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A Curse So Dark and Lonely
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
Brigid Kemmerer | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever finished a book and just felt bereft afterwards? Unable to figure out what on earth you are supposed to do now? That is how I felt earlier today when I finished A Curse So Dark And Lonely.

Brigid Kemmerer's retelling of Beauty and the Beast is the first in the Curse breaker series but it is nothing short of brilliant. It possibly took me 5 whole minutes to buy book 2: A Heart So Fierce and Broken once I had finished.

Now you may have gathered that I have read my fair share of retellings but this one has teeth! Split between Washington DC and the kingdom of Emberfall this is simply 480 ish pages of tension, angst and gritty violence.

Elements of ACSDAL mirror the traditional fairytale : enchantress, tick; cursed Prince, tick; true love is the only way to break the curse, (sickening) tick. However, this enchantress sticks around for a bit of torture, the cursed Prince is more of a beast than you expect and if the girl does not fall in love with the Prince? Then he has to start all over again!

If that hasn't got you heading for your local bookshop then Brigid Kemmerer also throws in a female protagonist with cerebral palsy, an enemies to lovers relationship and torn loyalties wherever you turn.

Kemmerer's characters are incredibly well developed and really seem to stay with the reader. Harper manages to be simultaneously vulnerable and kick ass; Grey is stoic and loyal, barely ever showing glimpses of his true heart or personality; and Rhen is the epitomy of a cursed Prince. You don't want to like Rhen sometimes but slowly you find yourself rooting for him and, maybe even falling a little bit in love with him.

This is a non-stop story with a fast-paced plot that leaves you guessing until the very end... Only to have you reeling at the epilogue. This is no fairytale and love doesn't always save the day!

Now everyone leave me alone... I'm reading book 2!
  
Trust Me
Trust Me
T. M. Logan | 2021 | Thriller
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Ellen, but this book is told from multiple perspectives. Even though she is a civilian, she has seen a lot in her life, which made her brave, compassionate and very determined to solve this case. I really liked all the characters chosen for this novel, some of them were very mysterious and scary, others sweet but misleading. They all created a very thrilling, fast-paced atmosphere, that I enjoyed.

The narrative of this book was a true spiders web. There were so many questions from the first chapter, and the suspense was unbearable. 😀 I really liked Ellen’s and other character’s journeys, investigation and all the twists and turns that this book had to offer. The mystery was very well kept throughout the pages, and the author’s mind manipulations were brilliant. I was soooo confused about what agenda all the characters had, and could not wait to find out all of it. The topics discussed in this book were infertility, PTSD, shady police work, kidnapping, the social media footprint we leave, and many more. This book has a lot of violence and murder, so might not be suitable for sensitive readers.

I absolutely loved the writing style of this book. The author really knows how to keep amazing suspense and deliver great characters. The atmosphere is constantly changing, and because of that all this book is kind of “on the go”. The chapters are pretty short and the multiple perspectives kept me glued and did not allow me to put this book down. I really liked the culmination and the ending of this novel as well, it rounded up this story perfectly.

So, to conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced thriller, filled with mysterious and absorbing characters as well as the plot that is filled with mystery, questions and the wish to find out what is actually going on there.
  
In Bloom (Sweetpea, #2)
In Bloom (Sweetpea, #2)
C.J. Skuse | 2018 | Crime, Law
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This time Rhiannon takes us on an exclusive journey through her pregnancy, and it is absolutely hilarious. My inner psycho really missed this foul-mouthed but brutally honest character. (Don’t pretend you don’t have one!) It is so amusing to read about all her actions, pretending and manipulations and at the same time to hear what she is truly thinking about everybody in this book. She is a very original and absorbing character, that is why a single perspective in this book works very well.

This book is a continuation of the previous part, so if you would like to understand what is going on, you have to read Sweetpea first. The author takes us through Rhiannon’s pregnancy and the ugly stuff that pregnancy brings you. Yes, all the vomiting, backache, bloating and non stop eating etc., not the bliss, joy and other unicorn poop. SHE KEEPS IT REAL! 😀 The police are on Rhiannon’s back, and her baby is TRYING to stop her from the murdering, that is why our main character has to take it a bit easier in this book. For this reason, I found it a bit slow in some places, as not many things were happening, but the author threw in some unexpected twists in this story as well.

I really enjoyed C.J. Skuse’s writing style, which is not suitable for young readers, this book is filled with swear words, murders, and everything that you trying to protect your young ones from. 😀 The short chapters made the whole reading experience even more pleasurable. The ending of this novel was very unexpected but I really liked it, and I can not wait for another book in the series.

So, to conclude, if you like books about psychopaths, served with a huge portion of humour, foul language, and dark, but honest thoughts, these series are definitely for you! I hope you will give this book a try and will enjoy as much as I did. 🙂
  
#Alive (2020)
#Alive (2020)
2020 | Action, Drama, Horror
10
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
#Alive is a Korean zombie movie that focuses on the survival of Oh Joon-woo, a young man who is stranded in his family's apartment at the outbreak of the zombie virus and follows him as he tries to work out what is happening, how he can survive and how he can cope with the fact that his family is probably dead.
#Alive is defiantly a film of 3 parts, the first part focuses solely on Oh Joon-woo and his attempts at survival alone in his apartment as he struggles to cope with the zombies, running out of food and the lose of his family. The portrayal of Isolation and loneliness is very well done, leading up to what could almost be a very short film.
Then Oh Joon-woo meets Kim Yoo-bin, another survivor who lives in the apartments across the street from him. The isolation continues as the two find ways to communicate and survive but now there is hope.
The two are eventually forced from their apartments and have to meet up and move up as they try to find somewhere safe to survive.
#Alive is a film without a big main cast and this helps the sense of isolation and loneliness which is only increased by the fact that they spend most of the film separated by a street full of the undead.
Surprisingly #Alive manages to avoid becoming a love story. Normally when you have two survivors who meet in films like this they fall for each other and, at least part of the film is taken up by their relationship. However #Alive doesn't do this, Oh Joon-woo and Kim Yoo-bin obviously become friends but they are too busy surviving but their relationship doesn't overtake the main point of the film, survival.
There are moments of tension and relief in the film and they work well making #Alive a different type of film than a lot of other zombie films, including the other Korean zombie blockbuster, Train to Busan.