Search
Search results
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
8.7
Rate It
Book
Read an exclusive interview with the author A warm, funny and big-hearted novel of...
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Secret Silver Songs in Books
Jun 28, 2020
Once again, the versatile Jordan Elizabeth returns to the fantasy/paranormal genre with a unique novel, Secret Silver Songs. With vampire-like men and demon-like creatures, the story takes the reader on a journey from an idyllic island to ruined cities, death and destruction.
Protagonist, Jemilla, is the daughter of the city's Singer - a man who can protect the city through the power of song. Life on the island is calm and peaceful; there is no crime, there is no danger, there is no fighting; so, no one was prepared for an invasion of blood-drinking Thistly. When her father is killed along with the majority of the population, there is no one left to save the island. Only men could become Singers, or so they claimed, but Jemilla is hiding a secret - she can Sing too.
At the beginning of the novel, Jemilla comes across as an anxious teenager, having been plagued by an overactive imagination for most of her life. Yet, as the story goes on, her frightening thoughts appear to be not as imaginary as she originally believed. A silver woman that no one but Jamilla can see taunts her daily and seems to want Jemilla to fail in her quest to save the island from the Thistly. Mid-story, however, alliances appear to change and Jemilla must figure out which team the silver woman is playing for and discover the truth about her home island.
From the very first chapter, Jordan Elizabeth captures the reader's attention with fast-paced action that never stills until the Epilogue. Taking aspects of history, such as rules for women written by men, the author subliminally advocates for women's rights. Secret Silver Songs demonstrates that enemies can be beaten but also that your true enemy may not be who you expect. Above all, never underestimate the power of song.
Protagonist, Jemilla, is the daughter of the city's Singer - a man who can protect the city through the power of song. Life on the island is calm and peaceful; there is no crime, there is no danger, there is no fighting; so, no one was prepared for an invasion of blood-drinking Thistly. When her father is killed along with the majority of the population, there is no one left to save the island. Only men could become Singers, or so they claimed, but Jemilla is hiding a secret - she can Sing too.
At the beginning of the novel, Jemilla comes across as an anxious teenager, having been plagued by an overactive imagination for most of her life. Yet, as the story goes on, her frightening thoughts appear to be not as imaginary as she originally believed. A silver woman that no one but Jamilla can see taunts her daily and seems to want Jemilla to fail in her quest to save the island from the Thistly. Mid-story, however, alliances appear to change and Jemilla must figure out which team the silver woman is playing for and discover the truth about her home island.
From the very first chapter, Jordan Elizabeth captures the reader's attention with fast-paced action that never stills until the Epilogue. Taking aspects of history, such as rules for women written by men, the author subliminally advocates for women's rights. Secret Silver Songs demonstrates that enemies can be beaten but also that your true enemy may not be who you expect. Above all, never underestimate the power of song.
Gorilla and the Bird
Book
The story of a young man fighting to recover from a devastating psychotic break and the mother who...
Gun Button to Fire: A Hurricane Pilot's Dramatic Story of the Battle of Britain
Book
The amazing story of one of 'the Few', fighter ace Tom Neil. This is a fighter pilot's story of...
Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America's Longest War
Book
Nearly 100,000 U.S. soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan at the height of the campaign, fighting...
John Hawkes recommended It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in Movies (curated)
Elli H Burton (1288 KP) rated Midnight Sun (Twilight, #5) in Books
Jan 3, 2021
Seeing the world through Edwards eyes. (1 more)
Even though you know the story, it's NOT like reading the same book twice.
Insight, it's a funny thing.
Contains spoilers, click to show
So, I hate to include spoilers in my reviews, HOWEVER as this is a story that has already been told (in both book and film) I don't really think it is one, but for the rare person out there unfamiliar with the twilight universe I've clicked contains spoilers.
So - lets start with the obvious, I really enjoyed it. I learnt things I didn't know from the first book, it was fascinating to watch the stories unfold from Edwards mind, it made the whole book feel so much different. For example, Despite Twilight being a relatively dark book (the fear, the mystery etc) I always had this sense of light in it, the excitement, love and hope Bella felt. This one is darker with the feeling of Edwards constant seesaw of emotions, his internal arguement as to whether or not he was doing the right thing being with Bella and fighting his natural instinct to kill her and want for her to have a normal human life. I also didn't know he had planned to leave her before New Moon, he was jist biding his time for it to come almost naturally rather than out of the blue.
