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Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated China Rich Girlfriend (Crazy Rich Asians #2) in Books
May 10, 2018
I'm upset that I didn't know that this was a sequel. I would have read the first book as well. I am definitely going to go back and do that and I hear there is a third book in the works called Rich People Problems which I also look forward to reading.
This book is based on a number of very rich Asians located all over the world. The main focus of the book is about Rachel Chu. Rachel is about to marry Nicholas Young, but feels like there is one last thing she has to accomplish before hand, finding her biological father. It has been her mission most of her life. Then an incredible thing happens on the night before the wedding, during the rehearsal that will send Rachel and Nick on a world wide tour to find the father she never knew. With stops in Shanghai and Paris, Rachel meets some the wealthiest in Asia. Her new husband being heir to one of these families. She gets to meet some of her new family and and lots of very influential people in the Asian community. When tragedy strikes, Rachel and Nick are unsure of who to trust in this elaborate group, but time will reveal the truth and they will find out if the family Rachel has been searching for was worth finding.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book is based on a number of very rich Asians located all over the world. The main focus of the book is about Rachel Chu. Rachel is about to marry Nicholas Young, but feels like there is one last thing she has to accomplish before hand, finding her biological father. It has been her mission most of her life. Then an incredible thing happens on the night before the wedding, during the rehearsal that will send Rachel and Nick on a world wide tour to find the father she never knew. With stops in Shanghai and Paris, Rachel meets some the wealthiest in Asia. Her new husband being heir to one of these families. She gets to meet some of her new family and and lots of very influential people in the Asian community. When tragedy strikes, Rachel and Nick are unsure of who to trust in this elaborate group, but time will reveal the truth and they will find out if the family Rachel has been searching for was worth finding.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated True Fiction in Books
Apr 20, 2018
I Truly Enjoyed This Book, and that’s Not Fiction
When terrorists take control of a plane leaving Hawaii and crash it into the island, the entire country is horrified. But none more so than thriller writer Ian Ludlow. You see, he had suggested just the twist on 9/11 that happened here to the CIA a few years back during a brainstorming session to help them come up with worst case scenarios. Within a few hours, Ian is certain that the CIA is out to kill him to silence him. Using every trick in the book – tricks he knows thanks to the books he’s written, Ian flees from his book tour in Seattle with his author escort, Margo French. Will the two be able to survive?
This book doesn’t waste a minute throwing us into this thrill ride and never lets up until we reach the climax. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next, and the book manages to wink at a few clinches of the genre along the way. Ian and Margo were good characters, and another we meet along the way walks the fine line of being a caricature without being unbelievable. Since this is a thriller, there is a bit more language, violence, and sex than in the books I normally read. There is plenty of humor here to help ease the tension. I already can’t wait for the sequel.
This book doesn’t waste a minute throwing us into this thrill ride and never lets up until we reach the climax. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next, and the book manages to wink at a few clinches of the genre along the way. Ian and Margo were good characters, and another we meet along the way walks the fine line of being a caricature without being unbelievable. Since this is a thriller, there is a bit more language, violence, and sex than in the books I normally read. There is plenty of humor here to help ease the tension. I already can’t wait for the sequel.
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Autumn Winds (Seasons of the Heart #2) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
I've been anxiously awaiting the sequel to Summer of Secrets, and this book was worth the wait. A few matters that were left unfinished in the previous book are accounted for here, such as Rachel and Micah's wedding, and the humbling of Bishop Hiram's brash behavior. The introduction of several new characters, such as Ben's two maidel aunts, served to add color to the community of Willow Ridge and even added a dash of humor to the several romance-heavy sub-plots.
I thoroughly enjoyed following along in the lives of Miriam Lantz and her daughters, especially when reading about all of the mouth-watering food that the Sweet Seasons Bakery and Cafe served up everyday. I plan on trying out of a few of the recipes in the back of the book, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a bread recipe that I've tried among those listed.
The background of Amish culture I have also continued to find fascinating, as I learned more of the nuances in speech, behavior, and traditional beliefs. While I find some things too restrictive, such as the clothing and lack of electricity, the adherence to gender roles, the respect they give to one another, their beliefs in the Bible, and their use of wholesome and naturally-grown foods are all things I greatly admire. This book only serves to bring it all to life and make it that much more appealing. I look forward to reading more of this series.
