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Renovations (By Design #6)
8.0
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Governor Candace Reid has been in office for just over a month and things have only begun to get...
Lesbian Politics
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Personal Trainer Resistance Bands
Health & Fitness and Sports
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This app can serve as your Personal Trainer for your Resistance or Loop Bands Workouts. The app has...
Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated The Curse of Crow Hollow in Books
Jun 24, 2019
Read the original review on my blog: https://bookmarkedreading.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/book-review-the-curse-of-crow-hollow/
The Curse of Crow Hollow is a story of a town fighting for survival, trying so desperately to maintain their perfect society while tearing it apart themselves. It's written to sound as though you are being spoken to (and I can't help but wonder how anyone would have the time to tell a story this long) and in a rather unique way, as well. The writing style made me think of old-fashioned towns or something, at least until phones and flat-screen TVs are mentioned.
Crow Hollow is home to a witch. Yep, a witch. After her husband was found dead at the roadside, Alvaretta Graves shut herself away in a tiny little cabin in the woods. No one dared to go up there; the whole town knew to stay away from Alvaretta.
But the reader is told of a story that begins with a group of teenagers - Cordelia, Scarlett, Naomi and Hays - who go where nobody has gone for a long, long time. And when an incident involving Cordelia's mother's bracelet, the kids are led right to clearing where Alvaretta settled all those years ago.
After meeting the witch, those kids' lives will never be the same. Nor will any of the lives of their friends, families and neighbours. The witches curse spreads through the town, leaving everyone in panic.
Will they be able to fix their mistakes? Rid the town of evil and return to their normal lives? The chances are slim at best. Despite this, they are determined to try their hardest. The plot was definitely exciting, and there were more than a few elements of surprise in this book. Nothing better than a good old plot twist. But I did find it a little hard to follow, as I got caught up in the details and numerous characters a fair few times. (Who's Landis again? Which one is the doctor?) But like I said, I loved the whole idea of the book and the writing style, despite it being rather different for me. So I'm going to give The Curse of Crow Hollow 3.5 stars out of 5.
The Curse of Crow Hollow is a story of a town fighting for survival, trying so desperately to maintain their perfect society while tearing it apart themselves. It's written to sound as though you are being spoken to (and I can't help but wonder how anyone would have the time to tell a story this long) and in a rather unique way, as well. The writing style made me think of old-fashioned towns or something, at least until phones and flat-screen TVs are mentioned.
Crow Hollow is home to a witch. Yep, a witch. After her husband was found dead at the roadside, Alvaretta Graves shut herself away in a tiny little cabin in the woods. No one dared to go up there; the whole town knew to stay away from Alvaretta.
But the reader is told of a story that begins with a group of teenagers - Cordelia, Scarlett, Naomi and Hays - who go where nobody has gone for a long, long time. And when an incident involving Cordelia's mother's bracelet, the kids are led right to clearing where Alvaretta settled all those years ago.
After meeting the witch, those kids' lives will never be the same. Nor will any of the lives of their friends, families and neighbours. The witches curse spreads through the town, leaving everyone in panic.
Will they be able to fix their mistakes? Rid the town of evil and return to their normal lives? The chances are slim at best. Despite this, they are determined to try their hardest. The plot was definitely exciting, and there were more than a few elements of surprise in this book. Nothing better than a good old plot twist. But I did find it a little hard to follow, as I got caught up in the details and numerous characters a fair few times. (Who's Landis again? Which one is the doctor?) But like I said, I loved the whole idea of the book and the writing style, despite it being rather different for me. So I'm going to give The Curse of Crow Hollow 3.5 stars out of 5.
The Porcelain Thief
Book
In 1938, with the Japanese army approaching from Nanking, Huan Hsu's great-great grandfather, Liu,...
ClareR (6230 KP) rated Lightseekers in Books
Feb 23, 2021
Lightseekers is a fantastic thriller set in Nigeria. I love books set in other countries (i.e. set outside the UK), in the hope that I’ll learn something about the people and the culture - and I think that was exactly the case for both me and the main character, Philip Taiwo in this book. He has lived in the US for long enough to forget how things are done in his home country of Nigeria, and for long enough to be considered an outsider. Luckily for Philip, he has a competent helper in Chika - a man employed as his driver who is clearly much more than just that. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Chika’s capabilities, and he certainly has a way with people that Philip needs to talk to. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not so much.
This isn’t a straightforward, easy investigation. There’s corruption at every turn, and the mob mentality and fear of being caught on the wrong side of that, radiates off the page. It was pretty difficult at times to work out who was on the side of ‘good’ and who wasn’t - the lines were so blurred. It was pretty obvious that social media in this case contributed negatively to what had happened, and how easily its users were manipulated - I’ve been seeing this a lot in books recently, and as a user of Social Media, I can see where these authors are coming from!
I really enjoyed reading this on The Pigeonhole, and I think Femi Kayode is going to be an author to look out for if this book is anything to go by. Thanks Pigeonhole for serialising this, and Femi for joining in the chat in the margins!
This isn’t a straightforward, easy investigation. There’s corruption at every turn, and the mob mentality and fear of being caught on the wrong side of that, radiates off the page. It was pretty difficult at times to work out who was on the side of ‘good’ and who wasn’t - the lines were so blurred. It was pretty obvious that social media in this case contributed negatively to what had happened, and how easily its users were manipulated - I’ve been seeing this a lot in books recently, and as a user of Social Media, I can see where these authors are coming from!
