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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2379 KP) rated City of Schemes in Books

Jan 6, 2021  
City of Schemes
City of Schemes
Victoria Thompson | 2021 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Facing the Past While Planning for the Future
Reformed conwoman Elizabeth Miles is getting ready for her wedding to Gideon Bates. They have tried to keep their engagement quiet, but it still shows up in the papers. That brings Oscar Thornton back into their lives, insisting that Elizabeth refund the money that he feels she owes him. Can they stop him once and for all? Meanwhile, Gideon has reconnected with one of his friends who has returned home from World War I. Logan Carsten had become engaged to a young woman before he left, but he fell in love with someone else while stationed in France. He intends to honor his engagement, but then, he hears from this Frenchwoman asking for his help in coming in America. Elizabeth thinks something more is going on. Can she also help Logan?

If you haven’t read this series yet, I recommend you read it from the beginning. This book includes some call back to earlier adventures as well as a major spoiler for the previous book. All of that is wonderful for fans, however, as it allows the characters to grow in some great ways. I love Elizabeth, Gideon, and the rest of the regulars, so I enjoyed spending time with them again. Since this is more a caper than a traditional mystery, I enjoy watching the plot unfold in different ways, and it kept me engaged the entire time. I did have an issue with one part of the climax; if Elizabeth’s motives for her actions had been built into the story a bit more, I probably would have been okay with it. I also enjoyed the humor early in the book. Once again, author Victoria Thompson has written a book that pulled me in and only let me go when I reached the final page.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3) in Books

Apr 22, 2021  
The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3)
The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3)
Jasmine Guillory | 2019 | Contemporary, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A hate to love romance that's heavy on the hate
Maddie and Theo are both close with Alexa. Maddie's her best friend and Theo is her best work bud. But they hate each other, ever since a terrible interaction that left them both offended. But when the two meet again at Theo's birthday party, they somehow wind up kissing and feel an undeniable spark. And with Alexa getting married--and Maddie and Theo the two main members of her bridal party--they are stuck together for awhile. So they agree to hook up (and hook up only) for the duration of the wedding preparations. No falling in love allowed. Right?

So this was a cute and fun entry in the series, per usual, but I did not care for Maddie and Theo as much as some of the other couples. There was not as strong as a supporting cast, either, though Alexa had some good moments. I think I cared for Maddie and Theo as individuals, ironically, but together, they just didn't get me as romantically invested. For one thing, Maddie and Theo were mean to each other! Really mean. This was haters to lovers with a lot of hate, like cringe-worthy hate, at times, and I didn't find that funny or sexy. So between the copious amounts of mean, plus secret romance hidden from your *best friend*--I was a little tense. I needed more happy go lucky romance!

Overall, this was a light and fluffy romance, but I had a hard time always rooting for the couple, and sometimes Maddie and Theo just didn't seem right for each other. I was mostly smiling by the end, but I didn't always enjoy the ride. 3 stars.
  
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Greg Mottola recommended The White Sheik (1952) in Movies (curated)

 
The White Sheik (1952)
The White Sheik (1952)
1952 | Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"No other filmmaker’s movies have reached me as directly and deeply as Fellini’s. I’m very familiar with the criticisms that have been leveled at Fellini’s work—and they hold no sway over me. There’s far too much to say about the films on my list, so here are a few random things I love. The White Sheik: Alberto Sordi’s hilarious faux suavity while trying to seduce a naive provincial woman. I vitelloni: Franco Fabrizi’s pathetic lothario, Leopoldo Trieste’s deluded would-be writer, Alberto Sordi’s sad, daydreaming freeloader—Fellini sees all of these aimless young men with great honesty and tenderness. Nights of Cabiria: the heartbreaking final scene, a woman stripped of all physical and spiritual worth yet somehow still able to find consolation in the very innocence and joy that have been denied her. 8½: I can’t think of another black-and-white movie that has so much white. The high-contrast cinematography is breathtaking. In one flashback to childhood, Guido is being bathed and cared for by various aunts. It’s a child’s experience of maternal love that cannot be re-created in adult life—as Fellini later illustrates with a twisted version of the same scene in Guido’s absurd harem fantasy. Fellini always claimed the movie was a comedy, and I tend to agree. Amarcord: Fellini revisits the same territory as I vitelloni but in his later, color-saturated, theatrical style. It is provincial life described by a highly unreliable narrator, where the mundane transforms into the magical. A few indelible images: lonesome boys waltzing to music from a nearby grand hotel, townspeople carting their old furniture to the square for a massive bonfire, the immense luxury liner Rex, Gradisca’s sad little wedding, the floating dandelion puffs that mark the return of spring . . ."

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