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Objectif Lune (Destination Moon) (Tintin #16)
Objectif Lune (Destination Moon) (Tintin #16)
Herge | 1992 | Comics & Graphic Novels
7
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first of Herge's 2-part adventure detailing Tintin's Moon adventure, it's amazing to think that these stories were actually written roughly 20 years before man actually first did so!

Unlike its sequel (Explorers on the Moon), this one is mainly set on good old Planet Earth itself, with Tintin (and Snowy!), Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and the bungling Thompson twins all in the Sprodj Atomic Research Centre in Syldavia, working on the rocket that will take them to the moon!

This, I believe, is also one of only a handful of 2-part stories (the others being the earlier The Secret of the Unicorn followed by Red Rackham's Treasure and The Seven Crystal Ballsfollowed by Prisoners of the Sun).

Finally, remember the era in which they were written!
  
Twins (1988)
Twins (1988)
1988 | Comedy
6
6.2 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
"you're my twin brother!"
1988 action comedy that was Schwarzenegger's first foray into the comedy genre, and that gets most of its mileage from pairing the two most unlikely actors in Schwarzenegger himself alongside the diminutive Danny DeVito as twins, the result of a top-secret genetic experiment, separated at birth with Schwarzenegger's character getting all the good genes, and DeVito's the rest.

Finding out he is a twin on his birthday (and after being raised on a remote island, where he was showered with all the best things), Schwarzenegger's character leaves the island to travel to America where he meets his twin brother, who has lead rather a different kind of life ...

The result is a gently amusing action comedy; no real laugh out loud moments but warm hearted enough.
  
The Girl with the Ghost Machine
The Girl with the Ghost Machine
Lauren DeStefano | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Originally reviewed on http://www.frommybookshelf.com

Emmaline Beaumont's mother has passed away. Unfortunately, Emmaline's father has become fixated with building a machine that will bring Emmaline's mother's ghost back, and in doing so, he himself has forgotten about the living in his obsession with the dead, so in many ways Emmaline has lost both of her parents. The only people she can confide in are twins Gully and Oliver, her best friends in school. Yet for of their understanding and patience, Gully and Oliver are unable to fully understand Emmaline's loss as they have never lost someone so close to them as Emmaline's mother was to her. Her father's machine, however, may actually work, and it is then that Emmaline must decide whether the cost of operating the machine is worth the price paid, and will the twins help her in her decision, regardless of what that decision is?

Lauren DeStefano has created a beautiful and poignant story that I feel would be an important book for anyone to read who has recently (or not so recently) lost someone very close to them. DeStefano has a keen ability to cut to the quick of the emotions of loss and what that can feel like, especially for someone too young to have have lost a loved one. Her characters are not cliché and their feelings are quite real, and the story she has created feels honest and important. That's the best way I can describe it. A fan of her YA series The Chemical Garden Trilogy and The Interment Chronicles, I have not yet read her other two middle grade books, The Curious Tale of the In-Between and The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart, and I think I'll be needing to rectify that soon.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Au Pair in Books

Apr 4, 2019  
The Au Pair
The Au Pair
Emma Rous | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a book that everyone seemed to be talking about on Goodreads, so I picked it up. I'm glad I did. It was an engaging, quick read that kept me interested and guessing. The story alternates between the present-day, told by Seraphine and the past, leading up to the twins birth, as told by Laura, the young au pair. We learn that the Mayes family has a history of sadness and tragedy--especially when it comes to twins. However, Rous is very good as slowly unfurling her plot, letting us carefully uncover exactly what happened not only with Seraphine, Danny, and their older brother Edwin, but with their mother, Ruth, and with Laura.

The book is certainly weird and intriguing early on. It's very readable and certainly creepy at times. I did wonder why Seraphine didn't just take a DNA test from the beginning: at least then she'd know if Edwin and Danny were her brothers! There was a lot of hand-wringing and angst. Which, okay, I can understand if you believe you don't belong in your family, but it was a little much at times. There were a few cliches and predictable moments, but the plot was also really interesting and just dramatic enough to draw me in and keep me flipping the pages. I was fascinated to see how things would all turn out. And while Seraphine could irritate me at times, I overall liked both Laura and Seraphine as narrators and characters.

Overall, this was a good read--fast and twisty. I probably could have used a notepad to draw out the family dynamics by the end: there are some fun twists and turns there. It's a good book to embrace and enjoy the craziness and drama. It can be a little melodramatic, but overall a fun read. 3.5 stars.