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Merissa (12669 KP) rated Once Upon a Dream (Mystic Beach #1) by Aislinn Archer in Books

May 13, 2022 (Updated Jun 20, 2023)

ONCE UPON A DREAM is the first full-length story in the Mystic Beach series. I first met Ellie and Hunter in their short story - Here Comes the Sun - which takes place when they are six years old. This one takes place over a longer amount of time, and they both grow and change in a number of ways.

Both of them lose their mothers and neither of their fathers will ever win a 'Father of the Year' award! Ellie - who changes her name to Brighid - is hands down my favourite. She deals with what life throws at her, loves her best friend, and does the best she can. Hunter - I love him and hate him at the same time. He's got a long way to go before I'll forgive him for how he treated both Ellie and himself. And those pathetic excuses he makes to himself just aren't going to cut it. Too many excuses and not enough thought. Being completely honest here, the longer the book went on, the more I disliked him!!!

There is enough mysticism here to keep me happy whilst definitely leaving me wanting more. In fact, that's the feeling I've got now that I've finished this story. I want - no, I NEED - more! I want to see how the paranormal becomes normal for Brighid. I want to know more about Mystic Beach. I want to know more about the guys in the band, especially Kieran! And not forgetting Mace.

The world-building - whether in Virginia, Delaware, or New York - is first class. The characters are all different and don't blend into each other. The pacing is perfect. And the part near the end in New York? Had me in tears! Good on Brighid for showing backbone though and doing what was best for her. Still had me in tears though.

A fantastic book that I thoroughly enjoyed and can't wait for the next one. Highly recommended by me.

PS - LOVED the Robin of Sherwood references!!!

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* 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!
May 12, 2022

Kudos

Sensitivemuse (246 KP) rated The Other Woman in Books

Jul 26, 2018

The Other Woman

Sandie Jones | 2018 | Thriller

8.3

(15 Ratings)

Book Rating

Beware of Pammie

Holy. Mother. (yup I said it)

The moment I get into the first third of the book I had to keep going. I had to finish this book and see what will happen next. It was one thing after another and you were just waiting for who was going to snap first.

There’s a lot of tension and the mood is high strung. It’s like as if you’re near someone sensitive and you’re walking on eggshells. It’s that tense. The plot is quick and fast as you watch Emily put up with Pammie and her behavior. You feel angry towards Adam who seems to be a spineless dolt and just bows to Pammie’s whims little do you know there’s a bomb ready to drop at the very end and you just weren’t ready when it happens. It’s extremely well written and the revelation at the end is also well done. When it is revealed, you start to realize everything falls into place. It’s certainly an eye opener.

Character wise, I found it hard to like any of them. Pammie, well she’s not your favorite mother in law now is she? Adam isn’t any better. Emily would be 50/50 as there were times when I was rooting for her when she finally stuck up for herself. Then the cheering would be short lived because she’s reverts back to her needy whiny persona and she let’s Pammie and Adam walk all over her. She snaps but then cowers back later. It’s frustrating. I can’t stand James because of his behavior and what he tried to do. Okay, granted it was meant as a warning, but it’s a really strange messed up way of doing so. Emily behaves like this lovesick mooncalf around him it gets annoying. If you really wanted to be with him, you can always dump Adam. Stop mooning over James like he’s Adonis when you don’t have the galls to drop Adam like a hat. (He deserves it too, by the way)

Despite the character though, the book is still an enjoyable read as the plot gets better and better with each chapter read. What you think is obvious, isn’t and there’s a reason why everything was done. Now granted, it’s a very messed up way of doing so. But it still makes for great reading.

Greatly recommended. Certainly going to be one of my favorite reads of 2018.

PS: Every woman needs friends like Seb and Pippa.

Kudos

Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) created a post

Sep 23, 2020

Power Moves Out Of Necessity

An Essay On The Recent Acquisition of Zenimax Media and Bethesda Studios by Microsoft

Before this week it looked like Sony could do no wrong as they made the final sprint towards the release of their next gen system. It’s funny how quickly things can change in a week.

First there was the monumental fuck up that was the PS5 pre-orders, which included but are not limited to; times that pre orders are going live not being clearly stated, each retailer apparently having totally random respective times that pre orders went live and pre orders seemingly being in stock until the point when the customer goes to pay at the checkout screen when they are told, ‘sorry buddy, not today!”

Then there were the rumours, followed swiftly by the confirmation that the PS5 will indeed NOT be backwards compatible with anything pre PS4. Why is this something that is so difficult to do? This means that plenty of your favourite games from generations past, including titans such as the classic Hitman games, Silent Hill 2, the entire MGS franchise prior to Ground Zeroes, will spend yet another generation stuck on old hardware that is getting continuously older and harder to maintain.

