Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

ClareR (5721 KP) rated The Four Winds in Books

Feb 28, 2021  
The Four Winds
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Four Winds is about one woman’s determination to keep her family safe in extremely difficult circumstances. It was a tough, emotional read - and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s a period of history that I know little about. I mean, I’ve watched films set in this period where people live on ramshackle farms, or in shanty-type towns, and I knew that it was something to do with the Great Depression. This book describes the side of the story of a family of farmers who lived in the Dust Bowl of Texas.
Elsa lives with her husband, children and his parents on a farm in Texas. Two children later and with the farm failing, Elsa’s husband leaves them to pursue a better life - on his own. Elsa struggles on with her in-laws and children, determined to give Loreda and Ant (her children) a home where they feel loved. But when Ant nearly dies from dust pneumonia, and the farm fails completely, they make plans to leave for California. Elsa reluctantly leaves her in-laws behind (they refuse to leave their farm), because it’s the only way to save Ant.
California isn’t the promised land of milk and honey. They arrive with little money, nowhere to stay, and Californians don’t want to help them. In fact they believe ‘Okeys’ are feckless, lazy, dirty; they refuse to house or employ them. Elsa’s only choice is to live in a tent in an encampment where poverty and typhoid are rife.
I admired Elsa’s tenacity - she works tirelessly for little money to feed her children. It’s a story of one woman’s survival and her need to protect her family.
I didn’t know anything about the Dust Bowl before I read this. I’d heard the term, but I didn’t know about the dust storms, animals dying after being filled up with dust, and people dying from dust pneumonia. This sounds like an exaggerated story, doesn’t it? But it’s not. None of this was unusual.
The Four Winds is a hard, yet compelling read. This is only the third Kristin Hannah book I’ve read, and it won’t be my last!
Many thanks to St Martin’s Press for my e-copy.
  
Tessa Ever After (Reluctant Hearts, #2)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This one starts with Tessa late to pick up her daughter from day care as she struggles to adjust to life since her older brother, Cade, moved away and left her alone with everything. Cade used to be babysitter, chef, chauffeur, DIY-er and many other things that made Tessa's life much easier and she's struggling to get herself in gear. She's also online dating, trying to find the older guy who'll be there and treat her right...when maybe the guy she really wants is a little closer to home.
In walks her brothers best friend, Jason, who Cade has tasked with keeping an eye on her. Jason's view of Tessa has slowly been changing from "best friends little sister" to gorgeous woman and mum and after some warnings from Cade and encouragement from their joint friend Adam, he decides to pursue Tessa.

First things first, I feel like I need to let you know that I have a big weakness for super cute children in my romances and Haley is certainly that. There were some really cute scenes with her and Tessa and Jason. She was super cuteness personified.

I did like their relationship. It was cute how it progressed and I'm glad they stuck with each other despite the obstacles that popped up here and there. And of course there was a misunderstanding that caused a slight rift but luckily they got around it and became a very cute little family unit.

Some of the secondary characters like Adam and Paige grew on me in this. We got to know Paige more than Adam but she seems to need to find that special someone and I think sparks may be flying between her and Adam in the next one. I'm not sure if I'll read it though.

I think I missed some of the angst that can happen in the romances I like with this. It was a little too nice. I like the bad boy type to be full of tattoos and dirty mouthed so they can rile their love interest up enough for her to answer back and sparks to fly.
  
