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I enjoyed both stories in this book. They are quite sweet and it will put you in the holiday spirit. Can Susannah forgive her former love Toby Unger? Toby has two little children who are new students for Susannah. Susannah will need to help her new to students that needs some help with them being a little trouble but will it work? Will they find the love before Christmas? Toby two little children are having a little trouble adjusting to their new surrounding. The handsome Amish man needs desperately needs some help with his two children. Susannah had gotten a broken heart ten years ago when Toby left. Can Susannah find the forgiven him? Will they find they are a true match for each other before Christmas? You can find out by reading the book called "Heart of Christmas" by Marta Perry.

Sally Yoder left her community during her teen years. Her heart is back at home and she believes that her young man named Ben Lapp will not love a bold woman like her. There are some surprises in the book. Sally and her charges are to spend time with their grandmother. The children and Sally are going to experience what an Amish Christmas is. Sally and Ben and the children are going on a sleigh ride to pick out a tree and visit the children Great Grandmother. They get stranded in a snowstorm. Will Sally and Ben find Love? Will the children learn that they can have fun with a plain holiday with no modern electronics? You can read about this story in the book called "A Plain Holiday" by Patricia Davids. You could read both these stories in the book called "An Amish Family Christmas" by Martha Perry and Patricia Davids.
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated The Chalet in Books

Nov 8, 2020  
The Chalet
The Chalet
Catherine Cooper | 2020 | Crime, Mystery
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Chalet was a twisty, turny thriller that had me guessing all the way through. I couldn’t for the life of me work out who had been responsible for the death (and at one point I wasn’t even convinced that he was dead!), and I had a list of pretty much everyone in the chalet. My main reason for their guilt was that they just weren’t very nice (I know, I’ll never make a great detective!).

This story is split between two timelines to begin with - the present day and twenty years before. In the present day, two couples are sharing a chalet for a holiday mixed with business. I’ll say this again: these are not particularly nice people. They’re rich, entitled and generally insensitive.

Interspersed with this timeline is that of two couples twenty years earlier. Two brothers and their girlfriends are on a skiing holiday. They’re all Oxford University students: three come from affluent upper class families, and one, Louisa, comes from a working class, single parent family. She is made to feel different at all times - whether this is her own insecurities is never quite clear. Her boyfriends brother certainly doesn’t do much to make her feel welcome. At some point during this holiday, there’s a terrible accident that has an equally terrible effect on characters in the present day timeline.

I won’t say any more about the storyline - I don’t want to be the one to spoil someone’s reading enjoyment! What I WILL say, is that I thoroughly enjoyed this and looked forward to reading it every morning on the Pigeonhole app. It’s a tense, exciting, addictive read - and I loved it!

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this and helping me once more, to read my NetGalley books! And also thanks to the author, Catherine Cooper for reading along with us.
  
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Loz Hughes (80 KP) rated The Face of Love (2014) in Movies

Jul 23, 2018 (Updated Jul 23, 2018)  
The Face of Love (2014)
The Face of Love (2014)
2014 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
8
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Never sure where its going next. (0 more)
Ends with a feeling of overall sadness for the characters (0 more)
Thought provoking, sentimental and sad
A wife struggles to deal with her grief over the death of her husband who drowned when they were on holiday. Years later she bumps into the doppelganger of her husband, her consequences of her actions shape the film and events afterwards.

Worth a watch, bittersweet film, portrayed so well you feel empathy for each character and how fleeting life is.


Also I wouldnt call this a comedy....more drama, romance, nostalgia and grief.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Miranda (1948) in Movies

Mar 8, 2020  
Miranda (1948)
Miranda (1948)
1948 | Comedy, Fantasy
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Light-as-a-feather comic fantasy is strikingly risque given it was made in the 1940s. A mermaid takes a short holiday in London (disguised as a woman confined to a wheelchair) and carves a swathe through the men she encounters, much to the indignation of their wives and fiancees.

Cheery stuff, with nice comic performances from Glynis Johns and Margaret Rutherford. Surprisingly suggestive as well - the male lead is clearly implied to be at it with the mermaid despite being a married man. Not at all meant to be taken seriously, but charming nevertheless.
  
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Jon Dieringer recommended Eraserhead (1977) in Movies (curated)

 
Eraserhead (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
1977 | Drama, Horror

"I had my cinematic awakening in the late ’90s, and my understanding at the time was David Lynch didn’t want the film commercially released on VHS due to perceived inferior audiovisual quality. As a result, Screen Slate contributor Patrick Dahl and I first saw Eraserhead on an nth generation VHS bootleg with burned-in Japanese subtitles that we purchased at a horror convention in a Holiday Inn near Cleveland. I understood the movie completely differently when I finally saw and heard it in a theater, but this tape has its own vibe."

Source
  
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
1984 | Action, Adventure

"Indiana Jones, that trilogy I just rewatched on a plane from a holiday I just took. I watched all three, and Temple of Doom just continues to win me over. I know; usually, people like The Last Crusade, and there’s a lot of love for Raiders, because it’s the original. But Temple of Doom is just, to me, so funny and entertaining and fun. And the kid from Goonies — Hot Shot? Short Round. He’s so funny, and I grew up with Goonies, but I prefer him in Indiana Jones."

Source
  
Me Before You
Me Before You
Jojo Moyes | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (59 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enjoyed this book. It's an easy read, would probably make a good holiday book. But it is based on a difficult, challenging subject and is both heart-warming and disturbing at the same time.

I loved Lou, the main protagonist and thought she was a very vivid character with depth, richness and lots I could relate to. Whilst the book has a very serious subject matter underpinning the plot, the story is really about Lou and her journey maturity, independence and self-discovery.

A thought-provoking book capably written with sensitivity.
  
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Rachel Lambert recommended The Godfather (1972) in Movies (curated)

 
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
1972 | Crime, Drama

"For one, I remember seeing it on the TNT marathon for a weird American holiday — a random birthday of a president or something — and they were doing this marathon, and I watched it and I watched it again and again and again on this marathon, and I couldn’t stop watching it. From that point on, I remember I went out and got the AFI top 100 list — back before you could look it up online — and I decided I was going to watch every single movie on that list."

Source
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated The Hike in Books

Jan 23, 2024  
The Hike
The Hike
Lucy Clarke | 2023 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a frustrating, yet very enjoyable read. I kept asking myself why on Earth these women were going on such a technical walk on their own. But let’s face it - this was all a huge part of the tension. Would they survive? I mean, everything is against them: from their lack of experience, to the weather.

I really think they should have stuck to their original plan of a beach holiday.

But boy did I enjoy this! The twists and turns made for an addictive, unputdownable read!
  
Against the Claw
Against the Claw
Shari Randall | 2018 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Who Killed the Girl with the Pitchfork Tattoo?
It’s the week of the Fourth of July, and Allie and her aunt Gully are getting ready for the onslaught of customers the holiday weekend will bring to their town of Mystic Bay, Connecticut and the lobster shack that Aunt Gully has started. However, the holiday weekend takes a sad turn when Allie finds a dead body in the bay. No one seems to know who she was. But if no one recognizes her, who would want her dead?

I enjoyed the first book in this series, and it was a delight to return again. The characters are lots of fun, and it was great to see them again. The new characters fit right in; they were so nice, it was hard to believe there was a killer hiding among them. I did think the plot wandered a bit in the first half, but it picked up in the second half. When we reached the climax, I discovered there were some clues I hadn’t even realized where hiding in the book. The location is charming; the perfect summer resort town. So if you are looking for a book to hold on to summer, pick this one up.