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The Way of All Flesh
The Way of All Flesh
Ambrose Parry | 2018 | Crime
10
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
**I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review**

Set in 1847 Edinburgh, THE WAY OF ALL FLESH is a frightfully riveting novel revolving around Raven and Sarah, two women on the hunt for answers to the mysterious murders taking place. Told in such a vivid manner, I love how the story jumps from the page and maintains a fast pace that never seemed to disappoint me.

LOVED it and would recommend.
  
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Cori June (3033 KP) created a post in The Raven Quoth

Oct 14, 2019  
Goddam organizers, he thought. You get something good going, and somebody comes along and organizes it. He told himself that this was inevitable, the way of the world, but it bothered him. The raven would have been in favor of a movement in the general direction of chaos, consternation, and disorganization, had he not known that such a project would require the most organization of all. Besides, there would undoubtedly be a squirrel running it.
-- a Fine and Private Place, Peter S. Beagle
  
Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems
Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems
Edgar Allan Poe, Dawn B. Sova | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.1 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
A genius of the horror and macabre genre (2 more)
A true inspiration (personal opinion)
Tense and horrifying writing
His lesser work, is obviously lesser (0 more)
Quoth the Raven, Nevermore
If you have read my reviews on the film 'The Raven' and the TV series 'The Following' the you have already read about how I adore Edgar Allan Poe and how he is my biggest inspiration in writing, especially of my Gothic Horror poems.

The poems he has written are chilling, enjoyable and indeed are works of a genius, that some at the time, maybe even still to this day, would call the writings of a mad man. The life of Poe is one filled with tragedy and bewilderment, and he has inspired so many writers across all mediums over the years, and is one of the most famous writers known to man. Almost everyone I have ever met knows, at the very least, the line of 'Quote the Raven, Nevermore' and this is just one of the staples that this man has left throughout history.

His short stories aren't all horror, same as his poems, but it has to be said that his Horror fiction is certainly his best. Though I have not yet read all of his short stories, or even half, the one's that I have read have given me a clear idea that whilst his work remains interesting to read, his horror is by far the most entertaining and thrilling.

Edgar Allan Poe will always remain my biggest inspiration for my writing, and I hope to one day have a collection of writings, that are just as loved as his.
  
The Perfect Guests
The Perfect Guests
Emma Rous | 2021 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A fascinating and atmospheric thriller

In 1988, fourteen-year-old Beth arrives at Raven Hall. An orphan, Beth has been chosen to keep Nina Averell, the teenage daughter who lives with her parents there, company. She becomes part of the family, almost feeling as if she belongs there. But then Nina's parents ask Beth to do something strange, forcing her to question everything, and soon nothing will ever be the same. In 2019, struggling actress Sadie Langton takes a job as part of a murder mystery dinner party. She's amazed when she arrives at the location, a beautiful manor called Raven Hall. But once the pretend party starts, Sadie realizes that something seems off--and that their "host" is toying with everyone, including her.

This was an excellent thriller that draws you in immediately and never lets go. Rous gives us an atmospheric tale, with Raven Hall and the Fens practically appearing before your eyes while reading. It doesn't get much better than a creepy book set in a weird, rambling castle, right?

THE PERFECT GUESTS alternates between Beth's story, set in the past; Sadie's, set in the present; and an unnamed voice. Trying to figure out how everyone is interconnected is part of the book's intrigue. I definitely worked some parts out early on--others were a surprise. Still, the result is a very twisty and compelling read.

Overall, this is a page-turner with a fascinating plot. I'm a fan of Emma Rous and her way of sucking the reader into her books. GUESTS sets an atmospheric scene and offers plenty for mystery fans to puzzle out. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 here.

I received a copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. It is available on 1/12/2021.
  
The Raven (1963)
The Raven (1963)
1963 | Classics, Comedy, Family
9
8.2 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Vincent Price (2 more)
Boris Karloff
Jack Nicholson
Campy and Chessy
The Raven- is a excellent slapstick comic-horror film that is based off of Edgar Allen-Poe's Poem. The effects are cheesy meaning bad but those were effects back in the 60's. Now we have CGI. So looking back those were the effects that their had. And it got better overtime. I just love the campest of this film. Its horror but slapstick horror with cheesy effects.

The Plot: Magician Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) is still deeply depressed two years after the death of his beloved wife, Lenore (Hazel Court). One day, he's visited by Adolphus Bedlo (Peter Lorre), who has been transformed into a raven after losing a duel to Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff), an evil wizard. After Craven transforms Bedlo back into a human, Bedlo claims to have seen Lenore's ghost at Scarabus' castle, prompting the two to head to Scarabus' castle to seek Craven's lost love.