For years people have been begging Sony to introduce a service similar to GamePass, which has been a huge benefit to Xbox and PC players for a while now.
They listened… sort of.
The PlayStation Plus Collection was announced which includes a meaty array of huge last gen exclusives, including Uncharted 4 and God of War. The caveat is that while GamePass includes brand new first party releases added to the service on launch, as well as a respectable back catalogue of exclusives, the PS Plus Collection does not. Apparently it is ‘not financially feasible,’ for Sony to adopt this practice.

Following all of this, Xbox then makes one of the most industry-shaking power moves that we have seen in the last decade, by announcing that they are purchasing Zenimax Media and by extension all of the studios under that umbrella, including Bethesda Softworks, Arkane Studios, id Software, Machine Games and Tango Gameworks. Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down.

Now before you go and place a panicked pre order on an Xbox Series X, it has been announced that not all games from these studios will be exclusive to Microsoft systems. Instead this will be something that will be decided on a case to case basis and PS exclusives Deathloop from Arkane and Ghostwire: Tokyo from Tango will still be released as exclusives on Sony’s console. However, Microsoft did spend 7.5 billion dollars on the acquisition and you can bet on the fact they are going to want something for their money. If they can manage to claim Elder Scrolls VI, or Fallout 5 as a Microsoft exclusive, it could shift a lot of the market back to Xbox. The most likely candidate in my opinion for a MS exclusive, is Bethesda’s announced new IP; Starfield. It is already highly anticipated and will most likely be a huge seller when it drops and if Sony folks can’t get their hands on it, I can see many people making the jump to Microsoft.

I have written before about my issues with exclusivity on either side of the console war, but I also understand the industry well enough to see that it is a necessary evil and in this cut-throat market, this is a clever investment. I really appreciate Xbox making a big move like this as quite frankly they had to do something major in this vein to even be in with a chance of winning the next generation. It’s good to see that they are refusing to go down without a fight. They really need a boost like this if they want to have any chance of catching up with Sony in the next generation.

The only hitch in this whole plan is that had they done this five years ago, - before disappointments like Prey, ESO, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and especially Fallout 76, - this would have been ten times more effective and mind-blowing. As of today, it seems more like 2 companies that are both on their respective backs trying to help each other up.

Overall, I think this is a good thing for the industry as a whole. I think that it will drive more intense competition, which will in turn result in better games. As a gamer, I think I would be way more upset about this if I hadn’t just built a decent gaming PC where I can play any Microsoft exclusives anyway, but I still think that it will ultimately benefit the individual gamer also by forcing more competition between developers and therefore a higher standard of games. I do think that it will encourage people who were originally going to just buy a PS5 to at least consider getting both consoles. This will have an effect down the line when MS starts announcing Xbox exclusive Bethesda titles etc, but we’ll see how much of an effect it ends up having at launch.

Kudos Comment

Kevin Wilson (179 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Trials Fusion in Video Games

Jul 10, 2018

Super addictive (3 more)

A lot of fun with friends

Hundreds of tracks

You will never get bored

Almost impossible for completionests (1 more)

Would get headaches and become achy from time to time

Addicting platforming racer!

I had brought this over a year ago but never found the motivation to play it until it became free on ps plus and all my friends got it.

We played a few races together and I instantly became addicted. I was always last but I gradually got better at the game which makes it more fun and it convinced me to play the career mode which I will get more into later.

Starting with multiplayer, all the tracks and bikes are open to you. No need to unlock them. All the tracks from the career mode which there are so many as well as hundreds of user created which are excelllent, fun and sometimes weird. I played 1 where your bike turns into a squirrel and a fun track where everything is moving and messes with your head. There's always something new with these game. Even the extreme tracks where I can't even get past the first obstacle (I'm looking at you inferno) is frustratingly fun and to this day I have not got past that first bit.

There are 6 dlc packs with the season pass (not including the unicorn dlc) and all the tracks from these packs become available in multiplayer too. So if your with a group and only you have the packs, as long as your hosting, they will also be able to play them which is insane.

The career mode has so much to offer too. About 8 sections, each with about 7 tracks. Each track makes you want to go back again and again thanks to medals and leaderboards. I'm constantly wanting to go back to beat my friends scores which I've never been into before.

Extreme tracks are so difficult to get gold medals so if your a completionest it may be difficult but the game is a lot of fun yet frustrating. I find myself getting headaches if a track is too annoying or my body starts moving in awkward psoitions to the point I feel so achy.

Best played with friends in my opinion but as fun to play solo and try to beat those times for bragging rights. Even the costumes you can wear are fun. I have the PS4 version so Im not sure if it's the same everywhere else but you can unlock Rayman, Aiden from watchdogs and an assassin from the creed games. There's also many more from hazmat suits to rhino helmets.

I can recommend this easily for anyone wanted to just mess around.