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Femme Faux Fatale (Dreamspun Desires #70)
Femme Faux Fatale (Dreamspun Desires #70)
Susan Laine | 2018 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
really rather enjoyed this
Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Cain is hired by Ms Astor to find her husband, along with a Rodin statuette. But things don't add up to Cain, and he visits the club she works at to talk to her some more. Lily Lavender is on stage, and she pushes all kinds of buttons that Cain never knew he needed pushing. Riley, the man behind Lily, has a similar reaction to Cain. But Riley is keeping secrets, secrets that have gotten two people killed and Cain needs to know, if they are to get out of this alive.

I really rather enjoyed this!

It's got instant and powerful attraction, it's got steam and passion, it's got a nutty woman, it's got so many levels of secrets! It's deadly too.

Told from both Cain and Riley's point of view, in the third, so we get each and every reaction from both men. Reactions to each other, to the situation around them, to Riley's cross dressing and to Cain very unexpected reaction to that.

Loved Cain's reaction to Riley's cross dressing. It's clear Riley has been treated badly in the past because of that, but Cain is like, AND??? It's part of who Riley is, and Cain just takes it as it is, as Riley is. Cain does, admittedly, rather like Riley in his ladies knickers and stockings, so that helped!

There is a rather long winded conversation between Riley and Cain about pulp fiction and noir films (I think!) bit I got lost with that, mostly because I have no clue what they were talking about, so I glanced over that bit!

I did like the twist as to what was really in the statuettes, and where that led the plot, and just what Ms Astor had, rather that what she THOUGHT she had.

Not quite a one sitting read, but I did stay til after midnight to finish it, when I had a 6am get up!

I've read one other by Ms Laine, I'd like to read some more. She has a way of grabbing you and pulling you in.

4 solid stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
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ClareR (6054 KP) rated Practical Magic in Books

Dec 31, 2017  
Practical Magic
Practical Magic
Alice Hoffman | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.1 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
I'm pretty sure the film was nothing like the book....
Firstly, this isn't at all like the film. I'm really glad that I had a sizeable gap between watching the film and reading the book, because I'm sure I would be picking holes in either one or the other. I really enjoyed this though. The relationships between the three sets of sisters resonated with me in some ways (closeness vs wanting to get away!). I thought it interesting that they clearly had witchcraft knowledge/ ability, but didn't seem to want to use it! Why?! I'd be out there being my best Witch! I have to say that I actually preferred The Rules of Magic: the writing just seemed better. I suppose the author has written a lot of books between this book and its follow up=prequel. The story though is a great one.
  
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs | 2013 | Children, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.9 (128 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hmm...well the word peculiar in the title certainly fits this book exceptionally well! I'm not quite sure what to say about it. It is without a doubt like nothing else I've ever read. The story is interesting & quite the concept...very creative. Yet it still felt like there was something missing, but I'm hard pressed to put my thumb on just what that would be!
The characters are well written & nicely developed. The plot moves along nicely with some twists & turns. The ending left a bit to be desired, but it was very open. I hear there is a sequel in the works so that explains that. It was an okay read & I do think I'd pick up the next book in the series. Maybe it will help me make up my mind on how I feel about Miss Peregrine & her peculiar children. I guess we will see...
  
Ready Player One (2018)
Ready Player One (2018)
2018 | Sci-Fi
Going to be 100% honest from the start here I am a huge fan of the book... Like I've read it 7x kind of fan so when I say I was disappointed in the movie that is a major understatement.

From the beginning and I mean like the first 10 mintues I almost walked out of the movie(but I didn't because I was with other people) because they changed so much and the further they went the worse it got. They tried to be clever and let you know that ut was going to be different but they just changed so much that I couldn't do it.

The only part I liked was how they Art3mis a much more important character.

I even tried watching it again this time knowing I wasing going to be getting the book I loved but nope I still hated it.
  
Show all 6 comments.
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) Jun 5, 2019

*80s references (the app is not letting me edit this morning for some reason).

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Erika (17789 KP) Jun 5, 2019

I actually feel the opposite, I saw the movie before I read the book, and prefer the movie. Ernie approved the script and changes. I wouldn't have been interested in a movie that followed the book so closely.

