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Do Not Disturb (Resort Romances #1)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Do Not Disturb by Mary Billiter

Four Stars

The story revolved around a young woman still coming into herself. She wants independence but hasn’t found that dream job to make it happen. She puts herself out there and might have even struck gold. I don’t usually enjoy love triangles because someone always gets hurt. The story was written very tastefully. It wasn’t overly dramatic where there was always something happening. The characters were enjoyable and I feel that Katie was a brave and determined character. It was a little slow at the beginning but it started to pick up after a few chapters. This was a new spin a romance and a woman’s determination to be her own boss. I look up to women who can hold it down on their own but softens when needed. We have too learn how to let go of the reins when someone else comes a long to be that support we need. The author did a really good job on bringing flaws and personality to the characters.
  
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Merissa (11731 KP) rated Songbird (The Tudor Court #1) in Books

Apr 13, 2021 (Updated Jul 27, 2023)  
Songbird (The Tudor Court #1)
Songbird (The Tudor Court #1)
Karen Heenan | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
SONGBIRD is the first book in the Tudor Court series, and we are introduced to the world of King Henry VIII, and his love of music. Bess is sold to the King just before her tenth birthday and, with hard study and lots of practice, becomes a favourite of his. We stay with her as she grows from a young child, to a young woman, with friends and lovers along the way.

Reading about Henry, Katherine, Mary, and the Boleyn sisters, from a servant's perspective made it all the more fascinating. Her life at court is comfortable, but she is still a servant. There is romance for Bess, from Tom, who was with her from the start, to Nick, a courtier currently in favour with the King. Bess has her own choices to make, some of which end up being heartbreaking.

If I had one thing to say, it would be I was disappointed we skipped so much of Henry's reign, but then, if we'd had it all, it would have been enough for more books! A fascinating story, with realism and character development a-plenty. This was a book I thoroughly enjoyed and have no hesitation in recommending, and I am so happy to see there is a second book in this series!

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 13, 2021
  
My Big Book of Bible Heroes Devotional
My Big Book of Bible Heroes Devotional
Glenn Hascall | 2018 | Religion
10
5.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
My Big Book of Bible Heroes Devotional by Glenn Hascall is a wonderful devotional. I am a teacher at a private Seventh-day Adventist school. I read this devotional to my students and they really enjoyed it. This devotional is colorful and easy-to-read, focusing on 50 Bible characters; such as, David, Mary, Ruth, Daniel, and Samson and something heroic about their lives. There are also some less familiar people included which will teach children their stories, too. The format is nicely laid out with a Scripture reference, devotion, and a short prayer followed by five questions to encourage individual introspection.

This is an educational and encouraging devotional for girls and boys aged 7 to 12. The reading level is 2nd/3rd and the message is not only interesting but thought provoking. This devotional shows kids that heroes are everyday people. God uses and loves us all. It would make a great devotional for grade school children and even lower middle schoolers. The book could be very useful in shaping the character of young lives as they look at real heroes from the Bible.
  
Timeless: Recreate the Most Iconic Looks from 100 Years of Beauty
Timeless: Recreate the Most Iconic Looks from 100 Years of Beauty
Louise Young | 2017 | Art, Photography & Fashion
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The hardcover version of Timeless: A Century of Iconic Looks by Louise Young, Loulia Sheppard is a stunning and informative book for recreating the most striking make-up and hair styles of the 20th century with step-by-step guides. If you love fashion, different hairstyles and the make-up that goes with these different years, I can see you loving this.

Timeless is indeed a beauty of a book, with glossy photos and clear, concise ‘how to’ steps to recreate the styles and make-up from the early years, and the jazz-age flapper 1930s right up to the 1980s and beyond.

I’m a fan of the sixties, Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy models, and designer Mary Quant, who all influenced the UK and made London an icon fashion hub back in the day. So I really liked how there was quite a chunk dedicated to this (and other) hairstyle and make-up periods. I wish I was old enough to have lived in this era!

It’s also amazing to see just how long brands like Max Factor, Yardley, Ponds, Elizabeth Arden and Revlon have been going. And sad to read how much of the make-up was bought from much-loved shops like Woolworths, which I do remember! (The shop, not buying make-up in the 60s!)

The cultural revolution of the 1960s saw innovative make-up formulations produced, boundaries being pushed and the youthful Swinging London scene influencing looks all over the world. ?????????”

Put together by renowned film, television and make-up artist Louise Young, along with leading film industry hairstylist Loulia Sheppard, this is an outstanding book full of tips, tricks and stunning photos. Whether you’re a fashion guru or just like this as a coffee table book, it’s definitely a conversation starter.
  
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
1974 | Classics, Comedy, Horror
Stand out performances from Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, and Marty Feldman. (2 more)
Written by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks
Great parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Some crude humor (0 more)
Young Frankenstein is a comedy horror film from 1974 directed by Mel Brooks, also known for his work on Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs. The film follows Gene Wilder's character of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, or should I say Froderick Fronkenstein, as he discovers that he has inherited the estate of his grandfather Victor von Frankenstein. It's interesting to see Wilder go from a calm and collected neuroscience professer to a stark raving madman throughout his performance. The film also benefits from being filmed entirely in black and white, evoking the style of old Universal horror movies from the 1930s. Most of the jokes land, making this film a treat to watch. However, some of them are a bit crude and reference sexual activities, so some people may be a bit turned off by them. The good thing is that there aren't that many of these types of crude jokes so it's not quite so overbearing. In conclusion, this is really one of Mel Brooks' best films and one of Wilder's best performances in his career. Go check it out this Halloween.
  
