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A Curse So Dark and Lonely
8.5
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In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers...
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Merissa (14068 KP) rated Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales #1) by Olivia Atwater in Books
May 26, 2022 (Updated Jun 13, 2023)
HALF A SOUL is the first book in the Regency Faerie Tales and I honestly can't wait to read more. This was a gentle story with some harsh life lessons for our main character when she learns what war and workhouses are really like in a world where magic exists.
She -- Dora -- sees life through a slightly skewed lens as it is, being a Faerie Lord stole half her soul when she was only a child. Since then, she struggles to feel emotions, apart from "long-tailed ones". Her cousin, Vanessa, is the only warmth in her life and she will do all she can to please her. This includes going to London, although Dora isn't sure if she is going to help Vanessa's chances of finding a husband, or if she is going because of Vanessa's scheme to cure Dora. Either way, they end up in London, with the ton, and Dora has her own adventures whilst Vanessa is at the mercy of the matchmaking mothers.
I found Dora to be a heart-warming character who is aware of her own 'strangeness' but tries her best to fit in to please her cousin. I loved how she was truthful and direct, at a time when it was not fashionable to be so. Elias was the perfect foil for her. She didn't accept his rudeness or be put off by his temper, simply because she wasn't affected by it. Albert, and his mother, Lady Caraway, were jewels in this book and I loved every scene they were in. I was so happy for him!
Rightly or wrongly, I enjoy historical fiction as it is written. I have no idea if the dip of the neckline or the length of the hem is one hundred per cent accurate, and I don't really care. And if it is historically incorrect, so what? So long as the story fits together, and the inconsistencies remain the same throughout (now there's an oxymoron for you), that's all that concerns me.
I loved this story as it guided me along, all coming together nicely at the end. The epilogue was perfect. I sincerely hope to see more of this couple in future books. A fantastic start to a new series by a new-to-me author and absolutely recommended!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* 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!
May 26, 2022
She -- Dora -- sees life through a slightly skewed lens as it is, being a Faerie Lord stole half her soul when she was only a child. Since then, she struggles to feel emotions, apart from "long-tailed ones". Her cousin, Vanessa, is the only warmth in her life and she will do all she can to please her. This includes going to London, although Dora isn't sure if she is going to help Vanessa's chances of finding a husband, or if she is going because of Vanessa's scheme to cure Dora. Either way, they end up in London, with the ton, and Dora has her own adventures whilst Vanessa is at the mercy of the matchmaking mothers.
I found Dora to be a heart-warming character who is aware of her own 'strangeness' but tries her best to fit in to please her cousin. I loved how she was truthful and direct, at a time when it was not fashionable to be so. Elias was the perfect foil for her. She didn't accept his rudeness or be put off by his temper, simply because she wasn't affected by it. Albert, and his mother, Lady Caraway, were jewels in this book and I loved every scene they were in. I was so happy for him!
Rightly or wrongly, I enjoy historical fiction as it is written. I have no idea if the dip of the neckline or the length of the hem is one hundred per cent accurate, and I don't really care. And if it is historically incorrect, so what? So long as the story fits together, and the inconsistencies remain the same throughout (now there's an oxymoron for you), that's all that concerns me.
I loved this story as it guided me along, all coming together nicely at the end. The epilogue was perfect. I sincerely hope to see more of this couple in future books. A fantastic start to a new series by a new-to-me author and absolutely recommended!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* 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!
May 26, 2022
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
Have they made a TV series out of this yet? If not, why not? Secret Life Of Pets would be amazingly suited to being a TV series. While the whole film is quite entertaining, there's no denying that the little "intro" bits where we see the pets at home or get little skits outside the main storyline are the best bits. If anyone remembers Garfield & Friends, that's the format I could see it working in. As it is, Secret Life Of Pets 2 is a film of three parts... but not the beginning/middle/end type. We've got three individual storylines that do at least sort of meet up at the end.
There were a lot of teaser trailers for this and sadly it meant a lot of the scenes were pre-seen in some way, shape or form. I was surprised that none of them had any extra footage that was held back. I loved the vet clip and cat training montage, but there wasn't a single new moment to make them even better.
These two scenes in particular stuck out for another reason, they really highlighted the music. It's fun and a little jazzy, but it's also slightly too loud when combined with the speech which means it doesn't feel like it's in the background anymore.
