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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2109 KP) rated A Killer Carol in Books
Sep 25, 2019
A Killing at Christmas is Anything but Heavenly for Claire
Christmas is approaching in Heavenly, Pennsylvania, and Claire Weatherly has her hands full. Not only does she have the normal tourists coming into her shop, Heavenly Treasures, but she is organizing the first annual One Heavenly Night event designed as a chance for residence and tourists to enjoy the town at Christmas. However, murder rears its ugly head once again one night. Annie, the Amish teen who works for Claire, is out Christmas caroling with some friends, and when they stop at the Esch’s farm, they find both of the them dead. Detective Jakob Fisher is quick to realize it was murder. Unfortunately, the last people to visit the victims were Claire’s Amish friend Ruth and her new husband Samuel. Even worse, the couple appear to have a motive for committing the crime. Claire doesn’t believe they could have done it, but Jakob has to follow the evidence wherever it leads, even if it ruins the unofficial inroads he has made in building relationships with the people who used to be his family before he left the Amish community. Can Claire help him solve the case before that happens?
This series works best when the characters are driving a strong mystery, and that’s definitely the case here. I’ve felt like I knew the series regulars from their first appearances in the series, so it was fantastic to spend time with them again. They are still just as strong as ever, and the new character are just as compelling. Since Heavenly sits on the edge of an Amish community, life is a bit slower, and that is reflected in the plot. This isn’t a twist a page type of book, but that faster pace wouldn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong, we do have twists and surprises, but the impact on the characters is just as important, and the two combined keep me glued to the book. I had to fight to keep from peaking ahead and making sure everyone was going to be okay. Honestly, just reading about Heavenly refreshes my soul, so picking up this book was great. The Christmas setting was an added bonus since I love that season so much. There are a couple of niggles with the book, but they are minor. This is a fantastic addition to a favorite series.
This series works best when the characters are driving a strong mystery, and that’s definitely the case here. I’ve felt like I knew the series regulars from their first appearances in the series, so it was fantastic to spend time with them again. They are still just as strong as ever, and the new character are just as compelling. Since Heavenly sits on the edge of an Amish community, life is a bit slower, and that is reflected in the plot. This isn’t a twist a page type of book, but that faster pace wouldn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong, we do have twists and surprises, but the impact on the characters is just as important, and the two combined keep me glued to the book. I had to fight to keep from peaking ahead and making sure everyone was going to be okay. Honestly, just reading about Heavenly refreshes my soul, so picking up this book was great. The Christmas setting was an added bonus since I love that season so much. There are a couple of niggles with the book, but they are minor. This is a fantastic addition to a favorite series.
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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Table 19 (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Mean spirited and atrocious.
I really hated this film. There. BOOM. Got it off my chest.
It all starts so promisingly, with a scene of Anna Kendrick (“The Accountant“, who can be a very good actress) rejecting a wedding invitation; then accepting it; then burning it; then blowing it out; then posting it. I laughed. This was a rarity. There are about five more smile-worthy moments in the movie, most of which are delivered by Stephen Merchant.
Anna plays Eloise who was SUPPOSED to be maid-of-honour at her best friend’s wedding, but then broke up – messily – with her brother (the best man). She stubbornly attends the wedding in a posh hotel and finds herself on “Table 19” – a socially unfavourable location, full of a bunch of misfits that everyone expected to say “no” but didn’t; a molly-coddled and awkward teen (Tony Revolori, “Spider-man: Homecoming“) with the single goal of getting laid; “The Kepps” – a bickering married couple (Lisa Kudrow (“The Girl on the Train“, “Friends”) and Craig Robinson (“Hot Tub Time Machine”)); a convicted fraudster serving his sentence in an open prison ( Stephen Merchant, “Logan“) and a druggie former nanny of the bride (June Squibb, “In and Out”).
