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Briannabrown1019 (799 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Nov 29, 2020
Meh?
"Everyone is a blank canvas, waiting to be filled with the color of discovery."
Well...
I mean I REALLY liked the story. The plot. Even the characters. And omg is this beautifully written.
"Hearts are forever scarred by our true nature."
However. This was a slooooooow burn. Very slow paced for me. For once a book where I almost felt things were too descriptive. I felt at times that I had to force myself to push through it. I was enjoying it, yes, but I was struggling to read through it. Its a feeling that I'm having a very hard time explaining, and honestly unlike anything I've ever felt when reading a book. So that was frustrating.
"The truth of what I am has become a nightmare."
Now with that being said, those last few chapters, like maybe the last 100 pages, SAVED this book for me. Things finally picked up there.
So am I glad I read it? Yes.
Is it one of my favorites? No.
But thats okay.
Well...
I mean I REALLY liked the story. The plot. Even the characters. And omg is this beautifully written.
"Hearts are forever scarred by our true nature."
However. This was a slooooooow burn. Very slow paced for me. For once a book where I almost felt things were too descriptive. I felt at times that I had to force myself to push through it. I was enjoying it, yes, but I was struggling to read through it. Its a feeling that I'm having a very hard time explaining, and honestly unlike anything I've ever felt when reading a book. So that was frustrating.
"The truth of what I am has become a nightmare."
Now with that being said, those last few chapters, like maybe the last 100 pages, SAVED this book for me. Things finally picked up there.
So am I glad I read it? Yes.
Is it one of my favorites? No.
But thats okay.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Night Rising (Vampire Babylon, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
I'm having a hard time formulating my thoughts on this book. I did like it and will read the next one, but there was just something off about the whole thing. Maybe because there were a bunch of loose ends at the end of the book than was necessary, but who knows. I didn't get the whole promiscuous thing, mostly because it didn't feel like it belonged in the book and really came out of nowhere; it felt like it was added for the whole "sex sells" concept. I mean that thing with "the Voice" was just plain weird and creepy. Quite few times I thought Dawn needed to get over herself and quit whining about her mother. She's twenty-four, she needs to act like it, not like some angsty teenager. I get it - it's hard to grow up with a beautiful mother who died too young and being compared to her when you're only average looking is hard (Although the cover model is above average looking. Marketing? I think so. :P), but deal with it already. I really didn't care about her and thought overall that Kiko was the best character of the bunch. Hopefully in the next book they are all developed better and Dawn grows up.
You can tell the author has taken some things from other medias: The Crow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially with Dawn being the "key" and probably from other things I haven't seen or read so can't compare. I think that detracted from the book because I don't want to compare the stories; I'd rather the book stood alone as it is.
Nearer the end it had me wondering about a certain character and if that was a hint to what's to come in future books. That's probably the main reason I'll read on, although there are some interesting concepts in the book too. The most interesting is the the vampire world, in which there are some varying degrees of good and evil - like humans - and they're just trying to survive without being found out - at least that's how I took it. All in all it was a decent read, but just an average urban fantasy book.
2.5 stars
You can tell the author has taken some things from other medias: The Crow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially with Dawn being the "key" and probably from other things I haven't seen or read so can't compare. I think that detracted from the book because I don't want to compare the stories; I'd rather the book stood alone as it is.
Nearer the end it had me wondering about a certain character and if that was a hint to what's to come in future books. That's probably the main reason I'll read on, although there are some interesting concepts in the book too. The most interesting is the the vampire world, in which there are some varying degrees of good and evil - like humans - and they're just trying to survive without being found out - at least that's how I took it. All in all it was a decent read, but just an average urban fantasy book.
2.5 stars
One of the funniest books i've read in a long while
Contains spoilers, click to show
OH my I loved this story so much, I don't even know where to begin with this review.
Okay, Lets start with the fan fiction, as a person who sent hours on the computer reading Harry Potter fan fiction into the early hours of the morning and then to writing my own, I understand where Cath was coming form, that sometimes you forget that there is still books to come out or you wish they end the way they did as the fan fiction. I total got this, and i totally related to Cath.
Second Levi, You should always have a good book boyfriend and Levi, yeah he was perfect, could i have him? I'll look after him. he was funny and charming and he loved Cath, you could tell straight away and i just wanted to slap so she saw it too.
The story touched on other issues such as sisters trying to find their own groove, but how hard it can be to break patterns. there mother leaving them and now only wanting to be apart of their lives now they had grown up, their fathers illness.
