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Whew, what a way to begin a series! Jordan pulled me in from the beginning and made me so curious about her as a person and how Allen Steadham would mold her as a character. She was/is a complex person with really well described internal struggles that I think everyone goes through at one point or another in their lives; I mean what is your purpose in life? It seems to be one of Jordan’s biggest questions and I truly admire the way Jordan goes about finding the answers to that question. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters and the layers of laughter, sarcasm, sass, and humor that they brought with them. They are so loyal that I cannot imagine the story without them! All the characters show a great amount of strength and courage when faced with the unknown.

The plot was also really good and hooked me from the first page (Just read it and you will see why) Allen Steadham definitely knows how to pull you in and commit you to the story. The twists and turns that this story takes will have you dreaming of conclusions and wishing you had already bought the second book so you could see what happens next. I know I did. I totally enjoyed this story and definitely recommend it if you are willing to take a leap into a world not quite our own. 5 out of 5 stars for the great character build up, faith interwoven themes, and for leaving me wanting more…. Now I am off to read book two, Jordan’s Arrow.
  
A Celebration of Winter (Mariana Books Rhyming #4)
A Celebration of Winter (Mariana Books Rhyming #4)
Roger Carlson | 2020 | Children
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Celebration of Winter is a book about Winter and its fun activities and holidays we celebrate during the season. This book goes along with the others in the series. Children will learn all about the Winter and learn to rhyme. They can learn to read with this book as well. It is pretty easy to read and enjoyable.

What fun activities can your child or children do during the Winter? What can they do for fun in the cold or snow? You will enjoy the family get-together. Children can enjoy decorating for a unique visitor during this holiday season. They will also probably enjoy getting the house decorated for Christmas.

This book also talks about Winter. The way it is the last season of the holiday before it starts all over again. Children will learn that each season is three months long. December starts the winter season and ends in February. Children will discover that there are four seasons in a year. The images created did well.

They capture the season and the meaning of this book. What are some of your child or children's favorite winter activities or traditions during the winter months? What things will you and your child or children do during the winter season?
  
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Sensitivemuse (246 KP) rated Caraval in Books

Oct 1, 2017  
Caraval
Caraval
Stephanie Garber | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.1 (97 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great magical world with dark undertones
What I loved the most about the book was the setting of Caraval. It’s so beautifully descriptive it feels like a magical place. You’re taken back to the feeling when you were a wee little one and you’re in Disneyland for the first time in your life. It’s that magical feel good feeling that comes back to you when you’re reading the book. At the same time you know things aren’t what they seem and there’s some dark undertones to Caraval. It’s hard not to get swept away (as they have warned you) because everything seems so real and fun.

I loved the plot throughout the book. Like Scarlett, you had doubts as to whether things were real or not. By the time you finished the novel you were still doubting what was real and what wasn’t. Scarlett was at times frustrating and irritating. She hesitated at the wrong times and didn’t listen to anyone when she really needed to. Argh. You wanted to jump in and drag her to point her to the right direction. I didn’t really see her well with Julian because I really saw Julian as more of a means to an end because he guided her throughout the game. However I have to admit, I liked it when he called her ‘Crimson’ it suited his personality at the time (I hope he doesn’t stop calling her that, it adds more to their characters.)

The last few pages of the novel though. Wow. You’re blown away and you’ll have your heart wrenched and torn out of your chest and then it’s put back in. Yet it doesn’t feel the same anymore and you’re left with more questions and wanting more. OH MY GOD I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SECOND BOOK! I NEED ANSWERS!

Greatly recommended. Immerse yourself into the world and enjoy. You’ll probably get carried away like I did. Get ready for some good twists that are gut wrenching. You’re not left the same after reading it.
  
