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I love the eye-catching cover and description of this book. Yours, Mine & Forever is a truly sweet story about the road through the adoption process. The book is complicated by two guys interested in a relationship with Norah, the ups and downs of adoption and second-guessing yourself. I truly loved getting a glimpse into the adoption process for a single parent. Joanne Markey developed her characters very well and I really felt Norah’s struggles and her heart for the kids very keenly. She also weaved in faith and reliance on God that emphasized talking to God like second nature to her characters, a fact I really liked.
If you like books by Denise Hunter, you would love this book! It has elements of faith, family, and happily ever after. A true Hallmark warm fuzzy feeling inside a book. I give it 4 out of 5 stars for the big heart Norah displays regarding the kids, the emphasis on faith and for having some bittersweet moments weaved in.
  I will say that this is the second book in a series and can technically be read as a standalone. However, I highly suggest reading the books in order to better understand the context of the story. I read the first book after the second (silly of me I know), and I totally understood more of the second story context afterward.
 *I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest opinion. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
This review and more can be found at my blog https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited Library.

Firstly I'll admit that it's been a while since I read the first three books in this series - and I believed that it was only going to be a trilogy, for some reason, so I had forgotten some of the details of this book but things were rehashed a little.

With Alexis and her small group now known by all the other Demigods in the world, they are thrown into a steep learning curve of dealing with politics and trying to learn how to use her powers for other things. There's also the fact that a Hades Demigod is trying to get their hands on Alexis, any means necessary.

A lot happened in this and, as mentioned above, I hadn't retained a lot of information about this series, so I was a little overwhelmed by all the characters. I quickly picked up who the Six were and Daisy and Mordecai.

I did enjoy this and should hopefully now remember enough for future books - book 5 is coming soon! - so I'm looking forward to reading them and seeing the results of that last chapter. I can see it's not going to go well and this group of amazing guys may end up fighting for their lives. Again.

This review is rather lacking but I have no way of saying more without giving away important plot points and that's just not fair.
  
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Jonathan Higgs recommended Adrenaline by Deftones in Music (curated)

 
Adrenaline by Deftones
Adrenaline by Deftones
1995 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"That was a really good band for me growing up. Lots of my friends were into really heavy bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit. And I always used to find a lack of melody and musicality to those bands; they seemed all about aggression and there were no tunes to sing, and the lyrics were usually shit as well. And Deftones were really melodic, and that's rare. They would play in such an aggressive way and yet they had this mode that they always wrote in, so their songs always have a certain sadness to them no matter what they were doing. This record has this incredible sadness and extra power you could never get, no matter how loud you play it. The harmony has such a nostalgic wistfulness. The older you get, the more you get into the feeling and the emotion of it, whereas when you're young it's all about the excitement. The album hit the perfect sweet spot for me, where it gave me all the aggression I wanted from Nirvana, but these guys are extra heavy and they have this amazing sadness. I used to play the drums and would play exactly the sort of things Deftones were doing. I also think Chino Moreno's singing style, high and forceful, along with Thom Yorke, is where my voice comes from. I always try to emulate them. Moreno could sing hard but he could sing a melody that was high and above the dirge below, sailing out above the chaos below it"

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The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
1960 | Action, Adventure, Western

"My fondness for the western has probably got to be included in here, but it can’t be something like Hombre, which is kind of silly. You know, I’d probably go Magnificent Seven, truthfully, if I’m going five, because seeing Charles Bronson, seeing Steve McQueen come into his own and just sit there and steal focus is kind of awesome. It’s one of those movies that has a pretty simple story, like a lot of great westerns, and I love simple storytelling. I think it’s so powerful. And I think The Magnificent Seven’s very simple storytelling and seeing that crazy group of guys – Yul Brynner, Bronson, across the board – all on horseback, sort of wondering what it was like shooting that, to me, as an actor, that always fascinates me. Knowing the amount of egos and the points in their careers when they had to shoot that movie, that, to me, as an adult, makes me put that on this list. When you watch the McQueen documentary about him, it breaks down how, whereas Paul Newman always seemed so relaxed and cool on set, McQueen was a fighter. He was an orphan who was constantly fighting for validation, you know? And they would talk about how, if you were in a scene with him, forget it. He was going to steal focus. In one scene, I think he’s reloading his gun, and it’s not even his scene, and it’s like, forget it. He wants you to just stare him in the eyes. [laughs] It’s pretty great."

