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Of Mates & Magic (Eliza Falls #1)
Of Mates & Magic (Eliza Falls #1)
Maggie Francis | 2022 | Paranormal, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
OF MATES & MAGIC is the first book in the Eliza Falls series and it gives you a quick insight into the small hallmark town.

Cora and Seb are the main characters who spend most of the book avoiding each other, but then seem to get together very quickly. I did like the build-up but then it was a steamy scene and boom! The book was over. Well, not quite, but the build-up definitely takes up the majority of the pages.

Some pieces of information seem as though they're going to play a part in the book but never come to fruition. I don't know if they will show up in later books that Seb and/or Tate are in.

The pacing is fast and so the world-building is a little rushed in places. That could be remedied in future stories though.

On the whole, this was a quick and enjoyable story that I can recommend. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the other books in this series.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
1972 | Horror, Thriller
To Avoid Fainting Keep Repeating...Its Only A Movie
The Last House on the Left- was wes's directoral debut and what a start. Its a disturbing, psychological, graphic, exploitation horror film.

The plot: Teenagers Mari (Sandra Cassel) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham) head to the city for a concert, then afterward go looking for drugs. Instead, they find a gang of escaped convicts who subject them to a night of torture and rape. The gang then kills the girls in the woods, not realizing they're near Mari's house. When they pose as salesmen and are taken in by Mari's mother (Cynthia Carr) and father (Gaylord St. James), it doesn't take the parents long to figure out their identities and plot revenge.

 Wes Craven, who had no money at the time, was put on the job of synchronizing dailies for Cunningham's re-shoot. He soon began editing the film with Cunningham. He soon began editing the film with Cunningham and they became good friends. Hallmark bought the film for $10,000, and it was considered a "hit"; this prompted Hallmark to persuade them to make another film with a bigger budget, and gave them $90,000 to shoot a horror film.

This script, written under the title Night of Vengeance, has never been released; only a brief glimpse is visible in the featurette Celluloid Crime of the Century (a 2003 documentary on the making of the film).

The majority of the cast of The Last House on the Left were inexperienced or first-time actors, with the exception of Richard Towers, Eleanor Shaw, and Sandra Peabody who were all soap opera regulars and had prior film roles.

The film underwent multiple title changes, with its investors initially titling it Sex Crime of the Century. However, after test screenings were completed, it was decided to change the title to Krug and Company; however, this title was found to have little draw during test screenings. A marketing specialist who was an acquaintance of Cunningham's proposed the title The Last House on the Left. Craven initially thought the title was "terrible."

Due to its graphic content, the film sparked protests from the public throughout the fall of 1972 who called for its removal from local theaters.

Promotional material capitalized on the film's graphic content and divisive reception, featuring the tagline: "To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only a movie' ..." advertising campaign. Under the Last House... title, the film proved to be a hit.

Though the film passed with an R-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, director Craven claimed that on several occasions, horrified audience members would demand that theater projectionists destroy the footage, sometimes stealing the film themselves.

It is a distubing film but it is a excellet film by a horror icon.
  
Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt #1)
Pacific Vortex! (Dirk Pitt #1)
Clive Cussler | 1983 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
6
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ships have been vanishing off of Hawaii for a while, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the 'Pacific Vortex'. But when a nuclear submarine falls victim things become more serious. Marine engineer Dirk Pitt gets involved in the search and finds that the disappearances are not coincidental.

Although released later in the series, Pacific Vortex! is very much a prequel to the main Dirk Pitt series and was the first of the Pitt novels Cussler wrote. As such it is a little different to the rest. Pitt comes across as more of a generic action hero type. The plot is far more straightforward with very little in the way of twists and suprise reveals that became the hallmark of the best of Cussler's novels. The standard hero trope is also enforced by the love interest and the megalomaniac villain in his lair.

However this is still a good read, with good ideas and it's interesting to see some of the building blocks that made up the Pitt franchise, particularly those that surfaced here but were then discarded for the later works. As a story it's not bad with enough going on the engage the reader's interest and obviously it lays the seeds of the later appearance of his children.

Not an essential read by any means, but one that will entertain