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Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated Cold Hearted in Books
Aug 30, 2021
When you’re eight books into a series such as the Villain Tales by Serena Valentino you would think that I wouldn’t be smug anymore! You would think that I wouldn’t go into the book saying “I won’t end up feeling sorry for this villain”.
You would also think that I know I am always wrong!
Lady Tremaine is one of the easiest villains to hate in the Disney universe: she worked Cinderella to the bone, denied her a decent party and then locked her in the attic for good measure! These are hardly the actions of some misunderstood soul.
Until Serena Valentino comes along of course! Valentino has a truly unique way of humanising these characters that we love to hate and, with the help of the Odd Sisters, proves to us time and time again that there is more to our fairytales than meets the eye.
The previous book in the villain tales, Evil Thing, took the reader outside of the Many Kingdoms for the first time. Valentino takes advantage of this, neatly using Cold Hearted to join together Lady Tremaine’s life in London with both the Fairylands and the Many Kingdoms. This timeline means that the readers meet Lady Tremaine before her role as stepmother: we learn of her worries over indulging her two daughters and her unwillingness to move on after her husband’s death.
Cold Hearted skips time periods slightly so the reader is actually experiencing Nanny and the Fairy Godmother reading Lady Tremaine’s story. Don't worry: this doesn't mean we are deprived of our favourite creepy sisters, although this book may have you looking at the Odd Sisters in an entirely new light.
The 8th villain tale continues Valentino’s reign of brilliant, alternative views of our villains. Lady Tremaine was to be the heroine of her own fairytale; all she wanted was her own happily ever after. Where did it go so wrong?
You would also think that I know I am always wrong!
Lady Tremaine is one of the easiest villains to hate in the Disney universe: she worked Cinderella to the bone, denied her a decent party and then locked her in the attic for good measure! These are hardly the actions of some misunderstood soul.
Until Serena Valentino comes along of course! Valentino has a truly unique way of humanising these characters that we love to hate and, with the help of the Odd Sisters, proves to us time and time again that there is more to our fairytales than meets the eye.
The previous book in the villain tales, Evil Thing, took the reader outside of the Many Kingdoms for the first time. Valentino takes advantage of this, neatly using Cold Hearted to join together Lady Tremaine’s life in London with both the Fairylands and the Many Kingdoms. This timeline means that the readers meet Lady Tremaine before her role as stepmother: we learn of her worries over indulging her two daughters and her unwillingness to move on after her husband’s death.
Cold Hearted skips time periods slightly so the reader is actually experiencing Nanny and the Fairy Godmother reading Lady Tremaine’s story. Don't worry: this doesn't mean we are deprived of our favourite creepy sisters, although this book may have you looking at the Odd Sisters in an entirely new light.
The 8th villain tale continues Valentino’s reign of brilliant, alternative views of our villains. Lady Tremaine was to be the heroine of her own fairytale; all she wanted was her own happily ever after. Where did it go so wrong?
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters in Books
Oct 5, 2020
The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain was on my TBR, but I didn’t have the paperback version of the book yet. When I noticed there is an audiobook available from my library, I decided to go ahead and listen to it while I was solving my jigsaw puzzle.
The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sister is the third book in a series that features the Amir sisters. In this book the spotlight is on Mae, the youngest sister of them all. I haven’t read the other two books, but I hope they are better than this one.
Mae was a very annoying character.
And the fact that she was the main character in this book was probably the main reason I didn’t enjoy listening to this book. She has grown up watching her sisters be in the spotlight, living their lives, getting married, having children. She has always been there to help them with everything they might need, because that is her responsibility as their sister.
When Mae heads to university, she fails to fit into any group and make friends. Whenever she goes home and tries to talk about her university life, her stories are lost to the more important stories of her sisters and their babies. Mae feels angry and upset, which leads to her making some decisions that are perhaps unlike her, and also hide some important news from the whole family.
I think the whole family had many issues as a whole, and each individual member had problems on their own.
It is possible that I have never read about a more dysfunctional family that doesn’t work together, but pretends it does. I have seen families that just accept the fact that something is wrong. But this family just keeps going in this weird direction, and it made me uncomfortable throughout the whole journey.
The book in itself handles a lot of sensitive topics, such as sexual advances, public shaming on social media when women put makeup on the train, racism, sexuality, religion, cultural beliefs etc. I felt that this was the only bright spot in the book, to make the readers aware of what is happening, and how some characters respond to it.
Mae was the character I couldn’t relate to the most. Her thoughts and opinions, her way of seeing life was just something I did not agree with. I can understand that she might have been living in a bubble her whole life before moving to university. However, to be so unaware of the outside world and the people around it was just beyond me. I couldn’t agree with how she accepted defeat as something that comes to her by default, and how she was so uninterested to do anything that can make her happier. Refusing to improve in any way is a big character flaw, and I cannot agree with it.
