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Claiming Hope ( Hope 2)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
83 of 220
Kindle
Claiming Hope ( Hope 2)
By Elizabeth Knight
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

So you guys remember the naked man in the alley?

Now he’s my mate along with one of his friends. I might also have my eyes on the other two as well because why not? Oh yeah forgot to mention, turns out I’m a werewolf, hence the mating thing. Not only that but I’m the only Alpha Female in existence, which makes sense why that asshole of a fake fiance wanted to keep me for himself.

*Girl you suck at explaining what's going on.*

Shut up I’ve got this handled. Managed to do it last time without you.

Anyway…

Thanks to the four men who came crashing into my life, I was rescued and kept safe. Now I’m on a plane to who the hell knows where while the guys keep alluding to the fact that I have an important role to play in their world. Am I ready to step into whatever they have waiting for me? I’ve only been a werewolf for two weeks and still have so much to learn.

That was so much better than book 1! Hopes wolf is just brilliant I loved it the first time round but this was better. The story had an interesting take I loved her different mates and the pack she now leads. The ending was a cliffhanger but a really good one. Definitely moving on to book 3!
  
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Alice (12 KP) rated Ocean Light in Books

Jul 4, 2018 (Updated Jul 7, 2018)  
Ocean Light
Ocean Light
Nalini Singh | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A fantastic installment to a great series
This review was originally posted on my blog raptureinbooks.com
It feels like I’ve been waiting for Ocean Light for 20 years, when in reality it’s probably only 5 or 6 but Ocean Light not only marks the second installment to the Psy-Changeling Trinity it marks a pretty huge milestone in the fantabulous world of the Psy-Changeling. I have one word: BlackSea.

The BlackSea Changelings have been that mystery group for a great many and finally, Ocean Light opens the doors to the black and Nalini Singh drops us in the deep end – figuratively speaking.

This book has my favourite human in it – Bowen Knight. He’s rough, he’s ready, he’s an alpha and he’s dying. Ocean Light is the story of Bowen’s recovery and his ultimate kick-assery of the things that go bump in the night.

After the previous shit-storm where Bowen is gravely injured, we see his rise through the blackness of despair and see him take on the chip that is currently destroying his brain like a boss.

Nothing will take him down. Especially not his own choices.

Our lovely lady of the book is Kaia Luna, a shy, mysterious cook with a scientific background and a really smart pet mouse.

Their growing relationship is beautiful from the outset and Bo brings the shyness out of Kaia really well. She becomes a woman to reckon with under the sweet ministrations of Bowen Knight and I implore you to fuck with her.

Nalini’s writing style is, as always, pretty perfect with nothing bad that I can say about it. She has a way with words and characters that are to die for, plots that I’ve never seen before her and probably never will again.

Ocean Light brings us – as readers – into the deepness that is the black and into the darkness that is The Vanishings. We’re introduced to characters we’ve seen before and to new characters and species that are quite frankly sometimes not what you expect – Bebe I’m looking at you.

Ocean Light has the traditional Psy-Changeling-Human interaction that signature with Nalini’s books and that is threaded throughout each book. We’re 17 books in to the story and I just know Nalini has more to give and there is more for us to learn.

The unique plot base of the Psy-Changeling universe is something that is ever growing and ever evolving with each book. If you’ve never read one of these books I suggest you do. Although you can start with Silver Silence the first in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series – as Nalini Singh gives you plenty of background into the previous history- I highly recommend that you start from the beginning with Slave to Sensation as you will get the full force and magnitude of what is happening in the series and you’ll get the full experience of Nalini Singh’s work.

One of my favourite characters from the preceding books – Kaleb Krychek reappears as the badass that he is in Ocean Light and what I love is that He still retains the badass around everyone but his Sahara. It’s beautiful.

I always give Nalini’s books 5 stars purely because they deserve it. There’s never anything I genuinely say I didn’t like and for a series with this many books that is saying something. Other long running series I’ve read I can lose interest in. Nalini Singh’s books I await with bated breath for the next release.
  
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David McK (3425 KP) rated Blood's Game in Books

Jan 30, 2019  
BG
Blood's Game
Angus Donald | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Like, I'm sure, many others, my first exposure to the writings of [a:Angus Donald|584064|Angus Donald|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] was when I picked up [b:Outlaw|6624899|Outlaw (The Outlaw Chronicles, #1)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347668868s/6624899.jpg|6819139] on sale: a novel which reimagined the familiar character of Robin Hood, and which I thoroughly enjoyed: so much so that I made it a point to pick up all the novels in that series ([b:Outlaw|6624899|Outlaw (The Outlaw Chronicles, #1)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347668868s/6624899.jpg|6819139], [b:Holy Warrior|7710240|Holy Warrior (The Outlaw Chronicles, #2)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327539941s/7710240.jpg|10428506], [b:King's Man|11351795|King's Man (The Outlaw Chronicles, #3)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328436464s/11351795.jpg|16281574], [b:Warlord|13077584|Warlord (The Outlaw Chronicles, #4)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342984405s/13077584.jpg|18244685], [b:Grail Knight|20613734|Grail Knight (The Outlaw Chronicles #5)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410172817s/20613734.jpg|21976159], [b:The Iron Castle|19857964|The Iron Castle (Outlaw Chronicles, #6)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402550564s/19857964.jpg|27860558] and (finally) [b:The Death of Robin Hood|29348050|The Death of Robin Hood (The Outlaw Chronicles, #8)|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467543641s/29348050.jpg|49585935]).

