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Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Lizzie Damilola Blackburn | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I think this book is going to be the next Queenie, I absolutely loved it from the moment I sat down and had to will myself to put it down to go and make food!
We are introduced to Yinka and her family at her younger sister’s baby shower. Being from a Nigerian family, Yinka is feeling a lot of pressure from her family and especially her mother to find herself a husband and is constantly being asked why she is single as well as being prayed for at every opportunity.
Yinka is my age, and goes through the same thoughts that I do about being single which makes her extremely relatable to me and that could be what has made me love her character so much. Although I don’t have the pushy family, some of the thoughts that she has do resonate with me as a single woman. And I’m glad that towards the end of the book she started to embrace her singledom with both hands and decide to love herself.
I loved how this was written and how interspersed with the story there were whatsapp messages, voicemail messages, reminders, post it notes, status updates and googled questions littered throughout the pages, it felt like a real life and helped you to imagine Yinka as a real person with everything going on being presented to you in those forms. It also broke up the story slightly and helped to move things on when needed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be this years must read book, and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone that asks. Thank you to NetGalley and Lizzie Damilola Blackburn for the privilege of reading this book in return for an honest review, and I hope that this is not the last that I see of Yinka.
  
The Trouble with Timekeepers (The Thirteenth Hour #1)
The Trouble with Timekeepers (The Thirteenth Hour #1)
Cheree Alsop | 2021 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
THE TROUBLE WITH TIMEKEEPERS is the first book in a new series by Cheree Alsop, so absolutely I've had to read it!

Cada is an Innate. That means she is able to manipulate time without using a nifty little device like the rest of them. Who are the rest of them? Well, the Timekeepers, of course. The only trouble is, Cada has no idea she's a Timekeeper or what it actually entails. So she is brought into a world with its own rules and regulations, able to change time, but having no idea what she should or shouldn't do. That also brings a fresh perspective to that world, as well as to Cadence herself.

The story is an intricate twist of time and sorrow, heartache and hope. Cada learns that nothing is black and white but can she make a difference? I was completely engrossed in this story and read it in one sitting. The characters are all relatable, even Eternyl - who has a sad story but becomes insane!

One word about the cover itself - GORGEOUS!!! I think it is completely stunning and would look fantastic as a piece of wall art.

I would have loved a bit more at the end, as it felt like some parts were glossed over slightly. Saying that; I did love the ending between Cada and Destyn. I really hope they feature in future books as I thought they were brilliant. I loved entering their world and can't wait to return. Absolutely recommended by me.

** 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, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Oct 14, 2021
  
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Merissa (12971 KP) rated On the 2 in Books

Aug 2, 2023  
On the 2
On the 2
Felice Stevens | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
ON THE 2 is a standalone story set in New York that features some characters from previous books. You don't need to have read those to get the benefit, but I did so love seeing them and remembering their stories!

Nash is closed-off and straight-laced, working with numbers because they make sense and won't lie or betray him. Ethan is friendly and outgoing; working in a department store, he needs to be approachable. These two meet on the 2, a subway train that they both take from home to work.

One of the things guaranteed by a Felice Stevens book is the characters will be relatable. Whether because they're the grumpy or the sunshine, there will be something there that you read and laugh out loud with, from either doing the same thing yourself or knowing someone else who has done it. Neither Ethan nor Nash have the best family lives but they make the best with what they've got, in the way they know. I absolutely adored the slow burn with these two, as both of them try to figure the other one out.

I also thoroughly enjoyed how the difficulties they faced weren't just swept away in a wonderful wave of love. They worked it out and got to where they needed to be by communicating and working together. Nash speaks to Oscar, and Ethan speaks to Julia - both of them choosing kindness. Two more fantastic scenes!

A great book that I loved and have no hesitation in HIGHLY recommending.