I love the performaces by Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. Three generations of actors right their. Plus Roger Corman directed it.

Its a cheesy campy film but got to love it cause of the slapstick.
  
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#Wordsareourgreatestweapon (32 KP) rated RuPaul's Drag Race in TV

Dec 19, 2018 (Updated Dec 19, 2018)  
RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race
2009 | Comedy, Drama, Game Show, Reality-TV
Contains spoilers, click to show
so if no one minds i'm gonna go season by season...

Season 1 - Not the best season for me... it had some good players but it not one that stands out for me...

Season 2 - I'm one of those who didn't really connect with Tyra... I connected more with Raven and her no bulls**t appraoch to it all..

Season 3 - RAJA! Need I say more? oh and how Yara Sofia KILLED the stage at the comedy.... and am I the only one who cried when Michelle did when Carmen was eliminated?
  
The Raven Boys
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater | 2012 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.8 (36 Ratings)
Book Rating
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#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3053741934">The Raven Boys</a> - ★★★★
#2 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3255973750">The Dream Thieves</a> - Not Read Yet

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Even if Blue hadn't been told her true love would die if she kissed him, she would stay away from boys. Especially the ones from the local private school. Known as Raven Boys, they only mean trouble.

<b>But this is the year that everything will change for Blue.</b>

This is the year that she will be drawn into the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys. And the year Blue will discover that magic does exist.

<b>This is the year she will fall in love.</b>

<b><i>"Blue, I know you're not an idiot. It's just, sometimes smart people do dumb things."</i></b>

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<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>

I enjoyed The Raven Boys. I have been meaning to read this book for such a long time, and I am so happy I finally managed to scratch it off my list. 

I loved the beginning and I loved Blue and her witch family. It gave me vibes of Charmed - a TV Show that was my favourite when I was growing up. 

Her family does readings and Blue has known her prediction her whole life. She knows that if she kisses her true love, he will die. Even though everyone else in her family has powers, Blue doesn’t. Her power is to amplify other people’s superpowers. So when her family does a reading and Blue is present, they can predict the future better. 

When Blue meets The Raven Boys, she knows they’re trouble. But there is an opportunity for her to really see and feel magic, something she hasn’t ever done before, and this temptation will be too much for her to resist. 

<b><i>"Once Arthur knew the grail exited, how could he not look for it?"</i></b>

<b>I loved The Raven Boys gang.</b>

They were awesome, and brutal, and handsome and smart. They all had their own challenges and character development throughout the book and I enjoyed watching them grow.

I was and still am so unsure about that ending and the fact that I was left more confused than when I started reading the book. There is a feeling I have like I need to re-read this book to fully understand everything, and it’s not a very good vibe.

I still enjoyed it and would definitely read the second book, but I was hoping this would be one of my favourite books and it wasn’t. Maybe the next time around, eh?

I highly recommend it if you love fantasy, magic, handsome boys and young-adult books in general. It is a very interesting book, with lots of mysteries and twists, and a very confusing ending (which some may enjoy). 

<b><i>"People shout when they don't have the vocabulary to whisper."</i></b>

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Tara L Milner (1 KP) created a post

Jan 10, 2018  
Raven Boys. Maggie Stiefvater
Well what can I say I was hooked from the first chapter; then everything went a little South. A little irritating with constant change of narrative - not even chapter by chapter but almost every other page. Then theres the highly annoyed is the "said Gansly" before he said anything! (This happens 95% before anyone speaks) but the story is so annoyingly captivating you have to gind out what happens next. So now I've bought the other three books in series to find out what did happen that night!!! What will happen to Blue???
     
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Becs (244 KP) rated The Raven Boys in Books

Sep 22, 2019  
The Raven Boys
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater | 2012 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
7.8 (36 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish, and Noah Czerny made this novel (1 more)
The rollercoaster of emotions you feel
The villain didn't offer as much as I'd like but it was too big of a letdown (1 more)
The MC wasn't my favorite but she had good complexities that made her unique
Deserves all the hype!
You can also find this review on my blog: bookingwayreads.wordpress.com

TRIGGER WARNINGS: suicidal ideation, (past) suicide attempt, violence, guns, death

REVIEW: Y’all, I think I found a new favorite series. This series… the characters… the world-building… the character development… UGH I absolutely adore everything about it. Ronan Lynch has my heart and Noah Czerny is such a babie and I want to protect him forever and ever. The Raven Boys gave me so much more than what I was expecting.

