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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Confessions of an Angry Girl (Confessions, #1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(Review also on my blog <a href="themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
This is one of those books that sort of caught me by surprise. I expected it to be fantastic as it was very high on my TBR list. It wasn't that fantastic as I thought it was going to be, but it was good.
Rose Zarelli is having a hard time in her first year of high school. Her dad's just died recently, her best friend has turned into a "cheer-witch" , her guy friend has a crush on her which she just wants to be friends with, and she's ended up kissing the boyfriend of Regina, one of the meanest girls in the school. Regina is now dead set on making Rose's life as miserable as possible. This book is about the ups and mostly downs of Rose Zarelli's freshman year of high school.
I really don't know how I feel about the characters. I felt like there wasn't enough character building for me to care about each character 100%. There were times when I felt like I didn't really care what happened to Rose. Other times, my heart went out to her because I could relate to some of things that were happening to her. The character of Regina was good although she was made out to be a stereotypical mean cheerleader type. I really couldn't stand Regina simply because she was a mean girl. I feel like the author didn't really show us enough of Jamie and Tracey's personalities. Why did everyone think Jamie was a bad boy? This was never really explained in the book. As for Tracey, she just came across as sort of a chameleon character, basically blending in with whomever she was with.
The pacing of the book is another thing I had a problem with. Most of the time it was way too slow. A lot of the chapters I had a hard time really getting in to. Don't get me wrong, there were some chapters that the pacing was done spot on. However, the majority of the time, the pacing felt really slow.
I think the dialogue was well suited to a YA novel for teens between the ages of 14 to 17. There are a few swear words but not so many that it becomes too much. There's just enough swearing to make it believable...I'm basing this on my teenage years though, lol.
I do like the title, and I admit that the title definitely did catch my attention. However, I don't really feel that Rose was an angry girl. I felt like she was more of a bullied girl. She didn't really come across as that angry to me until right around the end where her mother asks her about it. The whole "anger" conversation in the book felt as if the author just threw it in so the title would make sense.
I believe the cover suits the book. The girl on the front (which I believe is Rose) looks a bit unsure of herself which is what I felt that Rose was feeling throughout the book.
Like I said, I did like the book even if there were some major issues. It made me feel like I needed to know what was going to happen. I'm definitely getting the second book in the series just because of how this book ended.
I would recommend this book to a high school girl. I wouldn't really recommend it to adult fans of YA though.
All in all, I would give Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett a 3.5 out of 5.
This is one of those books that sort of caught me by surprise. I expected it to be fantastic as it was very high on my TBR list. It wasn't that fantastic as I thought it was going to be, but it was good.
Rose Zarelli is having a hard time in her first year of high school. Her dad's just died recently, her best friend has turned into a "cheer-witch" , her guy friend has a crush on her which she just wants to be friends with, and she's ended up kissing the boyfriend of Regina, one of the meanest girls in the school. Regina is now dead set on making Rose's life as miserable as possible. This book is about the ups and mostly downs of Rose Zarelli's freshman year of high school.
I really don't know how I feel about the characters. I felt like there wasn't enough character building for me to care about each character 100%. There were times when I felt like I didn't really care what happened to Rose. Other times, my heart went out to her because I could relate to some of things that were happening to her. The character of Regina was good although she was made out to be a stereotypical mean cheerleader type. I really couldn't stand Regina simply because she was a mean girl. I feel like the author didn't really show us enough of Jamie and Tracey's personalities. Why did everyone think Jamie was a bad boy? This was never really explained in the book. As for Tracey, she just came across as sort of a chameleon character, basically blending in with whomever she was with.
The pacing of the book is another thing I had a problem with. Most of the time it was way too slow. A lot of the chapters I had a hard time really getting in to. Don't get me wrong, there were some chapters that the pacing was done spot on. However, the majority of the time, the pacing felt really slow.
I think the dialogue was well suited to a YA novel for teens between the ages of 14 to 17. There are a few swear words but not so many that it becomes too much. There's just enough swearing to make it believable...I'm basing this on my teenage years though, lol.
I do like the title, and I admit that the title definitely did catch my attention. However, I don't really feel that Rose was an angry girl. I felt like she was more of a bullied girl. She didn't really come across as that angry to me until right around the end where her mother asks her about it. The whole "anger" conversation in the book felt as if the author just threw it in so the title would make sense.
I believe the cover suits the book. The girl on the front (which I believe is Rose) looks a bit unsure of herself which is what I felt that Rose was feeling throughout the book.
Like I said, I did like the book even if there were some major issues. It made me feel like I needed to know what was going to happen. I'm definitely getting the second book in the series just because of how this book ended.
I would recommend this book to a high school girl. I wouldn't really recommend it to adult fans of YA though.
All in all, I would give Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett a 3.5 out of 5.

Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) in Movies
Feb 14, 2020 (Updated Feb 15, 2020)
"ITS NO USE"
Sonic The Hedgehog openes up with a bunch of gold rings surrounding the studio logo while money sounds subtlety ding away in the background and from that moment alone it became obvious what this movie was going to be. One big fat soulless cash grab with only one goal in mind, entice your kids in and then quickly take your money. First of all this is a kids movie comparable to the likes of Alvin and the Chipmunks and just like that movie its not a good kids movie either. Now I like kids movies but Sonic decides to lure kids in with mundane things we have seen a million times in similar films like for instance the floss dance, fart jokes or mocking people by talking over them instead of using its own ideas or delivering fresh interesting content. Theres some very odd constant digs at Nintendo's Mario too which felt really unnecessary. Comedy wise none of its miserable attempts at humour are funny in the slightest either and before long its constant bombardment of strange jokes start to take their tole on your patience. Every single character here is sadly really unlikable too see we have the human characters who seem to have no individual personalities of thier own, lack emotions of any kind and also dont react to dangerous situations with any real sense of fear or shock. Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik combines Ace Ventura with The Riddler to make a character that just feels to loud & out of place compared to the robotic performances that everyone else gives. Then theres Sonic himself who is obsessive, anoying, childish, selfish, doesnt shut up and has an extremely short attention span too. So with no one to really sympathise/care about or root for the film better have some exciting action or a good story right? sadly not, theres just no thrills, no excitement, no energy and no heart here at all and definitely no love or passion for the source material. As a film its just plain dull (people were actually asleep and snoring in the seats next to me after just 30 minutes) as the film just runs out of ideas near the start and then resorts to repeating its best ines over and over again at a quick pace until it hits a wall. Did you like the Quicksilver sence from Xmen? dont worry Sonic copies it, how about the Transformers highway chase? dont worry Sonic copies it, what about The Fast and the Furious message about family? dont worry that in here too and thats another issue here, instead of making an original film for Sonic fans they have taken all the bits from films that have simply sold well squashed them into a ball and thrown them at a wall hoping they will stick. So heres the bottom line: Sonic is just another forgettable money maker nothing less nothing more more and just like the Garfield movie, Hop or The Smurfs will anyone be talking about it in a few months?? Naaaaaah