** 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!
Aug 2, 2023
  
FM
Find Me ( Book 1)
K L Jones | 2023
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
🔞🔞🔞

5 of 235
Kindle
Find Me (Book 1)
By K L Jones
⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Sophie Rush leads a chaotic life, she is a curvaceous 40 something, single mother of two children, from the outside looking in she seems to have it all. The looks, the family and the successful career. Even though she is happy with her lot, she finds herself seeking the one thing that is eluding her – love.

Just when she thinks all hope is lost, Sophie sees him, Finn Holston. There was just one problem, he was an up-and-coming actor and therefore one of the most inaccessible men on the planet, that didn’t deter Sophie though, she wanted him and only him! Right there and then she decided he was the one for her and throwing all caution to the wind she decides to pursue him, in the hope that if he saw her, he would want her too.

Will Sophie get her happily ever after she’s always wanted, or is she destined to be alone forever?

Come and follow this hysterical, rollercoaster ride of a journey Sophie takes on the path to find love.

I just don’t know where to start with this! I want to go with 2.5 stars. It was one of those books that had me questioning why the hell was I reading it! It wasn’t awful it had some parts that had me laughing and some parts that I just cringed at. It’s one of those stories that we have all fantasied over meeting that movie star we are all desperately in love with and him wanting us back. So it is relatable and I want to see where it goes. I did get some serious Ness vibes you know the one from Gavin n Stacey 😂😂
  
EXSILIUM (Roma Nova Thriller #11)
EXSILIUM (Roma Nova Thriller #11)
Alison Morton | 2024 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
EXSILIUM is part of the Roma Nova series. I have read Inceptio but none of the others. I don't feel this impacted my enjoyment of the story or the characters.

Told in three separate parts by Maelia, Lucius, and Galla, this was a brilliant insight into how Rome could have been at the time when the old Gods were disappearing and the new Christos was taking over. I think the only thing that confused me was Maelia's story. The majority of it was incredibly well-written, but in the blurb, it says about him being a pagan traitor. It took me a while to understand that his backing the wrong emperor was also a fight between the two religions.

Full of hard times and sorrow, it is a story also full of hope, of working together to make things better - or at least, most of them did! The characters, whether you like them or not, are all relatable, especially considering the circumstances of their exile.

I found the epilogue to be perfect, giving me an update on all the characters I'd grown to love, while also jumping to the future to mention Inceptio. That was a surprise for me and made me want to read that story again, with the knowledge gained from this story.

A smooth pace and a full and well-rounded story and characters. Alison Merton is an author I never have a problem reading. Definitely recommended by me.

** 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!
Mar 14, 2024
  
Lock Every Door
Lock Every Door
Riley Sager | 2019 | Thriller
10
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
I had previously read Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. I wasn't that impressed with those books, but I feel a loyalty to Riley Sager since I had read his previous books. When I heard about Lock Every Door by Riley Sager, the synopsis sounded interesting enough, so I decided to give it a try. I'm really glad I did because I feel that it's Sager's best book yet, and it was really good!

Jules has just lost her job and walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her. Almost penniless and practically homeless, when she comes across a wanted ad advertising a job for an apartment complex called the Bartholomew, a place for the very rich and wealthy, Jules jumps at the chance. The apartment is lush, and the pay is $1000 a week. Sure, there are some strange rules, but it's easy money. However, when apartment sitters start vanishing in the middle of the night, Jules feels as if something evil is going on at the Bartholomew. Jules decides to find out the truth despite putting herself in danger. Will she succeed or will she become another missing apartment sitter?

I really enjoyed the plot of Lock Every Door, and I found it fairly original. Riley Sager does a fantastic job at making this book feel as if something like this could happen in real life. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear about something like this in the news. Even though the action doesn't really take place until almost the end of the book, I still found myself grossly immersed in this book. I also was playing detective alongside Jules the whole time. I did figure out some of what was going on, but there were still some plot twists that I never predicted. The story flows very well and never feels rushed anywhere. At no point did this book lose my attention. I was heavily invested in finishing Lock Every Door as soon as possible. Every question I had was answered by the end of the book although there was one mystery that I would have liked to know more about, but even this mystery is touched upon at the end of the book.

