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Merissa (13258 KP) rated Treasure and Tarot (Echoes of Secret Springs #1) in Books
Jun 24, 2025
TREASURE AND TAROT is the first book in the Echoes of Secret Springs series, and we begin with Sebastian and Colton. Sebastian is the omega who was left holding the baby, seemingly abandoned; Colton is the alpha who walked away, intending to return, but never did - and you find out why on both sides of the story!
This is a spin-off from Minerva Howe's Secret Springs series, which I haven't read. I get the feeling I might have enjoyed this book more if I had, but I was still able to read their story without too much trouble. My biggest problem was figuring out which town they were speaking about.
Colton and Sebastian's second-chance romance was a wonderful story, with plenty of ghostly action, romance, and cuteness to spare. Their daughter, Abby, wins everyone's hearts, and I loved the big group of supporting characters. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place over which one I want a story for first.
Just as an aside, for some reason, I thought Tarot might play a bigger part than it did. I'm not saying it's bad the way it is, just that I thought there'd be more. đ
Anyway, I read this in one sitting and hope to return to this ghostly town, whatever it's called. Definitely recommended by me.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 23, 2025
This is a spin-off from Minerva Howe's Secret Springs series, which I haven't read. I get the feeling I might have enjoyed this book more if I had, but I was still able to read their story without too much trouble. My biggest problem was figuring out which town they were speaking about.
Colton and Sebastian's second-chance romance was a wonderful story, with plenty of ghostly action, romance, and cuteness to spare. Their daughter, Abby, wins everyone's hearts, and I loved the big group of supporting characters. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place over which one I want a story for first.
Just as an aside, for some reason, I thought Tarot might play a bigger part than it did. I'm not saying it's bad the way it is, just that I thought there'd be more. đ
Anyway, I read this in one sitting and hope to return to this ghostly town, whatever it's called. Definitely recommended by me.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 23, 2025
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The New Counter-Measures: Series 1
John Dorney, Guy Adams, Ian Potter and Christopher Hatherall
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Nobody (2021) in Movies
Apr 27, 2021
A Fun Romp
Any fan of one of the greatest TV series of all-time, BREAKING BAD, or itâs spin-off, BETTER CALL SAUL, know the acting chops that Bob Odenkirk brings to the role of slimey, billboard lawyer Saul Goodman. His fast-talking, fast-thinking con-man is a character for the ages.
So, naturally, one would think âaction starâ.
But, darn it, if it doesnât work.
Playing a retired undercover agent with a âcertain set of skillsâ, NOBODY follows âHutchâ Mansell as he gets pulled back into using those skills when he helps a young woman who is being harassed on a bus, only to find out the thugs he went against are connected to the Russian Mob.
You can pretty much fill in the blanks from there. This film does not really tread any new groundâŚbutâŚgoshâŚit was a fun watch.
Playing a more comedic hero than Liam Neeson in the TAKEN movies or Keanu Reevesâ JOHN WICK, Odenkirk, nonetheless, pulls off the âaction heroâ qualities just fine and is a winning enough presence on the screen that he holds your attention.
Christopher Lloyd (yes, Doc Brown from BACK TO THE FUTURE) is along for the ride as Odenkirkâs father, who gets pulled into the action when the Russian Mobsters decide to go after Hutchâs family and he looks like he is having a ball with this role.
The rest of the cast is pretty by-the-book (though a special shoutout needs to go to 1980âs heavy, Michael Ironside, who has a short role in this film - I would have loved to have seen more of him). The head Russian mobster is a bit over-the-top for my tastes, but the action sequences more than make up for all of this.
Credit for that must be given to Director Ilya Naishuller (HARDCORE HENRY) for he gives this film a unique look in the fight scenes while constantly having his tongue placed firmly in his cheek. Iâve seen ALOT of action films, so when a film brings something unique and fun to the screen, I sit up and notice.
And, notice I did. For NOBODY is a fun, popcorn flick. One that will be entertaining for the 92 minutes you watch.
