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Rachel King (13 KP) rated Fade Out (Morganville Vampires #7) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
Yet another good addition to the Morganville Vampires series, Fade Out is all about entertainment, but with a sinister twist. Eve wins a major part in the town's production of Tennessee Williams' A Street Car Named Desire and Claire's quirky boss, Myrnin, seems to have gained his sanity. But underneath this calm surface, rebellion is simmering while Amelie grieves, Ada-the-computer has it in for Claire, and the other goth chick in town, Kim, has less-than-honest designs for Morganville with a suspicious film project in the works.
Claire seems to have worked out a truce with her parents, which I liked since they just seem to get in the way. Her relationship with Shane is adorable and sweet, and I love their loyalty to each other even as they navigate the familiar territory of new romance. In contrast, Eve and Michael have hit a major bump in the road that I saw coming several books back - and I'm still a little annoyed that we don't get more details from Eve's perspective.
Myrnin has to be my favorite character in the series. Even as a sane individual, he is still incredibly unique - from his fashion sense, to the unexpected things he randomly spouts, to his mercurial behavior and unpredictable loyalties among the town's inhabitants. What develops with Ada's subplot in the book shows that beneath the vampire still lurks some humanity, and he obviously has many more secrets that have yet to be revealed.
Amelie grieves for the loss of Sam, and the way she randomly appears in Claire's day-to-day life during this period of stark vulnerability is equal parts mystifying and encouraging. While the downside of this is that the rebellious factions feel stronger, the upside is that the readers gets to see some of the characteristics typical only to humans show themselves in Amelie.
As for Claire herself, Shane makes an observation about her that I think sums her up quite nicely. Some people come to Morganville and disappear, but when Claire came to Morganville, she began to thrive.
Every time I pick up one of the books in this series, I simply can not stop reading until I've finished it - always the perfect blend of suspense, mystery, and supernatural elements to keep me hooked.
Claire seems to have worked out a truce with her parents, which I liked since they just seem to get in the way. Her relationship with Shane is adorable and sweet, and I love their loyalty to each other even as they navigate the familiar territory of new romance. In contrast, Eve and Michael have hit a major bump in the road that I saw coming several books back - and I'm still a little annoyed that we don't get more details from Eve's perspective.
Myrnin has to be my favorite character in the series. Even as a sane individual, he is still incredibly unique - from his fashion sense, to the unexpected things he randomly spouts, to his mercurial behavior and unpredictable loyalties among the town's inhabitants. What develops with Ada's subplot in the book shows that beneath the vampire still lurks some humanity, and he obviously has many more secrets that have yet to be revealed.
Amelie grieves for the loss of Sam, and the way she randomly appears in Claire's day-to-day life during this period of stark vulnerability is equal parts mystifying and encouraging. While the downside of this is that the rebellious factions feel stronger, the upside is that the readers gets to see some of the characteristics typical only to humans show themselves in Amelie.
As for Claire herself, Shane makes an observation about her that I think sums her up quite nicely. Some people come to Morganville and disappear, but when Claire came to Morganville, she began to thrive.
Every time I pick up one of the books in this series, I simply can not stop reading until I've finished it - always the perfect blend of suspense, mystery, and supernatural elements to keep me hooked.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Kill the Messenger (2014) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
For those of you who don’t know the true story behind Kill the Messenger I won’t spoil anything for you in this review. I will just review the movie in general terms and talk about the performances.
The very basic premise that you pick up from seeing any trailers for this movie is that Kill the Messenger is about a reporter from a San Jose news paper that breaks a huge story that puts him in the national spot light and possibly in danger.
Jeremy Renner who plays the main character is fantastic in his role and really carries the movie as he has proven being very capable of in other great movies. He is so believable in his role. You really care about his character almost from the beginning and from then on out you are totally bought in. Renner has that “it” factor that makes you root so hard for him no matter what role he is playing in. He’s just a really likable guy.
The story is real and I knew the basics, so there really were no shocking moments but the movie still does a great job of telling a compelling tale. The pacing is good but still has the dramatic pauses and uncomfortable moments that all dramas need. The movie runs about 2 hours and it feels perfect, not too long or short.
For the most part the supporting actors fade away around Renner, but Rosemarie DeWitt who plays the spouse of the main character put in a solid performance. There are some miss steps such as watching Andy Garcia trying way to hard to act and a small part for Ray Liotta in the only underacted role in his entire career. Liotta is typically a scene stealer and even he wasn’t able to take the shine off of Renner.
Ultimately this isn’t the best drama this season, but its a great story that deserved the true Hollywood treatment and it got what it deserved with this film. I never looked at my watch during the entire movie. I just sat back, had a cold drink and a bag of popcorn and really enjoyed watching the story unfold.
