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Bravetown (2015)
Bravetown (2015)
2015 | Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Today’s movie selection is certainly a ‘heavy’ …. and by heavy I mean 1 half serious and 1 half inspirational. It’s one of those stories where the protagonist has been fighting an uphill battle most of their lives and in the end, being the catalyst for change in the lives of others ends up being that factor which changes their own life for the better.

 

‘Bravetown’ stars Lucas Till as Josh Harvest. A rising star and one of the best club DJ’s in the New York music scene. Night after night his music draws friends, crowds, promoters, and record producers looking to sign him. By day he sleeps and watches ‘Platoon’ when he’s not skipping school. Just as suddenly as the music starts spinning it all comes crashing down though when Josh overdoses one night and is raced to the hospital. After a confrontation with his mother (Maria Bello) and faced with the alternative choice of arrest and imprisonment,

Josh agrees to be sentenced to court ordered rehab and is sent from the mad streets of New York City to a small town in North Dakota to live with his father.

 

After the culture shock of going from the ‘city that never sleeps’ to a small town only known for their kids joining the military upon graduation right out of high school and going off to war (many of whom never return) subsides, Josh succumbs to his situation and settles in to his court appointed rehab with Alex (Josh Duhamel) a veteran who’se obsessed with soccer and has a dark past of his own. Sooner or later, everyone’s past catches up to them though .One night after his arrival, Josh’s reputation from New York catches up to him while attending a school dance. Dissatisfied with the music being played, Josh spins one set while the school’s dance team is performing on stage and then abruptly leaves. Unbeknownst to him, a member of the dance team recognized his music, recorded his set which they then used to win a competition.

After reluctantly agreeing to help them, the school’s last place dance team proceeds to win competition after competition and Josh and the dance team’s captain Mary (Kherington Payne). It soon becomes all to clear to Josh though that Mary’s grief is connected to his therapist’s past and that only by confronting it will Mary and Alex be able to come to terms and heal.

 

There a very few movies that did what this movie his done which is to touch on a subject that very few want to talk about or even acknowledge today in America. The knowledge that most of the people in this country who are sent off to war are young people from small towns or people from low income communities who either have no money to attend college after high school or have no other options for the future except to n the military. Now please don’t misunderstand me. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who serve and defend our nation and I come from a military family. However, for young people though in the present day …. many really have no other future to look forward too because of the high cost of university or college education. As part of the backstory, this film shines a light on that subject and does so in a respectful way. They way the ‘life in the big city’ merges to that in ‘small town america’ in the movie was done so in such a way that it seems like the two are right next door. As you are watching the film for the first time, the ‘culture shock’ is not so much a ‘shock’ itself but more like a record slowly spinning after the music is over.

 

Personally, I’m not a fan of any of the dancing shows and movies that have apparently captured the attention of everyone else over the last few years whether it’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’, ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’, ‘Step Up’, ‘Bring It On’, etc. But I freely admit that the dancing in this film was pretty GORRAM awesome and it impressed the heck out of me. The collection of actors and actresses assembled for this film was equally as awesome. Lucas Till (The X-Men Movies), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park), Josh Duhamel (Transformers), and Kherington Payne (True Blood, CSI, Glee) all brought their own serious brand of acting to this film and they don’t disappoint. There no war flashbacks, no car chases, and only one violent scene in the movie. All the action in the movie centers around the music and the brilliantly choreographed dancing. All the drama centers around the characters coming to terms with grief and lose. It’s better than many of the movies you find in theaters right now. Try to find ‘Bravetown’ between all the blockbusters that start hitting theaters in May. Trust me, it’s worth the view and if you can’t find it in theaters, order it online. I’m going this one 4 out of 5 stars. It clocks in at 112 minutes, but it’s worth it.
  
Montpelier Parade
Montpelier Parade
Karl Geary | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
4
4.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sylvia Plath-esque
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Set in the not-so-distant-past in Dublin, Ireland lives Sonny, a schoolboy with not much hope of succeeding in life. Living on the poverty line, Sonny has no choice but to work at a butcher’s shop after school, and with his gambling father, a builder, at the weekend. On one such occasion, whilst working on a posh house on Montpelier Parade, Sonny meets the enigmatic Vera, whose beauty leaves him speechless. It only takes another encounter, and Sonny is infatuated with this elusive lady.

Montpelier Parade is a melancholy love story, describing the dangerous relationship between Sonny and Vera. Not only is it wrong for schoolchild and adult to have such an intimate connection, Sonny finds himself powerless to deal with Vera’s depression. Vera’s Sylvia Plath-esque demeanour results in events that go above and beyond what an adolescent boy ought to be dealing with – especially as he has his own problems, too.

Karl Geary has written this novel in the second person, placing the reader directly into Sonny’s position. “You say,” “She turned and looked at you.” – we, as the reader, become Sonny. This makes it easier to imagine the hardships he is facing at school, at home, and with Vera. We imagine ourselves in his position, thus making everything feel so real.

