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    iFlightPlanner

    iFlightPlanner

    Weather and Navigation

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    Welcome to iFlightPlanner for iPad v3.0! iFlightPlanner provides unparalleled flight planning from...

Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Robert Downey Jr (0 more)
Hulk and Thor (1 more)
Little screen time for many favourite characters
Solid end to an epic series.
So back in 2008 (which is 11 years ago at the time of writing - where did the time go!) the film Iron Man came out starring Robert Downey Jr. I loved that film but little did I know at the time that over the course of the next 11 years we’d have such a huge universe created for us by Marvel over a plethora of films culminating in one 3 hour epic film (no consideration for my bladder.) The whole scale of this movie is mind blowing in that context.

This film has plenty of action and lots of homage to the films in the franchise. It does a solid job of tying things off. It's just not going to be one of my favourites (although an improvement on Infinity war.)

Now the Marvel universe has built up a heck of a lot of characters, some I love, some less so but fundamentally we just have too many characters. Trying to cram them into one film is just unwieldy and we lose the sharpness many of the films had. For me, unfortunately this film focuses more of the characters I’m less keen on. The ones I do love, that were front and centre, seemed to have all undergone personality changes to make them terrible. OK I get it seeing half the life in the universe wiped out is going to ruin anyone's mood but the changes we saw in Hulk and Thor were just way off for me. Downey fortunately manages to carry a lot of the film, with some great revisiting of tension between Stark and Cpt. America. Only Rocket seemed vaguely recognisable as a character I love. Many barely get a line in when they do turn up.

The fun that is so evident in most of the best marvel films didn’t feel as present, I just needed more of that Marvel feel before a big huge battle to save the day.
  
    Weather United States

    Weather United States

    Weather

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    Weather App is a beautiful and clean app, designed to be as simple to use as possible, to make you...

The Other Half of Augusta Hope
The Other Half of Augusta Hope
Joanna Glen | 2019 | Contemporary
9
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Augusta Hope is the other twin - Julia is the beautiful one who everyone feels able to easily connect with. Augusta is harder work. Whilst Julia wants to stay at home and marry the boy next door, Augusta wants to go to University and travel. Her favourite book is the dictionary, she collates a folder on Burundi and hopes to go there one day. Augusta follows her own path, tells people what she thinks and drives her very conventional family mad.

Alongside the story of Augusta, chapters are alternated with Parfait and his story. He lives in Burundi - a country torn apart by Civil War. Parfaits family is destroyed by the horrors of this war, so he and his younger brother leave for what they feel will be a better life in Spain. Life has more sadness to throw at Parfait, though - and Augusta is dealt a cruel hand as well. She finds solace in Spain, which is where Parfait and Augusta are destined to meet.

I liked the alternating chapters of Augusta and Parfait - this device really highlighted the huge differences in their lives early on. As the story progresses though, it also shows that no matter how different we may all appear, there are actually more similarities than differences. We are all human; we all experience love and loss.

This was such a good way to highlight the refugee crisis in Europe. At a couple of points in the story, Parfait announces to the Spanish town how many people had died in the Mediterranean that year in their quest to live a better life. This book is heartbreaking in more than this one way. Both characters suffer unimaginable loss, and both learn to value life, a feeling of home and belonging.

It’s a wonderful book, and one that I’d heartily recommend. Many thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for my ebook copy.
  
A Child for the Reich
A Child for the Reich
Andie Newton | 2022 | History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Inspired by a true story, this book is absolutely gripping and full of tension, heartbreak and the story of one woman's quest to find and rescue her daughter from the Nazi's Lebensborn programme.

Anna Dankova and her family live in Nazi-occupied Prague. Her husband and brother-in-law have joined the Czech Resistance leaving them to try and raise their children with the ever present danger of the Nazi soldiers, the Gestapo and the much feared Brown Sisters; female nurses who were dedicated to the Nazi cause. They worked for the Nazi Welfare Organization and searched through villages and towns for Aryan-looking children.

Anna and her sister's children are blonde-haired and blue-eyed and their fears are only too real but they are powerless against the might of the Nazi regime and one day, Anna's daughter, Ema is literally ripped from her arms in broad daylight leaving Anna, understandably, distraught and determined to get her back whatever the risks before she is lost forever.

Anna uses all her skills, courage and guile to find her daughter, infiltrate the children's home where she has been placed to be indoctrinated into the German way and to figure out a way to get her out of there whilst under the ever present threat of exposure and certain death.

This is a story full of tension and heartbreak and one mother's determination to find her daughter no matter what and it was absolutely gripping and I have no hesitation recommending it to those of you who 'enjoy' reading historical fiction based on true stories and events.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of A Child for the Reich.