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Here in Berlin: A Novel
Book
Long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence A New York Times Book Review Editor's...
Queer Saint: The Cultured Life of Peter Watson
Adrian Clark and Jeremy Dronfield
Book
When Peter Watson was murdered in his bath by a jealous boyfriend in 1956, the art world lost one of...
An Amish Christmas Love: Four Novellas
Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kelly Irvin
10.0
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Book
Winter Kisses by Beth Wiseman Three generations of Stoltzfus women are all living under the same...
Journey into the Past
Anthea Bell, Stefan Zweig and David Pearson
Book
Stefan's Zweig's posthumously-published Journey into the Past (Widerstand der Wirklichkeit) is a...
Low Morrison grows up on an isolated island, known for its free-loving ways. Her parents take this to the next level, living a polyamorous life that leaves Low embarrassed, ashamed, and a social outcast. When she spots the beautiful Freya at her school, she's enthralled. She sees Freya hanging up signs for a pottery class and knows she must join. She's Freya's only student and quickly becomes besotted with her teacher. Freya has no problem sharing all of her secrets and desires with her young apprentice. That's until Freya meets Jamie, who owns a local shop in town. The two become quick friends, leaving Low feeling left out and an outcast once again. One night Freya and her husband Max invite Jamie and her husband Brian over for dinner; they have no idea a jealous Low is lurking in the shadows. The foursome partake in drugs and a crazy night occurs, changing their lives forever. It also gives Low a chance to hold something over their heads.
This was a slightly insane and improbable thriller that I sped through in an entire day. It was fast-paced and nearly impossible to put down, as you just knew the characters were hurtling toward disaster. It's filled with a variety of fairly unsympathetic characters, though I felt for Low, unwanted in her own busy family and toyed with by Freya, who cares only for herself.
"I'd had to share all my life. I was done with it."
The story is told from Low's perspective, along with Brian, Jamie, and Max. We never hear directly from Freya, whom all of these characters seem to hold on a pedestal. Why exactly, we can never be sure, as she seems self-centered and cruel, playing with and torturing each of them to get exactly what she wants.
I found this to be a spellbinding read--it pulls you in as only Harding can do. Low's obsession, Freya's narcissism, Jamie's naivete. We can sense it all combining into something propulsive and horrible.
Overall, while I didn't love this one quite as much as The Arrangement, Harding's previous novel, I still enjoyed it. It's a fast-paced and creepy read, plus it's different and fun. 4 stars.
This was a slightly insane and improbable thriller that I sped through in an entire day. It was fast-paced and nearly impossible to put down, as you just knew the characters were hurtling toward disaster. It's filled with a variety of fairly unsympathetic characters, though I felt for Low, unwanted in her own busy family and toyed with by Freya, who cares only for herself.
"I'd had to share all my life. I was done with it."
The story is told from Low's perspective, along with Brian, Jamie, and Max. We never hear directly from Freya, whom all of these characters seem to hold on a pedestal. Why exactly, we can never be sure, as she seems self-centered and cruel, playing with and torturing each of them to get exactly what she wants.
I found this to be a spellbinding read--it pulls you in as only Harding can do. Low's obsession, Freya's narcissism, Jamie's naivete. We can sense it all combining into something propulsive and horrible.
Overall, while I didn't love this one quite as much as The Arrangement, Harding's previous novel, I still enjoyed it. It's a fast-paced and creepy read, plus it's different and fun. 4 stars.
Capability Brown and the Eighteenth-Century English Landscape
Book
WHO WAS 'THE FAMOUS MR. BROWN', and why are his parks still so important? Today he is credited with...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated More than Meets the Ink (The Bowen Boys #1) in Books
Jan 6, 2021
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com
A Romance Reader's Reviews
2.5 stars
This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited library and has been on my "want-to-read-don't-own" shelf on Goodreads for quite a while
This starts with Tate crawling across the garden with her mother as they try to spy on their neighbour, who Tate's mum believes has taken her cat, Amy. They are interrupted by tattooed pretty boy, James, who happens to be their neighbours son. Instant attraction leads to flirting. Flirting leads to lots of hot almost-sex, almost because they keep being interrupted by the residents of the older peoples housing facility where they're visiting their respective parents. They finally do the deed before they both have to head home, only they now know they live in the same city. And of course they end up meeting again.