Red Rising
Red Rising
Pierce Brown | 2014 | Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.4 (34 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have been putting this book off for 2 years now and I have to say, I'm slightly disappointed in myself. Red Rising by Pierce Brown drips with all the goodies that Dystopian novels promise. The characters were interesting and I loved that there were mind games, physical games, and just some well written fight scenes.

I liked the plot but it did seem to borrow from many of the dystopian books I have read in the past. It became almost a game to compare books. That is the main reason I am giving this a 4 star review. I loved the plot but it did feel a little like a mashup of all of the recent and past dystopian books.

All in all, I enjoyed the characters the most and the plot was intriguing when I didn't feel like it was copying different books.
  
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Jon Cryer recommended Aliens (1986) in Movies (curated)

 
Aliens (1986)
Aliens (1986)
1986 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

"Not Alien, which is great, but doesn’t quite hold up, partially because there is a couple of special effects issues. The chest-burster, as originally conceived, just doesn’t work anymore. But Aliens is, in my mind, the perfectly constructed thriller. People forget that it starts off real slow. I mean, there’s like 40 minutes of quiet. And then all of a sudden you can’t leave your seat. It’s beautifully constructed in terms of, every time you think that they’re gonna get some respite, they get a moment to get their stuff together and maybe get out of this, things get worse and yet they somehow keep going. It was one of the most pure moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had. I loved every minute of it and it made me feel lucky to be an audience member. You can’t get around an experience like that."

Source
  
Alice in Zombieland - White Rabbit Chronicles
Alice in Zombieland - White Rabbit Chronicles
Gena Showalter | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
From the title, I was expecting [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|1898443|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Lewis Carroll|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397939992s/1898443.jpg|2933712] only with zombies: a mad hatter, a red queen, white rabbit etc. Well we had a white rabbit but not in animal form, the others were nowhere to be seen and therefore it was nothing like Alice in Wonderland.

She was just a girl who lost her family in an accident and saw zombies for the first time.

To say it was nothing like I expected I have to admit that after those first 50 pages or so that I fell into the story quite easily. Cole had my attention from that first connections with Alice and some of the other guys grew on me too.

I have the second book in the series and I'm sure I'll get around to reading it eventuallybut not yet.
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated You in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
You
You
Caroline Kepnes | 2014 | Crime, Mystery
6
8.0 (27 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is a great debut novel for Kepnes, I haven’t read a stalker book before and was intrigued, however in parts it felt a bit repetitive, I didn’t like any of the characters in the book and I was starting to get a little bored with the story. The book is written in such a way that it feels like Joe is actually talking about you….ha ha ha see what I did there!*hangs head* So it can be a very creepy book depending on how you read it.

Joe is a total psychopath! I didn’t like him at all, he stalks Beck to no-end, he has Facebook, twitter, email accounts and watching her every move. He is obsessed with Beck and is determined to be her boyfriend and nothing will get in his way.The thing that shocked me the most was that he didn’t believe he had issues and that he was actually protecting her from her friends and other men that looked her way.

Beck is so annoying I really didn’t like her, she was an attention seeking little cow-bag, she had her own issues but would flaunt around with no bra on and get dressed in front of her window that had no blinds or curtains. Flirt with pretty much anyone. And I know this is probably awful to say but she brought a lot of this on herself. She is such a user as well, she was stringing Joe along at times just for odd job duties and I was starting to feel sorry for him, but I had to remind myself that he was the one in the wrong and I shouldnt be feeling like this.

I felt the story went on a little too long and I was getting bored in places, it was sometimes just him constantly checking email updates and tweets to see if beck was thinking about him. It was a bit predictable as well, even though I haven’t read a stalker book I figured it out pretty early on.

This is a book that will make you step back and have a reality check, there could be someone stalking you but you just don’t know it. With all the social media and how easy it is for people to access the information is very scary.

This is an adult book and does contain explicit language and sexual scenes so it will not be for everyone or a younger audience.

Overall I rated this 3.5 stars out of 5.