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ClareR (6238 KP) rated Hold Back the Night in Books

Jul 7, 2024  
Hold Back the Night
Hold Back the Night
Jessica Moor | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
10
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m still reeling from this book, and I read it about a month ago.

Hold Back the Night is set in 3 timelines:
1959, Annie and Ruth are training to be psychiatric nurses in an institution that believes they’re at the forefront of treatment. They learn to speed-shave and dress male patients, hold down women receiving ECT, and take part in conversion therapy for some male patients. “Conversion therapy” sounds pretty harmless, doesn’t it? In reality it wasn’t.

1983, Annie is widowed and bringing up her daughter, Rosie, alone. She meets a young man who is ill, and his friend. She learns that he has been evicted because he has HIV. Annie offers them a home and nursing care. Soon her home becomes a haven for infected, homeless, shunned boys. I think in the back of her mind, she knows she’s trying to make amends for her part in the conversion therapies she took part in.

Which brings us to the third timeline in 2020, and Covid.
There are some parallels to be drawn (uncertainty, fear), but this timeline wraps everything up together, and Annie faces up to her part in 1959.

I loved this book, and the way the timelines wove together really helped me to understand Annie and her reasons for doing just what she did - rightly or wrongly.

Definitely one of my books of the year.
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Saw II (2005) in Movies

Jul 4, 2021  
Saw II (2005)
Saw II (2005)
2005 | Horror, Mystery
8
6.7 (23 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Guttural. Few other horror franchises loathe their characters as deeply and as passionately as 𝘚𝘢𝘸 - not even two minutes into the movie and it already proceeds to chuck these people down the garbage disposal without remorse. Has the worst outlook possible on life as a whole, revels in such an instantaneous breakdown of the human body and mind. Trades out the 'knucklehead Shakespeare' vibes of the original to double down on its endlessly creative gore, which is a fair tradeoff if we can't get both I guess. Can't believe this is the same Darren Lynn who directed 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 - which I not only am beginning to dislike more and more with each revisit to the originals, but which also gets next to no points for being pro-ACAB when this one did it first *and* better 16 years prior. Filled with a multitude of anxious cuts and cool-as-hell camera trickeries (plus such a tantalizing MTV filth aesthetic), often unfairly shunned for being amateurish I'd actually argue the opposite - quick flashes of people in agony, everyone turning against each other and scrambling for answers with each passing second, visually emulating the final stages of a person's fight-or-flight mode like no other horror series before or after. The hypodermic needle pit still remains an all-time skin-crawler. In an age filled with such intolerably self-conscious bleakness in cinema, it's refreshing to see it done so sincerely with these.
  
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Merissa (14027 KP) rated Second Match (Perfect Match Agency #5) in Books

Aug 3, 2023  
Second Match (Perfect Match Agency #5)
Second Match (Perfect Match Agency #5)
Wendy Rathbone | 2023 | LGBTQ+, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
SECOND MATCH is Morgan Dor's story. I first met him in Chance Match when the omega he'd been paired with fell for his assistant instead. So when I saw Morgan in this story, I knew I had to read it.

It did help me, having read about Morgan before, as there isn't much background to him in this book. Riley is the omega he gets matched with, who suffers from an extreme UV allergy. This means he gets called a demon and shunned by everyone, including most of his family, by the religious cult he grew up with.

This book moves at a breakneck pace which, unfortunately, means most parts are not fleshed out or given the attention they deserve. At best, points are skimmed over and the reader is told what has happened, rather than being shown, ie. Riley's UV treatments, the year of their marriage, and the crazy cult leader. I was left with many questions after reading this, which was a shame as I had loved the other story.

A good addition to the Perfect Match Agency series that I did enjoy, but I would recommend you read Chance Match first, just so you get a little more background.

** 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 3, 2023