Сталкер [Stalker] (1979)
Сталкер [Stalker] (1979)
1979 | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Stalker. I went through a big phase, a Tarkovsky phase, when I was in my mid-20s, and that film always stuck with me. For me, I think visually there’s something about that film that manages to get inside your head and touch you on your emotional synapses or something; it somehow just gets in there. And visually: for instance just the shot of this dog, this black dog that’s always wandering around by itself, that… I mean Tarvovsky was a master of symbolism and just knowing, for example, that a candle in a certain place would trigger in most audiences’ minds something to do with memory. And working on an amazing sensory level, with the composition of shots; these big, long shots that just go on forever. And it doesn’t always matter what people are saying — because the film’s full of dialogue, full of poetry and stuff, but that’s what I love about that film, and also The Mirror. It just washes over you, and you can watch it again and again and take more and more in each time. Mirror is also one of my favorites but it’s a baffling, baffling film. It’s the same as in painting, you know: people have to go back and study the old masters to see how they did shit. They’re called masters because they’re still the best that ever were. It’s the same with Kurosawa and Ozu and Tarkovsky: if you look at their films and what they were doing, you kind of feel safe watching those films. With Tarkovsky’s stuff I have to keep going back to it to remind myself that there’s an alternative to the 90-minute American film, you know where it’s all fucking three acts and information, boom-boom-boom, and just to go, “Hey, you know what — there’s a way of communicating that’s different and there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t be scared to appreciate that stuff.”"

Source
  
The Happytime Murders (2017)
The Happytime Murders (2017)
2017 | Comedy
Funny for a Puppet Movie
I did not go in to this movie with the highest of hopes but I came out with a big smile on my face. There were a lot of people that told me not to go to this movie, but I never listen to anyone and this is a good reason why. I try not to judge a movie by the trailer for the the big reason they never tell the whole story and you have to trust the person making the trailer. So I went anyway.

I am really glad I did because it was really funny from start to finish. I thought they would put in to much toilet humor and they didn't. What they did put in was well placed and fit the story line great. It was also kind of great seeing a different side to brutal murders. Without blood and guts they were able to be more creative with the killing and give you something very different.

I do have to give props to the puppeteers. At the end of the movie they showed some clips of behind the scenes and some of the things they had to do to get the shots looked difficult. Also how they shot the interactions with human puppet were done fantastic, It really did not look like CGI was used at all even though there was a lot.

Brian Henson did a great job writing the script. The use of humans vs puppets was done very well. It almost reminded me of a Who Framed Roger Rabbit type of movie. I almost thought at the end the killer was going to be a puppet in a human body. Wouldn't that have been a twist.

Buddy cop movies have always been a favorite of mine from Lethal Weapon to Bad Boys. This movie was right up there. I would say the best but it had its moments. I did think Melissa McCarthy wasn't going to be the choice, but she worked out. He type of humor did have place in this movie, although in some places it was over the top. All the puppet cast was really good. You mostly had human puppets but there were some animals thrown in the mix. I do with there were more monster puppets like Oscar the Grouch or Elmo. That would have been great.

Overall I think it is worth a watch if you like puppets and murder mysteries and don't mind the occasional sex joke. Until next time, enjoy the show.
  
Mastering the Art of French Murder
Mastering the Art of French Murder
Colleen Cambridge | 2023 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Chef’s Knife of Crime
Tabitha Knight has decided to live with her grandfather in 1949 Paris as she tries to decide what to do with her life after the end of the war. One of her new neighbors is Julia Child, and the two quickly become friends. After a party at Julia’s apartment one night, one of the guests is killed with Julia’s chef’s knife. Naturally, the police think she did it, but Tabitha knows it had to be someone else at the party. Can she prove it?

While I know little about Julia Child, I did feel what we saw here rang true to her personality. But she is just one of many enchanting characters we meet here, and I can’t wait to see them again. The suspects were strong, and the mystery kept me guessing. I thought I’d picked up on a clue early on, but it turned out to be a red herring that got me. I did feel one aspect of the plot was left up in the air, but the rest was explained to my satisfaction. While there are no recipes in this book, there is tons of talk about food. You’ll definitely be hungry when you read. I’m glad I finally read a book by this author, and I’ll be looking for more.
  
Things a Bright Girl Can Do
Things a Bright Girl Can Do
Sally Nicholls | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
9
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
THINGS A BRIGHT GIRL CAN DO by SALLY NICHOLLS
In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founded a new organisation called 'The Woman's Social and Political Union’ because she like many other women believed that they should be equal to men and be allowed a vote!

