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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Beauty from Pain (Beauty, #1) in Books
Oct 14, 2019
Well this is a backburner book (#1 on my to-read on Goodreads), having been on my Kindle since some time in January 2014 when it was released. I think I've put off reading it simply because of the "erotica" label it had on Goodreads. It wasn't exactly erotica, though. Yeah, they had quite a lot of sex but there was a romance to it, too.
So this starts with Laurelyn arriving in Australia with her best friend to spend time with her best friends brother for three months as he studies wine making there. On the first night they head out to a bar and take part in an...open mic night? Laurelyn sings and plays the guitar (I think) and attracts the attention of Jack, a man looking for his next lover. Instead of the usual week/month, he plans to spend three months with his next bed fellow, giving her whatever she wishes for and making her feel special. Laurelyn catches his attention and he plans to seduce her into agreeing to his arrangement.
I guess if I was on the receiving end of an attractive rich guy wanting to spend three months with me, getting to know me and spending a lot of that time in bed, I'd enjoy it, too, but I have to admit I got a little bored with this. It was taking a little too long to get where it was going and I skipped entire sex scenes. The books 271 pages felt more like 500.
It had a rather promising start, apart from the slightly stalkerish behaviour of Jack as he tried to meet Laurelyn again, and I enjoyed the slow seduction and how he treated her. But then I didn't really see the relationship grow as such. It didn't work for me, personally.
By the end, I wasn't all that bothered about what was going to happen next with the characters so I won't be continuing the series.
So this starts with Laurelyn arriving in Australia with her best friend to spend time with her best friends brother for three months as he studies wine making there. On the first night they head out to a bar and take part in an...open mic night? Laurelyn sings and plays the guitar (I think) and attracts the attention of Jack, a man looking for his next lover. Instead of the usual week/month, he plans to spend three months with his next bed fellow, giving her whatever she wishes for and making her feel special. Laurelyn catches his attention and he plans to seduce her into agreeing to his arrangement.
I guess if I was on the receiving end of an attractive rich guy wanting to spend three months with me, getting to know me and spending a lot of that time in bed, I'd enjoy it, too, but I have to admit I got a little bored with this. It was taking a little too long to get where it was going and I skipped entire sex scenes. The books 271 pages felt more like 500.
It had a rather promising start, apart from the slightly stalkerish behaviour of Jack as he tried to meet Laurelyn again, and I enjoyed the slow seduction and how he treated her. But then I didn't really see the relationship grow as such. It didn't work for me, personally.
By the end, I wasn't all that bothered about what was going to happen next with the characters so I won't be continuing the series.
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream in Books
Apr 27, 2018
A while back in the beginning of the year, I was offered a copy of Radical for review. I didn't have time, I was loaded down with school, and I wanted fiction, not "God-books." But before I went to college, I was browsing the books in my book store, and saw Radical. I read the back and thought "why didn't I get this earlier?" So I bought it.
Yep, you read right. I, a broke college student, forked over fifteen hard-earned dollars and bought a book.
Probably the best fifteen dollars I've ever spent.
In a sentence: Radical will change your life. It's not a 'feel-good' kind of book, it's a 'dangit-now-i-feel-guilty' kind of book. Platt takes Jesus' commandment to His followers of going and making disciples and puts it in our world, in our day and age, at our level.
Which, as he will show you, is exactly the same as it was 2000 years ago—whether we like to believe that or not.
I don't think I can possibly go a day without thinking about the things I've learned from this skinny little book. I read through it very fast, I journaled and underlined in it, I've re-read sections, I've prayed about it.
Summarizing Radical and the effects it's had on my thinking would be pointless for me to do: it would be better for you to get a copy for yourself and read it, cover to cover. Trust me when I say there is no going back, there is not excuse. After reading this book, a question is posed: What is Jesus worth to you?
Recommendation: All ages
Yep, you read right. I, a broke college student, forked over fifteen hard-earned dollars and bought a book.
Probably the best fifteen dollars I've ever spent.
In a sentence: Radical will change your life. It's not a 'feel-good' kind of book, it's a 'dangit-now-i-feel-guilty' kind of book. Platt takes Jesus' commandment to His followers of going and making disciples and puts it in our world, in our day and age, at our level.