Just donât expect to see it during Awards season next year.
Letter Grade: B
7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
So, naturally, one would think âaction starâ.
But, darn it, if it doesnât work.
Playing a retired undercover agent with a âcertain set of skillsâ, NOBODY follows âHutchâ Mansell as he gets pulled back into using those skills when he helps a young woman who is being harassed on a bus, only to find out the thugs he went against are connected to the Russian Mob.
You can pretty much fill in the blanks from there. This film does not really tread any new groundâŚbutâŚgoshâŚit was a fun watch.
Playing a more comedic hero than Liam Neeson in the TAKEN movies or Keanu Reevesâ JOHN WICK, Odenkirk, nonetheless, pulls off the âaction heroâ qualities just fine and is a winning enough presence on the screen that he holds your attention.
Christopher Lloyd (yes, Doc Brown from BACK TO THE FUTURE) is along for the ride as Odenkirkâs father, who gets pulled into the action when the Russian Mobsters decide to go after Hutchâs family and he looks like he is having a ball with this role.
The rest of the cast is pretty by-the-book (though a special shoutout needs to go to 1980âs heavy, Michael Ironside, who has a short role in this film - I would have loved to have seen more of him). The head Russian mobster is a bit over-the-top for my tastes, but the action sequences more than make up for all of this.
Credit for that must be given to Director Ilya Naishuller (HARDCORE HENRY) for he gives this film a unique look in the fight scenes while constantly having his tongue placed firmly in his cheek. Iâve seen ALOT of action films, so when a film brings something unique and fun to the screen, I sit up and notice.
And, notice I did. For NOBODY is a fun, popcorn flick. One that will be entertaining for the 92 minutes you watch.
Just donât expect to see it during Awards season next year.
Letter Grade: B
7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Debbiereadsbook (1519 KP) rated Fate in Suspension (Horn & Haven #1) in Books
Sep 15, 2022
Loved that Shifting was a back drop!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
I liked this, a lot. It's a very different sort of shifter book and that its unicorns made it all the more special.
I can't stretch to 5 stars for a couple of reasons.
Its a LONG book, some 500+ pages. It does, however, even with all those pages, NOT say a lot!
I still have no idea what being an AGENT means, what that roll entails. Gates doesn't seem to like being an Agent much! Clearly it has some negative connotations, but those are explained when Tai tells gates about his experience with other Agents.
Something happened in Gates' work world, then there was the destruction of the Haven and I wasn't sure, STILL am not sure, whether these two events were one and the same! The implication, or at least I got an implication, that they were, but that point was never fully made clear.
I will always say, I don't like the massive info dumps you get when entering a new world. I like little and often. However, here? You are thrown in headfirst into the deep end, and it takes a time to be able to swim to the surface, and breathe!
It says at the back of the book that this is a spin off from another series by this author. One I have NOT read. I wonder it reading those would have given me a bit of a life raft before reading this one.
What I did like, nay, what I LOVED was the chemistry between Gates and Tai. It jumps off the page at every turn, and burns hot and bright right through the book. It's clear, right from the start, for both men, that this was something different to what had gone before. There was an air about it that scared them both, and it was great watching them battle with themselves, to work it all out.
AND!! I loved that shifting, turning, takes a massive back drop to this book, rather than being front and centre. Both men do turn at some point, but Gates only twice and Tai just the once.
So, I liked it, but found it a bit too long.
4 good solid stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
I liked this, a lot. It's a very different sort of shifter book and that its unicorns made it all the more special.
I can't stretch to 5 stars for a couple of reasons.
Its a LONG book, some 500+ pages. It does, however, even with all those pages, NOT say a lot!
I still have no idea what being an AGENT means, what that roll entails. Gates doesn't seem to like being an Agent much! Clearly it has some negative connotations, but those are explained when Tai tells gates about his experience with other Agents.
