Search

Search only in certain items:

Fall Into Darkness (Eternally Mated #1)
Fall Into Darkness (Eternally Mated #1)
Valerie Twombly | 2015 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ashley has lived her life as a freak, seeing a person's death in their eyes, and decides to move to Alaska and live in solitude. Eli is a hunter angel and is very concerned about where the angels are going under the guidance of the Seven. Angels and mates are disappearing, falling into darkness, and no one seems to care. When he is judged by them to find his humanity to be sent to hell for eternity, he ends up in Alaska and helps to rescue Ashley from the hellhounds attacking her.

As this story moves along, we find out more about the darkness, what is causing it, what happens to the mates, and how deep it has sunk its claws into the angels. We also learn just how far Ashley will go to save Eli. This is the first book in a series that shows incredible promise. I loved the story of Ashley and Eli, even though it was full of insta-love, it was done in such a way as to be believable. Both Ashley and Eli admit to things moving fast between them, but once they make the decision to be together, they are all in.

Well written and smoothly paced, with no grammatical errors that I found, this was a delight to read and I look forward to reading further into the series.

* 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!
Nov 29, 2015
  
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
2014 | Drama, Sci-Fi
When the world falls under attack from a bizarre alien threat the world’s militaries unite to wage a desperate battle to save humanity. In the new film “Edge of Tomorrow”, Tom Cruise stars as Major Cage, a smug p.r. specialist who holds numerous interviews and press conferences convincing people to enlist and join the war effort and promising victory while keeping himself in safe locales far from the action.

When Cage learns that he is to be embedded with fighting units in a major offensive following the first victory by the humans, he balks and attempts to blackmail his new superior General Bringham (Paul Gleeson), into letting him stay away from combat zones.

Gleeson calls his bluff and Cage soon awakens at a forward base where his orders list him as a deserter who impersonates an officer and as such, is not to have any communication and is to be inserted into combat the following morning.

With no combat training at all since he was pulled from a P.R. firm and only had R.O.T.C. in college, Cage is highly unsuited to combat. He is not even capable of getting the weapons on his power suit to go off safety mode.

The battle goes badly and Cage and his fellow troops are decimated but shortly before his death, Cage gets himself up close and personal with the enemy and goes down in a blaze of glory.

Cage then unexpectedly awakens and it is the previous morning but he has all the knowledge of what happened previously. His efforts to warn his superiors fail and once again the invasion becomes a disaster. Cage is caught in a loop repeating the doomed mission but each time out he makes subtle changes and learns from his mistakes.

One such change has him encounter war hero Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who oddly enough recognizes what is happening to Cage and instructs him to find her when he awakens.

Despite some effort, Cage manages to locate and convince Rita and the two of them work to build Cages combat skills all the while attempting to understand the nature of the enemy and what is happening to them.

With the advantage of being able to repeat the same day over and over the unlikely pair becomes the best hope for humanity and set about to save the day.

The film has a very solid and enjoyable premise and I liked the way they handled Cruise’s character. When I first heard of the film I thought he was a bit old to play a combat rookie unless they were hard pressed and forced him into duty but even then he would have some kind of training.

The film has some great supporting performances and great FX that really popped in IMAX 3D. I really enjoyed the action and the story and while if you really stop and analyze it you may find issues with the time loops and possible paradoxes presented, the main thing is that it is an action film that actually gives fans a story, solid characters, and an interesting premise.

Cruise and Blunt work well with one another and I must say that the film is right there with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” as the best film of the summer offerings to date in my opinion. Check this one out as you will not want to miss it.

http://sknr.net/2014/06/06/edge-tomorrow/
  
Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity
2009 | Adult, Card Game, Humor, Party Game, Print & Play
Humour (2 more)
player count is high
a game specifically tailored to party people
creativity is limited (2 more)
often a popularity contest
multiple plays decreases the enjoyment of play
Here comes an unpopular opinion - hear me out
now - don't get me wrong, my first time playing Card against Humanity was hilarious! I loved it, I was in. The concept is very simple, you're presented with a silly, funny or rude situation and you have to fill in the blanks using the inappropriate cards from your hand to make the others laugh.

NOW

On MANY plays later, I see the flaw in this design. I've realised this is more of an activity than a game as such. Again, don't go pointing fingers too fast, I did enjoy the game at the start remember? Now, theres an AI built into the game called 'Rando' he can play too for various reasons and he can often win. As suggested, random cards are drawn, and because it usually doesn't make sense, its funny, and therefore wins! This made me realise that I'm not funny. Damn, I've been caught in this web of lies cards against humanity had me caught in. I have very limited choice and often my choices are a result of a card "dump" where really nothing was funny nor fit. A well thought out game might have a mechanic that allows me to do something else with these cards that maybe I don't see use for. So I'm not the one being funny, the predisposed topics and cards are just used as a shock factor -

which promptly brings me to my next point, these things and statements are often funny because you're shocked! THAT is in a card game, woaaah I'm such an adult, wow. No. sadly this may be funny the first time but there's only so many times I can see the "chunks of a dead hooker" card before it looses it's humorous effect. I've played with all of the expansions (which were available before I quit on this game) which was a fair few, and even then it wasn't enough.

The buzz was gone, and I no longer enjoy this game, I've not grown out of it, I'm not a humour buzzkill. There are many other similar style games that provide ample creativity. Now before one of you thinks it, yes, there are blank cards to write on, but it's often not enough to change and sustain the games core.

One more thing before I sign off on this one, it's often a popularity contest. I'm not the most popular in our gaming group, there are certainly people who will favour others and thats normal and fine. BUT when games like this swing around and the winner is essentially cast on a vote of the other players choosing. The winner can often be the same person again, and again and again. Because them putting cards down that were drawn out of a stack randomly and they had no input into the outcome of what those cards says was totally hilarious. They win again.

To summerise, creativity is so limited, it's not YOU being funny, it's the cards. It's not really that re-playable and it's often a popularity contest,
there are many other games of this genre that do it better.