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Nicely written (2 more)
Adorable lead character
Lots of wit and humour
A Delight To Read!
Wow, what a fantastic beginning to a new series! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from the very first page.
Shattered is the first novel of the "Drew Patrick Private Investigator" series, with PI Drew Patrick as the lead character.
Shattered begins with Cynthia and Jeffrey Holland, who are concerned for their daughter, Ashley, who is missing. Ashley, although prone to jetting off for long weekends and extended shopping trips, is very much a free spirit and has never been incommunicado for more than four days. When Ashley and another young woman, Hannah Parks, are found murdered, Drew realises he is facing two murder investigations. He is now on the trail of a contract killer and looking for the person who hired the assassin to carry out the murders.
When a third woman, Victoria Clark, vanishes from a luxury yacht and her body is washed up on shore, Drew needs to look deeper into the links between the victims. However, he finds himself in deep water with a renowned Boston crime boss.
I loved the portrayal of the relationship between Drew and his significant other, girlfriend Jessica Casey. They are "romantically involved" and have a relaxed, easy-going attitude towards one another. Drew is very thoughtful and caring of all of the important things and people in his life. He also has a good rapport with his working acquaintances. Jessica has beauty and brains, works for a Detective Agency and is very helpful to Drew as a PI.
Drew has some hilarious moments that make him adorable. I thought Shattered, though short, was very nicely written and I found it a delight to read. Though the ending was not a surprise, I loved the way the book was concluded.
Reading Shattered has inspired me to read other books by Jason Richards and I can't wait for the next one in this series!
Thank you to LibraryThing and the author for an ARC of this book.
Shattered is the first novel of the "Drew Patrick Private Investigator" series, with PI Drew Patrick as the lead character.
Shattered begins with Cynthia and Jeffrey Holland, who are concerned for their daughter, Ashley, who is missing. Ashley, although prone to jetting off for long weekends and extended shopping trips, is very much a free spirit and has never been incommunicado for more than four days. When Ashley and another young woman, Hannah Parks, are found murdered, Drew realises he is facing two murder investigations. He is now on the trail of a contract killer and looking for the person who hired the assassin to carry out the murders.
When a third woman, Victoria Clark, vanishes from a luxury yacht and her body is washed up on shore, Drew needs to look deeper into the links between the victims. However, he finds himself in deep water with a renowned Boston crime boss.
I loved the portrayal of the relationship between Drew and his significant other, girlfriend Jessica Casey. They are "romantically involved" and have a relaxed, easy-going attitude towards one another. Drew is very thoughtful and caring of all of the important things and people in his life. He also has a good rapport with his working acquaintances. Jessica has beauty and brains, works for a Detective Agency and is very helpful to Drew as a PI.
Drew has some hilarious moments that make him adorable. I thought Shattered, though short, was very nicely written and I found it a delight to read. Though the ending was not a surprise, I loved the way the book was concluded.
Reading Shattered has inspired me to read other books by Jason Richards and I can't wait for the next one in this series!
Thank you to LibraryThing and the author for an ARC of this book.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox 360 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum in Video Games
Nov 4, 2019 (Updated Nov 4, 2019)
Welcome to the Madness
Arkham Asylum- is one, if not the best batman video game or all time. It is a excellent game, that gamers shouls play. If you want to feel the experience of being batman, this game does that.
Lets talk about it:
In the game's main storyline, Batman battles his archenemy, the Joker, who instigates an elaborate plot to seize control of Arkham Asylum, trap Batman inside with many of his incarcerated foes, and threaten the fictional Gotham City with hidden bombs.
Most of the game's leading characters are voiced by actors who have appeared in other media based on the DC Animated Universe; Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin reprised their roles as Batman, the Joker, and his sidekick Harley Quinn respectively.
The game is presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in combat and exploration.
Rocksteady began developing ideas for a sequel months before Arkham Asylum's completion, hiding hints to the sequel within the game.
The player can use "Detective Vision"—a visual mode which provides contextual information, tinting the game world blue and highlighting interactive objects like destructible walls and removable grates, the number of enemies in an area and their status—such as their awareness of Batman's presence—and shows civilians and corpses.
