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Hiding Place
Hiding Place
Jackie Keswick | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Mystery, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I wanted Robert and I don't get him.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Zach buys a Pele tower that needs fixing up, in an effort to hide from the loss of his bandmates. Said tower belonged to Robert's grandfather. Someone died in that tower, murdered, and it was never solved. Can Robert and Zach find some answers with what Zach uncovers? Or will Robert's past eat away at him too much.?

Now, if you follow my review, you'll know I'm ALL about sharing of the book feels, right? And I have one overwhelming feeling about this one:

I wanted Robert and I didn't get him.

This book is told entirely from Zach's point of view, in the first person. While I liked Zach well enough, it was ROBERT who held my attention for much of the book and I wanted to hear from him, badly. I needed to know what he felt about his grandfather doing what he did with the tower. What he felt about Zach, cos in the beginning, Robert sure did blow hot and cold! And just what was going on in his head when he finally gets it all out, and tells Zach about his birth. It wasn't pretty, reading Robert telling Zach, but I wanted in Robert's head then the most.

It's quite clear early on, to me anyway, whodunnit, but just not HOW. Zach's discovery in the loft explains that though.

I know I shouldn't have, but I had to chuckle at the bit when Zach was sick and Robert wanted to get some medicine down him. Benylin is cough syrup, and the only and correct way to take said syrup is to swig out the bottle, and Robert says that to Zach, have a swig of Benylin! Made me laugh that did!

So, while I really enjoyed this book, I still felt that Robert might have made it a 5 star read, but I didn't get him, so...

4 good solid stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
M(
Moonville ( Gold Prophecy 1-4)
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
40 of 220
Kindle
Booksirens arc
Moonville (Gold Blood Prophecy 1-4)
By K.J Devoir
⭐️⭐️

Please check Trigger warnings

Psycho gets the girl.

Leena Sperling has fallen into darkness. Darkness has a name...

ZAND BYRON

He’s larger than life. He’s also a deeply dangerous, twisted soul, a textbook psychopath. But, somehow...she makes him feel.

"You can run, Leena. But I will find you."

Leena: When I arrived to the City of Souls, the tiny cemetery town wrapping the Bay Area foothills where Moonvine Manor is located, I had no idea what to expect or how insane my life would become after moving into the former, Queen Anne, funeral home that belonged to my missing sister. I should have known that being greeted by a tombstone-shaped granite welcome sign was either a sick joke or a bad omen. But I could never have predicted that I would fall in love with the darkness.

Zand: I don’t want to ever stop making her cry. Her tears are full of human feelings, and I love the taste. She makes me feel, but part of me wants to end the human in her that brings out the human in me. In a heartbeat, I could make her nightmares infinitely darker. I'm a bad man, trying to be good.

Ok so this premise was good it gave me very much Morganville vibes but a little darker and steamy. The characters were ok and certainly lived up to the dark paranormal romance vibe.
But I had a few issues and I can only be honest. There were bits of the book that didn’t quite add up and there was something really off about it all. A few times I wanted to stop reading. It just wasn’t for me.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Please check Trigger warnings
  
Overlord (2018)
Overlord (2018)
2018 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
June 6, 1944 is the day known around the world as D-Day. This historic day marks the massive invasion of France by the allied forces in an effort to regain the country from the hands of Germany and push back the mighty German war machine all the way to Berlin. There have been many movies, books, and even videogames about the invasion over the years, so even the biggest war buffs might be wondering…really, they made yet another movie about D-Day? Well, the movie Overlord is quite a bit different from anything we have even seen previously. This movie is still about Operation Overlord but does not focus on the amphibious assault and instead shows us the missions leading up to it. Still not unique enough for you? Well, in Overlord we have all the battles, weaponry and Nazis of an excellent war film but in true J.J. Abrams fashion we now also have ZOMBIES!

Overlord focuses on a small unit tasked to take out a radio tower atop a church in a small village in France. The unit led by Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell) and comprised of fresh out of paratrooper training Privates Boyce (Jovan Adepo), Rosenfeld (Dominic Applewhite) and Tibbet (John Magaro) are the only survivors of the doomed mission, but understand that if they do not complete it, then the allied invasion will be without crucial air support. During their trek to the church they meet a young French woman from the village named Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) who offers to accompany them and assist in taking out the radio tower.