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"Then I got into film school at the age of 17. Because I was young, the day I turned 18 my mother wanted me to see [Pier Paolo] Pasolini’s Salò. She said now you are old enough to see a precise portrayal of human cruelty. Maybe because my parents escaped Argentina during the dictatorship to avoid ending up in a torture camp like their friends ended up, she had a particular concern about the portrayal of human cruelty and torture. So she said, “You want to know how bad life can turn? Come with me and see this film.” And I saw it. And I know that movie stuck to my mind for, like, 12 years in a very precise, shocking way. And I never felt, for 12 years, the need to re-watch it. I said it was great to see it, but I was not ready to admit the perception of how bad people can be. It’s those very hot and cold — how do you say the people who study insects? -– entomologists. Sometimes you feel almost like an entomologist describing the life of ants. But the vision is sharp. The lesson is sharp. And also what I like about the movie is that, although the movie is about masters and victims, Pasolini — he’s not on the side of any. He’s just — like a dark situation, sharing the pain of one, or the dark joy, or the dirty joy, I don’t know. It’s almost like they’re above the character that they’re describing and they don’t identify with any particular one. You can also have that in The Battle of Algiers. But in any case, at 18, that’s a very major movie. I think nowadays that’s one of the very major movies in the future of cinema. It’s something strong that has not been copied in any way since. And that’s why, in my movie, I wanted to put Pasolini’s Salò poster above the bed, just to remind me that whatever I will do, my movie cannot shock, because of some people before us who made these extremely daring movies that really shocked their time. When people tell me I’m provocative I know that I’m not at all, compared to these masters of cinema."

Source
  
40x40

Natasha Khan recommended Bleach by Nirvana in Music (curated)

 
Bleach by Nirvana
Bleach by Nirvana
1989 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I have a Polaroid of Kurt Cobain on my kitchen corkboard. It's him holding a kitten, two of my favourite things in the world: Kurt and kittens, the two 'k's! I was deeply in love [laughs] with him, on a hormonal level, for a long time. But I think in terms of what he taught me as a budding creative person and an angsty, very troubled teenager. It sounds really cheesy, but he got me through many many days of bunking school. When I think of Bleach, I've just put [points to phone] "bunking school", that's basically what I did. Just that first track 'Blew', there's that bass sound [sings], and it was just so dirty and rank and then there's feedback and his voice - [sings] "NO RECESS!' - on 'School'. What was so exciting about the fact that they had become so loved and so big was that they didn't compromise any of that aggression, anger and rawness. I just love people that become really successful by not compromising anything, and being completely true to their own spirit. At that time, I was starting to writing books of poetry and play guitar in my bedroom. I'd pretend to get the train to school, and then come back in and climb through the window and just spend all day with Bleach and Incesticide on a tape, and I'd just turn them over and [listen to] 'Dive', 'Love Buzz' and 'Floyd The Barber'. It was just the ability to play this album as loud in my bedroom as I possibly could and just scream along to it, and just feel there was a little soulmate, who had this similar thing, just guiding me through. I think that visceralness really gave voice to something that I was finding difficult to express and because I was finding my own singing voice, and very shy about it, it was like really nice to be able to not have to sound, as a girl, pretty and nice - all the female musicians like that, they're very beautiful, but to get that kind of guttural, animalistic scream was really liberating."

Source
  
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Anna Adler | 2021 | Erotica, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
the steamiest of them all!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Eliza has lusted after Jackal and Zaster for some time. And they, her. But it takes nearly losing Liz for her and them to see that they could be happy together, the three of them.

Book 4 in the Hers series, and I would personally recommend you read the other books first. Book one, especially, since Alyssa and Jax play a huge part here! Chase and Holly, book 2, are mentioned but I don't think that the couple from book 3, Roth and Kaitlyn are even mentioned. Doesn't matter though. You don't NEED their stories for this one to make sense, but it might give you a better picture of what Alyssa and Jax are trying to do for Silenia.

Certainly the steamiest of the four books! But also, the darkest I think. Even from book one, where Alyssa owns Jax, this book does take a darker turn.

Liz is suffering from a drug addiction, and she is keeping it from everyone, save the medic on board. The blackouts are the biggest side effect, and could cost them all their lives, if she's flying and blacks out. But when she needs to, Liz steps up, and gets shot. Zaster, bless him, takes it the hardest. But after a conversation with Jackal and then Liz, they actually want to make things work.

And work they do! OOOOOOEEEEE! Yes ma'am. Once they admit to each other what they all want, they are all in and straight away. Liz does not waste any time getting down and dirty with her men!