The game world has 240 collectable items, such as Riddler trophies, chattering Joker teeth, interview tapes with some of Arkham's inmates, and cryptic messages left in the asylum by its founder Amadeus Arkham that discuss the facility's bleak history.
The player can use predatory tactics through stealth—including silent takedowns, dropping from overhead perches and snatching enemies away, or using the explosive gel to knock foes off their feet—to tilt the odds in their favor.
I love this game, i can go on and on about how i love this game.
If you havent played it yet, i would reccordmend playing it.
Lets talk about it:
In the game's main storyline, Batman battles his archenemy, the Joker, who instigates an elaborate plot to seize control of Arkham Asylum, trap Batman inside with many of his incarcerated foes, and threaten the fictional Gotham City with hidden bombs.
Most of the game's leading characters are voiced by actors who have appeared in other media based on the DC Animated Universe; Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin reprised their roles as Batman, the Joker, and his sidekick Harley Quinn respectively.
The game is presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in combat and exploration.
Rocksteady began developing ideas for a sequel months before Arkham Asylum's completion, hiding hints to the sequel within the game.
The player can use "Detective Vision"—a visual mode which provides contextual information, tinting the game world blue and highlighting interactive objects like destructible walls and removable grates, the number of enemies in an area and their status—such as their awareness of Batman's presence—and shows civilians and corpses.
The game world has 240 collectable items, such as Riddler trophies, chattering Joker teeth, interview tapes with some of Arkham's inmates, and cryptic messages left in the asylum by its founder Amadeus Arkham that discuss the facility's bleak history.
The player can use predatory tactics through stealth—including silent takedowns, dropping from overhead perches and snatching enemies away, or using the explosive gel to knock foes off their feet—to tilt the odds in their favor.
I love this game, i can go on and on about how i love this game.
If you havent played it yet, i would reccordmend playing it.
Debbiereadsbook (1475 KP) rated The Edge of the World in Books
Jan 20, 2020
took a while, but excellent book!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is one of those books that I nearly dumped! NEARLY, but didn't.
Ollie said something, Shay said something, I forget who said what, but one of them said something that made the book a whole LOT more readable and I wanted to know what more. More Ollie, more Shay, just plain MORE! Cos ya'll know how greedy I am!
I loved that, when Ollie was keeping the things he found about Shay's family from Shay til certain points, he kept it from US too, and we only found it all out, just as Shay does. Loved being kept on my toes for that!
I loved that what happened to Ollie isn't immediately laid out for you and you have to piece together the clues. Again, we don't get the FULL picture til Ollie tells Shay all about it.
There is immediately attraction between the guys, yes, but it's a way WAY through the book before they actually get their sexy time, and strangely, I think I would have preferred that they did NOT have on-screen time, you know? I was loving the EMOTIONS that run rife through the book, real gut wrenching ones in places, and the sexy time, while still emotional for the guys, it kinda felt thrown in, that it was supposed to be there, just because, if you see what I mean? probably not, I'm not making much sense, I know!
Both guys have a say, in the third person, so we get all of Ollie's fear about doing this again, about being behind the camera again. We get all of Shay's growing feelings for Ollie, and we get it all from them both when the full history of Shay is revealed.
So, because it took me a while to fully engage . . .
4 solid stars
**same wroded review will appear elsewhere**
This is one of those books that I nearly dumped! NEARLY, but didn't.
Ollie said something, Shay said something, I forget who said what, but one of them said something that made the book a whole LOT more readable and I wanted to know what more. More Ollie, more Shay, just plain MORE! Cos ya'll know how greedy I am!
I loved that, when Ollie was keeping the things he found about Shay's family from Shay til certain points, he kept it from US too, and we only found it all out, just as Shay does. Loved being kept on my toes for that!
I loved that what happened to Ollie isn't immediately laid out for you and you have to piece together the clues. Again, we don't get the FULL picture til Ollie tells Shay all about it.
