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Gypsy Blood (All The Pretty Monsters #1)
Gypsy Blood (All The Pretty Monsters #1)
Kristy Cunning | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
193 of 200
Kindle
Gypsy Blood ( All the pretty monsters book 1)
By Kristy Cunning

 
I'm not all that special, really. Or uncommon. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with old gypsy blood who see the dead, have killer cults hunting their family, and turn into something that gets scary when they panic. Yep. Completely unoriginal, if I do say so myself.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Nope. I'm just an ordinary girl.

I wish people would believe that.

I've been labeled as one thing or another for most of my life:
Death Girl.
Crazy Gypsy Girl.
Gothic Chick.
Monster...

It took my mother's death for me to finally start getting answers about what's really been going on. Unfortunately, most of the answers come from men...who aren't just men. Somehow, I've gone and landed myself in a world truly filled with monsters, and I'm starting to think this is where I should have been all along.

Only...I don't understand what's going on. I'm walking into the middle of a story that's thousands of years old, and I'm the new girl on the block who doesn't have a clue how this world even works. My only guides happen to be the most lethal of the bunch.

They decide who lives or dies. They decide who gets stabbed or tortured.
Yeah...

I've gone and drawn attention to myself, and the ones paying attention are the ones everyone else seems to fear.

How do these things always happen to me?


I didn’t know what to except but found myself totally involved! I love the idea of these alphas and I love her Gypsy powers and how she still has so much to learn! We get to learn with her because this is written so you want to keep going! Anna her ghost is so bloody funny I laughed quite a bit woke my husband several times from sleep! I do think Ace was a bit obvious and she was a bit stupid there but now things get a bit more interesting
  
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Hideo Kojima recommended Blade Runner (1982) in Movies (curated)

 
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
1982 | Sci-Fi
8.5 (75 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"When it was first released, I was in university. I went to see it alone. In Japan, it only showed for two weeks. There were probably similar reactions in America after its release. Nowadays, it’s regarded as a classic, but when it was first revealed, there was a lot of criticism. Maybe Death Stranding is the same [laughs]. When Blade Runner was shown for the first time in movie theaters, it was totally different from other movies. The rhythm of how it begins and all, that’s why it catches my eyes. It’s something that’s really indigestible in the beginning and stays in me. Then we moved on to the home video era, where you can watch videos over and over in your room. In the cinemas, you see it once and it’s over. Anything else that’s not digestible and that you can’t relate to, will be criticized. But for videos, it’s different. You can watch it over and over until you digest it yourself. Blade Runner might at one time be perceived only as a “cult movie,” but turned mainstream from the ability to watch it over and over and allow the viewers to digest the content. So Blade Runner was ahead of its time for the current generation at its release. Ghost in the Shell was probably the same, because it was on video where people watched it over and over. It got really popular; everyone got it. I deliberately made the tempo of Death Stranding totally different than the current games out there. So it might not be for everyone. Blade Runner showed in the cinemas, but then it changed when it came to video. Same with games. We have a platform, we have a console, and then in the future, it will be all streaming. Everything, storytelling, and the rhythm of how you play games will totally change in the near future."

Source
  
In Her Shadow
In Her Shadow
Mark Edwards | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Jessica, mom of two kids, who even after five years, still devastated by her sister’s death. Suddenly, her little girl starts telling that she can talk to her auntie and starts revealing very accurate details from Isabel’s past. Did Isabel really died by accident or was she murdered? How does Jessica’s little girl know so much about the aunt she never met? Read the book to find out!

I really loved this book and its characters. The main characters would be Jessica and Isabel, who were telling the story. I really loved the multiple perspectives in this book, it allowed to see what was actually going on, and Isabel’s story made the whole reading experience more suspenseful and intriguing. I really liked the ghost element to it, the author very cleverly incorporated the experiences from the main characters past, to create more mystery. I liked the diversity and variety of other characters, even though their personalities were not discussed in detail, they played vital parts in the “bigger picture”.

