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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 27, 2022  
Author Farena Bajwa visits my blog to answer some questions in a fun author interview. Read up on her poetry book FLOWERS GROW ON BROKEN WALLS, and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a paperback copy of the book!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/04/blog-tour-and-giveaway-flowers-grow-on.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Flowers Grow on Broken Walls is a unique collection of poems and prose that talks about healing and finding yourself in a world that constantly tells you that's who you shouldn't be.

The poems, which tell a story, go over our everyday human emotions; from being heartbroken and questioning our self-worth in a world of judgment and scrutinizing social media, to finding ourselves and appreciating those really important in our lives - especially our inner, true selves.

The collection displays a raw and honest portrayal of an artist who cannot help but create something beautiful in the midst of the ugliness she has been put through, and who continues to hope against all odds, as she lets go of what she has been told is important and finds herself in one truly is.

The story that starts with heartache ends with healing, it starts with rejection from someone but ends with self-acceptance, which is the only way for true healing.
     
Good Joe Bell (2020)
Good Joe Bell (2020)
2020 | Biography, Drama
3
3.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The film has a great premise. An alpha male walks from his home in La Grange, Oregon to New York to tell the story of his gay son who was bullied so badly he committed suicide. Sounds interesting until you realize that it is nearly impossible to adapt into a cinematic story. It is one man traveling on the road. He is not rich; he is stubborn; he is kind of a jerk to other people. Mark Wahlberg is good as Joe Bell, but there is not much of a character to play. So you have to give him the spirit of his son, but the son would be his version of the son and not the real son so the actor playing him would need to distinguish the two versions. This never happens. Another huge problem is the ending. It comes too quickly and is extremely shocking (and not in a way a filmmaker would want). Yes, the event is foreshadowed in the first act and it would fit with the character, but there needed to be more story in order to achieve the desired effect of the event. The whole film has a problem by staying true to life instead of adding texture to the characters and story.
  
Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom #1)
Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom #1)
Simon R. Green | 1989 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Once upon a time ...

this was my favourite book.

That was back in the early 90s, back when I was in my tweens and back before I had discovered the likes of Terry Pratchett or Bernard Cornwell.

I then lost track of the author for a good two decades or so, only recently re-discovering him when I happened to chance across the 'GraphicAudio' version of the novel on Audible.

I did wonder what a GraphicAudio meant: simply that it was fully dramatized with a full cast, background music, sound effects etc etc - basically, everything but the actual visual aspect! - instead of only one, maybe two, no more than a handful of people reading the story.

As for that story? Firmly in the fantasy genre - Princes, dragons, unicorns, Princesses, magic, royal politics et al - however I do remember when I first read it all those years ago thinking that I had never come across anything quite like it before. That still holds true to this day: yes, it does have all those familiar elements of a classic Good vs Evil story, but the real delight is in the subverting of expectations, and in the story of Rupert and Julia and the DarkWood / Blue Moon.
  
WD
When Dreams Come True
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Dreams Come True by Rebecca Emin is the story of the awkward phase when children transition from being children to becoming teenagers. It is a middle-grade novel, written in first person, from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old girl named Charlie. Readers follow Charlie as she struggles with the changes she and her friends; Max, Toby, and Allie are going through.

This book is a fairly simple plot with not much happening but this did not in any way make the book boring. It was a quick read with characters who were relatable. I wish the plot line was more explained and fully developed. The writing struggled a bit with not having a uniquing voice and the dialogue was a bit unrealistic.

Other than the underdeveloped plot and unrealistic dialogue, When Dreams Come True was a good read.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

I received this book from Gingersnap books via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.