I really enjoyed reading this on The Pigeonhole, and I think Femi Kayode is going to be an author to look out for if this book is anything to go by. Thanks Pigeonhole for serialising this, and Femi for joining in the chat in the margins!
Jar of Hearts
8.3
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This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one...
Of Mates & Magic (Eliza Falls #1)
6.0
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A salty witch struggling to keep her magic to herself and the Wolf who wants to eat her up. Cora:...
Paranornaml Romance Shifters Witches Series
KarenRC (6 KP) rated The Possible World in Books
Jul 23, 2018
This story was just beautiful…
Told from three separate character perspectives –
Ben is a young boy who is the sole survivor of a mass shooting that killed his mother and friends. He appears to have been, understandably, severely affected by the trauma of the shooting and is now insisting his name is Leo. The hospital is desperate to try to find out who he really is so they can get him the help that he needs and, through hypnosis, we get to learn more about Leo and his connection to the story.
Lucy is the ER doctor that treats Ben at the hospital when he is brought in after his traumatic ordeal. Lucy is very competent in her job, regularly left in charge of the department and highly regarded in her role. Her personal life is the opposite and with her marriage on the brink of falling apart she has taken to sleeping at the hospital just to avoid going home.
Clare is a resident at a nursing home who has won an award that she doesn’t want as she is worried her long-buried past will be uncovered. She appears to be a grumpy old woman who just wants to be left alone to live out the rest of her life in peace. She reluctantly makes friends with a new resident Gloria and through her, we hear about Clare’s amazing life story spanning almost a hundred years.
Through each of their individual stories, we learn a lot about each character and the way that they are connected to each other. The writing is absolutely beautiful, the stories are brilliantly interwoven and the whole story is moving, heartwarming and uplifting in equal measure. Not my usual genre, but I am so glad I read it.
Told from three separate character perspectives –
Ben is a young boy who is the sole survivor of a mass shooting that killed his mother and friends. He appears to have been, understandably, severely affected by the trauma of the shooting and is now insisting his name is Leo. The hospital is desperate to try to find out who he really is so they can get him the help that he needs and, through hypnosis, we get to learn more about Leo and his connection to the story.
Lucy is the ER doctor that treats Ben at the hospital when he is brought in after his traumatic ordeal. Lucy is very competent in her job, regularly left in charge of the department and highly regarded in her role. Her personal life is the opposite and with her marriage on the brink of falling apart she has taken to sleeping at the hospital just to avoid going home.
Clare is a resident at a nursing home who has won an award that she doesn’t want as she is worried her long-buried past will be uncovered. She appears to be a grumpy old woman who just wants to be left alone to live out the rest of her life in peace. She reluctantly makes friends with a new resident Gloria and through her, we hear about Clare’s amazing life story spanning almost a hundred years.
Through each of their individual stories, we learn a lot about each character and the way that they are connected to each other. The writing is absolutely beautiful, the stories are brilliantly interwoven and the whole story is moving, heartwarming and uplifting in equal measure. Not my usual genre, but I am so glad I read it.
Ice Journey: A Story of Adventure, Escape and Salvation
Book
Ice Journey is the biography of Vietnam veteran Dave Morgan, a self confessed ordinary bloke who has...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Mountain Between Us (2017) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Dr. Ben Bass and photojournalist Alex Martin are stranded in Boise Airport when their flight is cancelled due to a storm. In an attempt to get home Alex hires a local pilot to fly them back so they can both make their appointments. The three of them, plus the pilot's dog, take off for home in Baltimore, Maryland. But mid-flight Walter the pilot suffers a stroke.
The plane loses control and crashes on a mountain top, leaving Alex unconscious, and Ben and the dog to fend for themselves. While Alex recovers, Ben tends to her wounds, buries Walter in the snow, and turns the wreck of the plane into a shelter.
When Alex wakes up she's a realist, there was no flight plan, the tracker was in the plane's tail which is missing, and they've been there a long time without someone already finding them. She wants to leave the safety of the plane but after Ben makes an unsuccessful search he doesn't want to risk it. While he sleeps she sneaks out of the plane with the dog and heads out into the snowy hills.
The movie certainly got me in the feels, just as well I had the screen all to myself really! I'm not sure that I'd be desperate to see it again, but it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. My only real issue is that it was a very predictable story line. Oh... and the fact that they kept the dog on a leash while trekking across the mountains.
It's currently sitting around the 50% mark on Rotten Tomatoes for both critics and us regular plebs. (Slightly lower for the critics, obviously.) That seems about right, nice film but I don't think I'd need to see it again.
The plane loses control and crashes on a mountain top, leaving Alex unconscious, and Ben and the dog to fend for themselves. While Alex recovers, Ben tends to her wounds, buries Walter in the snow, and turns the wreck of the plane into a shelter.
When Alex wakes up she's a realist, there was no flight plan, the tracker was in the plane's tail which is missing, and they've been there a long time without someone already finding them. She wants to leave the safety of the plane but after Ben makes an unsuccessful search he doesn't want to risk it. While he sleeps she sneaks out of the plane with the dog and heads out into the snowy hills.
The movie certainly got me in the feels, just as well I had the screen all to myself really! I'm not sure that I'd be desperate to see it again, but it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. My only real issue is that it was a very predictable story line. Oh... and the fact that they kept the dog on a leash while trekking across the mountains.
It's currently sitting around the 50% mark on Rotten Tomatoes for both critics and us regular plebs. (Slightly lower for the critics, obviously.) That seems about right, nice film but I don't think I'd need to see it again.