Something happened in Gates' work world, then there was the destruction of the Haven and I wasn't sure, STILL am not sure, whether these two events were one and the same! The implication, or at least I got an implication, that they were, but that point was never fully made clear.
I will always say, I don't like the massive info dumps you get when entering a new world. I like little and often. However, here? You are thrown in headfirst into the deep end, and it takes a time to be able to swim to the surface, and breathe!
It says at the back of the book that this is a spin off from another series by this author. One I have NOT read. I wonder it reading those would have given me a bit of a life raft before reading this one.
What I did like, nay, what I LOVED was the chemistry between Gates and Tai. It jumps off the page at every turn, and burns hot and bright right through the book. It's clear, right from the start, for both men, that this was something different to what had gone before. There was an air about it that scared them both, and it was great watching them battle with themselves, to work it all out.
AND!! I loved that shifting, turning, takes a massive back drop to this book, rather than being front and centre. Both men do turn at some point, but Gates only twice and Tai just the once.
So, I liked it, but found it a bit too long.
4 good solid stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Homefront (2013) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
The new movie Homefront stars Jason Statham (Phil Broker), James Franco (Gator Bodine), Winona Ryder (Sheryl Gott), Kate Bosworth (Cassie Bodine), Chuck Zito (Danny T), Omar Benson Miller (Tito), Izabela Vidovic (Maddy Broker).
Written by Sylvestor Stallone. The film opens with a major drug bust going down, and inside undercover DEA agent Phil Broker (Statham) gives chase to the head of the drug ring and his son. While trying to arrest the father and son team, the son is shot to death, and his father promises to kill Broker and his children.
The rest of the movie takes place a few years later in a small town in Louisiana, where a now widowed Broker and his pre-teen daughter have moved to rebuild their life. An entire series of events is set off by Brokerâs daughter standing up for herself against the school bully. The bullyâs mother Cassie, demands an apology and doesnât get one enough to her liking. She escalates the situation by going to her brother, Gator, who is the townâs resident âdrug kingpinâ.
After Gator discovers that Broker is actually an ex-undercover DEA agent, he tries to use that information as leverage to gain business ground for his drug running enterprise, and thatâs where the rest of the movie plays out.
There are a lot of action and shooting scenes, which is what one would expect from a Statham movie, but it is still pretty predictable. Once Gator brings in the âbig dogsâ from the city, things quickly escalate and spin out of his control. The remainder of the movie is one gun fight after another, interspersed with chase scenes, swearing, explosions and hand to hand fighting. If youâre a fan of Statham, then there are really no surprises here. If you know to expect the movieâs complete predictability and his somewhat stiff acting, youâll enjoy it.
Written by Sylvestor Stallone. The film opens with a major drug bust going down, and inside undercover DEA agent Phil Broker (Statham) gives chase to the head of the drug ring and his son. While trying to arrest the father and son team, the son is shot to death, and his father promises to kill Broker and his children.
The rest of the movie takes place a few years later in a small town in Louisiana, where a now widowed Broker and his pre-teen daughter have moved to rebuild their life. An entire series of events is set off by Brokerâs daughter standing up for herself against the school bully. The bullyâs mother Cassie, demands an apology and doesnât get one enough to her liking. She escalates the situation by going to her brother, Gator, who is the townâs resident âdrug kingpinâ.
After Gator discovers that Broker is actually an ex-undercover DEA agent, he tries to use that information as leverage to gain business ground for his drug running enterprise, and thatâs where the rest of the movie plays out.
There are a lot of action and shooting scenes, which is what one would expect from a Statham movie, but it is still pretty predictable. Once Gator brings in the âbig dogsâ from the city, things quickly escalate and spin out of his control. The remainder of the movie is one gun fight after another, interspersed with chase scenes, swearing, explosions and hand to hand fighting. If youâre a fan of Statham, then there are really no surprises here. If you know to expect the movieâs complete predictability and his somewhat stiff acting, youâll enjoy it.
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The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future
Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda
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In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the classic show, a fully authorized revision of the...