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Kaz (232 KP) rated An Unwanted Guest in Books

Jun 16, 2019  
An Unwanted Guest
An Unwanted Guest
Shari Lapena | 2018 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
6
6.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Keeps you guessing throughout (0 more)
Too many characters, weak ending (0 more)
A fun 'Whodunnit'
This is the first book I had read by Shari Lapena and I was surprised to find out this was her third book, because it feels like a first novel.

I enjoyed the element of trying to work out who the killer was. However, I did have a problem with several elements within this book.

Firstly, the dialogue at the beginning, is awful. You could tell that Lapena was trying to introduce each character using dialogue, but what she succeeded in doing, was creating forced, unnatural conversation. This does improve throughout the book though.

Secondly for me, there were too many characters. At times, I got confused about who was who and had to keep referring to the beginning, to figure that out. I don't think that the characters were distinctive enough.

I also found some of the decisions of the characters to be implausible and, things which seemed obvious to do, took nearly 200 pages for the characters to figure out.

The ending for me was a bit weak. It felt like Shari Lapena wasn't exactly sure who the killer was herself. So as the book went on, the plot started to unravel. However, I did enjoy the little twist at the end.

Judging by all of the criticisms I have about this novel, you would think that I hated it. However, despite it's many flaws, I quite enjoyed it.

I might re-read 'An Unwanted Guest', but I have no intention of reading any more of Shari Lapena's books in the future.
  
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Nancy Whang recommended Silence Yourself by Savages in Music (curated)

 
Silence Yourself by Savages
Silence Yourself by Savages
2013 | Alternative
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I wanted to include something current and with Savages you can hear all these influences of Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Wire, etc; this distillation of all my favourite bands from my adolescence. I like being able to hear all of those influences, but although it sounds like their influences it doesn't sound at all derivative. It still sounds new and fresh and fierce. It's four ladies playing this really tough music. I bought the record and I thought it was pretty good, it sounded like it was made for me. And then I went to see them live and I was blown away. It was so tough. It's hard to pinpoint what made it so tough. It's these four women on stage, taking up every corner of the stage, all dressed in black and giving no eye contact to the crowd. They had such presence, you could feel their energy. It was really moving. My boyfriend turned to me during the show and said: ""I'm really enjoying this because it's really good but also because I know 15-year-old you is totally freaking out right now."" And I said: ""She is! She is! I think I might cry!"" In fact the last time I saw them I actually did cry. They did a cover of Suicide's 'Dream Baby Dream' and it was just all too much for me. So after seeing that first show I went back and re-listened to the record and it took on a whole new sound to me. I can now hear all of that energy coming out of the record."

Source
  
The Dark Room
The Dark Room
Sam Blake | 2021 | Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mystery (2 more)
Characters
Storyline
Everything started being solved in the last 50 pages (0 more)
Kept me guessing
A mystery that keeps you guessing. It starts off from two completely different women’s point of view until they are brought together in a hotel in the beautiful setting of a little village in Ireland.

There are ghosts and murders which keep both the characters and the reader wanting to delve deeper into the story and the mystery of what happened at Hare’s Landing 30 years ago.

When I finally found out the identity of who the body they found was, I was then kept guessing right until the last couple of chapters as to who was responsible. And it definitely was not someone that you would guess straight away, it came as a complete shock to me!

I was a little disappointed that everything seemed to happen very quickly about 50 pages from the end, as the author could have picked up the pace of the investigation a little earlier in the book. However, I did enjoy the book overall and would be interested in reading more of the authors work as it was extremely well written. I really fell in love with the characters and their stories that brought them to Hare’s Landing, and although Caroline’s problem at work did get solved, it felt a little disappointing given that so many other things were going on in the story at the same time.

Overall, it was a great book to read and one that was easy to follow and easy to dip in and read a couple of chapters when you have time!
  
A Wolf's Love: A Paranormal Romance Short Read (Flame #5.1)
A Wolf's Love: A Paranormal Romance Short Read (Flame #5.1)
Caris Roane | 2017 | Paranormal, Romance
8
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Wolf's Love: A Paranormal Romance Short Read (Flame #5.5) by Caris Roane
A Wolf's Love is a short story addition to the Flame series. Cole and Lauren were together, until Lauren did something that Cole couldn't accept, and he called it off. However, when a teenager is kidnapped, Cole is the one that Lauren turns to, even though he refuses to help (at first). What follows is the two of them putting another's needs before their own, and working together to save her.

As with all Caris Roane's books, this is very well-written. It may only be a short story, but a full story is here. Nothing has been skimped on, instead you can settle in for a very good read. Personally, I would recommend that you start at book one, just to get the full enjoyment of the world of the Flame, but it isn't fully necessary. You 'could' read them in any order and as a standalone, but I do feel that you would miss something out of this well-developed world. With no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow, I can highly recommend this short story.

