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Vampire Academy
Vampire Academy
Richelle Mead | 2007 | Fiction & Poetry
6
8.5 (48 Ratings)
Book Rating
Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead [BOOK REVIEW]
Read this review and more on www.diaryofdifference.com
It happened, people. I finally did it. I have officially read Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and I have mixed feelings about it.

After years of you guys begging me to read this book, I have finally managed to dig into this vampire world with Lissa – the Moroi (mortal) vampire and Rose – her guardian, sworn to protect her.

These two best friends are on the run, after Lissa’s family has been killed. Now, they unwillingly return to the Vampire Academy, and try to live their normal lives, but danger is on their doorstep.
I loved the plot, and the idea of the world building, even though, I have to admit, I wish we had more pages of the Vampire Academy description. Or maybe this is just me screaming – ”I want a vampire Hogwarts description right here, right now!”

I loved their friendship, and I loved how both of them would sacrifice so much for each other. It is a character quality we rarely see, and it was so well delivered that it gave me shivers for a few scenes.

However, the characters themselves weren’t much likeable. Lissa, well, we hardly get to really know her. She is mostly a shadow of Rose’s opinions of herself. And as of Rose, as much as I admired her bravery and wisdom, sometimes she was just so dumb for her own good.

I loved the plot twists, and the cliffhangers, especially the few ones right at the very end, but it took so long for them to come. Despite that, this book was still such a fast read, and you can’t take your hands off it.

”For they (women) are strange and mysterious creatures,” he continued in his scholarly voice, ”and a man must be a mind reader if he ever wishes to make them happy.”

I wanted to not mention the romance bit of the novel, but I have to stay honest to myself and do it. Unrealistic romances will happen that will make you cringe. I won’t spoil it for you, but I happened to love these two people together, even though their so called love happened instantly.

”And sometimes, if I was really, really lucky, he’d smile at me. A real smile too – not the dry one that accompanied the sarcasm we tossed around so often.”

A typical high-school fantasy novel, with vampires included, this will be a great addition to your shelves if you love this genre. I greatly enjoyed it, but being older I think these things stuck a bit to me.

If you haven’t read this, I do recommend it. Even though it had a few weak points, I would definitely read the second book of the series.

Have you read Vampire Academy? Is it on your TBR? I would love to see what you think!
  
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Kyera (8 KP) rated Roar in Books

Jan 31, 2018  
Roar
Roar
Cora Carmack | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Roar started off slowly, but before long I was completely enamoured by the story. I personally love stories where elemental powers are part of the lore. Roar had a similar, yet unique take on those special abilities.

There are people in the world, called Stormlings, who are able to use their affinities to battle storms. In this land, those abilities relate to the storms that plague the kingdoms and towns. A Stormling may have an affinity for sky fire and be able to battle lightning - or they may have an affinity for tornados. Many battle storms not only to protect their lands but in the attempt to gain more affinities. If strong enough, a Stormling could take the heart of the storm (which manifests as a rock or gem) and use it to channel their abilities.

Aurora is the future Queen of Pavan, but she has yet to show any hint of the power needed to protect her people. As a result, her mother sets up an arranged marriage with the second born son of a neighboring kingdom. Not all is as it appears and Rora sets out to discover the truth. She soon learns that Stormlings are not the only people with the ability to fight storms and realizes that she must learn from these storm hunters so that she can avoid the path her life is currently on.

Aurora begins the book as a strong female character despite the fact that she is forced into a more meek, agreeable role in order to secure the marriage, so it may not seem that way. Although she has not been able to access the magic her blood should give her, she has not rested on her laurels. Rora occasionally trains with the guards in swordsmanship, reads whatever books she can get her hands on, is quite skilled in a number of languages and can chart her course by the stars. While she is not the typical heroine we might expect to save the day, she does grow over the course of the novel and will continue to do so in the second book.

As the majority of the book does not take place in the palace, we do not see much from the Locke family but I am incredibly intrigued by their familial relationships and the Prince himself. He is a dark, strong and imposing figure who is out to claim the throne - but may be less ruthless than he seems. While we do not such much of him, I expect there will be a lot more character development in the second book and I'm looking forward to that.

