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One Minute There
One Minute There
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is about a young woman. She does some strange things that makes her to do things that are not right. Her stepfather or father goes to look for his missing daughter. Detective Bennett will not give up on his daughter Melissa.

Melissa wants to protect her daughter Abby. Though for some reason Melissa has gone missing and after hearing her name called and knocking at the door. Her family is weary of what has happened to her sister in law and brother. Though she calls a friend and tell him nothing and ask for help.

Melissa thinks she is safe after running. Something is wrong and no one can find her. She claim someone is after her and has to flee once again. What happens next is just another page turner. I would advise who reads this. This is best for those that need to be mature enough to read for it got some violence and some nastier words like the word (B**ch).
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Spy (2015) in Movies

Nov 20, 2017  
Spy (2015)
Spy (2015)
2015 | Action, Comedy
What a great laugh. Where other spy spoof films have focused too much on the comedy and not bothered with a decent story, this feels more like a decent spy film with a good amount of comedy injected in.
Jude Law plays pretty much every role he has ever played, as does Jason Statham - to hilarious results.
Peter Serafinowicz is great as an Italian sex pest (like a young Berlusconi).
Melissa McCarthy is simply brilliant in this film, at times soft and sensitive, then hard and uncompromising.
Even Miranda Hart doesn't manage to spoil it!
  
Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)
Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)
Melissa Marr | 2008 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
7.5 (17 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the very first Melissa Marr's book I have read and it will not be my last. I've always have had an obsession with Faeries but I don't normally read books that feature the fae. I always fear that they wouldn't live up to my expectations. Luckily, my best friend and a bunch of booksellers convinced me to read this book.

The characters were unique, and just downright lovely. The plot was fun and kept me guessing. I loved the twists and turns that were present too. This is a young adult novel but I didn't feel like I was too old for it. It was refreshing.

If you're looking for a great Faery book, look no further! This book is great!
  
Life of the Party (2018)
Life of the Party (2018)
2018 | Comedy
After her husband abruptly asks for a divorce, a middle-aged mother returns to college in order to complete her degree.



I love Melissa McCarthy, and she was amazing in this. I hadn't laughed this much in ages, it felt good for my soul. Everyone in the screen was laughing, and sometimes that's just what you need.

Eighties throwback and some truly amazing outfits. You'll end up wanting to join in during the dance off. And if you find yourself not wanting to, then you're probably too young to appreciate that.

There's so much fun in here that, spoiler alert, a bit further down the page I went to see it again. A genuine feel good film, and it definitely made me want to bust out some retro moves. I will also be adding "vagoogle" to my vocabulary.
  
So Sad Today: Personal Essays
So Sad Today: Personal Essays
Melissa Broder | 2016 | Biography
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So Sad Today is a compilation of essays by Melissa Broder that narrates the interior monlologue of a person with mental ilness trying to survive and handle and deal with day to day life. Broder deals with a mariad of issues from sex and sexual identity, to masturbation, to anxiety attacks, to an addiction to the internet.

It was fascinating, enlightlening, entertaining, and relatable. It was violently truthful and brutally honest.

There are two sides of me responding to this book in two different ways.

The fememist inside me wants every young person to read this book for three reasons:

1. you are not alone in what you think it sweirdness and strangeness.

2. Here is someone who has experienced things you are curious about. Live vicariously throug her and learn from her mistakes but do not make the same choices.

3. This book is both a journal and a love letter, and it’s from her to you, so read it understanding it as both.

The other part of me sees the stuff she’s dealing with and ache for her. Broder is dealing with issues and trying to answer questions with no guidance and no purpose and no direction. It’s a battle I’ve never had to fight because I don’t seek for my fulfillment from me, I find it in my identity in Christ. And that part of me that sees her hungry and seeking and lost and confused really wants to take her out to coffee. So Melissa, if you get a chance to read this, I’d like to take you to coffee. Or we could just text. :)

Content/recommendation: mature and adult content. Lots of swearing and sex. 16+
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Hazel Wood in Books

Nov 12, 2017  
The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert | 2017 | Mystery, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.4 (33 Ratings)
Book Rating
MARVEL-ous, apparently
I received this ARC for free from the Penguin Platform Team.

