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Terry & George - Feeding Friends: Great Recipes to Cook, Eat and Share
George Craig and Terry Edwards
Book
'Terry's recipes are as fun to prepare as they are to eat and share, and Feeding Friends is the kind...

Too Good to Share
Book
Almost a third of the UK population live alone. In addition to those people, many others cook alone...

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Prom Nights from Hell in Books
Jan 6, 2021
Overall rating 2.5 stars
<b>The Exterminator's Daughter - Meg Cabot</b> - 3 stars.
If this had been a little longer and fleshed out just a little more then it would have gotten four stars but since it wasn't, it's getting three. Adam was quite fun and I loved his water pistol on the two occasions it appeared. If the author ever fancied doing it into a full length story then I'd read it because Mary and Adam make quite a fun team
<b>The Corsage - Lauren Myracle</b> - 2 stars
I didn't particularly enjoy this one until the last five pages but they couldn't save the story. Not to my liking at all.
<b>Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper - Kim Harrison</b> -2.5 stars
Madison was quite annoying when she was arguing that she was still alive and took the amulet from Seth and leading up to that it didn't really grab me and pull me in. I don't think I'll be reading more of this series.
<b>Kiss and Tell - Michele Jaffe</b> - 3 stars
I enjoyed this once we got past the initial back-info overload. Once Sibby arrived and was being her teenager-y annoying self and winding up our super-powered Miranda i got into the story. The prom took a while to arrive but she had an almost kiss with her crush before things went to hell. And then we get a little twist at the end before she ends up getting a date with her crush. If it was a full length story then i would read it.
<b>Hell on Earth - Stephanie Meyer</b> - 2 stars
I had no idea what was going on in this for a long time and then when I figured it out I wasn't into the plot. Not for me.
<b>The Exterminator's Daughter - Meg Cabot</b> - 3 stars.
If this had been a little longer and fleshed out just a little more then it would have gotten four stars but since it wasn't, it's getting three. Adam was quite fun and I loved his water pistol on the two occasions it appeared. If the author ever fancied doing it into a full length story then I'd read it because Mary and Adam make quite a fun team
<b>The Corsage - Lauren Myracle</b> - 2 stars
I didn't particularly enjoy this one until the last five pages but they couldn't save the story. Not to my liking at all.
<b>Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper - Kim Harrison</b> -2.5 stars
Madison was quite annoying when she was arguing that she was still alive and took the amulet from Seth and leading up to that it didn't really grab me and pull me in. I don't think I'll be reading more of this series.
<b>Kiss and Tell - Michele Jaffe</b> - 3 stars
I enjoyed this once we got past the initial back-info overload. Once Sibby arrived and was being her teenager-y annoying self and winding up our super-powered Miranda i got into the story. The prom took a while to arrive but she had an almost kiss with her crush before things went to hell. And then we get a little twist at the end before she ends up getting a date with her crush. If it was a full length story then i would read it.
<b>Hell on Earth - Stephanie Meyer</b> - 2 stars
I had no idea what was going on in this for a long time and then when I figured it out I wasn't into the plot. Not for me.

Craig David recommended track Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus in Bam Bam it's Murder by Chaka Demus in Music (curated)