Locke, the storm hunter, was probably my favourite main character - although I loved the storm hunter crew as a whole. They had such unique personalities, tales and roles in the group and who wouldn't join a group of storm hunters? That would be amazing. Anyway, Locke started to remind me after a while of that over-protective Fae male personality that we see so often in Sarah J Maas' books (which can become tiresome) but his storm hunting prowess won me over. The author wrote each storm, its feeling and the hunters fighting it so brilliantly that those were definitely my favourite scenes in the novel.

This book seemed to set up the world, the magic system and the main characters well but leave plenty of room for development. We don't even see the character who is likely to be the villain until about 75% of the book is over. I'm intrigued by the villain's story and abilities, and can't wait to see where it goes in the second book.

The world is what drew me in and kept me wanting more, despite the cliches, tropes, and mid-level character development. The romance itself was probably the most off-putting because it was so unbelievable to me. It's not necessarily the chemistry and interactions between the two, but rather the way the author writes the male's point of view. To me, it just didn't sound like a guy was thinking those thoughts. Both of her main male characters became almost immediately obsessed with Aurora, wanted to protect her at any cost, thought about her all of the time, etc. As I mentioned before, that overprotective Fae male mentality. While it may seem sweet that they want to be protective, it borders on being too much (and sometimes crosses the line), which is not a healthy relationship dynamic to romanticize. I don't want to give more specific examples and spoil anything. This is not to say that men cannot be emotional and effusive because they can, but for me, just the way that it was done didn't read authentically. Those were the times I felt most drawn out of the narrative.

This book ends with the type of cliffhanger that most books should end on. You are not utterly destroyed and heartbroken that the author has ended this book with such big questions and yet the next is not due out for another year - you are completely in love with the story and the final scenes just make you excited to continue reading.

For me, the book was a little slow to start but once Rora goes on the journey with the storm hunters I think the book picks up a lot. I've seen a few people put the book down because they couldn't get into it and I would just recommend trying to push through a little longer and see if that changes for you. This is an upper-YA novel that I would recommend to ya/teen readers who enjoy fantasy and character growth in their novels.
  
Do Not Become Alarmed
Do Not Become Alarmed
Maile Meloy | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Liv and Nora are cousins and practically sisters. They decide to take their families on a two week cruise down the coast of Central America. Both women cautious, they spend the first several days aboard the ship. When they finally decide to take an excursion, the men head for golf and the women take the kids on a zip line tour. This is when all hell breaks loose! From the bus breaking down, to six children going missing in a foreign country, this family vacation is definitely not going to plan. Told from the perspective of the children and the parents, as well other key characters that are introduced throughout, you dive deep into the story and it's hard to get drawn out!

This is the first book I've read by Maile Meloy, and I can't wait to read more! I think this is one of the very few times I have read a book with so many characters taking their turn to tell the story and not gotten confused by what is going on. The story flowed perfectly with the unbelievable around every turn.
 
I will say, not any of the characters in this story are likable, except for Nora's son, Marcus, but I don't think they need to be. You are still intrigued by what is going on and what is going to happen next. This does make you want to hug your kids a little tighter, if you have them. Tell them you love them no matter what and make you want to protect them even more than you already do. To me, this book was amazing and I highly recommend it!

Imagine, all your plans for the day going down the tube. Your tour bus breaks down, so you decide to wait at the beach while a new bus arrives. Then maybe you drift off to sleep while the kids are playing in the water near by. The kids are old enough to look after themselves and those who aren't, have the older kids to look after them. Now imagine waking up from what felt like just a moments rest, to find the children that were just there playing in front of you, have vanished. No where to be found no idea where they could have gone. What do you do, who do you call? You're in a foreign country and you opted not to get the international plan for you phone. Where are your children, and what is being done to them?
  
TF
Two From the Heart
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is divided into two short stories. The first is about Anne McWilliams. She lives on the beach in North Carolina, where she has lived for the past few years following a divorce from her husband. She is an old school photographer, so when a hurricane moves through and takes out half of her house that includes her darkroom, she is beyond devastated. Instead of dealing with the mess, she decides to travel the country and take new pictures and hear the stories of the people that go with those stories. How will this journey change the rest of her life?