Well told story, solid acting, good pacing, Jeremy Renner, go see it.
http://sknr.net/2014/10/10/kill-messenger/
The very basic premise that you pick up from seeing any trailers for this movie is that Kill the Messenger is about a reporter from a San Jose news paper that breaks a huge story that puts him in the national spot light and possibly in danger.
Jeremy Renner who plays the main character is fantastic in his role and really carries the movie as he has proven being very capable of in other great movies. He is so believable in his role. You really care about his character almost from the beginning and from then on out you are totally bought in. Renner has that “it” factor that makes you root so hard for him no matter what role he is playing in. He’s just a really likable guy.
The story is real and I knew the basics, so there really were no shocking moments but the movie still does a great job of telling a compelling tale. The pacing is good but still has the dramatic pauses and uncomfortable moments that all dramas need. The movie runs about 2 hours and it feels perfect, not too long or short.
For the most part the supporting actors fade away around Renner, but Rosemarie DeWitt who plays the spouse of the main character put in a solid performance. There are some miss steps such as watching Andy Garcia trying way to hard to act and a small part for Ray Liotta in the only underacted role in his entire career. Liotta is typically a scene stealer and even he wasn’t able to take the shine off of Renner.
Ultimately this isn’t the best drama this season, but its a great story that deserved the true Hollywood treatment and it got what it deserved with this film. I never looked at my watch during the entire movie. I just sat back, had a cold drink and a bag of popcorn and really enjoyed watching the story unfold.
Well told story, solid acting, good pacing, Jeremy Renner, go see it.
http://sknr.net/2014/10/10/kill-messenger/
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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Miss Me Not in Books
Sep 3, 2019
Note: This has been on my Kindle for years--literally! I've decided every so often when there's not a book I've bought that I'm just dying to read that I'll start reading my backlog of books from the earliest bought. This was #1 - from 2013. I'm not doing bad, I only have one more book from 2013 before I start the ones from 2014. Yay!
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This covers some rather dark topics like suicide and physical abuse. On the first page we learn of a student's suicide and Madison's feelings about it. And then the fact that she has a sort of suicide pact with her only friend. It's quite a punch to the gut that these 17 year olds feel so low due to family situations that they want to end things.
Madison had a very unconventional childhood with parents who took no notice of her at all and in an effort to gain any sort of attention from them she acted out in the past until the unthinkable happened when she was just 13. I understand how stuff like that can warp you when it happens at such a young age.
Then a ray of light appears in the form of Dean--all round good guy. He's been asked to tutor her so she doesn't flunk a class. He's determined to be her friend after watching her for years and seeing her "fade into the background" behaviour. Things progress from friendship into romance over time and we get a rather sweet romance between Dean and Madison. He's very protective of her.
Of course, things don't always go the way you want and someone close to Madison commits suicide throwing her back into the darkness of grief. Luckily, she now has a strong support system in place with Dean and his family and they manage to keep her grounded.
I thought it ended a little abruptly but it was a sweet young adult romance that covered some hard hitting topics.
Another note: Suicide does seem to be a big issue in teenagers around the world and this book does a good job of highlighting it. It doesn't seem fair to me for teens to be that low that they take their own lives. They've barely started living and they ready to die already? That's not right. I've had a few good cries while reading this.
*-*-*-*-*
This covers some rather dark topics like suicide and physical abuse. On the first page we learn of a student's suicide and Madison's feelings about it. And then the fact that she has a sort of suicide pact with her only friend. It's quite a punch to the gut that these 17 year olds feel so low due to family situations that they want to end things.
Madison had a very unconventional childhood with parents who took no notice of her at all and in an effort to gain any sort of attention from them she acted out in the past until the unthinkable happened when she was just 13. I understand how stuff like that can warp you when it happens at such a young age.
Then a ray of light appears in the form of Dean--all round good guy. He's been asked to tutor her so she doesn't flunk a class. He's determined to be her friend after watching her for years and seeing her "fade into the background" behaviour. Things progress from friendship into romance over time and we get a rather sweet romance between Dean and Madison. He's very protective of her.
Of course, things don't always go the way you want and someone close to Madison commits suicide throwing her back into the darkness of grief. Luckily, she now has a strong support system in place with Dean and his family and they manage to keep her grounded.
I thought it ended a little abruptly but it was a sweet young adult romance that covered some hard hitting topics.
Another note: Suicide does seem to be a big issue in teenagers around the world and this book does a good job of highlighting it. It doesn't seem fair to me for teens to be that low that they take their own lives. They've barely started living and they ready to die already? That's not right. I've had a few good cries while reading this.
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