The film starts out with Max getting used to the fact that there's now a child in his home. Initially he's apprehensive but soon he warms to Liam and goes out of his way to protect him from the dangers of the world. His hypersensitivity to everything has made him nervous and he needs to overcome this if he's going to deal with Liam going to pre-school.
Meanwhile, Captain Snowball is involved in his first case, a kitten that's been catnapped... well, a white tiger who has been chained and tormented by a circus. Snowball and Daisy must execute the perfect heist and free Hu from the evil Sergei's clutches.
Our third storyline doesn't fit in with the other two so well but it's possibly my favourite. Max has asked Gidget to look after his favourite toy and in a terrible accident it bounces out of her window and ends up landing in a neighbour's front room. That neighbour is definitely a cat person. Gidget must enlist the help of Chloe to learn how to be a cat so she can infiltrate her home and rescue the toy. This leads to my favourite scene in the whole film. Plan B has to be the best plan anyone has ever come up with, and Gidget really does deserve the admiration for it.
Secret Life Of Pets 2 is another amusing addition to the Illumination catalogue, and it's certainly not the worst. I've seen it twice and it's entertaining enough to watch more than once (although probably not as close together as I saw it). There are enough moments to keep everyone engaged, there are worse ways to spend some time.
What you should do
I think this will be a good option for a family outing, well worth seeing and it seems to be particularly popular with the kids.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I think I'd want Chloe, even though I'm a bit of a dog person.
There were a lot of teaser trailers for this and sadly it meant a lot of the scenes were pre-seen in some way, shape or form. I was surprised that none of them had any extra footage that was held back. I loved the vet clip and cat training montage, but there wasn't a single new moment to make them even better.
These two scenes in particular stuck out for another reason, they really highlighted the music. It's fun and a little jazzy, but it's also slightly too loud when combined with the speech which means it doesn't feel like it's in the background anymore.
The film starts out with Max getting used to the fact that there's now a child in his home. Initially he's apprehensive but soon he warms to Liam and goes out of his way to protect him from the dangers of the world. His hypersensitivity to everything has made him nervous and he needs to overcome this if he's going to deal with Liam going to pre-school.
Meanwhile, Captain Snowball is involved in his first case, a kitten that's been catnapped... well, a white tiger who has been chained and tormented by a circus. Snowball and Daisy must execute the perfect heist and free Hu from the evil Sergei's clutches.
Our third storyline doesn't fit in with the other two so well but it's possibly my favourite. Max has asked Gidget to look after his favourite toy and in a terrible accident it bounces out of her window and ends up landing in a neighbour's front room. That neighbour is definitely a cat person. Gidget must enlist the help of Chloe to learn how to be a cat so she can infiltrate her home and rescue the toy. This leads to my favourite scene in the whole film. Plan B has to be the best plan anyone has ever come up with, and Gidget really does deserve the admiration for it.
Secret Life Of Pets 2 is another amusing addition to the Illumination catalogue, and it's certainly not the worst. I've seen it twice and it's entertaining enough to watch more than once (although probably not as close together as I saw it). There are enough moments to keep everyone engaged, there are worse ways to spend some time.
What you should do
I think this will be a good option for a family outing, well worth seeing and it seems to be particularly popular with the kids.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I think I'd want Chloe, even though I'm a bit of a dog person.
Siren's Surrender (Dark Tides #2)
7.0
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Never embracing her mermaid heritage, Gwen Lonike lives in the human world as the owner of a Maine...
Charles Mackerras
Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell
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By the time of his death in 2010 at the age of 84, Sir Charles Mackerras had achieved widespread...
Sugar Daddy Meet
Social Networking and Entertainment
1.0
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SugarDaddyMeet is the best sugar daddy dating app for young women seeking mutual arrangements with...
Sea Dragon's Hunger (The Fada Shapeshifter #4.5)
8.0
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A child in danger. A second chance at love. Four years ago, Irish shifter Cassidy O’Byrne fell...
