The Silver Ones (The Silver Series, #1)
10.0
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When she has to convince the Alpha of Warden to pick her as his mate, she finds herself...
Paranormal Romance Shifters Witches
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated Bring the Night in Books
Sep 8, 2023 (Updated Sep 8, 2023)
The suicide or murder question is a common trope of mysteries, and this book doesn’t spend long before Nate is certain it was murder. I had a couple of the twists figured out, but I didn’t grasp the full picture until the end. Even then, I had to think about the ending to make sure everything made sense; a little more exposition would have been nice. Nate is fun to be around as always, and the rest of the cast is interesting as well. As a PI novel, there’s a little more language and violence than in the typical novels I read, but it was still minimal. The use of slang from the time is a bit over the top, but it does help bring the period to life. Fans of the genre will be glad they picked up this book.
Heal Yourself: Body ~ Mind ~ Spirit
Book
The body wants to return to balance. It just needs the tools to do so. Heal Yourself ~ Body ~ Mind ~...
Body~Mind~Spirit Healing
Leviathan's Song (The Boundlands #1) by Elsie Winters
10.0
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With the magical mafia knocking down the front door, the last thing Elara needs is to follow the...
Paranormal Romance Portal Fantasy Slow Burn Series
Poetry from My Heart: A Journey through Feelings
Book
Poetry: writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience, in language...
Poetry
Loving the Enemy (7 Forbidden Arts #0)
8.0
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If your father is a powerful criminal, you can't trust anyone, especially not the stranger who saves...
Paranormal Romance Adult
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated Ashes Never Lie in Books
Nov 29, 2024 (Updated Nov 29, 2024)
As a fan of Lee’s other books, I really enjoyed seeing Eve and Duncan pop up in this book. If you haven’t met them before, no need to worry, you’ll easily follow their characters here. Meanwhile, it was nice to get to know Sharpe and Walker more in their second case, this time told from Walker’s third person point of view. Something about the set up didn’t quite work for me, but once the book got rolling, I was hooked all the way to the over the top but still fun climax. We get a little bit of language and crude humor here, but it is kept to a minimum. On the other hand, there are lots of jokes and teasing that I did enjoy. Overall, this is another winner you’ll have a hard time putting down.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated Written in Blood in Books
Jan 30, 2025
I enjoyed the first in the series enough to pick up this book, but I didn’t enjoy this book at all. Yes, some of it was the content in the Kindle version I purchased last year. There was more language, violence, and other stuff that made it hard for me to really enjoy the book. Plus, the mystery really took too long to get going. When we reached the climax, too much was thrown at us without truly explaining why or how it was happening that way. And, I feel like some of the things at the end contradicted the facts we’d gotten earlier in the story. On the other hand, I did like Claudia as a character. I’m not sure that will be enough to pull me further into the series even though I’ve already purchased some of the books.
Pumped (Mars Fitness #3)
10.0
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Love is co-parenting with my worst enemy. Owen Everest is an irresponsible, delinquent,...
Contemporary MM Romance Enemies-to-Lovers Grumpy/Sunshine
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Cold War (2018) in Movies
Feb 15, 2019
I am an "Oscar completist" and, thus, needed to see this film, not because I am a big fan of foreign films or because I am culturally literate, but because the Director of this film, Pawel Pawlikowski, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.
And I'm glad I saw this film, for COLD WAR is a rich, thoughtful, meditation on love and sacrifice that is full of mood and emotion. This film was conceived, written and directed by Pawlikowski and it shows on the screen. There is much heart on display here. It is said that Pawlikowski patterned the two lead characters after the tumultuous relationship of his parents (he even gave them his parents name), so I gotta think there is some knowledge and depth to these characters and their situations that resonate.
I walked into this film not knowing much about the plot or characters and this actually worked in the favor of the film, so I won't say much about it now except to say that this film follows the characters Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) as they experience life and love in Poland in the years just following WWII, the "Cold War" years.
As far as the acting goes, both Kulig and Kot are strong and they share a rich chemistry with each other. The film crackled when these two personalities were on the screen together and didn't crackle when they weren't together, so that must say something for their performances. Anyone else on the screen is "fine" (read: forgettable) in service of the plot and the two leads.
But, make no mistake, this film is a Director's film and Pawlikowski deserves the Academy Award nomination he received. The scenes are lush, and very "European" (lots of shots of still objects with a single viola playing in the background). The film was shot in black and white and this really helps the "behind the Iron Curtain" feel of things.
This film was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, and I think it has a good shot for that award (Pawlikowski is, I feel, a long shot for his award). Which makes this film worth seeing, just know you are getting a Polish language film, centered on two characters, with lots of long, lingering "beauty" shots setting up environment and feel. Don't expect fast pacing and action.
Letter Grade: B+
7 1/2 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)