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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Wanted in Paradise in Books
Jun 18, 2019
Wanted in Paradise by Kate Ashenden is a quick-to-read romance thriller set on the tropical nation of the Maldives. The twenty-five-year-old protagonist, Jasmine Hartwell has been on a hellish journey: surviving a typhoon in the Philippines, which killed thousands of people, and quitting her job because she cannot stand the way her boss treats her. To top it off, her ex-boyfriend has disappeared, presumed dead. After sending her condolences to his good looking superstar brother, Romeo Moretti, Jasmine is offered the chance to join him in the Maldives to help set up a concert in aid of climate change.
Readers are aware that Jasmine has had a crush on Romeo since she met him five years ago but due to their current circumstances, it would not be right for them to form a relationship while her ex, Diego is still missing. That does not stop Jasmine having strong feelings for Romeo and vice versa, however, there is another love interest on the scene. The Sheikh has fallen for Jasmine but Romeo believes he is an evil character set on destroying the concert and taking over the islands. Not only does Jasmine have to contend with this love-triangle, but Romeo's publicist also seems fixed on making things unnecessarily hard for her.
It takes a while for the reader to warm to the characters, especially as the story is fast-paced. It also takes a moment to appreciate the complexities of the storyline; it is not only about romance, but it also encompasses natural disasters, the dangers of climate change and the ignorance and selfishness of those with power. By the closing chapters, readers are enthralled with the potential of a happy-ever-after but still in the knowledge that all could backfire at the last minute.
Wanted in Paradise is Kate Ashenden's debut novel, which, whilst it has room for improvement, gives a taster of her potential. It is the ideal book for those who want a quick read and to be transported to another part of the world to escape the challenged of everyday life.
Readers are aware that Jasmine has had a crush on Romeo since she met him five years ago but due to their current circumstances, it would not be right for them to form a relationship while her ex, Diego is still missing. That does not stop Jasmine having strong feelings for Romeo and vice versa, however, there is another love interest on the scene. The Sheikh has fallen for Jasmine but Romeo believes he is an evil character set on destroying the concert and taking over the islands. Not only does Jasmine have to contend with this love-triangle, but Romeo's publicist also seems fixed on making things unnecessarily hard for her.
It takes a while for the reader to warm to the characters, especially as the story is fast-paced. It also takes a moment to appreciate the complexities of the storyline; it is not only about romance, but it also encompasses natural disasters, the dangers of climate change and the ignorance and selfishness of those with power. By the closing chapters, readers are enthralled with the potential of a happy-ever-after but still in the knowledge that all could backfire at the last minute.
Wanted in Paradise is Kate Ashenden's debut novel, which, whilst it has room for improvement, gives a taster of her potential. It is the ideal book for those who want a quick read and to be transported to another part of the world to escape the challenged of everyday life.
TS
The Sea Devil: The Adventures of Count Felix Von Luckner, the Last Raider Under Sail
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In 1916, a three-masted ship named Hero sailed under Norwegian colors out of the Elbe River in...
The Story of Arthur Truluv
8.0
Rate It
Book
"I dare you to read this novel and not fall in love with Arthur Truluv. His story will make you...
young adult
Before Pictures
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Douglas Crimp is the rare art critic whose work profoundly influenced a generation of artists. He is...
Lee (2222 KP) rated Crawl (2019) in Movies
Aug 24, 2019
Florida is preparing itself for the arrival of a category five hurricane. As competitive swimmer Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) changes after a session in the pool, she takes a video call from her sister, concerned that she can't get through to their father (Barry Pepper) by phone. Dad still lives in their old hometown, right in the path of the incoming storm, and Haley agrees to go check on him.
As she approaches the town, the authorities try to turn her back as everyone is currently being evacuated from their homes. But Haley slips through via a side road, determined to check on dad, and when she does find him, he's in a spot of trouble - injured and in the crawl space beneath their house. Turns out dad wasn't alone though and a couple of gators, having found their way in with the storm, are preventing Haley and Dad from getting out. As the storm intensifies and the flood waters rise, the father and daughter must outwit the predators and try to escape to safety before they either drown or get eaten.
And that is pretty much it. At just 87 minutes long, Crawl wastes no time in getting to the action and manages to keep the suspense and thrills going right to the very end. The gators are terrifyingly realistic, as are the flood and hurricane effects, and I was just on the edge of my seat throughout.