Paranormal Romance
Ross (3284 KP) rated Season of Storms in Books
Apr 23, 2018 (Updated Apr 25, 2018)
2-d characters (2 more)
fantasy-by-numbers
Frequent incongruent Latin/French phrases
More a set of short stories than a novel in its own right
* I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Formatting issues (many) have not been factored into the review *
To my knowledge, the books of The Witcher are split into the short story collection prequels (one of which I have read) and the full books (which I have not read). This book is somewhere in between being neither strictly a collection of short stories nor a focussed standalone novel in its own right. Chronologically, this book falls in between the stories contained in The Last Wish) though it is impossible to say quite where it falls (as mention of the stryga is made near the end, which begins the Last Wish I have to assume it comes after the flashback stories from that tome but before the overarching story linking them all).
It may be because I haven't read the full novels, but I find the Witcher to be a thoroughly bland and unexciting character and I have no connection with him. He has next to no personality and contributes nothing to the dialogue of the book. Similarly, all other characters are very disposable - they are either supposedly strong-willed sorceresses (who smell of flowers and throw themselves at the Witcher and are bedded instantly) or they are otherwise instantly forgettable.
I think Sapkwoski was trying to give the sorcerers a sense of academic snobbery but they frequently use Latin phrases, which just gets irritating very quickly. Similarly French words and phrases are thrown in willy-nilly without translation which gets annoying as well. This seems even more unusual when you realise the story was written in Polish and translated into English, with some parts kept in French or Latin. And then further when it is meant to be in a different world where French wouldn't be a thing.
The story essentially follows Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) who loses his swords and goes on a quest to get them back, and just happens along the way to meet people who need his skills (like on Neighbours where one character leaves and another comes in through the door at exactly the same moment). This aspect makes me think this was meant to be a series of short stories stitched together. But unfortunately here those short stories are not finished up within themselves and you have a number of unsatisfying loose ends in the back of your head throughout.
As with The Last Wish, I found the ending very confusing and had no idea what had happened. It may be that other works fill in the gap and I will have that filled in time, but if so that makes this not a satisfying read in its own right.
Overall, I don't mind Sapkowski's writing in general, other than a few irritating bad habits and I like the overriding idea of the stories but find the execution, character development and overall world-building somewhat clumsy and throw-away. But as I say, this may be because (I think) I have read these in chronological order, rather than published order. I will fill in the gaps and work out if that is the case.
To my knowledge, the books of The Witcher are split into the short story collection prequels (one of which I have read) and the full books (which I have not read). This book is somewhere in between being neither strictly a collection of short stories nor a focussed standalone novel in its own right. Chronologically, this book falls in between the stories contained in The Last Wish) though it is impossible to say quite where it falls (as mention of the stryga is made near the end, which begins the Last Wish I have to assume it comes after the flashback stories from that tome but before the overarching story linking them all).
It may be because I haven't read the full novels, but I find the Witcher to be a thoroughly bland and unexciting character and I have no connection with him. He has next to no personality and contributes nothing to the dialogue of the book. Similarly, all other characters are very disposable - they are either supposedly strong-willed sorceresses (who smell of flowers and throw themselves at the Witcher and are bedded instantly) or they are otherwise instantly forgettable.
I think Sapkwoski was trying to give the sorcerers a sense of academic snobbery but they frequently use Latin phrases, which just gets irritating very quickly. Similarly French words and phrases are thrown in willy-nilly without translation which gets annoying as well. This seems even more unusual when you realise the story was written in Polish and translated into English, with some parts kept in French or Latin. And then further when it is meant to be in a different world where French wouldn't be a thing.
The story essentially follows Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) who loses his swords and goes on a quest to get them back, and just happens along the way to meet people who need his skills (like on Neighbours where one character leaves and another comes in through the door at exactly the same moment). This aspect makes me think this was meant to be a series of short stories stitched together. But unfortunately here those short stories are not finished up within themselves and you have a number of unsatisfying loose ends in the back of your head throughout.
As with The Last Wish, I found the ending very confusing and had no idea what had happened. It may be that other works fill in the gap and I will have that filled in time, but if so that makes this not a satisfying read in its own right.
Overall, I don't mind Sapkowski's writing in general, other than a few irritating bad habits and I like the overriding idea of the stories but find the execution, character development and overall world-building somewhat clumsy and throw-away. But as I say, this may be because (I think) I have read these in chronological order, rather than published order. I will fill in the gaps and work out if that is the case.