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ClareR (5945 KP) rated Thea and Denise in Books
Aug 18, 2022
Two women with two very different lives, Thea and Denise had both had enough of their daily grind. Thea is divorced, her daughter wants to live with her father and his new family, and Denise is treated like a servant by her husband and sons. I’d be in that car and on that road trip pretty fast if my family treated me like Denise’s, I can tell you.
I really enjoyed Thea and Denise’s road trip, their adventures and growing friendship. I particularly liked Denise’s mum!
I read this on The Pigeonhole.
I really enjoyed Thea and Denise’s road trip, their adventures and growing friendship. I particularly liked Denise’s mum!
I read this on The Pigeonhole.
Death by Yule Log
9.0
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Previously published in Yule Log Murder Christmases in coastal Maine can seem picture...
Atalanta
10.0
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When a daughter is born to the King of Arcadia, she brings only disappointment. Left exposed on a...
Greek mythology Retellings
David McK (3600 KP) rated Plane (2023) in Movies
Mar 17, 2025
Gerard Butler action/adventure films.
So pretty much what you'd expect, really.
here, he plays a pilot who is forced to crash-land his plane on a remote and war-torn island after it is hit by lightning (on New Years Eve, whilst travelling home to see his daughter), with his passengers then taken hostage by the rebels on said island and with Butler then having to find a way to rescue them, in company with a prisoner who was being transported on board his plane, wanted for murder.
Solid if unspectacular.
So pretty much what you'd expect, really.
here, he plays a pilot who is forced to crash-land his plane on a remote and war-torn island after it is hit by lightning (on New Years Eve, whilst travelling home to see his daughter), with his passengers then taken hostage by the rebels on said island and with Butler then having to find a way to rescue them, in company with a prisoner who was being transported on board his plane, wanted for murder.
Solid if unspectacular.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Seoul Station (2016) in Movies
Jun 21, 2019
Story: Seoul Station starts as we see a homeless man injured and ignored around the station, we move off to see Hye-Sun who along with her boyfriend Ki-woong have been struggling for rent, forcing him into attempting to pimp her out, when her father Suk-gyu discovers this, he heads to Seoul to save his daughter.
Soon the homeless dies, but he doesn’t stay dead, turning into a zombie, it isn’t long before the zombie plague hits Seoul and Suk-gyu must work with Ki-woong to locate his missing daughter and escape the city before it is too late.
Thoughts on Seoul Station
Characters – Suk-gyu is the father searching for his lost daughter, he knew she ran away and now he gets the chance to come and save her from the seedy underworld her boyfriend wants to put her in, only to become the real saviour against the zombies. Hye-Sun is the runaway daughter, she struggles to keep the rent coming and after her argument with her boyfriend wanders the streets alone just as the zombie outbreak starts. Ki-woong is the boyfriend who seems to be a slacker spending more time in the internet cafes over supporting his girlfriend, he is forced to work with Suk-gyu to find Hye-Sun.
Story – The story here follows three main characters who are trying to survive a zombie outbreak in the big city of Seoul, this is a prequel to Train to Busan and shows us how the outbreak started to spread. The story keeps the attempts of a father trying to save his daughter the focal point in this film, this gives us two main characters to support and hope see get reconnected after she had run away from home at a young age. We also get to see a father and new boyfriend interact with the tension you would expect from this. This isn’t anything ground breaking for the zombie genre and by being animated we get to increase the scale of everything which does help show how a big city would cope with the panic of a sudden outbreak.
Horror – The horror in the film comes from the zombie outbreak, the zombie behaviour will always work for horror and the idea that nowhere is as safe as it should be only adds to the horror in the film.
Settings – The film is set in Seoul which is one of the locations the train goes through in Train to Busan, the scale of the city shows us just how a big population would react to an outbreak.
Animation – The animation used in the film is great to see, we get to see each bloody wound suffered through the outbreak.
Scene of the Movie – Third act twist is shocking.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Shut the bloody doors.
Final Thoughts – This is a great prequel to put us in the world of Train to Busan, we get to see just how conflicted people can become and just follow one small story in the bigger picture makes us interested to learn more.
Overall: Great fun animation.
https://moviesreview101.com/2019/06/19/abc-film-challenge-world-cinema-s-seoul-station-2016/
Soon the homeless dies, but he doesn’t stay dead, turning into a zombie, it isn’t long before the zombie plague hits Seoul and Suk-gyu must work with Ki-woong to locate his missing daughter and escape the city before it is too late.