The fundamental problem with the movie is that Jeffrey Blitz’s script (he also directs) is not only not very funny, but it is so fundamentally focused on the greedy and needy nature of the table’s American reprobates that at every turn it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Their motives are all utterly selfish and there’s an “if we get away with it, then that’s fine” attitude that pervades the plot.
The nadir for me happens when – after trashing (albeit accidently) a key part of the wedding they are attending, they cover their selfish backsides by (deliberately) trashing the same key part of another wedding going on in the same hotel.
This is kind of positioned as a “revenge” sort of thing, but (in analysis) no wrong seems to have actually been done: its just another misunderstanding of the self-obsessed Eloise.
The Kepp’s story is also sad and selfish rather than comedic, and the resolution of this (and in fact all of the other sub-stories) for a nicely gift-wrapped ending is just saccharine and vomit-inducing.
This is a wedding present that should have come with a label in big red writing: “DO NOT OPEN“.
It all starts so promisingly, with a scene of Anna Kendrick (“The Accountant“, who can be a very good actress) rejecting a wedding invitation; then accepting it; then burning it; then blowing it out; then posting it. I laughed. This was a rarity. There are about five more smile-worthy moments in the movie, most of which are delivered by Stephen Merchant.
Anna plays Eloise who was SUPPOSED to be maid-of-honour at her best friend’s wedding, but then broke up – messily – with her brother (the best man). She stubbornly attends the wedding in a posh hotel and finds herself on “Table 19” – a socially unfavourable location, full of a bunch of misfits that everyone expected to say “no” but didn’t; a molly-coddled and awkward teen (Tony Revolori, “Spider-man: Homecoming“) with the single goal of getting laid; “The Kepps” – a bickering married couple (Lisa Kudrow (“The Girl on the Train“, “Friends”) and Craig Robinson (“Hot Tub Time Machine”)); a convicted fraudster serving his sentence in an open prison ( Stephen Merchant, “Logan“) and a druggie former nanny of the bride (June Squibb, “In and Out”).
The fundamental problem with the movie is that Jeffrey Blitz’s script (he also directs) is not only not very funny, but it is so fundamentally focused on the greedy and needy nature of the table’s American reprobates that at every turn it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Their motives are all utterly selfish and there’s an “if we get away with it, then that’s fine” attitude that pervades the plot.
The nadir for me happens when – after trashing (albeit accidently) a key part of the wedding they are attending, they cover their selfish backsides by (deliberately) trashing the same key part of another wedding going on in the same hotel.
This is kind of positioned as a “revenge” sort of thing, but (in analysis) no wrong seems to have actually been done: its just another misunderstanding of the self-obsessed Eloise.
The Kepp’s story is also sad and selfish rather than comedic, and the resolution of this (and in fact all of the other sub-stories) for a nicely gift-wrapped ending is just saccharine and vomit-inducing.
This is a wedding present that should have come with a label in big red writing: “DO NOT OPEN“.
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Love you to death (2019) in Movies
Jun 2, 2022
Police arrive at a house in 2013, The door is unlocked so they enter to find a dead body on the bed. We are shown a montage of pictures of a sick teen girl called Esme and her mum, it seems they had been raising a lot of money because of her illness.
Rewind to a few months before the death, it's Esmes 16th birthday and then her routine appointment, but sadly she is showing no signs of improving. During a shopping trip they bump into Esmes estranged dad, and it's clear there is hostility between him and Esmes mum. We soon discover that Esme has had the illness since she was 4 years old and also has a learning disability which just adds to the sadness of her illness.
It soon becomes evident how controlling her mother is though, she refuses to let anyone take Esme anywhere, controls what she eats as well as which doctors are allowed to treat her. After Esme is attacked at a gaming convention, the mother purchases a gun for protection and it isn't long before she's using it against an intruder.
About half an hour into the movie, we are thrown back to 2005, and we see Esmes side of the story. Esmes mum has a conversation with a nurse who confirms that Esme was misdiagnosed and she was fine, I won't go into that too much incase you want to watch it, but basically Esmes mum continues to fake Esmes illness. You will have to watch the movie to see how she achieves this, by tricking everyone including medical staff.
