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Consort (Nobel Reckoning #1)
Consort (Nobel Reckoning #1)
Rachel Grey | 2024 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
CONSORT is the first book of two in the Noble Reckoning Duology and, boy, what it a good start!

Durin is a young fae - not noble and thankful for that small mercy. When he sees a noble fae mercilessly bully and kill a young shifter, he is enraged and works hard to hone his magic into a weapon, determined to enact vengeance on the shifter's behalf. He fulfils his vow but is made to pay in ways he never imagined.

During this time, Rue is trying to hide the fact she has just presented as an Omega. In her pack, that means she will be Alpha Mate and passed around for all the alpha's to share. Funnily enough, that's not a future she wants. So she does the unthinkable. She runs away, and her mother goes with her. They find a place to hide and life seems good.

Fate throws Durin and Rue together and he helps her through her heat, resulting in a pregnancy with Vaegon. If the name sounds familiar then check out Rachel Grey's Unnatural series and you'll find out why. Of course, life isn't easy and neither of them is in an ideal place, so prepare yourself for the cliffhanger because it's a doozy!!!

It isn't all about Rue and Durin though. There's a whole mystery in here too, with the Queen and her wicked ways. The world-building is phenomenal to get everything in and not leave you wanting.

This was a fantastic story that had me hooked from the first page. I really felt for both Rue and Durin and can't wait to see what happens next. Simply wonderful and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me.

** 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; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 1, 2025
  
The High Season
The High Season
Judy Blundell | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Summer Drama never felt so good! I really enjoyed The High Season - it was just what I needed to get me into a summer mood, and it made me love to loathe the rich and famous Hamptons crowds even more! (kidding... sorta.) This book kept me wicked entertained and I breezed through it in two days. The writing is so good, hilarious at times, and the story is masterfully crafted and really clever!

Ruthie is sort of losing it all. Her marriage is over, her 15 year old daughter is struggling and distant, her job is on the rocks, friendships are tested ... and it's shaping up to be one crazy summer. The Hamptons-ish house Ruthie lives in with her daughter Jem, is rented out during the summer to the rich, in order for her to pay for it the rest of the year (aka The Summer Bummer). Adeline Clay, a wealthy artist widow rents her house and in turn, unknowingly shakes up the entire summer, for just about the whole town of Orient.

The dynamic of these characters and how their lives intertwine is artfully crafted through exclusive parties, a small local museum group, a summer farm stand job, secret rendezvous, texts/emails, and typical small town gossip. There is art forgery, a $250,000 watch, past lives and secrecy and the unnerving balance of power and social statuses. It's all so cleverly written and flows together seamlessly. I was thoroughly impressed how Judy Blundell twisted it all together so skillfully.

As an artist I love the snippets of the artist scene and it's inner workings and social circles. I loved the references to various famous artists and painting descriptions. I hated the museum board members and the way some people tossed money around and waved it in the locals and year-rounders faces. The characters were well developed and you feel for each and every one of them, especially Ruthie, who loses so much, and starts to lose herself while making some seriously questionable decisions.

My decision to read this was NOT questionable though! I really enjoyed it and would give 4.5 stars!
  
Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely, #5)
Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely, #5)
Melissa Marr | 2011 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
The final book in the Wicked Lovely series, this book does a thorough job of wrapping up all of the sub-plots that were left hanging throughout the books. As with any decent book series, there were lots of what-ifs that I never got to see play out, but Marr's focus seemed to be on resolving the obstacles that blocked a number of romantic relationships within the series, such as Donia and Keenan's. Many of the main players made an appearance in the book, with quite a number of them exchanging point-of-view for the benefit of the reader. A few new characters were even introduced, such as the king of the water fey that Keenan sought out.
With the build-up to Aislinn deciding between Keenan and Seth in the previous books, her final decision seemed sort of anti-climactic, though I still liked her decision. I also really liked what followed, though I get the feeling that this series was more about female power, than a balance of power between male and female.
Reading about Niall's disconnection and madness was quite fascinating, though I believed for most of the book that it was for reasons other than what was revealed. I was quite thrilled when Leslie showed up, though her part seemed rather short and abrupt. Seth's part in the book also seemed stilted. For all his talk and potential, he is not allowed to do much due to poor circumstances, and I was really quite disappointed, as he has always been my favorite character in the series.
The final battle in the faery war was gruesome, but short and filled with more talk than necessary. The two faeries whose specialty was death seemed to have much potential for creating obstacles, but in the end they just seemed to have rather simple lives - even to the point of ignorance.
I actually would love for this series to continue, if only to focus more on the politics and power games, since this book seemed to be all about everyone's romantic happily ever after.
  