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2346 KP) rated The Thursday Murder Club in Books
Feb 10, 2021
Enjoyable but Flawed Debut
Welcome to Coopers Chase Retirement Village. It’s a community for active seniors in England. There are all kinds of activities happening on a regular basis, but the most unusual, and smallest, is a group of four friends who meet every Thursday to discuss cold criminal cases. Then one day, the murder of a developer takes place near the community. Naturally, these four friends jump at the chance to figure out what is really going on. Will they be able to solve the case?
I kept hearing about this book, so I had to give it a try. The premise is certainly right up my alley, and there was much I enjoyed about it. The characters are charming, and there were plenty of twists to the mystery. In fact, I feel like we could have done without a twist or two. Yes, everything makes sense at the end, but there are so many twists at the end, it is a little overwhelming. The book is funny, although at times it feels like it is trying too hard to be charming and funny. The police let the lead characters get away with a little too much, although I usually ignore that in the books I read, so this is worth noting in passing. I did struggle a bit with the justice done at the end of this book. The story is told in present tense from multiple points of view, but we always follow which character is our focus. This is one of those books with some obvious flaws, but I still enjoyed it overall. If you are interested in it, I definitely recommend you pick it up. I’ll be visiting the characters again for the sequel.
I kept hearing about this book, so I had to give it a try. The premise is certainly right up my alley, and there was much I enjoyed about it. The characters are charming, and there were plenty of twists to the mystery. In fact, I feel like we could have done without a twist or two. Yes, everything makes sense at the end, but there are so many twists at the end, it is a little overwhelming. The book is funny, although at times it feels like it is trying too hard to be charming and funny. The police let the lead characters get away with a little too much, although I usually ignore that in the books I read, so this is worth noting in passing. I did struggle a bit with the justice done at the end of this book. The story is told in present tense from multiple points of view, but we always follow which character is our focus. This is one of those books with some obvious flaws, but I still enjoyed it overall. If you are interested in it, I definitely recommend you pick it up. I’ll be visiting the characters again for the sequel.

Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Magical Midlife Madness (Levelling Up Book #1) in Books
Feb 13, 2021
21 of 250
Kindle
Magical midlife madness ( Levelling up book 1)
By K.F. Breene
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
A woman starting over. A new house with an unexpected twist. A cape wearing butler acting as the world's worst life coach.
"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of twenty years packs up and heads for greener pastures and my son leaves for college, that's exactly what my life becomes.
Do-over.
This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at forty I'm ready to carve my own path.
Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills. I'll be taking care of a centuries old house that called to me when I was a kid. It's just temporary, I tell myself. It'll just be for a while.
That is, until I learn what the house really is, something I never could've imagined.
Thankfully forty isn't too old to start an adventure, because that's exactly what I do. A very dangerous adventure that will change my life forever. I have a chance to start again, and this time, I make the rules.
Absolutely brilliant!! I laughed so much reading this it’s not at all what I had expected. Midlife meltdown with magic and creatures the only other author that has me laughing this much Is Darynda Jones! I love the relationships all the characters have with each other they are so well though out and written. Can’t wait to see what kicks off now she has magic. Brilliant!!

Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Thunder Force (2021) in Movies
May 9, 2021
Terrible and unfunny script (1 more)
Wasted talent.
Getting the crabs is never a laugh.
Positives:
- I laughed three times:
o Jason Bateman's "Crab-man" talking about his ironic star-sign;
o Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy's love-making scene: the most
innovative use of butter since "Last Tango in Paris"!
o The duo struggling to get in and out of their Lamborghini supercar: purely
because it looks just like me these days trying to get in and out of my wife's
Mazda MX5!
Negatives:
- It singularly fails my "six laughs" test for a comedy. The script by Ben Falcone - McCarthy's husband - is just eye-rollingly unfunny. The pair must have laughed themselves silly over their own jokes. It's just a shame that their sense of humour diverges so wildly from mine (or indeed anyones?)
- Melissa McCarthy must be an acquired taste - one I've never acquired. "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" proves what a class act she can be.... but this does her reputation no good at all.
- It's criminal to have actors of the quality of Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman and Melissa Leo and use them in such a poor way. Bateman is actually the funniest turn in the piece, but that's not saying much.
Summary Thoughts on "Thunderforce":
There are some movies that you just wish had been drowned at birth. This is one. I normally don't regret spending two hours watching a movie, but this one felt like wasted time. With "Twist" I thought I might have found my worst film of the year. But no, there's a new contender in town.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/05/09/thunderforce-getting-the-crabs-is-never-a-laugh/ . Thanks).
- I laughed three times:
o Jason Bateman's "Crab-man" talking about his ironic star-sign;
o Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy's love-making scene: the most
innovative use of butter since "Last Tango in Paris"!
o The duo struggling to get in and out of their Lamborghini supercar: purely
because it looks just like me these days trying to get in and out of my wife's
Mazda MX5!
Negatives:
- It singularly fails my "six laughs" test for a comedy. The script by Ben Falcone - McCarthy's husband - is just eye-rollingly unfunny. The pair must have laughed themselves silly over their own jokes. It's just a shame that their sense of humour diverges so wildly from mine (or indeed anyones?)
- Melissa McCarthy must be an acquired taste - one I've never acquired. "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" proves what a class act she can be.... but this does her reputation no good at all.
- It's criminal to have actors of the quality of Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman and Melissa Leo and use them in such a poor way. Bateman is actually the funniest turn in the piece, but that's not saying much.
Summary Thoughts on "Thunderforce":
There are some movies that you just wish had been drowned at birth. This is one. I normally don't regret spending two hours watching a movie, but this one felt like wasted time. With "Twist" I thought I might have found my worst film of the year. But no, there's a new contender in town.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/05/09/thunderforce-getting-the-crabs-is-never-a-laugh/ . Thanks).