Even though I know how the story ends, it was definitely an interesting read, learning something knew.
SPOILER sort of.
The way Edwards mind works in this is something you never see in the other books, he can tune into someones mind (other than Bella obvs) and hear the current thoughts but can also see what they see as they process it. This never occured to me before and was really cool to discover.
So - lets start with the obvious, I really enjoyed it. I learnt things I didn't know from the first book, it was fascinating to watch the stories unfold from Edwards mind, it made the whole book feel so much different. For example, Despite Twilight being a relatively dark book (the fear, the mystery etc) I always had this sense of light in it, the excitement, love and hope Bella felt. This one is darker with the feeling of Edwards constant seesaw of emotions, his internal arguement as to whether or not he was doing the right thing being with Bella and fighting his natural instinct to kill her and want for her to have a normal human life. I also didn't know he had planned to leave her before New Moon, he was jist biding his time for it to come almost naturally rather than out of the blue.
Even though I know how the story ends, it was definitely an interesting read, learning something knew.
SPOILER sort of.
The way Edwards mind works in this is something you never see in the other books, he can tune into someones mind (other than Bella obvs) and hear the current thoughts but can also see what they see as they process it. This never occured to me before and was really cool to discover.
ClareR (5784 KP) rated Pippo and Clara in Books
Apr 16, 2021
Pippo and Clara begins in 1938, in Italy. Mussolini is in power and WW2 is imminent. The Fascists have control of the country, but not necessarily the people, and the Italian Communists are fighting back.
Pippo and Clara arrive in the city with their mother after their Romany father is murdered. One morning their mother gets up early to buy food and doesn’t return. Clara goes to look for her, turning right at the entrance to their building; later Pippo awakens and goes to look for his mother and Clara, turning left at the entrance. This change in direction means the children don’t see one another for a long time.
Luckily, they are each adopted into families (unofficially) who love and care for them - Clara’s family are Fascists, Pippo’s are Communists.
This was such an emotional story. It wasn’t just what happened to these children, it was the bigger picture as well. When the inevitable happens and the Germans occupy Italy, Jews are rounded up and taken away, people fear for their freedom and their lives.
It was fascinating to read about the Freedom Fighters (Partisans) and their acts of espionage, as well as how they fought back. This included even those who had been fascists under Mussolini’s regime.
There’s so much to talk about in this book (perfect for a book club, I should think!), but I won’t spoil it. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it and was thoroughly heartbroken by the end. Any book about war is going to have tragic elements, but this is about hope as well, and the fact that good can, and did, overcome evil.
Another recommendation for the historical fiction fans. It’s a fabulous novel.
Pippo and Clara arrive in the city with their mother after their Romany father is murdered. One morning their mother gets up early to buy food and doesn’t return. Clara goes to look for her, turning right at the entrance to their building; later Pippo awakens and goes to look for his mother and Clara, turning left at the entrance. This change in direction means the children don’t see one another for a long time.
Luckily, they are each adopted into families (unofficially) who love and care for them - Clara’s family are Fascists, Pippo’s are Communists.
This was such an emotional story. It wasn’t just what happened to these children, it was the bigger picture as well. When the inevitable happens and the Germans occupy Italy, Jews are rounded up and taken away, people fear for their freedom and their lives.
It was fascinating to read about the Freedom Fighters (Partisans) and their acts of espionage, as well as how they fought back. This included even those who had been fascists under Mussolini’s regime.
There’s so much to talk about in this book (perfect for a book club, I should think!), but I won’t spoil it. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it and was thoroughly heartbroken by the end. Any book about war is going to have tragic elements, but this is about hope as well, and the fact that good can, and did, overcome evil.
Another recommendation for the historical fiction fans. It’s a fabulous novel.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in Movies
Apr 1, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
Let me start by saying that Godzilla Vs Kong is offensively entertaining when the two big bois are smacking the shit out of each other and generally wrecking entire cities, but whereas the first Godzilla had too little lizard action, and King of the Monsters arguably overcompensated, this time around, it's gone back to too little! The big smackdowns were fun, but they seemed done and dusted pretty quickly. It felt like they were lacking meat.
Especially when *SPOILERS* (worst kept secret in recent cinema memory) MechaGodzilla joins the fun near the end. He looks awesome, but again, it's over with pretty quick, and I wanted more dammit! Outside of the fighting, all of the scenes set in the Hollow Earth were pretty decent and interesting in their lore building.
