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Pieces of Eight (Lost Souls' Treasure #1)
6.0
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From the author who whisked you away on a wild escapade in the Key West Escape series comes a sexy,...
Adult Adventure Romance
MY LITTLE PONY: MAGIC PRINCESS
Games and Entertainment
App
Saddle up for adventure with Twilight Sparkle & friends! After being locked away in the moon for...
Words to Emojis - Trivia Quiz
Games and Social Networking
10.0
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App
One of the most thrilling & challenging emoji games of the year. See the word, words or sentence and...
Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus
5.0
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This long-awaited memoir from one of Britain's best-loved celebrities - a writer, broadcaster,...
The Unbreakables: A Novel
Book
A delicious, sharp novel about a woman who jets off to France after her perfect marriage collapses,...
Fiction Contemporary
Cemetery Road
Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy returns with an electrifying...
Merissa (13169 KP) rated Complicated (Secrets and Lies #2) in Books
Apr 14, 2023
As with book 1, Conflicted, the title of this book is absolutely spot on. It IS complicated, with more secrets, lies, twists and turns than you can shake a stick at. I appear to be having a love/hate relationship with these books because there are quite a few moments when I actually dislike what I'm reading but then it can all swing around at the drop of a hat. For myself, the majority of this book is a 3-star read. It's good, just not anything to shake your pom-poms about. But then, the last 10% of the book happened and wow, it was excellent! It blew me out of the water and I had tears, heart pounding and pulse racing issues whilst I read. It was definitely this portion of the book that upped it to a 4-star read for me.
Okay, so a bit about the characters now. Mia - I still can't get to grips with her. I don't particularly like hearing about her which makes the whole thing a bit difficult when it's written the way it is. Ethan - I actually liked him in the first book but I find myself not wanting them to be together more and more. Ethan spends most of this book making Mia feel guilty over lying to him when he is the one doing the same thing and more. You should not have to walk on eggshells around someone you love or be afraid to ask questions. Their relationship isn't healthy and I keep hoping that Mia will end up with Jackson, the playboy, who has an honest friendship with Mia that could turn into something else given the chance. Bri and Trey have their own hurdles to cross in this book but they tend to take the backseat to everything else.
A difficult book to read or review but I can still recommend it. It is certainly controversial enough to make it stand out from the crowd - you can decide if that's a good thing or not for yourself.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 28, 2015
Okay, so a bit about the characters now. Mia - I still can't get to grips with her. I don't particularly like hearing about her which makes the whole thing a bit difficult when it's written the way it is. Ethan - I actually liked him in the first book but I find myself not wanting them to be together more and more. Ethan spends most of this book making Mia feel guilty over lying to him when he is the one doing the same thing and more. You should not have to walk on eggshells around someone you love or be afraid to ask questions. Their relationship isn't healthy and I keep hoping that Mia will end up with Jackson, the playboy, who has an honest friendship with Mia that could turn into something else given the chance. Bri and Trey have their own hurdles to cross in this book but they tend to take the backseat to everything else.
A difficult book to read or review but I can still recommend it. It is certainly controversial enough to make it stand out from the crowd - you can decide if that's a good thing or not for yourself.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 28, 2015
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Nightmare Alley (2021) in Movies
Dec 2, 2021
Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper); is a man trying to get by in late 1930s America in the new film “Nightmare Alley”. Our first introduction to Stanton is less than flattering and he soon finds himself employed at a Carnival after coming upon it by chance.
The eager Stanton is given advice and tools of the trade by his boss Clem (Willem Dafoe) as well as the mystic Zeena (Toni Collette) and Stanton eagerly wants to get ahead. While striking a friendship with fellow employee Molly (Rooney Mara); Stanton learns that Zeena’s older and alcoholic husband has a skill from a former act where he learns to read people and use verbal cues to appear to have the power of clairvoyance.
Eventually, Stanton seeks bigger opportunities and leaves with Molly for the city where they in time develop a successful act that offers them two shows a night at a fancy hotel and some of the finer things in life.
Unwilling to be content with what he has; Stanton becomes involved with a Psychologist named Lilith (Cate Blanchett) and uses her knowledge to set up higher-profile marks who will pay well for his supposed abilities and in doing so; sets a dangerous chain of events into motion.
