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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Mine to Take (Mine, #1) in Books
Jan 6, 2021
l love the cover of this; it’s very evocative. It caught my attention straight away. I should probably say that if a cover doesn’t look very good, I’m not very likely to read the synopsis. I know it sounds bad, but it’s how I choose my books. (This isn’t always the case, I might add, but generally it is.)
The story was just as good as the cover with some hot scenes and an engaging storyline.
This is my third book by Cynthia Eden (Bound In Sin and A Bit of Bite, are the other two) and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Her style of writing and the characters she creates are extremely engaging. This was no exception.
Trace was hot. The obvious desire he had for Skye was captivating and I was engrossed in their back-story and what started it all off between them and how he was going to get her back after letting her go ten years ago. He was so intense but it didn’t come across as annoying, to me it came across as passionate and almost desperate.
Skye was strong and somewhat stubborn but I’m surprised she didn’t break under the mounting pressure of the stalker. At certain points she just seemed so fragile but she always came out more determined. I liked that about her.
Not to mention the whole stalker issue and them trying to figure out who it was. I had a few suspicions about who it might be and questioned myself throughout about my thoughts when further information came out. I wasn’t quite expecting who it turned out to be either, not until right near the end.
If you like a domineering guy, then this is right up your street. If you like romantic suspense, then you’ll love this. I’m looking forward to reading more books from the author.
The story was just as good as the cover with some hot scenes and an engaging storyline.
This is my third book by Cynthia Eden (Bound In Sin and A Bit of Bite, are the other two) and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Her style of writing and the characters she creates are extremely engaging. This was no exception.
Trace was hot. The obvious desire he had for Skye was captivating and I was engrossed in their back-story and what started it all off between them and how he was going to get her back after letting her go ten years ago. He was so intense but it didn’t come across as annoying, to me it came across as passionate and almost desperate.
Skye was strong and somewhat stubborn but I’m surprised she didn’t break under the mounting pressure of the stalker. At certain points she just seemed so fragile but she always came out more determined. I liked that about her.
Not to mention the whole stalker issue and them trying to figure out who it was. I had a few suspicions about who it might be and questioned myself throughout about my thoughts when further information came out. I wasn’t quite expecting who it turned out to be either, not until right near the end.
If you like a domineering guy, then this is right up your street. If you like romantic suspense, then you’ll love this. I’m looking forward to reading more books from the author.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Since You've Been Gone in Books
Mar 25, 2021
A fun, summery YA read
This is the nineteenth book in my #atozchallenge! I'm challenging myself to read a book from my shelves that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Let's clear those shelves and delve into that backlist!
When Emily's best friend Sloane disappears, right on the cusp of the epic summer they have planned, she feels adrift. Sloane is outgoing while Emily is shy, and she doesn't know what to do without her friend. But then a letter arrives from Sloane, with a list of things Emily should do over the summer, such as "kiss a stranger," "dance until dawn," "hug a Jamie," and more. Very little on the list are things Emily feels comfortable with--they are more Sloane-esque--but she embarks on them anyway, hoping they will bring her friend back. Soon she has the unexpected help of Frank Porter, an upstanding fellow classmate and not normally a friend of hers, and her summer is off to an interesting start.
This is a fun and fluffy book, with a small but lovable cast of characters. I really liked Emily and adored Frank. I especially identified with Emily due to her shyness and her intense dislike of horses. Somehow the crossing items off a list concept was fresh and intriguing here. It's a very summery book, filled with all those fun summery things: ice cream, road trips, pizza parlors, falling in love, and more.
It is a little concerning that no one seems to worry that Sloane and her family has been kidnapped, when she just disappears, but maybe kidnapped people don't have access to stamps?
Overall, this is a sweet book focused on teen friendship. It's cute and romantic and will make you long for warm summer nights and falling in love for the first time.
When Emily's best friend Sloane disappears, right on the cusp of the epic summer they have planned, she feels adrift. Sloane is outgoing while Emily is shy, and she doesn't know what to do without her friend. But then a letter arrives from Sloane, with a list of things Emily should do over the summer, such as "kiss a stranger," "dance until dawn," "hug a Jamie," and more. Very little on the list are things Emily feels comfortable with--they are more Sloane-esque--but she embarks on them anyway, hoping they will bring her friend back. Soon she has the unexpected help of Frank Porter, an upstanding fellow classmate and not normally a friend of hers, and her summer is off to an interesting start.