Although women over thirty did get the vote in 1918 - after the bill was passed. It wasn't until 1928 that all women got the vote. But unfortunately, Emmeline Pankhurst died before she got to see this happen.

When WWI broke out men had to go and fight, leaving their jobs to the woman. This was the start of women getting more opportunities. Even though they weren't being paid the same, they were still happy to be doing something to help. (Though that's a different story)

But this whole having a job, and helping with the war was only for the meantime, because after the war men wanted their jobs back!

Things a Bright Girl Can Do is about three girls who live in this time. Three girls who want to do more with their lives. Three girls who want freedom and the chance to be different.

Evelyn, May, and Nell.

Evelyn is seventeen and has dreamt of going to a university like her brother, but is unable to do so because, for the simple fact, she's a girl!

But mind you, she is probably smarter than her brother. Or any boy for that matter. So what does she do? She joins the suffragettes! And by doing this she see’s exactly what it's like to be a suffragette and what they do first hand. Though it's not as nice as it seems. She takes part in a hunger strike while she's in prison; like many suffragettes before her. She gets ill afterward and though she did what she believed was right, she soon realized that it wasn't such a great idea.

But in some ways, it made her a better person in the future because she knew exactly what it was like and why they were fighting for their rights.

May is fifteen and has been a part of the suffragettes along with her mother for a while now. She campaigns and she fights for the rights of women in a peaceful way. By handing out flyers, by going to meetings and talks. Again like Evelyn, she knows what it's like to have money and to be in a better situation than some women who don't even have that.

Nell, who’s grown up not knowing money, she's always tried to work and help her mother with whatever she can. She later meets May and the two of them fall in love and dream of a better world. She joins the cause of ‘Women's Rights’ and fights for them. Because why should men get everything?

All three girls are very different and all want something out of their vote. They all become a part of the suffragettes in their own different ways.

Sally Nicholls gives you a great insight into the past, bringing it to life again. Questioning what life was like back then, for woman and the government. She does all this by turning three stories into a reality that we all now take for granted. Even now women don't use their votes.

My opinion is that no matter whether you like politics or even believe in them, you should always use your vote. That's what I think anyway. For the simple fact, women died for your right to vote. It's your life as well you should use your vote to make the world better. To have a say.

From the suffragettes to WWI and it's 'we can do it’ attitude, this book is amazing inside and out. From the facts and the stories within its pages to the history lesson of fighting for your rights - to what women did to help in the war, you need to try this book.

So would you be one of the suffragettes, or did you have one in your family? It would be interesting to know.

Just remember, we can all do it.

Love, Christina ?
  
Taming of a Wolf (Viking Wolves #2)
Taming of a Wolf (Viking Wolves #2)
CJ Ravenna | 2025 | Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Bites differently to book 1 but no less powerfully!
Independent reviewer for GRR, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in the Viking Wolves series, and I do recommend you read book 1, Heart of a Wolf before this one. It will give you a better picture of what Anders does to warrant his exiling. You do get a recap here, but I think you need it from Kieran's point of view to get the full effect.And, cos I bloody said so!

I loved book 1, I really did. And I loved this one too. It doesn't bite the same way as book 1, but it's bite is different and just as powerful!

While book 1 is a slow burn, this is full on INSTA for Anders and Jamie and I loved the marked differences in the two tales. I'm gonna be doing a lot of comparisons but I will try to keep them to a minimum!

What I particularly loved, and this probably makes me a bit weird, was the pain these two carried. Anders, for what he did, what he thought he was doing for the better of the pack, but deep down?? He was hurting just as much as Wulfric was at the death of his parents. But he wasn't any better able to stop that than Wulfric was. And Jamie, at the death of HIS parents, that he believes was his fault. I cried when they both told the other their deepest pain.

I loved that Anders was able to get some sort of closure with his brothers. I expect there is more pain to come from the other brothers though, about their parents death.

Loved the introduction of Gunnar's mate, and the revelation that Lyall's is still alive. I hope I get a chance to read their books!

Loving this series, and I highly recommend them!

5 full and shiny stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere