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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2340 KP) rated Murder on Sisters’ Row in Books
Aug 14, 2020
Rescue Leads to Murder
Midwife Sarah Brandt’s latest client is a woman in an elegant house. However, over the course of her labor, Amy reveals that she is being held against her will by a madam. Sarah enlists some others to help her free Amy and her baby only for someone to turn up dead. With Frank Malloy assigned to the case, the duo finds themselves investigating another intriguing mystery. Can they figure out what happened?
While the book delves into a serious subject, it does it without forcing the details on us, something I appreciated as I read. Instead it does an excellent job of bringing life in 1890’s New York City to life once again and shining the light on another part of society during the time. I love Sarah, Frank, and the rest of the gang. While all the characters shine, there isn’t any movement in the ongoing storylines, so you could jump in here without being too lost. The new characters represent a wide part of society, and they are all brought to life well. The plot kept me engaged. I was a step or two ahead of Sarah and Frank at times, at others I was heading in the wrong direction. Everything comes together for a page turning climax. I’m doing my best to catch up on this series. If you are as behind as I am, you’ll be delighted with this entry in the series.
While the book delves into a serious subject, it does it without forcing the details on us, something I appreciated as I read. Instead it does an excellent job of bringing life in 1890’s New York City to life once again and shining the light on another part of society during the time. I love Sarah, Frank, and the rest of the gang. While all the characters shine, there isn’t any movement in the ongoing storylines, so you could jump in here without being too lost. The new characters represent a wide part of society, and they are all brought to life well. The plot kept me engaged. I was a step or two ahead of Sarah and Frank at times, at others I was heading in the wrong direction. Everything comes together for a page turning climax. I’m doing my best to catch up on this series. If you are as behind as I am, you’ll be delighted with this entry in the series.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Miss March (2009) in Movies
Oct 1, 2020 (Updated Oct 8, 2020)
Bizarre, funny, and lovingly goofy enough to get a pass; but for being barely 90 or so minutes this doesn't just tread water it *drowns* before even the hour + ten mark. Still liked it, saw what this was going for immediately - a mostly effective satire of the usually ignominious teen sex genre at the time and its far past tired formula, as well as the way the 2000s noxious 'sex culture' warped its young men into Neanderthal-esque sexists (both the open kind and those who were brainwashed enough to think that they weren't) who saw women as nothing more than empty meat ciphers to project their selfish desires onto. Can't believe so many people misunderstood this but then again, the WKUK bunch have always been far ahead of their time anyway. That being said however, I have very similar problems with this as I did with a genre satire such as 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵 in that it sets up its tropes to lambast and then not much sooner does it start to embrace them itself. Though this is still ten trillion times better than some bottom-of-the-barrel, spoon-fed meta horseshit like 𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘐𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤? - Trevor Moore's quintessential dopey dudebro is deeply hysterical, and both he and Cregger are pitch-perfect as always. For all its grinding halts and hit-or-miss jokes this still remains a smart, unfiltered sideshow of point-blank slapstick and caustic gross-out gags that certainly catered to my inner imbecile.
Time: The Kalief Browder Story
6.3
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TV Show Watch
“TIME: The Kalief Browder Story” is a documentary series chronicling the life of a 16 year-old...
True crime crime documentary
Thank You for Being Late
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One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016, Publishers Weekly In his most ambitious work to...
Economics technology
The Not So Subtle Art of Being a Fat Girl
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Plus-size supermodel Tess Holliday’s passionate plea for modern women, whoever they are, is to...
Biography
The Girl Who Digs Graves (The Gravedigger #1)
7.0
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Book
My name is Helena Pierce, Hel for short. I’m a gravedigger... well I was when I was alive anyway. ...
Lindsay (1760 KP) rated The Triumphant Tails of Rescue Dogs: Punk's Plight in Books
Aug 31, 2021
I have found a book about neglect. It's about a dog that gets mistreated. This book talks about a topic that is hard to bring up. This book explains well to children. Yes, this is about a dog, but it could be for children.