This book was a great read, once i started i couldn't stop, and there the best kind of books. I will defiantly read more from Rainbow Rowell, now that I love her stuff.
Now to fan fiction :P
Happy Reading :)
Okay, Lets start with the fan fiction, as a person who sent hours on the computer reading Harry Potter fan fiction into the early hours of the morning and then to writing my own, I understand where Cath was coming form, that sometimes you forget that there is still books to come out or you wish they end the way they did as the fan fiction. I total got this, and i totally related to Cath.
Second Levi, You should always have a good book boyfriend and Levi, yeah he was perfect, could i have him? I'll look after him. he was funny and charming and he loved Cath, you could tell straight away and i just wanted to slap so she saw it too.
The story touched on other issues such as sisters trying to find their own groove, but how hard it can be to break patterns. there mother leaving them and now only wanting to be apart of their lives now they had grown up, their fathers illness.
This book was a great read, once i started i couldn't stop, and there the best kind of books. I will defiantly read more from Rainbow Rowell, now that I love her stuff.
Now to fan fiction :P
Happy Reading :)
I was so excited to read Nine Dragons, because I love a good crime thriller and had read such good reviews for it. It didn’t disappoint. I was drawn into Harry Bosch’s world and mind right away. The plot keeps you guessing and sitting on the edge of your seat. The dialogue is lively and funny, the writing was good, and the reader was excellent in narration, voices of the characters, and speed at which he read. This is not a title to be missed.
Nine Dragons is book 14 in the Harry Bosch series, but it makes an excellent stand-alone. Only occasionally did I feel “left out of the loop” so to speak. Everything that was necessary to understand the book was explained.
Content: A reader should go into a crime thriller expecting some language. There was some language in the book but it wasn’t too overused. As far as gruesome details, it wasn’t hard to read. I wouldn’t let a kid read it, though.
Recommendation: Ages 16+
Nine Dragons is book 14 in the Harry Bosch series, but it makes an excellent stand-alone. Only occasionally did I feel “left out of the loop” so to speak. Everything that was necessary to understand the book was explained.
Content: A reader should go into a crime thriller expecting some language. There was some language in the book but it wasn’t too overused. As far as gruesome details, it wasn’t hard to read. I wouldn’t let a kid read it, though.
Recommendation: Ages 16+
Moses Boyd recommended Midnight Ravers by Bob Marley in Music (curated)
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated An Indelible Day in Books
Nov 25, 2020
An Indelible Day by Cairo Marques is a short story only about 30 pages long that shouldn’t take readers longer than a few hours to finish. Broken down into three parts there are easy to reach stopping points should a reader not be able to read the entire thing in one sitting. For those such as myself who do not know what ‘Indelible’ means I took the time to look it up and it is loosely defined as something that can not be forgotten.
It is difficult to write a summary of a book of this length without creating nothing but one big spoiler but I will try my best. C appears to be a nice man but something is fundamentally wrong in his life. It would seem that C has trouble not only feeling, processing, and expressing his emotions but also connecting with those in his peer group. Yet a rescheduled doctor’s appointment could lead him on a path to a potentially life changing encounter.
What I liked best was C’s character as he is very intriguing. There seems to be layers to him just asking to be uncovered. I couldn’t help but wonder about C’s past and why her has the difficulties he appears to be suffering from. Sadly what I didn’t like was that after finishing the book I found myself asking why this was important. What was the significance of these events? In the preface the author mentions most readers will probably fall into one of two categories. (1) Those who find it pointless and wanting their time back of (2) those wanting more. While I find myself in the latter categorize the vagueness of the ending really let me down.
Ideal readers for this book would be busy adults who don’t have the time or the concentration to read a long novel. As I can only classify this book as fiction there is no one genre preface that I believe would enjoy this book over another. The writing style is not so complex that it requires a high reading level, skill, or specific knowledge to enjoy. I rate this book 2 out of 4 or 3 out of 5. The book was very well written and was an enjoyable read. Yet it was too short for the amount of information it was trying to convey and the ending was unclear. Honestly the book would have gotten a higher rating if it was longer, contained more backstory, and gave more details about the results of the chance encounter. I also felt like there was some deeper meaning or point to this story that I was missing.
