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The Contessa's Brooch (The Harmony Duprie Mysteries Book 4)

P.J. MacLayne

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Book

A firebug is stalking Oak Grove and internet researcher Harmony Duprie is on the case. It starts as...

mystery cozy mystery P.J. MacLayne The Contessa's Brooch series The Harmony Duprie Mysteries

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated Murder of a Mail-Order Bride in Books

Aug 8, 2022

After Marriage Comes Murder

Long time bachelor Al Little has found a bride thanks to the internet, and he is thrilled that Svetlana is coming to town. Lizzie Hale, owner of the romance bookstore in Tinker’s Cover, Ohio, gets roped into helping make sure their first meeting and their wedding is perfectly romantic. But when Svetlana turns up dead in the middle of the reception, the question becomes, who would want to kill a new comer to town?

This is a strong second book. The plot kept me engaged the entire time. I did guess a couple of plot points early, but there were so many more I didn’t see coming, including the ending. The book is focused on the new characters central to this mystery, and they are all strong. We do have a small core cast of characters who are back, and they are fun. I also enjoy watching Lizzie’s romantic life, which is a great romantic comedy sub-plot. If you are looking for a slight twist on a cozy mystery set up, this is a series you will love.

Kudos

Merissa (12699 KP) rated Dear John in Books

Sep 12, 2023

Dear John

Holly Day | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

DEAR JOHN is part of the #WorldLetterWritingDay collection and we have Logan, an undercover cop, and Zion, an artist, stuck together on a remote island with no Wi-Fi, internet, or anything digital. Logan wasn't there to keep an eye on Zion, but rather his rather dodgy boyfriend.

I enjoyed my escape to the island. I found the revelations from Zion to be sad and loved how Logan was there for him. Yes, it was insta-love, but sometimes it's just got to be!

This is a short story but there is still a steamy time, plus the tension of not knowing if said dodgy boyfriend would show up. And don't forget the letters that Zion sent, which definitely made me chuckle. A thoroughly enjoyable story that I definitely 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; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 12, 2023

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DM Me for Murder

Sarah E. Burr

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A social media collab turns deadly for influencer Coco Cline. Cordelia “Coco” Cline is over...

Darren (1599 KP) rated Slender Man (2018) in Movies

Jul 5, 2019

Director: Sylvain White
Writer: David Birke, Victor Surge (Screenplay)
Starring: Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, Alex Fitzalan, Taylor Richardson, Javier Botet

Plot: In a small town in Massachusetts, a group of friends, fascinated by the internet lore of the Slender Man, attempt to prove that he doesn't actually exist - until one of them mysteriously goes missing.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: The Worst Horror Film of 2018

Story: Slender Man starts with four high school friends Wren (King), Hallie (Telles), Chloe (Sinclair) and Katie (Basso) decide to learn about Slender Man on the internet, they watch a video to summon him and the next morning the girls have had nightmares, before Katie vanishes.
The three remaining girls start searching for answers after the police come up with nothing and soon find themselves the latest target for the Slender Man.

Thoughts on Slender Man

Characters – Usually I would start to describe the characters here, but this film could well be the worst character development film I have ever seen, we have Wren and Hallie who are the longest surviving members of the group, who mostly just scream and think they are better than everyone else. Chloe is here too, she doesn’t listen to instructions and Katie is the one that goes missing. This is how little we learn about the characters in this film.
Performances – With terrible characters, comes no chance for the poor actresses in the main roles of the film to get anything memorable in, it is hard to give any of them any praise for their performance, mostly because it was hard to tell Joey King and Julia Goldani Telles apart too.
Story – The story follows four girls that play along with a Slender Man mystery that leaves them being terrorised by the mythical monster. The problem with this story is that we are force to follow four boring high characters that are given nothing to make them standout in a crowd, we have a internet video starting the nightmare which doesn’t create any sort of rules behind the mysterious figure. We have one person literally vanish, another one getting chased which just makes it hard to believe just what is happening with the characters will be going through. It is the most lacklustre pointless story we have seen that almost feels like everything is complete list of what not to do when making a movie.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film could be high tension moment, only for it to come back flat on its face not building the tension just, this is a scary moment, over. We even have a mystery which should be interesting but soon turns into nothing important.
Settings – The film is set in a city, didn’t notice which one, but it is surround by woodlands which only get to add what could be the mystery about the Slender Man who could use this area for hiding places.
Special Effects – The effects are just complete the weak attempt to make a movie here, with the Slender Man never getting anything remotely looking scary which he should be if he is literally kidnapping children.

Scene of the Movie – Ummmmmmm, the credits were good.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The kids have nothing that makes them look different.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the weakest horror films you will ever see, it is just a terrible mess, with no scares and doesn’t give the talent a chance to shine in.

Overall: Bad is being nice.
Rating