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Delayed Admission (Shadow Veil Academy #1)
Delayed Admission (Shadow Veil Academy #1)
Heather Renee | 2021 | Education, Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
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Contains spoilers, click to show
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Delayed Admission ( Shadow Veil Academy book 1)
By Heather Renee

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

 
Some secrets are better kept.

To Raegan Keyes, she's the only one of her kind, but has no idea what she is. Until, one night, she finds out her unexplainable abilities aren't the only thing she needs to worry about. Suddenly, her world becomes much bigger than she ever could have dreamed.

When a mysterious man named Enzo arrives, too striking to be human, Raegan learns she's not as alone as she believed. As more secrets are revealed, she's swept off to an academy for others like her, thousands of miles away from home, by a complete stranger whom she'd rather stab than travel with.

As tension builds between Raegan and Enzo, she begins to find her purpose as she settles into her new existence, alongside elves, witches, vampires, and shifters. With a group of new friends, she's finally feeling alive again. That is, until something sinister comes along, once more throwing her life into mayhem.


I didn’t really know what to expect but I really ended up enjoying it! I love that Reagan is a dragon with Elf and witch magic it’s something for everyone. I wondered if it would be to YA and it is in parts but still a decent adult read too especially if you’re looking for something light!
Looking forward to more from Heather Renee.
  
The Purge (2013)
The Purge (2013)
2013 | Mystery, Sci-Fi
Despite it's shortcomings, it's easy to see why The Purge ended up spawning a franchise and that's mainly down to it's tantalising premise. The whole "murder is legal for one night every year" idea is suitably dystopian, and yet feels uncomfortably plausible. It's a little slice of horror-plot gold.
This first entry however, is more of a tease of what could be, focusing on one family, in one location, on Purge Night.
It has a fair amount going for it. Two strong leads in Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, a relatively charismatic villain, and a well paced narrative that manages to achieve some sort of tension here and there.
Unfortunately, it falls into silly action clichés during the final third. It's easy to lose count of how many times a main character is about to meet their demise, before being miraculously saved at the last second. It becomes a bit laughable by the time the credits roll. The plot beats around this point take a bit of a dive as well, with some last minute twists thrown in that don't really make a lick of sense. The action itself is fairly entertaining, but marred somewhat by all the crappy CGI blood flying around. And although the main villain has some entertaining aspects, his minions are just a bunch of cringy edge lords that unfortunately plague this entire series.

All that being said, The Purge is still a modest and tidy enough home invasion thriller that deserves a watch.
  
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Armie Hammer recommended Cool Hand Luke (1967) in Movies (curated)

 
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
1967 | Classics, Comedy, Drama

"Cool Hand Luke, to me, and I’m not a film historian, but what it feels like to me is it’s in this intersectional point between the glamorization of film and that golden era of Hollywood where everything was meant to look perfect, like all the old Cary Grant movies like His Girl Friday and Arsenic and Old Lace, where everything is supposed to look so nice and everybody’s always impeccably dressed and charming and all that. Cool Hand Luke comes after that, where it’s a more cinema verite realism kind of thing. But also, there are still elements of the older films that you don’t get anymore, like using imagery in a really cool way. Like, there’s one scene where, to inspire a feeling of tension and stress, there’s just a really slow push in on a whirling fan that just keeps whirling and whirling, and I feel like they don’t do that much anymore. Now they have to really pander to the audience, and make sure that they serve up to you exactly what’s going on, instead of using that kind of stuff. Also, Paul Newman is the f—ing best, and he’s so good in that movie, and it’s just cool, man. It’s just a guy who just won’t get beat by the system, and I really like that. There’s so many layers to that movie. It’s one of the few movies that I make sure I keep downloaded on my iPhone or my iPad, just so that I always have it available."

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