The film is based on the 1946 book of the same name and an earlier 1947 film, and while it does an amazing job with the visuals and moody atmosphere of the era; it is a very long and slowly-paced film. The movie is over 2.5 hours long and comes across as overly long and self-indulgent as Director Guillermo del Toro could easily have shaved 30-45 minutes from the film and told the story without losing much.
The cast and performances are very good but a slow-paced and dour film is not an ideal way to spend 2.5 hours at the movies no matter how much it has going for it. The movie does have some good points but I think it will do much better on streaming and home video where audiences can pause and take a break.
If you are a fan of the Noir style of old; then this may be just what you are looking for, but I think it should have been so much more.
3.5 stars out of 5
The eager Stanton is given advice and tools of the trade by his boss Clem (Willem Dafoe) as well as the mystic Zeena (Toni Collette) and Stanton eagerly wants to get ahead. While striking a friendship with fellow employee Molly (Rooney Mara); Stanton learns that Zeena’s older and alcoholic husband has a skill from a former act where he learns to read people and use verbal cues to appear to have the power of clairvoyance.
Eventually, Stanton seeks bigger opportunities and leaves with Molly for the city where they in time develop a successful act that offers them two shows a night at a fancy hotel and some of the finer things in life.
Unwilling to be content with what he has; Stanton becomes involved with a Psychologist named Lilith (Cate Blanchett) and uses her knowledge to set up higher-profile marks who will pay well for his supposed abilities and in doing so; sets a dangerous chain of events into motion.
The film is based on the 1946 book of the same name and an earlier 1947 film, and while it does an amazing job with the visuals and moody atmosphere of the era; it is a very long and slowly-paced film. The movie is over 2.5 hours long and comes across as overly long and self-indulgent as Director Guillermo del Toro could easily have shaved 30-45 minutes from the film and told the story without losing much.
The cast and performances are very good but a slow-paced and dour film is not an ideal way to spend 2.5 hours at the movies no matter how much it has going for it. The movie does have some good points but I think it will do much better on streaming and home video where audiences can pause and take a break.
If you are a fan of the Noir style of old; then this may be just what you are looking for, but I think it should have been so much more.
3.5 stars out of 5
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated Between The Lines in Books
Jul 28, 2022
I received a free copy of this book via The History Quill Book Club. An interesting book and one that I don’t think I’ve read anything similar to before. The similarities and terminology used was very much book based which was interesting.
We follow Fiona Thorne who is what is known as a Turner (she can move between different worlds, by turning a page in the Book) and an investigator. We start with her tracking a lead for a smuggler who has been smuggling different creatures out of pages and keeping them somewhere. She follows him home, and as she had already tipped of a friend who works for The Guild (Turners who keep things in some kind of order) she makes sure that she is around the action when they arrest the smuggler.
She comes across a fire elemental who she frees from a jar, and after the arrest of the smuggler, she offers to take the fire elemental and the other smuggler fire creatures back to their home page. Once there, the fire elemental asks if it can stay with Fiona and goes home with her. Fiona names it Soots and from there a friendship forms, which unfolds nicely throughout the book. Fiona also makes friends with other creatures that she comes across, and as someone who normally works alone and doesn’t tend to have many friends, this is growth for her and it shows.
I loved reading this book, it was the perfect amount of fantasy mixed with mystery as Fiona tries to solve the case that she has been given. I did have a bit of an inkling about the end, but I did still second guess myself until the very moment that it happened.
The only thing that did baffle me sometimes was a bit of the terminology and trying to remember what was meant by certain terms around how Fiona moved through the pages, maybe some kind of reference would have been useful to have.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already signed up to the newsletter to gain access to the novella in order to find out what happened to Fiona before this novel started! I hope that there are more books in this series as I would love to find out what the Druid means at the end of the book!
We follow Fiona Thorne who is what is known as a Turner (she can move between different worlds, by turning a page in the Book) and an investigator. We start with her tracking a lead for a smuggler who has been smuggling different creatures out of pages and keeping them somewhere. She follows him home, and as she had already tipped of a friend who works for The Guild (Turners who keep things in some kind of order) she makes sure that she is around the action when they arrest the smuggler.