Before I started this I thought it was more of a new adult type thing with it's older cover but the new one (above) has made it all a bit more mysterious. I wasn't sure what the story was going to be other than a romance so its detailed sex scenes threw me off a bit and after so many, I started skipping them entirely. The romance was already starting to bloom so I wasn't really missing anything.
There's also a secondary storyline involving Tate's family restaurant and someone trying to get her to close it with daily threatening emails and stuff going wrong in the restaurant. When James gets wind of what's been happening he insists on helping her deal with it.
I have to admit that I liked James, quite a lot to be honest. He was a little take-charge and bull headed at times but you could tell he did it because he cared. Tate was far too judgmental at the start and it took me quite a while to warm up to her. She seemed really argumentative at times and somewhat whiny.
I'll admit that towards the end I started skipping bits, starting to lose interest in it. I was mainly waiting for the show down with the bad guy.
Not as good as I wanted it to be.
A Romance Reader's Reviews
2.5 stars
This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited library and has been on my "want-to-read-don't-own" shelf on Goodreads for quite a while
This starts with Tate crawling across the garden with her mother as they try to spy on their neighbour, who Tate's mum believes has taken her cat, Amy. They are interrupted by tattooed pretty boy, James, who happens to be their neighbours son. Instant attraction leads to flirting. Flirting leads to lots of hot almost-sex, almost because they keep being interrupted by the residents of the older peoples housing facility where they're visiting their respective parents. They finally do the deed before they both have to head home, only they now know they live in the same city. And of course they end up meeting again.
Before I started this I thought it was more of a new adult type thing with it's older cover but the new one (above) has made it all a bit more mysterious. I wasn't sure what the story was going to be other than a romance so its detailed sex scenes threw me off a bit and after so many, I started skipping them entirely. The romance was already starting to bloom so I wasn't really missing anything.
There's also a secondary storyline involving Tate's family restaurant and someone trying to get her to close it with daily threatening emails and stuff going wrong in the restaurant. When James gets wind of what's been happening he insists on helping her deal with it.
I have to admit that I liked James, quite a lot to be honest. He was a little take-charge and bull headed at times but you could tell he did it because he cared. Tate was far too judgmental at the start and it took me quite a while to warm up to her. She seemed really argumentative at times and somewhat whiny.
I'll admit that towards the end I started skipping bits, starting to lose interest in it. I was mainly waiting for the show down with the bad guy.
Not as good as I wanted it to be.
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Before I Wake (2016) in Movies
Nov 20, 2020
After losing their son. A young couple, Mark and Jessie, decide to Foster a young boy named Cody. Cody had been to a few Foster homes but they all proved problematic, one family even disappeared, leaving Cody by himself.
When we meet Cody properly, he appears to be very well mannered and even takes his shoes off before entering the couples home.
The couple soon discover that Cody has a box of stimulants to keep him awake at night, which he says is to keep the canker man from eating him. The couple brush it off thinking it's a typical child's over-active imagination.
When Cody finally goes to sleep, strange things start to happen in the house. A load of butterflies appear in the living room and their son appears in the house, he doesn't speak but just stands there smiling and they are able to touch him, strangely he disappears when Cody wakes up. It doesn't take the couple long to work out that as Cody sleeps, he is able to make their son appear using videos and photos as references, essentially his dreams become reality. What they don't realise is the evil darkness that comes with it, and it isn't long before it starts attacking Cody whilst he's awake, due to him being sleep deprived. Eventually Jessie searches for ways to help him.