Which, as he will show you, is exactly the same as it was 2000 years ago—whether we like to believe that or not.
I don't think I can possibly go a day without thinking about the things I've learned from this skinny little book. I read through it very fast, I journaled and underlined in it, I've re-read sections, I've prayed about it.
Summarizing Radical and the effects it's had on my thinking would be pointless for me to do: it would be better for you to get a copy for yourself and read it, cover to cover. Trust me when I say there is no going back, there is not excuse. After reading this book, a question is posed: What is Jesus worth to you?
Recommendation: All ages
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The Witcher in TV
Dec 30, 2019
I learned of The Witcher through the video games. When I heard Netflix was making a series about it, I was ecstatic. I will say the series doesn't disappoint!
The plot and other story lines in this are solid. There is plenty of action with a tiny bit of romance thrown in. This series follows the books very closely. The sword fighting scenes are epic and are choreographed brilliantly! One of the things that I found very confusing though was the timelines taking place. It's all over the place, and you don't really know whether you're watching something in the present or something that happened previously in each scene. It would have been nice to have something on the bottom of the screen saying "10 year earlier" or something similar.
The acting is spot on in The Witcher. Henry Cavill plays Geralt perfectly. While the actress who plays Yennefer is a great actress, I don't think she's a great fit for Yennefer. Yennefer is supposed to be very beautiful, but Anya Chalotra is a bit too plain. There are so many actresses they could have had to play Yennefer, yet they go with the one who's not very striking. The man who plays Jaskier was also a good fit, and Freya Allen (Ciri) was also perfect. I also thought Triss was also perfectly casted. (In the books, Triss' hair is a chestnut/auburn color. It's only in the games where she has red hair.)
I hate waiting over a year for the next season, but it is what it is. I will definitely be watching though!
The plot and other story lines in this are solid. There is plenty of action with a tiny bit of romance thrown in. This series follows the books very closely. The sword fighting scenes are epic and are choreographed brilliantly! One of the things that I found very confusing though was the timelines taking place. It's all over the place, and you don't really know whether you're watching something in the present or something that happened previously in each scene. It would have been nice to have something on the bottom of the screen saying "10 year earlier" or something similar.
The acting is spot on in The Witcher. Henry Cavill plays Geralt perfectly. While the actress who plays Yennefer is a great actress, I don't think she's a great fit for Yennefer. Yennefer is supposed to be very beautiful, but Anya Chalotra is a bit too plain. There are so many actresses they could have had to play Yennefer, yet they go with the one who's not very striking. The man who plays Jaskier was also a good fit, and Freya Allen (Ciri) was also perfect. I also thought Triss was also perfectly casted. (In the books, Triss' hair is a chestnut/auburn color. It's only in the games where she has red hair.)
I hate waiting over a year for the next season, but it is what it is. I will definitely be watching though!
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Blood, Ink & Fire in Books
Dec 14, 2018
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </i>
Imagine a world without books… In this dystopian novel by Ashley Mansour, that is exactly what the world is like. <i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> is set in the future where not only are books non-existent, it is illegal to know how to read. Noelle Hartley has grown up in the United Vales of Fell, where a computer controls what she hears, sees and feels by showing her a constant stream of artificial images. But, Noelle knows she is different. Unlike her parents she is able to question the meanings of the pictures, and when a rebellious group hacks into the system, forcing words onto their screens, Noelle is able to read them.
With the help of her blind friend, John, Noelle and her grandfather escape from this controlling society and find people living on the outside who are against what Fell is doing to humanity. Noelle learns facts about her grandfather’s past that she could never have imagined as well as discovering secrets about herself. Noelle is a reader and is told by members of the past generations that it is not true that all the books were destroyed. There are nine volumes hidden in various locations, which when brought together will become the key to unlock the knowledge that has been banned for so long. It is Noelle’s job to find them.
