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ClareR (5885 KP) rated The Chateau in Books

Oct 19, 2021  
The Chateau
The Chateau
Catherine Cooper | 2021 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Nick and Aura have moved from the UK to France, to escape from some mystery event that has happened in their past. And quite honestly, the Chateau they buy is like something out of The Money Pit (I’m showing my age here!). I should start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this, BEFORE I say that the crumbling chateau was a pretty accurate metaphor for the state of their relationship. ANd try as I might, I found myself rooting for their sticky end, in whatever way it would come (I do so love to hate the main characters of a book!!). Nick and Aura are those stereotypical Brits who move to a foreign country without speaking the language, and never really learn how to speak it when they’re there - not that they’re given much of a chance.

Their small ex-pat community is full of the rich, spoilt and slightly/ very depraved.

Information about Nick and Aura is dished out in flashbacks, and I didn’t know who to feel the most sorry for. Oh hang on, I did. It was the children. To have parents like these *shakes head*.

There are so many twists and turns that you won’t know who to trust - right up to the Big Ending, and oh! How I loved it!

I think in the end, everyone got just what they deserved.

Highly recommended!
And many thanks (once again)to The Pigeonhole for continuing to help me with my NetGalley reading!
  
TN
The Night Rainbow
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
51 of 230
Book
The Night Rainbow
By Claire King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It is summer in the south of France, and Pea and her little sister Margot spend their days running free, inventing games in the meadow behind their house. But Pea has worries beyond her five and a half years. Her father has died in an accident, and her mother has just lost a baby. Maman is English, already isolated in this small, foreign village, and in her compounded grief, she has retreated even further. Pea and Margot stay out of her way and try to make things better, but they can't make Maman happy again.

When Pea befriends Claude, a man who seems to love the meadow as she does, she wonders if he could be a new papa. But why do the other villagers view Claude with suspicion, and what secrets does his large empty house hold?


This is absolutely beautiful! Not a book I’d normally pick out myself I received it in a monthly subscription box I have and it was so heartfelt and such a beautiful story. Beautifully written! A quick read but packed with emotion. Really makes you feel like you are there with this beautiful little girl. You get to go on this journey in the mind of a 5 and a half years old as she works her way through grief and friendships. Highly recommend!
  
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AT (1676 KP) rated Vigilance in Books

Jul 22, 2019  
Vigilance
Vigilance
Robert Jackson Bennett | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
4
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I tried. I really did. It sounded like a story that I was going to like, plus, it's a very short novel. Vigilance is about a reality TV show that puts active shooters in randomly selected places while the violence and drama plays out on national TV. The premise being that America should constantly stay vigilant against foreign and domestic threats of any kind. However, for a 190 page book, the actual TV show hadn't even been set up with a chosen shooter "cast" yet by the 50th or so page. Up until that point, it was just the executive producer, preparing to launch the episode in one way or another. At some point, he is supposed to get wound up in the action, or at least some sort of trouble, according to the blurb on the back of the book. However, at that point, the rest of the book gives little to no time to make for a good, descriptive story, so I can't imagine that it could blow my mind by the end. Most of what I've read is part satire, part almost lecture about gun-control and how owning doesn't equal trained to use properly, disguised as some of the characters' backstories. I truly looked forward to reading this book, but have decided to quit. There are way too many books out there to be read to spend time on a bad one. I think the premise was good, and the story had the potential of being really interesting. This one, however, just seems to have missed its mark. Pass.
  
The Oxford Murders (2010)
The Oxford Murders (2010)
2010 | International, Drama, Horror
4
4.8 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
From the first couple of scenes you’d half expect to see Inspector Morse and Lewis step out from behind one of the great pillars that surround Oxford University – sadly that is not going to be the case here. The story itself could have been taken right out of an Agatha Christie novel but the subsequent plot gets mixed up like the mathematical equation it is trying to lay out.

John Hurt plays Arthur Seldom a university professor whose life revolves around mathematical equations and whether or not we can prove truth and probability. Martin (Elijah Wood) is a graduate over from America looking at using Seldom to help him with his thesis.

The pair get mixed up in an altogether different set of circumstances when they must work together to solve a series of murders based around mathematical symbols. The Oxford Murders falls some way short of delivering on any tension or drama, which is a real shame. The script is over complicated and there is no real time to develop the characters before we are thrown head first into the first murder.

All in all it seemed rushed together. More strangely was the choice of director; Spanish born Álex de la Iglesia who also wrote the screenplay. A background largely based around foreign film I find it odd that he should have any idea about the true reflections of historic Oxford. Maybe that is where amongst other things The Oxford Murders falls down. In the hands of a more traditional English director we may have had a better outcome.