I put this movie off for so long as I didn't expect to like it. It turned out I actually really enjoyed it. It moved at a nice pace and I found it interesting right from the beginning which doesn't tend to happen in horror movies. Mind you I say horror movies but this is more of a fantasy drama with a small element of horror. The acting from everyone is spot on and the horror element of it good, it had a couple of jump scares but they're not over the top. Visuals are good for the most part, but I felt the butterflies looked really false.
I would definitely recommend this movie if you haven't seen it already.
When we meet Cody properly, he appears to be very well mannered and even takes his shoes off before entering the couples home.
The couple soon discover that Cody has a box of stimulants to keep him awake at night, which he says is to keep the canker man from eating him. The couple brush it off thinking it's a typical child's over-active imagination.
When Cody finally goes to sleep, strange things start to happen in the house. A load of butterflies appear in the living room and their son appears in the house, he doesn't speak but just stands there smiling and they are able to touch him, strangely he disappears when Cody wakes up. It doesn't take the couple long to work out that as Cody sleeps, he is able to make their son appear using videos and photos as references, essentially his dreams become reality. What they don't realise is the evil darkness that comes with it, and it isn't long before it starts attacking Cody whilst he's awake, due to him being sleep deprived. Eventually Jessie searches for ways to help him.
I put this movie off for so long as I didn't expect to like it. It turned out I actually really enjoyed it. It moved at a nice pace and I found it interesting right from the beginning which doesn't tend to happen in horror movies. Mind you I say horror movies but this is more of a fantasy drama with a small element of horror. The acting from everyone is spot on and the horror element of it good, it had a couple of jump scares but they're not over the top. Visuals are good for the most part, but I felt the butterflies looked really false.
I would definitely recommend this movie if you haven't seen it already.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021) in Movies
Jun 15, 2021
Full disclosure, I absolutely loved the first Peter Rabbit film. I found it completely hilarious and cackled numerous times. The sequel did not make me laugh.
I typically don’t watch straight-up kid movies anymore, because they’re not funny, and they are as annoying as the kids in the audience. This movie completely reminded me of that.
The film begins with the wedding of Bea and Thomas, the rabbits and other members of McGregor’s Garden are all present. The animals are mixed in with the humans, and it looked very odd. I can’t figure out why. Bea and Thomas enter married bliss (?), running a shop in town, and tending the garden. Bea’s first Peter Rabbit book has been published by Thomas himself. Bea receives an offer from a publisher, Nigel Basil-Jones, played by David Oyelowo, to have her book republished so it can reach a wider audience. Bea begins to compromise her integrity to please Nigel and make the rabbits hipper to boost sales. Meanwhile, Peter embraces his bad boy/ mischievous image and makes friends with this super creepy rabbit from the city, participating in food heists.
The two main plotlines really didn’t make sense together and seemed to only be related because they were both about family. Yawn.
James Corden, who I can tolerate most of the time, was so completely annoying. His performance killed any motivation I had to see a possible third movie. This movie was just dumb, but I guess it probably entertained children.
There were a few positives. Oyelowo was hilarious, and one of the best parts of the film. He is the only reason I’m giving this film two-stars His comedy skills are on point and his interactions with Domhnall Gleeson were the best source of adult laughs. I also loved the voice acting of Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail. Though, I was a little bummed that Daisy Ridley did not return as Cottontail.
The recent marketing stated, “In Theaters. Finally”. I’m not sure this film should have been released in theaters, they should have released it on VOD at Easter-time either in 2020, or 2021.
I typically don’t watch straight-up kid movies anymore, because they’re not funny, and they are as annoying as the kids in the audience. This movie completely reminded me of that.
The film begins with the wedding of Bea and Thomas, the rabbits and other members of McGregor’s Garden are all present. The animals are mixed in with the humans, and it looked very odd. I can’t figure out why. Bea and Thomas enter married bliss (?), running a shop in town, and tending the garden. Bea’s first Peter Rabbit book has been published by Thomas himself. Bea receives an offer from a publisher, Nigel Basil-Jones, played by David Oyelowo, to have her book republished so it can reach a wider audience. Bea begins to compromise her integrity to please Nigel and make the rabbits hipper to boost sales. Meanwhile, Peter embraces his bad boy/ mischievous image and makes friends with this super creepy rabbit from the city, participating in food heists.
