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City of Night (The House War, #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I read it, but - GAH! I feel like I need to go back and read [b:The Hidden City|1385783|The Hidden City (The House War, #1)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266788937s/1385783.jpg|1375829], then read it again, to be sure I got everything. I think I'll wait until [b:House Name|6121287|House Name (The House War, #3)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1279636477s/6121287.jpg|6299563] comes out, then read all three of them together. At that point, I'll probably be ready for a re-read of [b:The Sun Sword|153223|The Sun Sword (The Sun Sword, #6)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266483918s/153223.jpg|147905] (really, the whole series) again. But of course, to do them justice, I should go back and read the Hunter duology, too. This is the problem with [a:Michelle Sagara West|6256|Michelle Sagara West|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]! Her world is SO rich that it's difficult to find a good beginning place. But very well worth it, I promise!
  
Review of entire series posted under [b:Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light|437678|Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light (The Sundered, Book 4)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174768950s/437678.jpg|426541].
  
Review of entire series posted under [b:Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light|437678|Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light (The Sundered, Book 4)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174768950s/437678.jpg|426541].
  
LO
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Review of entire series posted under [b:Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light|437678|Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light (The Sundered, Book 4)|Michelle Sagara West|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174768950s/437678.jpg|426541].
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Brassic in TV

Sep 1, 2019  
Brassic
Brassic
2019 | Comedy, Drama
8
6.8 (9 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Daft and quintessentially northern
I didn’t really fancy this show, as I’m not particularly a big fan of Michelle Keegan. However the trailer full of silly escapades and northern accents kept tempting me in and in the end, I’m rather glad I watched it.

This comes across as a rather silly farcical comedy with a few crude jokes and in some parts it is, but it’s actually so much more than this and a much more sensitive and heartwarming side. Yes it’s funny, mainly thanks to Joseph Gilgun and his rather inept gang of petty thieves, and his entirely inappropriate GP played wonderfully by Dominic West. Being northern myself, this is part of the reason why I found this series so enjoyable. You can almost imagine things like that happening in certain parts of the world up here. But despite the humour, this has a deeper story which works in well amongst all of the wacky exploits and chaos, and it provides a nice balance.

Unfortunately I’m still not a fan of Michelle Keegan even after watching this, and I’m afraid I found her part in the story and episodes the weakest and most boring of everything. But fortunately this didn’t ruin the rest of the show too much and it was still a rather fun and entertaining series.
  
Last Christmas (2019)
Last Christmas (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Romance
I guess I’m not exactly the target audience for a Christmas rom-com, but I don’t usually mind them. Providing the leads have believable chemistry, there’s a good story behind it all, a few laughs and something that gives you that Christmas feel good feeling, I’m happy to watch them. Sadly though, for the most part, Last Christmas struggles to tick most of those boxes.

Emilia Clarke stars as Kate (short for Katerina, her original Yugoslav name), a 26 year old who’s struggling at life right now. Her nights are filled with one-night stands and sleeping over at friends houses, dragging her suitcase behind her the next morning as she either heads to work in a Covent Garden Christmas shop or off to an audition for a West end show. She’s also currently ignoring calls from her mum (Emma Thomson), disappointing her boss (Michelle Yeoh) and coming across as selfish and not really very likeable. It’s safe to say, she’s lost her way - “Why is my life so shit?!” she exclaims after yet another disaster happens.

And then one day, Kate notices a man gazing up at a bird outside the Christmas shop and goes outside to see what he’s doing. His name is Tom (Henry Golding) and he’s handsome and charming (but a bit wooden) and despite them turning out to have zero chemistry together, they strike up a relationship - because, y’know, this is a rom-com after all. Tom takes Kate on spontaneous walks down alleyways and into nearby pocket parks, making her look up regularly so that she can appreciate the world around her. He rides a bike everywhere, doesn’t have a mobile phone and disappears for days on end. Yet his presence and friendship appear to have a positive effect on Kate, who begins to start turning her life around.

The first half of the movie is just terrible. Badly written dialogue and characters in an attempt to try and recapture some kind of Love Actually spirit, but just failing. It even tries to cram in some Brexit references and a little bit of racism to highlight the plight of immigrants. Written by Emma Thomson and directed by Paul Feig, Last Christmas is said to be inspired by the music of George Michael although, aside from its namesake, not very much of it actually ends up featuring much in the movie.

If you’ve seen the trailer, then you may well have figured out the twist that comes towards the end of the movie. If not, then you’ll probably work it out pretty early on anyway. However, I’d be lying if I said that Last Christmas didn’t manage to hit me emotionally when the time came. It also managed to invoke some warm Christmas feels and spirit too, so not quite the complete disaster it started out as.