The narrative was very absorbing for me. I really wanted to see what Jessica will find out next, and these little clues kept me on the edge all the way through. This novel has plenty of twists and turns, and the transition between chapters is very smartly written.

One thing for sure, Mark Edwards really knows how to write a good psychological thriller. The chapters have a very decent length and they are divided into smaller parts that did not leave me bored. I absolutely loved the culmination of this novel! It was incredibly twisty, rounds up the story nicely, but at the same time still leaves the reader guessing.

So, to conclude, I really enjoyed this dark and entangled family drama, filled with well-written characters, ghosts, and a very engrossing plot filled with unexpected findings. I strongly recommend to give this book a go, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
  
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story
Kate Summerscale | 2020 | History & Politics, Mystery, Paranormal
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Haunting of Alma Fielding is the non-fiction account of Nando Fodor and his investigation in to the haunting of a London housewife. Fodor was a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and worked for the International Institute for Psychical Research. When Fodor was tipped off about a possible poltergeist haunting, he rushed to Alma’s house to try and work out what exactly was going on. He was scrupulous. He involved trusted mediums, wrote detailed notes (lucky for us!) and whilst reading the book, it became obvious that Fodor became obsessed. His obsession however, had a deleterious effect on Alma. The more access to her that he had, the more physically ill she seemed to become and the more she seemed to be haunted.

There does seem to be a theme of obsession running through this with regards to Fodor. I was never quite sure if his obsession was with Alma’s haunting, or with Alma herself. She was an attractive woman, after all. He would certainly have been stopped a lot sooner if this had happened today (but I do wonder whether this would have happened at all).

The historical background and the build up to the Second World War was very interesting, and I enjoyed the historical detail throughout. I also liked that there was an ending. Summerscale researched up to the deaths of those involved - I appreciated that closure. But what interesting lives these people had!

This was a great story for a sceptic like me. Ghost stories fascinate me. I don’t believe that there are ghosts, but I still like that they have the ability to unnerve and scare me! And this was certainly unnerving!

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book. I probably would have gone on the waiting list at the library because of the (well-deserved) buzz around it, but I really do much prefer not having to wait and reading along with my fellow pigeons!
  
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ClareR (5721 KP) rated Things In Jars in Books

Sep 22, 2019  
Things In Jars
Things In Jars
Jess Kidd | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Victorian England, a female detective and a touch of the supernatural - what’s not to like?
Things in Jars is set in Victorian London. Bridie Devine is a female detective who is called on by Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, a baronet, to find his secret daughter, Christabel, who has been kidnapped. However, he doesn’t want to involve the police (this is where alarm bells start to go off!). Very few people in his household know about the existence of Christabel, and she is shut away, ostensibly to protect them from her. Because Christabel is not an ordinary child: she has supernatural powers that can harm people. Bridie doesn’t believe this, of course. So with the help of Cora, her 7 foot tall housemaid and Ruby, the ghost of a prizefighter, she sets out to rescue the child.

I absolutely loved this book. I was never sure if the mythical, fairytale elements were real, or whether Bridie believed them to be real. The seedy, macabre side to London, the sights and smells of the winding streets and the general atmosphere were so well described, that I could have been standing next to Bridie, watching the moving tattoos across Ruby’s torso! Bridie is an excellent character. She feels compelled to find Christabel, mainly because she is coming to the job with a failure weighing heavy on her shoulders, but also she can remember being alone in the world as a child.

Mrs Bibby is a superb villain - she has her conspirators dancing to her tune. She has a gun (and a limp!) and she’s not afraid to use it! Her macabre ‘fairytales’ really ramped up the atmosphere, and showed how truly awful she was. There was a real menace about her.

Other than what I’ve said here, all I can really say is - go and read this book! I loved it (I’ve said that already, I know!), go and read it - you won’t be sorry!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.