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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated A Literal Mess in Books

Jan 14, 2019

A Literal Mess

J. C. Kenney | 2019 | Mystery

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Strong Debut

Allie Cobb has returned home to Rushing Creek, Indiana for her father's funeral. While his death wasn't a surprise, it has still hit her hard. She's not prepared for tragedy to strike her small town a second time when the body of Thornwell Winchester is found. He was one of Allie's father's literary clients, and also the father of Allie's best friend, Sloane. When Sloane becomes the police's chief suspect, Allie steps in to find out the truth. Can she do it?

This book is more serious in tone than many of the cozies I read, but given what brings Allie home, that is completely appropriate. I never found that overwhelming, and the book doesn't dwell on it. After all, this is a mystery, and it isn't long before we are off meeting Thornwell and the potential suspects. I was intrigued by the red herrings and enjoyed the twists as we headed toward the logical climax. The suspects are strong, but I was really impressed with the series regulars. They have pasts and baggage that brought them to the page fully formed. I'm interested to see how that dynamic plays out as the series progresses.

Kudos

JT (287 KP) rated Booksmart (2019) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Booksmart (2019)

2019 | Comedy

7.8

(26 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

On the surface Olivia Wilde’s feature length directorial debut looks like any other coming of age film about teenagers graduating high school – and you’d be right.

Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) realise that despite all their A’s and hard work each should have spent more time drinking and going to parties, get ready for one wild night where the goal is to cram as much drunken debauchery in as possible.

There are some funny moments including; awkward discussions about masturbation and why you should always make sure the volume is down when connecting your phone to the aux cable. But outside of that it feels too similar to one film in particular, and I just couldn’t break away from it. Superbad for me is one of the best teen flicks of recent years, a laugh out loud comedy that had genuine flickers of drama. It was a joy to watch and one that has always stuck with me as one of the funniest.

I just didn’t get that same feeling with Booksmart, while their were some funny and tender moments I couldn’t help but think all that was missing was a female version of Fogell.