I thoroughly enjoyed following along in the lives of Miriam Lantz and her daughters, especially when reading about all of the mouth-watering food that the Sweet Seasons Bakery and Cafe served up everyday. I plan on trying out of a few of the recipes in the back of the book, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a bread recipe that I've tried among those listed.
The background of Amish culture I have also continued to find fascinating, as I learned more of the nuances in speech, behavior, and traditional beliefs. While I find some things too restrictive, such as the clothing and lack of electricity, the adherence to gender roles, the respect they give to one another, their beliefs in the Bible, and their use of wholesome and naturally-grown foods are all things I greatly admire. This book only serves to bring it all to life and make it that much more appealing. I look forward to reading more of this series.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated In the Shadow of the Sun King (Darkness to Light, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
What a struggle! For over one-hundred pages, I slogged through mediocre writing, awkward and stilted dialogue, and then just as it's starting to get interesting, the author decides to stop and skip almost a year! Then the plot continues where it left off and plods on for the remainder of the book.
The heavy-handed use of religion is the least of it's problems, which should have at least have fit in better and not tossed like an oversight. I could not sympathize with any of the characters, the reader only got a cursory look at them, with Madeleine being worst of the lot (what a twit). The history is superficial and thrown in randomly; it rather reminded me of a children's book or show where they're being taught by an adult. Not to mention two years pass and there is no sense of it, we're just told in ten-twenty pages, not shown. That was an opportunity wasted right there and could have been the most interesting aspect of this novel. IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN KING glossed over way too much and what remained was boring and stale.
Maybe the casual reader or more devout will enjoy it more, but I would have given up after fifty pages if I didn't have to review the sequel, A PRISONER AT VERSAILLES, and thought I <i>should</i> read this first. Hopefully, it will be much better because I'm really dreading it.
The heavy-handed use of religion is the least of it's problems, which should have at least have fit in better and not tossed like an oversight. I could not sympathize with any of the characters, the reader only got a cursory look at them, with Madeleine being worst of the lot (what a twit). The history is superficial and thrown in randomly; it rather reminded me of a children's book or show where they're being taught by an adult. Not to mention two years pass and there is no sense of it, we're just told in ten-twenty pages, not shown. That was an opportunity wasted right there and could have been the most interesting aspect of this novel. IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN KING glossed over way too much and what remained was boring and stale.
Maybe the casual reader or more devout will enjoy it more, but I would have given up after fifty pages if I didn't have to review the sequel, A PRISONER AT VERSAILLES, and thought I <i>should</i> read this first. Hopefully, it will be much better because I'm really dreading it.
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Triple Frontier (2019) in Movies
Apr 4, 2019 (Updated Apr 4, 2019)
Felt Kinda Pointless...
When I saw the trailer for Triple Frontier, I was reminded of the extremely fun recent Ghost Recon game, Wildlands and I was also reminded of the surprisingly brilliant Sicario sequel, Day Of The Solado. Unfortunately the movie lives up to neither of those other properties and is instead a middle of the road, hollow way to waste 2 hours.
The cast were a big selling point here for me, I am a fan of every single one of the 5 lead actors in this thing and they all did a pretty great job. The problem was the material that they were working with; a generic bland script and mediocre at best action scenes.
The whole thing just felt unremarkable and forgettable throughout and I kept waiting for it to kick into high gear and get good, unfortunately I am still waiting. That is the worst thing about this film, is that it isn't anything offensively bad and it's not good or even memorable either, it's just meh for it's entirety.
Overall, you can give this one a skip, unless you are a die hard fan of any of the main cast. The way that the plot wraps up in the end makes the whole drawn-out, pretty dull adventure that we have just been on feel extremely pointless and leaves the viewer feeling unfulfilled as the credits roll.
The cast were a big selling point here for me, I am a fan of every single one of the 5 lead actors in this thing and they all did a pretty great job. The problem was the material that they were working with; a generic bland script and mediocre at best action scenes.
The whole thing just felt unremarkable and forgettable throughout and I kept waiting for it to kick into high gear and get good, unfortunately I am still waiting. That is the worst thing about this film, is that it isn't anything offensively bad and it's not good or even memorable either, it's just meh for it's entirety.
