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Sweet Candy Maker Games
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Now make 18 sweet & yummy, crazy candy. Be an awesome food chef - make every candy with fun...
Thumb Drift - Furious One Touch Car Racing
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Play the #1 drifting game on the App Store with over 100 unique cars for fast, furious and fun...
Archaeologist: Jurassic Life
Education and Games
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“All my assistants started by playing this awesome game” Indiana J. “This tapping game is...
Fun Run 3: Arena Running Race
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Join our community of more than 100 million Fun Run players from all around the world in one of the...
Tiny Epic Zombies
7.3
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In Tiny Epic Zombies, survivors are always on the run, collecting weapons, killing Zombies and...
Debbiereadsbook (1303 KP) rated Austin (Learning to Love #4) by Con Riley in Books
Jun 2, 2022
emotional, but beautifully written!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is book 4 in the Learning To Love series but can be read as a stand-alone. I do, however, recommend all three books before this: Charles, Sol and Luke, but especially Luke. Austin pops up a lot in that book and I think you need to see that side of him, before you get to this side, you know?
And two very different sides to Austin they are, too! But once you get into his mind, and you see why he is like that, you can understand. Because Austin is in a lot of pain about something, and that something takes time to come out, the whole story isn't made clear til right near, so you are left putting a picture together of the clues, and the one I made was so very wrong.
But Dom, too, is in some pain, just a very different sort. And Austin helps him in ways he never knew he needed. Not just with Maisie, his daughter, but with his heart too.
I loved Dom, and Austin, both together and apart. Austin does some serious soul searching here and he makes amends with some people (not saying who though!) He has his "light bulb" moment right near the end, though, and really does his best to return home, or rather, home comes to him.
It's heavy on the emotions, this one, but light on the smexy times, and I loved that.
Again, only Austin has a say. I would have, ordinarily, said I needed to hear from Dom, but Dom has a lot to say, without words, and I heard him just fine. That's not to say I didn't WANT to hear from Dom, because I'm greedy, just that I felt I didn't NEED to hear from him, you know?
We caught up with Charles and Luke and Sol, and also with Sol's nephew Cameron. I think Cameron's part here was very much needed for both him and Austin, given their history. And the gift giving thing was awesome!
But, as much as I loved Austin and Dom, I have to say I think little Maisie stole the show here! She loved Austin Russell right from the start, it took her daddy time to catch her up!
Emotional, but wonderfully written and told.
5 stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
This is book 4 in the Learning To Love series but can be read as a stand-alone. I do, however, recommend all three books before this: Charles, Sol and Luke, but especially Luke. Austin pops up a lot in that book and I think you need to see that side of him, before you get to this side, you know?
And two very different sides to Austin they are, too! But once you get into his mind, and you see why he is like that, you can understand. Because Austin is in a lot of pain about something, and that something takes time to come out, the whole story isn't made clear til right near, so you are left putting a picture together of the clues, and the one I made was so very wrong.
But Dom, too, is in some pain, just a very different sort. And Austin helps him in ways he never knew he needed. Not just with Maisie, his daughter, but with his heart too.
I loved Dom, and Austin, both together and apart. Austin does some serious soul searching here and he makes amends with some people (not saying who though!) He has his "light bulb" moment right near the end, though, and really does his best to return home, or rather, home comes to him.
It's heavy on the emotions, this one, but light on the smexy times, and I loved that.
Again, only Austin has a say. I would have, ordinarily, said I needed to hear from Dom, but Dom has a lot to say, without words, and I heard him just fine. That's not to say I didn't WANT to hear from Dom, because I'm greedy, just that I felt I didn't NEED to hear from him, you know?
We caught up with Charles and Luke and Sol, and also with Sol's nephew Cameron. I think Cameron's part here was very much needed for both him and Austin, given their history. And the gift giving thing was awesome!
But, as much as I loved Austin and Dom, I have to say I think little Maisie stole the show here! She loved Austin Russell right from the start, it took her daddy time to catch her up!
Emotional, but wonderfully written and told.
5 stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Bravetown (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Today’s movie selection is certainly a ‘heavy’ …. and by heavy I mean 1 half serious and 1 half inspirational. It’s one of those stories where the protagonist has been fighting an uphill battle most of their lives and in the end, being the catalyst for change in the lives of others ends up being that factor which changes their own life for the better.
