Search

Search only in certain items:

    8-Bit Farm

    8-Bit Farm

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Farm management simulation game! Create the most awesome farm! This humble little farm desperately...

One For Sorrow (DI Callanach #7)
One For Sorrow (DI Callanach #7)
Helen Fields | 2022 | Crime, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is an absolute cracker of a book; totally absorbing, riveting and a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

This is the first one in the series I have read ... I know, I know, where have I been? However, I do feel this can be read quite successfully as a standalone even though I know there is quite a lot of back story that I have missed. This didn't affect my enjoyment of this book one little bit though so don't let it put you off; if anything, it has forced me to put the previous 6 on my wish list it's just a shame my birthday has been an gone ... do you think I can ask for them as a Mother's Day gift foregoing the usual card, flowers and chocolates? I would say so 😀

From start to finish, I literally couldn't put it down ... yes I know this is a bit cliché and is said far too often but in this instance, it is a totally accurate statement. With excellent and believable characters, a fast pace and a tense and thrilling plot that had me guessing to the end, this is definitely going to be one of my books of 2022.

This has got everything you could want from a crime thriller from beginning to end and on that, the ending ... I actually gasped out loud and frantically swiping at my Kindle screen wanting to find out what happens next only to realise that there was no more which has left me waiting very impatiently!

Bravo Helen Fields, bravo ... just wow!

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
  
Gift of Tulips
Gift of Tulips
2021 | Card Game
Admittedly, I have never attended a tulip festival. Nor a Renaissance faire. Nor many other festivals that are niche and awesome. I would love to attend one in the future, but I cannot see myself traveling all the way to Amsterdam for the great Tulip Festival. Luckily, I no longer need to, as Gift of Tulips has arrived to my doorstep! But someone please invite me to a Ren Faire when we are able to commune once again.

Gift of Tulips is a game of choices. In it players are attendees at the festival attempting to gather the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for themselves as well as gifting some to friends. The winner of the game is the player who can best decide which tulips should be kept, which should be gifted, and which should be donated to the secret festival.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T


To setup refer to the rulebook to adjust the deck of tulip cards per number of players. Shuffle this deck and place aside for now. Each player receives a scoring card, reference card, favorite color player cube, and two tulip cards from the deck. Per number of players set the appropriate Festival Cards on the table from 1st Place through 4th Place. Draw two cards from the deck and place the highest-numbered card under the 1st Place Festival Card and the lower valued tulip card under 2nd Place. Each player then looks at their dealt cards and decides which they would like to keep to start their personal bouquet and which they wish to donate face-down to the secret festival stack. The game is now ready to begin!
On a turn the active player will draw one card from the deck and then perform one action. Next they will draw a second card and perform a different action (not the same action as the first). The available actions are keeping a tulip for the bouquet, gifting the tulip to a friend, or adding a card to either the festival or the secret festival stack.

Keeping a tulip for the player’s bouquet is simply that: place the card face-up in front of the player and score immediate points depending on the tulip type’s position in the festival. This is also important when scoring for gifting. As tulips are added to their types in the festival, their placement in the festival can change. So while a purple tulip, for example, begins the game as the highest numbered tulip in the 1st position, another tulip type, orange maybe, may possibly overtake the 1st position cards by having a larger total value in tulips. When this happens, the newly-increased-in-rank tulip stack pushes the next highest into the lower position. Each position’s festival card will contain icons that award points for when that type of tulip is kept, given, and when majority of cards is owned at endgame.

Similarly, when a player opts to gift a tulip for an action, they simply choose an opponent (well, friend) and give them the card. By referencing the tulip type’s current position in the festival the player may score immediate points.

Lastly the player may choose to donate their tulip to the festival (face-up under the Festival Cards or face-down into the secret festival stack). By donating to the festival proper they will add the card to the appropriate type stack and adjust the total value and position within the festival. Should the player wish to add the card to the secret festival stack, they simply add it face-down.


Once all cards have been drawn and played from the deck the game is over and final scoring may begin. Firstly the secret festival cards are to be shuffled and five from this deck will be added to the festival proper to fine-tune some value adjustments (so that is why players may want to add to the secret festival during play). Once the five cards have been added players will address each tulip type by placement in the festival. The tulip type under the 1st Place card will score majority points to the player with the majority of that type of card (not value, but number of flowers). Similarly, the player with the second most of that type will score the second majority and so on through 4th Place. The player with the most points at the end of the game has won and will now owe the other players a bouquet of real flowers. Well, maybe not that last part.
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game so components may be different as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, this is a bunch of cards and some token markers (cubes in the prototype). The cards all feature incredible botanical artwork that is simply beautiful to behold. The card backs and Festival Cards all feature a lovely delftware pattern from the Netherlands. The artwork on this game is amazing and really colorful, like so many from Weird Giraffe Games.