There is immediately attraction between the guys, yes, but it's a way WAY through the book before they actually get their sexy time, and strangely, I think I would have preferred that they did NOT have on-screen time, you know? I was loving the EMOTIONS that run rife through the book, real gut wrenching ones in places, and the sexy time, while still emotional for the guys, it kinda felt thrown in, that it was supposed to be there, just because, if you see what I mean? probably not, I'm not making much sense, I know!
Both guys have a say, in the third person, so we get all of Ollie's fear about doing this again, about being behind the camera again. We get all of Shay's growing feelings for Ollie, and we get it all from them both when the full history of Shay is revealed.
So, because it took me a while to fully engage . . .
4 solid stars
**same wroded review will appear elsewhere**
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Dare to Dream in Books
Jan 23, 2020
<i>Dare to Dream</i> isn't so much as horrifying as to a novel aimed at a younger audience rather than the upper teens running amok from book to book behind Bookwyrming Thoughts (and of course, their own blogs). Simply put: Ella will butcher this, Lupe will make this sprout unicorns, Rundus will dissect this in a manner as seriously as possible, and Sophia might do a combination of blandly blunt dissection while trying to sprout at least one unicorn so no one (hopefully) will get a headache in the process.
But of course, the very last reviewer might be exaggerating a little. She may also be hitting the truth button at the exact same time she decided to press the "write a review in the third person" button.
In this ever so "blandly blunt dissection" of a mini-review, <i>Dare to Dream</i> is essentially divided into two parts: the first part is before the apocalypse, and the second part is the aftermath. It is really just a book that has a main character with a broken family, cries often (well, she is fourteen), and finding her place in the world all while receiving dreams of the end of the world in the same way nightly and finding out it's in connection to the demise of Stonehenge. Oh, and it is also a day by day play of events that feels more proper in a sleeptastic documentary.
Basically, it's just tales of family drama from a fourteen-year-old British schoolgirl. The whole apocalypse thing? It might as well be a subplot until you get to the second part, where the primary purpose is surviving it day by day. But the point is, middle school Sophia might like this better than high school senior Sophia, who actually likes the whole Stonehenge aspect.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/chibi-views-dare-to-dream-by-carys-jones-and-red-queen-by-victoria-aveyard/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
But of course, the very last reviewer might be exaggerating a little. She may also be hitting the truth button at the exact same time she decided to press the "write a review in the third person" button.
In this ever so "blandly blunt dissection" of a mini-review, <i>Dare to Dream</i> is essentially divided into two parts: the first part is before the apocalypse, and the second part is the aftermath. It is really just a book that has a main character with a broken family, cries often (well, she is fourteen), and finding her place in the world all while receiving dreams of the end of the world in the same way nightly and finding out it's in connection to the demise of Stonehenge. Oh, and it is also a day by day play of events that feels more proper in a sleeptastic documentary.
Basically, it's just tales of family drama from a fourteen-year-old British schoolgirl. The whole apocalypse thing? It might as well be a subplot until you get to the second part, where the primary purpose is surviving it day by day. But the point is, middle school Sophia might like this better than high school senior Sophia, who actually likes the whole Stonehenge aspect.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/chibi-views-dare-to-dream-by-carys-jones-and-red-queen-by-victoria-aveyard/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
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Salamander Sun and Other Poems
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Scream 4 (2011) in Movies
Nov 12, 2020
11 years after Scream 3 "graced" cinema screens, Wes Craven returned to his meta horror series in an era where the genre had gone into full remake mode.
I'm not convinced that Scream 4 needs to exist, especially after the underwhelming way the third film closed out the original trilogy, but this entry is definitely a step up.
The Meta side of things is again a little over the top, but it's good to see Ghostface in a more modern setting. This Ghostface is brutal as well, and Scream 4 is arguably the goriest of the franchise, making it's iconic masked antagonist more intimidating than ever.
The returning cast are back again - Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette - and have somehow survived all of the Scream movies - as per usual, it feels like a homecoming with them in tow. It's not often in horror you have one person make it this far, let alone three. It gives the series a uniqueness that I can appreciate.
The new characters are all written like typical cannon fodder slasher victims but they all serve there purpose well. Hayden Panittiere is a welcome addition, and it's nice to see Anthony Anderson in a pre Black-ish role.