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Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated The Gentlemen (2020) in Movies

Jan 6, 2020 (Updated Jan 6, 2020)  
The Gentlemen (2020)
The Gentlemen (2020)
2020 | Action, Crime
A funny angle
Gentleman is Guy Richie's attempt to bring the british gangster movies from the past back into the modern time and while it may just be an updated version of Snatch its a bloody enjoyable update. It seems like years ago now since I grew out of the 'British Gangster' film phase of my life and while I actaully find Snatch to be over rated myself instead much preferring Guy Richie's other work I can still understand why it has such a big following. Gentleman follows the same formula either deliberately or coincidentally and while this does feel repetative/outdated I couldnt help but be pulled in and deliciously entertained by it. Playing out a bit like reading a comic book Gentleman is satisfyingly violent, full of cusing/crudness and full of mostly satisfying twists and turns. At first I hated it but after the first 20 minutes I just let go and finally started getting back in to this sort of style. Full to the brim with exposition dialog but its handled in a refreshing new way which made hearing it less eye rolling and instead kept it constantly entertaining. Essentially one big power struggle between an assortment of characters non of which are actually very nice people but the ones Hugh Grant and Charlie hunnam play are extremely likeable. Watching these two interact on screen is the absolute bread and butter and they both play interesting characters both with very unique individual traits and characteristics. Colin Farrell is also superb and memorable too and the film has a wicked sense of humor that kept me laughing the whole way through. If you are easily offended its safe to say this is not the film for you as its not only full of extreame cursing but constant racism and violence too. By no means a perfect film or a gangster masterpiece Gentleman is still and absolute blast to watch and has enough twists/turns, quirky characters, witty dialog, fresh ideas, tension, violence/mucking about to entertain and offend pretty much anyone. Highly enjoyable.
  
Justice League International, Vol. 5
Justice League International, Vol. 5
Keith Giffen | 1989 | Comics & Graphic Novels
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've been enjoying this trip down Memory Lane. The 80s were a fun time, especially the comics! I remember I couldn't get enough "Bwa-hahahaha", i.e. anything JLI, JLA, or JLE-related, in my life! When they brought then-newcomer Adam Hughes on as artist, JLA got turned out up to 11! Unfortunately, this was not that volume; that's the next volume)!

When I think back to this point in the 80s, the fun times, laugh riot that was the JLA brings a great amount of joy to my collective consciousness. I can't even remember anything I didn't like about any of the stories in the run. Then, I started reading Vol. 5..

So, yeah, the characters were still great fun! I miss the fun Wally West/Flash! :( Giffen and DeMatteis continued to churn out some of the funniest JLA stories! The JLEurope ones weren't AS funny as the JLAmerica/JLI stories were, but still fun nonetheless.

Now, the art? OOF! That's a whole other thing! I don't recall disliking it when I first read the issues in the 80s. I can recall meeting Bart Sears at a comic shop signing around the time of the series debut, and I thought he was friendly and likeable.

However, after this re-visit, I am disappointed to say that I found Sears' art to be not as enjoyable. The characters, both male and female, looked distorted and, in some cases, wicked muscular. And the facial expressions? Um, NO! Yeah, the art was enough of a disappointment that I almost gave it 2 Stars.