I enjoyed the movie but I was so shocked to find out it was based on a true story, I immediately went on to watch the documentary to compare and I felt they did do the true story justice, they included Esmes mum always holding her hand and hitting her if she didn't do as she was expected to do. The way Esme (gypsy rose) meets her boyfriend was different in real life, I felt the movie made him out to be this sweet guy trying to save Esme but in real life he was very disturbed, but then again it was told through Esmes eyes, so it was probably to show what she saw at the time.
Rewind to a few months before the death, it's Esmes 16th birthday and then her routine appointment, but sadly she is showing no signs of improving. During a shopping trip they bump into Esmes estranged dad, and it's clear there is hostility between him and Esmes mum. We soon discover that Esme has had the illness since she was 4 years old and also has a learning disability which just adds to the sadness of her illness.
It soon becomes evident how controlling her mother is though, she refuses to let anyone take Esme anywhere, controls what she eats as well as which doctors are allowed to treat her. After Esme is attacked at a gaming convention, the mother purchases a gun for protection and it isn't long before she's using it against an intruder.
About half an hour into the movie, we are thrown back to 2005, and we see Esmes side of the story. Esmes mum has a conversation with a nurse who confirms that Esme was misdiagnosed and she was fine, I won't go into that too much incase you want to watch it, but basically Esmes mum continues to fake Esmes illness. You will have to watch the movie to see how she achieves this, by tricking everyone including medical staff.
I enjoyed the movie but I was so shocked to find out it was based on a true story, I immediately went on to watch the documentary to compare and I felt they did do the true story justice, they included Esmes mum always holding her hand and hitting her if she didn't do as she was expected to do. The way Esme (gypsy rose) meets her boyfriend was different in real life, I felt the movie made him out to be this sweet guy trying to save Esme but in real life he was very disturbed, but then again it was told through Esmes eyes, so it was probably to show what she saw at the time.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Our Little Racket: A Novel in Books
Feb 8, 2018
The idyllic community of Greenwich, Connecticut is shaken when the investment bank, Weiss & Partners, fails. Its CEO, Bob D'Amico--a man known throughout the banking community for his loyalty to his employees--is at the center of the storm: did Bob know this was coming? And even worse, did things fall apart due to criminal actions on his part? Meanwhile, Bob's teenage daughter, Madison, struggles to understand what this all means, both for her father and her family. She gets little help from her mother, Isabel, who offers Madison no comfort during this crazy time. Madison's nanny, Lily, is busy caring for her younger twin brothers. Isabel's best friend, Mina, wants to help, but is still too afraid of offending Isabel: a pillar of the Greenwich scene. And Madison and her best friend, Amanda, seem to be drifting further apart every day. Madison and her family are under intense scrutiny, yet she's still just a girl trying to navigate being a teen. She's sure her father didn't do anything wrong; right?
I had a tough time with this book. There were several points where I considered setting it down for others in my always growing "to be read" pile, but I soldiered on. <i>I can't say I really enjoyed it, though I did find parts of it interesting.</i> It's clearly influenced by the Madoff scandal, which is referenced in the novel, and there is a lot of financial lingo in the book, even if it's really a story of a troubled family at its core.
The problem is that so few of the characters are really engaging, and the story seems to drag on endlessly at points. It's a peek in the world of the truly wealthy (think household servants, golf courses at their homes, multiple residences, hired cars, etc.), but I found myself unable to care for most of the characters. None of them are very nice to each other, and Bob and Isabel come across as neglectful and awful parents for the majority of the story. Even worse is the gaggle of Greenwich women, who gossip about the situation, feel like they are unable to continue to purchase expensive clothing and wares after Bob's "situation," and generally just annoy you with their harping. They don't understand anything about what their husbands do, but they run their households (well, they delegate it all) and fear that their carefully polished way of life is in jeopardy. You understand that this is a serious event for them, but you don't really care. Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? The novel is confusing at times in this facet. Perhaps I missed a great point somewhere: is it profound or just pretentious? Hard to tell.