But do I enjoy the gameplay? Absolutely. It reminds my wife and me of a great little game called Biblios where players are choosing where to allocate cards, and are not allowed to simply gobble them for themselves. Being able to adjust the market, if you will, is also a mechanic that I truly enjoy. A static market is fine, but those kinds of games are a little easier to abuse. Constantly shifting markets is where it’s at.

Being able to gift your opponents higher cards for those immediate points is new and clever, but you have to always be keeping track of the number of cards given per type. Obviously shuffling all your blue tulips to the same person may result in that person holding majority at endgame. But then again, there are ways to adjust the market to counter that. It is just so fun to think about and play.

I also am in love with the art. I mentioned this in my components review but I simply love the way this game looks. Art and theme go a long way with me, and this one certainly has both in spades.

So if you are a fan of beautiful games with a quick teach and light to medium gameplay, I urge you to check this out. The art and theme are strong, the gameplay is super solid and fun, and you feel great donating so many lovely flowers at the end of the game. If you are looking for that gorgeous game to complete your collection, or you need a game to fill that empty Netherlands slot in your collection, please consider backing Gift of Tulips. When you have a game that uses both orange and purple as main colors you KNOW it’s going to be great!
  
40x40

Ross (3284 KP) rated Dogs of War in Books

Sep 19, 2017  
Dogs of War
Dogs of War
Adrian Tchaikovsky | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this novel from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
This near-future science fiction story surrounds the use of genetically modified, cyborg animals in security and warfare and the humane concerns around that.
Having read the author's fantasy series, Shadows of the Apt, I was already familiar with Tchaikovsky's style, and his liking for warfare and technology (that series including the development of a number of new technologies which are eventually used as weapons).
What I was not quite prepared for was how he would write if in the PoV of a cyborg dog (how can you prepare yourself for that?!). This took a little getting used to, but not too much (a little like Flowers for Algernon, the language starts off simplistic but develops). Rex's vocabulary is like that of a small child, but one that has learned certain military phrases. Rex just wants his master to acknowledge him with a "good dog" now and then.
The story develops through a government-backed incursion into rebel-held Mexico, then into the courtroom and beyond into the brave new world for suddenly free man-made creatures.
There are a number of topical issues dealt with here, using not-people to do unpleasant jobs, the burden of responsibility in warfare and also the dangers of cyber-linked machines/people.
I really enjoyed the book and how the different PoVs come across and also how the setting and the message keeps changing throughout so there are different concerns to be dealt with or discussed (without being preachy!).
I also enjoyed Tchaikovsky's descriptions of conflict and battle scenes: giving enough of a picture of the whole battle while focussing on key moments and events.
Overall, something of a departure from my usual book, but very much enjoyable. This wouldn't have looked out of place with Richard Bachman's name on it.
  
The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain
The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain
Christopher Somerville | 2017 | Natural World
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A charming and thoughtful book about life, family, nature and the joy of walking (0 more)
Nothing (0 more)
The Long and Winding Road
The relationship between fathers and sons is contested ground. An emotional boxing match with incomprehension at golden opportunities wasted in one corner, and frustration at being held to impossible standards in the other.

The sometimes awkward, but always close, relationship between journalist Christopher Somerville and his war hero father is at the heart of this hugely engaging mix of memoir and nature writing. Their shared love of walking was the bond that united two very different characters in a story that unfolds against a backdrop of profound social change.

The quiet stoicism that saw a generation of men through the war giving way to rebellion born of affluence, then morphing into the busy atomisation of twenty first century life. This could make for a maudlin exercise in chin stroking, but is saved from it by Somerville’s good humour and inherent optimism.

Added to this is a deep love of nature and the English countryside and the people who have painted, written about or made their living from it over the centuries. Somerville is able to translate this into nature writing that carries the message that we should value what we’ve got without being either sentimental or didactic.

As a memoirist, he has an eye for the eccentricities of family life and a welcome sense of empathy with the experience of his parent’s generation and how it shaped their outlook. Being reserved is not the same thing as being distant, love strong enough to last a lifetime doesn’t need to announce itself with flowers and candy hearts; it manifests in the little acts that make up a life.

This is also a resolutely practical book, something Somerville senior would have approved of, with several associated walks that can be downloaded. Even if the journey from the bookcase to your easy chair is the closest you get to hiking, it is still worth reading.
  