I read a wide variety of books, across lots of different genres. I don't just read M/F books either. And for me, if the GUYS had had some sort of sexual contact too, this would have taken it over to the full 5 stars. That would have just been the icing on a very hot cake!

I'm sorry, Ms Adler, to keep asking for more, but write such good stories and I want to read them!

4.5 stars, rounded UP for the blog.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Tofu Cowboy (Big Sky Cowboys #1)
Tofu Cowboy (Big Sky Cowboys #1)
Lola West | 2020 | Contemporary, Romance
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
wonderful read
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Luke is hiding a secret from his brothers. He takes art classes, and this particular class has a live model today, Maddie. Maddie has a secret too, and it may just break her heart to tell Luke.

My first and lasting feeling about this book is CUTE! Not quite enough to tag it "too stinking cute" but it lands itself well and truly on the "warm and fuzzies" shelf.

It's mostly not too stinking cute simply because of the secret Maddie carries in her soul. It doesn't say it on the blurb, so I'm not saying it here, but it really does break your heart when she tells Luke about it. More so the reasons WHY its like this.

It's steamy, so steamy, but what I really liked about this one was, the time it takes for Luke and Maddie to get down and dirty. They WAIT. They both know it's inevitable they will be jumping into bed together, but they want to get to know each other, properly, before that happens, and I really rather loved that.

As well as the steam, there is emotions, so many emotional moments for such a short book. It's also funny. Maddie is witty and her and Luke banter off each other right from the start. It has some real, actual laugh out loud moments, and I rarely, I mean RARELY react verbally when I'm reading. So well played!

Loved the interaction between Luke and his brothers, but equally, loved that when they found Luke hurting, they shut that sh*t straight down and rallied around him, helping him get the girl of his dreams.

It says its 152 pages, I read it in just over an hour. A great, easy read, perfect for the bath tub or lunch break.

It also appears to be this author's debut novel. So Very VERY well done, one to watch. This is billed as the first in the Big Sky Romances series, I hope it covers Luke's brothers. Billy especially, cos even the little we saw of him here, I can tell he is hurting.

4 really REALLY good stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Same Time Next Year
Same Time Next Year
9
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Genre: Contemporary

Word Count: 4,560

Average Goodreads Rating: 3.27/5 stars

My rating: 4.5/5 stars

It’s not often a book can surprise me. But Same Time Next Year totally took me off guard.

Every year, for the past either years, Regina White and Tyler Harrison meet at the same hotel, in two connecting rooms for one night.

The receptionist, Elizabeth, thinks she has the whole situation figured out. But she doesn’t know what this night means to the mysterious couple. And somehow she can’t stop thinking about them anyway.

You can read Same Time Next Year for free on Smashwords.

At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story. I thought it was about two people leaving their depressing and dull lives to have one night of infidelity and debauchery a year, like some sort of modern day fairy tale. On top of that, the “good” character, Elizabeth, is kind of a bitch who is quick to condemn and judge Regina, but smile and admire Tyler.

It’s one thing to disapprove of adultery, it’s another thing to have double standards about it.

But despite my misgivings at first, I got sucked into the very hot sex scene quickly.

“No, I don’t want champagne. I want you. Naked. And wet. And begging.”

Gotta love good dirty talk. Unfortunately the scene ends abruptly and before the couple gets to the really good part, if you know what I mean. 😉

For such a short story there is actually a lot of character development. We learn that Tyler and Regina met at a conference years ago, when they had those two hotel rooms by coincidence. Tyler loves how Regina’s strong and confident in public, but a little submissive in the bedroom. Regina loves how Tyler still wants her, and how he’s always willing to please her. They have great chemistry together and I love how they’re still attracted to each other after all those years, and always come back to the same hotel.

My only complaint, aside from the abrupt end to the sex scene, is Elizabeth. I get why she’s necessary to the story, but she’s undeveloped and unlikeable, and I wish she was gone.
  
    iRobot HOME

    iRobot HOME

    Lifestyle and Utilities

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Roomba® Wi-Fi® connected vacuuming robots + the iRobot HOME App – Connect to Clean From Anywhere...