‘Bravetown’ stars Lucas Till as Josh Harvest. A rising star and one of the best club DJ’s in the New York music scene. Night after night his music draws friends, crowds, promoters, and record producers looking to sign him. By day he sleeps and watches ‘Platoon’ when he’s not skipping school. Just as suddenly as the music starts spinning it all comes crashing down though when Josh overdoses one night and is raced to the hospital. After a confrontation with his mother (Maria Bello) and faced with the alternative choice of arrest and imprisonment,
Josh agrees to be sentenced to court ordered rehab and is sent from the mad streets of New York City to a small town in North Dakota to live with his father.
After the culture shock of going from the ‘city that never sleeps’ to a small town only known for their kids joining the military upon graduation right out of high school and going off to war (many of whom never return) subsides, Josh succumbs to his situation and settles in to his court appointed rehab with Alex (Josh Duhamel) a veteran who’se obsessed with soccer and has a dark past of his own. Sooner or later, everyone’s past catches up to them though .One night after his arrival, Josh’s reputation from New York catches up to him while attending a school dance. Dissatisfied with the music being played, Josh spins one set while the school’s dance team is performing on stage and then abruptly leaves. Unbeknownst to him, a member of the dance team recognized his music, recorded his set which they then used to win a competition.
After reluctantly agreeing to help them, the school’s last place dance team proceeds to win competition after competition and Josh and the dance team’s captain Mary (Kherington Payne). It soon becomes all to clear to Josh though that Mary’s grief is connected to his therapist’s past and that only by confronting it will Mary and Alex be able to come to terms and heal.
There a very few movies that did what this movie his done which is to touch on a subject that very few want to talk about or even acknowledge today in America. The knowledge that most of the people in this country who are sent off to war are young people from small towns or people from low income communities who either have no money to attend college after high school or have no other options for the future except to n the military. Now please don’t misunderstand me. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who serve and defend our nation and I come from a military family. However, for young people though in the present day …. many really have no other future to look forward too because of the high cost of university or college education. As part of the backstory, this film shines a light on that subject and does so in a respectful way. They way the ‘life in the big city’ merges to that in ‘small town america’ in the movie was done so in such a way that it seems like the two are right next door. As you are watching the film for the first time, the ‘culture shock’ is not so much a ‘shock’ itself but more like a record slowly spinning after the music is over.
Personally, I’m not a fan of any of the dancing shows and movies that have apparently captured the attention of everyone else over the last few years whether it’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’, ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’, ‘Step Up’, ‘Bring It On’, etc. But I freely admit that the dancing in this film was pretty GORRAM awesome and it impressed the heck out of me. The collection of actors and actresses assembled for this film was equally as awesome. Lucas Till (The X-Men Movies), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park), Josh Duhamel (Transformers), and Kherington Payne (True Blood, CSI, Glee) all brought their own serious brand of acting to this film and they don’t disappoint. There no war flashbacks, no car chases, and only one violent scene in the movie. All the action in the movie centers around the music and the brilliantly choreographed dancing. All the drama centers around the characters coming to terms with grief and lose. It’s better than many of the movies you find in theaters right now. Try to find ‘Bravetown’ between all the blockbusters that start hitting theaters in May. Trust me, it’s worth the view and if you can’t find it in theaters, order it online. I’m going this one 4 out of 5 stars. It clocks in at 112 minutes, but it’s worth it.
‘Bravetown’ stars Lucas Till as Josh Harvest. A rising star and one of the best club DJ’s in the New York music scene. Night after night his music draws friends, crowds, promoters, and record producers looking to sign him. By day he sleeps and watches ‘Platoon’ when he’s not skipping school. Just as suddenly as the music starts spinning it all comes crashing down though when Josh overdoses one night and is raced to the hospital. After a confrontation with his mother (Maria Bello) and faced with the alternative choice of arrest and imprisonment,
Josh agrees to be sentenced to court ordered rehab and is sent from the mad streets of New York City to a small town in North Dakota to live with his father.
After the culture shock of going from the ‘city that never sleeps’ to a small town only known for their kids joining the military upon graduation right out of high school and going off to war (many of whom never return) subsides, Josh succumbs to his situation and settles in to his court appointed rehab with Alex (Josh Duhamel) a veteran who’se obsessed with soccer and has a dark past of his own. Sooner or later, everyone’s past catches up to them though .One night after his arrival, Josh’s reputation from New York catches up to him while attending a school dance. Dissatisfied with the music being played, Josh spins one set while the school’s dance team is performing on stage and then abruptly leaves. Unbeknownst to him, a member of the dance team recognized his music, recorded his set which they then used to win a competition.
After reluctantly agreeing to help them, the school’s last place dance team proceeds to win competition after competition and Josh and the dance team’s captain Mary (Kherington Payne). It soon becomes all to clear to Josh though that Mary’s grief is connected to his therapist’s past and that only by confronting it will Mary and Alex be able to come to terms and heal.