It is scary how plausible this post-literacy world is. Mansour includes three quotes before the beginning of the novel from the years 1987, 2008 and 2014 that put forward fears that books and our ability to read is becoming less important with the advancement of the internet. Humanity is becoming less intelligent and more controlled by what they see on their computers. Brains do not need to think as much as the answers are all online. Even whilst reading the narrative, there are aspects that are frighteningly familiar. The idea of a continuous stream of images is similar to current social medias such as Tumblr and Pinterest, where users feel compelled to scroll through the entire feed to view all of the latest posts.
There is however a part of this novel that is entirely fiction and would be impossible to ever occur. One of the characters is a bit of an enigma, a piece of the past inhabiting a human body. Literacy personified. This causes the storyline to be less credible, thus readers will view this as a piece of fiction (which it is) and be less likely to take the warning about the Internet changing people’s brains to heart.
<i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> is a really fascinating story that is exciting from start to finish. It is full of clever ideas, making it unique from other books in this genre. It is also evident that Mansour undertook a vast amount of research, particularly of Shakespeare’s plays, as there was a reference to the playwright and his work in nearly every chapter, from character names to plots. Those familiar with Shakespeare will benefit from these allusions as they make the narrative flow effectively from beginning to end. It is, however, possible to read and enjoy without any prior knowledge of Shakespeare – you may even learn something new from reading this book.
I highly recommend <i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> to book lovers and dystopian fiction fans. It feels similar in style to <i>The Darkest Minds</i> trilogy by Alexander Bracken, and with series such as <i>The Hunger Games</i> and <i>Divergent</i> being brought to the big screen, this new young adult book is bound to be popular. This was Ashley Mansour’s debut novel and I am keen to discover what she will write next.
Imagine a world without books… In this dystopian novel by Ashley Mansour, that is exactly what the world is like. <i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> is set in the future where not only are books non-existent, it is illegal to know how to read. Noelle Hartley has grown up in the United Vales of Fell, where a computer controls what she hears, sees and feels by showing her a constant stream of artificial images. But, Noelle knows she is different. Unlike her parents she is able to question the meanings of the pictures, and when a rebellious group hacks into the system, forcing words onto their screens, Noelle is able to read them.
With the help of her blind friend, John, Noelle and her grandfather escape from this controlling society and find people living on the outside who are against what Fell is doing to humanity. Noelle learns facts about her grandfather’s past that she could never have imagined as well as discovering secrets about herself. Noelle is a reader and is told by members of the past generations that it is not true that all the books were destroyed. There are nine volumes hidden in various locations, which when brought together will become the key to unlock the knowledge that has been banned for so long. It is Noelle’s job to find them.
It is scary how plausible this post-literacy world is. Mansour includes three quotes before the beginning of the novel from the years 1987, 2008 and 2014 that put forward fears that books and our ability to read is becoming less important with the advancement of the internet. Humanity is becoming less intelligent and more controlled by what they see on their computers. Brains do not need to think as much as the answers are all online. Even whilst reading the narrative, there are aspects that are frighteningly familiar. The idea of a continuous stream of images is similar to current social medias such as Tumblr and Pinterest, where users feel compelled to scroll through the entire feed to view all of the latest posts.
There is however a part of this novel that is entirely fiction and would be impossible to ever occur. One of the characters is a bit of an enigma, a piece of the past inhabiting a human body. Literacy personified. This causes the storyline to be less credible, thus readers will view this as a piece of fiction (which it is) and be less likely to take the warning about the Internet changing people’s brains to heart.
<i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> is a really fascinating story that is exciting from start to finish. It is full of clever ideas, making it unique from other books in this genre. It is also evident that Mansour undertook a vast amount of research, particularly of Shakespeare’s plays, as there was a reference to the playwright and his work in nearly every chapter, from character names to plots. Those familiar with Shakespeare will benefit from these allusions as they make the narrative flow effectively from beginning to end. It is, however, possible to read and enjoy without any prior knowledge of Shakespeare – you may even learn something new from reading this book.
I highly recommend <i>Blood, Ink & Fire</i> to book lovers and dystopian fiction fans. It feels similar in style to <i>The Darkest Minds</i> trilogy by Alexander Bracken, and with series such as <i>The Hunger Games</i> and <i>Divergent</i> being brought to the big screen, this new young adult book is bound to be popular. This was Ashley Mansour’s debut novel and I am keen to discover what she will write next.
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