Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (911)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Merissa (13242 KP) rated Immortal Beginnings (Etherya's Earth #4.5) in Books

Sep 5, 2022  
Immortal Beginnings (Etherya's Earth #4.5)
Immortal Beginnings (Etherya's Earth #4.5)
Rebecca Hefner | 2022 | Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well-written, well-paced, loving, kind, tender, and HOT!
IMMORTAL BEGINNINGS takes place after Evie has beaten Crimeous. Dragos was a Deamon in the war, fighting as a soldier in a war he didn't agree with but had no choice in. Raina is the widow of a Vampyre who died in that war. She moved home due to the memories and found herself living next to Dragos.

This is so sweet! Seriously! Dragos is... oh, I just want to give him a hug! And then maybe climb him like a tree. If there's something I love it's a man who is manly and also tender and loving. Dragos is all of the above. Raina has her concerns, which are all completely understandable, but Dragos is there to help her work through them.

I don't like novellas. I'm greedy and always want more. This is no exception. So why the five stars? Because it's too good not to. I may want more - more backstory, more current events, more hope for the future (although the epilogue is pretty damn good) - more everything but that is no reason to not give five stars where they are due. Everything that is here is well-written, well-paced, loving, kind, tender, HOT!

This was a fantastic addition to the series and I have no hesitation in recommending it - even if it is 'only' a novella! 😉

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
40x40

Rachel King (13 KP) rated Tempted (House of Night, #6) in Books

Feb 11, 2019  
Tempted (House of Night, #6)
Tempted (House of Night, #6)
P.C. Cast | 2008 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
4
7.7 (17 Ratings)
Book Rating
In terms of plot, I would say this is the worst book of the series. Loose ends are left dangling all over the place, more questions are formed than answered, and (spoiler!) the main character, Zoey escapes into the afterlife "Otherworld." The last page is like a huge "To Be Continued..." and I just hate so-called endings like that. Most of the book is spent making plans regarding Kalona and Neferet, the red fledglings, and the House of Night school, but very little is actually accomplished. I appreciate that the series seems to move in real-time, but at the same time, things need to move a bit faster for anything to actually happen. The most exciting thing was Stevie Rae's near-death experience, which isn't saying much. I was greatly antipating the group's trip to Venice, but their meeting with the High Council was strangely short and anti-climactic. I think that at least one vampyre on the council should have disagreed with Neferet's lies, since Kalona's hypnotic powers are supposed to rely on choice.
The things I did like about the book are what I've like about the entire series. I love how the characters all strive for normalcy, even when everything around them is completely paranormal. I love the dialogue and how it is very typically teenager-ish. I also love how Zoey makes tons of mistakes, even though she has the favor of the Goddess. The one "loose end" that did seem to get taken care of in a way was the Imprint between Aphrodite and Stevie Rae being broken, though it just formed another loose end with Stevie Rae hiding the Raven Mocker Rephaim from everyone else.
I will likely stay loyal to the series in the hopes that the plot improves with the next book, Burned.
  
40x40

Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Unmarriageable: A Novel in Books

May 7, 2019  
Unmarriageable: A Novel
Unmarriageable: A Novel
Soniah Kamal | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Romance
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
One of these days I really need to read Austen. I enjoy so many retellings - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Bridget Jones' Diary, and I know I have a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre around here somewhere! (And now that I pulled up The Lizzie Bennet Diaries to link it here, I'm sorely tempted to sit down and watch the whole thing again but I have books to read!)

Anyway. Austen. I've read a bunch of retellings but believe it or not, I haven't read the original. I really need to get on that, but instead, I read Unmarriageable, which is Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan! It's SO GOOD. The themes of family honor, class structure, and rumors damaging reputations translates incredibly easily into Pakistani society, which is why Soniah Kamal wrote it. In her Afterword, she writes:

"Was there any worry more Pakistani than the concern about what might bring a family honor or dishonor? .... Was there anything more Pakistani than [Charlotte's] calculated, 'arranged' marriage? ... Was there anything more apropos to Pakistan than class issues, snootiness, and double standards?"

She goes on to say she was already reading the book as if it was set in Pakistan, so why not write it that way for other Pakistanis? Kamal explains that Pakistan is very much a mix of Pakistan and English culture, and that the emphasis on learning English and English culture comes at the expense of their own indigenous culture, something forced upon them by colonizers. Unmarriageable is her way of melding the two cultures.

I really enjoyed this version of the classic, and it has me even more interested in other versions, such as Ibi Zoboi's Pride and Sonali Dev's Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors. Book Riot actually ran a short list recently on diverse Austen retellings, and I've added every one of them to my To-Read list!

You can find all my reviews (and links to the things mentioned above) on my blog, http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
40x40

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) in Movies

Oct 28, 2020 (Updated Oct 28, 2020)  
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
1979 | Horror
6
7.7 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Klaus Kinski (0 more)
Slow (0 more)
The Vampire Among Them
Nosferatu The Vampyre- is a very slow movie. Very slow, for 90% of the time nothing happens and when some does happens its only for three minutes max. I always wanted to watch the oringal, never got a chance to, hopefully soon i will. As for this remake its so-so.

The plot: Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoul living off men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die.

There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.

Herzog's production of Nosferatu was very well received by critics and enjoyed a comfortable degree of commercial success.

The film also marks the second of five collaborations between director Herzog and actor Kinski.

While the basic story is derived from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, director Herzog made the 1979 film primarily as an homage remake of F. W. Murnau's silent film Nosferatu (1922), which differs somewhat from Stoker's original work. The makers of the earlier film could not obtain the rights for a film adaptation of Dracula, so they changed a number of minor details and character names in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid copyright infringement on the intellectual property owned (at the time) by Stoker's widow Florence. A lawsuit was filed, resulting in an order for the destruction of all prints of the film. Some prints survived, and were restored after Florence Stoker had died and the copyright had expired.

By the 1960s and early 1970s the original silent returned to circulation, and was enjoyed by a new generation of moviegoers.

In 1979, by the very day the copyright for Dracula had entered the public domain, Herzog proceeded with his updated version of the classic German film, which could now include the original character names.

Herzog saw his film as a parable about the fragility of order in a staid, bourgeois town. "It is more than a horror film", he says. "Nosferatu is not a monster, but an ambivalent, masterful force of change. When the plague threatens, people throw their property into the streets, they discard their bourgeois trappings. A re‐evaluation
of life and its meaning takes place."

Like i said its a decent movie.