The saving grace of this TPB was the last story, from JLI Annual #3, "Around the World with the Justice League". Not only was it the first appearance of the island of Kooeykooeykooey, but it also featured some knockout pencils from Mike McKone and even more stellar inks from Bruce D. Patterson! if memory serves, the team of McKone-Patterson continued to do the annuals for the remainder of the JLI/JLA run.

It's not a perfect TPB, but again, the writing was on target, and the art in the last part of the book was pretty solid. Overall, you can read it, but it won't wow ya! Jus' sayin'...
  
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Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb Council

Dec 3, 2020  
Hey Influencers (be prepared for a long post!)

Since we got so much positive feedback on the End of Year Polls idea - we’ve decided to do it again!

But obviously, we want to check with you, our influencers, before we make anything final. So below are the Nominations we have for each category - and we want your opinions!

The way each nomination is chosen for each category, to begin with, is easy - we simply have the most positively rated items that came out in the year 2020 (excluding Apps, Shows & YouTube Channels)! But, if you think something should be swapped or changed let us know!

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App:
 - Hearthstone (8.8)
 - Netflix (8.7)
 - Amazon (8.9)
 - Amazon Kindle (9.1)
 - Spotify (8.6)


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Book:
 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library (8.6)
 - Sharon J. Bolton - The Split (9.0)
 - Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa (9.5)
 - Danny Tobey - The God Game (9.0)
 - Maggie O’Farrell - Hamnet (9.3)

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Movie:
 - 1917 (8.8)
 - The Invisible Man (7.8)
 - Onward (8.3)
 - The Gentlemen (8.3)
 - Bad Boys For Life (7.7)

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Music:
 - Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By (10)
 - Blossoms - Foolish Loving Spaces (7.5)
 - Idles - Ultra Mono (9.0)
 - Tame Impala - Slow Rush (8.0)
 - Starflyer 59 - Miami EP (9.0)

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Podcast:
 - Sword and Scale (7.1)
 - Loot Tine Postcast (7.9)
 - No Such Thing as Fish (8.9)
 - And That’s Why We Drink (8.8)
 - True Crime Garage (8.6)

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Show:
 - Wicked (8.7)
 - We Will Rock You (8.0)
 - The Lion King (9.5)
 - The Exorcist (8.7)
 - Les Miserables (8.0)

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Tabletop:
 - Calico (9.0)
 - Faza (9.0)
 - Chronicles of Crime: 1400 (9.0)
 - Macaron (9.0)
 - Tales of Evil (9.0)

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Tech:
 - iPad Pro (7.4)
 - MacBook (7.2)
 - Dell XPS 13 (7.2)
 - Nest Learning Thermostat (8.4)
 - Amazon Echo Plus (8.4)

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TV:
 - Locke and Key (7.8)
 - Tiger King (7.7)
 - Umbrella Academy - Season 2 (9.0)
 - The Haunting of Bly Manor (8.1)
 - Lovecraft Country (8.7)

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Videogames:
 - Final Fantasy VII Remake (8.7)
 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (8.5)
 - The Last of Us Part II (7.4)
 - Ghost of Tsushima (8.8)
 - Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (8.0)

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YouTube Channels:
 - Ted-Ed (8.3)
 - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (7.6)
 - Walt Disney Studios (8.7)
 - BBC News (8.2)
 - 20th Century Fox (9.3)

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There will be one poll for each category, narrowing each of the 5 nominations down to one winner over the course of 2 weeks!

Would love to hear what everyone thinks below!
  
Show all 15 comments.
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Smashbomb (4687 KP) Dec 7, 2020

@Melika Jeddi - Yes you're completely right - that's why the list above is of the items with both the MOST + HIGHEST ratings! :)

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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) Dec 7, 2020

The Queen's Gambit 100% should be in TV. And yeah, Tenet in Movies maybe.