The one thing that kept me reading was Madison. While she could be hateful at times, the story of her coming of age in a very strange environment, with a spotlight shining on her, was the most interesting part of the novel. Her dynamic with her father, whom she clearly adored, and her cold, distant mother, was far more fleshed out than any of the other characters. You could see her struggling to find her place in the world: she was just doing it under the watchful eye of the community (and a security detail hired to keep the press away from her family). Baker deftly portrays Madison's heartbreaking forays in romance, as well as some great scenes in which the teen shows off some spunk that will have you rooting for her. I couldn't help but want to give her a hug: even though I could see that her mother was a complicated individual, her parents were pretty awful, and poor Madison was forced to confront that in some terrible ways.
Still, despite Madison's story, most of this book fell flat for me. The epilogue was interesting and tied up some loose ends, but it ended things very abruptly as well. So much of the novel was about how Greenwich was nothing but smoke and mirrors: nothing was real in this world. Yet, I would have enjoyed some characters who felt more human, whom I could relate to in some way, whom I wanted to care for and to see come out of this "crisis" intact. Rating a 3-star due to Madison and the intricate story, but probably more of a 2.5-star on the overall enjoyment level scale for me.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 06/20/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>
I had a tough time with this book. There were several points where I considered setting it down for others in my always growing "to be read" pile, but I soldiered on. <i>I can't say I really enjoyed it, though I did find parts of it interesting.</i> It's clearly influenced by the Madoff scandal, which is referenced in the novel, and there is a lot of financial lingo in the book, even if it's really a story of a troubled family at its core.
The problem is that so few of the characters are really engaging, and the story seems to drag on endlessly at points. It's a peek in the world of the truly wealthy (think household servants, golf courses at their homes, multiple residences, hired cars, etc.), but I found myself unable to care for most of the characters. None of them are very nice to each other, and Bob and Isabel come across as neglectful and awful parents for the majority of the story. Even worse is the gaggle of Greenwich women, who gossip about the situation, feel like they are unable to continue to purchase expensive clothing and wares after Bob's "situation," and generally just annoy you with their harping. They don't understand anything about what their husbands do, but they run their households (well, they delegate it all) and fear that their carefully polished way of life is in jeopardy. You understand that this is a serious event for them, but you don't really care. Was I supposed to feel sorry for them? The novel is confusing at times in this facet. Perhaps I missed a great point somewhere: is it profound or just pretentious? Hard to tell.
The one thing that kept me reading was Madison. While she could be hateful at times, the story of her coming of age in a very strange environment, with a spotlight shining on her, was the most interesting part of the novel. Her dynamic with her father, whom she clearly adored, and her cold, distant mother, was far more fleshed out than any of the other characters. You could see her struggling to find her place in the world: she was just doing it under the watchful eye of the community (and a security detail hired to keep the press away from her family). Baker deftly portrays Madison's heartbreaking forays in romance, as well as some great scenes in which the teen shows off some spunk that will have you rooting for her. I couldn't help but want to give her a hug: even though I could see that her mother was a complicated individual, her parents were pretty awful, and poor Madison was forced to confront that in some terrible ways.
Still, despite Madison's story, most of this book fell flat for me. The epilogue was interesting and tied up some loose ends, but it ended things very abruptly as well. So much of the novel was about how Greenwich was nothing but smoke and mirrors: nothing was real in this world. Yet, I would have enjoyed some characters who felt more human, whom I could relate to in some way, whom I wanted to care for and to see come out of this "crisis" intact. Rating a 3-star due to Madison and the intricate story, but probably more of a 2.5-star on the overall enjoyment level scale for me.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 06/20/2017.
<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justacatandabook/">Instagram</a>; </center>