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Marked by Blood (The Marked #2)
Marked by Blood (The Marked #2)
Rinna Ford | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
215
Kindle
Marked by Blood ( The Marked book 2 )
By Rinna Ford

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

An accursed child of earth and fire, bathed in blood on the darkest of nights…

The supernatural society lives by two laws.
Don’t tell humans about their existence.
Don’t mix the races.

Rule number one is easy enough to follow, but rule number two...well, it’s a lot harder than it seems for someone like Emelia. Her mother being caster and her father, a dragon shifter, makes her the exact thing that the Council has outlawed against. Persecuted and hunted for what she is, she has no choice but to go on the run.
Now with the help of her shifter mate, Xander, Emelia is searching for the only person that can help her in her greatest time of need. But she soon learns that the help she sought really isn’t the help she needs and that her hopes and dreams don’t matter when fate has other plans.
With peace slipping through her grasp, will Emelia be able to thrive in the chaos, or will she succumb to its darkness?

This was definitely a very good second book! I got a little bored of her constantly reminding us that xan was her mate and her dragon! But it was a good read and suddenly got very hot and heavy! Emelia definitely has got more dangerous and more kickass! Recommended to all reverse harem fans!
  
Murder on Fifth Avenue
Murder on Fifth Avenue
Victoria Thompson | 2012 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Death at a Gentlemen’s Club
When a member of the Knickerbocker club dies one afternoon, everyone assumes it was a heart attack – until they move the body and discover that he had been bleeding. Midwife Sarah Brandt’s father, Felix Decker, is a member of the club, so he immediately calls Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to investigate. The victim was Chilton Devries, the head of a wealthy family. However, Frank soon learns that Chilton was not a well-liked man. With Sarah using her status in society to gain access to the family, the two begin to gain a long list of suspects. But who actually killed the man?

It’s always a pleasure to return to Sarah and Frank’s world, and this book was no exception. I enjoyed the fact that, in addition to who and why, we were trying to figure out how. That added a nice twist of the book. I try to space out authors because I start to pick up on some of their plotting techniques, and that did enable me to figure out a couple of twists early, but I was still left puzzled by many things until I reached the end. I was hooked, staying up late two nights in a row to finish it. The characters are strong, and the series regulars provided some moments that made me laugh out loud as I read. I’m anxious to find out what happens next thanks to a tease at the end of the book. I may have been late to this series, but I’m so glad I started it.
  
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Pete Wareham recommended Miles Smiles by Miles Davis in Music (curated)

 
Miles Smiles by Miles Davis
Miles Smiles by Miles Davis
1967 | Jazz
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I started playing flute when I was about six or seven and I transferred to saxophone when I was 14. It was mostly just playing trad jazz in the school jazz band and so I'd actually played a lot of jazz, because I was classically trained too, so I'd read a lot of jazz solos. But I hadn't really heard much modern jazz. I started listening to Miles Davis and Charlie Parker at the same time as I started listening to The Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin. I was completely obsessed with jazz for so many years. That was all I listened to. John Coltrane and Miles Davis were like my bread and butter for so long. But obviously, where there's John Coltrane, there's Wayne Shorter, there's Archie Shepp, Joe Henderson, all these other people, and the same with Miles Davis. Miles Davis I've taken such inspiration from because he's someone that says: you've got to change, you've got to adapt to survive. You can't just stay doing what you're doing, you've got to try and engage with the zeitgeist. He was unique in the jazz world really. The people that came after him, that he brought up musically, if you like - Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Weather Report, Chick Corea - obviously they were very much engaged in the music of the time but Miles was so fearless and iconic, not just as a musician but as a figure in his society. To be young, angry and black was such a unique thing. He was absolutely amazing. I've got so much respect for him."

Source
  
Parker (2013)
Parker (2013)
2013 | Mystery
So this is the type of shit we got right before 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘤𝘬, huh? Front-to-back wretched, wouldn't even pass as middling DTV fodder these days. Statham is so much better than such chintzy tripe, and I think he knows it judging by this sleepwalk of a performance - which the entire rest of the cast (except for a crackling Micah Hauptman) matches. Society has progressed past the need for more ignominious, generic 90s actioner-with-little-action ripoffs which basically only exist to fill up midday slots on the Starz channel. You'd think this premise would be intrinsically fun - just having Statham (in numerous disguises and funny accents) hunt down and kill the rest of his former team - but I guess it isn't in this piece of shit. It's a shame too, because the characters look good doused in blood and being shot and/or impaled with various items but the already tame R-rating is utterly wasted by overcutting and shaky-camming the flow completely out of the few fights there are. That might have been marginally less of an offense if it wasn't also seriously sexist towards its female characters. Lopez has no reason to trust this guy yet she badly wants to fuck him the second she sees him even after he assaults her, demeans her, and forces her to de-clothe in front of him - which they then try to spin into some gross romantic moment. Less than trash, somehow even worse than 𝘔𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
  
Searching (2018)
Searching (2018)
2018 | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
I enjoyed this film a lot. Plain and simple. I'm laying it out there for you before I waffle about anything. Originally I put it in as 4½ stars, but then I started to ponder... there's actually nothing wrong with this film as far as I'm concerned. The only reason I'd knocked off that half star was because it didn't leave me buzzing in the same way my other 5 star picks had... but that wasn't fair at all.

Do we know if this is the first film to be presented this way? I like it, and in a technology driven society it shows the power it all holds over us and just how different our lives are online and IRL.

If you spend as much time online as I do, or you have kids that do, then this is almost verging on your own personal horror movie. Afterwards it does occur to you just how little your two lives cross paths. Before this film you'd probably say that was a good thing, afterwards... hmm.

It's a little disorienting getting used to the different bits of the screen in laptop form, which I found a bit strange considering that's how I'm used to that sort of visual. But you end up searching the screens for clues and hints just like Dad is. I particularly enjoyed the scene in his brother's house.

This won't appeal to everyone, it's verging on being niche, but if you find it even remotely intriguing then you should give it a go.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) Sep 25, 2019

One of my favourites of 2018. Watched it again recently and loved it just as much. But I do have 2 daughters, so yes that did have an impact on the "horror" of it all for me, as you picked up on.