Month: December 2018

Audiobook Reviews 4/5: The Countess Intrigue by Wendy May Andrews, narrated by Julie Hinton

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, regency romance, romance, women's fiction , ,

Summary:

Lady Elizabeth Castleton sneaks off to a dark corner for a private chat with Lord Justice Sinclair. They’re busted, of course. And the ninnies around them have nothing better to do than gossip, so Sinclair fibs that they’re engaged. That sets the poor girl into a tizzy because of the rumors Sinclair killed his first wife.

Additional Comments:

– If you’ve read the blurb, you have about 80% of the story.

– Elizabeth’s obsession with the rumor that Sinclair had something to do with offing his first wife go from interesting to “lady, get over it” quickly. She clings to it until about 15 minutes before the end of the audiobook.

– It would have been better if there was more of a mystery for her to solve, but that’s probably just my proclivity and preference for mysteries coming forth.

– Characters 4/5: They’re typical regency romance fodder. Daughter of a rich guy with a mother obsessed with marrying off her youngest child well. Rich guy in wont of a wife.

– Romance 4/5: Squeaky clean, as promised.

– Narration 4/5: Solid performance by a great narrator.

Conclusion:

If you’re a fan of clean romance or sweet regency romance, then this book is for you.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR

Audiobook Reviews 4/5 Stars: The Big C: A Memoir by Debbie Manber Kupfer

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Nonfiction ,

Narrated by Fiona Thraille

Summary:

Very short personal tale from the author’s life. It gives a glimpse into the uncertainty and terror that can accompany a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Additional Comments:

  • I like that the author pointed out how much she relied upon her family during this hard time but there are many others who aren’t so lucky.
  • The author also showed that there’s still some humor to be found in everyday life events, even when one is dealing with something difficult.
  • The narrator does a lovely job as usual, though being nonfiction it doesn’t really stretch her talents much because there’s not a great deal of dialogue. Still, she has a nice energy about the way she reads.
  • It’s very short. You could probably read the story in about 10 minutes.

Conclusion:

If you’re looking for a little bright spot in the midst of a tough thing, this is a good story to check out.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR

Movie Reviews 4/5 Stars: Instant Family

Julie Gilbert comedy, contemporary, Family, Movie Reviews , , , , ,

*Spoiler Section After Ads

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Margo Martindale (I love her), Isabela Moner, Tig Notaro, Olivia Spencer (Love her too), and many more

4/5 Surprisingly Touching Family Story

Summary:

A husband and wife consider adopting through the foster system because they want to shake up the monotony of their lives. They take an 8-week course and go to a fair where they can meet and greet some of the kids in the foster system. They talk themselves into and out of the situation several times, but finally, doubts from their family pushes them to take the leap. They’re interested in a teenager who just happens to come with two younger siblings.

Additional Comments:

  • I’m not a huge Mark Wahlberg fan because a lot of them are truly ridiculous, but this one turned out fine.
  • The trailer made the movie seem like it would be funnier than it was.
  • Like anything truly to do with family, this movie took turns being charming, frustrating, amusing, and heartwarming.
  • It’s not an easy road to walk. Kids from troubled homes have all the normal kid problems plus a few dozen more unique to those in the system.
  • Characters: I don’t remember much about the kids’ names, except that the teenager went by Lizzy. Can’t even remember the parents’ names. I do remember Grandmother Sandy.
  • Drama: The filmmakers did a nice job catching a good variety of sweet and hellish moments with the kids.

Conclusion:

Worth watching. Don’t think it’s a movie that really encourages people to go out and enter foster classes, but it’s a worthwhile tale. Would be good to watch alone, with friends, or with family.

 

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 ….)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR

Spoiler Section:

  • Favorite Moment: When Grandmother Sandy tells them plainly that their court speech stinks, and they need to rewrite it pronto.
  • Sometimes, I wonder how much of the “based on a true story” part is true. There are certain things these people say and do, like punching out the janitor or being slapped by the people they went to for help, holds truth. A lot of what they said, especially in confronting the high school kid they thought had sent lewd pictures to the teenage girl, seemed highly inappropriate in and of itself.

Movie Reviews 4/5 Stars: Creed II

Julie Gilbert drama, Movie Reviews, Sports , , ,
I don’t own the promo pic

4/5 Creed II: Powerful Boxing Movie

*Spoilers and Favorites after the ads

Summary:

I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies, and I’m not a fan of the professional sports movies anyway. Still, despite being completely 100% predictable, Creed II delivers on entertainment. Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, but he gets challenged to a fight by Viktor Drago, son of Ivan Drago (guy who killed his father, Apollo). Whew, that’s a lot of connections when it’s spelled out.

 

Additional Comments:

  • If you’ve seen a trailer, you’ve seen 80% of the movie.
  • Viktor Drago has a few surprising moments. More later.
  • Fight scenes were well choreographed and suitably dramatic.
  • This has one of the weirdest soundtracks I’ve ever heard. You could get classical music two seconds after a rap song. Pretty sure training montages happened on quite a few occasions.
  • Characters: Bianca and Creed’s mother show up at key times. Ivan is suitably grim-faced and determined throughout the whole process. Rocky’s very much a side character, but they worked him into a few things.
  • I seriously wanted to punch the promoter. He was annoying and oily and slimy the first second on screen, and he the same his last second on the screen.

