Sleepless in Manhattan
Book
'The perfect book to curl up with' - Heat Great friends. Amazing Apartment. An incredible job. Paige...
My Plain Jane: The Lady Janies Book 2
Jodi Meadows, Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton
Book
You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on...
romance fiction
Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1)
Book
Discover the first book in a sparkling paranormal romance trilogy from Kiersten White, #1 New York...
The Viking's Chosen (Clan Hakon #1)
Book
His orders are clear: launch a raid against England and bring home the spoils of war. But the...
Historical fiction romance
Crow Flight
Book
The curious flight patterns of crows lead a teen computer programmer down a path of mystery and...
Micky Barnard (542 KP) rated Beautiful Broken Things in Books
Feb 20, 2019
Caddy was the protagonist and Rosie was her best friend but the story very much revolved around Suzanne, a 16 year old teen, abused and with significant psychological effects. I never understood the lack of police involvement in her past, but I was able to read past that issue. It was a powerful story, wings were spread, influences bad and good happened and the apple cart was well and truly knocked over.
This story built to a crescendo and for the last 10%, I felt like I'd been hit with a mallet. It was powerful reading and my heart had a few fissures that needed mending. I am so glad I am reading this at a time when there's a book two out, even though it has stood alone for a few years.
Sara Barnard writes from the young person's perspective so well. Her characters' feelings towards their parents and their parents' reactions are very real. I remain impressed.
Timekeeper (Realm of Elestra Book 1)
Book
Saved from the streets by the mysterious George Whipple, Parker and Lydia grew up in the...
YA Young Adult teen teens steampunk fiction
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated Wish Upon (2017) in Movies
Jul 11, 2019
Wish Upon stars Ryan Phillippe as a widowed father to a teen daughter, Clare, played by Joey King (Ramona and Beezus). Working as a salvager, he comes across an antique Chinese Box that he gives to her for her birthday. Clare quickly understands that the box has the ability to grant wishes, but her limited understanding of Chinese prevents her from being able to decipher all of the characters on it which reveal an all important disclaimer: each wish will result in the death of someone you know.
The film is ambitious with its premise yet falls flat in its execution. What seemed to be a promising mix of The Box and Final Destination, resulted in an uninspiring teen thriller that, at times, seemed more slapstick than a film that would grab your attention and fill its viewers with anxiety and tension. Wish Upon checks off many of the cliché boxes with respect to their storytelling and interactions between characters and provides little originality.
Wish Upon misses the mark in not finding an identity. It jumps from being a slasher, to being a teen comedy, to being a romance. This would not be problematic if it incorporated all of these facets into creating a film that takes advantage of these aspects, but it does little to allow for the story to seem as one that would be memorable. Wish Upon will leave audiences wishing they had made a different choice at the box office.
Kaz (232 KP) rated I Am Mother (2019) in Movies
Jun 14, 2019
I'm a fan of films which explore interesting ideas and have twists and turns and so 'I am Mother' ,was just my kind of film.
The acting was very good, particularly by the young actress who plays 'daughter'. At first, because the actress is younger, I thought this was going to be a stereotypical teen dystopian movie with some cheesy teen romance through in for good measure, but I was pleasantly surprised how it was more mature than that.
The interesting relationship 'daughter' has with 'Mother' was really interesting. Even though 'Mother' is a machine, the two main characters have some real emotion in their relationship. I think that might have something to do with 'Mother' voice not being metallic, but more 'human'.
This film explores thought provoking ideas, as well has having great tension and action. I also liked the twist towards the end of the film.
The only slight complaint that I had with this film, was that the ending was a tad predictable. However, I still feel that this is satisfactory.
This film is really thought provoking sci-fi film and I would definitely recommend watching it.
Ingemar Johansson: Swedish Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Book
Ingmar Johansson's right hand-dubbed "The Hammer of Thor"-was the most fearsome in boxing, and...