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10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first thing I said to my hubby after I started reading this book was, "It has been WAY too long since I have read a Kristi Ann Hunter book." I absolutely LOVE her style and voice. The humor infused with the stark realities of life. The faith combined with growth. And the adventures...OH, the adventures these characters have is of epic proportions.

The first thing that stood out to me in this story is the completely new-to-me setting and theme. Although set in Regency England, we spend most of our time outside of London in a forgotten manor. Our leading lady is one who has been scorned by society and lives to protect those who would also be outcasts. I love Kit's passion and heart. She learns so much along her journey and in the end, becomes even more beautiful because of the trust she puts in God. Lord Wharton is swoony on all accounts. His love for the children and for Kit produce such tingling sensations as to set my heart ablaze with admiration.

If you are a fan of Regency books and haven't read a Kristi Ann Hinter book...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? If you HAVE read her books...You NEED to get this one in your hands...like yesterday. A Defense of Honor is my favorite KAH story to date and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

I received a complimentary copy of A Defense of Honor through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
  
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Royals
Royals
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Delightful romance.
So I’ll admit. The only reason I picked this book up is because the second book in the series, Her Royal Highness, looks like an adorable lesbian romance and I thought I should start at the beginning of the series. I’m glad I did, because Royals is a delight. Daisy is a spirited, no-nonsense teenager who doesn’t get the appeal of all this “royal” stuff, and she’s not one to mince words for the sake of appearances. As you can imagine, that ruffles a LOT of royal feathers! Add in a posse of noble ne’er-do-wells trying to get in trouble, and you’re in for some fun.

Interestingly, I’m torn now on whether to read the second book! Rachel Hawkins is a fantastic writer, so I have no doubt she’ll write a great second book, but the love interest in the next book, Princess Flora, did not make a great impression on me in this book. I was glad she only made a short appearance. It doesn’t sound like the next book is told from her point of view, though, so maybe it will be okay. The series definitely has a lot of potential, as there’s still several members of the Prince’s posse to tell stories about!

I do enjoy a good royal romance, and these are interesting in that they’re contemporary, so the royals are concerned with their reputation, and treated like massive celebrities, but have lost a lot of their intimidation factor and power when it comes to normal people. Daisy sees it more as an inconvenience than anything else, it seems.

One content warning – there was a scene with an unasked-for kiss that could have been called sexual assault if Daisy had been less charitable about it. It wasn’t malicious. But it was questionable. So beware if that’s something you want to avoid.
  
First Man (2018)
First Man (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama, History
POV launch sequences (1 more)
Claire Foy
A bit slow (2 more)
A little long
Terrible sound mixing
I love a good space movie.
Everyone knows the story of the first moon landing - who, what, where, when, how - but this movie goes a bit deeper than the history books you've read. I'm not spoiling the ending by telling you they land on the moon; you already know this. What you may not know is what led up to that historical moment: the tests, the failures, the losses, the toll taken on the astronauts and their families during NASA's race to the moon. This movie does well in that respect. Claire Foy does an amazing job of making you feel with her and for her. The POV in the launch sequences is terrific. You almost feel like you're in the cockpit with Armstrong as he's launching into space. Really well done.

Now, the bad.
- It was slow, and probably too long.
- Ryan Gosling has exactly one facial expression throughout the entire movie. He goes through the proper emotions, but his face does not. Even when he's crying over the death of his daughter, the only thing that changes about his face is the added tears.
- The sound mixing was terrible. The effects were turned up far too high and the voices far too low, to the point where I sometimes couldn't hear what was being said, and as a result I definitely missed some partial conversations. This is one of my biggest movie pet peeves.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but it's not one I'd need to watch again down the road.
  
I Love You Just the Way You Are
I Love You Just the Way You Are
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Although there is never a bad time to read to a child I Love You Just The Way You Are by Ghabeba Hurkchand seems to lend itself well to a bedtime book. It may also be good after a child has done something wrong and has been punished or is just feeling bad as a good way to reassure them.

This book takes readers through a bear family’s day. The parent bear explains what the cub did and tells that cub that it is loved anyway. It starts out with being grumpy in the morning and tired in the afternoon. It even talks about when leaving home for the day becomes too much for some children. The book finally ends with the parent holding the two cubs and telling them “I love you forever”. It is hard to accurately describe this book, but I highly recommend it.

