Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2084 KP) rated The Big Kahuna in Books
Jun 5, 2019
The last book in this series was three years and a different co-author ago, and it shows. Nick and Kate are shadows of themselves, with Kate going to Nick for plans on everything instead of them working as partners. Their romantic relationship has gone back several books, too, and yet they don’t appear to be hiding the fact that they work together professionally. Kate’s dad is just a caricature now, and the new characters are one note jokes, per se, which makes spending so much time with them painful. While the plot does include a couple of small cons, it is nowhere near as elaborate and therefore fun as the previous books. Really, any group of characters could have been the stars of this plot. The pacing is uneven, especially early on when we get travelogues of Hawaii. We could have easily cut 30 pages without noticing at all, and in a book that already reads short, that is saying something. I did get hooked as I went along, but I think the flaws would have been more frustrating if I hadn’t been able to knock the book out in a couple of days. I borrowed this book from my local library, but I’m not sure even that price (free) will be enough to get me to come back if Nick and Kate have any more adventures.
Blood Magic (The Blood Journals, #1)
Book
It starts off simply. Draw a circle... place a dead leaf in the center... sprinkle some salt......
Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts
Book
In 1988, then struggling writer Davis Miller drove to Muhammad Ali's mother's modest Louisville...
Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide
Book
Mrs. Claus is the gift that keeps giving in the second installment of Liz Ireland’s newest cozy...
Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines
Book
“I had become an actor because real life was hard for me. Sometimes it was really rough. Acting...
biography films
The Jane Doe
Book
A memory wiped clean. A dark past. A faceless killer. They call her Jane. No one knows her real...
thriller suspense mystery bookbuzz
Much Ado About Nauticaling
Book
The bubbly fun of a rom-com meets the irresistible quirkiness of a cozy mystery in this buoyant new...
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
Book
Amanda Quick, the bestselling author of 'Til Death Do Us Part, transports readers to 1930s...
Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters
Book
No one is better qualified to talk about Springsteen than the man himself and he's often as...
Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated The Broken Hearts Gallery (2020) in Movies
Oct 8, 2020
She has been seeing Max (Utkarsh Ambudkar), the gallery curator for a while. Helping him with information on the artists as well as the likes and dislikes of Eva. On the night of the latest show launch, Eva asks Lucy to step to the podium and introduce Max so he could open the show. In a matter of minutes, Lucy loses her job and is dumped.
Lucy, having been through a traumatic loss, mistakenly hops into a stranger’s car under the assumption that it was her uber. She then proceeds to tell the driver of her night of disaster without registering that she is in the car of a stranger that is not her uber driver. Come to find out, the driver, Nick (Dacre Montgomery) is a budding hotelier trying to build a small boutique hotel.
He drops her off at the apartment, where her roommates immediately cocoon her in a dance that they have done oh so many times.
She has known Nadine (Phillipa Soo) and Amanda (Molly Gordon) since they were in high school. This trio is the partner in crime type of best friends. The interactions between them is so well coordinated I believed that they have been the closest of friends for ages. The same goes for Nick and his best friend Marcos (Arturo Castro).
.This film is the perfect Romantic Comedy that is very well suited for this moment in time.
It is a well-deserved salve on the dearth of darkness in cinema as of late. The lines are funny, the timing of the responses, quick and clever. It is also quirky and charming as well as emotional and sweet.
Natalie Krinsky, the Writer and Director had cast the characters perfectly. The actors drew me into the film as I laughed at their escapades, vicariously experienced celebrations. This movie was a joy to watch. It was sweet, funny, clever, and heartwarming.
Viswanathan embodied Lucy. The character is of the modern twenty something woman in hipsterville. She showed that Lucy is intelligent, imperfect and at times, insecure, but she is brave and willing to forge through anything.
The soundtrack is fantastic, the songs support the scenes and it is a veritable list of the current pop artists that are played in daily rotation.
Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Halsey, Rita Ora, Ariana Grande, and Selena Gomez who is an executive producer on the film.
If this is the direction of the modern romantic comedy, I look forward to the development of this genre as it grows. I rarely want to watch most films a second time. If you like the Romcom, this is one that is thoroughly enjoyable. Well worth the time and the ticket.