When the ragtag team reach the village, it immediately becomes apparent that everything is not as it should be. They go to Chloe’s house to formulate their plan and are greeted by howling and grunting coming from a closed door down the hallway. Chloe states that her aunt also lives in the house and is very “sick” after being taken to the church by a German soldier. At the same time, through a series of unfortunate events, Private Boyce discovers a brutal laboratory where other villagers are also being made “sick”.

For those who have seen the preview of Overlord and expect it to be war-based horror movie may be a little disappointed. While there certainly are horrific events, and plenty of scenes fighting the undead, Overlord is much more about the atrocities that the Nazi regime inflicted on innocents in an effort to purse the 1000-year-old Reich. J.J. Abrams spins a tale about how a small group of dedicated soldiers can pull out the impossible, even when there are hordes of Nazi soldiers and undead monsters standing in their way and does this in a spectacular and very believable way. The movie seems far more realistic than it should considering we are talking about zombie soldiers, but the events unfold as if they could actually happen. The movie is less The Walking Dead and more Saving Private Ryan, focusing not so much on the undead creatures themselves, but more the experimentation and mad-scientist efforts to create the ultimate super soldier. The story was outstanding and how they depicted everything from the soldiers to the zombies was top notch.

The movie is beautifully shot, standing tall next to other war epics such as Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk. Even though the main plot of the film isn’t the invasion itself, it goes to astonishing detail to show how massive the invasion truly was. The opening scene is both epic and terrifying and the horrors of war are explored throughout. The acting was also superb, leading you to immediately care about the team and root for their success in the mission.

If it is not already clear, I absolutely loved this movie! They did a masterful job of blending the war/horror genre in such a way, that it never overly feels like one versus the other. It’s an action packed, edge of your seat thriller, with just enough jump scares included to remind you that it is billed as a horror movie. Overlord is a very unique take on an unfortunate time in history and it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in 2018.
  
TM
The Matchmaker
Elin Hilderbrand | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dabney Kimball Beach is the head of the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce. She is also known as the island's resident Matchmaker. As summer begins in Nantucket, she receives an email from her ex-boyfriend some 27 years before, Clendenan Hughes, that he will be back on the island the very next day. Dabney wasn't sure what to make of this news or what she was going to do when she saw Clen again. He has been the love of her life, the father of her child and the man she was supposed to be with. But now, she is married to John "Box" Miller Beach and they have a wonderful life together on Nantucket, with their daughter Agnes who is now and adult and living her own life in New York City. But this summer is going to be one that none of them will ever forget.

I am really starting to enjoy Elin Hilderbrand's books. They are perfect for the summer and they make me want to visit Nantucket. I haven't really visited to many northern beaches always preferring to go south.

This was a cute story about a woman who had matched over 40 couples in her life. Whenever she saw people that should be together, there was a rosy aura around them that only she could see. When they weren't a match, the aura was green and murky. I'm not sure what kind of special powers she had, but it was an interesting concept. Most of Nantucket loved Dabney she was always there whenever she was needed and kind to everyone. But this summer is different. Dabney isn't herself. She thinks, it's because she is love sick with Clen being back in the picture and she is married to Box. She sneaks away from work to see Clen to see if what they had in the past can be rekindled.

My reviews are always shorter with the books that I listen to, since I don't feel as immersed in it as if I had read it myself. But I did enjoy this book and I think I'm going to read more from Ms. Hilderbrand this summer.
  
Becoming
Becoming
Glenn Rolfe | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Glenn Rolfe jumps right into action in his novel Becoming which is a nice change of pace from the majority of novels I read. Set in a small town by the name of Avalon, Rolfe introduces readers to an array of characters ranging from despicable to endearing. Some of them you’ll be happy to see go and others you’ll find yourself loathing Rolfe for getting rid off; one thing’s for sure: he has no qualms about killing off anyone in this fast paced book.

As I’ve said before: I don’t make a habit of researching writers before I read their work. In a way, it can be a spoiler as to their style or mannerisms. That said, either Rolfe has done a lot of research or he knows what small town life is like, because Avalon most definitely mimics the intricacies of rural life. Reading Becoming felt very much like being in my hometown. For that, I applaud Rolfe.

