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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Westworld - Season 2 in TV
Jun 18, 2019
Very confused
The first series of Westworld was a bit of a head scratcher, but a good one. Admittedly I had to read up a bit afterwards to make sure I'd understood it correctly but i still really enjoyed it. It was a great new take on AI and consciousness. The second series however was a bit of a let down.
Firstly the cinematography and production values of this show are fantastic. It looks amazing, and has a truly stellar cast to boot. The problem for me is entirely down to the plot. This second series has gone completely off the rails in my eyes and become so confused and convoluted. Admittedly it isn't helped by the multiple timelines on offer, which feature different time periods straight after the events of the series 1 finale. To begin with I thought this was a great idea, but after a few episodes I started to get very confused. I think they've taken a very good base plot and tried to do too much to it (Lost anyone?). I'm all for plot twists but this takes it way too far. And what started off as a fun reveal of guess who is/isnt a host, has become very tired and old. By the end of this series I was getting a little sick of yet more people being revealed as hosts. And without revealing any spoilers, i think a reveal right at the end about a major character potentially being a host really made me annoyed.
I would say to take my review with a pinch of salt. I think a show like this needs a large amount of brainpower and attention, and this just isn't something I have right now. I think this may have pushed my already fried brain off the edge, but if I ever get chance to watch this when I'm a little less overloaded, I may have a different opinion!
Firstly the cinematography and production values of this show are fantastic. It looks amazing, and has a truly stellar cast to boot. The problem for me is entirely down to the plot. This second series has gone completely off the rails in my eyes and become so confused and convoluted. Admittedly it isn't helped by the multiple timelines on offer, which feature different time periods straight after the events of the series 1 finale. To begin with I thought this was a great idea, but after a few episodes I started to get very confused. I think they've taken a very good base plot and tried to do too much to it (Lost anyone?). I'm all for plot twists but this takes it way too far. And what started off as a fun reveal of guess who is/isnt a host, has become very tired and old. By the end of this series I was getting a little sick of yet more people being revealed as hosts. And without revealing any spoilers, i think a reveal right at the end about a major character potentially being a host really made me annoyed.
I would say to take my review with a pinch of salt. I think a show like this needs a large amount of brainpower and attention, and this just isn't something I have right now. I think this may have pushed my already fried brain off the edge, but if I ever get chance to watch this when I'm a little less overloaded, I may have a different opinion!
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated You Are Not Alone in Books
Mar 19, 2020
A few seconds change Shay Miller's life forever. It's almost ironic, as Shay, 31, and a market researcher, is obsessed with data. She's been keeping data books since age eleven, listing statistics and facts the way other girls write in diaries. Shay's recently lost her job, and her roommate and best friend, Sean, spends more time with his girlfriend than her. She feels hopeless and isolated. Then everything changes, and Shay finds herself swept up in the glamorous world of the Moore sisters, Cassandra and Jane. They have a way of making Shay feel different. They also seem to be everywhere, shaping Shay's life in strange ways.
I've learned by now when I pick up a book by the Hendricks-Pekkanen duo that I need to just suspend disbelief for a bit and go with it. If I can do that and enjoy the ride, then the book is a fun little escape mechanism. When looked at via this prism, You Are Not Alone was very successful.
The book is told from different points of view that often stray into various time periods, and it took me a while to keep all the characters straight. Cassandra and Jane have a host of friends, and I had to bookmark the page that introduced them all so I could remember who was who for a while. There seem to be unreliable narrators galore for a while--can we trust Shay? The sisters? Their friends?
I don't want to get too much into the plot and give anything away. It's a crazy story and again, not really probable (I hope). However, it's highly addictive, and I found the book to be compulsively readable. I also really grew to like Shay, even if I was suspicious about her.
There are some great twists and turns in this thriller, which I really enjoyed. I liked how this one kept me guessing, even if there was an eye roll or two in there too. It was definitely wild! 4 stars.
I've learned by now when I pick up a book by the Hendricks-Pekkanen duo that I need to just suspend disbelief for a bit and go with it. If I can do that and enjoy the ride, then the book is a fun little escape mechanism. When looked at via this prism, You Are Not Alone was very successful.
The book is told from different points of view that often stray into various time periods, and it took me a while to keep all the characters straight. Cassandra and Jane have a host of friends, and I had to bookmark the page that introduced them all so I could remember who was who for a while. There seem to be unreliable narrators galore for a while--can we trust Shay? The sisters? Their friends?