Overall, you can give this one a skip, unless you are a die hard fan of any of the main cast. The way that the plot wraps up in the end makes the whole drawn-out, pretty dull adventure that we have just been on feel extremely pointless and leaves the viewer feeling unfulfilled as the credits roll.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
May 30, 2019 (Updated May 30, 2019)
Japan's biggest movie star returns to the screen in a solid, entertaining sequel (and I'm not talking about Ken Watanabe). Eco-terrorists steal a new gadget that allows people to communicate with and control giant monsters, intending to use it to save the environment by getting the world's monsters to destroy industrial civilisation: possibly not the most thought-through plan in history, but it has originality on its side.
I am not the best person to be objective about a new Godzilla movie, but I had a good time with this film. Even so, it does have obvious flaws: Kyle Chandler is kind of useless as the supposed protagonist, and the story does have a very 1990s vibe to it which I expect some people may have an issue with. However, the tone of the film is just about perfect: the Toho monsters look and behave exactly as you'd hope, and the film incorporates lots of little details from the original movies, most obviously the classic musical themes for Godzilla and Mothra. If you like Japanese monster movies, I think you will enjoy this movie a lot - if not, well, it's about a dinosaur, a dragon, a moth and a pterodactyl doing all-in wrestling together; whether you think that is an outrageously cool idea or unbelievably stupid is a matter of personal taste, but the movie itself is unlikely to change your opinion. Bring on the big ape!
I am not the best person to be objective about a new Godzilla movie, but I had a good time with this film. Even so, it does have obvious flaws: Kyle Chandler is kind of useless as the supposed protagonist, and the story does have a very 1990s vibe to it which I expect some people may have an issue with. However, the tone of the film is just about perfect: the Toho monsters look and behave exactly as you'd hope, and the film incorporates lots of little details from the original movies, most obviously the classic musical themes for Godzilla and Mothra. If you like Japanese monster movies, I think you will enjoy this movie a lot - if not, well, it's about a dinosaur, a dragon, a moth and a pterodactyl doing all-in wrestling together; whether you think that is an outrageously cool idea or unbelievably stupid is a matter of personal taste, but the movie itself is unlikely to change your opinion. Bring on the big ape!
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019 (Updated Jun 11, 2019)
Big, loud, fun.
I'm not quite sure where all the bad reviews are coming from with this one, truth be told! I fully accept that there many action film cliches littered throughout, and the dialogue is just silly at times, but how much can you really dislike the spectacle of this sequel when the monsters turn up (and that doesn't take long!)
I liked the first one a lot, even though we didn't see a huge amount of Godzilla himself, and I also really rate Kong: Skull Island as well, so I've been looking forward to this one, and it's exactly what I expected it to be - it's loud, and it's dumb, but it works because it's an impressive looking monster film - and there a huge amount of them this time around.
Lifting various Godzilla opponents from the Japanese run of films, watching Kaiju like Ghidorah, Rhodan and Mothra get involved is pretty thrilling, especially coupled with the old school Godzilla theme music.
The effects themselves are pretty impressive, and all makes for an enjoyable blockbuster.
I didn't really care too much about the human characters (except Millie Bobbie Brown, and Charles Dance... Because it's Charles Dance) but I wasn't there for them!
And I guess there is where my main issue was, there was just a bit too much time spent on characters I struggled to care about.
Aside from that, it was pretty entertaining. Bring on Godzilla vs Kong!
I liked the first one a lot, even though we didn't see a huge amount of Godzilla himself, and I also really rate Kong: Skull Island as well, so I've been looking forward to this one, and it's exactly what I expected it to be - it's loud, and it's dumb, but it works because it's an impressive looking monster film - and there a huge amount of them this time around.
Lifting various Godzilla opponents from the Japanese run of films, watching Kaiju like Ghidorah, Rhodan and Mothra get involved is pretty thrilling, especially coupled with the old school Godzilla theme music.
The effects themselves are pretty impressive, and all makes for an enjoyable blockbuster.
I didn't really care too much about the human characters (except Millie Bobbie Brown, and Charles Dance... Because it's Charles Dance) but I wasn't there for them!
And I guess there is where my main issue was, there was just a bit too much time spent on characters I struggled to care about.
Aside from that, it was pretty entertaining. Bring on Godzilla vs Kong!
Kaz (232 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies
Jun 15, 2019 (Updated Jun 15, 2019)
A Fun Superhero Movie
Contains spoilers, click to show
When I started watching 'Shazam' , I assumed that this was a parody of a super hero film. Afterwards I realised that this is a DC comic book character in it's own right.
