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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Love Hurts in Books

Dec 17, 2018  
LH
Love Hurts
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Love Hurts is a young adult book containing several stories compiled together by the well-known Malorie Blackman. There are a few new short stories however most are extracts from pre-existing novels. The short stories are written by a variety of different authors such as Susie Day, Lauren Dockrill, Lauren Kate, Catherine Johnson and James Dawson. Many readers will be familiar with these authors as well as some of the books that the extracts are from, for example: More Than This, If I Stay, I Am The Messenger and Northern Lights.

The aim of this anthology is to explore what love means. Love is not a simple, straightforward concept. There is love lost and love found, bitter love and sweet love. Each story focuses on a different perspective. Some are about teenagers, some are about adults. Some are about homosexuality and others are not.

Love Hurts is an interesting concept and it is interesting to see different authors' understanding on the term "love". The biggest problem with this book however is due to most of the entries being snippets of other stories as it is often difficult to understand what was going on and who the characters were.

Another issue for me was I found some of the stories uninteresting and difficult to get into; and as they were short there was not a lot of time to appreciate the different concepts and styles of writing.

Although it would have been a challenge, it would have been better for all the stories to be brand new and unique. On he other hand, Malorie Blackman has done an excellent job at sourcing all the content.
  
Arctic Zoo
Arctic Zoo
Robert Muchamore | 2019 | Contemporary, Crime, LGBTQ+, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Political without ever preaching (0 more)
Been mostly ignored (0 more)
Challenging the world
Even with a good book, 456 pages can start to drag. With Arctic Zoo however, I wanted to continue on Julius and Georgia's story. This is brilliantly paced read with a "one more chapter before bed" level of intrigue on every page to keep you up far too late every night. The story follows Georgia, and relatively unextrordinary English schoolgirl who has lost her sister who becomes the face of the protest counter culture community, and celebrity, completely by accident, who with no choice, is drawn further into that world, and Julius, the son of very rich Nigerian political elite, who is guy and ousted from the family. Both these teenagers stories interweave intermittently and both are engaging on their own. The thing is I really liked Julius and I really liked Georgia and I wanted so much for each of them to succeed despite all the things thrown against them. Whats also brilliant s this book has a lot to say without it ever forcing anything down your throat and doesn't shy away from throwing up hypocrisies either. Muchamore is an absolute master writer who has managed to create an engaging novel that any adult or teenager will enjoy without ever feeling like the pages have been dumbed down to reach a general audience. Yes it was 456 pages long at at the end I said, "ohh, its finished" feeling disappointed rather than the sense of achievement I normally get when completing a book, just because I wanted to stay with these characters in this book and be with them for more of their journeys. But that is what a great artist does, leaves them wanting more, Muchamore.
  
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
2014 | Horror
4
5.0 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Supernatural Superpowers That Are Cursed
Ugh here we go again- which one is this number 8, number 3210, number who cares, number whatever. Its the fifth one by the way, if people are wondering.

Im just tired of this franchise, nothing happens until the last 15-20 minutes of the movie, thats when shit happens. So the rest of the movie is boring. So whats the plot this time.

The Plot: Teenagers Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) and Hector (Jorge Diaz) look forward to a carefree summer, but the murder of a neighbor leads to a terrifying encounter with the supernatural. After breaking into the neighbor's apartment, Jesse and Hector find a collection of ritualistic art and other bizarre items. Jesse takes a journal of occult writings and soon after finds a strange mark on his arm. His subsequent erratic behavior leads Jesse's friends and family to the realization that he is possessed.

So in this one a recent high school graduate has a myserious neigherbor, and deicides to go into her house and gets the curse and than has superpowers??? Like he can lean back far, jump the stairs high from his skateboard, and push people, wait what??Later on, when he gets captured two man get their shotguns and shoot the cult, wait what?? Than his friend goes through a door and ends up at the house from the first move and see Kate and Micah, wait what?? That makes no sense.

By the way this movie came out in Januray and besides the first one which came out late September, the rest of them came out in October. So this one came out in dump month, and it was a piece of dump.

Ugh One more right....Right.....Right....
  
Rim of the World (2019)
Rim of the World (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Really Good Summer Sci-Fi Movie
Rim Of The World is a sci-fi adventure movie directed by McG from a screenplay by Zach Stentz. It was produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision and Circle of Confusion and distributed by Netflix. The film stars Jack Gore, Miya Cech, Benjamin Flores, Jr., and Alessio Scalzotto.


Alex, a smarter than average 13-year old, is forced to go to the same summer camp that his mother went to when she was a girl. The summer camp is called Rim of the World and while there he meets three other teenagers, Darius the joker, Gabriel the tough guy, and Zhen Zhen the tomboy. They all stick together when suddenly aliens begin to attack the area. A space pod crash lands and an astronaut inside entrusts Alex with the key to stopping the alien invasion. They must now travel 40 miles away on their own through dangerous obstacles but as they do they will begin to bond and become friends.


First off this movie is a perfect summer flick for watching with friends who like sci-fi. It seemed to have a lot of comparisons and similarities to The Goonies, which I believe was the inspiration for it. I liked how each character had very distinct personalities. Alex the main character, has the greatest character growth out of the group but they all change along the journey. The special effects and CGI could have been way better and at times were down right laughable. But the actors performances and the scenes where they are better really sell the film. This movie is definitely not to be taken seriously but still has moments of drama that take it up a notch. I had a fun time watching it. I give it a 7/10.
  
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Cate Le Bon recommended Marquee Moon by Television in Music (curated)

 
Marquee Moon by Television
Marquee Moon by Television
1977 | Rock
9.0 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The reason I love this record, apart from it being an absolutely incredible record, is that up until hearing Marquee Moon I wrote songs on my own and when it came to putting things together with a band, I would always have in my mind that I would play chords and then break for a solo and then have some more chords. A friend of mine who is a great guitarist himself asked me whether I had heard a song called 'Marquee Moon' and suggested we try learning the guitar parts together. We sat down like teenagers and tried to learn them. I suddenly realised that you can have loops of really intricate riffs – it doesn't have to be just chords and solos. So, Marquee Moon changed my attitude to arranging - in terms of the guitars - a song. But then, weirdly, after that the track 'Marquee Moon' began to haunt me out. I had some gigs in Australia and Brazil and I figured out that if the record company gave me a round-the-world ticket it would be cheaper for them and also mean I could go to places like Thailand and Chile in between the tour. And every single place I went I would hear the track 'Marquee Moon' being played on local radio stations. It started to become really, really creepy. So, when I came back from the tour I thought I better buy the bloody record as it was haunting me. I found it for a quid in a charity shop as if everything was lining up for me to listen to this record in its entirety. And I did, thankfully, and it has just really changed my attitude to playing guitar and how I could structure things differently in terms of guitar playing."

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