
The Poison Keeper
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Naples 1633 Aqua Tofana – One drop to heal. Three drops to kill. Giulia Tofana longs for...
Historical Fiction Renaissance Italian

The Fall of the House of Fifa
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Fifa was founded in 1904 to unite the football-playing world, its first congress stating that 'no...
sports

I Heard You Paint Houses
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Now filmed as 'The Irishman' starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci 'I heard you paint...

The Brilliant Death
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For Teodora DiSangro, a mafia don’s daughter, family is fate. All her life, Teodora has hidden...
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The Godfather: Corleone's Empire
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Designer Eric Lang, known for his "dudes on a map" games, describes The Godfather: Corleone's Empire...
Boardgames EriclangGames GodfatherGames Miniaturesgames 2017Games

Russ Troutt (291 KP) rated The Many Saints of Newark (2021) in Movies
Oct 4, 2021 (Updated Oct 4, 2021)
It felt like someone stumbled upon a shitty script that partly involved a mafia family and they were like, let's slap Soprano's characters names on these characters and call it a origin story for The Soprano's. The movie is all over the place with a bunch of pointless scenes edited together with characters that aren't developed that ultimately lead nowhere of importance because, as mentioned above, there's no real story here. So sad to see such a great cast wasted on this movie. And sadly, it's so bad it probably ruins the chance of a follow-up movie that could be what this movie should've been. Big pinky finger down for me for The Many Saints of Newark.

Leviathan's Song (The Boundlands #1) by Elsie Winters
Book
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

I Saw The Devil's Face: My Life With Joseph Michael Kalady
Book
"You better hope to God the cops don't come," my babysitter, Joe Kalady, threatened me that day on...
true crime memoir

Bratva's Intern (Bratva's Undoing #1)
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They call me a businessman. And that suits me fine. Let them believe I built my empire with...
Contemporary MM Mafia Romance

Becs (244 KP) rated Restorations in Books
May 22, 2019
I'm generally not a fan of Historical Fictions but my attention was gripped by this intriguing novel. Charles Strickler's writing style is very informative and it doesn't have that "boring history" tone to it. It was rather light and flowed like water. You can also tell that Charles Strickler did a ton of research prior to writing Restorations and it honestly shows.
Restorations follows Miles' journey in recovering a 1928 Stutz Black Hawk Boat Tail Roadster he bought from an auction. There is a mysterious aura around the Black Hawk and Miles is set on getting answers. This journey he takes includes a pretty woman, a few near death experiences, the mafia, and surprisingly loads of action. You're not going to want to miss this!!
"Stop living in your father's shadow."
Characters:
Miles West - the main character who buys the Black Hawk. Nothing overall special that needs to be pointed out about him.
Bramley Ann Fairchild - the auctioneer who sold Miles the car. She ends up helping him figure out the mystery behind the Black Hawk.
Ms. Gardner - basically the mother figure for Miles and she is dead set on trying to get Miles and Bramley together.
Mr. Howe - the lawyer of Carlo Bello. He seems to be absolutely terrified of Bello.
Carlo Bello - a mob leader who will do anything to get what he wants. He's trying to get the Black Hawk from Miles.
Maximilian "Lefty" Webber - the original owner of the Black Hawk that Miles purchased, deceased.
Wil - the repair man.
Reasons why I rated it 4 stars:
1. The plot:
The plot flowed pretty smoothly, minus a few bumps and turns. I did notice a few spots where the plot jumped and there wasn't story/ character development. But overall, it wasn't the worst thing I've read.
2. My enjoyment:
I really enjoyed reading Restorations and would most defiantly reread. I actually sent the review copy I received to a good friend as she is a fan of the mafia and this style of books. (Fingers crossed she enjoys it as well)
3. Character and story development:
There were a few parts where the reader could have used a bit more character and story development/ background, as it lacked. But it really was a great debut novel, especially for it being in Historical Fiction!
4. Grammar and spelling:
Charles Strickler is a great writer and I did not notice any major grammatical or spelling errors. I did find a few that are usually overlooked but they didn't take away from the overall story.
5. The overall story:
I rather enjoyed reading Restorations and would reread. I just wish the parts that seemed to be lacking where able to be added too.
"Accidents happen all the time."