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ClareR (5589 KP) rated Hold in Books

May 9, 2018  
Hold
Hold
Michael Donkor | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A coming of age story
A coming of age story, set between Ghana and London, this is the story of Belinda, a housegirl, who moves to London to help the daughter of her employers friends. Amma (the friends daughter) has become withdrawn and is struggling with something in her life - not her studies though, she's a straight A student. She won't talk to her parents about it, and to begin with, it doesn't look as though she'll talk to Belinda either. Their friendship builds over a period of weeks and months. In this time, Belinda goes back to school in order to gain some qualifications. She seems to feel guilty of having left her fellow housegirl, who she refers to as sister (even though the 12 year old Mary is not her sister by blood, they have bonded over being in the same circumstances of separation from their families at young ages).
This novel explores African attitudes towards sexuality, family and responsibility. It's funny at times, but also incredibly moving. I really enjoyed it. We can see the contrast between life in a Ghanaian city and village, and the difference again between those places and London. A fascinating novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this fantastic book.
  
The Du Lac Prophecy (The Du Lac Chronicles #4)
The Du Lac Prophecy (The Du Lac Chronicles #4)
Mary Anne Yarde | 2018 | History & Politics, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Du Lac Prophecy (The Du Lac Chronicles #4) by Mary Anne Yarde
The Du Lac Prophecy is the fourth book in The Du Lac Chronicles, and we return to Merton, now known as Galahad, and Amandine - following her daring rescue from under the nose of Mordred and the Archbishop of Rome.

The first few pages of this book are brutal and heartbreaking. There is so much sorrow and horror, I was immediately emotional and completely immersed within the story, and the characters' lives. The thing is, the thing that makes Mary Anne Yarde an outstanding storyteller is the fact that some of the emotion comes from a pair of horses!

This IS book four, and it would certainly help if you have read the previous books, just so you get the full appreciation of the other characters strengths and foibles. This is also quite involved, so it would help to have the background on what is going on.

I am happy to report Tegan once again plays a part in this story, with her becoming a more important character than previously recognised. I can't wait to see where this particular thread is going, and how it will be woven within the main story tapestry.

Arthur and his knights have held a fascination for me from a very young age, and I have always wanted to write their story. Alas and Alack! I am unable to do that, but instead I have the greatest pleasure to lose myself in their story as told by this amazing author.

As a final, technical note, I am happy to say there were no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow. The pacing is smooth, and the story, even with so many different threads, still manages to keep the reader involved, and not confused. I would definitely recommend reading this series in order. I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. Absolutely and utterly recommended.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Gary Dauberman
Writer: Gary Dauberman (Screenplay) James Wan (Story)
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Michael Cimino, Samara Lee
 
Plot: While babysitting the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a teenager and her friend unknowingly awaken an evil spirit trapped in a doll.

Tagline – The Next Chapter In The Conjuring Universe
Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
 
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
 
Verdict: Relentless Scares
 
Story: Annabelle Comes Home starts one year after the Warren’s Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) bring the Annabelle doll home, knowing its power to control the other items inside their blessed room. With Ed and Lorraine going on a business trip, it leaves their daughter Judy (Grace) with girl next door babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman), who has planned a little birthday surprise.
When Mary Ellen’s best friend Daniela (Sarife) decides to visit, with questions about the house, getting a moment alone, she sneaks into the blessed room, only to unleash a host of evil upon the three for a night of terror, all thanks to the dreaded Annabelle doll.
 
