Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) By: Ilona Andrews

Magic Breaks

Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) By: Ilona Andrews

 Plot:

As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers. Since Kate’s connection to Roland has come out into the open, no one is safe—especially those closest to Kate. As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear…

Review:

If I could I would have Ilona Andrews or Patricia Briggs baby. I love them so much! My husband would probably have issues with that, but how else can I express just how much I love them? I’ve read some pretty awful books, but knowing that Andrews and Briggs are out there writing makes it bearable.

I wouldn’t call Magic Breaks the climactic conclusion, but we did finally see Roland, which was pretty climactic. We finally got to see this huge evil that Kate has been preparing her whole life to kill. There was a pretty awesome fight with just her. Not as much Curran time, but he was there when he needed to be.

The ending was a complete surprise and I’m so glad that the next book comes out this year. I also enjoyed the short story at the end, it was a nice way to bring me back down to earth. It was short and cute and expanded a character that didn’t get much time in the book.

I’m excited to see what happens next, I’m happy with the way the book went, and I’m overjoyed that Andrews writes faster than some other authors I love.

5/5

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic-Park-3D

Jurassic Park (1993)

Director:

Stephen Spielberg

Starring:

Sam Neill

Laura Dern

Jeff Goldblum

Plot:

During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.

Review:

With all the previews for Jurassic World I had to re-watch Jurassic Park. It’s been a couple years but it is such a good movie that I like to watch it every now and then. While probably not in my top ten, it’s still one of those movies that I recommend everyone watch.

The CG clearly does not hold up, the computer references are surprisingly not as bad as a lot of stuff out there today. Love Jeff Goldblum’s character, a rock star mathematician, he’s one of the few actors that could pull that off.

The little girl never fails to annoy me, though, I feel a bit more charitable toward her now that I’m a mom. The little boy is hilarious. The bad guy gets what’s coming to him and there’s a lot of death, but not so much that I feel depressed when the movie is over.

Jurassic World has a lot to live up to and I’m curious to see if it does.

5/5

“Hold on to your butts.”

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy (Smythe-Smith Quartet #4) By: Julia Quinn

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy (Smythe-Smith Quartet #4) By: Julia Quinn

Plot:

Sir Richard Kenworthy has less than a month to find a bride. He knows he can’t be too picky, but when he sees Iris Smythe-Smith hiding behind her cello at her family’s infamous musicale, he thinks he might have struck gold. She’s the type of girl you don’t notice until the second—or third—look, but there’s something about her, something simmering under the surface, and he knows she’s the one. Iris Smythe–Smith is used to being underestimated. With her pale hair and quiet, sly wit she tends to blend into the background, and she likes it that way. So when Richard Kenworthy demands an introduction, she is suspicious. He flirts, he charms, he gives every impression of a man falling in love, but she can’t quite believe it’s all true. When his proposal of marriage turns into a compromising position that forces the issue, she can’t help thinking that he’s hiding something . . . even as her heart tells her to say yes.

Review:

Sir Richard and his sisters drove me a little crazy. I loved Iris, for the most part, she should have slapped some bitches, though.

Sir Richard figured out some completely ludircrous plan to save his sisters reputation and poor Iris was pulled in against her will. Thankfully they fell in love with each other and she was able to forgive him for being an idiot.

Seriously between Iris’s sister Daisy, and Sir Richards sisters, hardly a page went by where I didn’t want to beat someone to death. For the most part I liked the story a lot, but I just can’t overlook my desire to murder when I rate this title. Iris was the best part of the book and I feel slightly sad for her being saddled with such infuriating people.

3/5

Dorfman in Love (2011)

Dorfman-In-Love

Dorfman in Love (2011)

Director:

Brad Leong

Starring:

Sara Rue

Elliot Gould

Haaz Sleiman

Plot:

Unknowingly trapped in her role as caretaker of her unappreciative family, a young single woman desperately needs to get her own life. When she volunteers to cat sit at her unrequited love’s downtown L.A loft, her world, as she knows it, changes forever.

Review:

I love a good romance with an ugly duckling transformation, what made this even better was that the physical transformation wasn’t the focus. It was all about how she finally grew the balls to stand up to the people taking advantage of her and focus more on figuring out what she wanted to do with her life.

I liked it, it wasn’t as stupid as most of the current romances, though, it did have some introspective indie moments that I don’t care for too much. It was cute.

4/5

 

I Regret Nothing By: Jen Lancaster

 

I Regret Nothing

I Regret Nothing By: Jen Lancaster

Synopsis:

Sure Jen has made mistakes. She spent all her money from a high-paying job on shoes, clothes, and spa treatments. She then carried a Prada bag to the unemployment office. She wrote a whole memoir about dieting…but didn’t lose weight. She embarked on a quest for cultural enlightenment that only cemented her love for John Hughes movies and Kraft American Singles. She tried to embrace everything Martha Stewart, while living with a menagerie of rescue cats and dogs. (Glitter…everywhere.) Mistakes are one thing; regrets are another. After a girls’ weekend in Savannah makes her realize that she is—yikes!—middle-aged (binge watching is so the new binge drinking), Jen decides to make a bucket list and seize the day, even if that means having her tattoo removed at one hundred times the cost of putting it on. From attempting a juice cleanse to studying Italian, from learning to ride a bike to starting a new business, and from sampling pasta in Rome to training for a 5K, Jen is turning a mid-life crisis into a mid-life opportunity, sharing her sometimes bumpy—but always hilarious—attempts to better her life…again.

Review:

I was excited to read this book, not just because it’s the first Goodreads giveaway I’ve won, but because I like Jen Lancaster. I thought Bitter is the New Black was great and really connected with Such a Pretty Fat.

I’m going to make a pros and cons list of what I liked and disliked about the books because of her enjoyment of lists.

Pros:

I thought her bucket list was good, there were several items on there I would like to do. I did think her information on the publishing industry seemed very one sided as though she was just saying what her publishers have told her, she might want to look into becoming a hybrid author. Just a thought.

I loved what she wrote about being in Rome, it reminded me a lot of my trip to Tokyo, and it bumped Rome up on my list of places to see.

I really relate to what she talks about regarding weight and because of that I liked the end of the book a lot. I’m glad she’s found what works for her and it made me smile because recently I’ve been coming to the same realizations about myself.

Cons:

She went overboard on the rants about social networking, internet trolls, and occasionally the younger generation. Since I’m technically a part of the younger generation it kind of irked me and came off like a grouchy old man screaming at kids to get off his lawn. I almost didn’t make it past the first half of the book because of it. Every time I got into what was going on she would start another rant and I’d get annoyed and put the book down.

Maybe the age gap between us is finally rearing its head?

That’s really the only con, though, it was so prevalent in the book that I nearly lowered it a star. If the book had been more like the weight loss portion and the trip to Rome or even the riding the bike parts, I would have liked it a lot more. Those rants really bugged me, it’s like that image of Pa Simpson yelling at the cloud.

The whole social media culture, and especially internet trolls, have gotten really bad, but it’s just as annoying to hear people complain about it. We know it’s there and unless we want to take away what makes the internet great then people are just going to have to get over the horrible people and learn to ignore them. And that’s all I have to say about that.

I like Jen Lancaster and even though I had problems with the ranting, I still plan on reading more of her books.

3.5/5

Sidebar: I’m guessing because of ereaders they have changed the cliff notes to just in the middle of the sentence she says Sidebar and then has her little comment. Seeing the word sidebar so frequently was a little taxing, I liked the notes, but maybe just an asterisk?