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ArecRain (8 KP) rated Tortured in Books

Jan 18, 2018  
T
Tortured
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was ensnared by the man's look on the front of this cover that I had to buy it. I don't know why, but I was just fascinated by his expression. After reading the description, I was so taken by this book that I immediately had to read it. I actually expected the female protagonist, Sierra, to be a whore with prisoners. The description led me to believe. It also made me think that she was some week female under the influence of her enemy.

I was so completely wrong. Not only does Sierra only have sex with three people the entire novel --two because she wanted to and one because she is pretty much forced--, but she is one of the strongest heroines I have ever read. She watched her mother, who had the gift of sight, being forced to work for the enemy Saxons, who later murders her for hiding Sierra's brother. Sierra and her brother, Torin, are then forced apart. It is thought that Torin is left for dead, while Sierra takes up her mother's job as the Saxon king's Seer. Her entire life, Sierra never loses her fire, her hope, or her determination. When she sees Dryston, she sees her chance to escape and doesn't hesitate to snatch it.

I was so completely enraptured by this novel: by Sierra's life and emotions, by Dryston's mission, determination, and tenderness when taking care of Sierra, and by the entire nations hope of being free from the Saxons. McIntyre weaves such a compelling story that one cannot help but be tangled up in. I actually completely forgot that this was meant to be an erotic novel because I was so caught up in the storyline. I am glad, however, that I did not read this book for the erotica. Honestly, the erotic scenes fizzled. They were short, lacked description, and were actually passable.

One of the best novels I've read in a long time.
  
C(
Corralled (Blacktop Cowboys, #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cowboy rodeo erotica? You have my interest. From the moment I saw this book on goodreads bookswap, I could not wait to read it. I love me some erotica. Add some cowboys in the mix and I am happy as a clam. Until I read it.

Because I don’t really have much to say about this book, here goes.

The good: the erotic scenes, the character development, the dialogue,
the writing

The bad: the plot (which bored me senseless), the favoritism

The ugly: the situation

While there is nothing actually wrong with the novel, I just could not get into it. James has a great easy style to read. The erotic scenes were great, some of the best I have read, especially when dealing with such an awkward situation. And oh was it awkward. The dialogue was realistic and had me not only laughing, but cringing as well. The characters and the emotions were also very believable. I found myself becoming attached to them

The plot seemed a little lackluster, however. I will gave James points for having one of the few erotic novels with a well developed plot in the first place. As I said before, however, it was just not a story I was interested in. It was clear from the beginning who the lead female was going to end up with. I don’t think James did it on purpose, but her clear favoritism for one man over the other was apparent from the beginning.

This was not an easy book to read in the first place due to the circumstances of the love triangle. All of the ménage a trios novels I have read before, the couples were into it as a threesome. In this novel, two men are vying the attention and love of one woman. It was…awkward at best, especially since the men were childhood friends.
  
Unforgivable Lover (Warriors of Lemuria #5)
Unforgivable Lover (Warriors of Lemuria #5)
Rosalie Redd | 2018 | Paranormal, Romance
8
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Unforgivable Lover (Warriors of Lemuria #5) by Rosalie Redd
Unforgivable Lover is the last book in the Warriors of Lemuria series, and in this one we get Gaetan's story. He has been a prominent character throughout this series, and I have been waiting with bated breath for his story to come out. I wasn't disappointed! Although Gaetan is incredibly hard on himself and doesn't see his own redeeming features, he is quick to help others. In this case, Nikki. He may blame himself for getting her mixed up in the whole situation, but he doesn't shirk from helping her adjust either.

This is an incredibly fast-paced book. As it is the final one, there are a lot of loose ends that need tying up. It is for this reason that I am only giving this one four-stars. In the general 'tidy-up', I felt as though part of Gaetan's story was lost within the maelstrom of the rest. It was pretty much instantaneous for him and Nikki, and I would have liked more from both of them. On the whole, this was an excellent way to finish the series. I was dismayed, fatalistic, overjoyed, and fearful whilst reading this book. It certainly engaged my emotions, which is all I want from a book. Just the one niggle for me.

As I would expect from a Rosalie Redd story, there were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. The characters continue to delight, whether you like them or not. The pace is face, the transitions from one scene to the next are very smooth. I have no hesitation in recommending the series, or this book.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
7 Days In Entebbe  (2018)
7 Days In Entebbe (2018)
2018 | Action, Drama, International
Doesn't really work
Most of us (including me), when we heard about the new film 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE, thought to themselves "didn't they just make this film a few years ago...?" The answer is yes. A similar film to this - RAID ON ENTEBBE - was a TV movie made a few years ago - 42 years ago, to be precise. It starred Peter Finch, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden and good ol' Charles Bronson. Made a mere few months after the true events, this slapped together movie was an old-fashioned "shoot 'em up."

This film is most definitely not.