What I liked best is that all children can be difficult at times and the events in this book are extremely accurate. This book is very specific on things such as not understanding why a child did something, yet reassures them that they are loved. There really is not anything I did not like about this book.

Although children can read this book themselves the content feels more geared towards parents reading it to there children. While I recommend this to all parents some have children that are a little more moody than others and would probably benefit from this book the most. No matter what the age every child should hear how much they are loved daily. I give this book a 4 out of 4 rating. This book is just perfect for reading to children. It touches on very real subjects for children (young) to doubt themselves. The text is also very short and keeps children from getting bored which easily happens.

https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.coom
  
The Haunting of Bly Manor
The Haunting of Bly Manor
2020 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Yet another re-telling of The Turn of the Screw
This is a re-telling of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, written in 1898. The last re-telling was 2020s The Turning, which was terrible. So how is this version?

In the last episode of this series, a character says, "This wasn't a ghost story, it was a love story." which is true. Sort of. It's a ghost story in the fact that it has ghosts in it. It's a love story in that two people fall in love. But it's really all about the characters. They are very good characters & acted out very well. I'll even give Henry Thomas credit for trying a British accent, even if his face contorted like someone was running a current through his face every time he talked. Entire episodes are sometimes devoted to a character. And this is the main problem. It's fine to give some character development, but this series is so stretched out. It's 9 episodes that could have been 3 or 4 episodes and worked out much better. Each person's story also jumps back in time, then forward, then back, then back again, then forward, then back. It's pacing can be real bad & quite frankly can be real boring at times.

Sometimes I think how can this story be remade 35 times now & still there's no great film version. It's a good story. It's an interesting idea. But, it's also weird & sometimes confusing & sometimes all over the place. It's got to be tight, but it's also got to be fleshed out enough that we care about the characters. Which as I said, is what it's all about.

Now, is it a ghost story? I already said yes. Is it a horror series? Well, I would say no. It's not scary. It's not creepy. It doesn't even have jump scares, which is normally good, but I would have enjoyed one or two to be honest. What it does have, as I've stated, is characters. But it also has atmosphere & great settings. The manor itself is almost it's own character. But as much as it is dark & there are things hiding in the corners or even in plain sight, it's just doesn't have that creep factor. Even the little girl shushes a ghost when it won't shut up. There's no sense of real evil or malevolence going on.

Now it sounds like I hated this series, but I didn't. I liked it. It was not what I expected, being the second season of the anthology "The Haunting" series, which started with the phenomenal "The Haunting of Hill House". But, if it had been just like Hill House, I probably would have been bored & just re-watched the first season again. So, I'm glad it was different. But like I said, it was stretched out far longer than it should have been.

Now, after we watched the entire series, my wife said that she liked it & would re-watch it maybe in 5 years. and gives it a 6 out of 10 as well. I'm sure a re-watch would be good for seeing things you did not catch the first time, but feel it'd be better to move on to something different. If you're looking for something scary to watch this Halloween series, then you can skip this. Unless you're in the mood to watch some good actors, playing good characters, with an interesting movie & have lots of free time. However, if you didn't see the first season "Hill House", then watch that instead.
  
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Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) created a post

Apr 6, 2020  
Thank you for all staying with me during this difficult time. I've been trying hard to knuckle down and watch a lot of movies at home at the moment but I am finding it really hard to focus inbetween still working and with the pressures of the current situation constantly on my mind. I am also missing @fandomfanatichere a lot too but we have since found other ways to spend time together ie in the beautiful stars of @nomansskyoffical. ------------------------------------
I would like to say things will return to normal soon but as I can't my simple advice to anyone struggling at the moment is to just try and distract yourself in any way you can. Be it by watching films, playing games, turning your music up loud and singing, reading, cutting your own hair, eating nice food, drawing, crafting, buying that geeky statue you've always wanted or by just enjoying the peaceful bliss of doing nothing for a few weeks its all about looking after you and your mental state first. --------------------------------------
So please please please stay at home, keep yourselves safe and just think after all this blows over how much stronger the bond between loved ones will be, how much you will of learnt about yourself and how amazing its going to feel seeing all those people you have missed again. Love you all. Neon Nans 💜