The Raven Boys follows Blue Sargent. But unlike her family of physics, seers, and clairvoyants, Blue has no magical abilities. She has been warned all her life that the first person she kisses, will die. One night, she sees a boy on the Corpse Road and this is a sign. The only way that a non seer sees a ghost is if that ghost is either a true love or the non-seer killed them. This is where the Raven Boys come into play.

The Raven Boys is basically the name of four boys that attend Aglionby – Gansey Richard III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, and Noah Czerny. Gansey is the so-called leader of the group and he’s on a mission to find the final resting place of Glendower, a Welsh King who passed away in Henrietta. There is a legend that says if he’s awoken, he grants the person who woke him a “favor”. Gansey wants to be the person to wake Glendower but he isn’t the only one looking for him.

I didn’t know too much about this series other than the writing style wasn’t the greatest. I didn’t really see a problem with this as I listened to them on audiobook. The narrator was not my favorite and some of the voices he used I didn’t feel worked with the characters. But all in all, I was really invested in the plot and paranormal aspect of Blue and the Raven Boys.

Speaking of Blue and the Raven Boys, they were so well-written! Each character within this novel was complex and had their own unique peculiarities that made them extremely interesting to read about. They were also really relatable. Even the situations that they each experienced, felt real and not at all cliche’d. Plus, all the sarcastic remarks had me howling with laughter, especially Ronan and Gansey’s friendship. It was *chefs kiss*

“We have to be back in three hours,” Ronan said. “I just fed Chainsaw but she’ll need it again.”
“This,” Gansey replied “is precisely why I didn’t want to have a baby with you.”

The characters that I found the most interesting, were honestly Ronan, Noah, and Adam. Blue was a great protagonist and had her complexities, but I didn’t feel anything special for her. Gansey was also an interesting character but I felt that the book revolved a bit too much about him and his mission. I wanted more scenes with Noah, Adam, and Ronan.

Ronan gave me all the bad boy vibes and has my heart while Noah is such a babie that I must protect. But if we’re talking great backstories and the main character in my book, I would say Adam takes that role. Adam’s story is honestly the best of them all. It was tragic, and made my heart hurt in more places than I expected that he had to go through what he did. I was taken on the biggest roller coaster ride I’ve ever been on and man, this book hit home – hard.

I was unable to put this down and I just wanted to keep listening to it. I was emotional because of the relationship with the OT5, driven due to the quest of finding Glendower and wanting to discover the truth. This is also the first book that I felt nothing for the “villain”. I mean if you know me, I’m always falling for the villain and here, I’m just like meh about him. He didn’t offer a ton to the story but he did offer just enough that without him, this story wouldn’t have made sense one bit.

Also, can we talk about all the foreshadowing within this novel? Cause holy guacamole! There was a ton. For example:

“Ronan said, “I’m always straight.”
Adam replied “Oh, man, that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told.”

Like.. WHAT!? DO I SMELL A BUDDING ROMANCE? FRIENDS TO LOVERS MAYBE? Please let these two be a couple in the end, cause I need me a Ronan and Adam couple scene. DON’T LET ME DOWN MAGGIE!

The writing was beautiful, and I felt it flowed wonderfully. I got swept into the world of Cabeswater and I loved how you could actually feel like you were there alongside Blue and the Raven Boys.

Okay, before I make this any longer and bore y’all to death with my love for Ronan Lynch and Noah Czerny – just please… I beg of you to pick this up and give The Raven Boys a chance.

“The way Gansey saw it was this: if you had a special knack for finding things, it meant you owed the world to look.”
  
Journeyman (Raven Series #2) [Audiobook]
Journeyman (Raven Series #2) [Audiobook]
Heather Atkinson | 2022 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Having listened to and thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series, Raven, I was intrigued to see what further escapades the assassin/bounty hunter was going to get mixed up in.

Now Raven was good but Journeyman is better!

Damien, Raven's brother, receives a coded message from their father One-Eye (aka Nik) that means he is in trouble. Unable to contact him and with only a vague idea of where he was going, they set out to try and track him down somewhere in Scotland.

One-Eye is being tracked by a killer from his past who he thought was dead. He is injured and has to 'hide out' in a small Scottish village on the Isle of Skye. Whilst recovering, One-Eye is getting to know the eclectic residents of the village when one of them is found murdered but who did it and why?

With good, strong characters, loads of action, a great and unexpected twist and quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, this was a really enjoyable listen and I look forward to the next in the series.

The narrator does a great job with all the different characters; she really had her work cut out with this one and did it well.

Thank you to W.F. Howes Ltd and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to Journeyman and share my thoughts.