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ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Gloaming in Books

May 2, 2018 (Updated May 2, 2018)  
The Gloaming
The Gloaming
Kirsty Logan | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A grown up fairy tale
This is a story which weaves the fantastical and the real together so well. It's set on a small, remote Scottish island, where the people there believe in selkies and turn to stone on a cliff top looking out to the ocean, when they die.
Mara Ross and her family live in a run down castle, that they never quite manage to repair. After her little brothers death, Mara leaves the island with Pearl, who she often refers to as a mermaid or a selkie (it's her job, actually).
This is a story of love, loss, hope, return and growing up. Fairy tales are used as a way of illustrating gender roles and how they have changed. This all sounds far too 'dry' though. This story is written in such lyrical, wistful language. It's beautiful. I could carry on reading it for another 200 pages. You're never quite sure what's real and what's fairy tale - and that's O.K.
And for the record, I like that there's no definite ending. I think that works really well with the rest of the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.
  
Lucy Berberian is back in her hometown of Ocean Crest, New Jersey, while she tries to figure out what to do next in her life. While she is reconnecting with family and friends, she is also working at her parent’s restaurant, Kebab Kitchen. Her high school nemesis, Heather Banks, is now the health inspector, and goes out of her way to make trouble for Lucy. However, after eating at the restaurant’s hummus bar, Heather dies in the parking lot. With business declining and Lucy the prime suspect, Lucy begins to search for answers. What happened to Heather?

This series is off to a good start. Lucy has a great collection of family and friends, although I did feel that her parents could be better fleshed out. We see hints of more here, something I hope is developed further as the series progresses. The mystery is solid with several believable suspects and plenty of secrets. The ending surprised me and kept me turning pages.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-hummus-and-homicide-by-tina.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Underwater (2020)
Underwater (2020)
2020 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Entertaining
I tried to into this one with an open mind. I'm not a big fan of Kristen Stewart and I got what I expected from her performance-a pretty bland, non-emotional showing. Having her half naked through a lot of it didn't really save her performance either. The rest of the cast and crew were pretty good, however, so they more than made up for it. The cinematography was good-dark and murky-but what you'd expect from a movie shot under the ocean. The story, however, was pretty fascinating and surprisingly entertaining. Not all entirely believable, but(here's my nerd side speaking), seeing as how we've only explored a mere 5% of the world's oceans-especially what's underneath-the creatures and effects were pretty cool. I watch a lot of animal planet shows and after seeing some of the weird creatures that we DO know about at certain depths, this movie really makes you wonder what we DON'T know about under the earth's oceans. This movie had plenty of creep factor and a few gruesome scenes but nothing that younger viewers couldn't handle. Good one for a scary movie night! Worth a watch!
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Deep Blue Sea (1999) in Movies

Feb 20, 2020 (Updated Feb 20, 2020)  
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
1999 | Action, Drama, Horror
Sharks On A Plane
Deep Blue Sea- think of "Jaws", meets "Jurassic Park". What a great cast that is mostly wasted expect for Samuel L. Jackson he is the best in this film. Him and the shark that eats him, oh did i spoil it, its 11 years old at this point. 11 years since it came out in 1999. Thomas Jane, LL Cool J and Stellan Skarsgård are good actors just i think their were wasted in this film. Samuel L. Jackson was the best part of this film, he kills it by a shark.

The Plot: On an island research facility, Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) is harvesting the brain tissue of DNA-altered sharks as a possible cure for Alzheimer's disease. When the facility's backers send an executive (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate the experiments, a routine procedure goes awry and a shark starts attacking the researchers. Now, with sharks outnumbering their human captors, McAlester and her team must figure out a way to stop them from escaping to the ocean and breeding.

Dont forger the main theme song "Deepest Bluest" by LL Cool J and you got a film.