Thoughts on Annabelle Comes Home
 
Characters – Judy Warren is the daughter of the famous paranormal investigators, she is treated differently at school because of this, with some students being scared, while others just bully her, she does see spirits too and is a shy little girl, she just wants to make friends like any young girl and is struggling with the fact nobody will be her friend except her babysitter Mary Ellen. She does know how to handle herself when hauntings start happening around her house though. Mary Ellen is the girl next door babysitter, she might well be worried about who will take her to homecoming, but she is a friend that Judy needs. Daniela Rios is the best friend of Mary Ellen, she invites herself over to look around, in hopes that she could find a way to connect with her deceased father, whose death was an accident, but she believes was her fault, she unleashes all the evil items on the household, which would make her truly horrible, until you add in the reason why she is trying to find forgiveness. Ed and Lorraine are the familiar faces, only they are basically extended cameos in the film. Bob is the love interest of Mary Ellen and he does through the generic awkward moments of trying to ask her out, he is good for a laugh too.
Performances – McKenna Grace takes over the role of the daughter, she does make us believe that her character has become distant from the world around her, makes us believe she is feeling lonely and isolated too. Madison Iseman makes for an easy pick for the babysitter, she comes off friendly and gives the scream level required to show the fear. Katie Sarife is strong as friend who unleashes everything, somehow making a character we could hate feel sympathy towards. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson do seem to be here as a draw, only they are barely even in the film.
Story – The story here follows a babysitter’s friend visiting the Warren’s house who unleashes all the evil from the safety, only for the three girls needing to put a halt to this before they can become the latest victims of the curses they have. This story does have a few positives and negatives, the first positive being see how the daughter of the Warren’s is struggling with making connections in life because of their work, we could have easily dived deeper with this, but it was nice to see a change in why somebody is isolated. The pure number of different evil figures we meet through the film is brilliant to see because this opens the doors to seemingly endless amounts of spin off movies now, which could be seen as a negative because, while this is an Annabelle movie, it does tend to focus on the other evil, instead of the main one attached to Annabelle. We could get into character decisions, which aren’t the smartest especially when it comes to knowing who the character of Judy is meant to be.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film, is an endless amounts of jump scares, this does work because each does have its own way of being effective, even if a lot if music goes silent and either a boom or something charging the screen. The mystery comes from each new evil that we get to see, we get glimpses into a few leading us to only want to know more.
Settings – The film is set in one singular location, the Warren house, this has all the evil set up within it, which means once it comes out and traps them, they don’t know what will come next.
Special Effects – The effect in the film are strong throughout, with each creation look different, with a couple of tricks for the Ferryman coming off nicely.

Scene of the Movie – The circular shot, I am a fan of this shot even if it was the same as the Nun.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – I can’t help but think one of the rules for babysitting at the Warren’s, would be, anything slightly strange happens, get out until we come home.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice jump scare filled horror, it has plenty of references to the previous films and does leave us wanting more from this universe.
 
Overall: Jump scares for everyone.
Rating
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated Don't You Cry in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Mary Kubica | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the first book that I have read by Mary Kubica and I wasn’t disappointed. I thought I knew how the story was going to pan out and that it would be somewhat predictable, however I was very wrong! This is a mystery/thriller book told from 2 alternating points of view, Quinn and Alex. Our narrators are both young adults and from different parts of the states with very different backgrounds. Whilst Quinn’s flatmate Esther has just vanished in the middle of the night, Alex meets a mysterious girl who he refers to as Pearl. This story has so many twists and turns you don’t know who is good and who is bad at times and when you think you know whats going on, it changes once again. This book is definitely a page turner as I wanted to know what happens to Esther and I needed to know what happens between Pearl and Alex.

Esther Vaughan has vanished in the middle of the night leaving no note or any reason why, her flatmate Quinn is perplexed, has she been such an awful flatmate that Esther had to up and leave, is Esther really sweet and innocent as she makes out to be? When Quinn goes digging for information she starts to uncover clues and things she never knew about her friend.

Alex Gallo is working in a little cafe/diner/restaurant as a dish washer, when an unfamiliar girl enters the shop, he is instantly intrigued by her and plus she is easy on the eyes. He wants to know why she is there, in the town where nothing really happens. He tries to investigate, however he also has his work and errands he does for the local agoraphobic, Ingrid.

There is also a rumour about a local house across the road from Alex that has been neglected and uninhabited. The reason being,…. it’s haunted by a young girl, Genevieve. Genevieve was a troublesome child who picked on the other children in the neighbourhood.

I really enjoyed Mary Kubica’s writing style, it was definitely a page turner,all the characters were well-developed. It is a slow read but you are still gripped reading it and wanting to know more. I only had some minor problems with the book which are personal opinions, 1. Quinn annoyed me a bit as she is so self-centred. 2. when the plot was beginning to unravel I got a little bit confused with what was happening. Apart from that I really enjoyed it and will be definitely looking into her other books that she has published which are ‘Pretty Baby’ and ‘The good girl’

I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a suspenseful thriller/mystery.

Overall I rated this 4 out of 5 stars

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
  
Frankenweenie (2012)
Frankenweenie (2012)
2012 | Animation, Comedy, Horror
8
7.7 (23 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Black & White (3 more)
Dark
Tim Burton
Stop Motion
A Boys Best Friend
Frankenweenie- is a halloween classic. Ive wanted to watch this film for couple of years now and it was not disappointed.

The plot: Young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) is a science nerd and outsider at school, but he does have one good friend: his dog, Sparky. But then, tragedy strikes, and Sparky shuffles off this mortal coil. Victor is heartbroken, but his science teacher (Martin Landau) gives him an idea of how to jolt old Sparky back to life. The experiment is successful, and all goes well, until Victor's fellow students steal his secret and use it to resurrect other dead animals -- with monstrous consequences.

It is a feature-length remake of Burton's 1984 short film of the same name and is also both a parody of and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's book of the same name.

This is the final horror film released under the Disney banner until Ready Or Not on August 21, 2019 from Fox Searchlight Pictures, which was bought by Disney in 2019.

The voice cast includes four actors who worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands); Martin Short (Mars Attacks!); Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas); and Martin Landau (Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow), along with some new voice actors, such as Charlie Tahan and Atticus Shaffer.

Its a dark humor twisted film.