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BeRad89 (48 KP) rated The War Nurses in Books

Apr 5, 2018  
The War Nurses
The War Nurses
Lizzie Page | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Gender Studies, History & Politics
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
“... a flying ambulance corps made up of a naturist, a pianist, a journalist, a lady and a widowed mother...and a non smoking schoolgirl.” This is the description of the ambulance corp of Elsie Knockers and Mairi Chisholm during World War I. Will these brave ladies' friendship and sisterhood survive the war as they live in close quarters and dodge bullets as front line nurses in a cellar?

I started this book without much hope. To me, the cover is cheap-looking, and I admit this colored my judgement. How wrong I was!!! The War Nurses ended up being a very good read. Mairi is shown in such a real light. I was amazed at what both women did during the war. To see the human side of such a brave woman was interesting. I didn't personally like Elsie, but her character was amusing and kept surprising me.

While it didn't particularly bother me, some people will not like the amount of gore and yucky stuff in this book. While I know you can't judge a book by its cover, the cover to this book is very cheap looking.

The War Nurses by Lizzie Page is a work of historical fiction. It will be published April 17, 2018 by Bookouture.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It ending up being a very pleasant surprise, as I judged this book by the cover and wasn't expecting much from it. It is an inspiring and eye-opening book. I recommend to anyone who loves powerful women, coming of age stories, WWI, medical stories, and/or historical fiction.

I was given a free copy from Net Galley and Bookouture in exchange for my honest review.
  
Historical fiction isn't my favorite genre, but I'm much more willing to read it when it's mixed with mystery. I've read some of Hambly's work before and know her to be a fine writer, and I'd read good reviews of this series by people I respect, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I suppose all the descriptions of people's clothing would have mattered much more to someone who cared about such things, but I do realize that they were important in the context of the story. Personally, I was relieved when the main character went on a journey! I would have been happier had his medical skills been utilized more frequently than they were, but I suppose his experiences were fairly true to life for a "colored" man of his time.

I did learn quite a lot—things that I intend to verify in non-fiction sources shortly. The information about the black code, for instance, and the explanation of the distinction between "black" and "colored" people seemed too precise to be fabricated.

I knew, too, that Louisiana is the only U.S. state whose laws are based on French rather than English common law, which seemed silly to me. Why wouldn't they go with the standard everyone else used? After reading this novel, I'm starting to realize that there may have been rights given to citizens under French law that were lost under English law.

I'm not sure as to whether or not I'll go forward in the series, as I'm not sure that I can handle the unhappiness I can see foreshadowed even in some of the titles. However, I will say that this volume is well-written and well-plotted. I certainly didn't guess who the killer was or why the murder was committed before the big reveal, and that was a pleasant change!
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated XX in Books

Oct 4, 2018 (Updated Oct 4, 2018)  
XX
XX
Angela Chadwick | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A provocative, timely, stonking good read!
Such a thought provoking, insightful book! This novel looks at the possibility of two women having a baby using a groundbreaking medical discovery - two ovums, no sperm. Of course there's an outcry. Religious-types, mens rights activists and bigots in general make their opinions publicly known. Jules and Rosie, the two main characters, try to stay out of the limelight. Jules is a reporter at a local Portsmouth newspaper, so knows how the system works, but when the story is leaked to the newspapers, along with their identities, she is sure that her policy of 'no comment' will work. The media doesn't get bored though, and her workplace aren't in any way supportive. They want the story as much as anyone else.
This could have been a terrible book, but it really wasn't. The subject matter was sensitively dealt with, the relationship between Jules and Rosie wasn't sensationalised, reactions, both good and bad, were realistic. This book is coming out during interesting times globally, where women are calling out bad male behaviour. I can see this being a route that a lot of women would take given the opportunity, whether they were gay or straight - and male fertility is taking a nose dive at the moment, too! So perhaps this would be a real solution (if some clever scientist could get it to work!).
By the way, I lived and taught in a high school in Petersfield on the edge of Leigh Park in the mid to late 1990's, and I think she has the essence of the place just right. It's not an easy place to live and grow up in.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for my copy of this book
  
Upgrade (2018)
Upgrade (2018)
2018 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Robocop meets All of Me?
I found this film in a bargain bin at my local video shop for only $1 to purchase and after reading many good reviews I thought I couldn't go wrong and I was right.

Maybe a sci-fi/horror version of "The Six Million Dollar Man" is more appropriate.

In the future, a man and his wife have a car accident. Afterwards the woman is murdered and the man is shot leaving him paralyzed. Rather than living life with a severe handicap, the man decides to undergo an experimental medical procedure which would give him augmented abilities through the implantation of a mysterious computer chip which would control his ability to walk and use his arms.

Once he is back to "normal" he feels compelled to investigate the circumstances of his wife's death and hunt down those responsible. His ability start to manifest themselves once he is interacting with his new friend STEM.

His quest for vengeance and justice leads him through some interesting twists and turns before its unexpected conclusion.

This films pulls no punches (literally) and some of the fight scenes are not only well choreographed, but downright vicious and gory. The inaction between the main character and his mind are cool and unexpected. Even though you feel like you have seen this before in other movies, this one takes a fresh spin and keeps you guessing the majority of the time.

 It appears writer/director Leigh Whannell (who also wrote the original Saw) is headed for great things probably because of this film as IMDb lists remakes of The Invisible Man and Escape From New York as his next projects.

  
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Eleanor (1463 KP) Aug 16, 2019

Keep seeing this on my Sky watch now list might give it a go. Thanks

The 19th Christmas
The 19th Christmas
James Patterson, Maxine Paetro | 2019 | Mystery
5
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Can Lindsay Stop a Caper at Christmas?
San Francisco Homicide Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner Rich Conklin are using their lunch hour for a little holiday shopping, and they happen to be on hand to catch a petty criminal. The criminal immediately wants to talk deals. He’s heard rumors that someone named Loman is planning some kind of big heist on Christmas Day. As the tips begin to pour in, the police are left chasing their tails as they try to figure out what Loman really plans. Or who he even really is. Meanwhile, reporter Cindy Thomas has landed the story of an illegal immigrant accused of a murder and gets assistant district attorney Yuki Castellano involved in her attempts to free him. And medical examiner Claire Washburn leaves town to teach a course during Christmas week to college students down in San Diego.

As popular as Christmas books have become, this is one series I hadn’t expected to offer one since some of the storylines in other books don’t lend themselves to the season. These storylines do, but unfortunately, the books is a mixed bag. I didn’t buy their excuse for writing Claire out of the book, and Cindy and Yuki’s sub-plot is undercooked. It felt like it was there more to preach than entertain. Fortunately, the main mystery was entertaining and kept me turning pages, although it relied on the villain taunting police, a trope I have trouble buying. Add in an epilogue that came out of nowhere and left me wondering if they are setting up the next book in the series. On the other hand, I got plenty of Christmas spirit from the book. As I said, this is an average entry in the series.
  
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