7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE tells the true story of the 1976 Air France Hijacking of (mostly) Israeli citizens that settle in Entebbe, Uganda (under the leadership of crazed dictator Idi Amin) - refusing to negotiate with terrorists, the Israeli government plan, stage and execute a daring rescue mission.

Sounds like a pretty good plot for a Charles Bronson shoot-em-up.

In this version, Director Jose Padilha (the 2014 remake of ROBOCOP) decides to focus most of his attention not on the hijacked Israeli citizens, but rather, a pair of German hijackers juxtaposed against the political infighting in Israel between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres. The Israeli governmental infighting was interesting to watch with intriguing characters and cat-and-mouse back-stabbing politics while the plight of the kidnappers was underwritten and underwhelming. Consequently, this film was "just okay".

Oh...and it had about an hour-fifteen minutes of content stretched over an hour-forty-five minutes, so to stretch things out, Padilha decided to cut back and forth between the action (what there was of it) and a modern dance recital. Clearly he was trying a metaphor of the dance punctuating the emotions and actions elsewhere. It just didn't work for me.

Neither did this film. Skip this one and check out the Charles Bronson shoot-em-up.

Letter Grade C+

5 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
40x40

Andy K (10823 KP) Mar 22, 2018

Too bad. This looked good.

An intimate portrayal of Lisa Romeos larger-than-life father, Starting With Goodbye is so raw and emotional it gave me all the feels. All of them. This narrative hits particularly close to home, realizing how hard it is to come to terms with aging parents, and our aging selves.

This is a hard book to rate. You watch Lisa go through these feelings, ups and downs, and roller-coasters of emotions, yet I see the privilege and the money and just can't connect, and in some instances - I can't feel for her. But this is her story - I can't fault her for having what I did not.

Having this intimate look inside of her grief feels almost like spying, like we don't belong here, this isn't our story to read. But it's all part of it. But loss is loss, and it's sad all around and it's so very interesting to see inside someones head at their most painful moments.

I marvel in how she processes the loss of her father. It's brave. It's commendable. The things she does, and admits - I don't know if I could. I feel like I learned a lot, yet I'll still be unprepared as the same moments in life come for myself.

I believe if every person wrote the memoir of a beloved parents passing - they'd all be so different. Different stories and heartfelt memories of the past and completely unalike ways of grieving and how one handles it. But they'd all be the same: raw, sad, and beautiful.

I read this because I was curious... who would write something so personal, and so private? But I didn't find myself all that sad reading this. I was sad FOR her, but mostly I admired Lisa (and her eloquent prose), I adored her "mobster" dad, Tony, and I smiled at her story - because she wrote an ode to her hero and was courageous in doing so. It was like the ultimate love story between a daughter and her father.
  
Midnight In Berlin
Midnight In Berlin
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Not really one for me :-(
Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Covered in feathers, Leon hitchhikes back to his hostel. But Christoph mistakes Leon for a rogue werewolf, and bites him, making Leon like Christoph. Waking up in a house full of others, Leon is more worried about Christoph than his own fate. After Leon frees Christoph, and the truth about their history becomes clear, Leon and Christoph want to leave the pack. But not everyone will let them.

I'm rally not sure how I feel about this book! I did not love it, at all but I didn't hate it either. This is going to be one of those short reviews, and I apologise for that!

It's almost clean, which surprised me, don't know WHY it surprised me, but it did. Also surprised by the fact that I rather liked that it was!

It is, however, quite violent in places. Graphically so, and I did find it a bit too much for me. Someone else might not find it as bad, but me? I didn't like that.

It's told entirely from Leon's point of view and of course I wanted to hear from Christoph. He makes some spur of the moment, life changing decisions here and I needed to know what was going through his mind at those key points in the story.

What Leon does say, is in the first person, past tense, His voice is well written, and well delivered and he gets all the important emotions across in all the right places. I saw no spelling or editing errors to spoil my reading.

I jst don't know if this book was for me, that's all! And Lord knows, I say it often enough, but it pains me when I can't word why I do or do not love a book.

So I'll leave it at that.

3 solid stars.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Eight Goodbyes
Eight Goodbyes
Christine Brae | 2018 | Contemporary, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Eight Goodbyes by Christine Brae
Eight Goodbyes is pretty much self-explanatory from the title, however, what that doesn't give you is the emotions that are in this book from start to finish. We learn about the sheer amount of time that is given to go 'on tour', and how that time is very precious to ride the wave before the next big thing comes along. How an author is supposed to spend a year touring, and also write to get the next installment out to the fans, is beyond me.

That side of things, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. The main female though rubbed me up the wrong way. I struggled to find anything about her that was likeable. She was self-obsessed, arrogant in her status, and expected everyone to jump to her bidding. This was done at the time as pulling on the heartstrings about how tired she was, how busy she was. It just didn't work that well for me. The main male character, Simon. Now him, I loved, although I did want him to grow a bit more of a backbone with Tessa. For some reason, I am more prepared to overlook his foibles than I am Tessa's.