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Two Forces (Crescentwood #2)
Two Forces (Crescentwood #2)
R.A. Smyth | 2021 | Contemporary, Erotica, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Darker, dirtier and a damn sight more dangerous!

Spoilers/warning : Please be aware there is an attempted rape scene/a rape and sex trafficking which includes reference to underage girls which could be a trigger for some readers.
    Also a few graphic descriptions of violence and sex.

Chapter one starts us on the same day we left off, only with Sophie, not Preston.
    I'm so happy that we've not jumped ahead weeks, especially after the cliffhanger of the first book. It's pretty seamless too, no subtle character discrepancies and no questions about what's happened since we were last enveloped in Crescentwood.

Sophie is as strong and sassy as ever but we get to see a more vulnerable side too. A side that puts cracks in tough exteriors of four smoking hot guys.

Each page I read makes me want a reverse harem so bad! Hot, gorgeous bad boys with tattoos and a soft spot for Sophie and some mind blowing sex.....lucky girl! I love how the boys characters are growing, how each of them is showing traits that explain why Sophie is so drawn to them.

Yet again we're left with questions and a bit of a cliffhanger but I wouldn't have it any other way, it just has me impatiently waiting for the next installment!

The epilogue is grim, twisted and puts a lot of the pieces together. It confirmed some of my theories, made me uncomfortable, oddly satisfied and quite honestly anxious about what's ahead for Sophie and the boys.
  
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Steve Vai recommended Mule Variations by Tom Waits in Music (curated)

 
Mule Variations by Tom Waits
Mule Variations by Tom Waits
1999 | Rock
3.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"There’s a funny story here. When I was with Dave Roth he would always talk about Tom Waits in a very respectful way which was rare. I never heard Dave speak reverently about anybody and I didn’t even know who Tom Waits was. I had never come across his music. But all through the years, Dave would always say, ‘Yeah, like Tom Waits’ and I’d just say ‘Yeah, yeah!’ And then I was on tour with Whitesnake and there was this band opening up called Bad English whose singer was a guy called John Waite and I thought “Wow, this was what Dave was talking about? Hmm, it’s kind of strange because it’s not the kind of singer that Dave would be reverent about.” And then I realized I had the wrong guy… So I went to the store and bought about twenty Tom Waits albums and (one of them was Mule Variations), and I remember that I was listening to all these records, getting three tracks in and literally throwing them away. Then I put Mule Variations on and stopped dead in my tracks. It completely leveled me and I can say – out of everybody I’ve talked about – Tom Waits is my favorite artist now. I completely resonate deeply with his music, his voice and his lyrics; I buy everything he ever does. He’s one of those guys who are totally at one with the creative element with no excuses or concerns about what’s going on around him – totally uncompromising.A lot of people think they’re uncompromising, but they’re not…"

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Gaz Coombes recommended New Values by Iggy Pop in Music (curated)

 
New Values by Iggy Pop
New Values by Iggy Pop
1979 | Punk
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This was a great time for Iggy Pop. He'd been through a lot but this particular time period, things really seemed to work for him. And I like the exploration of early synths here as well. You've got a song like 'The Endless Sea' which has the over-loud synths. I'd have turned them down a little bit but it's great because it's really in-your-face and you can really hear the excitement of the guys getting hold of a Moog. There's an innocence here coupled with an early discovery of stuff. And this album is more about the songs. I don't know if it's a case of something being overplayed but I much prefer listening to this than say, 'The Passenger' or 'Lust For Life'. Maybe it's because those songs are always on and they're just overplayed - and they are brilliant and amazing songs - but there's a tightness about New Values, especially in the drum sound. They've obviously come back from Hansa and the open room, which is a sound that people have tried to emulate over the years, to do something different. Certainly when you look at albums like this, Horses and Marquee Moon, Supergrass were really trying to channel that '75-'79 period and that edgy punkiness but with elements of sophistication. I bought a Telecaster Deluxe guitar in the late 90s and I was really chuffed to get it because it was probably played by one of those musicians from that time period."

