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Slow Burn (Driven, #5)
Slow Burn (Driven, #5)
K. Bromberg | 2015 | Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Read in one sitting!? Kristy has done it again... beautiful, moving, painful, heartbreaking, sexy.. there are just not enough words to describe the feelings when reading this book. Touching on very intense and personal subjects, she handles it beautifully. The pain, torment and fear that Haddie deals with shows you a new side to this crazy and full of life character, who is so weighed down by her fears and wanting to protect those she loves, yet she just can't admit how much she needs them too. Then, of course, there are some Rylee and Colton appearances, which is like seeing old friends. Can't say enough how much I loved this book... I cried, I laughed... wow, Kristy, just WOW!?
  
A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die by The Flesh Eaters
A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die by The Flesh Eaters
1981 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"We played with the line-up from this album at 2007's All Tomorrow's Parties. We were allowed to curate a day and we brought them over. That record A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die just got reissued on Superior Viaduct and they played a couple of shows in California. Danny Bland - a guy I knew from way back from the band Cat Butt, works very closely for Dave Alvin from Flesh Eaters [and The Blasters] - asked me if they came to Seattle, would we want to play with them and I was like: "Fuck yeah!" They were great man. They exceeded expectations I think and there were a lot of people at the show who were probably not familiar with the record but were familiar with the guys. They're like "we like The Blasters, we like X" but it's a totally different beast to those bands. It's got more of a Captain Beefheart, early Dr. John feel to it with the marimbas on the record, the Steve Berlin sax (another record with sax!). It was kind of an anomaly at the time. It was part of the punk scene but it wasn't a punk record. There was this thing at the time that I confused it with at first - bands like 45 Grave and Christian Death and the Dance With Me-era TSOL where everything was kind of getting satanic. I initially lumped it in with that stuff but it's so much better and further ahead of the game than that. The record for me was kind of a slow burn. I worked in a radio station and when it came in I put it on a cassette with a more normal hardcore band on the other side. I eventually found myself fast-forwarding through the hardcore side and just listening to A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die over and over again. It wasn't like initially "this is great!", it was more like "this is weird!" to a 19-year-old. Chris Desjardins' lyrics are awesome and dense and intense and pretty much like Nick Cave's. Both those guys - they don't write short, concise pop songs."

Source
  
Fifty Shades Freed
Fifty Shades Freed
E.L. James | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.3 (45 Ratings)
Book Rating
Okay listen, this is my favorite book of all of them - including the Christian perspective novels and when I said on my other reviews that I would rage about this one not having a book written in his perspective, I didn't think I'd be this angry about it. There is so much juice in this novel - lots of thrill, the fighting (Ana FINALLY grows some cajones and stands up to Christian and that's the most satisfying character development), I NEED a Christian perspective!!! It would round out this series so nicely.

There is this whole section of the middle of the book involving Ray that just feels dumb and useless. It was like it was thrown in there because they needed more pages and I almost think that the production staff on the film agreed because that plotline doesn't happen in the film.

Again, I wish more than anything that there was a Christian perspective. After reading the other 2 books from his point of view and knowing what was happening in his head at certain points, I found myself really craving that with this novel. There's this one fight that happens and I so wanted to be inside his head to know what he was thinking!! Does anyone want to start a petition with me to get E.L. James to write it?

Anyways, I think that this is the best novel of all of them. I think that it's the climax of the story, anything more than these 3 novels and it would've just felt like too much. I don't have any desire to read any of the other books again but I could find myself wandering back to this one to read as a filler if I wasn't sure where I wanted to go next. Overall, there are definitely some holes in the story, some dead parts that could've just been cut entirely, and obviously I still have a major issue with the dialogue BUT it's still my favorite. It's a guilty pleasure. It's worth reading just to say you did.

I'm a little more sad to be done than I thought I would be but I suppose it's time to bid Christian Grey adieu. After watching the last movie, of course.
  