This story felt like a long one, with plenty of detail given in each situation. The ending I enjoyed, even if it did bring a tear to my eye. I found the ending to be different to other stories, but I won't mention why. Suffice it to say, I wanted a different ending, but this one fits perfectly for the story.

A thoroughly enjoyable story, even with the distracting main female. Still recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Joy (The Dreughan #3)
Joy (The Dreughan #3)
Lena North | 2015 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Joy (The Dreughan #3) by Lena North
Joy is the third and final book in the Dreughan series, and this time it is Troy's turn. I have been waiting for his story, because he has shown hints of not being the 'clown' all the time, and I couldn't wait to see deeper into his character. Let me just say, I was NOT disappointed.

Not only do we see more of Troy, and how he feels about Vilda and Sannah, but we also see more about who he is, how he works, and just what he will do for those he calls family. I am happy to say Valerian is his brother, so we get more of him. We see Troy really coming into his own, with the full and complete support of Rinna backing him up.

This amazing story would get more than 5 out of 5 if I could, but I don't think you can do 6 or more stars out of 5. I was sobbing throughout parts of this story, the emotions were there and would not be denied. The epilogue just about killed me, it was sheer perfection.

I have said throughout this series, that there have been errors. Just simple ones like words being misspelt, or the wrong group being blamed for a murder, but I have to emphasise to you - THIS DID NOT MATTER. Yes, I noticed them, and then I dismissed them as I was too wrapped up in the characters and the story.

This is a spectacular ending to this series, and lucky me, I have the Birds of a Feather series to read next. I bought this series on the back of ONE book by this author, and I am so glad I did. It is money well-spent in my opinion. I have loved the world she has built, the characters who have grown so much, and of course - Dragons!

* Verified Purchase ~ July 2018. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Untamed Cowboy (Gold Valley, #2)
Untamed Cowboy (Gold Valley, #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
4.5 stars of out 5 for Untamed Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Kaylee Capshaw has loved Bennett Dodge for 17 years. Ever since he took pity on the new shy girl and became her friend. She spends her days saying WWBD (What would Bennett do) and really has no idea how to act otherwise. She needs to get him out of her head once and for all. But with his recent breakup with Olivia, could this finally be her time?

Bennett Dodge likes lists and plans. He had his life planned out, wife, kids, ranch all with Olivia. Then one day she falls in love with his friend Luke and his plan goes to hell. He was never in love with Olivia though, just the idea of her and the life he thought he wanted. His best friend Kaylee is there for him as always but something about her is making him look at her differently now. A surprise on his doorstep helps knock any other plans he’d made right out the window.

Kaylee needs to go all in. Going all in with Bennett or all in with someone to take his place. She can’t continue on this roller coaster of emotions where he is concerned. She doesn’t want to lose their decades old friendship above anything though. When he calls in a panic she rushes to him ready to help him through whatever obstacle lies ahead.

As usual, Ms Yates blends the perfect tale of 2 people and their HEA. Throw in the obligatory family meddling, a 15-year-old “Say What” moment, and a casual offer for sex and you have the perfect mix of fun, love and family, Dodge Style.

Gold Valley continues on where Copper Ridge left off. A good, homegrown, family centered town, with Hot Cowboys of course. I can’t wait to read the next chapter in Gold Valley, Good Time Cowboy!!
  
Lie to Me - Single by Veronica Fusaro
Lie to Me - Single by Veronica Fusaro
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Veronica Fusaro is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Thun, Switzerland. Not too long ago, she released a music video for her “lie to me” single.

“If I told you not to leave would you turn and look back to me? And maybe if you’d stay, we could try to dream away the day is way too bright, it’s fulfilled with lies anyway. Have another drink, you could show me how you wink all of your sorrows away. Something is telling me that you’re my escape.” – lyrics

‘lie to me’ tells an adorable tale of a young woman who is in a foggy room at night with someone who she desires to be with.

Apparently, she doesn’t care if this person tells her stories which aren’t necessarily true. All she wants is for him to keep talking for a few more months until July comes.

Later, she admits that she wants to frame his face just in case he disappears outside into the cold weather.

‘lie to me’ contains a relatable storyline and ear-welcoming vocals. Also, the likable tune possesses guitar-driven instrumentation scented with a lovely commercial pop fragrance.

“‘lie to me’ is “inspired by a Friday night out, but talks about much more than just a weekend. It addresses the rapidity of the world we live in and our desperate cry to find real emotions.” – Veronica Fusaro

Veronica Fusaro stepped into the spotlight in 2016 with her self-produced EP, entitled, “Lost In Thought”.

Shortly afterward, she surprised the Swiss music industry by winning the “Demo of the Year” at the M4Music-Festival.

Since then, she has toured small and large stages, from New Zealand to London and all the way back to Switzerland. With the experience of 136 shows in 2018, this year is set to be even more exciting for Fusaro.

https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/veronica-fusaro-lie-to-me/