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Three Hours
Three Hours
8
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
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<b><i>Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds.
It is a morning’s lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.
It’s an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.
It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.</i></b>

I am glad I got the chance to be part of the blog tour for Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton. I was reading this book while I was on a plane, travelling to Macedonia, and it was a great adventure all the way through. In all honesty, I enjoyed it a lot, but it didn’t make my favourites list.

A school is under a siege and the headmaster has been shot. The story is being told from the point of view of everyone involved – the students, the teachers, the worried parents, the investigators, even the bad guys… Different people are hiding in different places in the school, all hoping this is just a dream.

During the book, we follow a few story lines:

*Hannah, the teenage girl who is in love for the first time, trying to help the wounded headmaster.
*Rafi and his younger brother Basi, Syrian refugees, still suffering from PTSD.
*The parents that are gathered together, desperate for news that their children are safe.
*The police psychologist and investigators, who are trying to identify the gunmen.
*The students hiding in the school theatre, who rely on a Shakespeare play to calm themselves.

As the chapters go through, the time passes and we get a better glimpse of the whole picture, and the story behind the whole attack of the school. It is very nicely written and amazingly put together.

The ending was unpredictable.

I loved the ending. Even though I had a lot of guesses, and I desperately tried to convince myself that the person responsible couldn’t possibly be the guilty one, the book proved me wrong in the most unpredictable way possible. The book’s ending is the ending you have been waiting for in a thriller for a very long time, and I was quite pleased for a few days after reading it.

Throughout the book, you will get hundreds of small clues that you won’t even notice, and in the end it will all make sense. I may have to read this book again, just to enjoy all those little hidden clues throughout the way and cherish them for the amazing clues they were. Also, to simply mock my inability to spot them as well.
  
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LucyB (47 KP) rated The Raven Boys in Books

Jul 23, 2017  
The Raven Boys
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater | 2012 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
7.8 (36 Ratings)
Book Rating
Very entertaining, rich, interesting characters (0 more)
A well-plotted, fresh take on the whole magical realism genre - very entertaining!
To be honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I presumed, judging by the front cover, that it'd be some sort of high fantasy (which isn't normally my thing) and was very pleasantly surprised.

The story focuses on two main characters - Blue, a 16 year old who lives with her witchy mother and who seems to be surrounded by equally spooky aunts, and Gansey, a rich 'Raven boy' from the local public school, who is obsessed with finding the mythical Welsh king Glendower.

So far, so intriguing! And it really was. I found myself propelled through this book, eager to know what was going to happen next, which is the highest praise I can give a book really, I do love a good page-turner. I especially loved that the author so deftly avoided the boring stereotypes. The aunts are all psychic, but are they at all spooky / ethereal? Absolutely not. They're all very practical, down-to-earth, and fairly acerbic to boot. Are public school boys all over-privileged toffs? No! The characters were all impressively well defined, and I LOVED the character of Noah - I saw the twist coming, but wasn't sure how the author would pull it off. She did so, very effectively indeed.

A highly enjoyable read, and I'll be looking out for the next ones in the series.
  
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Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Promise in Books

Feb 28, 2019 (Updated Mar 1, 2019)  
The Promise
The Promise
Teresa Driscoll | 2019 | Thriller
8
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
More of a slow building suspense novel then a psychological thriller.
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

I was intrigued as soon as I read the opening of The Promise by Teresa Driscoll. The story has a few twists and turns but, based on the book's description and opening, I expected it to be much darker than it is. However, although I enjoyed the novel, I would not consider it to be dark. It is more of a slow building suspense novel then a psychological thriller.

Three girls, Beth, Sally, and Carol, were best friends at a boarding school and as close as sisters. Something happens and they make a promise to never tell the secret of what happened.

Years later, all of them have been affected by the secret in different ways. Beth and Sally are still close friends but Carol has become estranged. When they find out the boarding school is to be sold and demolished, fearing their secret will be revealed, Beth and Sally attempt to find Carol..

Driscoll wanted to establish a intense connection between the girls but did not want to make them sisters. The setting helps you to understand why the girls would keep the secret.

I have added Teresa Driscoll's I Am Watching You to my want to read list.

Published on Philomathinphila.com, Smashbomb, Goodreads, Twitter, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble on 2/28/19.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) Mar 1, 2019

What exactly is a 'physiological thriller'? Is it like a psychological thriller but with more exercise...? Sorry.

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Christine A. (965 KP) Mar 1, 2019

Haha. Oops. That might have changed my rating. Gotta love spell check. I'll fix it. A huge thanks for letting me know but mostly thank you for reading the review.

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Power Rangers (2017) in Movies

Feb 10, 2018 (Updated Feb 10, 2018)  
Power Rangers (2017)
Power Rangers (2017)
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
Mmm, Doughnuts
I had no idea I'd been waiting all my life for a film which combined juvenile sci-fi, plastic karate, diversity-friendly teen angst, industrial levels of product placement for Krispy Kreme, and jokes about jerking off bulls, but it turned out that I was and here it is.

A bunch of high school kids discover magic medallions that turn them into (basically) action figures, tasked with stopping the evil Rita Repulsa from locating a mystical crystal hidden in a vital location somewhere on Earth (the vital location may or may not be connected to selling a range of delicious fried-dough confectionary), helped by the ghost of an ancient alien hero (the producers must have some juicy dirt on Bryan Cranston and have blackmailed him into appearing).

Now, the high school kids are all played by actors who are clearly in their 20s, the tone is all over the place (to put it mildly), and long before the end it has quietly transformed itself into a massive advert for toys, but this is still a weirdly diverting and undeniably fun film, mainly because - underneath all the complete nonsense - the script is solid and no-one seems to be taking it too seriously. All right, much of it makes no sense at all, but it does so in a rather charming way. The finest kind of bad movie. Best line - Bryan Cranston: 'Have you ever morphed before?' Black Power Ranger: 'Only in the shower.'
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Mystic Summer in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
MS
Mystic Summer
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Maggie Griffin seems to have the perfect life - she has a good teaching job at a private school in Boston, even if some of the parents can be a little trying sometimes. She has a loving boyfriend who wants to move in with her. Her best friend is getting married and Maggie is co-maid of honor. She even has a supportive family back in her hometown of Mystic, Connecticut. But when things start to unravel in Boston, Maggie finds herself back in Mystic. She tells herself it's just because her best friend, Erika, is getting married there, but once Maggie arrives back home, she isn't sure she wants to leave.

This book started out a bit slowly, but it quickly grew on me. Maggie is a slightly frustrating character at times, but she's also endearing and sweet. She's still finding herself, so you have to cut her a little slack. It happens to us all as we near thirty, right? The novel is certainly a bit predictable, but Maggie's character, as well as some of the supporting characters -- mainly her high school boyfriend Cameron -- keep it from being too silly and saccharine. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it's a fun, quick read: perfect to toss into a beach bag for the summer.

I received a copy of this novel from Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere on 6/7/2016.