Then there's of course the usual cast of forgettable human characters. Kaylee Hottle and Rebecca Hall are both great and hugely likable, but everyone else is just kind of there, and the plot criminally wastes Demián Bichir. I found there was once again way too much human drama, and none of it seemed at all important, and there was nowhere near enough development on offer to care one bit about them.
So what do we have then? Godzilla Vs Kong is definitely a shallow monster movie, but it's a hell of a lot of fun when it wants to be, with a fantastic music score (the reworked Godzilla theme slaps) and some truly stunning digital effects. The neon aesthetic in the Hong Kong scenes looks great, and the titular monsters look as good as ever. Better than KOTM, not as good as Skull Island, but still worth checking out for anyone who likes this particular sub genre.
On a final note - can't wait to see this properly when cinemas re-open!
Especially when *SPOILERS* (worst kept secret in recent cinema memory) MechaGodzilla joins the fun near the end. He looks awesome, but again, it's over with pretty quick, and I wanted more dammit! Outside of the fighting, all of the scenes set in the Hollow Earth were pretty decent and interesting in their lore building.
Then there's of course the usual cast of forgettable human characters. Kaylee Hottle and Rebecca Hall are both great and hugely likable, but everyone else is just kind of there, and the plot criminally wastes Demián Bichir. I found there was once again way too much human drama, and none of it seemed at all important, and there was nowhere near enough development on offer to care one bit about them.
So what do we have then? Godzilla Vs Kong is definitely a shallow monster movie, but it's a hell of a lot of fun when it wants to be, with a fantastic music score (the reworked Godzilla theme slaps) and some truly stunning digital effects. The neon aesthetic in the Hong Kong scenes looks great, and the titular monsters look as good as ever. Better than KOTM, not as good as Skull Island, but still worth checking out for anyone who likes this particular sub genre.
On a final note - can't wait to see this properly when cinemas re-open!
Lindsay (1727 KP) rated Blood of the Dragonfly (The Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series) in Books
Apr 10, 2021
Blood of the dragonfly is book five of this series. It continues the series of crime-fighting and solving murders now in the backyard of to ex seals. If you are into mysteries and murder, this series is a good one for you.
Though I would suggest that you be wary that there are death scenes and some nasty words for some readers. This book is for adults, and I recommend maybe ages 16 to 17 years old and up. However, that is up to the parents and their choice to read this book or series. This series has different ratings for content for each book.
There seem to be quite a few twists and turns throughout the book. It all starts when Craige decides to help his buddy MacGerald get home from PDK airport. It seems to start up with a mysterious shadow that he thinks he spots. Someone somehow comes alive after being dead?
You will go for a ride and hit some bumps along the way. It starts heating up when Spinner decides to come for a visit at Moccasin Hollow. Will they find out who started the fire? Who is this mystery woman that shows up out of nowhere? Who messed with MacGerarald's investigation? Who wants them all dead? What does the dragonfly have to do with it at all?
Suppose you are into thrillers and suspense and mystery. This book and series is a good one to pick up and read. I have rated this book 4.5 stars (Moons). It seems to have puzzles and clues to have you guessing until the end. What did I know more about how Corpsewood Manor was the target or a little more detail about what was going on to set fire to Corpsewood?
Though I would suggest that you be wary that there are death scenes and some nasty words for some readers. This book is for adults, and I recommend maybe ages 16 to 17 years old and up. However, that is up to the parents and their choice to read this book or series. This series has different ratings for content for each book.
There seem to be quite a few twists and turns throughout the book. It all starts when Craige decides to help his buddy MacGerald get home from PDK airport. It seems to start up with a mysterious shadow that he thinks he spots. Someone somehow comes alive after being dead?
You will go for a ride and hit some bumps along the way. It starts heating up when Spinner decides to come for a visit at Moccasin Hollow. Will they find out who started the fire? Who is this mystery woman that shows up out of nowhere? Who messed with MacGerarald's investigation? Who wants them all dead? What does the dragonfly have to do with it at all?
Suppose you are into thrillers and suspense and mystery. This book and series is a good one to pick up and read. I have rated this book 4.5 stars (Moons). It seems to have puzzles and clues to have you guessing until the end. What did I know more about how Corpsewood Manor was the target or a little more detail about what was going on to set fire to Corpsewood?