Review by Melissa Espenschied of nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com or bookreviewsatnight@gmail.com
It is difficult to write a summary of a book of this length without creating nothing but one big spoiler but I will try my best. C appears to be a nice man but something is fundamentally wrong in his life. It would seem that C has trouble not only feeling, processing, and expressing his emotions but also connecting with those in his peer group. Yet a rescheduled doctor’s appointment could lead him on a path to a potentially life changing encounter.
What I liked best was C’s character as he is very intriguing. There seems to be layers to him just asking to be uncovered. I couldn’t help but wonder about C’s past and why her has the difficulties he appears to be suffering from. Sadly what I didn’t like was that after finishing the book I found myself asking why this was important. What was the significance of these events? In the preface the author mentions most readers will probably fall into one of two categories. (1) Those who find it pointless and wanting their time back of (2) those wanting more. While I find myself in the latter categorize the vagueness of the ending really let me down.
Ideal readers for this book would be busy adults who don’t have the time or the concentration to read a long novel. As I can only classify this book as fiction there is no one genre preface that I believe would enjoy this book over another. The writing style is not so complex that it requires a high reading level, skill, or specific knowledge to enjoy. I rate this book 2 out of 4 or 3 out of 5. The book was very well written and was an enjoyable read. Yet it was too short for the amount of information it was trying to convey and the ending was unclear. Honestly the book would have gotten a higher rating if it was longer, contained more backstory, and gave more details about the results of the chance encounter. I also felt like there was some deeper meaning or point to this story that I was missing.
Review by Melissa Espenschied of nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com or bookreviewsatnight@gmail.com
Duff McKagan recommended It's Only Rock 'N' Roll by The Rolling Stones in Music (curated)
Caffeinated Fae (464 KP) rated A False Report in Books
Jul 12, 2018
When I learned of this book, I knew it was either going to be really good or really awful. I loved the concept of this book. I've worked as a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Coordinator and I was a Victim Advocate so this book was completely up my alley. I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy from NetGalley so I jumped right in the second I could.
T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong were able to show all of the intricacies that go into investigating a rape. They also showed how one wrong move on an investigator's part can derail an investigation. Though I liked how detailed they were, I felt that they got stuck too much in certain areas. It seemed that they would go off on a tangent on how or why something was created. This pulled you out of the story and most of the time, I would ask myself why this was in the book. It really dragged down the flow of the book and in the first half of the book, it almost made it unbearable.
I did almost DNF this book. I felt that the first half dragged on and on and jumped from tangent to tangent. I understand that some of the details needed to be in there but not everyone here needs to know how a rape kit was invented or how other tools were created. Several pages could have easily been written as a paragraph explaining why this was important and how it was useful to investigators. I found myself thinking "we got it, move on" on more than one occasion. Honestly, it broke up the story and made it less powerful.
One of the things that I did love about this book is how it portrayed the victims. It didn't vilify them. It was matter of fact and I really appreciated it. Though the authors focused on details, I truly appreciated how they did not give too many details on the sexual assaults. I think that too many authors would sensationalize what these victims went through so it was refreshing to get a "this is what happened" without going into the gory details.
Once the first half was over, the last half was quick paced and fascinating. I enjoyed learning more about the story and how it unfolded. I remember seeing this on the news (I live in Colorado) and being thankful that they caught the guy. The last half of this book salvaged it. I'm glad I stuck with this book. It was insightful though slow.
Ultimately, I would rate this book 2 1/2 stars which is why I rounded it up to 3 stars.
T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong were able to show all of the intricacies that go into investigating a rape. They also showed how one wrong move on an investigator's part can derail an investigation. Though I liked how detailed they were, I felt that they got stuck too much in certain areas. It seemed that they would go off on a tangent on how or why something was created. This pulled you out of the story and most of the time, I would ask myself why this was in the book. It really dragged down the flow of the book and in the first half of the book, it almost made it unbearable.
I did almost DNF this book. I felt that the first half dragged on and on and jumped from tangent to tangent. I understand that some of the details needed to be in there but not everyone here needs to know how a rape kit was invented or how other tools were created. Several pages could have easily been written as a paragraph explaining why this was important and how it was useful to investigators. I found myself thinking "we got it, move on" on more than one occasion. Honestly, it broke up the story and made it less powerful.
One of the things that I did love about this book is how it portrayed the victims. It didn't vilify them. It was matter of fact and I really appreciated it. Though the authors focused on details, I truly appreciated how they did not give too many details on the sexual assaults. I think that too many authors would sensationalize what these victims went through so it was refreshing to get a "this is what happened" without going into the gory details.