Roxanne (13 KP) rated The Ritual in Books
Nov 14, 2018
2.5 stars rounded up.
I found this book quite difficult to rate as I was very much in a love/hate relationship with it, some bits were great and I was sucked into the story whilst on the edge of my seat but then on the other hand some parts had me rolling my eyes. This book is split into two parts but I can't say that I enjoyed one part more than the other...both kind of just went on a bit too much. This book could have been so much shorter without losing anything, there was just too much yapping on about nothing, extended sentences with no meaning, I just wanted everyone to get to the point they were making.
I like to be scared by horror stories, I like to be given goose-bumps but unfortunately I just didn't feel it. There was, however, a nice bit of gore that kept me going and I did like most of the characters. It was an interesting story, original but unfortunately I found it a bit dull in places.
I'm not sure if others would agree with me, maybe I'm being too sensitive but I did find the book to be pretty sexist. Women, as a whole, were just demeaned which left me feeling pretty uncomfortable. The language towards females was pretty grim and the unpleasantness of the male characters was described as feminine. Each wife was described as horrible, mean, selfish, vile and was to be thrown away with the trash and the main character's girlfriend was mentioned about three times. She meant a lot to him but all that we were told was that she had a sexy overbite and he wanted to bed her. For a novel this big and in depth I expected to be able to get to know the characters more but it left me wanting.
I can't say I would really recommend it to be honest, I think my expectations were too high as I was very much looking forward to reading this one...nevermind.
I found this book quite difficult to rate as I was very much in a love/hate relationship with it, some bits were great and I was sucked into the story whilst on the edge of my seat but then on the other hand some parts had me rolling my eyes. This book is split into two parts but I can't say that I enjoyed one part more than the other...both kind of just went on a bit too much. This book could have been so much shorter without losing anything, there was just too much yapping on about nothing, extended sentences with no meaning, I just wanted everyone to get to the point they were making.
I like to be scared by horror stories, I like to be given goose-bumps but unfortunately I just didn't feel it. There was, however, a nice bit of gore that kept me going and I did like most of the characters. It was an interesting story, original but unfortunately I found it a bit dull in places.
I'm not sure if others would agree with me, maybe I'm being too sensitive but I did find the book to be pretty sexist. Women, as a whole, were just demeaned which left me feeling pretty uncomfortable. The language towards females was pretty grim and the unpleasantness of the male characters was described as feminine. Each wife was described as horrible, mean, selfish, vile and was to be thrown away with the trash and the main character's girlfriend was mentioned about three times. She meant a lot to him but all that we were told was that she had a sexy overbite and he wanted to bed her. For a novel this big and in depth I expected to be able to get to know the characters more but it left me wanting.
I can't say I would really recommend it to be honest, I think my expectations were too high as I was very much looking forward to reading this one...nevermind.

Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Billy and Me in Books
Jun 24, 2019
This is a very, very different genre than I usually read. It was romantic and contemporary and kind of cliche and gross. But I will admit that it was written well.
Despite the gooey topics, this book was easy to sit and read through. The writing was good, though some of the speech didn't feel particularly authentic. My main problem was how cliche this was. A young woman who loves classic literature andworks in a tea shop meets a movie star without realising who he is and falls in love... Yeah, it's kind of a stereotypical romance. I hate this sort of thing. It's tacky and just ugh. But there was more to it than just the romance, which was very good. Sophie had her own issues to deal with, stemming from childhood grief and caring for her mother. It even had a really tragic moment toward the end, that didn't involve the actor - Billy - much at all.
As I mentioned above, the language wasn't always particularly fluid. It sometimes felt like Fletcher was trying too hard to make it more romantic and emotional. Billy was pretty much 'perfect' and extremely romantic, probably extremely unrealistically so. He was likeable, still, just not very realistic.
Sophie herself was a bit... not annoying, but she's not my favourite protagonist ever. She was trying too hard to be unique and strong and independent and it just irritated me. I get what Fletcher was going for (I think) but I just didn't love Sophie that much at all.
Like most other contemporary novels (not that I've actually read many of them), Sophie's life comes together perfectly at the end. Well, not quite perfectly, but the ending was sickly sweet. But I'm a bit of a cynic. You might like this more than me.
Despite the genre and gross cutesy lovey stuff, I think this deserves 3.5 stars. The writing was good and I did actually enjoy reading it.
Despite the gooey topics, this book was easy to sit and read through. The writing was good, though some of the speech didn't feel particularly authentic. My main problem was how cliche this was. A young woman who loves classic literature andworks in a tea shop meets a movie star without realising who he is and falls in love... Yeah, it's kind of a stereotypical romance. I hate this sort of thing. It's tacky and just ugh. But there was more to it than just the romance, which was very good. Sophie had her own issues to deal with, stemming from childhood grief and caring for her mother. It even had a really tragic moment toward the end, that didn't involve the actor - Billy - much at all.
As I mentioned above, the language wasn't always particularly fluid. It sometimes felt like Fletcher was trying too hard to make it more romantic and emotional. Billy was pretty much 'perfect' and extremely romantic, probably extremely unrealistically so. He was likeable, still, just not very realistic.
Sophie herself was a bit... not annoying, but she's not my favourite protagonist ever. She was trying too hard to be unique and strong and independent and it just irritated me. I get what Fletcher was going for (I think) but I just didn't love Sophie that much at all.
Like most other contemporary novels (not that I've actually read many of them), Sophie's life comes together perfectly at the end. Well, not quite perfectly, but the ending was sickly sweet. But I'm a bit of a cynic. You might like this more than me.
Despite the genre and gross cutesy lovey stuff, I think this deserves 3.5 stars. The writing was good and I did actually enjoy reading it.