I enjoyed reading about every character in Lock Every Door from even the minor characters to the major ones. Jules was a fantastic main character. She was fairly relatable. Actually, I would go as far as to say that she's the most relatable character in a book that I've read. I could sympathize with her financial struggles and her desperation when it came to making money. It was the same with the character of Ingrid. I could also relate to her struggle for money. My heart went out to all of the apartment sitters because I knew what they were feeling when it came to money. I felt like Nick was a bit predictable and cliched as the hunky neighbor, but he was still written well. Greta was my favorite character. She was definitely interesting, that's for sure! My favorite scenes always involved Greta.

Trigger warnings for Lock Every Door include profanity, sexual references (though not many and not graphic), violence (not graphic), death, kidnapping, murder, drinking, and some drug references.

All in all, Lock Every Door is a thrilling read that ticks all the right boxes to make it fantastic! With such a interesting plot and a fantastic cast of characters, this is one book not to miss. I would definitely recommend Lock Every Door by Riley Sager to those who crave a great mystery as well as those that love thrillers.
  
#Alive (2020)
#Alive (2020)
2020 | Action, Drama, Horror
8
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The Acting (1 more)
The Special Effects and CGI
Not much (1 more)
Possibly some continuity errors
A Gripping Tale of Surivival
Contains spoilers, click to show
This movie was really good. I like how it seemed really relatable especially because of his isolation and what a lot of people are dealing with right now during the pandemic. I thought it was pretty well done. I did kind of notice that although it was pretty mature in nature it seemed more of a "pg-13"-ish movie instead of a rated- R one. I mean it had plenty of violence and blood. There were even some really good effects for the zombies and some gruesome scenes. For being such a self contained movie plot wise it was pretty good and the action scenes were pretty realistic. I have more to say in the spoiler section but for now I'm giving this movie a 8/10. I would give it my must see seal of approval but I felt that it being a foreign film not everyone would like it as much as I did.

Spoiler Section Review:
This movie was really good. I was surprised with how much I liked it. As I said earlier it seemed really relatable because of the isolation so many people have dealt with during the pandemic. Also the main character Oh Joon-woo was very likeable and I was rooting for him from the beginning. His situation is bleak as things go from bad to worse pretty fast. First he can't get a hold of his parents, then he runs out of food, the internet goes out, the water is cut and then the power goes out. Oh and that scene with the lady cop getting killed was just horrible. I mean for me personally getting eaten alive is one of my worst fears, and when she hesitates to shoot herself and then gets dragged away was just terrible. At 10 days he starts running out of food, at 15 days he hasn't eaten in like 4 or 5 days already. He gets a message from his parents where it sounds like they are attacked and killed. And then he decides to kill himself by hanging himself and that's when he finds out he's not alone. A neighbor from the apartment complex Yoo-bin gets him to save himself by contacting him with a laser pointer letting him know he's not alone. They begin getting to know each other and helping each other by sending supplies back and forth after he gets a drone to send a rope over. Yoo-bin is a pretty cool character and definitely kicks ass. The way she exits her apartment when they make a run for the 8th floor and just rappels down in one go was beast. There were a couple things that bothered me but not that much. Like one, I thought the power was lost for good when the city was bombed and the power went out but both Oh Joon-woo and Yoo-bin kept using his phone and her tablet to communicate from afar. Also he used his drone even though it was out of charge earlier. I did see that it was a different drone from the one earlier but still made me think. Also the girl officer whose death was so tragic. It looked like she dropped her ammo and was only able to load like maybe 2 bullets into it. Yoo-bin recovers the gun and uses it to kill the man on the 8th floor who lures them into a trap and his wife. And then later Oh Joon-woo uses it on the roof and shoots at least 2 more times if not 3. Anyways not a big deal. Like I said earlier this was a really good movie and I give it a 8/10.

  
BW
By What We Love (A New Start, #3)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Eloise has almost everything she ever dreamed of. A great job that pays well, a family that loves her, and a man who loves her unconditionally. None of these things came without hard work. Eloise grew up without her mother and then raised and put through school her younger brother and sister.

