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A Spark Of Light
A Spark Of Light
Jodi Picoult | 2018 | Contemporary, Crime
8
8.0 (14 Ratings)
Book Rating
Serious subject but great characters & story
It starts off as a typical day at the Center, a women's reproductive health care clinic in Mississippi. For Hugh McElroy, it's his 40th birthday, and a day that he hopes will pass by quietly and quickly. But everything changes in a moment when an armed shooter enters the Center--shooting employees and patients on sight. Hugh, a negotiator for the police, is immediately called to the scene. Once there, he comes to the horrifying realization that his sister, Bex, and his only daughter, fifteen-year-old, Wren, are inside. Hugh tries to keep this information to himself, determined to save the people he loves the most. Meanwhile, many inside the clinic are struggling to stay alive, while the shooter is trying to come to terms with the reasons that brought him to the clinic in the first place.

"Here was the one thing all these women had in common: they hadn't asked for this moment in their lives."

Jodi Picoult is known for her powerful books that make you question the world around you, and her latest is certainly no exception. This novel asks interesting, thought-provoking, and timely questions: not just about abortion but about women's rights in general and the power men have over women, including their bodies. It makes you think, and it's certainly not an easy read. I found it to be an eye-opening experience. You may go in with a set view and particular political stance--and while this novel is in no way attempting to change your view--it allows you to see things from all sorts of points of view. The book is filled with complicated people and their stories; nothing is simple here.

The novel is told backward: starting with a shooter entering the clinic and working back from that moment. I'm not always a fan of this format, and it does take some getting used to (for me anyway). I read this one while I was sick and busy at work, so I always had to pause a little bit to get my bearings with each chapter. But the format causes the story to be extremely tense, forcing you to really want to know what happens. I've read some reviews where they thought the backward style left nothing unexplained/nothing left to know, but I found it to be the opposite. The first chapter leaves you with a near cliffhanger, and you spend the rest of the book frantically flipping the pages, trying to find out what happens.

I found this one to be especially poignant and excellent at portraying its characters. Picoult captures moments in time, as our characters remember back on things. It's a lovely look at fatherhood for two sets of families, and Hugh and his daughter, Wren, are a wonderful pair. Picoult does an excellent job paralleling them with another set of characters, too. Then there's Izzy, a nurse, with whom I dare you not to fall in love, and Dr. Louie, the doctor at the clinic. Both are so tough and easy to root for. I also learned so much while reading about them. It was easy to picture these characters and even easier to fall for them--all signs of a well-written novel.

By the end, Picoult has some twists up her sleeve: some surprising, some not. I thought the ending wrapped up a little quickly, but I still was impressed with one. You don't enjoy it, per se--the subject matter is a little rough for that, but you'll find yourself wowed by the characters and their shared story. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!)
  
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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Kingdom Hearts III in Video Games

Jul 7, 2020  
Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III
2018 | Action, Role-Playing
A Ton Of Fun
Kingdom Hearts III is an action/RPG developed and published by Square Enix. It was directed by Tetsuya Nomora and Tai Yasue, produced by Rie Nishi, written by Tetsuya Nomora and Masaru Oka with music composed by Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, and Tsuyoshi Sekito.


Set after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and a sequel to Kingdom Hearts II; it's a conclusion to the "Dark Seeker Saga" and finds Sora and friends trying to prevent a second Keyblade War. Their search for the seven guardians of light has them visit worlds and cross paths with many different Disney and Pixar characters. Sora, nearly taken over by Xehanort, discovers he has lost his strength as a result. He resumes his travels accompanied by Donald and Goofy, in order to regain his "power of waking'. Traversing the realm of darkness, King Mickey and Riku search for Aqua while Kairi and Lea train to with their new Keyblades.


This game is a lot of fun. I never got to play the other Kingdom Hearts games so this was my first introduction to the series. I really liked the gameplay although sometimes the enemies are nothing more than canon fodder. But it was awesome with interacting with all the Disney and Pixar characters and seeing some of their worlds. I was very confused with the story but it goes by pretty well and there are lots of videos and pages on the internet if you want to catch up or dont remember what's going on or who's who. I didn't include some of the gameplay that showed boss fights because I didn't want to give anything away but the boss fights are a lot of fun. I just had the game on normal so I haven't found it very hard but I dont know if that stays the same if you increase the difficulty. You do have the options of changing gear for your allies and having the group eat meals for buffs as well as upgrade your keyblades but I generally stay away from that unless I have difficulty on a stage or boss. One thing I really didn't like so much was the spaceship battles that you get when traveling from world to world, I found them a bit tedious and annoying. But I'm sure some people liked them. All in all I'd give this game a 7/10. Below is a link to a video showcasing gameplay that I posted to YouTube.

  
A Creature of Moonlight
A Creature of Moonlight
Rebecca Hahn | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book reads a lot like a fairy story, starring a girl who feels drawn into the magical world of the forest despite her attachments to the world outside. The writing style felt very lyrical, which seemed very appropriate for the story, and helped to pull me into it all the more effectively. Though it took me a couple of chapters to really get into the story, once I did I found that it was a quick read and kept me interested in the characters and what would happen next. If you're looking for an action packed fantasy story this might not be the book for you, but if you're looking for a magical story and beautiful writing this might be a good book for you to pick up.
  