This is a fun and fluffy book, with a small but lovable cast of characters. I really liked Emily and adored Frank. I especially identified with Emily due to her shyness and her intense dislike of horses. Somehow the crossing items off a list concept was fresh and intriguing here. It's a very summery book, filled with all those fun summery things: ice cream, road trips, pizza parlors, falling in love, and more.
It is a little concerning that no one seems to worry that Sloane and her family has been kidnapped, when she just disappears, but maybe kidnapped people don't have access to stamps?
Overall, this is a sweet book focused on teen friendship. It's cute and romantic and will make you long for warm summer nights and falling in love for the first time.
Debbiereadsbook (1487 KP) rated Cypher (The Dragon's Bidding #2) in Books
Aug 9, 2021
read book 1 first!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is book 2 in The Dragon’s Bidding series, and it cannot be read as a stand-alone. You NEED to read A Hero For an Empire before this one and I would recommend you read them back to back. It’s been 4 years since I read the first one, and I think that’s why I feel as I do about this one. I did not have time to reread book one before reading this one!
I found this a much more difficult read, to follow. It’s heavy on the technical stuff and at times I struggled to keep up.
It moves fast, and even though I had to slow down my reading (which is usually a good thing!) I still struggled a bit.
Fitz and Wolf’s relationship is intense in book one, and that flows over into this one. That fact, and the fact we meet Cypher here, are what made me able to finish this book.
Cypher takes over Wolf’s body, his muscles and his bones but not his mind. He can see what Cypher is doing and is helpless to stop it. He has to trust his love for Fitz, Ari and the others in his life will tide him through and THEY will get to the bottom of it all.
It is HEAVY on the fighting/violence scale. While I enjoyed that in book one, it was a not so much here.
Things are still not where Wolf, Fitz and Ari want them to be, and I expect it may take more than one more book to make it so.
I have Cypher’s book to read next, and given what happens here, I’m looking forward to that.
3 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
This is book 2 in The Dragon’s Bidding series, and it cannot be read as a stand-alone. You NEED to read A Hero For an Empire before this one and I would recommend you read them back to back. It’s been 4 years since I read the first one, and I think that’s why I feel as I do about this one. I did not have time to reread book one before reading this one!
I found this a much more difficult read, to follow. It’s heavy on the technical stuff and at times I struggled to keep up.
It moves fast, and even though I had to slow down my reading (which is usually a good thing!) I still struggled a bit.
Fitz and Wolf’s relationship is intense in book one, and that flows over into this one. That fact, and the fact we meet Cypher here, are what made me able to finish this book.
Cypher takes over Wolf’s body, his muscles and his bones but not his mind. He can see what Cypher is doing and is helpless to stop it. He has to trust his love for Fitz, Ari and the others in his life will tide him through and THEY will get to the bottom of it all.
It is HEAVY on the fighting/violence scale. While I enjoyed that in book one, it was a not so much here.
Things are still not where Wolf, Fitz and Ari want them to be, and I expect it may take more than one more book to make it so.
I have Cypher’s book to read next, and given what happens here, I’m looking forward to that.
3 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated A Quiet Place: Part II (2021) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
Y'all get scared too easily lmao. Let's not act like the first one was a genius piece of filmmaking or anything - it just had a solid premise you could wring a metric ton of mileage out of and wasn't afraid to provide lots of fun, goofy, intense thrills in an age of comically over-serious pity parties saturating the horror movie market. I really enjoyed it, but with its sequel the switch from horror/thriller to drama/thriller really took a toll imo. Because what made these work was never the characters, of which I honestly couldn't tell you a single name of nor more than one defining personality trait now two entries later - it was the gimmick, carried so efficiently by the marvelous performances at the forefront. Here the acting still rips (except for Blunt, who along with her character seems totally lost with nothing to do rather than just kind of awkwardly wing it) but the gimmick seems to just try and retrace the steps of the first movie while adding in a deathly simplistic, extraneous story since this one has no real clue what to do with itself... for some reason. And maybe it's just me but this one also looks so much worse. That all being said, this works best when it depicts moments of peace and/or normalcy being immediately brutalized by swift, sweeping violence - it knows exactly how to play them, that shit is *awesome*. Both times it lets these (admittedly kind of lamely designed) creatures wreak havoc on unsuspecting, populated areas it's a total riot. Also features a pretty neat three-way thriller sequence in the middle that's decently cool, too. A perfectly serviceable distraction.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Rules of Redemption (The Firebird Chronicles, #1) in Books
Jan 12, 2021
This starts with Kira trying to get to one of her enemies destroyed ships so she can salvage parts and other things from it, making her way through a field of broken ship parts to get there. She finally makes it on board and salvages several parts but not without incident, heading back to her ship to find out something is now broken and they need to head to a station to buy the part. While there she comes to the rescue of some children and draws the attention of the Tuann, a race of beings who claim she is one of them. She is coerced into going with them to one of their planets by the leader of the group, Graydon, and lots of things come to light - including an intense attraction.
