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Wild Ride Cowboy (Copper Ridge, #9)
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have to start this review by mentioning the cover art on this book. This is one of the best covers I’ve seen in a while, makes you feel like part of the story right from purchase. Anyway, on to my review of Wild Ride Cowboy by Maisey Yates, continuing the story of the Donnelly brothers in Copper Ridge. I have been a fan of Maisey for quite a while and more so of the Copper Ridge series. I think as I made my way through and got to the Donnelly brothers books Alex became my favorite brother. I don’t know what appealed to me first or just as a whole but I liked him from Finn’s book straight through to Liam’s (currently reading). Alex got into my heart, yes I know he is fictional haha, and I was routing for him from “go”.

Alex Donnelly and Clara Campbell are the main characters in Wild Ride Cowboy. Alex is the youngest Donnelly brother and was in the military. He comes back to Copper Ridge with his (full) brother Liam to his family ranch after his grandfather passes away and leaves him ¼ of the ranch. His older ½ brothers are also living at the ranch (Finn, Cain have their own stories) and they must figure out how to survive this newfound family atmosphere. Alex has a painful background with both his home life growing up and his military background. He comes back not only for the ranch but to take care of a responsibility he inherited from a fallen friend.

Clara Campbell hasn’t had a great life. Everyone she’s loved in her life has died on her. She was starting to feel cursed then Alex walked into her life and took over. She knew what she wanted, or so she thought, but Alex may know better. Can they work together to save her ranch and their hearts?

Personally I loved this book. As I said above, Alex was a favorite character of mine for a while. Putting him with Clara, someone 10 years younger than him, was a great choice. They help each other grow and flourish, getting strength off each other. My absolutely favorite part of the book was when Alex told Clara she had the appetite palette of a 6 year old haha.
  
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Lindsay (1706 KP) rated Kill and Run in Books

Apr 9, 2019  
Kill and Run
Kill and Run
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Laura Carr has really done it again to me. The story had me going from the start of who guessed the murderer. Her written catches you and grabs your attention and keeping entertained and wondering. Murphy some how get on to this murder case by being sent down from NCIS.

How Murphy's stepmother Cameron and his wife Jessica get in the middle of it is beyond it. They start to go from one crime scene to another. Murphy is called in and I wonder what's going to happen to them it is all up in the air. Surprises and twists waiting at every turn of the pages.

You get pulled in and can not be pulled back out. We meet a young girl that is left behind that is connected to five murders in Washington, D.C. Where a murder that happens thirteen years before and what happen to that person come to light. Who is behind it all? Military seems to be hiding something that they seem not to want to come out. You will never be able to figure it out until it all revealed at the end.
  
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ClareR (5603 KP) rated The Disappeared in Books

May 25, 2019  
The Disappeared
The Disappeared
Amy Lord | 2019 | Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dystopian Britain
Set in the near future, Britain has become a one party, military controlled state, where reading the wrong book could mean that you are ‘disappeared’.

The Authorisation Bureau we’re responsible for the disappearance of Clara’s father, a university English lecturer, and she is determined to pick up where he left off. Along with her History professor boyfriend, they decide to teach a select group of students about the past and the books that they are now forbidden to read. But things do not go as planned. Clara has some protection, as her stepfather is a ‘high up’ interrogator with the Authorisation Bureau, but this can only go so far to protect her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dark tale of an alternate UK. It was rather violent in places, but it’s message was ultimately that of hope. My only complaint (which isn’t really a complaint) is that we could have done with more from the resistance organisation, Lumiere. I would have loved to have read more about them.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and to the author, Amy Lord, for reading along and answering questions.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Battleship (2012) in Movies

Mar 7, 2018 (Updated Mar 7, 2018)  
Battleship (2012)
Battleship (2012)
2012 | Action, Sci-Fi
Zombie reflexes in the Hollywood blockbuster machine sputtered into a grisly half-life and pondered the question 'if movies about the Transformers toys make so much money, what other toy/game based rubbish can we railroad audiences into going to see?' And the answer that came back was 'let's do a movie based on Battleship, featuring the pop-star Rihanna'.

Utterly dimwitted action blockbuster and Michael Bay pastiche; the weird thing is that Michael Bay pastiches are marginally better than actual Michael Bay films, mainly because if your starting point is a Michael Bay film the only way is up. This is still insultingly stupid. The actors deserve some kind of credit for getting through the film with straight faces, given it includes a laboriously contrived sequence where the characters are basically playing real-life Battleships against the aliens. Somehow made even worse by the way it fawns over members of the military (subtext being that it's unpatriotic not to like this movie). The special effects are not too bad but considering this is a movie with a $210 million budget that's like saying they remembered to put film in the camera.
  
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Characters and acting (0 more)
Unconvincing social commentary (0 more)
A very different movie from the Marvel universe, Spiderman: Home coming, made perhaps the most overdone movie superhero fresh and exciting again. And how did they do that? Going back to the basics of who and what the character is: A high school kid, who looks like, acts like, and think like a high school kid.

