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Pearl in the Sand
Pearl in the Sand
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever read a story so deep and touching that it is hard to put into words? Honestly, that is what I felt after reading Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar. The writing, the way she phrased things, the historical detail… it all made me feel like I had woken up from a dream after I finished it.

Rahab is a character that I think lots of women can associate with (although not for the obvious reason of Rahab’s profession). I think most women are plagued by guilt, trauma, or some type of sorrow and we are always looking for reassurance that we are walking the path that God wants us to be on. Tessa Afshar took this thought process and brought it to life in the story of Rahab. I thought Rahab was very well developed from beginning to end and I enjoyed getting to read this story from a perspective that I had not previously thought of before.

I was so intrigued by the storyline of this book as I had never read anything like it before. It certainly lived up to what I had hoped for. Tessa Afshar did a great job explaining Rahab’s time period and the historical time she lived in that I felt like I was there. Combine that with a unique plot and I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

I will say that I also appreciated how Tessa Afshar covered Rahab's profession without going into to much detail. It's something I am sure we can all imagine the horrors of without having to put words to the thoughts and/or feelings.

I highly recommend this story if you like historically accurate, well written, moving stories that cause you to feel and think. 5 out of 5 stars.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween II (1981)
1981 | Horror
6
7.4 (23 Ratings)
Movie Rating
There's a fair amount to love about Halloween II, a sequel set on the same night as the original, immediately following that films ending.
For instance, I can admire the style that director Rick Rosenthal was going for, attempting to make his sequel feel as much like the first film as possible, the idea being that you could watch both back to back.
There a few creepy shots here and there. One that really sticks is the shot of Michael in the darkness just before the poor nurse get killed with a syringe. Another is Michael on the CCTV when he first enters the hospital. Another is when Laurie see Michael across the parking lot underneath a red light. and then there's Michael with blood running out of the eye holes in his mask, followed by him walking out of that one room completely ablaze. It's all to do with Michael then! Once again, this movie showcases how his straightforward design is striking and rightly iconic.
It's nice to see Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie, and Donald Pleasance back as Loomis. All in all, it does truly feel like a sequel, but there's something missing.

The original is one of my favourite horrors ever made, and Halloween II, despite its positives, just fails to capture the same essence. This is partly to do with the script. It feels like a lot of the actors were just told to ad lib all their lines or something. The tension building scenes go on for a little too long also, ironically voiding a few scenes of said tension. It's feels like the first film in everything but execution pretty much.

It's a heavily flawed sequel, but it's still a decent watch, and is certainly one of the better sequels in this long running series. It deserves credit for the bit near the beginning where Loomis shouts "you don't know what death is!" before the synth heavy version of the theme tune kicks in, that was badass.
  
II
Immortal in Death (In Death, #3)
J.D. Robb | 1996
6
7.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

I read the first two books in this series quite a while ago now and the only thing I remember is Eve and Roarke's relationship progressing quite quickly.

This has taken me a long time to finish and I think that's due to its length. I'm not the biggest fan of long books and the fact the writing in the kindle app for PC is so tiny tells me it's a long one. I've been reading it in spurts between other books but as the investigation into Pandora's death got going I decided to just concentrate on this one and finally get it finished.

So Pandora is a successful model, loved the world over for her style and flair but also loathed for being vicious and cruel. When she's murdered and the prime suspect is Mavis, Eve's long time friend, Eve is determined to help solve the mystery and get her friend off the charge of murder and find the real killer.

I loved the twists and turns in this. I, like Eve, thought that they'd found the killers at about the 66% mark but then like how did they go about proving it? And then it turns out it wasn't those people?! I was like, WHAT?!

Of course, this one also contains Eve and Roarke's wedding and the stuff that leads up to it, including dress shopping, hen and stag nights and picking flowers. Admittedly, we don't get the wedding in this as such, just Eve getting dressed and walking out to make her promise to Roarke.

Although I didn't enjoy this as much as previous books, I think that was down to me not being in the mood for a mystery/crime/romantic suspense book as well as it's long length. Nevertheless I will be reading more books in the series at a later date.
  
Gypsy Blood (All The Pretty Monsters #1)
Gypsy Blood (All The Pretty Monsters #1)
Kristy Cunning | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
193 of 200
Kindle
Gypsy Blood ( All the pretty monsters book 1)
By Kristy Cunning

 
I'm not all that special, really. Or uncommon. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with old gypsy blood who see the dead, have killer cults hunting their family, and turn into something that gets scary when they panic. Yep. Completely unoriginal, if I do say so myself.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Nope. I'm just an ordinary girl.

I wish people would believe that.

I've been labeled as one thing or another for most of my life:
Death Girl.
Crazy Gypsy Girl.
Gothic Chick.
Monster...

It took my mother's death for me to finally start getting answers about what's really been going on. Unfortunately, most of the answers come from men...who aren't just men. Somehow, I've gone and landed myself in a world truly filled with monsters, and I'm starting to think this is where I should have been all along.

Only...I don't understand what's going on. I'm walking into the middle of a story that's thousands of years old, and I'm the new girl on the block who doesn't have a clue how this world even works. My only guides happen to be the most lethal of the bunch.

They decide who lives or dies. They decide who gets stabbed or tortured.
Yeah...

I've gone and drawn attention to myself, and the ones paying attention are the ones everyone else seems to fear.

How do these things always happen to me?


I didn’t know what to except but found myself totally involved! I love the idea of these alphas and I love her Gypsy powers and how she still has so much to learn! We get to learn with her because this is written so you want to keep going! Anna her ghost is so bloody funny I laughed quite a bit woke my husband several times from sleep! I do think Ace was a bit obvious and she was a bit stupid there but now things get a bit more interesting
  
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Brian Eno recommended Umut by Arif Sag in Music (curated)

 
Umut by Arif Sag
Umut by Arif Sag
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Actually you'll hear that a lot of my choices, I realise, are to do with singing and people whose singing styles just so engaged me. I was walking past a kebab shop in North London and I heard this song, and this singer just made my stomach go funny. So I went into the shop and said, ""What are you playing?"" and what he was playing was one of those CDs with about a thousand MP3s on them. I asked him what track it was and he didn't know. I thought, ""I must find this singer"", so I said, ""Can I buy the record from you?"" He didn't want to sell it, you see, because it was the only music they had in the shop. So I gave him £55 for it. He saw a sucker [laughs]. So I got this CD and I went through track after track after track, and I finally find the song, but of course there were no names or anything because it was just a burnt CD. So I went back into the shop with one of my ghetto blasters and said, ""Okay, this is the song, what is it?"" He didn't know so I asked him if he knew anyone that would know so he said, ""Well, I'll ring my dad."" So I'm holding it up to the phone and his dad is down the other end and he says, ""Oh well that's Belkis Akkale, obviously."" She's singing here on the last track of this album ('Ötüşün Kuşlar') by a songwriter called Arif Sag. There's three great singers on this track and Belkis Akkale comes first. It's very interesting hearing the difference between their three voices. It's like a glossary of contemporary Turkish singing. Her voice is the one that does it for me. The other two don't have the erotic wobble that she has."

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