The Death of Mrs Westaway
The Death of Mrs Westaway
Ruth Ware | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
8
7.0 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really enjoyed this book! It is a creepy, atmospheric tale of a dysfunctional family full of secrets. Its a bit of a slow burn, but I think that adds to the tension. The characters are all very well written, but especially Hal. Despite knowing that what she is doing is wrong, you can't help but root for her to just get that little break she is hoping for to help get her out of the mess she has found herself in after her Mothers untimely death. Trepassen is the perfect setting for this story, complete with creepy housekeeper and was a character within itself due to the descriptive writing. 
Overall, a really good read with twists and turns to keep you guessing and a few surprises along the way.
  
Concrete Genie
Concrete Genie
2018 | Action/Adventure
I found this game to be quite charming and loved the whimsical and brightly colored art style. Playing as Ash was interesting seeing his perspective and getting some insight through him as to why his bullies were targeting him. The controls for the game are great because of the accessibility settings. The story itself is simple, but good because it is well told and you get a lot of those feelings through Ash's art. It's not very long, I finished it in about 5 hours, but there's a lot of great gameplay and art in it. There's also a photo mode and a free paint mode which add a little something extra to the game. You can read more here: http://mg28-mothergamer.blogspot.com/2021/06/concrete-genie-whimsical-art-adventure.html
  
Afrodisiac by Fela Ransome-Kuti & The Africa '70
Afrodisiac by Fela Ransome-Kuti & The Africa '70
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I found a very interesting thing out about Tony Allen. I was thinking, ""How did he get to that music?"" In my opinion, Afrobeat really grew out of his drumming more than anything else. I mean, Fela was of course totally important to it and realised what you could build around that, but I think there was nothing else you could find that sounds like Tony at that time. So I was asking a friend of mine about this, Joe Boyd, the record producer, and he said that the story with Tony was that he was the only subscriber to Downbeat magazine in West Africa when he was about 18 or 19. In one edition there was a supplement by Max Roach, the jazz drummer, about hi-hat technique and Tony got completely fascinated by this article about how you balance the hi-hat with the rest of the kit. So Tony came from the history of Nigerian drumming and then he saw this article by Max Roach and that was the sort of thing that galvanised him really. Afrodisiac has four songs and they're all absolutely brilliant. There's no disappointment on the album at all. On later records there's quite a lot of fat, the pieces go on and on and sometimes they're a bit aimless, but Afrodisiac I suppose was being made as an attempt to push Fela over here, so instead of a piece taking a whole side it takes only half a side. I used to go to this record shop just off Tottenham Court Road called Sterns and that was a place where you could buy records from other countries, so a lot of Africans went there because you could buy West African records there. I used to sniff around there as I was just fascinated by all the covers. All these people with amazing headdresses on and you think, ""Christ, I really want to hear that record, I wonder what that sounds like."" So I saw that cover and bought it entirely on that. I thought, that sounds good, it's got the cheesiest title you could have. I took it home and just thought, fuck, the vigour of it and the Nigerian strength [laughs], the rudeness of it. The horns, when I heard them, I had this picture of these huge trucks on the Trans-African Highway and they have these enormous compressed air horns and that is what the horns on the record sounded like to me. They were so un-glamourised. They didn't have that kind of 'jazzy' soft, smoochy sound, they were just ""fucking get out of my fucking way!"" When I first met Talking Heads, the first meeting I ever had with them, they had been playing in London and they came over to my flat to talk about me working on their next album. So I said, ""This is the future of music"", and I played them Afrodisiac, and to their credit they were incredibly impressed by it. If you listen to the third album we did together (Remain In Light) it's so influenced by that. It's sort of shameful in a way."

Source
  
 The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3)
The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3)
Mary E. Pearson | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
That was one of the hardest books I had to rate and review. The reason is that the adult part of me had very specific expectations while my young teenager self was reminding me that this is a YA book. More details.

Things that I liked:
-Lia is taking control of her destiny and do everything she can to save her people. As with the previous books is a strong female character, with personality and a big heart.
- We keep seeing how Lia is still attached to Venda and is also willing to help them. Is not just about saving her people but it's also about saving the people of Venda from their tyrant.
-Nice twists regarding Kaden past.
-Nice twists regarding Lia family
-I liked Lia's and her family dynamic.

Things my teenager self liked:
-Everybody gets a happy ending. Every main character survives and every one of them found love. A classic fairy tale ending.