Once the first half was over, the last half was quick paced and fascinating. I enjoyed learning more about the story and how it unfolded. I remember seeing this on the news (I live in Colorado) and being thankful that they caught the guy. The last half of this book salvaged it. I'm glad I stuck with this book. It was insightful though slow.
Ultimately, I would rate this book 2 1/2 stars which is why I rounded it up to 3 stars.
Katie (868 KP) rated Mad Monster Party? (1967) in Movies
Jun 16, 2018
Excellent character design (3 more)
Overall look of the film
Francesca is a style icon
Little Tibia and the Fibias!!
Slow paced (1 more)
Very little substance
Tons of style, very little substance
I went into this one really expecting to love it and I did love aspects of it. The character design, sets, and cinematography were great and Rankin/Bass fans will not be disappointed by those things. The music was fine, especially the opening sequence, but also left much to be desired. There weren't really any catchy, unforgettable songs that one usually finds on a Rankin/Bass production.
While there were some funny moments and some parts of the story were interesting, it seems that the film was mostly a series of kooky gags. Don't get me wrong, I love that kind of humor, but it needed to be supported by more plot than was provided. Often it was easy to forget that there even was one. I think Mad Monster Party would have benefited from cutting some scenes to make it a 45 minute special rather than feature length.
I went into this movie wondering why I hadn't heard of it until recently and why it wasn't a Halloween staple of my youth like "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" or "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" were for Christmas. After finishing it I had my answer. It was a little too grown up for children (and maybe a bit too boring) and didn't have enough substance for adults.
While it's hard to recommend this one to anyone I probably will be watching it again. The good parts are good enough to bring me back and the bad isn't bad enough to scare me away (and now I know which scenes to avoid).
I also realize that this has a lot of jokes directed at the readers of Mad Magazine, which I am not. So feel free to prove me wrong about this movie. I really want to love it!
While there were some funny moments and some parts of the story were interesting, it seems that the film was mostly a series of kooky gags. Don't get me wrong, I love that kind of humor, but it needed to be supported by more plot than was provided. Often it was easy to forget that there even was one. I think Mad Monster Party would have benefited from cutting some scenes to make it a 45 minute special rather than feature length.
I went into this movie wondering why I hadn't heard of it until recently and why it wasn't a Halloween staple of my youth like "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" or "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" were for Christmas. After finishing it I had my answer. It was a little too grown up for children (and maybe a bit too boring) and didn't have enough substance for adults.
While it's hard to recommend this one to anyone I probably will be watching it again. The good parts are good enough to bring me back and the bad isn't bad enough to scare me away (and now I know which scenes to avoid).
I also realize that this has a lot of jokes directed at the readers of Mad Magazine, which I am not. So feel free to prove me wrong about this movie. I really want to love it!
Anne (15117 KP) rated The Beach Trees in Books
Mar 4, 2022
This was a book I received that was personally recommended by the foxedbox and they are amazing at what they do. They are one of the best at getting your information and recommending you some of the best books that are out there.
I loved this book more than I thought I would. It was about a young woman who finds herself suddenly as a guardian to a 5-year-old boy because her friend, his mother, dies from a weak heart/heart problems/defects and how she goes back to her friend's home to honor her friend's wishes.
Along the way, she meets and connects with her friend's family, finds peace with her own family/personal issues and finds some sweet romance too. It takes place in/around New Orleans and mentions some about Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding and what it takes to put roots down and to commit and rebuild after storms in life and such. There's an intriguing story and mystery woven throughout the story between the past and the present and I couldn't get enough of it - I felt as if I was transported there lost in the story sometimes and had a hard time putting it down until it was over.
Now that I'm done reading it, I want to read more - it was SO good!!!
I loved this book more than I thought I would. It was about a young woman who finds herself suddenly as a guardian to a 5-year-old boy because her friend, his mother, dies from a weak heart/heart problems/defects and how she goes back to her friend's home to honor her friend's wishes.
Along the way, she meets and connects with her friend's family, finds peace with her own family/personal issues and finds some sweet romance too. It takes place in/around New Orleans and mentions some about Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding and what it takes to put roots down and to commit and rebuild after storms in life and such. There's an intriguing story and mystery woven throughout the story between the past and the present and I couldn't get enough of it - I felt as if I was transported there lost in the story sometimes and had a hard time putting it down until it was over.
Now that I'm done reading it, I want to read more - it was SO good!!!