This, however, would be the first time I had read one of Donald's novels that concerned a different central character, and that had a different setting: would it, I wondered, be more of the same, or would it have it's own 'feel'?

The answer, I can now say, is the latter.

Replacing Alan-a-Dale with Holcroft Blood, and told in the more traditional her-and-know third-person narrative (instead of the conceit of an elderly Alan recalling his youthful adventures with Robin Hood), this particular novel deals with the (attempted) theft of the Crown Jewels from the Tower of England during the reign of King Charles II, not long after the restoration.

While that (attempted) theft is carried out by Thomas Blood - who was caught red-handed but later, incredibly, was granted a pardon by Charles II - this novel does not have Thomas as the central character: rather, instead, we follow the fortunes of his youngest son Holcroft: a son who, throughout the course of this novel, becomes friends with Sir John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough (and Winston Churchill's direct descendant).

Whether true or not, young Holcroft is portrayed in this as suffering from a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome, able to easily code and decode correspondence sent to his master The Duke of Buckingham from his various spies and informants: a skill that comes in handy in this tale! I have to say, too, that the court of King Charles II comes across as incredibly decadent, full of scheming and back-stabbing rivals out wholly for themselves ...

I'd be interested in seeing where this series goes, especially as the next entry ([b:Blood's Revolution|36146468|Blood's Revolution|Angus Donald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504033386s/36146468.jpg|57749834]) concerns itself - at least, according to the blurb at the back of this - with what is (in this country - Northern Ireland - at least) a very divisive and pivotal moment in English history.
  
Knight and Day (2010)
Knight and Day (2010)
2010 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Knight and Day, directed by James Mangold (previous director of 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line), is an uninspiring, uninteresting action movie. Getting both of those words to work with the phrase “action movie” is quite a challenge, but somehow, through a group effort, it was pulled off. The movie itself gets boring primarily because the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz have little to no chemistry between them both. Useless action sequences merely add to the feeling that all those involved were ruining a great premise for an action/date movie.

The plot of the movie started out fun and original, but again, the lack of a spark between the two leads just led to disinterest. The director made ample use of what I’ll call the “invisible montage,” wherein one of the main characters is semi-conscious, and what happens to them is revealed in a series of blurred, but outlandishly crazy situations only a few seconds in length and increasing in surrealism. This was a clever, if overused technique, but oftentimes the entire movie felt like longer episodes of these montages, with little reason for each to be happening other than to fill the quota for requisite action sequences. Because of some poor foreshadowing in the beginning of the film, even the finale became extremely predictable and had no weight.

Tom Cruise, playing the bizarrely comic spy Roy Miller, manages to pull his weight in his role. Cruise’s special kind of natural crazy is actually an advantage to the character he is playing. His unpredictability and his utter charm kept me, at the very least, entertained throughout the film.

Cameron Diaz, playing clueless midwesterner June Havens is obviously the weak link here. She can’t seem to keep up with Cruise’s character on screen, and aside from a few cutesy moments in the film, is outclassed by her co-star, and often by members of the supporting cast as well. Diaz doesn’t have a reputation for doing in-depth character studies of her portrayals, but the very least she could do is drop the same confused face she uses for most of the movie.

Together, Cruise and Diaz lack the chemistry that would have made this a decent movie without forcing the audience to shut off the emotional parts of their brains. In fact, the key make-out scene between the two of them was so clichéd as to be boring. Looking back at the entire movie, I believe that after their first few minutes together, the rest of their interactions just felt forced.

As for the rest of the cast, I have no special complaints or accolades, but I would like to single out one individual, and say that I would have loved to see more of Peter Sarsgaard. It’s immediately obvious that knows what he is doing on screen, and he deserved a much larger role than the one given to him.

In summary, Knight and Day is definitely worth skipping out on. Wait a week and soon enough some real 4th of July action blockbusters will be coming out. We’ll be sure to let you know which ones are the real deal and which ones are the duds. It’s just too bad this one was a dud, because it definitely had a lot of potential.
  