Thoughts on Seoul Station
Characters – Suk-gyu is the father searching for his lost daughter, he knew she ran away and now he gets the chance to come and save her from the seedy underworld her boyfriend wants to put her in, only to become the real saviour against the zombies. Hye-Sun is the runaway daughter, she struggles to keep the rent coming and after her argument with her boyfriend wanders the streets alone just as the zombie outbreak starts. Ki-woong is the boyfriend who seems to be a slacker spending more time in the internet cafes over supporting his girlfriend, he is forced to work with Suk-gyu to find Hye-Sun.
Story – The story here follows three main characters who are trying to survive a zombie outbreak in the big city of Seoul, this is a prequel to Train to Busan and shows us how the outbreak started to spread. The story keeps the attempts of a father trying to save his daughter the focal point in this film, this gives us two main characters to support and hope see get reconnected after she had run away from home at a young age. We also get to see a father and new boyfriend interact with the tension you would expect from this. This isn’t anything ground breaking for the zombie genre and by being animated we get to increase the scale of everything which does help show how a big city would cope with the panic of a sudden outbreak.
Horror – The horror in the film comes from the zombie outbreak, the zombie behaviour will always work for horror and the idea that nowhere is as safe as it should be only adds to the horror in the film.
Settings – The film is set in Seoul which is one of the locations the train goes through in Train to Busan, the scale of the city shows us just how a big population would react to an outbreak.
Animation – The animation used in the film is great to see, we get to see each bloody wound suffered through the outbreak.
Scene of the Movie – Third act twist is shocking.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Shut the bloody doors.
Final Thoughts – This is a great prequel to put us in the world of Train to Busan, we get to see just how conflicted people can become and just follow one small story in the bigger picture makes us interested to learn more.
Overall: Great fun animation.
https://moviesreview101.com/2019/06/19/abc-film-challenge-world-cinema-s-seoul-station-2016/
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Daughter of Smoke and Bone in Books
Jan 23, 2020
How I really feel these days: read/listen to a book, pull out the overall point of the book, give brief information on why I liked/disliked the book, the end. Or, go through that and the words come as I start typing the review, and it may or may not be in an organized manner. That's for your judgment, I suppose.
It's precisely how I feel with <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i>. It's interesting with all the seraphs and chimaera (I keep wanting to call that chimera) being at war with each other, but I pretty much picked out one very important theme in this entire book.
Reincarnation (or resurrection in this case) and self-discovery.
Karou is a very mysterious person (at least, she likes to keep it that way). From early on, she doesn't have a family (aside from a surrogate one), doesn't talk about herself, and avoids questions from anyone who actually want to know who she is aside from the fact she is fantastic at drawing mystical creatures. She also deals with wishes, her hair is blue (really cool, by the way), and speaks over twenty languages. But she still doesn't understand who she really is, and that remains the constant until Karou goes on an errand where she comes across Akiva, a seraph with fire in his eyes.
I'm not really sure how I feel about Akiva. Although Laini gives information about his past, especially with Madrigal's memories, I'm pretty indifferent towards him. He's a seraph, fell in love with Madrigal, and wants peace among the seraph and chimaera, but otherwise, I feel like he's just appropriately placed in the story.
<i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> is also one of those books in which I believe Laini does a fantastic job with flashbacks. I'm generally not a huge fan of flashbacks, because while I know they play an important role most of the time (authors don't do things in their novel without reason), they sometimes add more bulk or it doesn't really fit well in the story.
In <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone's</i> case, it would have been a really bad idea not to have so many flashbacks later on in the story. From what I've read up to Madrigal's memories, Karou is a enigmatic person. Madrigal's memories add on to Karou as a whole, and I feel it makes Karou more developed than she would have been had Laini not written in the most important aspects of Madrigal's life.
<i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> has it's very gruesome parts (don't tell me listening to a description of someone being beheaded is <em>not</em> gruesome), but I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to listening to the second book (bonus points because it's the same narrator for the entire trilogy).
Have I mentioned I absolutely <em>adore</em> Zuzanna? *kiss/punch*
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/audiobook-review-daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
It's precisely how I feel with <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i>. It's interesting with all the seraphs and chimaera (I keep wanting to call that chimera) being at war with each other, but I pretty much picked out one very important theme in this entire book.