In the second story, Tyler Bron is a millionaire, who, on paper, appears to have it all. But in reality, he has never had a life. Always focused on himself and getting to the top of his career field. He has no friends, only work colleagues who he really knows nothing about. So he hires a writer, Damian Crane to write a new life for him. But will Tyler be able to handle all that life has to offer?

This is a newer James Patterson novel released earlier this year. On my quest to read all of his stand alone books, I'm giving this on 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the stories and the one about Tyler was the most interesting to me. Each main character is at a point in their lives, where they need to make some changes in order to continue to live. I think that Tyler makes the most extreme change of all.

Even though James Patterson pumps out several books a year, he is still one of my favorites and I enjoy reading his books. I always know I can finish one of his books in 2-3 days and it will hold my attention.
  
Black Christmas (1974)
Black Christmas (1974)
1974 | Horror
7
8.4 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Answer The Phone
With anethor remake coming out this friday, and that i already reviewed the 2006 remake. In going back to the oringal, were it alll started from. So lets take a little trip back to 1974.

Inspired by the urban legend "The babysitter and the man upstairs" and a series of murders that took place in the Westmount section of Montreal, Quebec, Moore wrote the screenplay under the title Stop Me.

The Plot: As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb's friend Claire (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.

Margot Kidder remembered shooting the film as being "fun. I really bonded with Andrea Martin, filming in Toronto and Ontario. Olivia Hussey was a bit of an odd one. She was obsessed with the idea of falling in love with Paul McCartney through her psychic. We were a little hard on her for things like that.

Black Christmas eventually gained a cult following and is notable for being one of the earliest slasher films. It went on to inspire other slasher films, the biggest one of all being John Carpenter's Halloween (which was apparently inspired by Clark suggesting what a Black Christmas sequel would be like).

Black Christmas has been included multiple lists in various media outlets as one of the greatest horror films ever made. The film ranked No. 87 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

A overall classic slasher horror movie based around a hoilday.
  
170 of 235
Kindle
Ta’alo’s Tribe: Project Armageddon (The Marvel-ous Mates of Artaxa prime 1)
By Remy Cavilich
⭐️⭐️

When the UGH taps Dr. Celeste Ballatine to run a space junk retrieval mission with a higher-than-normal commission and very few restrictions, she doesn't hesitate, and neither do her crewmates, Jax and Yuri. There's just one problem--there weren't supposed to be survivors on Artaxa Prime, but there are. The only hope for survival is to make contact with the natives and hope for the best.

Celeste stumbles across a tribe of primitive alien hybrids with the strange ability to understand her, but they want something in exchange for their help, something she's not sure she's willing to give.

They want her to take an alien mate.

With their literal lives on the line, Celeste must make the ultimate sacrifice--herself--to save the guys. As if things weren't bad enough, her crewmates are rather attached to her, and the idea of adding a fourth to their balanced triangle doesn't sit well with them.

The longer she stays on this planet, the more her collection of mates will grow. Turns out there are many alien races on the planet, and all of them will want to stake their claim on the new human female.

I don’t know how I stuck with it at first the 2 “human males” at the beginning really put me off and I’m not sure of it was meant to make us think that human men are all leaches maybe? But I stuck with it and I actually liked the idea of these alien lions. It was definitely ropey in places but I’m intrigued to see where it goes.
  
Dread Nation
Dread Nation
Justina Ireland | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
5
7.6 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
So, as a general rule, I don't read zombie stories. Zombies are the one monster that will almost invariably give me nightmares. This book, however, had such hype built up around it that I decided to bend my rule.

I should not have.

Before I start in on this, let me say it's a good story. It's well-written, the plot is paced nicely, and it's entertaining. All that said, it's quite problematic in many ways. I knew some of this before I read it; there was a Twitter thread about some of the issues, namely that in the Author's Note she describes the Native American boarding schools (where the government forced Native American children to go, and tried to destroy their heritage and culture in the name of "civilizing" them) as "well-meaning." The Twitter thread does an excellent job of dissecting that passage, and it's worth reading.

There's also the incredibly unrealistic scene where Jane gets flogged eleven times, walks back to where she's staying, has a coherent conversation where she lays out a plan she has formed, and then puts a shirt on. That last part especially got me. Like, what? You're going to be in more pain than that! Being flogged barely seems to slow Jane down. She asks for laudanum - for her plan. Not to take for the pain.

