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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jun 21, 2020  
Visit my blog, and read a fantastic excerpt from the contemporary Christian romance novel THE KEY TO EVERYTHING by Valerie Fraser Luesse. Enter the #GIVEAWAY to #win a copy of the book, a necklace, and a $25 Barnes & Noble GIFT CARD or a $10 #Starbucks GIFT CARD!

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Based on a true story, Valerie Fraser Luesse’s new novel takes readers on an incredible journey of self-discovery. The poignant prose, enchanting characters, and captivating settings in The Key to Everything make this a moving story that readers won’t soon forget. Peyton Cabot’s fifteenth year will be a painful and transformative one. His father, the reluctant head of a moneyed Savannah family, has come home from WWII a troubled vet, drowning his demons in bourbon, and distancing himself from his son. When a tragic accident separates Peyton from his parents, and the girl of his dreams seems out of reach, he struggles to cope with a young life upended.

Pushed to his limit, Peyton makes a daring decision: he will retrace a slice of the journey his father took at fifteen by riding his bicycle all the way from St. Augustine to Key West, Florida. Part loving tribute, part search for self, Peyton’s journey will unlock more than he ever could have imagined, including the key to his distant father, a calling that will shape the rest of his life, and the realization that he’s willing to risk absolutely everything for the girl he loves.

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/06/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-key-to.html
     
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Jake Lacy recommended GoodFellas (1990) in Movies (curated)

 
GoodFellas (1990)
GoodFellas (1990)
1990 | Crime, Drama, Thriller

"I read Wiseguy, the book that Goodfellas is based on, before I knew that Goodfellas existed. I was, like, 15 and found it in the school library. Then at the end it was a footnote that was like, “Oh by the way, Scorsese made this into a film.” At 15 or 16, I saw Goodfellas for the first time. Was mesmerized. And then also, it was the first time I probably watched a movie or a film with the beginning of an adult perspective on things. Where it wasn’t just participating in the story, but seeing what a masterpiece it is that someone created that. That those performances individually were so fantastic that the story, the shots, the music… The first time I understood the elements of film coming together, being a conscious choice for those things to be in the film, and then the effect that it had on me. As opposed to being a kid and a viewer, and being like, “I like that thing.” I’m not unique in this, I think, but I can go back every six months and watch that movie and still be so excited to see it. I’m always ready to watch it. I wanted to be Henry Hill as a kid. Growing up in the country with no excitement around us, I wanted to be half Irish, half Italian, and adopted by this family I could never be a part of. That whole scene. I just wanted that life. Or as a kid, I thought I wanted that life."

Source
  
Before She Was Helen
Before She Was Helen
Caroline B. Cooney | 2020 | Mystery
8
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

Having read Caroline B. Cooney's Janie Johnson series, which many people call The Face on the Milk Carton series, I was thrilled to read her latest novel, Before She Was Helen.

While Cooney is well-known for her YA novels, Before She Was Helen, is not categorized as young adult, but as adult fiction. Her main character is Clemmie, a still-working but living in a retirement community teacher, who intentionally built a bland and quiet life for herself. Everything changes when she does a wellness check on her next-door neighbor. She photographs a stunning and beautiful object. Thinking her family would enjoy it, she shares the photo with them. The picture quickly makes its rounds on the internet, and Clemmie's life changes in a blink, and all her carefully kept secrets are threatened.

For anyone who has read Cooney, you can identify her writing style. Her words word flow in an easy and distinct manner. It is as if she writes how she talks and does not change her vernacular or style. Reading Before She Was Helen was like reading a familiar book that I never read before.

Goodreads does not list any other books set for publication as of yet.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 9/8/20.
  
Into The Forest (2016)
Into The Forest (2016)
2016 | Drama, International, Sci-Fi
A light, pretty take on the bonds of family during hard times gets brutalized halfway through by one of the hardest to watch scenes of 2015 before becoming a powerfully emotional apocalypse tale about how much of your life is actually necessary. This has been criticized up and down for not using a 'harrowing' enough crisis to set the scene, and look I'm just going to tell you right now that I understand why you all think this is 'millennial' but this right here would be my living nightmare. I'm that character in every pre/post-apocalyptic movie who loses their shit after the power goes out in the first five minutes - I don't even go tent camping, like I *need* that shit. To quote Kumail Nanjiani from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘬: "I'm going to be the first guy to die. I die so the other characters get to find out something weird is going on". Also a big plus that this doesn't turn into some finger-shaking technophobic lecture as it no doubt would have under any other circumstances. No I don't take a ton of stock in this rather simple story on the surface but the real beauty of it is brought to life with these all-in performances, earthly visuals, together with the *deeply* rich and evocative score. It's such a bracingly haunting yet unforgettably sensual experience, and it has one of the more sound 'good thing, bad thing, good thing, bad thing...' structures for the genre. Very lovely.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Dec 5, 2020 (Updated Dec 5, 2020)  
Stop by my blog, and check out this great interview with the sexy Ridge Steele from the Western historical romance novel ONCE UPON A MAIL ORDER BRIDE by Linda Broday. Enter the GIVEAWAY to win a signed copy of the book, all four books in the Mail Order Brides Series autographed by Linda Broday or a $10 Amazon gift card!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/12/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-once-upon.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Accused of crimes he didn't commit, ex-preacher Ridge Steele is forced to give up everything he knew and make his home with outlaws. Desperate for someone to confide in, he strikes up correspondence with mail-order bride Adeline Jancy, finding in her the open heart he's been searching for. Upon her arrival, Ridge discovers Addie only communicates through the written word, but he knows a little of what trauma can do to a person and vows to stand by her side.

Addie is eager to start a new life with the kind ex-preacher and the little boy she's stolen away from her father―a zealot priest of a terrorized flock. As her small family settles into life at Hope's Crossing, she even begins to find the voice, and confidence, she'd lost so long ago.

But danger is not far behind, and her father will not be denied. While Addie desperately fights the man who destroyed her childhood, a determined Ridge races to the rescue. The star-crossed lovers will need more than prayers to survive this final challenge...and find their way back to each other again.