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Battle of the Sexes (2016)
Battle of the Sexes (2016)
2016 | Biography, Comedy, Sport
In 1973, gender inequity was a major issue. The patriachy did not see women as equals and refuse to compensate them at the same rate. Billie Jean King had just won the US Open Championship and had registered the same share as the men's champion. The USLTA however wanted her to appear in a tournament at 12.5 cents on the dollar. She rebeled and along with several other popular female players started a rival tennis organization which eventually found a sponsor in Virginia Slims. At the same time, inveterate gambler and Senior Circuit player Bobby Riggs was facing his own crisis. Watching Billie Jean King on TV one night, Bobby gets an idea to stage a battle of male chauvinist pig versus feminist. Billie Jean does not want to take part in the sideshow. When Margaret Court becomes the #1-ranked woman on the Women's Tour, she takes the challenge. However, she does not have the game to match wits with Bobby and is defeated badly. Billie Jean torn between getting the tour solvent and her love life agrees to a rematch. The final event would be seen by 90 million people with a huge spectacle. Billie Jean used her more cerebral-based game to defeat the piggish Riggs and show the world that women could compete with men.
  
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands
2017 | Action/Adventure
Mindless Action (0 more)
Big dumb fun!
This game made little to no splash when it was released due to being released in such a dense period, but to me, games are about having fun and Ghost Recon: Wildlands is by far the most fun that I’ve had with a game released this year. An open world full of bad guys to kill, an armory of varied weapons to kill them with and loads of different vehicles and methods of attack. This is also the best game in a while for going through and clearing out each section of a map and completing a tick list of kills and liberated areas as you go. There is an extremely high level of satisfaction felt when tagging enemies and taking them out one by one and then when you inevitably get spotted, you get to feel like Rambo mowing down waves of enemies and causing vast amounts of chaos. These moments often lead to awesome accidental set pieces involving multiple enemies, vehicles and explosions. The dialogue and the story is total garbage, but that’s not why we are here. Treat this game like you would one of the Fast & Furious movies and you will have a blast. Lastly, I’m apparently not the only one to think this, as this is the best selling game of 2017 so far at the time of this writing.
  
The Good, the Bad and the Smug
The Good, the Bad and the Smug
Tom Holt | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I love Tom Holt’s sense of humor and writing style. He is sarcastic, quirky, fun to read, entertaining, light-hearted, and hilarious. I fell in love with his world and his style when I read (listened to) Doughnut way back in 2013. Apparently TGTB&TS is book 4 in the series and I missed all the ones in between. But not once did I feel lost or confused. Actually I didn’t even know it was part of the series until I recognized the sound of “The Very Very Large Hadron Collider.”

That being said, I’d recommend reading book 1 before you read this, otherwise you will be so confused it would distract you from how funny the book is.

Tom Holt has managed to take something so absolutely ridiculous and impossible and make it totally real. The characters are well built and real (even if they are goblins and elves and stock brokers pretending to be rumplestiltskin). The plot had my heart racing (trying to figure out why The Dark Lord is crying over patterned curtains is a serious matter) and the conclusion, though open to interpretation and somewhat confusing, was still fulfilling. I’m very happy with this book and look forward to going back (and forwards) to enjoy the others in the series!

Content/Recommendation: some language, some mention of eating body parts. no sex. Ages 18+
  
I took a chance on this book, based on the fact that Lucinda Riley is one of my friends' favourite authors. It's not something that I'd normally choose to read, but I'm glad I did. It's a really interesting story of how one of six adopted sisters, Maia, finds out about her birth family after the death of her adopted father. He leaves her some clues to help her, which to be fair, are pretty vague, and she enlists the help of a Brazilian author (whose books she translates from Portuguese to French) who also happens to be an historian.
Luckily, her adoptive father was very wealthy, and she has no financial need to find her birth family, but it must be nice when she discovers that they are an old Brazilian family, who were once very rich, and are now just plain old wealthy.
Maia also has a secret of her own in her past, one that has made her shut herself away from the world, and this trip to Brazil appears to be the start of her healing herself.
It's a lovely story, and I think I'll be keeping my eyes open for the other books in the series.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and fairly review.
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated Face of Glass in Books

Apr 10, 2020  
Face of Glass
Face of Glass
Damon L. Wakes | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Face of Glass is best described as a fantasy novel, but I don’t know as it even falls into this category, to be honest.

A young slave, ParuMe, finds himself in the right place at the right time, and is handed the role of chief of the tribe. As SatuKe, a God-like chief who never dies, he is forced to protect his tribe and the whole island from an invading force who know the secrets of steel. Help comes in a surprising form - that of a long dormant, ancient power. And as all good storytellers say, these ancient powers can be rather tricky.

This has some great world building, but I did keep trying to place the tribe and the invading forces - I think they’re all a product of the authors imagination though (but I keep thinking that the invaders are Romans - I may well be Descriptions we’re such that I thought they could be based on reality.

It’s a great story - very exciting in places, and I loved the stories that the tribes told one another. As with all tales where God-like creatures are involved, they don’t have happy endings, and are cautionary tales.

I really enjoyed this book, and I’ll be keeping an eye open for any more books by this author. Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and to the author for reading along.
  