Mostes and Eloise have been together for years. Now, Eloise has the most amazing opportunity with her job and she wants nothing more than for Moses and her sister, Lori, to join her on the journey. Even though Lori and Moses love Eloise, they may not be ready to move to the other side of the world with her. Will Eloise be able to choose her family over her work? Which is really more important to her?

Charlene Carr writes about relatable characters. Any career driven woman could sympathize with Eloise. Maybe she is a bit more extreme than some, but she is still in a position a lot of women find themselves in, having to choose between their career and their family.

Eloise tends to make her decisions before consulting the rest of her family. Asking for forgiveness later. She has been this way for so long, she just assumes that they are going to go along with her. I personally, have never been one to put my work over my family. That is just me, but recently going from being a stay at home mom to a working mom, I can see how sometimes that sacrifice must be made. Charlene Carr does a great job of drawing you into the story and you can see yourself in the main characters shoes. You put yourself in the story.

This book is about discovering what exactly is most important. Hopefully we will come to that realization before it is too late and we lose out on those things we love the most.

**I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review**
  
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Stormi (105 KP) rated The Plum Tree in Books

Apr 13, 2018  
TP
The Plum Tree
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Christine finds herself in love with a man above her in station, Isaac. She is poor and works for his family, yet he is rich. Despite this, he is also in love with her. When the war begins the stations they hold mean nothing. The only thing that matters now is that Christine is German and Isaac is a Jew. This story follows the hardships of war and the hope for a young love.


 This book was wonderful. It is written in such detail that you can just imagine being there. The characters are real and relatable. Christine and Isaac face so much hardship. Between the stations they hold to the religions they follow, they face such trouble in being together. The determination these two show is inspiring. Christine is followed more than Isaac, and her story is inspiring. The War takes this story to new light. I thought this was going to be a book about romance in hard times. While it was that, it was also a book of survival and hope in in a country ravaged by war. It was a new view on the horrors that the Germans and the Jews faced. Bombings, death, persecution, love, survival, and hope for a better future are all part of this story. This story was truly a marvelous read about a horrible time. This story provides so much emotion that at times I was so happy while others just broke my heart and brought me to tears. This certainly was an emotional read, but that just makes this an even better story. This was a story filled with love, loss, hope, and a world war that changes the lives of so many.

This is the second book I have read by this author and each book is amazing in detail and written in such a way that you can't help but be sucked into the story. I am so glad I was able to review this story for such a talented author.
  
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Sam (74 KP) rated Matilda in Books

Mar 27, 2019  
Matilda
Matilda
Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl | 2016 | Children
10
9.2 (31 Ratings)
Book Rating
Because I had always loved the film, I knew that the book would definitely be for me – and I wasn’t disappointed. With Matilda, I had always loved that there was a bookish character. And while I was reading this, I realised that there aren’t nearly enough bookish characters in books. Books should be full of book-loving characters as they are instantly relatable to anyone reading the books. This is why I have always related to Matilda as a character.

Matilda never tries to hide her intelligence, and I love that. It’s something that a lot of adults can’t do. I was even saying to one of my friends at work that I act more ditsy than I actually am when I’m there. I’ve always hidden parts of myself because I want to fit in. Matilda doesn’t even try to fit in with everyone else, even though she excels everyone around her. I think everyone could learn a lesson about personalities from Matilda.

I love that she goes against the crowd. When everyone around her is trying to tell her that she can’t possibly be as smart as she is and that she is worthless, she defies them every time. She doesn’t dumb herself down and try to become like everyone else just to avoid people making fun of her.

The best thing about Matilda is that the book stays funny and entertaining all the way through. Even at the worse parts it never drops it’s humour, which makes it perfect for kids.

The happy ending is like the icing on the cake for me. I’m a sucker for happy endings, but I feel like this one was perfect. It felt like a fairytale.

If you enjoyed the film, you need to buy the book. It’s ten times better than the film and has so many important messages to both adults and children.