40x40

James Dean Bradfield recommended Doppler by R. Seiliog in Music (curated)

 
Doppler by R. Seiliog
Doppler by R. Seiliog
2013 | Alternative, Psychedelic, Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It really gave me inspiration when we were finishing Futurology - this was flying around in Cardiff before its release. Because there was quite a big Krautrock influence on 'Futurology' itself, it was just nice to be reminded of how other people were still ingesting those influences and making use of them. I'm not very good at researching people on the internet so I never know the background to many people's stories really, but this album Doppler is seamlessly out of the box. Just a great record. You hear it and you think, "This guy, one day, is gonna win an Oscar for best soundtrack or he's going to launch the best inspired pop synth duo of all time." There's just something there; there's a song called 'Dollygluten' and another song called 'Neigwl Vacuums' and another song called '23.4'. Just all classics. I love it when there's a sense of mystery about a record. I don't know what his MO is, I don't really know what the songs are about, there's no narrative from the vocal, but he's one of those people who's just popped out fully formed and said, "Hey, look what I'm doing!" I don't really know what he looks like - I don't know how to switch the computer on. But it's just one of those records that I absolutely love. And there's something endless about that Krautrock catalogue that allows people to reinvent the near future, which is great, I think."

Source
  
L
Lucid
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review can also be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).

When I first heard of Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass, I knew it was one of those books that I definitely had to read. At first I thought I was going to be disappointed with this book, but it completely took me by surprise!

Lucid tells the story of two girls - Maggie and Sloane. They are as different as night and day except for one thing, they each dream of each other. As the story progresses, each girl falls in love and is afraid that maybe theirs is the world that is actually just a dream. The question is which girl is just a dream and which one is real?

Merriam-Webster defines the world lucid as "having full use of one's faculties: sane." I think the title of this book definitely suits it. Everyone around Maggie and Sloane think they may be going insane. Also, since this is a book about dreaming, Lucid works well.

I don't really like the cover besides the fact that it's shiny. Other than being shiny, the cover is a bit to boring and plain for my liking. I wish it was a bit more decorative instead of just a girl lying in a bed upside down.

The world building for Maggie and Sloane was fantastic! I love how the authors made each girl seem real and like their reality was the real one. It was difficult to tell who was real and who wasn't right up until the very end.

The pacing started out so very slowly for the first half of the book. In fact, it was so slow, that I felt like I was torturing myself reading it, but I really hate not finishing a book. Plus, I was hoping it would get better. Luckily, it get way better. It was almost as if I was reading a whole different book with how suddenly the pacing changed! I found myself reading the second half of the book like there was no tomorrow. It was just so good!!

I enjoyed both the characters of Sloane and Maggie. Although, if I'm honest, I did like Sloane a bit better than Maggie. Sloane seemed to be more grounded whilst Maggie was just a bit too all over the place for my liking. Plus, I felt more like I could be friends with Sloane. There are a few points in the book where the characters come across as being older then they are judging by their language. Plus, Maggie's seven year old sister sounded more like she was Maggie's age. I've never known a seven year old to speak and act like her!

The dialogue was a bit boring at the beginning of the book, but like the pacing, it definitely gets better in the second half. As I stated in the previous paragraph, there were times when the characters appeared to be much older than they actually were. I think the authors seemed to forgot how teenagers talk (as well as seven year olds). There's some acting terminology that's not really explained like the word "flunky" which I still don't know really what that means. There's quite a bit of swearing in this book, so this is definitely more on the side of mature young adult.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book even if the first half was painfully slow. The ending of the book was quite good and unpredictable albeit a bit confusing. I'm still a bit confused about the ending, but maybe that's just me.

I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 16+ due to the language and themes.
  
JL
Just Like in the Movies (Summer Heat)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review was originally posted over on Lily Loves Indie here - http://lilylovesindie.co.uk/?p=201

As with 'Right Click, Love', I really don't know where to start showering praise on this story. A happy ever after but with all the integrity and realism of the life of someone who just got lucky. Quirky, easy to relate to, completely believable and just a delight to read. There are so many things I just loved about it that I'm struggling to put them into words. That being said, you might need to wade through some gushing from myself as I try to pin down just a few key features for you....