“Imagine Marvel did fairy tales …” Well, I cannot because I have never seen a Marvel film but I understand the sentiment. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert is a book where fairy tales and reality collide. However, these are not stories full of glamour and grandeur, they are the sort originally told by the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm during the 19th Century. What begins as a fairly realistic tale rapidly spirals into chaos when characters from a book start appearing in New York, something that should be impossible.

For seventeen years, Alice and her mother, Ella, have been travelling on the roads, barely stopping in places for more than a few months. It would be nice to have a home and settle down, however, they are always chased by bad luck, causing them to flee at any moment. Alice is not sure of the cause of their misfortune but suspects it may have something to do with her reclusive grandmother who lives alone on her estate titled the Hazel Wood. Alice’s grandmother wrote Tales From the Hinterland, a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, many years ago and it has become a rare piece of literature – a collector’s item; not even Alice has read it. But when her mother goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Alice wishes she had.

Homeless without her mother, Alice seeks help from a school acquaintance, Ellery Finch, whom she knows is a fan of her grandmother’s work. Yet, before they can formulate a plan to locate her mother, the cause of her bad luck reveals itself in the form of impossible, murderous fairy-tale characters. As Alice learns more about the Hinterland, she discovers that she has been receiving glimpses of the characters all her life.

Alice is in danger, as is Ellery, but she will stop at nothing to retrieve her mother, even venturing into the Hazel Wood – a place she has been forbidden to enter. With Ellery using his father’s wealth and connections, the two make a long journey to the place they believe her mother is being held, but what Alice finds there is more dangerous and shocking than she could ever imagine.

Retellings of fairy tales have become a popular genre in recent years, particularly amongst young adult literature. The Hazel Wood, however, is only loosely based upon ideas featuring in ancient folktales; the stories themselves have been thought up by Melissa Albert with unique characters such as Twice-Killed-Catherine and Three-Times-Alice. Although it is often fun to analyse the comparisons and differences between old tales and new, it is refreshing to come across brand new fairy tales.

Initially, the book comes across as a thriller and mystery set in the real world, however, fantasy elements quickly creep in. Two-thirds of the way into the story, the setting and genre change direction, introducing a fictional world where rules of nature have gone out of the window. At this point, it becomes slightly confusing to fully visualize the situation, and the storyline begins to get darker and darker.

Children’s fairy tales always have a happy-ever-after, however, the traditional ones rarely did, therefore, it is impossible to guess how The Hazel Wood will end. This, along with humour and enchanting action, hooks the reader and, according to other reviewers, has resulted in many hours slipping away without notice.

The Hazel Wood is a unique story on the cusp of young adult and adult fiction. It is not only a good work of fiction; it is clever and well thought out, too. Melissa Albert is certainly an author to look out for, especially if you like dark mysteries and thrillers.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Hazel Wood in Books

Dec 7, 2018  
The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert | 2017 | Mystery, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.4 (33 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>I received this ARC for free from the Penguin Platform Team.</i>

“Imagine <i>Marvel</i> did fairy tales …” Well, I cannot because I have never seen a <i>Marvel</i> film but I understand the sentiment. <i>The Hazel Wood</i> by Melissa Albert is a book where fairy tales and reality collide. However, these are not stories full of glamour and grandeur, they are the sort originally told by the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm during the 19th Century. What begins as a fairly realistic tale rapidly spirals into chaos when characters from a book start appearing in New York, something that should be impossible.