Reincarnation (or resurrection in this case) and self-discovery.
Karou is a very mysterious person (at least, she likes to keep it that way). From early on, she doesn't have a family (aside from a surrogate one), doesn't talk about herself, and avoids questions from anyone who actually want to know who she is aside from the fact she is fantastic at drawing mystical creatures. She also deals with wishes, her hair is blue (really cool, by the way), and speaks over twenty languages. But she still doesn't understand who she really is, and that remains the constant until Karou goes on an errand where she comes across Akiva, a seraph with fire in his eyes.
I'm not really sure how I feel about Akiva. Although Laini gives information about his past, especially with Madrigal's memories, I'm pretty indifferent towards him. He's a seraph, fell in love with Madrigal, and wants peace among the seraph and chimaera, but otherwise, I feel like he's just appropriately placed in the story.
<i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> is also one of those books in which I believe Laini does a fantastic job with flashbacks. I'm generally not a huge fan of flashbacks, because while I know they play an important role most of the time (authors don't do things in their novel without reason), they sometimes add more bulk or it doesn't really fit well in the story.
In <i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone's</i> case, it would have been a really bad idea not to have so many flashbacks later on in the story. From what I've read up to Madrigal's memories, Karou is a enigmatic person. Madrigal's memories add on to Karou as a whole, and I feel it makes Karou more developed than she would have been had Laini not written in the most important aspects of Madrigal's life.
<i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> has it's very gruesome parts (don't tell me listening to a description of someone being beheaded is <em>not</em> gruesome), but I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to listening to the second book (bonus points because it's the same narrator for the entire trilogy).
Have I mentioned I absolutely <em>adore</em> Zuzanna? *kiss/punch*
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/audiobook-review-daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-by-laini-taylor/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Between Wrath & Mercy ( The Divine Between 1) in Books
Jan 15, 2024
10 of 220
Kindle
Between Wrath & Mercy ( The Divine Between 1)
By Jess Wisecup
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A mother will do anything to save her child, no matter the cost.
After her daughter is kidnapped, Emmeline Highclere—a thirty-four-year-old mother living in isolation with memories and grief her only companion—must do everything in her limited power and divine abilities to get the girl back.
Emmeline believes her daughter, Elora, is the Beloved—the conduit with goddess-granted divine abilities prophesied to bring peace to the Three Kingdoms. Because the last person thought to be the Beloved was brutally murdered by the enemy kingdom of Folterra, Emmeline has dedicated the last sixteen years to hiding her daughter and keeping her safe. When Elora is kidnapped by a Folterran prince, Emmeline must leave her place of hiding, resolving to do anything to rescue her daughter. But to have any chance against those who took the girl, Emmeline must call upon one of the most powerful conduits in the Three Kingdoms, the Crown Prince of Vesta—the man who broke her heart—and hope he helps her despite their estrangement.
With the weight of his father’s impending death hanging over his head, Crown Prince Rainier has begun to make moves to prove his dedication to assume the role of king. When he is visiting the estate that was once a second home to him, the woman who has long haunted his dreams and consumed his thoughts appears before him, asking for his help to find the child she had with another man. Now, he must decide: does he drop what he is doing to help Emmeline, or does he maintain his unwavering duty to the Crown?
Now, Emmeline and Rainier must work together to find the Beloved—to save the girl from the Folterrans and fulfill the prophecy of peace—while they both battle feelings of remorse, grief, and heartbreak, trying to ignore the heated desire and simmering attraction between them that never left.
This was really good! The characters really draw you in and I love the story. My only issue was it was very repetitive and could have done with a lot less it. I settled for a 4⭐️ as 3 was a bit to low as I did really like it. Also a very abrupt cliffhanger at the end which is Annoying. Oh and how did they not see who the father was from the start?
Kindle
Between Wrath & Mercy ( The Divine Between 1)
By Jess Wisecup
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A mother will do anything to save her child, no matter the cost.
After her daughter is kidnapped, Emmeline Highclere—a thirty-four-year-old mother living in isolation with memories and grief her only companion—must do everything in her limited power and divine abilities to get the girl back.