Knight of The Dead III: Fortress
Knight of The Dead III: Fortress
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Knight of the Dead III: Fortress continues the adventures of Ronan and his family as they struggle to survive in the Zombie Apocalypse. The third book is a non-stop action-packed adventure as Ronan really starts to build up his fortress in a school building, slowly growing his kingdom. He has finally saved enough people that there really starts to be some interesting dynamics between the survivors and a look to the future can begin to happen. In this book, the stakes are raised as the zombies continue to change and seemingly become smarter and more dangerous. With the stakes raised, his family finally in a stable situation, Ronan sets out full force to save as many others as he can.

Without a doubt, my favorite part if this series is the unique take at apocalypse fiction by throwing in medieval fighting. This book does not disappoint as there are thrilling action scenes, plenty of training sequences, and the knight continuing to become a legend in the modern world. This unique touch simultaneously gives the story a fun and engaging layer while also somehow adding to the believability of the world that author Ron Smorynski has created. With the detailed fighting knowledge, and the time spent on gathering food, training, getting water, and fortifying the school, as a reader you can believe that they would have survived this long.518hheXuwoL._SY346_

This book focuses more on rescue then the previous books and as the cast of characters continues to grow there is less time spent one on one with people. This decreases the amount of individual tension between characters, but there is still tension as Ronan is the dictator and continues to push his Christian values on everyone within his fortress. This dynamic makes sense in the situation, but I like the moments when Ronan gets to be humanized more in small moments. A hug with his wife or children, a cute moment with him and the children, his appreciated a moment of laughter. These moments are very sweet in the otherwise horror-filled world they live in, and Ronan gets to relax the least as a leader.

Pet peeve of mine in apocalypse fiction is the idea that you are completely alone in the world. That although you survived no one else on the planet could have. Smorynski does not fall into this trap. He acknowledges the bigger world, although his characters have very little contact with it. And there is a good balance between the characters feeling alone and being alone. Many people have died in the month of the apocalypse, but they are still finding survivors. There are other people who are holding on. This makes the series more exciting for me and also keeps me excited for the books to come as I enjoy watching the growing community of survivors.

This series is exciting and gripping from beginning to end. Smorynski does a good job of justifying the risks that his characters take and ups the stakes and consequences as the book progresses, making the danger feel read from beginning to end. If you like zombie stories or apocalypse fiction, then I would highly recommend checking this series out. I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here!
  
Passion Awakened (The Hush #1)
Passion Awakened (The Hush #1)
Katherine Diane | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
thoroughly enjoyable 4 star read!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Kyr, leader of the Hush, races a psych test, along with the others in his group. Their supervisor thinks they are hiding something. He was, but not quite what the boss thought. Mira is Awakened, a half breed vampire and trained psychotherapist. She is tasked with assessing The Hush members. All the while, those members are trying to find the missing vampire females who keep disappearing.

While not a particularly original theme, I really REALLY enjoyed this!

The vampires are fighting demons. The vampires are alien to earth. they are big, bulky guys that are drop dead gorgeous. But still!

There is enough variation to the theme to make it sufficently interesting, and engaging. Its dark and deadly in places, and sweet and sexy in others.

Both Mira and Kyr have a say, but also a good deal of the other characters do too, and I loved that we get more from them. The bad guy too! I LOVE when the bad guy gets a say!

There is a MUCH bigger picture going on, which I assume will unfold as future books come out, but I'm not getting a clue as to what that is yet. So that will keep me engaged for the next book at least!

The author has published under another name, Kyla D Knight, but this work doesn't really show the work under that name, if you see what I mean? Very different.

A thoroughly enjoyable 4 star read.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020)
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020)
2020 | Animation
9
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The DC Animated movies are a mixed bags. There are some great ones, and a whole bunch of not so great ones. The top of the pile for me has always been the 2-part adaption of The Dark Knight Returns, until now that is.

Apokolips War is the final movie in the 16-part connected DC Animated Movie Universe, which started back in 2013 with The Flashpoint Paradox, and as a culmination of this particular storyline, it's near perfect.
In terms of plot, things are batshit insane from the get go - notable heroes are slaughtered as Darkseid lays waste to Earth, leaving a broken and small crew left to hold the fort and try and claw a win from a seemingly desperate situation. Everyone gets involved - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing, Etrigan, Shazam, Martian Manhunter, Raven, the whole Suicide Squad roster, just to name a few, and with all these heavy hitters in tow, it's an absolute pleasure to have Constantine at the forefront of it all, once again voiced by the fantastic Matt Ryan.
He's joined by the likes of Rosario Dawson, Tony Todd, Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O'Connell, Taissa Farmiga, Jason O'Mara, Camilla Ludington, John DiMaggio - it's a stacked voice cast to say the least.

The animation is wonderful, the action is non-stop and brutal, gritty yet smooth - it just feels like the creative team on this one pulled out all the stops to make sure the DCAMU finished with and Avengers Endgame sized flex.
It knocks spots off the first Justice League Dark entry and is ultimately my pick for the finest animated DC feature out there.