Kristina (502 KP) rated Crash (Crash, #1) in Books
Dec 7, 2020
4.5 Stars
This story is not full of rainbows and butterflies. There are no moments that make your heart swell with overwhelming happiness, or when tears of joy threaten to spill over, or even when you feel that satisfaction of a happy ending. Heck no, Crash is absolutely not that story - and I've never been so grateful. I'm a romance fan, through and through, but sometimes I come across too many that are so sweet, I almost feel sick when I'm finished reading (once I come down from the high of a happily ever after, of course). I'd been searching for a book that had the romance quality but offered a twist, a dark element that would keep me on my toes and pique my interest. I found it, thanks to an e-mail that offers free Ebooks. From the beginning, I knew Stranger (as I've dubbed him) was different: his eyes were too cold, his expression was too rough, his demeanor was too rugged; which is how I immediately knew I'd found what I was looking for. Drew Jordan gave me the element of a love story, but she wrapped it up in a beautiful black bow accompanied with thorns. Each chapter had me falling more and more in love with the tale, even if that concerns me slightly. I love how honest and raw it is, how Laney is completely truthful, even if her thoughts don't make sense. The secrets were probably my favorite part - I believed Laney was this sweet little girl who was slowly becoming tainted by this stranger, but I eventually realized there's more to her than meets the eye. I'm very excited to read Hide, the next book in the Crash series, and I look forward to revealing more deep, dark secrets from both Laney and Stranger.
This story is not full of rainbows and butterflies. There are no moments that make your heart swell with overwhelming happiness, or when tears of joy threaten to spill over, or even when you feel that satisfaction of a happy ending. Heck no, Crash is absolutely not that story - and I've never been so grateful. I'm a romance fan, through and through, but sometimes I come across too many that are so sweet, I almost feel sick when I'm finished reading (once I come down from the high of a happily ever after, of course). I'd been searching for a book that had the romance quality but offered a twist, a dark element that would keep me on my toes and pique my interest. I found it, thanks to an e-mail that offers free Ebooks. From the beginning, I knew Stranger (as I've dubbed him) was different: his eyes were too cold, his expression was too rough, his demeanor was too rugged; which is how I immediately knew I'd found what I was looking for. Drew Jordan gave me the element of a love story, but she wrapped it up in a beautiful black bow accompanied with thorns. Each chapter had me falling more and more in love with the tale, even if that concerns me slightly. I love how honest and raw it is, how Laney is completely truthful, even if her thoughts don't make sense. The secrets were probably my favorite part - I believed Laney was this sweet little girl who was slowly becoming tainted by this stranger, but I eventually realized there's more to her than meets the eye. I'm very excited to read Hide, the next book in the Crash series, and I look forward to revealing more deep, dark secrets from both Laney and Stranger.