There a very few movies that did what this movie his done which is to touch on a subject that very few want to talk about or even acknowledge today in America. The knowledge that most of the people in this country who are sent off to war are young people from small towns or people from low income communities who either have no money to attend college after high school or have no other options for the future except to n the military. Now please don’t misunderstand me. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who serve and defend our nation and I come from a military family. However, for young people though in the present day …. many really have no other future to look forward too because of the high cost of university or college education. As part of the backstory, this film shines a light on that subject and does so in a respectful way. They way the ‘life in the big city’ merges to that in ‘small town america’ in the movie was done so in such a way that it seems like the two are right next door. As you are watching the film for the first time, the ‘culture shock’ is not so much a ‘shock’ itself but more like a record slowly spinning after the music is over.
Personally, I’m not a fan of any of the dancing shows and movies that have apparently captured the attention of everyone else over the last few years whether it’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’, ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’, ‘Step Up’, ‘Bring It On’, etc. But I freely admit that the dancing in this film was pretty GORRAM awesome and it impressed the heck out of me. The collection of actors and actresses assembled for this film was equally as awesome. Lucas Till (The X-Men Movies), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park), Josh Duhamel (Transformers), and Kherington Payne (True Blood, CSI, Glee) all brought their own serious brand of acting to this film and they don’t disappoint. There no war flashbacks, no car chases, and only one violent scene in the movie. All the action in the movie centers around the music and the brilliantly choreographed dancing. All the drama centers around the characters coming to terms with grief and lose. It’s better than many of the movies you find in theaters right now. Try to find ‘Bravetown’ between all the blockbusters that start hitting theaters in May. Trust me, it’s worth the view and if you can’t find it in theaters, order it online. I’m going this one 4 out of 5 stars. It clocks in at 112 minutes, but it’s worth it.
Decent Japanese Travelling Communicator
Travel and Utilities
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. Selected by Apple's App Store for Popular Travel Destinations: Japan "Travel Tools" app! . 蘋果...
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated American War in Books
Sep 27, 2017
Amazing character development (1 more)
All-too plausible future
An amazing debut dystopia
By now you probably know there are a few things I tend to enjoy in novels. Dystopias, Fantasies, Debut Novels, and Diversity tend to peak my interest, and American War is a dystopian debut novel by an Egyptian-Canadian author.
And it’s FANTASTIC.
El Akkad did an absolutely amazing job of weaving together the North/South rivalry of the US, climate change, the changing nature of energy generation, and US wars in the middle east to write an all-too-plausible novel about the US, seventy years from now.
Alternating between narrative chapters following his protagonist, and “historical documents” about the time period, he masterfully tells the story of how a terrorist is made. Because that’s what Sarat, his protagonist, is. Let’s make no bones about that. She is a terrorist. But she is a terrorist whose reasoning makes sense to us. Perhaps because the territories and the peoples are familiar to us, perhaps because we see how she grew up and what drove her to it – but the end result is a terrorist act on an unheard-of scale.
I’d like to think this book would make people look at refugees and terrorists in a new light – with more understanding and compassion and maybe with ideas to help actually combat the attitudes and circumstances that lead to terrorist acts. But I doubt it. I doubt this will change any minds that don’t already understand the underlying reasons.
My only quibble with this book is while he manages to weave together so many other issues facing our country right now, he doesn’t really wrap in racism. And I have a hard time believing our country is past racism 70 years from now.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find the protagonist is a bisexual, gender non-conforming woman of color. How awesome is that? And her bisexuality isn’t mentioned, it’s shown, her one on-screen sex scene (and it’s only barely on-screen) being with a woman. (She’s also attracted to a man in the book.)
The author was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, and lived in Canada, earning at least one award for his investigative reporting while working at The Globe and Mail. He’s one of the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s 17 writers to watch this year, and I see why. American War is definitely one of my favorite books of 2017.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
And it’s FANTASTIC.
El Akkad did an absolutely amazing job of weaving together the North/South rivalry of the US, climate change, the changing nature of energy generation, and US wars in the middle east to write an all-too-plausible novel about the US, seventy years from now.
Alternating between narrative chapters following his protagonist, and “historical documents” about the time period, he masterfully tells the story of how a terrorist is made. Because that’s what Sarat, his protagonist, is. Let’s make no bones about that. She is a terrorist. But she is a terrorist whose reasoning makes sense to us. Perhaps because the territories and the peoples are familiar to us, perhaps because we see how she grew up and what drove her to it – but the end result is a terrorist act on an unheard-of scale.
