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Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021)
Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021)
2021 | Horror
A young teen, Heather, is finishing her last shift of the day in the mall, upon closing time she agrees to meet her friend Ryan outside so they can walk home together. Once Ryan leaves to gather his things, Heather is chased through the mall by a masked stranger and murdered in an almost identical way to casey becker in scream! When the credits start, the 1994 is blood red and someone screams as it is splattered against the screen, again just like scream! Either purely coincidental or the writers are a fan of the movie.


Anyway, the next day we see a number of teens talking and apparently this isn't the first murder in this town, in fact almost every decade has had a massacre, which many of the teens believe is the result of a witches curse. After a fight breaks out at a vigil held for Heather and Ryan, the rival schools threaten to kill each other and a killing spree starts shortly after. However, it is not the teens going through with their threats, in fact the killers aren't even alive! The teens must find a way to stop these creatures.

The movie is filled with so many feels of the 90s, as someone who was a teen in that decade herself I enjoyed all the nostalgia, from the mention of AOL to calling someone a dilweed. I liked the fact that the teens in the movie actually did look like teens unlike many other movies, though it did the almost sex scenes seem wrong. I enjoyed the teen Slasher part of the story as Slashers are my fav movie genre and we don't get many of those anymore, what ruined I for me though was the addition of Supernatural beings, I really wanted a teen Slasher with a big reveal at the end but sadly that isn't what I got. Still a good film though.
  
The Girl in the Letter
The Girl in the Letter
Emily Gunnis | 2018 | Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel is told from multiple perspectives, so there is no single protagonist in this novel. Sam is a journalist who finds a letter from Ivy, written in 1956, and she is trying to find out who Ivy was and is she related to her own family. Even though we learn about Ivy through her letters, the whole story kind of circles around her. I really liked all the characters chosen for this novel, I think they are well well developed and truly intriguing. I liked Sam, and her personality, but my most favourite one was Ivy. Her story is mesmerizing, and the way everything unfolds as you carry on reading left me unsettled.

The narrative of this novel is very creatively written, the plot keeps travelling between the present and the past, unravelling long forgotten secrets and mysteries. There is plenty of great turns and twists in this book, and I was kept on my toes page after page. There is plenty of great topics discussed in this book, such as mother-baby bond, couple relationships, family dramas, cruelty and abuse from church workers, revenge, and many more. I really loved the research done for this novel, I could feel the pain Ivy felt and see how this kind of institutions ruined lives instead of saving them.

The writing style of this book is easy to read but difficult emotionally. The setting of this novel constantly changes between different characters, so it doesn’t leave the reader bored. The chapters are pretty short and flew by really quickly for me. The ending rounded up the novel very nicely and left me satisfied with the outcome.

So, to conclude, it is a really powerful book, filled with pain, love, and broken lives. The characters are very well crafted and the narrative just sucked me in from the first pages. If you, like me, like the books about haunting and scary institutions from the past, this book is definitely for you!
  
A Not So Dead Man's Journey
A Not So Dead Man's Journey
C. J. Jordan | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Needs a good edit/proof-read
The first book in this new author's series immediately throws the reader into an exciting Indiana Jones-style ruined temple where the main character, Alden, is searching for ancient magical texts.
From the end of this scene, however, the tone changes dramatically as Alden returns home to a painfully dull and twee life with his wife and daughter. This section is laboured and very dull, going way beyond setting the scene and embedding the characters.
Alden is then thrown into a new quest as he is kidnapped by pirates and taken far away to take part in a magical ritual. From here, where the story should be hooking you and growing, the pace is all wrong and I felt like I was the one taken prisoner by this book.
Alden goes through something of a transformation (which is not explained in any way, but that is largely fine) and having been away for 10 years he travels home.
A number of things about the story are just absolutely implausible, and inconsistent. Characters who have barely met, let alone like each other are suddenly best friends with so many fond memories. Magical abilities are suddenly revealed which would have been very useful earlier in the story. And the underlying plot needs a lot of work to thrash out the details and character motivations.
The author's narrative tone is quite charming, but a little twee for some of the darker sections of the story, and the character's thoughts are quite irritatingly thrown in and generally add little of substance.
The writing needs a lot of work, there are so many spelling errors and grammar crimes. And the punctuation is all wrong as well, which may sound pedantic but at times it does throw the reader off and make them question what the sentence meant (see "helping your uncle jack off his horse").
I am convinced there is a good story in here somewhere but it needs a really thorough proof-read and substantial editing.
  
    Beach Buggy Blitz

    Beach Buggy Blitz

    Games

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The Saint of Lost Things
The Saint of Lost Things
Tish Delaney | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Saint of Lost Things by Tish Delaney was read wonderfully by Bronagh Waugh on the audiobook. Not just the accent - she gave the characters in the book their personalities, bringing them off the page and into my ears!

This isn’t a happy family by any means. Lindy’s Catholic-when-it-suits-him grandfather makes it clear that he only tolerates her. He punishes her for every minor infraction because she is “the wrong child”. He punishes her because she’s illegitimate and female, and what’s more, her mother is no longer alive to take her share of the punishment. Lindy is, of course, responsible for her fathers existence - he’s a gypsy, a tinker and a whole host of other unpleasant names that I could have done without learning. In fact, Lindy is responsible for a great many things that she doesn’t know about.

The writing makes this abusive family seem almost acceptable, and at the same time, shows it up for the horror show that it is. Bronagh Waugh’s narration adds more of a wry, dark humour to what would be a relentlessly sombre story otherwise.

I felt sorry for Auntie Bell, also held in low esteem by her own father and given no option but to look after her niece. To be fair, she’s not very nice about it, and is all too keen to tell Lindy that she was forced to look after her and in doing so, Lindy ruined her life.

Lindy’s life isn’t much better. She tries to have her own life away in London, but ends up returning to the farm and her awful grandfather.

Her life changes forever when the parish priest comes to her with news she never thought she’d have. This news changes everything. And what an earth shattering piece of news it is!!

I really enjoyed this, even though it wasn’t the happiest of books. I found myself thinking about it, even when I wasn’t listening. These are all fascinating characters and brought to life so well by the narrator.
Recommended.