This book was a bit heartbroken at first. Though it does help with making children and adults understand about being mistreated. Please, if you see neglect, please help, whether it's children or dogs. This book is about a rescue dog.
He tells his story of being mistreated and how he recovered. Here is an excellent book to have on your bookshelves, and it is unique. What will happen to Punk? Will he ever learn to trust again? If you have a rescue dog, please let them know you love them but let them know. Let them come to you when they are ready.
Children will learn about some life lessons and rescue dogs. They will learn about how to take care and be in love and be patient. We all need to know this same lesson sometime. We remember we do learn how to take care of and love a rescue dog. This book is suitable for children to know that children and dogs can be loved, healed, and overcome neglect and mistreatment. There are some resources in the back of this book for help. Great for classrooms and bookshelves.
This book was a bit heartbroken at first. Though it does help with making children and adults understand about being mistreated. Please, if you see neglect, please help, whether it's children or dogs. This book is about a rescue dog.
He tells his story of being mistreated and how he recovered. Here is an excellent book to have on your bookshelves, and it is unique. What will happen to Punk? Will he ever learn to trust again? If you have a rescue dog, please let them know you love them but let them know. Let them come to you when they are ready.
Children will learn about some life lessons and rescue dogs. They will learn about how to take care and be in love and be patient. We all need to know this same lesson sometime. We remember we do learn how to take care of and love a rescue dog. This book is suitable for children to know that children and dogs can be loved, healed, and overcome neglect and mistreatment. There are some resources in the back of this book for help. Great for classrooms and bookshelves.
Merissa (12861 KP) rated Get Frosted (Christmas Falls #3) in Books
Nov 16, 2023
GET FROSTED is the third book in the multi-author series, Christmas Falls. This time we have the managers of the two pubs - Frosty's and Rudolph's. They have known each other for years as Rudy was Mik's brother's best friend. They had a rivalry that was blown out of proportion to keep them both in the spotlight when they played hockey. Rudy is the one who has always moved around. Mik is the one with deep roots in Christmas Falls.
Although I enjoyed the story, it didn't press as many buttons as the previous books have. I also can't agree with them being 'forced' to work together. No one forced anything. Although this is billed as low angst, I actually would have preferred a little more angst! It felt as though the storyline about Rudy possibly leaving was almost lost amidst the pregnant sister-in-law and the birthday granny.
On the whole, I enjoyed this story and did enjoy being back in Christmas Falls. It just didn't work as well for me as the others have. I have no hesitation in recommending it for all those who love a low-angst seasonal story.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nov 15, 2023
Although I enjoyed the story, it didn't press as many buttons as the previous books have. I also can't agree with them being 'forced' to work together. No one forced anything. Although this is billed as low angst, I actually would have preferred a little more angst! It felt as though the storyline about Rudy possibly leaving was almost lost amidst the pregnant sister-in-law and the birthday granny.
On the whole, I enjoyed this story and did enjoy being back in Christmas Falls. It just didn't work as well for me as the others have. I have no hesitation in recommending it for all those who love a low-angst seasonal story.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nov 15, 2023
Merissa (12861 KP) rated My Soul Immortal (Fated Eternals #1) in Books
May 17, 2023
Don't you just love it when you get a book that is completely different from anything you have read before? I know I do, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed this story by Jen Printy. She has set up a world completely different from anything I have read before, with not a vampire or werewolf in sight. Instead, it is a whole new world, most of which you learn from Jack's point of view. This, as well, makes a nice change, to read it mainly from the male's perspective.
The writing and editing were fantastic and I didn't spot any errors in here at all. There is a lot that goes on, from how we first meet Jack, to his moving to Portland, to meeting Leah and so on. That being said, I did feel that certain parts of the book could have done with being tightened up somehow. It just felt a bit 'slow' in places, which is not a bad thing!