Montpelier Parade is not an easy book to read. Depression and suicide are very delicate topics to deal with. Combine that with underage sexual relationships with an adult, and you have got a particularly uncomfortable journey ahead. Then, to top it all off, the narrative is riddled with foul language.

 A comparison with wealth and poverty, life and death, and love, Montpelier Parade will attract many readers. Sadly, the story was a bit too crude for myself to enjoy. That said, I can understand why many will enjoy it, or even relate to it, however be aware, it is quite a serious, dark story.
  
The Masterpiece
The Masterpiece
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
In her latest novel, Francine Rivers brings us Roman Velasco a well to do artist who could have anything money can buy, except peace and contentment. Using graffiti to deal with his hurt and emotions, running from foster home to foster home as a child, Roman aka Bobby Ray Dean (the bird) is haunted by his past as a graffiti tagger.

Roman hires Grace as his personal assistant to help free up his time so he can concentrate on painting, but little does she know about Romans alter ego Bobby Ray Dean. Grace s dealing with her own secrets. Recovering from a bad marriage, Grace vows never to let a man hurt her again, but as they get to know one another the pieces begin to come together that alter the course of their lives.

Francine Rivers has done a superb job writing this novel. She has created intriguing characters that every reader can relate to. The author has run with an idea of how a childhood trauma can impact adult life; how two broken individuals can find completeness together. The author also brings out the issues of how we as persons can fall into traps and be thrown into the worldly ways, only to suffer the consequences of our actions.

She also points out that we are saved by Grace and that God loves us, and sometimes some of us have to realize there is a hell in order to hear and understand the truth.

A wonderful novel that the reader will not be able to put down. Well written and keeps the reader wanting more.
 I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
  
DM
Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone, #10)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
She ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers.
‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’
On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.
When the bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in a burnt-out car, Kim can’t ignore the chilling similarity to the death of Erica and Keith – the only loving parents Kim had ever known.
Faced with a killer who is recreating traumatic events from her past, Kim must face the brutal truth that someone wants to hurt her in the worst way possible. Desperate to stay on the case, she is forced to work with profiler Alison Lowe who has been called in to observe and monitor Kim’s behavior.
Kim has spent years catching dangerous criminals and protecting the innocent. But with a killer firmly fixed on destroying Kim, can she solve this complex case and save her own life or will she become the final victim?

Dead Memories is the tenth book in the DI Kim Stone series, wow what a story!
This is another very cleverly written and fast-paced plot. Wonderful well developed characters and a wide range of suspects to choose from.
Lots of action and tons of suspense from start to finish. Riddled with twists and this story is not predictable at all.
Absolutely the best in series so far in my opinion. Thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend reading!!

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Bookouture, and Angela Marsons for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest opinion.
  
From the Auction Block to Glory examines the lives and stories of African Americans during the civil war years. Where transplanted and enslaved African Americans were bought and sold as property to the battlefield where two dozen black soldiers won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Beginning with a history of slavery from its European origins to its establishment in the New World. With the succession phases of African American involvement in the World effort. When the North faced a potentially disastrous manpower crisis at the end of 1862, more than 200,000 African Americans rose to the occasion and joined the forces supplementing the Union's dissipating army, salvaging the North's hope of reuniting the nation. The issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the repeals of the 1792 militia law transformed the military and political climate in the North. African American's were now free to fight on the side of the North but stereotypes were as such that black soldiers were under pressure to prove their combat capabilities. From the early battles and victories at Milliken's Bend and Port Hudson to the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantries famous attack on Fort Wagner, African American's demonstrated their fighting.



From the Auction Block to Glory by Phillip Thomas Tucker Ph.D. is 128 pages long and looks at the African American experience from slavery to emancipation. I found the book very insightful as it looked at the side of slavery not just from the slave's point of view but from the perspective of the Southern owners and the North's needs end the slavery. The painting, photographs, and stretches bring the past to life and allow additional visual confirmation of what the words were saying and gives you a rare and unique view of the world that they lived in. I found the book very informative and an enjoyable read. Dr. Tucker writing style is in a communicative style similar to a conversation from him to you which makes you want to finish the book in one sitting.
  
Winter Street
Winter Street
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've been on an Elin Hilderbrand kick lately, especially after reading WINTER IN PARADISE, the first book in her new Paradise series. I loved that one immensely. I didn't love this one quite as much, but still found it a really easy, quick, and enjoyable read. I read it in one day--half while I was at the hospital with my daughter and half when I got home that evening. Because it's so enjoyable with such great characters, I found it a great diversion.