Apart from the occasional human showing up to provide the gators with something to munch on, Haley and her dad are pretty much the only characters in the movie, with Haley making good use of her swimming skills and proving herself to be a real badass. The family dog is also on hand, getting himself into the odd scrape too. Spoiler alert: the doggy survives, so don't worry.
I absolutely loved this movie. It had me gripped throughout, with a real gut wrenching intensity, and I love it when a movie does that to me. Crawl is definitely in my top 5 movies this year.
As she approaches the town, the authorities try to turn her back as everyone is currently being evacuated from their homes. But Haley slips through via a side road, determined to check on dad, and when she does find him, he's in a spot of trouble - injured and in the crawl space beneath their house. Turns out dad wasn't alone though and a couple of gators, having found their way in with the storm, are preventing Haley and Dad from getting out. As the storm intensifies and the flood waters rise, the father and daughter must outwit the predators and try to escape to safety before they either drown or get eaten.
And that is pretty much it. At just 87 minutes long, Crawl wastes no time in getting to the action and manages to keep the suspense and thrills going right to the very end. The gators are terrifyingly realistic, as are the flood and hurricane effects, and I was just on the edge of my seat throughout.
Apart from the occasional human showing up to provide the gators with something to munch on, Haley and her dad are pretty much the only characters in the movie, with Haley making good use of her swimming skills and proving herself to be a real badass. The family dog is also on hand, getting himself into the odd scrape too. Spoiler alert: the doggy survives, so don't worry.
I absolutely loved this movie. It had me gripped throughout, with a real gut wrenching intensity, and I love it when a movie does that to me. Crawl is definitely in my top 5 movies this year.
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) in Movies
Oct 27, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
The movie starts Halloween in the 1960s, and a group of teens are planning a trick or treat prank on the jocks in their school. It's just the classic poo in a bag but the jocks get mad and chase them in to a drive in movie, where the teens jump into a young lads car to hide. This lad tells the jocks to basically do one and saves the teens from being pulverised.
As a thank you, the teens invite the young lad to a haunted house with them. They have a look around and start to see strange things, such as an old lady and a dog. After a terrifying ordeal the teens escape and go home. One of them, Stella, had found a book of scary stories in the house which she takes home with her. Stella begins to read the book, and as she reads the scene moves to Tommy (one of jocks) and shows that what she is reading is coming true. When Stella realises this, she takes the book back to the haunted House, however it is not that easy as the book reappears in her bedroom and begins writing another story, only this time it's about her friend August.
The teens decide they must find a way to stop it before the book takes the rest of the group.
I found the start of the movie very slow paced, but once the book comes into it, it moves at a more decent pace and I started to enjoy it, I even looked forward to sei g who the book took next and how.
Word of warning, if you don't like spiders you won't like Ruth's story, I had to look away a lot during that scene. Chucks story started creepy until it showed what was after him, and it just looked ridiculous, I honestly couldn't help but laugh! And Ramones story was also pretty laughable, it made me wonder if it was meant to be a comedy. Sadly from that point I couldn't take it seriously any more.
As a thank you, the teens invite the young lad to a haunted house with them. They have a look around and start to see strange things, such as an old lady and a dog. After a terrifying ordeal the teens escape and go home. One of them, Stella, had found a book of scary stories in the house which she takes home with her. Stella begins to read the book, and as she reads the scene moves to Tommy (one of jocks) and shows that what she is reading is coming true. When Stella realises this, she takes the book back to the haunted House, however it is not that easy as the book reappears in her bedroom and begins writing another story, only this time it's about her friend August.
The teens decide they must find a way to stop it before the book takes the rest of the group.
I found the start of the movie very slow paced, but once the book comes into it, it moves at a more decent pace and I started to enjoy it, I even looked forward to sei g who the book took next and how.
Word of warning, if you don't like spiders you won't like Ruth's story, I had to look away a lot during that scene. Chucks story started creepy until it showed what was after him, and it just looked ridiculous, I honestly couldn't help but laugh! And Ramones story was also pretty laughable, it made me wonder if it was meant to be a comedy. Sadly from that point I couldn't take it seriously any more.
Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated Lost Property in Books
Jul 2, 2021
Dot Watson works in the TfL Lost Property office, meticulously labelling items found on London’s public transport in the hope of reuniting them with their owner. However, it soon becomes apparent that it is Dot who is lost, grieving the loss of her father to suicide, her mother to dementia and her ever-deteriorating relationship with her sister.
What isn’t initially clear is why Dot feels guilt-ridden by her father’s suicide but Paris carefully peels back the layers of Dot and her family’s lives to expose their loss, their love and their vulnerability.
Dot herself is fastidious in details, finding safety in rules, routine and order. Her safe words (Sellotape, safety pin, superglue) echo through the novel with no real context except to calm Dot, to allow her to keep everything together and in place. In contrast to this, Dot is clearly falling apart.
Dot’s life is already poles apart from what she envisioned for herself but circumstances cause her to fall further and start looking for an escape: an escape that she finds amongst the stacks of unclaimed items, with a little help from a bottle of absinthe!
Dot’s hallucinations do cause moments of humour but more than this they portray her raw grief and her depression. Dot tries to find a story behind every item in the stacks, to give the item an identity, an owner, a purpose. But what she is really looking for is her identity, her purpose. She passionately fights for these items, believing that their worth surpasses monetary value, but she cannot apply this to herself until it is almost too late.
The characters surrounding Dot serve to reflect how isolated she has made herself.
Our protagonist has few friends in her social circle and those that she does have seem to be work friends, in whom she often finds criticism. I really appreciated the roles of characters such as Anita, she never stopped inviting Dot to events even when Dot had refused several times before. Anita is the perfect model for a friend of someone with depression: keep showing up, keep listening and never give up.
Dot’s mother, Gail, has dementia and has recently moved out of the maisonette she shared with Dot and into a care home. The relationship between mother and daughter has never been as close as the bond Dot had with her father but Dot’s memories of her mother slowly unfurl into the recognition and acceptance of her as a person and a protector, rather than the background character she has always assumed her mother to be.
Dot’s sister Philippa seems to be a bit of a steamroller of a character at first, bossy and controlling in that she plans to sell the maisonette and thus make Dot homeless. However, Philippa finds her spotlight in the final few chapters, perhaps because Dot allows herself to see her sister properly and acknowledge the life and pain that they both shared. The resulting love between the two sisters is heart-warming.
Lost Property is heart-breakingly honest and open. I laughed and, as someone coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis within the family, I cried my little heart out. I frankly couldn’t believe Lost Property is Helen Paris’ debut novel. This is the most emotive book I have read this year.
Thank you to Bookstagrammers.com, Helen Paris and Penguin Random House UK for gifting me a hard copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What isn’t initially clear is why Dot feels guilt-ridden by her father’s suicide but Paris carefully peels back the layers of Dot and her family’s lives to expose their loss, their love and their vulnerability.
Dot herself is fastidious in details, finding safety in rules, routine and order. Her safe words (Sellotape, safety pin, superglue) echo through the novel with no real context except to calm Dot, to allow her to keep everything together and in place. In contrast to this, Dot is clearly falling apart.
Dot’s life is already poles apart from what she envisioned for herself but circumstances cause her to fall further and start looking for an escape: an escape that she finds amongst the stacks of unclaimed items, with a little help from a bottle of absinthe!
Dot’s hallucinations do cause moments of humour but more than this they portray her raw grief and her depression. Dot tries to find a story behind every item in the stacks, to give the item an identity, an owner, a purpose. But what she is really looking for is her identity, her purpose. She passionately fights for these items, believing that their worth surpasses monetary value, but she cannot apply this to herself until it is almost too late.
The characters surrounding Dot serve to reflect how isolated she has made herself.
Our protagonist has few friends in her social circle and those that she does have seem to be work friends, in whom she often finds criticism. I really appreciated the roles of characters such as Anita, she never stopped inviting Dot to events even when Dot had refused several times before. Anita is the perfect model for a friend of someone with depression: keep showing up, keep listening and never give up.
Dot’s mother, Gail, has dementia and has recently moved out of the maisonette she shared with Dot and into a care home. The relationship between mother and daughter has never been as close as the bond Dot had with her father but Dot’s memories of her mother slowly unfurl into the recognition and acceptance of her as a person and a protector, rather than the background character she has always assumed her mother to be.