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Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1967 | Blues, Psychedelic, Rock
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I'd only heard the singles on the radio in America, and my mother happened to be going to Germany. I said to her: "Get me any copies you can of Jimi Hendrix." Because I loved the shiny covers that you guys got in Europe, unlike the crappy covers we got. This was 1967. The first time I heard him was 'Hey Joe', on the radio. The playing was so fluid. I kept wondering how many people there were in the band. I got to meet them on their very first tour. [He pulls out his phone, and shows a photo of Hendrix, taken on Febuary 28 1968, at a club in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by a photo of the poster for the gig, at which he was supported by Soft Machine]. It was $3.50 to get in, and I got to see two shows - a six o'clock and a 9.30 show. The photo is backstage at that show. I was thinking: "Man, a guy who looks that cool …" It was the best ever show. I've been around so long that I ended up knowing the guy who was his bodyguard - he worked for us for a while. He wasn't a sweet guy, he was a "sleep with the fishes" kind of guy. He said he used to go out with Jimi and they would goof off, and there was nothing mysterious about him. Hendrix had it all: the voice, the songwriting, the guitar playing, and the weirdness. He was from outer space."

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Justice League International, Vol. 4
Justice League International, Vol. 4
Keith Giffen | 1989 | Comics & Graphic Novels
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The 80s. I know, right? What the heck happened??! When did things get so confusing and angstastically heavy?! I mean, beside the frelled up election result for 2016??

Thankfully, despite all of that, there are many good outlets to remind us how to have fun and to also remind us that WE actually used to be FUN! Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis truly know how to have fun times with the likes of Batman, Blue Beetle, and Martian Manhunter, just to name a few of the characters within.

The art, from artists Mike McKone, Ty Templeton, and Kevin Maguire was equally enjoyable, further enhancing the suing fun times. The only art I wasn't wowed by was Bill Willingham's. Not that it was bad or anything of the sort, I just thought it wasn't one of his stronger contributions. But, yeah, the other guys were all aces!

The only reason it didn't warrant Five Stars, or even Four for that matter, was the last issue in the TPB: "Teenage Biker Mega-Death!" (Vol. 1, Issue #30). The story itself was a weaker offering from Giffen and DeMatteis, only made weaker by the art from Willingham. The "big bad" of the story was neither <i>big</i> nor really very <i>bad</i>! Again, not the worst, but not the best.

Overall, though, this is yet another great example of how to make comics fun and enjoyable! If only they had gone this route for 2017's JUSTICE LEAGUE film!
  
Halo (Fallen Angel, #1)
Halo (Fallen Angel, #1)
Brooke Blaine, Ella Frank | 2019 | LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I got this from the Kindle Unlimited library after being a bit of a geek and going through the story on Chapters - the interactive story app? - and getting intrigued by these two guys and how their relationship would progress.

This starts with the successful rock band TBD looking for another front-man after their old one walked out several months ago and never came back. In walks Halo, a talented guy with the voice they're looking for and decide to make him their frontman. Viper, an original member of TBD, feels an intense attraction to Halo from the moment he walks in the room and it only grows when he hears him sing - the only issue is Halo claims he's straight.

Since I'd read through the story on Chapters, I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen although in the app we only see Halo's POV and in this book we get alternating POV's between both Halo and Viper and i thought it was great to see what was going on in Viper's head.

I love the progression of this thing that sparks between them and Viper's innuendo and single mindedness when it comes to wanting to get in Halo's pants. That's why I've called it a thing because Viper isn't exactly the romantic type but the care and attention he's shown Halo makes me believe he truly cares about him and I cannot wait to read the next book to see where their relationship goes next.