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel in Books
Oct 5, 2020
Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel is a book that not all kinds of readers will relate to. You either love it or hate it. And me, well, I really wish I loved it.
The book flows in two parallel timelines: Tilda in the present and little Tilly in her childhood. Tilda has a broken relationship with her mother, who killed her dad. After her mum dies, Tilda goes to a place called Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel, to find the truth of what happened in the past.
The writing style of when Tilda is little was hard for me to connect to. If felt as if the grown up version was talking in both timelines. The book is very slow, with no major plot twist, which made it boring. We had the whole ending dumped in the last chapters, with no anticipation. She is a girl that clearly has a troubled past, and she has with her a sense of mystery, as she is able to see what other people can’t. She is very attached to her father, even though he was absent most of her life, and she spent her childhood and teenage years holding a grudge against her mother.
And yet, I didn’t care about her.
In fact, I didn’t care about anyone in this book, and by the end, I just wished for the story to finish. I am sad that I couldn’t relate to this book, and I wish I liked it. But I didn’t. Moving on. A shame though, it has such a beautiful cover.If the synopsis seems interesting to you,
I would still encourage you to give it a go and let me know what you thought. You opinion is also valid.
The book flows in two parallel timelines: Tilda in the present and little Tilly in her childhood. Tilda has a broken relationship with her mother, who killed her dad. After her mum dies, Tilda goes to a place called Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel, to find the truth of what happened in the past.
The writing style of when Tilda is little was hard for me to connect to. If felt as if the grown up version was talking in both timelines. The book is very slow, with no major plot twist, which made it boring. We had the whole ending dumped in the last chapters, with no anticipation. She is a girl that clearly has a troubled past, and she has with her a sense of mystery, as she is able to see what other people can’t. She is very attached to her father, even though he was absent most of her life, and she spent her childhood and teenage years holding a grudge against her mother.
And yet, I didn’t care about her.
In fact, I didn’t care about anyone in this book, and by the end, I just wished for the story to finish. I am sad that I couldn’t relate to this book, and I wish I liked it. But I didn’t. Moving on. A shame though, it has such a beautiful cover.If the synopsis seems interesting to you,
I would still encourage you to give it a go and let me know what you thought. You opinion is also valid.

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu in Tabletop Games
Oct 9, 2020
Cthulhu (1 more)
Pandemic
Cthulhu Madness
Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu- is a stand-alone pandemic game within the pandemic franchise. It mixes pandemic with cthulhu and its excellent.
In this version, players are investigators who must work together to seal four gates, thereby keeping the area from being overrun with cultists or Shoggoths, and hopefully preventing Cthulhu from awakening. Experience the classic Pandemic gameplay with a horrifying twist as you contend with twelve Old Ones who threaten the world with their unique powers. Keep your wits about you, ward off insanity, and save humanity!
In Reign of Cthulhu, players work to shut down cults and ward off monsters while attempting to seal the gates. Travel between key locations in four cities central to the Cthulhu Mythos as you make use of your investigator’s unique ability to stem the tide of evil. But be warned: Investigating the depths of chaos and madness will stretch your sanity to the limit. Encountering unspeakable monsters and using powerful Relic cards will lead you to the brink of insanity. Go over the edge and you’ll have fewer actions and a weakened ability. Only by working together can you save the world from the unspeakable horror that lurks beyond the portals.
Instead of curing diseases like in the original Pandemic, players seal portals and shut down cults in the classic New England fictional towns of Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity and the evil that lurks beneath your feet...
Its a excellent fun game and if you like the pandemic series than you will like this one.
In this version, players are investigators who must work together to seal four gates, thereby keeping the area from being overrun with cultists or Shoggoths, and hopefully preventing Cthulhu from awakening. Experience the classic Pandemic gameplay with a horrifying twist as you contend with twelve Old Ones who threaten the world with their unique powers. Keep your wits about you, ward off insanity, and save humanity!
In Reign of Cthulhu, players work to shut down cults and ward off monsters while attempting to seal the gates. Travel between key locations in four cities central to the Cthulhu Mythos as you make use of your investigator’s unique ability to stem the tide of evil. But be warned: Investigating the depths of chaos and madness will stretch your sanity to the limit. Encountering unspeakable monsters and using powerful Relic cards will lead you to the brink of insanity. Go over the edge and you’ll have fewer actions and a weakened ability. Only by working together can you save the world from the unspeakable horror that lurks beyond the portals.
Instead of curing diseases like in the original Pandemic, players seal portals and shut down cults in the classic New England fictional towns of Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity and the evil that lurks beneath your feet...
Its a excellent fun game and if you like the pandemic series than you will like this one.