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

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
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Rob Halford recommended Led Zeppelin 2 by Led Zeppelin in Music (curated)

 
Led Zeppelin 2 by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin 2 by Led Zeppelin
1969 | Rock
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"You can't fail today to be mesmerised by 'Whole Lotta Love'. That was the song that did it for me. A lot of these choices that I've made are either the first or second release from these bands. I always thought that those were great times, because there was never any pressure around artists. You don't have all of the extras that come with being successful. The band is in a very pure place at that point. I always remember playing with them, but it was quite a while after this album came out. We'd just completed a very, very long and gruelling American tour. We were about to fly back to the UK and we had a call from Robert Plant saying, ""I heard you guys are still over in the States, would you like to come and hang out and open for Zeppelin on the Green ['Day On the Green' concert] in Oakland?"" So we got a really cheap, unglamorous motel by the side of the freeway. It was so poor that the walls were basically green, covered with algae. We were there for a week and just waiting and waiting and waiting for the chance to open up for Zeppelin. That was a very important show for Priest, because that was what broke us on the west coast of America."

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Adam Pally recommended The Jerk (1979) in Movies (curated)

 
The Jerk (1979)
The Jerk (1979)
1979 | Comedy

"I just feel like that’s a movie that I saw when I was a kid, and you watch it over and over and over again, and you’re like, “Oh, Steve Martin’s doing bits, but they fit a story.” And it’s beautifully shot and directed by Carl Reiner, which some people don’t realize, and I just can’t think of a movie that informed my comedic personality more than The Jerk. It’s also a dumb character… it breaks all these stupid rules that Hollywood has for the sake of humor, and for the sake of jokes, and it’s a feel-good movie. Oh, man. I watch it over and over and over again. It’s got bits of Woody Allen’s kind of mysticalism, but it’s not. It’s jokey but the jokes don’t have punchlines. It’s like a Steve Martin album live, and they did a good job with making it a story. In a lot of ways you have no Borat without The Jerk, you have no anything, Lebowski; all those characters are Jerk-inspired. I play dumb quite a bit; I’ll say that right now. I don’t know if you call it a crutch, or what, but I tend to lean dumb… I don’t think I would have been able to get away with that had it not been for that movie."

Source
  
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Tommy Wiseau recommended Sonny (2002) in Movies (curated)

 
Sonny (2002)
Sonny (2002)
2002 | Crime, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"You’d be surprised but, again, I put in parentheses, I’m not here to praise James [Franco]. Okay? But the reason I support his role, because we didn’t have a choice at the time. We picked him because originally… I don’t know if you knew the story here that The Disaster Artist is based on the great storybook Disaster Artist, right? And he basically optioned the book, optioned to produce the movie. But people ask me who are supposed to… Who would I like? Who’s supposed to play me? I don’t know if you heard about it, but long story short, I say Johnny Depp. But we had a conversation with James, and with Greg [Sestero]. And Greg, long story short, he said, “What about James?” I said, “Yeah, he’s good, because I like his movie Sonny.” Sonny is the movie directed by Nicolas Cage. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it or not. It’s about gigolo in New Orleans, Louisiana, etc. So we had a conversation with James, and Greg says, “Sure, whatever. James playing you.” I said, “That’s good idea, because he did the movie Sonny, and which, I like it.” And for some reason, the critics think differently, or public, whatever. But this is relate to my life as well, The Room, basically. Because you have all the flavors. So that’s basically your little quirky backstory."

Source
  
Murder at a London Finishing School
Murder at a London Finishing School
Jessica Ellicott | 2023 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Returning to Their Alma Mater Means Murder
Brit Edwina Davenport and American Beryl Helliwell first met at Miss DuPont’s Finishing School for Young Ladies and forged their decades long friendship there. But now they’ve been hired by Miss DuPont to find out what is going on at the school that is driving down enrollment. The duo aren’t getting far with their investigation when they stumble on a dead body. Have the pranks escalated to murder?

If you look for the dead body to drop early, you might be disappointed with this book. I wasn’t. Between the early investigation and meeting the new characters, there was plenty to keep me engaged. Of course, things kick up a notch when murder enters the story. The ending, while logical, did feel a little rushed, but that was a minor complaint. We don’t see much of the series regulars, although a couple do make cameos. The new characters more than make up for it, and I appreciate how complex they were by the end. Beryl and Edwina grow as a result of visiting some place from their past. The story is set in the 1920’s, and things going on in society infuse the book. If you enjoy historical mysteries or mysteries set in England, you’ll be glad you picked this up.
  
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