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Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated The Stars That Guide You Home in Books

Oct 25, 2021

Wow.
Just…wow.

Now I make no secret of the fact that I am a crier. Christmas TV ads, airport arrivals halls, old men crying, anything has the ability to set me off blubbing! So I am never entirely surprised when I start crying at a book, even my husband doesn’t mock me anymore. But this book? THIS BOOK had me crying the entire way through and just when you thought life for the characters couldn’t get any worse…Jemma Robinson says hold my coat!

Sophia and Tom live in a quaint little farmhouse in the town of Lowshore. Their life is a simple one but their happy marriage practically radiates from the page. However, Sophia never told her husband about her past and that past is about to catch up with her!

Whilst Tom is at work, Sophia is kidnapped from her happy home and forced to live the life that she tried so desperately to escape. Beaten, abused and powerless, Sophia manages to find two people worthy of her trust but will she ever escape? Can she ever regain the life that she used to have with Tom?

The beauty of this book is that it revolves around its characters. There is very little world building here but, honestly, it isn’t needed. Nothing matters to Tom and Sophia except one-another and that is reflected in Jemma Robinson’s writing style.

The characters themselves stay with you long after the final page: Sophia wears her heart on her sleeve, Tom is steadfast and passionately protective, James and Annalise are, in contrast, calm and collected individuals but Edmund is nothing short of a psychopath!

Edmund is no fairytale villain, despite the Lord Farquaad vibes I was getting from him. Robinson’s antagonist wouldn’t be out of place in Game of Thrones: he is truly revolting, controlling and revels in his absolute power over everything and everyone in his kingdom.

The Stars That Guide You Home is marketed as historical romance, not a fairytale, and with its medicine, photographs and labour camps then it does seem too modern to be considered a fairytale. However, I would argue that castles, arranged marriages, medieval torture and absence of any morally grey characters could push this into the category of dark fairytale.

There are a number of trigger warnings within this novel that I want to highlight. This is by no means a YA book – it is definitely Adult Fiction or New Adult at a push. These trigger warnings include rape, physical and mental abuse, animal cruelty, torture (in detail), kidnap, burns, suicide, miscarriage and general violence.

Dark fairytale still doesn’t seem enough… Sinister fairytale might just do it!

The Stars That Guide You Home is simultaneously beautiful, horrifying and inspiring. This book will break your heart over and over again and keep you coming back for more. Thank you to The Book Network for the opportunity to review this amazing novel, and thank you to Jemma, even though you did make me cry for 486 pages!

Kudos

sarah smedley (301 KP) rated Nellie (The Brides of San Francisco Book 1) in Books

Oct 4, 2018

Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. In post civil-war New York, the men are scarce and none want the burden of a wife with children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, and cruel. Desperate to escape their influence, and eager for a home, a husband, and a stable life for her children, Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail order bride.

Saloon owner Blake Malone is a bachelor and likes it that way. He worked hard for everything he has, but the San Francisco City Council won’t approve his plans to build a family emporium unless he is a family man himself. The solution? A mail order bride from New York who will bring him a ready-made family, stability, and the council's approval.

Blake expects his future wife to care for his home and, other than helping him impress the city council, to stay out of his business. He expects life as usual. What he gets is an unexpected desire to win Nellie's heart, a dangerous threat to his new bride, and a rich benefactor determined to steal his new family out from under him. Blake believed his battle for success a hard one. But he will discover that the battle to win Nellie's heart and keep his family safe is going to take everything he's got.

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The Lincoln Lawyer (Mickey Haller, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #17)

Michael Connelly

9.0 (9 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if...

On Silbury Hill

Adam Thorpe

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Silbury Hill in Wiltshire has inspired and perplexed people for generations. Artists and poets have...

Leap! (Ballerina) (2017)

7.2 (12 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Starring: Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan, Maddie Ziegler, Carly Rae Jepsen Felicie has one dream, to...

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Everything Must Go (2011) in Movies

Sep 21, 2020

Everything Must Go (2011)

2011 | Comedy, Drama

5.5

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Sterile and not funny, but more importantly yet another one of those mopey pity parties about a loathsome, middle/upper class, middle-aged white man who learns to love from those around him by first abusing them emotionally and wallowing in doldrums. The first stretch is pretty rough but that all being said, eventually turns into some serviceable sad porn. The Laura Dern scenes are pointless, and the direction barely rises above just adequate - but I feel the main problem is the very aspect that gets the most praise here; despite Ferrell's best efforts this character comes out as nothing much more than flat. It's clear they were going for like a Jim Carrey in 𝘌𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 or Adam Sandler in 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘦, but they fail to have those crucial catharsis scenes, those bursts of emotion which made Ferrell's turn in 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 come out unscathed. So instead we have this guy who comes across as more deflated than successfully melancholy and just sort of sulks around while the story does everything you expect it to, then it's suddenly all solved but who really cares by then? Anywho, he and Hall have some serious chemistry and their scenes are enough to make this not so bad even if it can't escape convention.