Smashbomb

"This isn’t so much a movie as it is a galvanizing force. So rarely is there such unambiguous demarcation between good and evil, and all the more so in a documentary. There’s so much here that you can’t believe you’re seeing so close: pickup trucks crunching into strikers’ feet away from the camera, billy-club cracks you can hear. The characters couldn’t be painted with brighter colors, as if they were drawn with Truman Capote’s pen. The baddies are cartoonishly bad: the emotionless Duke Power executives, their burned and disfigured power attorney, and the henchman Basil Collins, more grinning snake than man (greatest villain in film history?). The hero miners shine, still covered in coal dust. Black and white folks fighting together—if ever a movie could get you up out of your seat cheering on the protagonists . . . And for sure these are country people, but they’re canny too. That they know the danger they face is confirmed when one of the miners’ wives reaches into her ample bosom to pull a pistol out from her brassiere. If this weren’t a documentary, it wouldn’t be believed."

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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Sep 22, 2020

Sneak a peek at the Christian historical fiction novel SOMETHING WORTH DOING: A Novel of an Early Suffragist by Jane Kirkpatrick on my blog. There's also a GIVEAWAY to win a $25 or $10 Barnes & Noble gift card, a copy of the book, and/or an Oregon map bag - THREE WINNERS!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-something.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Some things are worth doing—even when the cost is great.

In 1853, Abigail Scott was a nineteen-year-old schoolteacher in Oregon Territory when she married Ben Duniway. Marriage meant giving up on teaching, but Abigail always believed she was meant to be more than a good wife and mother. When Abigail becomes the primary breadwinner for her growing family, what she sees as a working woman appalls her—and prompts her to devote her life to fighting for the rights of women, including the right to vote.

Based on a true story, Something Worth Doing will resonate with modern women who still grapple with the pull between career and family, finding their place in the public sphere, and dealing with frustrations and prejudices when competing in male-dominated spaces.

Kudos Comment

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Little White Lies in Books

Sep 24, 2020

Little White Lies

Philippa East | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences, Thriller

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The story is told from a dual perspective. Seven years ago Anne’s daughter disappeared, and now she has been found. Her daughter is a teenager now, so Anne needs to learn how to communicate with her again. Another person who is sharing the story is Jess, Abigail’s cousin sister, who was very close to her when they were both little. I think it was quite a strange character pick. I liked Anne’s thoughts in this book, she was lost, confused and kept fighting to get her daughter back, not this estranged child that she has found. But I didn’t really understand the need for Jess, she just kept repeating herself over and over again, not offering much to the book. I would have enjoyed the book more if Abigail shared her experiences and thoughts. That would’ve made the whole book more absorbing for me.

I really liked the way the author created the suspense in this novel. She kept building it up with very creative clues and mentions of some juicy details. I was absolutely engrossed to find out what this secret will be, and pretty disappointed when I found out what that “big” secret was.

Kudos

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Taken in Books

Oct 18, 2020

Taken

Lisa Stone | 2020 | Crime, Thriller

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Having previously read and enjoyed "Stalker" by Lisa Stone, I certainly wasn't going to pass the opportunity to read this one and I wasn't disappointed.

What we have in "Taken" is a complex and gripping story of the abduction of 8 year Leila whose life is far from perfect being the daughter of a mother (Kelsey) prostituting herself and fighting addiction who has already had her older children taken from her.

Told from multiple points of view, we get a real insight into all the main characters which is not as confusing as it sounds believe me ... it works really well and, I believe, it makes the characters more believable and memorable.

The pace is perfect, the plot is absorbing, despite it being a little unrealistic in parts, and I did get the twist fairly early on but it was such that I continued to question myself until it was revealed.

Overall, a thought-provoking and enjoyable read which deals with some difficult subjects that, sadly, are prevalent within today's society but without the usual gratuitous violence which made a refreshing change.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Hot Head (Head #1) in Books

Sep 6, 2019

I'm probably the odd one out with my rating of three stars but I didn't feel the romance (and that's what I read books for). Not right from the start, anyway. Maybe from around the 75% mark but not before.
 
Seeing it from only Griff's POV helped us realise that he had feelings for his best friend but he fought against it with everything he had. We never really saw anything from Dante to know if he wanted Griff the same way until the second porn video was made--maybe not even then--and that had to be at the half way point.
 
Maybe if the romance had started a little sooner I'd have given it a better rating.
 
Another thing that I found a little strange was all the sound effects wrote into the book: "lub-lub" "thwack-thwack". Gave me a few WTF? moments.
 
One thing I liked the authenticity of the fires and the guys in action; the teasing, the teamwork, the fire fighting.