Emmeline believes her daughter, Elora, is the Beloved—the conduit with goddess-granted divine abilities prophesied to bring peace to the Three Kingdoms. Because the last person thought to be the Beloved was brutally murdered by the enemy kingdom of Folterra, Emmeline has dedicated the last sixteen years to hiding her daughter and keeping her safe. When Elora is kidnapped by a Folterran prince, Emmeline must leave her place of hiding, resolving to do anything to rescue her daughter. But to have any chance against those who took the girl, Emmeline must call upon one of the most powerful conduits in the Three Kingdoms, the Crown Prince of Vesta—the man who broke her heart—and hope he helps her despite their estrangement.
With the weight of his father’s impending death hanging over his head, Crown Prince Rainier has begun to make moves to prove his dedication to assume the role of king. When he is visiting the estate that was once a second home to him, the woman who has long haunted his dreams and consumed his thoughts appears before him, asking for his help to find the child she had with another man. Now, he must decide: does he drop what he is doing to help Emmeline, or does he maintain his unwavering duty to the Crown?
Now, Emmeline and Rainier must work together to find the Beloved—to save the girl from the Folterrans and fulfill the prophecy of peace—while they both battle feelings of remorse, grief, and heartbreak, trying to ignore the heated desire and simmering attraction between them that never left.
This was really good! The characters really draw you in and I love the story. My only issue was it was very repetitive and could have done with a lot less it. I settled for a 4⭐️ as 3 was a bit to low as I did really like it. Also a very abrupt cliffhanger at the end which is Annoying. Oh and how did they not see who the father was from the start?
Twister
8.0
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Now that I’ve graduated college, I’m expected to join the family accounting business even though...
Contemporary MM Romance
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated The Possibility of Everything in Books
Apr 27, 2018
The Possibility of Everything was amazing. I was instantly wrapped up in Hope’s story, and fell in love with her little girl Maya. It was absolutely impossible to put down.
Hope had to go through so much to heal her daughter—she had to be brave and learn to accept things that she was afraid of, and things that just don’t match up with common sense. Hope is someone who does not believe in magic, spirits, or God, yet she’s taking her daughter to a healer who “communicates with the spirit world,” and she hates the idea… but people will do anything for the ones that they love. “Because what mother wouldn’t do anything for her child?”
As a person who loves and adores children myself, seeing Maya in the state that she was in was heartbreaking. There were parts of this book that I didn’t “enjoy,” because they were scary and sad, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t good. It was painful to watch Maya and her parents suffer—but it was also an amazing story, and one that needs to be read by everyone.
Recommendation: Ages 14+
**Thank you to Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for supplying my review copy!**
Hope had to go through so much to heal her daughter—she had to be brave and learn to accept things that she was afraid of, and things that just don’t match up with common sense. Hope is someone who does not believe in magic, spirits, or God, yet she’s taking her daughter to a healer who “communicates with the spirit world,” and she hates the idea… but people will do anything for the ones that they love. “Because what mother wouldn’t do anything for her child?”
As a person who loves and adores children myself, seeing Maya in the state that she was in was heartbreaking. There were parts of this book that I didn’t “enjoy,” because they were scary and sad, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t good. It was painful to watch Maya and her parents suffer—but it was also an amazing story, and one that needs to be read by everyone.
Recommendation: Ages 14+
**Thank you to Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for supplying my review copy!**
A coming of age story
A coming of age story, set between Ghana and London, this is the story of Belinda, a housegirl, who moves to London to help the daughter of her employers friends. Amma (the friends daughter) has become withdrawn and is struggling with something in her life - not her studies though, she's a straight A student. She won't talk to her parents about it, and to begin with, it doesn't look as though she'll talk to Belinda either. Their friendship builds over a period of weeks and months. In this time, Belinda goes back to school in order to gain some qualifications. She seems to feel guilty of having left her fellow housegirl, who she refers to as sister (even though the 12 year old Mary is not her sister by blood, they have bonded over being in the same circumstances of separation from their families at young ages).
This novel explores African attitudes towards sexuality, family and responsibility. It's funny at times, but also incredibly moving. I really enjoyed it. We can see the contrast between life in a Ghanaian city and village, and the difference again between those places and London. A fascinating novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this fantastic book.
This novel explores African attitudes towards sexuality, family and responsibility. It's funny at times, but also incredibly moving. I really enjoyed it. We can see the contrast between life in a Ghanaian city and village, and the difference again between those places and London. A fascinating novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this fantastic book.