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Caraval
Caraval
Stephanie Garber | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.1 (97 Ratings)
Book Rating
A good read
Contains spoilers, click to show
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic.

It was good!
Lots of twists and turns as Scarlett tries to find her sister in a world created by magic. After escaping her father Tally takes on a whole new persona to save both her and her sister from a life where they are beaten and tormented by a father that is pure evil. Scarletts search for Tally pairs her up with Julien who she falls for although promised to a count! Both her father and count track them down at the caraval in an attempt to drag them home so Scarlett can be married off to the count that's paid a lot of money for her!
Here Scarlett discovers the whole plot put into motion by her sister and the legend.
Looking forward to book 2!

Recommended

⭐⭐⭐

  
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Music, Romance
Full of Eurovision spirit
I am a big fan of Eurovision, it's a must see event every year and I've even been to see it in person when it was last held in Denmark. Sadly with the cancellation of pretty much everything this year including Eurovision, I've been dying for a bit of cheesy fun and this film *almost* delivers it in the truckload.

This film really knows how to channel the Eurovision spirit. There's a lot of great cheesy songs and costumes, some great over the top performances (Dan Stevens was a hoot) and a decent amount of heart. The songs are very good, from the hilariously cheesy to the impressive ballads. The acting was good although i felt Will Ferrell was a little of a letdown. It was great to see Dan Stevens camping it up though and a nice (but sadly too short) role for Natasia Demetriou from What We Do in the Shadows, and I loved the cameos from existing real life Eurovision acts.

The problem with this film is the humour is lacking when it's not cheesy Eurovision fun. And the jokes that were there fell pretty flat for me. The film is also rather longer than you'd expect and did drag a little in the middle.

I had been expecting a Eurovision spoof comedy, but instead what I got was almost a homage to everything we love about Eurovision. It's not great but definitely an enjoyable bit of fun. I've been debating whether to score this a 6 or 7 and in the end, I've decided to be rather generous as it is a lot of fun.
  
Truth Be Told (Morecambe Bay Trilogy #3)
Truth Be Told (Morecambe Bay Trilogy #3)
Paul J. Teague | 2020 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was the last book in the Morcambe Bay trilogy. As the last book ended in the middle of the action, the third book continued straight on. When I started the book I couldn't see how it was going to go on for a whole book. We were already in quite a fair bit so I thought I may get bored and the book was just going to drag on but I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't.
This book was definitely more action packed than the last two. I was reading it as if I was watching an action film. I couldn't put the book down I really wanted to see what happened and how they got out of all this. The last fee scenes in the docks I could really see in my minds eye. I felt like I was actually there watching the drama unfold.
Charlotte grew in this book as well as she really had to trust her gut instinct and also other people. She had to put a lot of trust in other people.
I had a whole scenario in my head on how the book was going to end and I was am so glad I was incorrect. I couldn't of been more wrong. For minute towards the end I was worried I was not going to enjoy the ending but I did.
The author has another book in the Morcambe series. Again it has some of the same characters and as much as I enjoyed reading the initial book I decided to take a break and reading something else.