Honestly, I did not enjoy The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters.
I am not sure why, but there was so much unnecessary drama, without any real reasoning behind it. Perhaps the fact that I consumed this book as an audiobook has something to do with it as well. The narrator’s voice was really annoying and high-pitched.
The ending was average and very predictable. I didn’t feel as if the characters actually learnt anything in particular about themselves or each other. In conclusion, this book was not for me and I didn’t enjoy it.
The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sister is the third book in a series that features the Amir sisters. In this book the spotlight is on Mae, the youngest sister of them all. I haven’t read the other two books, but I hope they are better than this one.
Mae was a very annoying character.
And the fact that she was the main character in this book was probably the main reason I didn’t enjoy listening to this book. She has grown up watching her sisters be in the spotlight, living their lives, getting married, having children. She has always been there to help them with everything they might need, because that is her responsibility as their sister.
When Mae heads to university, she fails to fit into any group and make friends. Whenever she goes home and tries to talk about her university life, her stories are lost to the more important stories of her sisters and their babies. Mae feels angry and upset, which leads to her making some decisions that are perhaps unlike her, and also hide some important news from the whole family.
I think the whole family had many issues as a whole, and each individual member had problems on their own.
It is possible that I have never read about a more dysfunctional family that doesn’t work together, but pretends it does. I have seen families that just accept the fact that something is wrong. But this family just keeps going in this weird direction, and it made me uncomfortable throughout the whole journey.
The book in itself handles a lot of sensitive topics, such as sexual advances, public shaming on social media when women put makeup on the train, racism, sexuality, religion, cultural beliefs etc. I felt that this was the only bright spot in the book, to make the readers aware of what is happening, and how some characters respond to it.
Mae was the character I couldn’t relate to the most. Her thoughts and opinions, her way of seeing life was just something I did not agree with. I can understand that she might have been living in a bubble her whole life before moving to university. However, to be so unaware of the outside world and the people around it was just beyond me. I couldn’t agree with how she accepted defeat as something that comes to her by default, and how she was so uninterested to do anything that can make her happier. Refusing to improve in any way is a big character flaw, and I cannot agree with it.
Honestly, I did not enjoy The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters.
I am not sure why, but there was so much unnecessary drama, without any real reasoning behind it. Perhaps the fact that I consumed this book as an audiobook has something to do with it as well. The narrator’s voice was really annoying and high-pitched.
The ending was average and very predictable. I didn’t feel as if the characters actually learnt anything in particular about themselves or each other. In conclusion, this book was not for me and I didn’t enjoy it.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox 360 version of BioShock in Video Games
Oct 21, 2019
Would You Kindly
Contains spoilers, click to show
Bioshock- is a horrorfying game, it has adventure, chills, thrills, twist, turns and so much more. It is a fantasic game to play. If you havent not played it, than i would highly reccordmend it. Lets talk about it...
The Plot: BioShock is set in 1960. The player guides the protagonist, Jack, after his airplane crashes in the ocean near the bathysphere terminus that leads to the underwater city of Rapture. Built by the business magnate Andrew Ryan, the city was intended to be an isolated utopia, but the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which can be used to grant superhuman powers, initiated the city's turbulent decline. Jack tries to find a way to escape, fighting through hordes of ADAM-obsessed enemies, and the iconic, deadly Big Daddies, while engaging with the few sane humans that remain and eventually learning of Rapture's past.
The player, as Jack, can defeat foes in several ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture's defenses against them.
The twist is unexpected and once you find out, it is so unexpected. It's revealed that Atlas is actually the gangster Frank Fontaine, who'd smuggled Jack to the surface several years earlier with the intention of bringing him back as a weapon, as "your" DNA can operate a lot of Rapture's systems that only Ryan would otherwise have access to. Jack has been abused, hypnotized to carry fabricated memories and respond to a key phrase: "Would you kindly." Fontaine has been, to this point in the game, using it to control Jack's progression through Rapture.
Bioshock aslo has two different ends: The ending depends on how the player interacted with the Little Sisters:
1. If the player rescues all of the Little Sisters (or harvests only one of them), Jack takes them back to the surface with him and adopts five of them as his daughters, and Tenenbaum happily narrates how they go on to live full lives under his care, eventually surrounding him on his deathbed. This ending is consideredc anon in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea.
