So I red this book in the "emotional" order (before Queen of Shadows) and I was not disappointed but not exactly for the reason I expected.

I really enjoyed the short stories, each different but with key links between them. I felt that many of the relationships were rushed and in the case of Sam and Caleana it was not believable. There was not enough of the silly cute relationship stuff that goes on, very business like rushed relationship.

However, I now have absolute hatred for Arobynn, I think the other books I'd red by this point hinted that it was him but now, I am definitely seething. I loved that Sarah J Maas was able to invoke that in me. Just a shame that the love relationship missed the mark.

I think reading it in this order does mean that you can see a change in writing style, if this is something that would bother you then I suggest reading it first. Also, there was consistent revisiting of facts through the shorts despite them all being compiled in one book. I see why this was done but it still irked me.
  
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
1984 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

"I’ll give it a shot. “Favorites” questions are my least liked questions because I’ve never been any good at favorites. But I’ll give it a shot. I’ll probably disappoint every fan out there. The ones that stick out as being my favorites, most of them are from when I was young, because movies just meant something different to me when I was a kid than what they mean to me now. They still mean a lot to me, but also it’s, once you start working in the film business, your appreciation shifts. The Neverending Story, without a doubt. I loved that movie. I thought the girl in that was hot. I thought she was so cute. I was like, “I want to be her when I grow up.” Wear a necklace on my forehead and say, “Call my name, Sebastian. Call my name!” I remember, I was living on an island; we didn’t have a movie theater, we just had a town hall. Every now and then they would drop a big sheet and a projection thing. We’d sit on wooden chairs. So, The Neverending Story."

Source
  
Priceless (Forbidden Men, #8)
Priceless (Forbidden Men, #8)
Linda Kage | 2016
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
First off, I am SO looking forward to after that bit of the first chapter at the end of this. Colton Gamble, you are one smooth talker!! And I'm assuming it's been a few years between the last chapter and the epilogue wedding. So promising.

Now back to this. I liked the connection between Brandt and Sarah, it's been obvious for pretty much this entire series that they were going to get together at some point in the future and I loved how protective he was of her with he CP. They were pretty much everything to each other since they were 13!

I love how everyone made an appearance in this! Confusing knowing which child belongs to which parents but so cute reading about their antics.

This was another story in this series that at times, I struggled with in places. The mum thing had me cringing but equally hurting for him, the stroke had me annoyed--wondering if we were going to have a HEA at the end. I had my highs and lows with this story but the characters definitely end up tugging at my heart strings for one reason or another.
  
Dear Aaron
Dear Aaron
Mariana Zapata | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I feel pretty bad for giving this 3 stars. I normally love this author's books but the first 54% or whatever amount it was with the letters/emails/IM's/text messages I was not a fan of at all. This is the third book I've read with them in, and the first I've actually finished. It just all seems so impersonal. I like to read about the body language and facial features after things get said so I can see how the characters react.

From 54-99% I enjoyed it, that first phone call was so good after so long, and then when they first met at the airport? Sigh... that was so sweet, if I did have a few tears in my eyes like Ruby at the time. Then the slow progression from friends to more...it was cute!

But then came the ending. I wanted more. It was like we didn't really get to see them end happily. And then we were back to the IMing... Ugh.

I think I've pretty much read all the author's books now apart from the Malykhin one, which is next on my list.