Cloud Whispers
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The daughter she gave away. The family she always wanted. The journey to redefine her fate. Katie...
women's fiction chicklit fiction family life literary fiction
Jewels of Truth: The Journey of the Soul Continues, Vol. 3
6.0
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Your spiritual journey of self-improvement continues in volume three of the Jewels of Truth series...
religion self-help spirituality
Rebuilding Year (Reconstruction #2)
10.0
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Publisher Description Can two very different men fake a relationship for the sake of a...
Vindictive Too
Book
The best revenge never includes forgiveness. To truly punish the guilty, something worse must be...
Thriller LGBTQ+
Merissa (14210 KP) rated After the Wanting in Books
Jun 28, 2021 (Updated Jul 18, 2023)
There are many threads that help weave this tale - a husband looking for forgiveness, a daughter lost in her emotions, and a psycho who feels justified in his atrocities. Put them together and you get a tense thriller that will keep you turning the pages until you figure out just who the big bad is. I will say he didn't surprise me when I found out, although I was surprised by how long it had been going on.
The pacing is quite fast and there are a number of supporting characters to help the story move along. Told as a current story, with flashbacks, and also some scenes from the future, it was a little confusing, to begin with, until I got used to the writing style.
This was a quick read that I can recommend.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 28, 2021
Shadow Healer (Blood Shadows #3)
10.0
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To reach the light, first they have to face the Shadows…. Riley has been a Healer long enough...
Adult Paranormal Romance
Speechless
8.5
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I may not be able to speak—yet—but no Alpha bark can silence me. After being abandoned by her...
Fantasy Romance Reverse Harem MMFMM Omegaverse Non-Con
Love and Other Cures for the Recently Undead
Book
CeCe Campbell wakes on the asphalt of a mall parking lot with two missing years and a body that no...
New Adult Post-Apocalyptic Romance
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Ben-Hur (2016) in Movies
Jul 15, 2019
The story follows a fictional Jewish Prince, Juda Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) as he is betrayed by his adopted brother and roman officer Messala (Toby Kebbell). Juda’s family is falsely accused of treason and Juda becomes enslaved by the Romans. Fueled by hate, Juda returns to Jerusalem seeking vengeance, until he unexpectedly finds compassion, forgiveness and redemption.
Walking into Ben-Hur, I did not know what to expect. I watched the 1955 version of Ben-Hur in 7th grade and did not remember anything accept the amazing chariot scene. That being said, this 2016 version of Ben-Hur stands on its own as a good film. Set in the time of Jesus, the story of Ben-Hur can be universally understood by people in all walks of life, religious or otherwise. That was something that I really appreciated about this film. Often stories set in a Christian setting can turn out to be distractingly preachy. However, Ben-Hur was the perfect blend of religion being hinted at throughout the story but never actually becoming the focal point of the story as a whole until redemption is found. Sure, it is there throughout for those who want it to be, but it also plays as a quiet catalyst for Juda through the compassion he sees in his wife Esther (Nazanin Boniadi) and Jesus (Rodrigo Santoro).
The film is acted well and the use of relatively unknown actors to play these major roles in an epic like this only works to strengthen the story as a whole. In fact, the most popular actor by far is Morgan Freeman (Ilderim) who has maybe 15-20 minutes of total screen time.
From a technical standpoint, Ben-Hur works not only visually with fantastic epic action scenes, but also in its pacing. The film’s pacing finds balance between intense action moments and the quieter exposition scenes that helps develop these characters, most notably Juda. We witness Juda’s transformation from naive prince, to a slave fighting for survival, to a man on a mission for revenge and the forgiveness he gains along the way.
Ben-Hur stands out to me this summer because at its core, it is a good coherent story told between impressive action pieces. Unlike so many recent summer blockbusters that are intent on showing off huge set pieces and not much more, Ben-Hur doesn’t forget that those action scenes are there to further the plot and tell a human story.
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Destined in Books
Feb 11, 2019
Rephaim also continues to battle with his origins and his new lease on life, thanks to Nyx's forgiveness. Though Rephaim himself does little to progress the plot, his presence serves as a major catalyst for both sides and drives Kalona to make some interesting choices.
There is also the addition of a new fledgling to the mix, whose addition answers one question about the red fledglings, but brings up many new questions as she has a new gift of True Sight. From the descriptions, she can see auras, though the word is never used for whatever reason, which I also found annoying. One other addition is another adult to the Tulsa House of Night, a major supporter of Zoey and company, who brings a good dose of sanity and maturity that it so desperately needs. I have renewed hopes in the continuation of this series.