Well acted on both sides of the good and evil, Tom Holland gives us an endearing Spiderman and follows up on his introduction in Captain America: Civil War. The Vulture, Spiderman's villain this go around, played by Micheal Keaton, has the one thing most superhero villains lack: a believable motive.


That's the one place where I think there was a little room to grow in this movie. There are hints of trying to make a social commentary on the military industrial complex and it's effect on the average citizen, but a lot of that gets lost in a visual action story. A small gripe, but, I think, a fair critique.


All in all, one of the stronger and more fun and enjoyable Marvel films to date.
  
TF
Taking Fire (One-Eyed Jacks, #4)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received this book for free for an honest review.

I love Cindy Gerard and I was excited to be accepted for an advanced reader copy of this book. When I got the acceptance email I had only read one of the books in the One-Eyed Jacks series so naturally, I had to read the other two before I started this one.

I still stand by the fact that this isn't my favorite of her series but that isn't saying much. I fell in love with the characters from her Black Ops series so it was hard to transition to other characters. I liked the other ones but honestly, this one was on par with the Black Ops books.

The characters are (as always) amazing. The backstory of Bobby was amazing to read and I loved Talia. The twists and turns were a little predictable but still fun and engaging.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes military romance. The characters are detailed and her combat writing is very engaging. If you're looking for a suspenseful romance that is sure to keep you up at night, this is the book for you!
  
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ClareR (5603 KP) rated Sabrina in Books

Nov 2, 2018  
Sabrina
Sabrina
Nick Drnaso | 2018 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A very topical graphic novel
This is very relevant at the moment. It makes for depressing reading about our society. A woman, Sabrina, goes missing and her boyfriend goes to stay with a childhood friend who is in the military, in order to get away from the media scrum. His friend is actually a very central character in all of this.
When Sabrina is found murdered, there are those on the internet who believe that this is 'fake news', that her murderer has been framed, and when they find out where her boyfriend is staying, they target the friend he is staying with. They send him emails trying to prove a conspiracy. When the video that the murderer made of Sabrinas actual death (which has been sent to news outlets)is leaked on to the internet, it means that anyone can watch the murder. But the conspiracy theorists still don't believe that this is all real. The it is a set up.
It's depressing and scary, and it really happens. It's fictionalised in the book, but it HAS happened. And that is what has made it stand out.
  
How It Ends (2018)
How It Ends (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
Acting (0 more)
Felt like the writers gave up (0 more)
How it ends. I don't know, you don't tell me!
Contains spoilers, click to show
How it ends.
I watched this after having it in my netflix list for a couple of weeks. The trailer looked good and who doesn't like a good disaster movie right? But this was not a good disaster movie.
They put emphasis on seemingly important plot points only never to come back to them or explain them. What actually caused this "end of the world" scenario? Who are the people in the burning town? What derailed the military train? Why would you only take two cans of gas from a butt load of supplies? Who are the people guarding the bridge? What happened to the girl who was travelling with them? And finally, how does it bloody end?
I was left so frustrated and just thinking 'was that it". It genuinely felt like the writers had either given up or run out of time and just gone, yeah kill the creepy guy, take your girl and drive away from the giant smoke cloud.
Not a satisfying watch, just dont bother.
  
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
2004 | Documentary, Drama, War
I thought this film was super interesting and very informative. You can tell, right off the bat, that there's definitely a bias but I don't think it's a bad thing. I think that, in general, it's very well known how awful the Bush administration was and how his decisions have continued to impact not only the United States but the world in general.

The military-industrial complex is horrendous and I think this is a good film to watch to understand why. I was shocked but unsurprised on some level that one of the soldiers said he would rather go to jail than go back to Iraq. The purpose of our being there was so beyond not okay so I sympathize and understand what he meant. I would love for Bush to sit down with every one of those families who lost people and explain to them why we were there in the first place. It didn't make sense then. It doesn't make sense now. Those men and women didn't have to die and the fact that they did, their blood is solely on Bush's hands.
  
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Michael Korda recommended Tunes of Glory (1960) in Movies (curated)

 
Tunes of Glory (1960)
Tunes of Glory (1960)
1960 | International, Classics, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A fierce elegy to Britain’s past glories, this is a film to see again and again, if only because of Alec Guinness’s bold and vivid portrait of a rapidly tarnishing military hero. I am attached to it because I spent some of my two years’ service in the Royal Air Force at the Joint Services School for Linguists in Bodmin, Cornwall, not only with Navy and Royal Marines types but with soldiers from the endless list of British Army regiments, each with its fiercely prized individual identity, history, peculiarities of uniform, and traditions. No soldiers were more clanny or inbred than those of the fabled Scottish (kilted) Highland regiments, like the Black Watch, the Argyll & Sutherlands, or the Cameronians. The regiment in Tunes of Glory is like one of those, a small, enclosed world, and in it the rivalry between the brash and heroic young colonel and his replacement leads to a sad and messy tragedy. It is one of those brilliant “little” films that almost reaches greatness, and it remains, along with The Hill and Zulu, one of the iconic films about the British Army."

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