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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
1986 | Comedy
Ok, I get that it's a teen classic.

I get that it's one of John Hughes 1980s movies.

I get that it was Matthew Broderick's break-out role, and that the 4th-wall breaking nature of the movie helped lay the groundwork for 'Deadpool' all those years later.

I DON'T get the appeal of the movie: for me, this was forgettable, with the lead character an annoying jerk (who, admittedly, does have one good line about how life is pretty short) only out for himself, and who pulls his girlfriend and his best friend Cameron along for no reason other than to show off to - he doesn't even have the gumption to check how Cameron is at the tail end of the movie.

I've heard about people saying how it is, essentially, a wish-fulfilment movie. My only wish is that I hadn't wasted my time watching it.
  
Fragments of the Lost
Fragments of the Lost
Megan Miranda | 2017 | Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enjoyable main character (0 more)
Starts off slow (0 more)
Different but enjoyable novel
When Jessa Whitworth's high school ex-boyfriend dies suddenly, it's as if the world stops. One moment Caleb is at her track meet, taking the butterfly necklace she handed to him, and the next, he's gone, his car washed over a flooded bridge on a stormy day. Caleb's mom eventually asks Jessa to pack up his room--she blames Jessa for the accident, since Caleb had gone to see her that day, and Jessa feels she cannot say no. She's left to clean out his room and winds up piecing together bits of Caleb's life as she does. Each photograph, article of clothing, and notebook reminds her of parts of her life with Caleb. Even worse, she realizes there is so much she didn't know about him. With that realization, Jessa wonders, what really happened the day Caleb went over the bridge?

This novel isn't really what I expected at all, though I should have realized that it would be less teen angst and more teen angst and psychological mystery combined, as the two Megan Miranda novels I have read, The Perfect Stranger: A Novel and All the Missing Girls, are more in the suspense/thriller category.

The biggest issue for me was that this one starts off really slow. It's hard to get into any kind of momentum as every forward plot movement is broken by Jessa finding something and immediately remembering back into her past with Caleb. I was a little frustrated in the beginning, wanting more to happen.

I really enjoyed the character of Jessa, though. She was a little hard on herself in relation to Caleb's death, but she was also a teen dealing with both the death of a loved one and a recent breakup (their split occurring not too long before his death). She came across as pretty realistic. The supporting cast was a little more nebulous for me--Caleb's mom was pretty harsh, and we didn't see too much of Jessa's family, though I liked her older brother, Julian. Caleb's best friend and neighbor, Max, was probably the other character that was easiest to get to know and he was rather well fleshed out. Caleb himself--whom we learn about through Jessa's point of view and flashbacks--is a hard one to figure out, but that only adds to the mystique of how he ended up at the bridge that day.

Overall, if you can bring a little patience, this book is one to enjoy. It eventually picks up and while the storyline is somewhat different (this whole novel is rather hard to describe), I really did enjoy it. I felt satisfied with the ending--it was worth reading. I enjoyed Miranda's two adult mysteries and while this is the first of her YA novels that I've read, I will definitely investigate others. 3.5 stars.
  
Ripe for Vengeance
Ripe for Vengeance
Wendy Tyson | 2019 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Corporate Volunteer Event Leads to Murder
Some of Denver Finn’s friends are coming to town, and Megan Sawyer is excited to see a different side of her boyfriend. They don’t make a good first impression, however, when their dinner together is filled with not so hidden tension. These friends are in town as part of a corporate charity weekend to mentor kids at a nearby school for troubled teens, but that event goes wrong when one of the adults is murdered. The police are looking at a teen as the likely killer, but Megan doesn’t think the teen did it. Can she find the real killer?

This series always has strong characters, and this book is no different. We get to know everyone involved in this case well, and as events unfold, their reactions and the impact on their live help pull us into the story. Those looking for a twist a minute might find the pace a little slow, but I found the book compelling since I was so drawn to the characters. Not to say that this book doesn’t have some good twists and an ending that surprised me. We do get to see the series regulars and those introduced in previous books, but they are in supporting roles, so they don’t take over from the characters important to this case. There is a little foul language, and the more serious tone helps put this on the traditional side of the spectrum for me. Just make sure that your mood matches the book, and you’ll be fine. This isn’t to say that it is all serious; we get a fun sub-plot involving a pig and plenty of cuteness from the animals on Megan’s farm to help lighten things. Plan to set aside quite a bit of time when you open this book because you won’t want to stop reading.