The two main plotlines really didn’t make sense together and seemed to only be related because they were both about family. Yawn.
James Corden, who I can tolerate most of the time, was so completely annoying. His performance killed any motivation I had to see a possible third movie. This movie was just dumb, but I guess it probably entertained children.
There were a few positives. Oyelowo was hilarious, and one of the best parts of the film. He is the only reason I’m giving this film two-stars His comedy skills are on point and his interactions with Domhnall Gleeson were the best source of adult laughs. I also loved the voice acting of Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail. Though, I was a little bummed that Daisy Ridley did not return as Cottontail.
The recent marketing stated, “In Theaters. Finally”. I’m not sure this film should have been released in theaters, they should have released it on VOD at Easter-time either in 2020, or 2021.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Monster Hunter (2020) in Movies
Jun 25, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
First off I'll start by saying that I've never played any of the Monster Hunter games so I went into this with no real point of reference.
For the most part I found 'Monster Hunter' a pretty average film, the story has been done many times before, a group of solders find themselves in another reality and try to find there way back. Excepted (Spoolers) most of the solders are killed off near the beginning and there is no explanation as to why Artemis (Milla Jovovich) comes back to life (or if there is it's a blink and miss it explanation), I'm guessing that this is something explained more in the games.
There is no real investigation to how they got there they just see a storm by a strange tower and figure that a storm brought them there so that must be the way back.
This all leads to there being almost no story, there are hints to back story's, Artemis keeps looking at a wedding ring, the Hunter (Tony Jaa) preys to icons of his (assumed) family and the Admiral (Ron Perlman) states that people from Artemis' world (earth) had been there before. But that's it, apart from one or to other one liners that's all the back story we get.
The essence of 'Monster hunter' is that it's a journey, mostly Artemis and the Hunter going from the dessert to the tower, but a journey with monsters. The monsters are part of what pushes the film (just) above average, TOHO were involved in the production of the film and, for those of you who don't know, TOHO were the people behind the original, Japanese, Godzilla monster and they have continued do monsters eve since so you know that, when they are involved the monsters are going to be more than just cannon fodder.
The other thing that raises the film up are the action scenes, especially the fights between Artemis and the Hunter.
If you have nothing better to do then maybe give 'Monster Hunter' a watch, just don't expect a master peace, there is nothing wrong with the film but I feel that I've seen it all before in other films.
For the most part I found 'Monster Hunter' a pretty average film, the story has been done many times before, a group of solders find themselves in another reality and try to find there way back. Excepted (Spoolers) most of the solders are killed off near the beginning and there is no explanation as to why Artemis (Milla Jovovich) comes back to life (or if there is it's a blink and miss it explanation), I'm guessing that this is something explained more in the games.
There is no real investigation to how they got there they just see a storm by a strange tower and figure that a storm brought them there so that must be the way back.
This all leads to there being almost no story, there are hints to back story's, Artemis keeps looking at a wedding ring, the Hunter (Tony Jaa) preys to icons of his (assumed) family and the Admiral (Ron Perlman) states that people from Artemis' world (earth) had been there before. But that's it, apart from one or to other one liners that's all the back story we get.
The essence of 'Monster hunter' is that it's a journey, mostly Artemis and the Hunter going from the dessert to the tower, but a journey with monsters. The monsters are part of what pushes the film (just) above average, TOHO were involved in the production of the film and, for those of you who don't know, TOHO were the people behind the original, Japanese, Godzilla monster and they have continued do monsters eve since so you know that, when they are involved the monsters are going to be more than just cannon fodder.
The other thing that raises the film up are the action scenes, especially the fights between Artemis and the Hunter.
If you have nothing better to do then maybe give 'Monster Hunter' a watch, just don't expect a master peace, there is nothing wrong with the film but I feel that I've seen it all before in other films.