The characters are classic Hilderbrand: a messed up family that immediately pulls you in. I love how easy it is to get entangled in her tales. There's Kelley, of course, who is completely befuddled as his second marriage is falling apart. Ava, a music teacher, lives at the inn, and is struggling with her current relationship. Kevin, works at a bar, isn't living up to the family's high standards, and is in love with the housekeeper. Patrick, the eldest, is a very successful hedge fund manager with a secret (or two). Bart comes across as spoiled in the past but is now worrying the entire family as they haven't heard from him since his deployment. And then there's Margaret: the eldest three kids' mother. She's a successful newswoman and tv anchor and Kelley's first wife. I really liked her.

Somehow the book seamlessly weaves these characters together, along with their various love interests, spouses, and, yes, George the Santa. It's funny, heartbreaking, and well, completely intriguing. I love Hilderbrand's series because they suck me in and transport me to another place for a few hours (2 hours and 38 minutes, per my Bookly app).

I nabbed all the books in this series from Paperbackswap.com, and I've been hoarding the next three for when I go on vacation in April -- I'm looking forward to seeing what is next in store for the Quinns. Especially since, in true Hilderbrand fashion, this one ended in a cliffhanger!

Overall, I enjoyed this one. It's a quick, dramatic read with interesting characters. 3.5 stars.
  
The Girl on the Train
The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins | 2016 | Mystery, Thriller
6
7.6 (173 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rachel Watson rides the train every day to a job she was fired from months ago. She spend the day in the city until it is time to go home again. As she passes the town of Witney, she always looks at two houses on Blenheim Road. Number 15 and number 23. Rachel used to live at 23 Blenheim Road with her husband Tom. But that was 2 years ago. Now she lives in a flat with her friend Cathy in Ashbury. Number 15 is occupied by Scott and Megan Hipwell who Rachel likes to refer to as Jess and John. Rachel enjoys watching Megan and Scott and their happy life together, so much unlike her own. Until one day, she sees something she knows she shouldn't have and then the next day Megan is reported missing. Could the information she have be the key to the investigation? Will the investigators believe her, or will they think she is just a lonely, drunkard who will try anything to get closer to her ex and his new wife.

I have been waiting to read this book for a very long time. It has been on my hold list at the library for about 4 months. I couldn't put it down. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I had to know what was going to happen next. There were a lot of shocking things about this book that makes you want to know who the culprit was. Who has Megan and what have they done with her? There were times where I was a bit confused about the different dates. The book goes from present to past from chapter to chapter and from person to person. I found myself flipping back to see where I was in the story to keep myself straight.

Overall, this is a good book. One that I will recommend over and over. It's a great thriller that you will not want to put down.
  
The High Tide Club
The High Tide Club
Mary Kay Andrews | 2019 | Romance
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Josephine Bettendorf Warrick is 99 years old. She has terminal cancer and any day could be her last. She asks for the help of Brooke Trappnell an attorney in town to help settle her affairs. Brooke is aware that Ms. Warrick has attorneys and lives on an island off the coast of Georgia. Why she needs Brooke's help is unclear. Brooke's grandmother was an old friend of Josephine's and they lost touch over the years. Josephine would like to make amends to her friends and leave them a part of the island so that the state will not get a hold of it, for that she needs Brooke's help. Josephine, Ruth, Millie, and Varina were The High Tide Club. Before she dies she wants to see in person her friends or their relatives. Will Josephine be able to accomplish everything she needs to before her death?

Thank you to NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

It has been a while since I have read one of Ms. Andrew's books. This book was good. It held my attention and kept me intrigued throughout.

Can you imagine living on an island in a palatial estate? Cut off from most of the world by the ocean. Sounds like a dream come true to me.

The story switches time from present day to 1941 when The High Tide Club was formed. There are many secrets that these friends shared and kept from one another. The four friends lost touch after the war except for Josephine and Varina, although their relationship has strained over the past few years.

Brooke herself is the granddaughter of Millie which is why Josephine chose her for the job in the first place. Brooke finds out things about her family she didn't know about and is successful at bringing together the ancestors of her friends. But the state wants the land and Josephine's distant relatives want to give it up to them. Discoveries are made and secrets are uncovered in this book.
  
The Stillwater Girls
The Stillwater Girls
Minka Kent | 2019
10
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Two sisters raised in fear are about to find out why in a chilling novel of psychological suspense from the author of The Thinnest Air.
Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in up-state New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.
As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls’ mother, and he’s not leaving without them.
To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they've grown up with: never go beyond the forest.
Past the thicket of dread, they come upon a house on the other side of the pines. This is where Wren and Sage must confront something more chilling than the unknowable. They’ll discover what’s been hidden from them, what they’re running from, and the secrets that have left them in the dark their entire lives.

This was my first novel by Minka Kent and it was quite a suspenseful story.
The chapters switched between two characters which was good as well.
Wren, Sage and Evie are three sisters and their mother has been raising them in the forest away from all of civilization.
This is a great story that will have you on the edge of your seat from the first chapter. Very well written.
Loved the plot and the pace. Characters were very believable.
The ending is such an unexpected twist.
Will definitely be reading more from this author.
Highly recommend.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for a copy of The Stillwater Girls. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book