Search

Search only in certain items:

Ghost Huntress Book 1 the Awakening
Ghost Huntress Book 1 the Awakening
Marley Gibson | 2009 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
One of my favorite book series
This book series is so under-rated! It's got a great story line and is an all around great young adult read. Just a little background, a girl gets moved from Illinois to Georgia because her dad got a better job. On top of not knowing many people, weird things start happening to her she then gets help from a lady in town to use her new gift. When she teams up with a few kids from school they become a great team in helping the lost souls in her historic new town.
  
Riley Mack was labeled a troublemaker after an ill-advised attempt to steal an ice cream cake. Now he tries to help his friends out of problems with school bullies. But when one friend has his dog stolen, Riley and the gang may be in over their heads. There's lots going on here that will keep kids engaged. Personally, I thought the characters were a little weak, but I don't think kids will notice or care.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/07/book-review-riley-mack-and-other-known.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Travel reporter Mallory Marlowe is off to Aspen, Colorado, to write an article aimed at non-skiers. Part of it will focus on former high school acquaintance Carly, founder of a fancy resort. But when Carly is murdered, Mallory finds herself investigating that as well. This is the second book in the series, and I enjoyed it as much as the first thanks to the real characters and strong plot. I'm going to have to start reading the author's other series.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-too-rich-and-too-dead-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Danvers hates his life, especially since no one appreciates his attempts to create stunts that his idol, Gonzo, would love. But one morning Danvers wakes up as a Muppet. What is happening? And how will his life change? I found the book to be a very fast read, the large number of pictures certainly helped. Yet, I also found it quite funny. Any fan of the Muppets will enjoy it, down to the elementary school target audience.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/07/book-review-tales-of-sixth-grade-muppet.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
40x40

Awix (3310 KP) rated Life (2017) in Movies

Feb 15, 2018  
Life (2017)
Life (2017)
2017 | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Highly competent SF-horror movie from the modular school of movie scripting (i.e., it's basically Gravity Meets The Thing). Scientists on the ISS bring back microbes from Mars, grow their own alien in the lab - ensuing gribbly creature does not take well to captivity, makes a break for freedom, grisliness follows.

Goes to show that you don't always need originality to make an entertaining movie - yes, it's openly derivative of many other movies, but blends its sources together inventively. Production and actors are both very capable, too. Attempt at a twist ending is somewhat clumsy, but forgivable.
  
Inside Out Ancient Egypt
Inside Out Ancient Egypt
Lorraine Jean Hopping | 2017 | Children, History & Politics
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Layers, Information, illustrations (0 more)
Short Length (0 more)
Inside out...
With beautiful illustrations and interesting subject matter, this book is a win-win with curious children. and although it is quite short, it fills a child with wonder and lets them take in what they want before progressing to more challenging reading material. With appropriate technical language used, this book would be good in a school library and would work well for project work as well as curious individuals.
I am reviewing this book for Luann Columbo, Quarto Publishing, and NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.
  
Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1)
Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1)
Kami Garcia | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Romance
2
7.4 (34 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’ll readily admit that I did not finish reading this book, and that is saying a lot coming from someone who will usually finish a book, even if I don’t really enjoy it.

I got about a hundred pages into this before I was so fed up with the characters that I just could not continue. These teenagers were so whiny and over dramatic that the6 made me appreciate the real-life preteens that I teach.

You’ll find far less melodrama in an actual classroom than in these pages. I imagine only actual high school students could stomach reading these caricatures of themselves.
  
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling | 2016 | Children
10
9.1 (229 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is hands down my favourite Harry Potter book!!

Everything I loved from the first two books continues in this book, the themes of friendship, good and evil and of course the humour.

In this book Harry, Ron and Hermione get up to more mischief, embark on new adventures and even begin new lessons.

One of the great things about this book, is the slight variation in story line. Instead of battling Lord Voldemort at the end of the school year there is a different enemy to defeat.

Obviously fully recommend this book as everyone should read Harry Potter.
  
40x40

CKD (37 KP) rated Scarlet Feather in Books

Dec 7, 2018  
SF
Scarlet Feather
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
As with all the other Maeve Binchy books I've read, I loved this one too! 12 chapters...one for each month of the year in which the book takes place. Great story between Tom and Cathy, two catering school buddies who decide to open up their own catering business. There are side stories about the other characters in the book and they all intertwine. Maeve Binchy is a wonderful storyteller and this book did not disappoint. There was a time when I didn't think I would finish it before I had to return it to the library...I did renew it once! LOL!
  
FS
First Sword (Roman Arena, #3)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The third book in Simon Scarrow's Arena series of e-book exclusives, this (like the previous two) only consists of 9 chapters and so is a pretty short read.

Unlike the last entry, however, Macro plays more of a role in this story, which is set in and around the running of a lanista (Gladiator 'school') rather than in an Arena. Again, the culmination of the novel is a fight between two Gladiators: this time, though, they are fighting in the grounds of the lanista (one for survival, the other to escape) rather than in the Arena for the amusement of the mob ...