Conclusion:

Whether you like these kind of sports movies or not, it’s worth watching at least once.

 

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 ….)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR

Spoiler Section:

  • One kind of knew there would be two fights in here based on the fact that the first one came so early in the movie.
  • One of the funny lines came when Rocky was suggesting they name the baby girl Becky or Cate. Creed responds with: “You do know she’s gonna be black, right?”
  • After Creed has an emotional moment, he picks up his baby girl and comforts her because she’s fussing. He says, “Daddy’s being a b—-.”)
  • Drago discussion continued. Clearly, this dude’s got mommy issues, but who wouldn’t if your mom left the family because your dad lost a fight? The end scene where his father’s running along side him, instead of chasing with the car is actually kind of touching.
  • Motive and motivation: It’s not clear in the beginning or end what Creed’s actually fighting for.
  • Some of the most surprising character development happened within Ivan Drago.

Audiobook Reviews 3/5 Stars: Serpent of the Shangrove by CN Lesley

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Fantasy , , , ,

Narrated by Julie Hinton

*spoilers possible in the discussion

Summary:

A dragon shapeshifter named Copper gets insulted at a party. As a result, he goes on a quest to prove himself. That’s what I gather from the book description. Reality is a tad more subtle. I don’t think I would have picked up on that being his sole reason for his quest relying just on the story. Anyway, he runs afoul of a serpent in the shangrove of a different world, one his clan just migrated to. His parents try to rescue him. Meanwhile, the girl who did the insulting also slips through the portal and finds trouble.

 

Additional Comments:

  • World-building (4/5) – The author created a rich and full and fleshed out messy world for these characters. I suppose that’s part of it being book 2 in a series. Descriptions of magic and general lore were fun and imaginative. The power over small creatures is kind of sadistic, but neat. There seemed to be a lot of explaining why characters couldn’t do something. The simple reason being because if they could the plot wouldn’t exist as is.
  • Plot (2/5) – The insult at the gathering being the inciting incident for Copper to go on his quest to find Jazlyn (sorry about spelling, I heard the audio, so I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be), is kind of weak. Most other things follow a logical path. Copper goes with his uncle, a drake who really likes eating rats. Raven, Copper’s mother, and Connor, his father, go on two separate quests to try and save him.
  • Content Warning (high) – What’s with the obsession with rape? Either through spells or brute force and coercion, two characters in separate strands of the story are raped repeatedly. The whole plot sort of centers around the aggressor’s need to have heirs by these unwilling people.
  • Narration (4/5) – I’ve heard the narrator before. Her voice variation, editing, and reading is pretty good, though book to book most of her bad guys sound the same. Most of the Drakken sounded British. Can’t go wrong with that accent. The snake was suitably creepy.
  • Characters (3.5/5) – Rosella’s probably the most intriguing side character, as the other three are sort of main characters. Yet, she goes straight from super annoying to victim. It would have been nice to see her come into her own here, but I guess that’s going to wait for another book. The other three, Connor, Raven, and Copper are livelier and more likable. Raven’s powers are probably the coolest.
  • Ending (2/5) – Blatant bid for a sequel. It’s not quite a true cliffhanger, but there are definitely huge loose ends.
  • I never read Darkspire Reaches, nor am I going to.

 

Conclusion:

There’s a niche for every kind of work. Those who loved the first in this series probably won’t be disappointed. Those who like the narrator could go either way. Her performance is good, but despite liking her, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story.

 

 

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 ….)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR

Movie Reviews 3.45/5: Widows *spoiler free

Julie Gilbert drama, Movie Reviews , , ,
Not my favorite movie poster, but functional. I do not own the movie poster image.

Summary:

When a heist goes terribly wrong, the entire crew perishes. To make matters worse, the bad guys want their money back and demand that the crew chief’s wife make good on the 2 million dollar debt.

 

Additional Comments:

– Cast 5/5: Pretty star-studded. They all do their jobs well.

Viola Davis plays Veronica Rawlins, Elizabeth Debicki plays Alice, and Michelle Rodriguez plays Linda. Daniel Kaluuya (Jatemme) doesn’t even have to change his expression much to come across as a seriously scary dude. Collin Farrell (plays Jack Mulligan) pulls off a decent version of a creepy politician.

– Story 3.5/5: The straightforward plot is complicated by going down several nonsensical rabbit trails. There’s one part where one of the widows nearly has a breakdown in the home of a complete stranger (quite logical) and ends up in a very deep, very passionate kiss with the guy (not logical).

– Content Warnings: Lots of adult content, including strong language and seeing more of the actors than you probably want to if you’re used to squeaky clean content.

– These aren’t professional criminals, though they had all apparently married ones. The crime they intend to take on is a simple in and out thing.

– To think about: There aren’t any truly innocent/good characters in here, but the audience is certainly meant to root for the ladies.

– There’s a lot of backstory, including more into the relationship between the Rawlins. While that eats up time, most of the backstory is relevant to the big twist.

– The big twist: Predictable yet satisfying.

– Annoyingness: Must every movie now start with an incompetent “Thank you for watching this movie” thing?

 

Conclusion:

If you’re okay with adult content, this is an interesting heist movie.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.


OR