She comes across a fire elemental who she frees from a jar, and after the arrest of the smuggler, she offers to take the fire elemental and the other smuggler fire creatures back to their home page. Once there, the fire elemental asks if it can stay with Fiona and goes home with her. Fiona names it Soots and from there a friendship forms, which unfolds nicely throughout the book. Fiona also makes friends with other creatures that she comes across, and as someone who normally works alone and doesn’t tend to have many friends, this is growth for her and it shows.
I loved reading this book, it was the perfect amount of fantasy mixed with mystery as Fiona tries to solve the case that she has been given. I did have a bit of an inkling about the end, but I did still second guess myself until the very moment that it happened.
The only thing that did baffle me sometimes was a bit of the terminology and trying to remember what was meant by certain terms around how Fiona moved through the pages, maybe some kind of reference would have been useful to have.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already signed up to the newsletter to gain access to the novella in order to find out what happened to Fiona before this novel started! I hope that there are more books in this series as I would love to find out what the Druid means at the end of the book!
RavenclawPrincess913 (253 KP) rated Star Splitter in Books
Jul 14, 2023
Star Splitter by Matthew J Kirby was one of my favorite books I have read this year. My favorite character in this book would be Duncan, the ships captains sixteen year old son. I like the character due to him being a great friend with an amazing personality. I also love how him and the main character Jessica formed a friendship and how protective he was over her. My favorite part of the book was when they were together. I really loved the part when he saved her. I also loved all the other parts with them together which made the book interesting. This book was very well written kept me interested, and I loved the plot. I honestly had a hard time putting the book down. The author should write more books like this one.
Even though I loved this book and gave it a five out of five stars, the ending made me mad. I just don't like how it ended. It leaves many questions unanswered. Also, the back and forth between Jessica one and Jessica two got me very confused at times. One scene I disliked was when the two crew members talked about Jessica and her family behind her back. Also, the scene where her father killed the ships doctor was scary to me. Her dad's transfer was corrupted, which made him very violent. Another part I didn't like was the fact that Jessica's mother is the reason the ship was destroyed since she didn't leave Jessica's violent Dad locked up like she was supposed to. In my opinion, Jessica and her mother should have just left the ship alone and left her corrupted father behind. Jessica's relationship with her parents was bad from the start, but I imagine this made it even worse. Duncan also had a bad relationship with his dad, so I'm pretty sure them having that in common helped their relationship grow. In conclusion, I can definitely see myself rereading this book. If you love young adult science fiction with teleportation to another planet, you would love this book too.
Star Splitter was my favorite book read this year, so here's some fun facts about the book. Jessica refers to Carver 1061c as Hades, which I found hilarious and very fitting after everything that happened. Jessica's Mom was a geologist, and her dad a biological studying Hades surface. The rest you will just have to read to find out.
Even though I loved this book and gave it a five out of five stars, the ending made me mad. I just don't like how it ended. It leaves many questions unanswered. Also, the back and forth between Jessica one and Jessica two got me very confused at times. One scene I disliked was when the two crew members talked about Jessica and her family behind her back. Also, the scene where her father killed the ships doctor was scary to me. Her dad's transfer was corrupted, which made him very violent. Another part I didn't like was the fact that Jessica's mother is the reason the ship was destroyed since she didn't leave Jessica's violent Dad locked up like she was supposed to. In my opinion, Jessica and her mother should have just left the ship alone and left her corrupted father behind. Jessica's relationship with her parents was bad from the start, but I imagine this made it even worse. Duncan also had a bad relationship with his dad, so I'm pretty sure them having that in common helped their relationship grow. In conclusion, I can definitely see myself rereading this book. If you love young adult science fiction with teleportation to another planet, you would love this book too.
Star Splitter was my favorite book read this year, so here's some fun facts about the book. Jessica refers to Carver 1061c as Hades, which I found hilarious and very fitting after everything that happened. Jessica's Mom was a geologist, and her dad a biological studying Hades surface. The rest you will just have to read to find out.