Dot’s sister Philippa seems to be a bit of a steamroller of a character at first, bossy and controlling in that she plans to sell the maisonette and thus make Dot homeless. However, Philippa finds her spotlight in the final few chapters, perhaps because Dot allows herself to see her sister properly and acknowledge the life and pain that they both shared. The resulting love between the two sisters is heart-warming.
Lost Property is heart-breakingly honest and open. I laughed and, as someone coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis within the family, I cried my little heart out. I frankly couldn’t believe Lost Property is Helen Paris’ debut novel. This is the most emotive book I have read this year.
Thank you to Bookstagrammers.com, Helen Paris and Penguin Random House UK for gifting me a hard copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Path of Flames in Books
Oct 24, 2017
This book has popped up a number of times as I have strolled through the fantasy section of Amazon's kindle store in the past. However, I was never really taken with the cover (which sadly I do base my TBR list on, in part) as I'm not much of one for elves. However, with the invitation to sample Kindle Unlimited for 60 days I thought I'd try and maximise my trial period and blast through this (now completed) series.
The first in the 5 book series (unless you count Escape from Bythos, a short opener) begins with Asho (the white haired character on the cover, not an elf after all but a Bythian human, at war alongside his lord and the army of "the good" against the armies of "the bad". We gradually start to see the world revealed at a gentle pace and each of the races are at different stages of their ascension to heaven, each step depending on how they lived that life (kind of like a tiered Buddhist reincarnation with eventually getting to heaven after a number of good lives). The Bythians are the lowest of the low and Asho is very lucky to be allowed to squire the Ennoian (read annoyin') Lord Kyferin.
From the result of that battle, further PoV characters are introduced: Ishkra and Kethe (Lord Kyferin's widow and daughter respectively), Audsley the magister and former knight Ser Tiron, as well as the orc-esque kragh Tarkon. All but Tarkon's narratives blend together to give an overall storyline from different perspectives.
The somewhat familiar castle setting is quickly thrown out the window as Lord Kyferin's brother takes over the castle and banishes his widow through a lunar gate (a mystic portal that only opens once a month used to travel great distances) along with her loyal followers into a ruined inhospitable wasteland with demons wandering the moors.
The characters are well defined and develop well through their trials and tribulations. While the plot is somewhat reactionary (there isn't really one main quest set up early on, rather events unfold and the plot is driven from there) this doesn't feel like it evolved that way, everything slots together well.
I have really enjoyed this first episode in the world of the black gate and have carried on with the follow-up, The Black Shriving.
The first in the 5 book series (unless you count Escape from Bythos, a short opener) begins with Asho (the white haired character on the cover, not an elf after all but a Bythian human, at war alongside his lord and the army of "the good" against the armies of "the bad". We gradually start to see the world revealed at a gentle pace and each of the races are at different stages of their ascension to heaven, each step depending on how they lived that life (kind of like a tiered Buddhist reincarnation with eventually getting to heaven after a number of good lives). The Bythians are the lowest of the low and Asho is very lucky to be allowed to squire the Ennoian (read annoyin') Lord Kyferin.
From the result of that battle, further PoV characters are introduced: Ishkra and Kethe (Lord Kyferin's widow and daughter respectively), Audsley the magister and former knight Ser Tiron, as well as the orc-esque kragh Tarkon. All but Tarkon's narratives blend together to give an overall storyline from different perspectives.
The somewhat familiar castle setting is quickly thrown out the window as Lord Kyferin's brother takes over the castle and banishes his widow through a lunar gate (a mystic portal that only opens once a month used to travel great distances) along with her loyal followers into a ruined inhospitable wasteland with demons wandering the moors.
The characters are well defined and develop well through their trials and tribulations. While the plot is somewhat reactionary (there isn't really one main quest set up early on, rather events unfold and the plot is driven from there) this doesn't feel like it evolved that way, everything slots together well.
I have really enjoyed this first episode in the world of the black gate and have carried on with the follow-up, The Black Shriving.
Agent Rose: The True Spy Story of Eileen Nearne, Britain's Forgotten Wartime Heroine
Book
In September 2010 the body of Eileen Nearne was found in a flat in Torquay. With no known friends or...
Rosie's Little Cafe on the Riviera
Book
Escape the winter blues with Jennifer Bohnet's deliciously heartwarming read. A summer of taking...