I’d like to think this book would make people look at refugees and terrorists in a new light – with more understanding and compassion and maybe with ideas to help actually combat the attitudes and circumstances that lead to terrorist acts. But I doubt it. I doubt this will change any minds that don’t already understand the underlying reasons.
My only quibble with this book is while he manages to weave together so many other issues facing our country right now, he doesn’t really wrap in racism. And I have a hard time believing our country is past racism 70 years from now.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find the protagonist is a bisexual, gender non-conforming woman of color. How awesome is that? And her bisexuality isn’t mentioned, it’s shown, her one on-screen sex scene (and it’s only barely on-screen) being with a woman. (She’s also attracted to a man in the book.)
The author was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, and lived in Canada, earning at least one award for his investigative reporting while working at The Globe and Mail. He’s one of the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s 17 writers to watch this year, and I see why. American War is definitely one of my favorite books of 2017.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto by Eric Luper
Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: 9780061827532
Published: June 1st 2010 by Balzer + Bray
Rating: 4
Seth hasn’t had such a great love life in the past few weeks. His girlfriend dumped him, he saw his father with another woman, and he’s having some friendship problems with his best friend… add to that the fact that his father wants him to win a golf tournament that he really doesn’t care about, he can’t keep a job, and the most unexpected girl on earth starts having feelings for him. Seth starts an anonymous podcast with music and his opinions called The Love Manifesto where he talks about what love is, why we want it, and why we’re stupid enough to keep coming back for more… and he finds some pretty interesting things about love, friendship, family, and himself.
Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto (and I thought my last name was hard to pronounce) was a fun read. It drew me in right away with the writing style and the witty characters. I loved the characters. Up until the end I wasn’t quite sure I really liked Seth that much, because he was doing some pretty stupid things… but in the end when he got his head back on straight and started making the right choices, I saw that he really wasn’t too bad after all. His best friend Dimitri was hilarious (I think he was my favorite… the description on the back of the book of “smut-minded” is pretty accurate.) and his sister Audrey was my kind of gal. You got to love Audrey. Obnoxious, sarcastic, but sweet on her man in subtle ways, and a very good kisser.
The plot was great: it had drama, mystery, and emotion without getting sappy or melodramatic. It takes the reader on quite a ride, so you don’t quite know who the good guy is, and you feel bad for Seth, but it’s not too depressing either.
Although Luper didn’t quite explain or define “love,” he did show it in the characters actions by the end of the story. Even though I was hoping for something a little deeper, he did end the story well and I was satisfied after finishing.
Good writing, great character, fun plot, awesome ending, (and I love the mp3-player cover!) this one will pull you in and keep you hooked from the first page to the last.
Content/recommendation: Some language and sexual innuendoes. Ages 15+
This review is copyright 2010 to Haley Mathiot and Night Owl Reviews.
Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: 9780061827532
Published: June 1st 2010 by Balzer + Bray
Rating: 4
Seth hasn’t had such a great love life in the past few weeks. His girlfriend dumped him, he saw his father with another woman, and he’s having some friendship problems with his best friend… add to that the fact that his father wants him to win a golf tournament that he really doesn’t care about, he can’t keep a job, and the most unexpected girl on earth starts having feelings for him. Seth starts an anonymous podcast with music and his opinions called The Love Manifesto where he talks about what love is, why we want it, and why we’re stupid enough to keep coming back for more… and he finds some pretty interesting things about love, friendship, family, and himself.
Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto (and I thought my last name was hard to pronounce) was a fun read. It drew me in right away with the writing style and the witty characters. I loved the characters. Up until the end I wasn’t quite sure I really liked Seth that much, because he was doing some pretty stupid things… but in the end when he got his head back on straight and started making the right choices, I saw that he really wasn’t too bad after all. His best friend Dimitri was hilarious (I think he was my favorite… the description on the back of the book of “smut-minded” is pretty accurate.) and his sister Audrey was my kind of gal. You got to love Audrey. Obnoxious, sarcastic, but sweet on her man in subtle ways, and a very good kisser.
The plot was great: it had drama, mystery, and emotion without getting sappy or melodramatic. It takes the reader on quite a ride, so you don’t quite know who the good guy is, and you feel bad for Seth, but it’s not too depressing either.
Although Luper didn’t quite explain or define “love,” he did show it in the characters actions by the end of the story. Even though I was hoping for something a little deeper, he did end the story well and I was satisfied after finishing.
Good writing, great character, fun plot, awesome ending, (and I love the mp3-player cover!) this one will pull you in and keep you hooked from the first page to the last.
Content/recommendation: Some language and sexual innuendoes. Ages 15+
This review is copyright 2010 to Haley Mathiot and Night Owl Reviews.