Victoria & Violet (Royal Maids #1)
10.0
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When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her...
Historical Romance
Darling Descent (Confessional #1)
10.0
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A university psychiatrist. A curious undergrad. A dangerous attraction. When Kenna O’Callaghan...
Dark Forbidden Contemporary Romance
Singing in the Dark
10.0
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Far too often, life’s challenges and questions cause people to fight feelings of doubt and...
The Signs We Missed
8.0
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Thrown out by his mother, 17-year-old Luke hopes to overcome his narcotic addiction and depression...
Contemporary MM Fiction LGBTQIA+
A Job Well Done
8.0
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Alex is a hitman with ice in his veins and a job that never allows for second thoughts. His latest...
Contemporary MM Romance
Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated Maybe For You in Books
Jun 5, 2019
Many say that a guy and gal cannot be friends. This story seems to prove that point. The different dynamic relationships play a part in how people react to each other. Friends usually are able to be direct and let their guards down without having to build walls. Usually these relationships are based on honesty where each person can show their true selves. Some of the best intimate relationships start off as friends. The heroine, Alexis, and the hero, Jake began their friendship as pen pals while she was deployed in Italy. They did not literally converse with a writing object, but used the modern way, a phone text. McLaughlin wanted “it to be a safer way to share feelings without being face to face or voice to voice. These two are able to share only when they feel like sharing.”
Alexis is not used to displaying her emotions, keeping everything close to the chest. Her parents died in an auto accident, she was raised by her older brother Dean, and now has lost her fiancé in a military helicopter accident. Anyone who has lost a loved one, especially when it is unexpected, can relate to this powerful quote, “Several times she had to talk herself out of just crawling back into bed… Moving on, healing, required putting one foot in front of the other. Even when it felt impossible.”
The story poignantly shows how those grieving can move on, that time heals. Yet, there are also instances when something can spur someone’s memory about a loved one, and that feeling of being hit in the gut returns. “I wanted to write about this because I experience it. I put in the book how sometimes the weight of the pain feels brand new. I lost my father when I was ten. I watched my mother and how she dealt with losing a partner. I think I put my own feelings in these scenes. My dad has been dead almost twenty-five years and every once in awhile a thought pops up in my head and I cry instantly. I think the grieving process is a long journey.”
But it is also a story of hope. After a year serving overseas Alexis returns to her home town in Kansas. Her brother offers her a job at the Stag Distillery he owns with two friends. But it also ended up becoming one of the most successful wedding and event venues in the Kansas City metro area. To promote their business one of the partners, Jake, travels on the road to find new clients. Realizing that Alex would be a good addition for making sells, it is decided that she will travel with him. Ready for a new challenge, Alexis agrees to accompany her new co-worker, Jake. Soon the casual relationship becomes intense where both realize they have strong feelings for each other.
“I wrote how their relationship was grounded in respect and friendship. Both needed someone that they cared for. They were able to tease and joke with each other, feeling very comfortable, because they started out as friends. They appear as opposites since Alexis is a survivor, strong, broken, vulnerable, determined, desperate for a family, and is very guarded. Jake is a player, a playboy, who always feels second best. As Alexis opens up to him about her feelings he listens, doesn’t pry or lecture about what she should be feeling. Slowly he transitions from a playboy to a partner.”
This is a very emotional story that will tug at the heart. There are many touching scenes with very likeable characters.
K.L. Shandwick (3 KP) created a post
Nov 20, 2017
KatieLouCreate (162 KP) rated The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events #13) in Books
Jan 9, 2018
I enjoyed the Violet, Klaus, and Sunny as characters and the three Quagmire triplets. The rest of the characters i hardly liked at all.
I think the book could be shorter. I liked the first three and the last four books but the middle could be taken out without much consequence. Towards the end I felt like I was just reading it because I had already come so far and I couldn't wait to finish them. On the other hand, I'm glad I read the ending because I enjoyed it.
I go into a lot more detail on my blog. Link is in my bio if you want to check it out.
Vincent Jozajtis (1 KP) rated The King's Speech (2010) in Movies
Feb 11, 2019
Editing: 1
Cinematography: 2
Performances: 1.8
Story: 1.7
Sound: 1
Total:7.5
Editing: The cut it needed. Unfussy and at the service of the story. Some techniques might have been used to enhance the king's feelings.
Cinematography: Textbook perfection. Every shot expertly framed to elicit emotion and feeling.
Performances: I think some of the best performances in recent cinema.
Story: An extraordinary episode from history and pitch-perfect story telling. I was engrossed.
Sound: No risks taken but none needed.
Beckie Shelton (40 KP) rated Ring on Her Finger in Books
Feb 8, 2018
Amanda St. Claire awakes to find she has unintentionally married rich playboy Blake Worthington in Vegas, an event she has no memory of,, with plans in place for Africa the last thing Amanda wants is a partnership with a boy she has loathed for the past 4 years of college an annulment is the answer.Blake has had feelings for Amanda for a long time he had his chance a few years ago and blew it and knows now his time has run out to act if he wants Mandy for himself.What follows is the ups and downs of a relationship where opinions are changed (with a lot of time and effort on Blake's part)and two young adults fall head over heels and eventually get their HEA. a sweet clean read that I thoroughly enjoyed.