Things I didn't like:
-Everybody gets a happy ending. Every main character survives and every one of them found love. A classic fairy tale ending... As an adult, I really didn't like that. First of all, if you have a love triangle and for two books you are telling us how much both Rafe and Kaden are sooooo deeply in love with Lia you don't get to just make Kaden fall in love with Pauline out of the blue and forget about Lia and just be besties. NO. I want my heart to be broken. I had mentally prepared myself for him to die or at the end to de like "I can be around you if you are not mine" and just leave. The author had an amazing opportunity to break our hearts but not... It's a YA book we can't do that. I sound like a crazy person I know...
-I felt this book was slower than it should have been. I was 40 pages from the end and this big battle between the ferocious army of Venda haven't even started. We had a big build-up from the previous book and I wanted an epic battle with twists and turns but it didn't happen.
-For 3 book we were told that Lia would have to "sacrifice" herself for the greater good. Well, that didn't happen either. Well, she "sacrificed" because she became the queen of Venda and couldn't be with Rafe. Ok, I can deal with that but then at the end, Lia and Rafe are "we love each other so we'll make it work", sooo... where is the sacrifice? Again a great opportunity to break our hearts but no... we went with the happy ending.

As I said this is a YA book so I'm perfectly aware of the author choices and I respect them. As a teenager, this would have probably been a 10/10. But if this final book was written for an adult audience it could have been heartbreaking and amazing.
  
The Night Olivia Fell
The Night Olivia Fell
Christina McDonald | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
9
9.3 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow!
I had been wanting to read The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald for awhile. I was beyond thrilled when I was able to borrow the eBook from my library. Luckily, the book lived up to the hype I had built in my mind.

I found the plot of The Night Olivia Fell to be very intriguing and well written. There were so many feelings with this novel. I enjoyed reading things from Abi's perspective and then going back in time to read flashbacks in Olivia's perspective. I found myself trying to decide if Olivia really was murdered or if she killed herself. There were so many times I thought I had figured out who pushed Olivia just to be wrong. I did find myself hoping that by some miracle, Olivia would go back to being the same before she fell off the bridge. (Hope springs eternal with me.) This was more than just the mystery of Olivia's fall. Olivia was also trying to figure out who her father was, and there was also Olivia's blossoming romance with Derrick. There were a few plot twists which were enjoyable. My only complaint is that I wish there would have been information on the court case. I just felt that I needed closure and to make sure justice was served. Other than that, I felt like the story was written perfectly.

I felt that the characters in The Night Olivia Fell were very fleshed out and realistic. My heart went out to both Olivia and Abi. I could understand how Abi just wanted to make sure Olivia was safe and doing well, but I could also sympathize with out Olivia felt like Abi was smothering her a lot of the time. Olivia was very much like a typical teenager to begin with, but once she found out she was pregnant, I felt like she really blossomed. Olivia would have been an excellent mother, and it was sweet to see how she was willing to protect her unborn baby. Abi just wanted what was best for Olivia being as she was a single mother. She worked her behind off to make sure Olivia was okay. It was obvious how much Abi loved Olivia. Kendall was a bit of a wild card. I liked her, but I was always wondering if she had an endgame. Gavin was another wild card. I wanted to believe he wouldn't stoop so low as to hurt a young innocent girl, but then the more I read about him, the more I wasn't sure of his character. I started out feeling sorry for Tyler with how much he had going on with him, but I was glad that Olivia chose Derek. Derek seemed to be really sweet, and it was sad that people judged him based on a some stretched truths.

The pacing was done brilliantly for The Night Olivia Fell. Not once did I ever feel like the story dragged on or was becoming too predictable. I felt as if each page was an adventure which made this book an easy read.

Trigger warnings for The Night Olivia Fell include violence, threats, blackmail, profanity, and a semi-graphic sex scene between a 17 year old girl and her boyfriend.

All in all, The Night Olivia Fell was a great read! It had such an interesting plot as well as fantastically written characters. This book grabs you by the hand and never lets you go. I would definitely recommend The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald to those aged 17+. It's one of those books that leaves you thinking about it long after you've finished it.
  
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Pete Wareham recommended Habibi by Ali Hussan Kuba in Music (curated)

 
Habibi by Ali Hussan Kuba
Habibi by Ali Hussan Kuba
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I think I was on MySpace, that's how long ago it was, and I was looking for Omar Souleyman. I ended up finding Ali Hussan Kuban by mistake. I found this track called 'Habibi', and it blew my mind. The first bit of drums when it comes in, it's almost like drum & bass, but it's not but it's not folkloric African either, it feels like rock & roll. It's so direct, and it's speaking our language, but it's from a completely different culture, and I just love that. And when you hear his voice… His voice is killer - it sounds like Joe Strummer. His voice just feels so punk, especially later on when they start dubbing it and putting all this delay on it. It was that one song that made me start Melt Yourself Down. I was playing it at a party and people were going mad. By that point I'd been obsessed with this song for months, I was listening to it over and over again. Everyone I played it to was like: ""Oh my god, what the fuck is that?!"". I thought: I want to make a cover of this song, I want to start a band. Because I didn't have a band at the time. Acoustic Ladyland was over. I said: I think I'm going to form a band just to do that one song. The next day when I was coming down from my birthday party evening, I just thought, let's do that - brilliant idea. I phoned everybody and said: ""let's do it!"". I organised a rehearsal and then the next day I came to and thought: 'oh shit, I think a formed a band yesterday'. And then I thought, 'well OK, let's just start writing'. I went upstairs and wrote 'Fix My Life', and then it all came together really quickly."

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