I liked the acting in this film. Both children and adults in this film are believable and are very good. You could believe that the adult versions of the younger actors were actually them, because they emulated their body language and speech really well (they even looked like the children, as adults!). I really liked the interaction between adult Billy and his friend Freddy, they have some really funny scenes together. It was also nice to see a character with a disability as a main character, who wasn't portrayed as weak or someone you should feel sorry for.
There were some really funny moments in this film and there were some really heartfelt ones too.
My only criticisms of this film would be that it took a long time for this to really get going. Also, the story really isn't that original. It's basically the plot of 'Big' (I liked the scene with the giant piano, as a nod to this film) , combined with a super hero movie.
Despite these issues, I thought that this was a really funny, fun movie and I would quite happily watch a sequel of this.
I liked the acting in this film. Both children and adults in this film are believable and are very good. You could believe that the adult versions of the younger actors were actually them, because they emulated their body language and speech really well (they even looked like the children, as adults!). I really liked the interaction between adult Billy and his friend Freddy, they have some really funny scenes together. It was also nice to see a character with a disability as a main character, who wasn't portrayed as weak or someone you should feel sorry for.
There were some really funny moments in this film and there were some really heartfelt ones too.
My only criticisms of this film would be that it took a long time for this to really get going. Also, the story really isn't that original. It's basically the plot of 'Big' (I liked the scene with the giant piano, as a nod to this film) , combined with a super hero movie.
Despite these issues, I thought that this was a really funny, fun movie and I would quite happily watch a sequel of this.
Cori June (3033 KP) rated Handbook for Mortals (Handbook for Mortals #1) in Books
Dec 3, 2018
For a first book it's not too bad. I enjoyed the book it was a fast and easy read. Mac and Tad are my favorite characters because I could see real people in them. Zade, she is still trying to find her way in the world. there's not much magick until near the end of the book. Mostly it expands on the ' normal' life Zade wants. While there is a love triangle there isn't much interaction between Zade and Jackson. There are a few typos and a bit of redundancy in the book, and yes, some times it seems almost like product placement and name dropping in some parts. However, with the name dropping they are in Vegas and she is in the business it is kinda expected. the slight product placement.... meh i could be reading too much into it So, by now you're wondering why the three stars and not say two or the more popular one. What can I say it sucked me in. I liked that the chapters where named after Tarot cards. The interaction between characters wasn't forced and I was ok that she second guessed herself as it didn't get to be whiny. For all that she couldn't stand if someone didn't like her. It is good for a fast empty headed read. I also want to see how/if the author and characters grow in the sequel.
David McK (3425 KP) rated Warlord (The Outlaw Chronicles, #4) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
The fourth book in Angus Donald's <i>Outlaw</i> series, this one is primarily set in and around the last years of Richard I (The Lionheart) reign, leading up to his death on 06/04/1199 after being struck in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt fired from a castle he was besieging in Southern France.
Like the previous three books in the series, this is presented as an elderly Alan Dale recounting the adventures of his youth, with each section (and the epilogue) of the novel as him committing the tale to paper, and his thoughts in so doing.
While the cover of the novel also has "A Robin Hood tale" above the title, I actually found that character to be sidelined more in favour of Alan in this novel than in the previous, where he very much was central to the story but seemingly not so much here. That's not to mean that he's not present, and that he doesn't have a role to play: just that this novel is more about Richard than it is Robin.
The novel also includes elements form that other great Medieval tale/obsession of the Holy Grail, which is worked into the reason why Richard is besieging the castle (at Robin's urgings) at which he receives his fatal wound. That plot strand, however, is also left wide-open for the sequel, already announced as titled <i>Grail Knight</i>, and which I'm already looking forward to!
Like the previous three books in the series, this is presented as an elderly Alan Dale recounting the adventures of his youth, with each section (and the epilogue) of the novel as him committing the tale to paper, and his thoughts in so doing.
While the cover of the novel also has "A Robin Hood tale" above the title, I actually found that character to be sidelined more in favour of Alan in this novel than in the previous, where he very much was central to the story but seemingly not so much here. That's not to mean that he's not present, and that he doesn't have a role to play: just that this novel is more about Richard than it is Robin.
The novel also includes elements form that other great Medieval tale/obsession of the Holy Grail, which is worked into the reason why Richard is besieging the castle (at Robin's urgings) at which he receives his fatal wound. That plot strand, however, is also left wide-open for the sequel, already announced as titled <i>Grail Knight</i>, and which I'm already looking forward to!