Normally I summarize the plot of the book. This time I’ll skip that for the sake of length since it can be read in the synopsis above regardless of whether this is posted on my site, Goodreads, or Amazon. It should be noted that there is no pause in the story for a breather; Rolfe forges onward without a single breather in his story, filling each page with non-stop action. This makes for a great read and a welcome relief from the tedium of many stories.

The downside to this is that some characters are only half finished. For instance, Crowley and the Lady of the Lake have sinister origins. We know they are baddies and the reason for what goes wrong, but we don’t really get any answers. We don’t know why Clint ends up sick and doesn’t function like he should or why a journal somehow ended up in his house or how Avalon came to be, just that it is.

Overall, Becoming is a pretty solid story if you don’t ask too many questions. There are a few typos that made it past final editing as well (I read the Kindle Unlimited versión instead of the ARC sent to me by the author since the file was lost due to technical difficulties).
  
Wonder Park (2019)
Wonder Park (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Kind of inoffensive? (1 more)
Animation is fine
The plot (2 more)
The concept
The execution
Horrible Park
Contains spoilers, click to show
I have five kids. So I've seen a ton of kids' movies. Some are good, some are bad, and some are meh. "Wonder Park" falls completely and stubbornly into the bottom range of Meh. It's not so bad that you hate yourself for watching it, but it isn't even interesting enough to hold your attention for the 80-minute runtime.

"Wonder Park" is about an imaginary amusement park called Wonderland (they never explain the discrepancy in name versus the name of the movie) invented by a young girl. She talks about the park, she draws pictures of it, she makes models of it, and she creates new rides with the help of her mom.

Unfortunately, in a real downer of a plotline, her mom gets sick with an unnamed illness and has to go away to see specialists somewhere. This makes the girl depressed, which makes her stop using her imagination, which makes her stop caring about Wonderland.

Then, in a situation that makes no sense, she hops off of a bus on the way to Math Camp, takes off on her own through the woods, and stumbles onto a real-life version of Wonderland run by real talking animals. Except there's a problem: Wonderland is being destroyed by a big black cloud and a sea of stuffed monkeys.

The girl eventually realizes (duh!) that the black cloud is basically her sadness, and to save the park she has to learn to use her imagination again. So she does. Then she leaves the park, goes back home, and her mom is magically better from the illness and everyone presumably lives happily ever after.

It's a neat concept (kid creates amusement park!) with bad execution, a terrible story, and too much depression for a kids' movie. Plus it wraps up too neatly. And it isn't funny. And I literally almost fell asleep watching it.

If you have to see a family movie, you can do a lot better than this one. I wouldn't even recommend renting it from Redbox. It is that bland and inoffensive.
  
This Is Where It Ends
This Is Where It Ends
Marieke Nijkamp | 2016 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.9 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's every parents worse nightmare. A shooting at their child's school and there is nothing you can do about it. This Is Where It Ends is told from the perspective of four senior students in the thick of the chaos during the 54 minutes Opportunity High School is under attack. Opportunity, Alabama could be any small town in American and we have seen stories like this too many times.


Most of the school is in the auditorium for a new semester assembly they have each year. As the principal finishes the assembly and is about to dismiss everyone, a shot rings out and everyone soon finds out that they are trapped. Why is this happening and who will make it out alive?

Story told by:
- Autumn is a dancer who is destined to follow in her mother's footsteps and go to Julliard and dance all around the world.

- Sylvia is one of the smartest students at Opportunity. She will get into any college that she applies to, but with her mother as sick as she is, will she actually be able to go.

-Claire is a star on the track team and known as "Sarge" to her fellow JROTC classmates. She is fortunate enough not to be in the auditorium during the shooting, but her little brother, Matt is.

-Tomàs is Sylvia's twin brother. He is supposed to be in detention during the assembly, but instead he is in the Principal's office with his best friend Fareed, doing something he shouldn't be doing when he hears the first shot.

Each one of these students have a different view of the terrible incident that is taking place in their school. They all have a different relationship with the shooter. They each play a significant role in helping get students to safety, risking their own lives the entire time.

This is another really good book that I have read this year. I could see myself among those students, feel their fear, and hope for their survival. I thoroughly enjoyed this Big Library Read more than others I have gotten.

I look forward to more books by this author.