For seventeen years, Alice and her mother, Ella, have been travelling on the roads, barely stopping in places for more than a few months. It would be nice to have a home and settle down, however, they are always chased by bad luck, causing them to flee at any moment. Alice is not sure of the cause of their misfortune but suspects it may have something to do with her reclusive grandmother who lives alone on her estate titled the Hazel Wood. Alice’s grandmother wrote <i>Tales From the Hinterland</i>, a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, many years ago and it has become a rare piece of literature – a collector’s item; not even Alice has read it. But when her mother goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Alice wishes she had.

Homeless without her mother, Alice seeks help from a school acquaintance, Ellery Finch, whom she knows is a fan of her grandmother’s work. Yet, before they can formulate a plan to locate her mother, the cause of her bad luck reveals itself in the form of impossible, murderous fairy-tale characters. As Alice learns more about the <i>Hinterland</i>, she discovers that she has been receiving glimpses of the characters all her life.

Alice is in danger, as is Ellery, but she will stop at nothing to retrieve her mother, even venturing into the Hazel Wood – a place she has been forbidden to enter. With Ellery using his father’s wealth and connections, the two make a long journey to the place they believe her mother is being held, but what Alice finds there is more dangerous and shocking than she could ever imagine.

Retellings of fairy tales have become a popular genre in recent years, particularly amongst young adult literature. <i>The Hazel Wood</i>, however, is only loosely based upon ideas featuring in ancient folktales; the stories themselves have been thought up by Melissa Albert with unique characters such as Twice-Killed-Catherine and Three-Times-Alice. Although it is often fun to analyse the comparisons and differences between old tales and new, it is refreshing to come across brand new fairy tales.

Initially, the book comes across as a thriller and mystery set in the real world, however, fantasy elements quickly creep in. Two-thirds of the way into the story, the setting and genre change direction, introducing a fictional world where rules of nature have gone out of the window. At this point, it becomes slightly confusing to fully visualize the situation, and the storyline begins to get darker and darker.

Children’s fairy tales always have a happy-ever-after, however, the traditional ones rarely did, therefore, it is impossible to guess how The Hazel Wood will end. This, along with humour and enchanting action, hooks the reader and, according to other reviewers, has resulted in many hours slipping away without notice.

<i>The Hazel Wood</i> is a unique story on the cusp of young adult and adult fiction. It is not only a good work of fiction; it is clever and well thought out, too. Melissa Albert is certainly an author to look out for, especially if you like dark mysteries and thrillers.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Lies in Books

Mar 20, 2019  
Lies
Lies
T. M. Logan | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
7
8.3 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wild, creepy & a little stressful
When Joe Lynch and his young son, William, spot his wife's car while out driving, they decide to surprise her. Instead they see his wife, Melissa, fighting with a friend, Ben. Joe knows he should help Melissa, but when he goes to confront Ben, it goes horribly wrong. The two fight and after Ben hits him, Joe pushes him back and Ben falls and hits his head. At the same time, his son has an asthma attack--and realizing he doesn't have William's inhaler--Joe has to make a choice: race home for the inhaler or stay and make sure Ben is okay. He chooses his son, setting off a chain of crazy events that will forever alter the course of his life.

"I put the car in gear. Made a spur-of-the-moment decision that would change my life. 'Let's go and surprise Mummy.'"

This was an odd book that messes with your head as much as all the insane events seem to do to Joe's. It got off to a slow start for me, and I almost didn't keep reading, but I have a terrible time putting any book in a "DNF" pile, and of course, this one picked up and got pretty exciting about halfway through. (This only adds to my inability to ever not finish a book.)

The main shtick with this one is sort of an unreliable narrator/unreliable plot, as you really don't know who or what to believe as you read. Hence the title, obviously. As it all happens we have Joe, who sort of bumbles along, our hapless narrator, who seems to think he's in control, but really, just no. Poor guy, he's certainly not the brightest--just this clueless guy whom I had a tough time rooting for, hence my inability to really get into the book.