I don't want to get too much into the plot and give anything away. It's a crazy story and again, not really probable (I hope). However, it's highly addictive, and I found the book to be compulsively readable. I also really grew to like Shay, even if I was suspicious about her.
There are some great twists and turns in this thriller, which I really enjoyed. I liked how this one kept me guessing, even if there was an eye roll or two in there too. It was definitely wild! 4 stars.
The Lieutenant Don't Know: One Marine's Story of Warfare and Combat Logistics in Afghanistan
Book
In our wars since 2001 the term "front line" has long since lost its meaning, and the true combats...
Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life
Book
The much anticipated and beautifully illustrated Sunday Times Bestselling Biography Coco Chanel: The...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Playing with Fire (Magical Romantic Comedies #1) in Books
Jan 11, 2021
This review and more can be found at my blog
https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com
A Romance Reader's Reviews
This one starts with Bailey working at the coffee shop where she makes drinks for its regular but unusual breed of customers from humans to pixies to werewolves, adding a pinch of dust to each drink to give them a high. Her nemesis, Chief Quinn, comes in and she makes him a drink before he heads out, taking her boss with him, leaving Bailey to work an 18 hour shift alone. Jealously flares within Bailey as she's had a thing for Quinn since he asked her to find proof of his wife's cheating. When Bailey is asked by Quinn's former brother-in-law to help her find someone, she's reluctant but agrees, and is handed a phone. Only the phone isn't all that it seems setting in motion a series of events that throws her into Quinn's life more than either bargained for.
I enjoyed the first 40% of this more than the latter 60%. The beginning was fun and quirky. I loved the sort of love/hate thing she had going on with Quinn. I enjoyed the banter between her and some of the other cops and it was just up my street. It just seemed their will they/won't they get together thing was concluded too early in the book and I was wondering what the rest of the book would be about. It lost some of its appeal for me after the weird Gorgon vomit scene. And then I just struggled to connect with it again. I soldiered on, determined to finish it.
I also found Quinn's family very complicated. He has almost every type of creature in his family tree from angels to incubus to gorgon but he is very much human and I couldn't keep track of who was who half of the time.
I liked it enough that I'd buy more of this series.
https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com
A Romance Reader's Reviews
This one starts with Bailey working at the coffee shop where she makes drinks for its regular but unusual breed of customers from humans to pixies to werewolves, adding a pinch of dust to each drink to give them a high. Her nemesis, Chief Quinn, comes in and she makes him a drink before he heads out, taking her boss with him, leaving Bailey to work an 18 hour shift alone. Jealously flares within Bailey as she's had a thing for Quinn since he asked her to find proof of his wife's cheating. When Bailey is asked by Quinn's former brother-in-law to help her find someone, she's reluctant but agrees, and is handed a phone. Only the phone isn't all that it seems setting in motion a series of events that throws her into Quinn's life more than either bargained for.
I enjoyed the first 40% of this more than the latter 60%. The beginning was fun and quirky. I loved the sort of love/hate thing she had going on with Quinn. I enjoyed the banter between her and some of the other cops and it was just up my street. It just seemed their will they/won't they get together thing was concluded too early in the book and I was wondering what the rest of the book would be about. It lost some of its appeal for me after the weird Gorgon vomit scene. And then I just struggled to connect with it again. I soldiered on, determined to finish it.
I also found Quinn's family very complicated. He has almost every type of creature in his family tree from angels to incubus to gorgon but he is very much human and I couldn't keep track of who was who half of the time.
I liked it enough that I'd buy more of this series.
Kindergarten Phonics Island Adventure - Learn to Read Montessori Games with Puzzle Animal Train for Kids Hooked on Reading by Abby Monkey®
Games and Education
App
67% OFF SALE - TODAY: September 23-30, 2015 ***** Parents‘ Choice Awards’ winner *****...
Phonics Island • Letter Sounds
Education and Games
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***** Parents‘ Choice Awards winner ***** Developed by an award-winning education studios,...
Phonics Island, Letter Sounds games & Alphabet Learning: Preschool Kids Reading
Education and Games
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***** Parents‘ Choice Awards’ winner ***** Developed by an award-winning education studios,...
Dana (24 KP) rated Gabriel: A Poem in Books
Mar 23, 2018
This poem was extremely sad to read. It is about a boy who died and the father who is mourning over the loss.
The boy, Gabriel, had many illnesses and was often overlooked in society. Since they were not illnesses one could see, he was not treated the way another ill person may be: in a way to help them rather than just write them off.
