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Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue
Sophie Cameron | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Slow start (0 more)
I couldn't get in to this book :(
Contains spoilers, click to show
Out of the blue is a book about a girl called Jaya and how she one day finds an Angel that has fallen from the sky.

No one knows why or how these Angels are falling. No one even knows where they are coming from. Jaya’s mum died a year ago and it hit her, her dad and sister hard. Not long after the Angels started to fall. Her father quits his job and takes her and her sister Rani to Edingburg where he believes he can find an Angel and knows exactly where it will fall.

I couldn’t get into this book, I felt that it took such a long time to get into the story and ten chapters into it, it still didn’t grasp my attention. This is the first time I have not been able to get into a book since I started my blog and Youtube channel. I really did try but I just couldn’t.

It’s not fair for me to give this book a 1 cup of tea because I couldn’t get into it. But I want to give an honest review and tell you the truth.

I will have to give it a 1.5 cup of tea because of the fact I couldn’t get into it and I found that the book didn’t really tell you why these Angels are falling. I did read the last few pages to see if I could get into it more, however, that didn’t work. I also had a look at some other reviews for people to say the same. So I am very sorry Sophie Cameron but I couldn’t get into this book.

Love,

Christina

1.5 ☕ – POOR/OK
  
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A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting
A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting
Sophie Irwin | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A very Bridgerton-esque book, and I loved it just as much as I loved the Bridgertons series.
Kitty Talbot must find a husband, a rich one, or she faces losing her home and her sisters being split up from her. After her father’s death, she has acquired his substantial debt and can no longer put off paying it. After selling most of their belongings, she has nothing left to sell and time is running out. This is when she comes up with a scheme that will solve all: she will go to London and have a season with the ton to find a rich husband to pay off her debts. She asks for the help of her mother’s best friend who insists that she brings along her prettiest sister. Kitty and Cecily set off for London with the hope of fixing all their problems.
Once there, Kitty comes up with various different schemes to catch the eyes of the gentlemen of the ton, such as falling and letting her slipper fly off on a walk just in front of a gentleman by the name of Archie de Lacy, whose sister Cecily went to school with. Kitty thinks this is the answer to all her problems, that is until his older brother Lord Radcliffe comes back from the country and forbids Kitty to marry Archie after seeing straight through her schemes.
The rest of the book has you rooting for Kitty to find her husband, whilst also wanting Kitty and Lord Radcliffe to realise how they truly feel about each other.
This was an easy read, and it was fun to revisit the ton and the Bridgerton era but through the eyes of a different author. I think Sophie Irwin wrote a fantastic book and I look forward to reading her next book!
  
Death on the Nile (2022)
Death on the Nile (2022)
2022 | Mystery
The second of Kenneth Branagh's outing as Agatha Christie's sleuth Poirot, apparently much delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and set after The Murder on the Orient Express.

I've never seen that movie.

I have read the book on which it (Murder on Orient Express) is based, though.

As I'm not that big a fan of murder mysteries, I hadn't, however, read the story on which this is based.

Why does that matter?

Simply because it meant I was going into this with no preconceptions; no real idea of what would happen (other than there would be a murder which Poirot has to solve)!

I'm not sure whether the rest of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels are all like this or not - I've only read Murder on Orient Express and Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but I did find heavy similarities between the plots, with both Orient Express and is film largely taking place in a confined location, where there is a limited pool of suspects and where Poirot has to sit down and methodically think his way through.

This movie takes a while to get going, with the first hour or so in particular - I found - dragging quite a bit. I've also heard that there was extensive use of Green screen throughout, which might also explain why some of the Nile scenes just didn't sit quite right.

On the other hand, there is a veritable list of who's who acting talent on the screen: aside from Branagh himself, we have Gal Gadot (as the key victim), Emma Mackey, Arnie Hammer, Russel Brand (surprisingly understated), Annette Benning, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders (yes, that French and Saunders!), Letitia Wright and Sophie Okonedo - nearly all of whom would have their own motives for the murder.
  
Sophie: A Murder In West Cork
Sophie: A Murder In West Cork
2021 | Crime, Documentary
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, is one of Netflix’s newest true crime series offerings. Consisting of three episodes, the series examines the murder case of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, a French National that was murdered at her rural holiday getaway home in Schull, Ireland in 1996. Du Plantier’s murder was the first in over 100 years in the small town and remains technically unsolved.
The documentary series had a wide variety of talking heads, from Du Planier’s family, friends, locals, various members of the Garda, and surprisingly, the main suspect. Du Planier’s private life seemed complicated, and it was definitely going to be utilized against her throughout the entire thing.
The case was interesting, Du Planier was found in a bramble bush a few days before Christmas. With seemingly no leads, and a haphazard investigation, I didn’t know how they would end up with a suspect. The first episode set everything up, establishing what the town was like by interviewing the locals. There was even a little spookiness brought in. A few days before her death, Du Planier had visited some ruins, and saw a white lady, which was an omen of death. Pretty interesting, and you wouldn’t think it was pertinent, however, Du Planier took it seriously.
If you watch enough true crime documentaries, you know normally what a killer would do, revisit the scene, be overly helpful, etc. It was clear as soon as they introduced the journalist that he was indeed the suspect. However, when the second episode started, the series was taken over by the main suspect, journalist and ‘poet’, Ian Bailey. As one of Du Planier’s family members quipped, he loves to be interviewed.
Somehow, Bailey had all of this insider knowledge, and wrote somewhat salacious articles about Du Planier, painting her as this woman that entertained all sorts of men. He was also very adamant that the murder was French, and probably her partner or another intimate partner. Bailey was somewhat charismatic, but a complete weirdo. It is common for law enforcement to go after the ‘others’ in society, so was he targeted because he was eccentric? Who knows?
It was clear that the Garda in this area had no idea as to what to do. They may have also had a little tunnel vision because the village creep was poking around the crime scene.
I’m all for presenting all sides to a case, but having the suspect take over in a very charismatic way is not the best approach. The Garda in the area, inexperienced in investigating murders, was obviously not equipped to deal with the investigation. It was clear from the beginning that it was the primary reason the case hasn’t been officially prosecuted in Ireland.
Whenever your documentary begins to get overtaken by the number one suspect, rather than the victim, I begin to have issues. It was also interesting that at the end of the series, there was actually a statement that Du Planier had been forgotten throughout the entire event, and while she was present, she wasn’t the center of the story.
Bailey seems to be the most likely culprit, though, the Garda couldn’t have convinced me beyond a reasonable doubt. It was interesting that somehow in France, the evidence was considered solid enough for a conviction.
I did generally enjoy the documentary series, but again, I have an issue with the main suspect overshadowing the victim. Also, I didn’t feel like enough evidence was presented, and the majority of it was slightly repetitive. I’m interested to see if the case is ever resolved. Based upon the series, probably not.