I guess I'll start with Ava. She is so like me it is unbelievable, down to the relationships and everything (the books, the pets, the house). But I don't think that is the only reason I love her, it's her down to earth attitude to life and her personality as a whole. She's just so likeable! And so utterly believable as well! It's like she just hops out the page and starts talking to you, like a friend we probably all have (or the person we are in my case), she's just a delightful lead character. Her relationship with Morgan, and her friendship with Erica are also incredibly well written, again believable, realistic and enjoyable interactions throughout. They're all characters that we could encounter at work or amongst friends, and as a result of that we can engage with them so much easier, welcoming them into our lives like we would their real life counterparts. I've digressed, and waffled (no change there!) but what I'm getting at is that they are all fabulous characters, but especially Ava, she just has a certain something that makes her that extra bit more wonderful.

Another thing which I loved was the style in which this was written. Feeney includes everything we need to know, yet cleverly leaves little gaps to stimulate our imagination. I love finding this in a book as it gives the reader a little scope to make the characters their own, there's that little bit of wriggle room for interpretation. There's also a wonderfully dry sense of humour to Feeney's writing, a sort of wit and sarcasm that feels so natural and enjoyable to read. It makes it feel familiar, and it's more like chatting with a friend rather than reading a book. It's very well done and is so enjoyable to read, a much needed change from the ooey-gooey romances that line the shelves at the moment!

When you consider the length of the book, and the amount of content included, plus the space for your own ideas, Feeney shows great skill in developing a wonderful plot and cast of characters in such a relatively short amount of pages. This makes it so much easier for you to read because you get all the enjoyment and detail you'd find in a full length novel, yet you could easily read the story in a day without feeling you were being cheated or missing any of the action. I've not encountered many authors who has grasped such a skill for this genre and length, but Feeney is definitely one of them. She pitches it perfectly every time, doesn't miss a beat or opportunity to seize on a plot development point yet still keeps us guessing as to exactly what is going to happen. Even though I had an inkling Ava and Morgan would get it on, I in no way expected the ending that occurred!

In conclusion, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book is rather amazing. I experienced a wide range of emotions, from warm fuzzies, to anger, laughing and crying, tutting at characters and cheering them on. For such a short story it doesn't half pack a punch, but I'm learning that this is Feeney's style. I cannot recommend this story highly enough, and really, truly, honestly think you should all go add it to Goodreads lists, and one-click it on Amazon UK or Amazon US.
  
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)
V.E. Schwab | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
I pick this book just after finishing “Shades of Magic” trilogy. I wanted to read more V.E Schwab and I like the premises of the story.

Things I like:
- The main idea of the book. Violence creates real and deadly monsters. I thought the was very unique.
-The idea of killing using something as beautiful as music create a beautiful was conflicted
-August is such a complex character. Was born from the worst act of violence, he very own nature is to kill humans that have committed crimes but his heart he just wants to be normal.
- How morally grey the whole story was and how it makes you reflect on how people think and act and how sometimes people do bad things for good reason and if they should or not being all punished in the same way.
- The relation between the two main characters. Their relationship grew in a nice and mature way.
-It does reflect some issue that we have in our society.

Things I didn’t like:
- Cliche school scene. Our two protagonists are teenagers and the beginning of the book start with a loot of overused scene.
  
The Forest
The Forest
2014 | Action/Adventure, Horror, Simulation
Interesting Story (4 more)
Interactive, Open World
Peaceful Mode
Immersive
Great Survival Game
cannibals (2 more)
mutants
caves
Scarily Fun
This game has been my most recent obsession. I love playing it. It takes a lot of play to actually piece together what's going on, but you can just have fun without the story. I play more often on peaceful mode which allows me to just explore the island, and craft houses and other things. The game revolves around finding your son, who was kidnapped after your plane crashed on an island. There are a bunch of underground caves that you have to explore to find different items and clues that explain what's really going on around the island. However, you also have to fight off mutants and cannibals who roam the island trying to kill you while you're trying to survive and find your son. Overall, I really like the game; it has an interesting concept and story, and even just on peaceful mode, you can spend hours exploring, hunting, building, crafting, and just surviving in the forest.