For a fresh and new story with excellent world-building and characters, then I can definitely recommend this book. I am looking forward to reading more in this series, as I certainly want to know how the new trainee copes!!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 16, 2016
The writing and editing were fantastic and I didn't spot any errors in here at all. There is a lot that goes on, from how we first meet Jack, to his moving to Portland, to meeting Leah and so on. That being said, I did feel that certain parts of the book could have done with being tightened up somehow. It just felt a bit 'slow' in places, which is not a bad thing!
For a fresh and new story with excellent world-building and characters, then I can definitely recommend this book. I am looking forward to reading more in this series, as I certainly want to know how the new trainee copes!!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jan 16, 2016
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn in Books
Feb 2, 2021
Thrilling epic fantasy heist
This was a very original take on the fantasy genre (for me at least). The main character, Ardor Benn, is a roguish 'ruse artist', who runs small time cons on everyone from bar patrons (betting he can't hit a shot after numerous drinks) to gangsters. He is approached by a religious, monk-type, man who wants to hire him to run a con on the king of the Greater Chain of islands.
The world Whitesides has built is really wonderful, not totally dissimilar to that in Mistborn. However, here materials aren't ingested and 'burned' by people to get powers, they ignite specifics types of grit. This grit has been processed from materials originally eaten and pooped out and burned by dragons. Different materials before being eaten will give different results when ignited, causing a cloud of dust that bends reality - creating light or explosions, stopping all sounds or light or gravity, making impenetrable bubbles or healing. And the most valuable of all is the Visitant Grit, which will summon an all-powerful paladin to implement the ambitions of the worthy holder. This latter grit is produced by igniting the pooped out remnants of a male dragon's bones. Sadly, all male dragons have died out, meaning these saviours are no longer possible. And that's where Ardor's new job comes in...
The story is a non-stop thriller as the job they plan is so ambitious that it takes on several phases, all of which are massive in themselves. There were a few times during the early parts where I felt the story dragged a little (chapters covering one character learning how to mime an operatic aria), but these weren't too damaging to my motivation. There are a number of times when things don't go to plan, and a re-think is needed. These are also well written pieces, as the characters solve these in creative ways. There were no real deus ex machina moments where they escaped despite all odds. There is one very surprising twist/revelation in the final third which had me nervous that all my enjoyment was about to be swallowed up, pooped out and burned, but that turned out not to be the case. This weird pivot was very well handled and worked well within the story.
The action scenes are well narrated, allowing so much better visualisation than a lot of books I've read recently, and the characters are all fairly well realised and develop nicely together and on their own.
An excellent, thrilling fun book, and wonderfully part 1 of a trilogy.
The world Whitesides has built is really wonderful, not totally dissimilar to that in Mistborn. However, here materials aren't ingested and 'burned' by people to get powers, they ignite specifics types of grit. This grit has been processed from materials originally eaten and pooped out and burned by dragons. Different materials before being eaten will give different results when ignited, causing a cloud of dust that bends reality - creating light or explosions, stopping all sounds or light or gravity, making impenetrable bubbles or healing. And the most valuable of all is the Visitant Grit, which will summon an all-powerful paladin to implement the ambitions of the worthy holder. This latter grit is produced by igniting the pooped out remnants of a male dragon's bones. Sadly, all male dragons have died out, meaning these saviours are no longer possible. And that's where Ardor's new job comes in...
The story is a non-stop thriller as the job they plan is so ambitious that it takes on several phases, all of which are massive in themselves. There were a few times during the early parts where I felt the story dragged a little (chapters covering one character learning how to mime an operatic aria), but these weren't too damaging to my motivation. There are a number of times when things don't go to plan, and a re-think is needed. These are also well written pieces, as the characters solve these in creative ways. There were no real deus ex machina moments where they escaped despite all odds. There is one very surprising twist/revelation in the final third which had me nervous that all my enjoyment was about to be swallowed up, pooped out and burned, but that turned out not to be the case. This weird pivot was very well handled and worked well within the story.
The action scenes are well narrated, allowing so much better visualisation than a lot of books I've read recently, and the characters are all fairly well realised and develop nicely together and on their own.
An excellent, thrilling fun book, and wonderfully part 1 of a trilogy.