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
1964 | Comedy
8.2 (25 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Strangelove — you can watch it again and again. Brilliant. To me, maybe the funniest movie ever made. Huge variety in the styles of the movie. Some of it’s shot like cinéma vérité documentary. Some of it’s very stylized. The mise en scène changes radically. When you’re in the bomber it’s hand-held — it might as well be Richie Leacock, or one of the Pennebakers making a movie; that’s how free-form it is. Totally realistic, even though you have Slim Pickens as the pilot of the jet that’s taking the atomic bomb to Russia. He’s hilarious, and yet you have a sense of this is really what it looks like — what their equipment looks like, what the gauges and the codes look like. They do a really funny sequence where they open up their survival box and there’s a condom, and there’s a 45, and it’s totally believable. And of course it ends with Slim Pickens riding the atomic bomb down like a wild horse toward Russia, and the world ending. And Sterling Hayden, absolutely hilarious throughout the movie, and Sellers playing five parts, I think. The scenes between him and Sterling Hayden, where he’s the British officer who’s been assigned to this airbase and Sterling Hayden is completely wacko and is convinced that they’re stealing his precious bodily fluids, because when he had sex he felt depleted. [Laughs]."

Source
  
Tormented
Tormented
Lee Mountford | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
49 of 250
Kindle
Tormented
By Lee Mountford

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

Insidious experiments are being carried out at Arlington Asylum, and the only way the inmates ever leave is inside a body bag.
 
Adrian is a prisoner here. And he is next on the list to receive the strange medicine that is being administered. Medicine that causes certain... changes... to those who take it.

If he is to survive, Adrian must find his self-worth and start fighting for his life while chaos erupts in the asylum around him.

Because these experiments open up a gateway to a place worse than hell. And the nightmarish inhabitants of that place break through and intend to tear our world apart.

Can Adrian stand against impossible odds and end this threat before it's too late?

Buy Tormented now, because you will love this violent and gruesome tale filled with horror, monsters, and buckets of gore. Not for the faint of heart.

I bloody loved it! This was some crazy bloody violent creature feature!! It would make a really good gory film! The monsters are so vividly written you can actually visualise them clearly! It isn’t normally my type of horror I usually get a little bored but this left no prisoners and gave no happy ending which is why I loved it!
  
Hunter's Moon (Wildeward Academy #1)
Hunter's Moon (Wildeward Academy #1)
Gwyneira Blythe | 2020 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hunter's Moon is the first book in the Wildeward Academy series and we are introduced to a world where magic, and curses, are real. Told from different perspectives, we learn how Victoria's mother disappeared and her father still searches for her. With the wards failing around their home, Victoria has no choice but to attend Wildeward where she meets new and old 'friends'.

This book has a steampunk feel to it, along with the magic. All the characters are interesting and so very different from each other, and I love how they interact with each other. The setting is clear enough to picture and will definitely leave you wanting more.

There were parts of this story that I was unsure about but I am more than happy to keep an open mind and see where book two takes me. I especially want to know more about Doyle's past and why he has reacted the way he has.

For a debut novel and the start of a new series, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read more. Definitely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
The Invisible Assistant
The Invisible Assistant
John Gaspard | 2020 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Magical Locked Room Mystery
Magician Eli Marks is surprised when his ex-wife, Deirdre, shows up at one of his magic shows with her new husband, Homicide Detective Fred Hutton. However, they are there seeking Eli’s advice. A recent murder/suicide inside a lock townhome appears to be open and shut to Fred, but Deirdre, a DA, is certain that something else is going on, and she is hoping that Eli’s unique view of things will help explain what really happened. Will his knowledge of magic help solve the case?

I’ve been meaning to read this story for a while, and I’m glad I finally did. This is a classic locked room mystery, and I always enjoy those. The solution was logical if a bit of a stretch. Still, I was willing to buy into it. We really only have three characters in this story, and the interaction between them was fun. As a fan of the series, I laughed at some of it, in fact. I suspect that those coming to the characters first the first time will find it just as amusing. The story is set early in the series, so fans should expect those dynamics as they read. Whether you are new to Eli’s world or not, this is a short story you’ll enjoy.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated Murder in Morningside Heights in Books

Feb 16, 2022 (Updated Feb 16, 2022)  
Murder in Morningside Heights
Murder in Morningside Heights
Victoria Thompson | 2016 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder at a Women’s College
Frank Malloy’s new private investigation business has only been open a few months, but it hasn’t gotten him any interesting cases until the Northrups walk in. Their daughter Abigail has just been murdered on the campus of the women’s college where she taught. Her parents want to know what happened without the press getting wind of a scandal to ruin her reputation. Soon, Frank’s new wife, Sarah, is helping him figure out what happened to Abigail. With several competing motives, will they figure out the truth?

As always, this was an excellent trip back to 1890’s New York City. The story was fast paced, so even when I was ahead of the characters, it wasn’t for that long. And I still wasn’t sure about who the killer was until we reached the logical conclusion. Of course, it’s always great to spend time with the characters, and I love how Frank and Sarah’s world continues to evolve. I also enjoy the humor that the characters and their relationships provide. It’s a nice balance to some of the more serious themes the series tackles. This book will please fans of the series. Believe me, it is worth the time invested in catching up if you are still behind on the series like I am.