2. If the player harvests more than one Little Sister, Jack turns on the Little Sisters to harvest their ADAM. Tenenbaum sadly narrates what occurred, condemning Jack and his actions. A US Navy submarine then comes across the wreckage of the plane and finds itself suddenly surrounded by bathyspheres containing Splicers who attack the crew and take control of it. The submarine is revealed to be carrying nuclear missiles, with Tenenbaum claiming that Jack has now "stolen the terrible secrets of the world": the more Little Sisters are harvested, the harsher and more furious Tenenbaum's narrative becomes.
Dont forget about the big daddy.
I love this game, it is a classic. I wouls highly reccordmend playing this game.
The Plot: BioShock is set in 1960. The player guides the protagonist, Jack, after his airplane crashes in the ocean near the bathysphere terminus that leads to the underwater city of Rapture. Built by the business magnate Andrew Ryan, the city was intended to be an isolated utopia, but the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which can be used to grant superhuman powers, initiated the city's turbulent decline. Jack tries to find a way to escape, fighting through hordes of ADAM-obsessed enemies, and the iconic, deadly Big Daddies, while engaging with the few sane humans that remain and eventually learning of Rapture's past.
The player, as Jack, can defeat foes in several ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture's defenses against them.
The twist is unexpected and once you find out, it is so unexpected. It's revealed that Atlas is actually the gangster Frank Fontaine, who'd smuggled Jack to the surface several years earlier with the intention of bringing him back as a weapon, as "your" DNA can operate a lot of Rapture's systems that only Ryan would otherwise have access to. Jack has been abused, hypnotized to carry fabricated memories and respond to a key phrase: "Would you kindly." Fontaine has been, to this point in the game, using it to control Jack's progression through Rapture.
Bioshock aslo has two different ends: The ending depends on how the player interacted with the Little Sisters:
1. If the player rescues all of the Little Sisters (or harvests only one of them), Jack takes them back to the surface with him and adopts five of them as his daughters, and Tenenbaum happily narrates how they go on to live full lives under his care, eventually surrounding him on his deathbed. This ending is consideredc anon in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea.
2. If the player harvests more than one Little Sister, Jack turns on the Little Sisters to harvest their ADAM. Tenenbaum sadly narrates what occurred, condemning Jack and his actions. A US Navy submarine then comes across the wreckage of the plane and finds itself suddenly surrounded by bathyspheres containing Splicers who attack the crew and take control of it. The submarine is revealed to be carrying nuclear missiles, with Tenenbaum claiming that Jack has now "stolen the terrible secrets of the world": the more Little Sisters are harvested, the harsher and more furious Tenenbaum's narrative becomes.
Dont forget about the big daddy.
I love this game, it is a classic. I wouls highly reccordmend playing this game.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Vanishing Girls in Books
Feb 13, 2018
Oliver's novel covers the story of sisters Nick (Nicole) and Dara, who grew up close, but have drifted apart as teens. Then they are in a terrible accident, which pulls them even further apart -- to the point where they aren't even speaking. However, when Nick eventually thinks Dara has disappeared, she goes on a quest to find her sister and help her.
This book was just sort of eh... I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that the "vanishing" part for Dara doesn't take place until well into the plot. The story is more the tale of Dara and Nick's lives before and after their accident (told in their own voices, jumping between time). It's actually rather compelling as is and the whole "vanishing" almost seems like an unwelcome distraction once it arrives.
It's not to say the whole book is bad. I struggled with the rating, really. There's a lot of suspense that simply captures the sisters' lives and tumult surrounding the accident. Oliver does a good job portraying Nick's teen life and her growth as she works at an amusement park over the summer.
Still, the "vanishing girls" part feels contrived at times and parts of Dara's life, as it unfolds, seems forced. Overall, I'm still sort of unsure about this one, truly. It leaves you a little uneven, which who knows... may be the point!
This book was just sort of eh... I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that the "vanishing" part for Dara doesn't take place until well into the plot. The story is more the tale of Dara and Nick's lives before and after their accident (told in their own voices, jumping between time). It's actually rather compelling as is and the whole "vanishing" almost seems like an unwelcome distraction once it arrives.
It's not to say the whole book is bad. I struggled with the rating, really. There's a lot of suspense that simply captures the sisters' lives and tumult surrounding the accident. Oliver does a good job portraying Nick's teen life and her growth as she works at an amusement park over the summer.
Still, the "vanishing girls" part feels contrived at times and parts of Dara's life, as it unfolds, seems forced. Overall, I'm still sort of unsure about this one, truly. It leaves you a little uneven, which who knows... may be the point!
A heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story of two sisters.
Sal is the main character in this book : a story of abuse, survival and the love of two sisters.
