Things We Have in Common
6.0
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Reader beware: You'll think you know what's happening, and you'll think you see what's coming...
Things We Have in Common Tasha Kavanagh YA young adult mystery contemporary
Compete
7.0
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It’s one thing to Qualify… But do you have what it takes to Compete? With Earth about to be...
Atlantis Young Adult Science Fiction Space
Just Cause (Detective Madison Knight Series Book 5)
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One cold case could be what kills her… Eight years ago, a young defense attorney was murdered,...
fiction adult murder mystery police procedural crime
Shattered Promises
5.5
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For twenty-one year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. She knows nothing about her past and has...
paranormal romance new adult
City Girl vs Country Boy (Forever Love #1)
9.0
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A tragic accident brought them together. Will devotion be the glue that mends their broken hearts? ...
Sweet Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Fractured Energy (Energy Series #3)
10.0
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When Cassondra took Wilma’s energy, Lena’s mission changed. Only revenge matters now. For the...
Urban Fantasy Young Adult Romance
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in Books
May 29, 2023
Until the day she meets Henry in present day New York.
Honestly, I don’t know why she had such a problem with the god she struck the deal with. He’s clearly rather dishy - dark, brooding, very powerful…
I’ve seen this described as Faustian, and I suppose it is. She makes a deal with a devil to live for longer. Except her deal has no time limit, or at least only the limit that she’ll give it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. The Henry character was interesting as well, especially after his reveal.
This author has written a lot of YA apparently, and this is her first adult novel. It’s definitely worth keeping my eyes peeled for whatever she comes up with next!
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Toy Story (1995) in Movies
Jan 1, 2021
When Toy Story was first released in 1995, it was groundbreaking. The first ever fully computer animated film and the first released by Disney Pixar, this was also one of the first films I saw at the cinema as an 8 year old child. Admittedly at that age I was concentrating more on the colourful animated toys rather than appreciating the sheer wizardry on offer, but from repeated watches over the decades, I’ve come to fully recognise the sheer genius of this film.
Toy Story centres around the idea that toys are alive, a concept that most children would love to be true. It follows Woody, a cowboy voiced by Tom Hanks, who’s cushy existence as the top dog of Andy’s toys is disrupted by a new space ranger doll, Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Tim Allen. As Buzz soon becomes Andy’s favourite toy, Woody’s jealousy drives him to desperate measures that wind up with the pair of them becoming ‘lost toys’ and captives of evil neighbour Sid. And together with Buzz and Woody are a whole host of colourful and wacky toy characters, including Mr Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), Etch-a Sketch and a bucketful of toy soldiers to name but a few of the childhood throwbacks on offer here.
Watching this back 25 years later, it’s hard to believe this film was released in the mid-90s. Whilst you can tell that more recent Disney Pixar releases have improved massively on the animation since Toy Story, the standard of the animation in this is hugely impressive. There are some studios that can’t master this level of detailed animation even now as we move into 2021. The feature and intricacies on show here is impressive, especially with the toy characters - you need to look no further than the scales on Rex (voiced memorably by Wallace Michael Shawn) as a shining example of this.
It isn’t just the animation that that makes Toy Story so brilliant though, it’s the entire package. It’s a heartwarming and often hilarious buddy story of sorts, with some strangely adult messages hidden in the childlike story (Buzz’s disillusionment at being a toy rather than a real space ranger is particularly poignant). As a child this made me believe my toys were alive, and as an adult I’m still hesitant about donating or throwing away old cuddly toys. It’s also full of what we’ve all come to know and love about Disney Pixar: a film suitable for kids but full of grown up innuendos and adult jokes that makes it appropriate for all ages. Alongside this it has a fantastic voice cast in household names Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, and of course brought us the first of many characters voiced by the unforgettable John Ratzenberger. And what further rounds this off is the catchy and touching original songs by Randy Newman. I doubt there are many people who haven’t heard “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”, a song that evokes such a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and is fully deserving of the ‘Best Original Song’ Oscar nomination.
Toy Story is undoubtedly a masterpiece in animation. Whilst it may not have aged incredibly well when comparing it with more recent releases, this is the film that first introduced us to the world of Disney Pixar and paved the way for all of those that have followed.
Anonymous Chat Rooms, Dating
Dating, Lifestyle and Social Networking
1.0
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Cool chat rooms. Self-destructing messages. Talk about anything with strangers. Meet new people, ask...
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated The Queen of the Tearling in Books
Feb 19, 2018
A note about setting
The book sounds like any other fantasy novel. This story actually takes place in a future where for some reason (we are never told exactly what happened), a group of people have fled America and moved to a new land (again, we don't know how there was a new land available for them to colonize...) leaving all technology and modern conveniences behind them.
What bothered me about the book
Is it young adult or not? Occasionally the language, violence, or other crudeness seemed inappropriate for all but the most mature of teens, but then Kelsea would act like a nineteen year old girl, she spent an awful lot of time obsessing over her plain appearance, how handsome each of her guards happened to be, etc..., so I could never really tell.
Where / when is it? We get bits and pieces mentioning "the crossing", but why? What happened? Is there still an America with technology somewhere? Where are the main characters now? If the Capital is New London, are they anywhere near old London? How is there magic? And who is this enemy, this evil Mort/Red Queen who seems to have an abundance of it? I can go on and on here, and the lack of details or explanation about this world they are living in is my biggest complaint.
What I liked about the book
Kelsea, when she could remember not to worry about her plain face or how greasy her hair looked, actually had a decent moral compass and wanted to do what was right for her new-found kingdom, not just what was easy or convenient for her. She was stubborn and idealistic, and I admired those traits in her. I even eventually grew to like some of her guards, the Mace and Pen in particular, as they finally learned to respect her and some of her ideas near the end of the story.
Will you like this book?
I wish I could say yes, but the best I can do is maybe. If you go into it knowing that you are not going to understand exactly where this world is, how it came about, or why, and that doesn't bother you, then you just might. I will give book two a try to see if there are more details forthcoming, but not right away.