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The Shadow Reader (The Shadow Reader, #1)
The Shadow Reader (The Shadow Reader, #1)
Sandy Williams | 2011 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This starts with McKenzie doing in a test in a lecture hall at Uni, only she's interrupted mid test by her friend and love interest, Kyol--sword-master of the current Fae King. The rebels have found her and she's in danger. They run from the room but get attacked by the rebels as they try to escape. In the end, McKenzie fall into the rebels trap and ends up their captive. McKenzie keeps attempting to escape and though half of the rebels want her dead, the leader, Aren, wants her kept alive.

What follows is a complicated twisty tale of right and wrong, of realising that what you thought was the truth for so long has been twisted and put in a new light so you'll go along with it. Truths are revealed that you agree with.

There is an element of love-triangle going on in this. She's had a "thing" with Kyol for ten years: touches and kisses that are prohibited under the King's ruling of no relationships between humans and Fae. And then there's Aren. The rebel leader who steals her away and tries to convince her that the Court is using her for their own gains and not for the good of the people.

In truth I think I was more Team Aren. We got to see more of his relationship progression with McKenzie. They go from not trusting or liking each other particularly to that tender, sweet touches, stage of falling for each other. Don't get me wrong, I like Kyol. But I think because we missed the start of their relationship growth all those years ago that I don't feel as strong of a connection between them.

By the end of this I was urging our group to win the fight. And now I'm very interested in what's going to happen next with this ragtag group.
  
The Last House Guest
The Last House Guest
Megan Miranda | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
A stand-alone, slow-burn thriller by author of All the Missing Girls
‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

I discovered Megan Miranda a few months after her 2016 novel, All the Missing Girls, was published. Her latest, The Last House Guest, is the 3rd novel I read by her.

This slow-burn thriller is a story of a small, summer vacation town with a definite line dividing the haves and have nots with one exception, Avery Greer. Sadie Loman who only has to say who her family is and doors are opened and police look the other way befriends Avery. For a decade, they are inseparable each summer - until Sadie is found dead.

While it took a long time for me to get into the book, I am glad I kept reading. Told from Avery's point of view, using flashbacks, we are shown the summer of and the summer following Sadie's death.

Miranda is known for creating a small town with a lot of secrets. The Last House Guest is no exception. The characters are not what they first seem to be. She peppers her story with small details that can help you figure out secrets and the big reveal right before the characters.

According to Goodreads, we can expect to see more from Megan Miranda. I cannot wait!

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 7/22/19.
  
The Hunting Party
The Hunting Party
Lucy Foley | 2019 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
8
7.3 (16 Ratings)
Book Rating
Classic who-dunnit
This is a classic "who-dunnit" story with a cast of mostly unlikeable characters but set in the very beautiful but remote Scottish Highlands.

The story is written from the perspectives of various characters using two timelines - the days leading up to the death and once the body is discovered. We are kept in the dark about which one of the guests is dead and the author does a good job of throwing in red herrings to throw you off the scent as to who it is and who did the deed.

This is a "who-dunnit" story but is also develops into a "who-is-it" conundrum and I really liked that about this book. I also liked the fact that 90% of the characters were pretty horrible if I'm honest and I wasn't particularly bothered who had been killed but this resulted in a lack of connection and I didn't become as emotionally involved as I would have liked which lessened the enjoyment a little for me.

Overall, this is a pretty good read and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a cast of dysfunctional and unlikeable people trapped together in an unforgiving landscape with an unknown killer amongst them - just sit back, enjoy and watch it all unravel.

My thanks must go to the publisher, HarperCollins UK, via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
  
The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (1957)
The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (1957)
1957 | Action, International, Classics
7.8 (4 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The next one, I think we got to go to Bergman. We go to go to Seventh Seal. Seventh Seal just knocked me dead. On many levels, it’s such a simple film. You’ve got Mary and Joseph, the young people with their little traveling theater, and then you’ve got the knight. I think it was the way he dealt with the Middle Ages and intrigued me with Death there at playing chess. Those were images that just stuck in my head. It was funny. When I was doing Parnassus, I went back and looked at it, because I was trying to remind myself what Mary and Joseph and their little traveling theater was like. I had forgotten so much detail. That was just a really important film, and Max von Sydow was something… The first time I had seen basically a non-American actor at work. He looked different. He behaved differently. Because, you know, I grew up with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Doris Day, Rock Hudson — shiny teeth and beautifully combed hair and all of that nonsense. Something profound was going on in that movie without pointing fingers at anything. It just did it. The squire — that was Gunnar Björnstrand, I think — was just a great character, the cynic in the midst of it all. I remember when he was talking, when he was in this church, and all the frescoes are there, and it’s just profound filmmaking."

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