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The Couple Next Door
The Couple Next Door
Shari Lapena | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.0 (75 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great read until the ending
I didn't really know anything about this book, having picked it from the Richard & Judy book club list, but I was pleasantly surprised.

It starts off well, lots of tension and suspense and some interesting flawed charscyers. It has you questioning all of the characters motives to figure out "whodunnit". My issue is that this was dragged out for far too long and that by the time you got to the ending, it was all a little too predictable. Good writing though and i would definitely read any more books by Shari Lapena.
  
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Lena Dunham recommended Days of Heaven (1978) in Movies (curated)

 
Days of Heaven (1978)
Days of Heaven (1978)
1978 | Drama

"Little Linda Manz’s voice-over is enough of a reason to watch this film. Forget the perfect performances by Richard Gere and Sam Shepard, or Brooke Adams’s twisted damsel in distress, or the way the wheat blows at magic hour making you forget the specter of murder that hangs over it all. I’m obsessed with the fact that production designer Jack Fisk built the farmhouse, which is meant to look as old as time and it really does. Also, while shooting Badlands (the previous Malick), Fisk wooed his future wife, Sissy Spacek, by leaving gifts for her in her character’s drawers. Swoon."

Source
  
A Little Christmas: Jacob
A Little Christmas: Jacob
TL Travis | 2022 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A LITTLE CHRISTMAS: JACOB tells the sad story of Jacob being passed from pillar to post from birth. Sent off to Boarding School at a young age, he never saw his father again. Things went as well as can be expected for him at school until his father got arrested. Then the Headmistress really comes into her own and Jacob ends up being kicked to the curb on Christmas Day when he turns eighteen. Luckily for him, after a rocky time, Richard finds him and saves his life. Under Richard's care and guidance, Jacob realises just who and what he is.

I did enjoy this story and found it to be a great addition to the Little Christmas series but it just didn't work as well for me as some of the others. Jacob was definitely broken and Richard was the one to mend him, with plenty of loving care. There was something about Jacob that didn't sit right with me whereas I found Richard to be a sweetie.

The pacing is smooth with some tender and hot scenes. I think this is the first book by this author I have read and I will definitely read some more. I don't know what it was about Jacob that didn't work, but it certainly hasn't put me off this author or Daddy/littles. Recommended by me.

** 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!
  
Hansel and Gretel (1988)
Hansel and Gretel (1988)
1988 | Family, Sci-Fi
7
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Pretty much everything (0 more)
A little too direct (0 more)
A great telling of an old tale
Contains spoilers, click to show
Saw this on Netflix and decided to give it a try, honestly wasn't a bad movie.
Cheesy Old school graphics help tell this tale very well and I praise the effort.
A few enjoyable musical numbers that are actually a little fun to hear.
Brother and sister Hansel (Hugh Pollard) and Gretel (Nicola Stapleton) are careless and leave food out for a donkey to eat. This enrages their mother (Emily Richard) because the family is poor and cannot afford to waste food. She orders the children to go out and pick some berries. Lost in the woods, they eventually find a magical cottage made of gingerbread and meet a nice old woman named Griselda (Cloris Leachman). But Griselda is a witch who imprisons the children and plans to eat them.
Initial release: 1987
  
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
2018 | Fantasy, Horror
I do like the comics of Sabrina and I remember liking the more lighthearted TV show. This is a little darker which is not a bad thing. The first season takes a little bit to get going, but once it does it's pretty good. Some episodes are stronger than others and sometimes it feels like Sabrina is very one note doing things without thinking about consequences. Richard Coyle does a fantastic job playing Faustus Blackwood. The cast itself is really good. There are definitely issues for me with how Pagans, Wiccans, and Satanists are portrayed. It comes across as very ignorant because it's not accurate at all. There are some things they do get right like the Hare Moon, but there are a lot of things that are incorrect. The final season seems to be mixed because the ending seems a bit abrupt, but overall it's not a bad show.