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Rachel King (13 KP) rated Savage Nature (Leopard People #4) in Books

Feb 11, 2019

I have only read the short story that fits into the Leopard People series, so I am sure there is much that I am missing about this series. I wanted to read this book mostly because of the Louisiana bayou setting, my home state. Even though I spent most of my life in Louisiana, I did not spend much time at all in the bayou, so this was as much a nostalgic experience as an education for me. I found Christine Feehan's descriptions and uses of the setting to be very well written and quite engrossing, as this actually kept me involved enough in the book to keep reading, over the actual plot.
Much like when I read the short story in Fantasy by Christine Feehan, I found the plot to be overly dramatic and forced. Every scene, every interaction was told with such extreme emotion that I had to wonder if these characters ever had a chance to relax. The melodrama felt like something out of a t.v. soap opera with no natural flow to the time line.
I did like a few of the characters, such as Saria and the woman who ran the inn. Many of the characterizations matched the typical stereotypes of the Cajun people who reside in the backwaters of Louisiana. The dialogue hinted at the Cajun accent without muddling the vocabulary so much that I would have difficulty reading it.
While I loved Christine Feehan's use of Louisiana culture in Savage Nature (Leopard), I do not think I will be continuing to read any more of the Leopard People series.

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Sarah (7800 KP) created a post

Feb 21, 2019

Last night I went to watch a stage version of The Full Monty at Manchester’s Opera House. The film is fantastic, so I was interested to see how well they pulled the stage version off.

The play was great, and such a lot of fun. It was really funny although maybe a little too foul mouthed in parts (I’m sure people from Sheffield don’t swear that much!), but highly entertaining. They used all of the songs and scenes from the original film, and some extra backing music that fit in with the rest. The plot was identical to the film so they haven’t really changed much, and the set design was quite good. They’ve pulled off a steel works well, however the only issue is that because of the steel works design, there wasn’t a lot of moveable set pieces and while they tried their best, some of the switches to none steel works scenes didn’t work as well. Cast wise, this is the first play I’ve seen where I actually recognised the majority of the main actors. Admittedly they weren’t Hollywood stars, but in the UK at least they’re fairly recognisable faces if you’ve ever seen soaps or sitcoms - Gary Lucy (Hollyoaks, Footballers Wives) , James Redmond (Hollyoaks), Louis Emerick (Brookside), Andrew Dunn (Dinnerladies) and Kai Owen (Torchwood) made it all the more enjoyable to watch. They all performed well too, although my only criticism is that there were some very dodgy Yorkshire accents from some. Maybe not something everyone would notice.

In all though this is hilarious and highly entertaining play, and a really fun night out. Definitely worth seeing if you liked the film 9/10