Yes, most of the cast of characters around him are lying to him in some fashion, but still. After Joe leaves Ben in the parking garage to save William, he finds some weird and cryptic posts on his Facebook page, because (of course) he lost his (unlocked) cell phone during his altercation with (obviously tech-savvy) Ben who runs (wait for it) a technology firm. Then Melissa reveals to him that the wealthy Ben has been pining after her for ages, despite that fact that Ben's wife, Beth, is Melissa's best friend. Things unravel from there. I'll admit that they don't necessarily happen predictably, but they do happen in a crazy fashion, so be prepared to suspend a lot of your disbelief.

The book is kind of wild, a little creepy, and there's a good twist at the end, which bumped my rating up a half bomb. This wasn't a particularly fun read for me--it sort of stressed me out--and I didn't really like any of the characters, but once it picked it up, it was at least interesting.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).
  
A Deadly Education: Lesson One of the Scholomance
A Deadly Education: Lesson One of the Scholomance
Naomi Novik | 2020 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
4
7.2 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Original (0 more)
Very repetitive, slow, gets boring quickly (0 more)
Rough start for a new series but shows promise
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik was given eighth place in the Goodreads choice awards for fantasy last year and has been nominated again this year. Unfortunately this book will not be receiving my vote although at this time I have not yet decided which book I will be voting for. This is the first book in a new series and I do have high hopes that future editions to the series will be better as it shows a lot of promise.

The basic idea here is that magical children are teleported away to The Scholomace for education and safety from the mals ( evil creatures attracted to the easy target of young magic user) though not all make it into the school. The school itself is dangerous as well yet even with the horde of mals waiting at the graduation gates to feast on everyone trying to leave the school once a year and the few who make it into the rest of the building the survival rate os those inside the school is still better than if they were left in the general magical population.

While completing school work is important it only because the school will attack those who don't complete their work the samation of alliances is almost more important. This is problematic thoug for those who don't come from an enclave and who are not interested n making friends in the first place.

What I liked about this book was that it is relatively unique. The fact that the main character actually goes through a very clear mental and maturity growth is a plus as well. She really improves as she learns about herself and her classmates. Unfortunately that is pretty much everything good I can say about this book. I enjoyed reading the book when I first started it but around halfway through it became clear that a lot of the book is repetitive. The book ended up becoming slow with the group just fighting off mals and not making much progress on the storyline for a while.it actually got to the point that I was about ready to put the book down.it is also rather predictable.

The ideal target audience for this book is teens to some young adults. I believe the book is too much for most readers younger than teens but at the same time it lacks the detail and depth needed to really capture the attention of older readers. I can only rate this book a 2 out of 5 at best with the hope that it is just a slow start to a good series.

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Thank you, Melissa
  
Desperate Measures (Aspen Falls #5)
Desperate Measures (Aspen Falls #5)
Melissa Pearl, Anna Cruise | 2018 | Contemporary, Romance, Thriller
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Desperate Measures (Aspen Falls #5) by Melissa Pearl & Anna Cruise
Desperate Measures is the fifth book in the Aspen Falls series, and we finally get Camilla's story. She has made regular appearances throughout this series, but hasn't as yet had her say. She does in this one, and it was definitely worth waiting for!

Cam grew up on the wrong side of the tracks (so to speak) and was determined to change her life, and to make a difference. She does this, but not without heartbreak. She leaves behind the love of her young life, knowing he is in with the gangs that are rampant. She walks away, and does make a difference. Alex has always remained in her thoughts though, even when she tries to forget him. So when he turns up, bloody and battered, will she help him, or arrest him?

This was a great story, with plenty of depth to both the situations and the characters. There were no editing or grammatical errors to this story that I noticed. I enjoyed the banter between Cam and Alex, as well as the situations they found themselves in. Even though she is a police officer, Cam did across with a healthy dose of naivety at times.

With enough action to keep you turning the pages, this was thoroughly engrossing from start to finish. Absolutely recommended by me.

This is a series that I am thoroughly enjoying. Can't wait for the next one.

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

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!