I don't know. There's a lot about the book that set my teeth on edge. There's the absurd amount of racism, but the protagonist is a black woman and it's civil war era, so that's to be expected. And it's coming from characters, not from narration. Jane lies. A lot. So it's hard to trust that she's even a reliable narrator.

I guess it's okay. I didn't care for it. I found it really hard to get past the author's "well-meaning" comment about the Native American boarding schools. And the plot of "as soon as they're old enough, black children get sent to combat schools." Especially with what's going on lately with the jailing of migrant children, it feels tone-deaf, ignorant, and genocidal.

One good point was the oh-so-casual mention of bisexuality (a female friend taught her "everything she knows about kissing") but it was only two sentences and never mentioned again. Not nearly enough to make up for the rest of the book.

You can find all my review at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
  
Dead by Daylight: The Saw Chapter
Dead by Daylight: The Saw Chapter
Simulation
The Horror-Survival game Dead By Daylight has taken the immersion of Horror themed gaming to a new level with the release of the SAW content DLC. The game casts players as one of four survivors or a killer who must work with one another to survive and escape random locales. Players must locate and repair various generators to escape all the while avoiding a deranged killer who will be stalking their every move.

Players can play characters inspired by “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “Halloween”,” Nightmare on Elm Street” and other films and uses random locales like Haddonfield, swamps, asylums, and so on.

The killer must locate and eliminate players by wounding them and carrying them to a hook station where they can attempt to impale and eliminate players. Players can try to free themselves but may damage themselves in the process and other players face the choice of helping free or heal injured players or using them as a distraction to complete tasks needed to escape.

Players do not have any weapons and have to use pallets to slow the path of the killer or take advantage of cabinets and cover to hide from danger.

When the killer strikes, players are informed of where other players are in need just the same way that wounded players and those working on generators can give away their location.

Playing a “SAW” Themed map did result in me getting caught and fitted with a Bear Trap but I was able to escape and find a way to remove the trap. This was key as the killer had me firm in their grasp when the exit opened and thankfully I was able to wriggle free and escape.

Playing as the killer is lots of fun as I was able to twice eliminate all who encountered me which required some hard choices and brutal tactics.

Players are able to access new abilities as they go on and this helps them survive. Players can also get objects like a flashlight and toolkit to help them make repairs and blind the vision of the killer.

While the game is not what gamers may expect from a major studio release, it is a fun distraction that allows players a great horror experience with their friends or other gamers online.

http://sknr.net/2018/01/29/saw-comes-dead-daylight/
  
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
1946 | Fantasy, Romance
6.4 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"""And then you get into the contentious fifth film, and I’ve jotted down a bunch of things I thought, well Ran is a possibility. I love Akira Kurosawa‘s take on King Lear, I love what he did to it. I love the movement, the battles. You know, there’s nothing about that film I do not enjoy. Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West, because I thought that would be a wonderful choice, and it does have, to my mind, the finest dance in the whole of film. But, I thought about A Matter of Life and Death, which was a film that was enormously inspirational when making Good Omens. I felt like that was of the same DNA as the thing that we were doing … Also Bedazzled, the original Peter Cook and Dudley Moore Bedazzled, which again has a lot of the DNA of Good Omens in it. But eventually I came down on Belle et la bête, [Jean] Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast. I remember watching it and feeling transported. For me, it’s like dreaming. It does the same that Bride of Frankenstein does, where I can never quite remember the plot when it’s over, I’m just aware that it’s finished now and this wonderful place that I went has gone away. My children do not like black-and-white films, and once, for Father’s Day, my daughters asked what I wanted for Father’s Day, and I asked, “Will you watch this film with me? It’s a foreign language film, so you won’t like it, and it’s black and white, so you won’t like it, but will you watch it with me?” They said, “Well yeah, for Father’s Day we will.” And what I loved was that after 10 minutes, they had forgotten that it was a foreign language film, and they had forgotten that it was a black-and-white film, and they were entranced by this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, made by Cocteau not even on a shoestring; he’s in post-war France, immediately post war, and they had no money for anything. Everything is being improvised. Everything is being created on the fly, and yet what they come up with is something that is so much cooler than any infinite amount of CGI."""

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