Sal and Peppa's mum is an alcoholic with a knack of finding unsuitable boyfriends, Robert is a drunk, a drug addict and a child abuser. He abuses 13 year old Sal, and when he threatens to do the same to do the same to 10 year old Peppa, Sal decides to act and save them. She learns all she can of wild camping, survival techniques from the SAS and anything else she can pick up from the internet. She finds a remote place where they can set up camp and live away from Social Services and the 'Polis'
There is a lot of description of their surroundings in the mountains and the Loch that they live near, which I really liked. The elderly East German doctor that they meet is also a nice touch.
It hadn't actually occurred to me that this was a Young Adult book: I enjoyed it and I'm certainly not a young adult (in body, anyway!).
The novel didn't have the ending that I would have expected, but it was a good ending and very appropriate.
All in all, a very good story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of the book.
Sal and Peppa's mum is an alcoholic with a knack of finding unsuitable boyfriends, Robert is a drunk, a drug addict and a child abuser. He abuses 13 year old Sal, and when he threatens to do the same to do the same to 10 year old Peppa, Sal decides to act and save them. She learns all she can of wild camping, survival techniques from the SAS and anything else she can pick up from the internet. She finds a remote place where they can set up camp and live away from Social Services and the 'Polis'
There is a lot of description of their surroundings in the mountains and the Loch that they live near, which I really liked. The elderly East German doctor that they meet is also a nice touch.
It hadn't actually occurred to me that this was a Young Adult book: I enjoyed it and I'm certainly not a young adult (in body, anyway!).
The novel didn't have the ending that I would have expected, but it was a good ending and very appropriate.
All in all, a very good story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of the book.
Merissa (13197 KP) rated The Christmas Gift? (A Barlow Sisters Novella) in Books
Nov 12, 2018
The Christmas Gift? (A Barlow Sisters Novella) by Jordan Ford
The Christmas Gift? is a sweet addition to the Barlow Sisters books. In this one, we get to know Rahn and Roman. Rahn is Chloe's best friend, and Roman is the drummer in Cairo's band. We've met both of them in previous books, and both were characters I wanted to see more of.
Rahn and Roman both have their own histories to deal with, as do every single couple EVER! These two also have different cultures though, which can add a bit more difficulty to the mix. One thing that is clear from the start is just how much these two mean to each other. The problem is pretty much self-explanatory, but it is written exceedingly well. Nothing about it is glossed over, or diminished. I would love to see just how these two get on, and with the next set of books due to come soon, I am hoping for a crossover - even if it's only a little one!
Well written, with no editing or grammatical errors, this was one sweet read. You may need to visit the dentist afterwards! Definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
Rahn and Roman both have their own histories to deal with, as do every single couple EVER! These two also have different cultures though, which can add a bit more difficulty to the mix. One thing that is clear from the start is just how much these two mean to each other. The problem is pretty much self-explanatory, but it is written exceedingly well. Nothing about it is glossed over, or diminished. I would love to see just how these two get on, and with the next set of books due to come soon, I am hoping for a crossover - even if it's only a little one!
Well written, with no editing or grammatical errors, this was one sweet read. You may need to visit the dentist afterwards! Definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
I love Stephanie Laurens' book, especially the Cynster series. This latest offering is part of said series, but forms the final part of the Cynster sisters trilogy, which between them have a story all of their own. If you haven't read any of the earlier Cynster books,that's not too much of a problem, but you should read the three Cynster sisters books in the proper order to see parts of the plot unveiled as they should be!
Following from Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue (Heather's story) and In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster (no prizes for guessing the heroine of that one!) this is the story of Angelica the youngest daughter of Lord Martin & Celia Cynster and sister of Gabriel and Lucifer.
The book has excitement, adventure, passion and lots of tall handsome males practically oozing testosterone - what's not to like?! I was looking forward to this volume and having the whole mystery cleared up and this was a clever, imaginative idea. Over the three books it's been great to see so many other members of the Cynster family, with a few Bastion Club and Black Cobra members thrown in for good measure! I love the feeling of continuity this gives to Laurens' world.
I think we have a hint that we may have more to come with the Cynster ladies - I for one can't wait!
Following from Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue (Heather's story) and In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster (no prizes for guessing the heroine of that one!) this is the story of Angelica the youngest daughter of Lord Martin & Celia Cynster and sister of Gabriel and Lucifer.
The book has excitement, adventure, passion and lots of tall handsome males practically oozing testosterone - what's not to like?! I was looking forward to this volume and having the whole mystery cleared up and this was a clever, imaginative idea. Over the three books it's been great to see so many other members of the Cynster family, with a few Bastion Club and Black Cobra members thrown in for good measure! I love the feeling of continuity this gives to Laurens' world.
I think we have a hint that we may have more to come with the Cynster ladies - I for one can't wait!
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