I actually got quite into this, more than i expected to considering sci-fi is not really my type of thing. Loads of stuff kept happening and kept me entertained. Secrets came to light, a romance was blooming, people thought dead were coming back out of the woodwork...
It was really well thought out and written and we learnt things about Kira in dribs and drabs that kept us guessing about her and what happened in her past until we learnt even more. It was great. The ending had me intrigued enough to go and buy book 2 straight away.
I'll admit that the above is mostly down to the romance that was slowly brewing between Kira and Graydon and the little fact that he's not letting her leave - which I find quite funny, because Kira was ready for killing him about it, and because I am excited to see what happens there romantically.
I actually got quite into this, more than i expected to considering sci-fi is not really my type of thing. Loads of stuff kept happening and kept me entertained. Secrets came to light, a romance was blooming, people thought dead were coming back out of the woodwork...
It was really well thought out and written and we learnt things about Kira in dribs and drabs that kept us guessing about her and what happened in her past until we learnt even more. It was great. The ending had me intrigued enough to go and buy book 2 straight away.
I'll admit that the above is mostly down to the romance that was slowly brewing between Kira and Graydon and the little fact that he's not letting her leave - which I find quite funny, because Kira was ready for killing him about it, and because I am excited to see what happens there romantically.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The Hateful Eight (2015) in Movies
Aug 30, 2019 (Updated Sep 11, 2019)
A modern masterpiece
Honestly, there is nothing I dislike about the 8th film from Quentin Tarantino. Absolutely nothing.
From the minute The Hateful Eight starts it's meaty runtime, we're treated to some stunning long distance shots. The setting is gorgeous, and every shot in the opening moments has been shot with care.
It's not long until the cast start getting introduced, specifically Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), John Ruth (Kurt Russell), Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), as they all make their way to the town of Red Rock for various reasons.
All four of them are fantastic, as they masterfully work Tarantino's wonderful script. As usual, the dialogue throughout The Hateful Eight is thoroughly engaging, and didn't lose my attention for one second.
On the way there, they stop at an inn to shelter from the violent blizzard - Minnie's Haberdashery - where the rest of the film takes place. It's here we meet Bob (Demián Bichir), Oswald Mobray (Tom Roth), Joe Gabe (Michael Madsen), and General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), rounding out our eight strong cast of hateful characters.
What follows is a dialogue heavy, intense ride as these characters begin to find themselves at odds with each other, revealing hidden secrets along the way, in the aftermath of American Civil War.
It's an intriguing set up that I can't say anymore about without spoiling anything.
It's certainly a film that benefits from knowing nothing about it before going in.
As I said, this is an amazing looking movie, with an extremely solid cast, and a tight and often funny script. The music score is beautiful just to add a lovely finishing touch.
I can't praise this masterpiece enough - Tarantino at his best.
From the minute The Hateful Eight starts it's meaty runtime, we're treated to some stunning long distance shots. The setting is gorgeous, and every shot in the opening moments has been shot with care.
It's not long until the cast start getting introduced, specifically Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), John Ruth (Kurt Russell), Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), as they all make their way to the town of Red Rock for various reasons.
All four of them are fantastic, as they masterfully work Tarantino's wonderful script. As usual, the dialogue throughout The Hateful Eight is thoroughly engaging, and didn't lose my attention for one second.
On the way there, they stop at an inn to shelter from the violent blizzard - Minnie's Haberdashery - where the rest of the film takes place. It's here we meet Bob (Demián Bichir), Oswald Mobray (Tom Roth), Joe Gabe (Michael Madsen), and General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), rounding out our eight strong cast of hateful characters.
What follows is a dialogue heavy, intense ride as these characters begin to find themselves at odds with each other, revealing hidden secrets along the way, in the aftermath of American Civil War.
It's an intriguing set up that I can't say anymore about without spoiling anything.
It's certainly a film that benefits from knowing nothing about it before going in.
As I said, this is an amazing looking movie, with an extremely solid cast, and a tight and often funny script. The music score is beautiful just to add a lovely finishing touch.
I can't praise this masterpiece enough - Tarantino at his best.
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