Juliette Jackson recommended track Auto Neutron by The Fat White Family in Champagne Holocaust by The Fat White Family in Music (curated)

Jeremy King (346 KP) rated Welcome to Marwen (2018) in Movies
Sep 3, 2019
I went in to this thinking it was going to be lame but i truly enjoyed this movie. It was unique concept.
It gives a great perspective of the damage violence/bullying can cause and how one has to deals with violence afterwards.
I think this movie is great for adult but kids and teens might not get the real meaning of this movie and only take it at face value.
For example some people might think his collection of women's shoes is because he wants to crossdress but i believe it is just because he likes them like some guys like classic cars. To him they are art, he even mentions his knowledge about shoes when he was saying that they are the wrong time period. By not being in the mainstream like everyone else and doing what he feels comfortable with he is bullied to the max just for being different.
It gives a great perspective of the damage violence/bullying can cause and how one has to deals with violence afterwards.
I think this movie is great for adult but kids and teens might not get the real meaning of this movie and only take it at face value.
For example some people might think his collection of women's shoes is because he wants to crossdress but i believe it is just because he likes them like some guys like classic cars. To him they are art, he even mentions his knowledge about shoes when he was saying that they are the wrong time period. By not being in the mainstream like everyone else and doing what he feels comfortable with he is bullied to the max just for being different.

Martin Carr recommended track You Trip Me Up by The Jesus and Mary Chain in 21 Singles 1984-1998 by The Jesus and Mary Chain in Music (curated)

BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated The Dark Tower (2017) in Movies
Oct 9, 2017
What the hell did I just watch...well at least it had Idris Elba
The Dark Tower is a really amazing book... I have no idea what the hell they did with this movie there was no character development and it felt like they through you into a movie that had already started so I felt like I was playing catch up most of the time and I've read the first three books in the series.
But hey it had Idris Elba and I could watch the man stand around and do nothing so 3 stars or rather bombs it is.
But hey it had Idris Elba and I could watch the man stand around and do nothing so 3 stars or rather bombs it is.

Dean (6927 KP) rated Titanic 2 (2010) in Movies
May 4, 2019
One of the low budget late night films on the SyFy channel you know will be bad, but you just have to see how bad! It could have been a lot worse, but the minimum budget really effects a film like this that uses a lot of CGI. The effects for the ship at sea are very basic. It doesn't feature a great cast Brooke Burns is the most famous I think, and she is a model! It's a mix of disaster films including Titanic, Poseidon and The day after tomorrow. Only watch if you like cheesy films!

Erika (17789 KP) rated Microsoft Outlook in Apps
May 19, 2019 (Updated May 19, 2019)
So, I'm strange and don't use the email app through android for my different emails. So, I have both Outlook and Google Mail.
It's an alright app in general. The thing that takes it down to just ok is the stupid focused email folder vs the general inbox. I like when the focused email folder has the important things, like shipping confirmations and emails from family, BUT, for some unknown reason, Outlook also places weird junk emails into the folder. Because, you know, my focused inbox needs the weird spam emails in it about the keto diets and help with ED (EYE ROLL).
It's an alright app in general. The thing that takes it down to just ok is the stupid focused email folder vs the general inbox. I like when the focused email folder has the important things, like shipping confirmations and emails from family, BUT, for some unknown reason, Outlook also places weird junk emails into the folder. Because, you know, my focused inbox needs the weird spam emails in it about the keto diets and help with ED (EYE ROLL).