Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (5000)

Content

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Mine in Books

Sep 24, 2020

Mine

Clare Empson | 2020 | Crime, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences, Thriller

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

There are two protagonists in this story, Alice and Luke, and the story is told from their perspectives. Alice is Luke’s biological mother, and Luke only recently found her. Alice integrates into this family really quickly, until Luke realises that something is not right. Alice is sharing her story with the reader, her life in the seventies, when she was a young art student, that had a beautifully heartbreaking relationship, that caused her to give up Luke for adoption. I really liked Alice’s parts of this story, it was very absorbing and romantic. Luke’s parts were less interesting to me, even though that was were the mysterious events were happening, I found it a little slower paced. I think the author allowed me to connect with the protagonists through their thoughts and all the challenges the characters had to endure.

The narrative has a nice contrast between the past and the present, and this combination made this read more intriguing and absorbing. As I mentioned before, this novel breaks the barrier between genres, we have a romantic story and a domestic thriller mixed together, and I really enjoyed this way of storytelling. The plot had tendencies of kind of plodding along sometimes, and I would have liked a little more pace and twists added to it. It is a really emotional read, filled with depression, wishes to belong, secrets, abusive parenting and many more.

I liked the author’s writing style in this novel, it was creatively written and well delivered. I enjoyed the research done for this book in the music and arts industries, it was intriguing to read about the music bands lifestyle. The setting of this book constantly changes between seventies London and present day, and I really liked the ability to learn more about the past. The chapters had a decent length and didn’t drag to me. I really loved the ending, it left me shocked and nearly in tears, I really wasn’t expecting it.

Kudos

BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Gardener's Daughter in Books

Sep 24, 2020

The Gardener's Daughter

K A Hitchins | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Oh Ava, Ava, Ava… Why are you playing an adult, when you are just a child??? Why?

The main lead in this novel is Ava, a nineteen-year-old girl, who finds out that she is adopted. Filled with anger and wish to find out who her real dad is, she runs away from home, getting herself in a lot more trouble than she could dream. This book offers a very wide variety of different characters, who bring intrigue and personality to the whole book. I really liked this selection of characters in this novel, and I think they all played their roles really well. However, Ava really annoyed me sometimes, with her silly and very childish decisions and actions. My favourite would be Theo, I loved his kind nature and heart, and he represented real father figure to me.

I really liked the plot of this novel, it was very well crafted, bringing a compelling and interesting setting and plenty of intrigues. It was really interesting to read all those bits and pieces of camp’s life and what can be hiding behind closed doors. The twists and turns were smartly placed and left me pleasantly surprised.

I think Hitchins is a very talented author, she has a great eye for detail and very creative writing style. I found the chapters quite long for my liking, but overall, the book didn’t drag for me because I was quite keen to find out, what will happen next. I really enjoyed the ending of this novel, and if there will be a continuation, I will be definitely waiting for it. 🙂 So, to conclude, this is a very amusing book, filled with very well developed and engrossing characters and intriguing plot, and I truly believe that Hitchins is incredibly good at what she does. So please give this book a try and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Aquaslash (2019) in Movies

Dec 2, 2020

Aquaslash (2019)

2019 | Horror

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The premise of Aquaslash is painfully simple, but immediately appeals to anyone that has even a passing interest in slasher flicks - A mystery assailant inserts giant blades into a water slide tunnel, at a busy water park. That's it. That's the film.
Well, unfortunately that's not all of it...
The film opens with a standard but interest-peaking POV scene from the killer, chopping up a couple of horny teenagers at the aformentioned water park, before we get a title card. And then (the unfortunate part) we get a whole hour of goofy teen drama - remember the tsunami of sex comedies that released in the wake of American Pie? Imagine one of the shittier ones, but with no funny bits, and that's the kind of stuff we're getting here.
The script is occasionally humourous, but mostly flat and the acting from everyone involved is a little wonky (except the token jaded old dude, that guy is great)
It's not the most boring thing I've ever sat through, but it's damn close, as countless red herrings are thrown at the audience. The eventual killer reveal by the way, manages to be predictable, and somehow make no sense whatsoever. It's weird.

Thank the lord then for the last 15 minutes, that is just ridiculous and gory enough to make it all worth the slog. When everything eventually kicks off, it's actually pretty entertaining. The gore is all practically done, looks half decent, and the execution is pretty fresh. It's just a shame that the set up is such a drag - If there was more of this then Aquaslash would be miles better.

Honestly, it might be worth just fast forwarding to the good bit with this one, but if you do insist on watching the whole thing, it's not the absolute worst thing ever, and it mercifully clocks in at 75 minutes, which makes the whole ordeal that little more bearable.