I enjoyed this poem, for the most part. It was heartbreaking to see the decline in the relationship between the father and son.
This is definitely a poem about mourning, but more than that, it shows the helplessness of beign trapped in that mourning. There is a sense of immortality for a parent when a child dies. It is not something that, naturally, should happen, yet it does. Hirsch brings in allusions to other famous people who have lost their children, and attempts to deal with the grief by looking to an example.
In the last few stanzas, there is the disbelief that comes with the loss of your child. It is as if you will see them in just a few moments. Like they will walk through the door and not actually be gone. Hirsch does an excellent job capturing this grief in the little moments. Like when the speaker is driving down the street and expects to see Gabriel reading a menu at some restaurant. Or at the funeral itself, where there should be a note of finality, it is left open because of the expected return.
I really enjoyed this book. I think if you, or someone you know, has been going through mourning, it may help to pick up this poem to know that you are not alone in your grief. That other people are going through the same thing.
The boy, Gabriel, had many illnesses and was often overlooked in society. Since they were not illnesses one could see, he was not treated the way another ill person may be: in a way to help them rather than just write them off.
I enjoyed this poem, for the most part. It was heartbreaking to see the decline in the relationship between the father and son.
This is definitely a poem about mourning, but more than that, it shows the helplessness of beign trapped in that mourning. There is a sense of immortality for a parent when a child dies. It is not something that, naturally, should happen, yet it does. Hirsch brings in allusions to other famous people who have lost their children, and attempts to deal with the grief by looking to an example.
In the last few stanzas, there is the disbelief that comes with the loss of your child. It is as if you will see them in just a few moments. Like they will walk through the door and not actually be gone. Hirsch does an excellent job capturing this grief in the little moments. Like when the speaker is driving down the street and expects to see Gabriel reading a menu at some restaurant. Or at the funeral itself, where there should be a note of finality, it is left open because of the expected return.
I really enjoyed this book. I think if you, or someone you know, has been going through mourning, it may help to pick up this poem to know that you are not alone in your grief. That other people are going through the same thing.
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Woman Without Fear in Books
Feb 21, 2018
***I won a copy of this book in a First to Read giveaway on Goodreads***
The story is about a shy woman named Trinity Silverman who, for reasons that are never fully explained, suffers from constant fear and anxiety. Despite this, her job is to go to trade conferences, and give presentations trying to sell her firm's financial software. Her companion when she travels is a snail named Speedy that she keeps in a small Plexiglas box. On one such business trip to Las Vegas, she meets a man in the hotel bar who works for a pharmaceutical company. He offers her some pills that he has developed, promising that they will take away all of her fears.
I had a few issues with this book. Conversations were sometimes strange, but it was originally written in French and translated into English, so that could be the reason for the odd dialog. I also had a problem with the way Trinity befriended a hotel maid who allowed her to dig through the garbage to retrieve the her lost pills. I didn't find their interaction and fast friendship at all believable. Most of all though, I was surprised at the amount of time spent on the snail who is not even mentioned in the book blurb. This was the first time I had ever read a novel told (at least in part) from a snail's point of view.
It ended abruptly, and somewhat confusingly, but it was only part 1 of the story. There are 4 more books, but the author's style and the unusual subject matter just didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to keep reading to find out what happens.
The story is about a shy woman named Trinity Silverman who, for reasons that are never fully explained, suffers from constant fear and anxiety. Despite this, her job is to go to trade conferences, and give presentations trying to sell her firm's financial software. Her companion when she travels is a snail named Speedy that she keeps in a small Plexiglas box. On one such business trip to Las Vegas, she meets a man in the hotel bar who works for a pharmaceutical company. He offers her some pills that he has developed, promising that they will take away all of her fears.
I had a few issues with this book. Conversations were sometimes strange, but it was originally written in French and translated into English, so that could be the reason for the odd dialog. I also had a problem with the way Trinity befriended a hotel maid who allowed her to dig through the garbage to retrieve the her lost pills. I didn't find their interaction and fast friendship at all believable. Most of all though, I was surprised at the amount of time spent on the snail who is not even mentioned in the book blurb. This was the first time I had ever read a novel told (at least in part) from a snail's point of view.
It ended abruptly, and somewhat confusingly, but it was only part 1 of the story. There are 4 more books, but the author's style and the unusual subject matter just didn't grab my interest enough to make me want to keep reading to find out what happens.
Lee (2222 KP) Jun 18, 2019
MelanieTheresa (997 KP) Jun 18, 2019