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The Virgin Elizabeth: A Novel
The Virgin Elizabeth: A Novel
Robin Maxwell | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
41 of 250
Book
Virgin
By Robin Maxwell

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

 
...a riveting portrait of Elizabeth I as a romantic and

vulnerable teenager, dangerously awakening to a perilous

liaison with the wrong man.

England, 1547: King Henry is dead. Elizabeth's half-brother, nine-year-old Edward, is king in name only. Thomas Seymour, brother to the ambitious duke who has seized power in this time of crisis, calculatingly works his way into Elizabeth's home in genteel Chelsea House. He marries Henry's widow, Catherine Parr, and uses his venerable charms and sexual magnetism to indulge his infatuation for young Elizabeth. Caught hopelessly under Thomas Seymour's spell, surrounded by kind friends and hidden enemies, Elizabeth can only follow her heart to ensure survival.



I’m fascinated by the Tudors and our English history and I love historical fiction so this was right up my street! Robin Maxwell certainly knows how to spin a tail! Elizabeth is definitely one of my favourite royals and to have an insight of her young life after already overcoming the embarrassment of her mother’s demise then this scandal truly shows why she remained unmarried and one of the longest strongest rulers!!
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 2, 2021  
Sneak a peek at the Christian romantic suspense novel HER EVERY MOVE by Kelly Irvin, Author on my blog, and enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of the book - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/04/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-her-every.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
He’s a cop trying to stop a serial bomber. And she’ll stop at nothing to clear her own name.

When a deadly bomb goes off during a climate change debate, librarian and event coordinator Jackie Santoro becomes the prime suspect. Her motive, according to Detective Avery Wick: to avenge the suicide of her prominent father, who was accused of crimes by a city councilman attending the event.

Though Avery has doubts about Jackie’s guilt, he can’t exonerate her even after an extremist group takes responsibility for the bombing and continues to attack San Antonio’s treasured public spaces.

As Jackie tries to hold her shattered family together, she has no choice but to proceed with plans for the Caterina Ball, the library system’s biggest annual fundraiser. But she also fears the event provides the perfect opportunity for the bomber to strike again.

Despite their mistrust, Jackie and Avery join forces to unmask the truth—before the death toll mounts even higher.
     
The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964)
The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964)
1964 | Drama, Musical, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I can’t explain this movie. It’s just perfection. Sad and funny, light and heavy, full of boisterous color and nonstop singing. Probably the most romantic movie I have ever seen. Catherine Deneuve has never been so lovely. I have never been to France, but I imagine it is just like it is depicted here. Maybe I will never go so I can keep my fantasy and save myself from disappointment. Jacques Demy was a singular talent. There was never anyone like him and there never will be again. I highly recommend the entire box set of his work, but this one will always be my favorite. I remember seeing it on the big screen at the Music Box in Chicago in the early nineties and walking out on clouds while also being filled with an intense melancholy. I can’t think of a single other movie that makes me feel both of those things at the same time and has left those feelings lingering inside me twenty-plus years later. Michel Legrand’s score is, it goes without saying, iconic and magnificent. And what this movie lacks in dancing, Demy makes up for in his constant gliding camera movements. As if the dance is between the actors and his lens. Pure cinema. Perfection."

Source
  
Revenge of the Creature (1955)
Revenge of the Creature (1955)
1955 | Horror, Sci-Fi
5
6.4 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I'm seeing some Spielbergisms in these movies so far as it seems like he must've used some ideas or themes when starting out like in Jaws. Once you show the monster, it's hard to put jack back in the box.

Unlike the original film, you see too much of the creature right away to build tension or think of him as menacing. This time around different scientists go back to the lagoon and capture the creature and bring him back to civilization. His new home is a large public aquarium where he instantly becomes the new star attraction. While chained to the tank floor he wows the spectators, defends himself against the nosy scientists and attempts escape. This sequence also felt like the 3rd act of The Lost World where the dinosaurs made it to land and terrorized the suburbs.

He eventually escapes and follows the main scientist and his girlfriend whilst they try and have a romantic time out to sea together. The last half of the film feels like you are watching From Here To Eternity with an occasional creature showing up every once in a while.

The tension just wasn't there in this one. A disappointment,

  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Angel Has Fallen (2019) in Movies

Aug 21, 2019 (Updated Aug 21, 2019)  
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
2019 | Action, Drama, Thriller
Bog-standard alpha-male action-thriller with Gerard Butler off on another bloody barrage of bombastic bodyguarding. Swivel-eyed psycho Mike Banning is struggling to come to terms with knocking on a bit (bad neck, painkiller addiction, looming desk job) when a bigger problem arises - someone tries to kill the Prez (who is Morgan Freeman this time) and frames Banning for it! Must be time for him to knife someone in the throat.

Thoroughly mechanical and frequently quite dull stuff, leavened only by the odd narrative curve-ball - we meet Poppa Banning, who is also a swivel-eyed psycho, but a comic relief one played by Nick Nolte. There is some stuff about Banning being framed for colluding with the Russians which seems mainly pitched to appeal to the red baseball cap crowd (I would say the film's depiction of the US presidency had completely departed from reality, had the presidency itself not already done that many months ago). There is something oddly tender and even perhaps romantic to the concluding tussle to the death between Butler and Danny Huston (who at least is good value). And it is less grimly objectionable than the previous one. But all in all - my advice, Gerard? Take the desk job.
  
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