The plot is so so. It's all ground that has been relentlessly trodden by this point, but it still works. Sidney is back in town. People start getting stabbed. Everyone is a suspect. Rinse and repeat.
The killer reveal in this one isn't too shoddy either, and makes more sense that the reveals in Scream 2 and 3, and there's a lot of direct homage to the first movie in how it's all executed (coming round full circle to the remake commentary)
All in all, Scream 4 is a bucket load of fun, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights if the original. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming sequel will turn out following Craven's death, but I have the feeling it won't quite be the same. Long live Wes Craven!
I'm not convinced that Scream 4 needs to exist, especially after the underwhelming way the third film closed out the original trilogy, but this entry is definitely a step up.
The Meta side of things is again a little over the top, but it's good to see Ghostface in a more modern setting. This Ghostface is brutal as well, and Scream 4 is arguably the goriest of the franchise, making it's iconic masked antagonist more intimidating than ever.
The returning cast are back again - Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette - and have somehow survived all of the Scream movies - as per usual, it feels like a homecoming with them in tow. It's not often in horror you have one person make it this far, let alone three. It gives the series a uniqueness that I can appreciate.
The new characters are all written like typical cannon fodder slasher victims but they all serve there purpose well. Hayden Panittiere is a welcome addition, and it's nice to see Anthony Anderson in a pre Black-ish role.
The plot is so so. It's all ground that has been relentlessly trodden by this point, but it still works. Sidney is back in town. People start getting stabbed. Everyone is a suspect. Rinse and repeat.
The killer reveal in this one isn't too shoddy either, and makes more sense that the reveals in Scream 2 and 3, and there's a lot of direct homage to the first movie in how it's all executed (coming round full circle to the remake commentary)
All in all, Scream 4 is a bucket load of fun, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights if the original. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming sequel will turn out following Craven's death, but I have the feeling it won't quite be the same. Long live Wes Craven!
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated The Book Club in Books
Jul 1, 2021
A really good book that kept me guessing throughout.
The story follows Lucy who has moved to a cottage in the Cotswolds after an affair with her boss. She moved for a fresh start and has found her feet with a group of friends who all seem relatively close. That is until a newcomer, Alice, moves in next door to Lucy and turns her world upside down. Lucy always knows there’s something she doesn’t trust about Alice, but she can’t seem to quite put her finger on it. Alice finds out secrets about everyone in the friendship group and, after suggesting a book club for them all, manages to suggest or manipulate other people into suggesting books similar to each of the secrets they have hidden from each other.
Alice is out for revenge, and it took me until the last few chapters, just before it was revealed, to work out what exactly she wanted revenge for.
I found the book quite confusing at times, one chapter was from Lucy’s point of view and then the next was always focused on other character or multiple character’s but always in the third person. Because of this, sometimes I had to reread paragraphs because I was confused who it was about. But once I got used to this style, I really did enjoy the book.
Each of the character’s secrets were interesting, and it was easy to see that they didn’t trust their friends completely as they mostly dealt with the secrets they were keeping by themselves. It was also interesting to see just how easy the odd comment from an outsider caused a rift in the friendships and it made me wonder were they really that close in the first place?
This book really did live up the the hype for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns that were present throughout. I’m looking forward to reading C.J. Cooper’s next book!
Alice is out for revenge, and it took me until the last few chapters, just before it was revealed, to work out what exactly she wanted revenge for.
I found the book quite confusing at times, one chapter was from Lucy’s point of view and then the next was always focused on other character or multiple character’s but always in the third person. Because of this, sometimes I had to reread paragraphs because I was confused who it was about. But once I got used to this style, I really did enjoy the book.
Each of the character’s secrets were interesting, and it was easy to see that they didn’t trust their friends completely as they mostly dealt with the secrets they were keeping by themselves. It was also interesting to see just how easy the odd comment from an outsider caused a rift in the friendships and it made me wonder were they really that close in the first place?
This book really did live up the the hype for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns that were present throughout. I’m looking forward to reading C.J. Cooper’s next book!