The Frightened Little Flower Bud
The Frightened Little Flower Bud
Renée Paule | 2018 | Children
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
View full review here: diaryofdifference.com/2018/06/11/the-frightened-little-flower-bud-renee-paule-g-r-hewitt-book-review/

I don’t usually read Children’s Books. I used to love them when I was a kid, and of course, those were the books on which I learned how to read. Those are the stories that I will always remember, with happiness in my heart and they will always have a special place in my heart.

<img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505213611l/36226869.jpg"/>;

I was lucky enough to win The Frightened Little Flower Bud on a giveaway from Booklikes, and I couldn’t be happier! This is a short, cute story about one flower, and the process of how it blooms.

Before it blooms, it has many fears as to what is going to happen, it fears that the sun will dry it, and the rain will drown it, and that it won’t be as beautiful as the other flowers out there.

It reminds me of the fears that us people have every day before we go out of the door. We fear this and that, without realising to enjoy our lives, and live them like they are our last. A perfect description of how fear and doubt can let us down, but also a perfect example of what happens when you actually get the courage and go out there, and realise that yes - you can be the prettiest flower out there.

I liked how there are questions at the end of the books, to engage the little readers after reading it. However, in all honesty, I believe that the images inside the books won’t keep a kid there for very long, and they might not be the most exiting this in the world.

<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="http://innahcrazy.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>; |
  
The Wilderness (Lavender Shores #8)
The Wilderness (Lavender Shores #8)
Rosalind Abel | 2018 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
the weakest one, for me
(Verified purchase, Sept 12 2018)

This is book 8 in the Lavender Shores series, and you don't NEED to have read the others before this one. I would, however, probably recommend that you read book 6, The Glasshouse. You'll get a better picture of what Will suffered, and it gives a hint to this book!

Will was left at the altar in font of a multi million viewing audience. Andre's wife passed away. Together, they get themselves through a really tough period. But it's not until Will decides to run clear across the world, does Andre realise what Will means to him, and just how much his heart would break, if he lost him.

For me? The weakest of the series, and I've no idea why! And you KNOW how much that pains me!!

I loved the other books, all 4 and 5 stars reads, and I really was looking forward to this one, especially after that hint in book 6, and I really don't know why in falls flat *insert wailing*

It's well told, from both Will and Andre's point of view, in the first person, just like the rest. It's extremely well written and well delivered and I saw no spelling or editing errors to spoil my reading. And I DID read it in one sitting, just like the rest!

It has very early (internal) professions of love, from both guys, and I don't usually like that but its quite some time before they SAY the words. It's a bit more . . . whats the word . . . lovey dovey . . . hearts and flowers . . . . .type of thing, than the rest, or at least I thought so? Maybe that's it?? **insert more wailing**

I just don't know WHY this one didn't hit the spot, and for that I'm sorry. But still a nice read and a good addition to the series.

3 good solid stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
The Perfect Husband
The Perfect Husband
Buffy Andrews | 2018 | Contemporary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Plenty of romance (2 more)
Well written
Very dark and pyschologically suspenseful
Fantastic And Addictive!
When Shelly's marriage ends in divorce, she's left completely devastated and feeling like she's never going to find love again. Then she meets Eric after joining an online dating agency, and he's handsome, caring, and everything she has ever wanted. From romantic dates to expensive gifts, it's as if she's in a dream.

But just when Shelly thinks she's finally found her perfect match, she begins to realize that all is not as it seems. As the cracks start to develop, perhaps Eric isn't everything she thought he was. Will her dream become a nightmare?

Shelly is very much in love and is blissfully unaware of and ignores all the warning signs that Eric is unwittingly giving out.

"He was making me feel things I'd never felt before. And there, at that moment, blanketed by his warm kisses and tender love, I felt like I was in heaven and I knew I would never be the same."

Her best friend, Jackie and her work colleagues are also equally charmed by him.

"He's incredible, .....I can certainly see why you're falling in love with him. He's so generous......."

Then the warning triggers come, that all is not right with Eric.

"You should download a GPS tracker app on your cell phone so I can keep tabs on you."

"You're joking, right?"

"Not really........"

After Shelly and Eric marry, outgoing, attractive, confident Shelly is frequently accused of flirtatious behaviour with other men and is forced into sex acts and acting out her husband's fantasies. She becomes a shadow of herself, whilst keeping up the pretence of a perfect marriage.

This novel is a fantastic and addictive read and I was very impressed with the author's writing style. Although there is plenty of romance, it is also a very dark, psychologically suspenseful novel and certainly not all hearts and flowers.