Review

Zathura (2005)

zathura

Zathura (2005)

Director:

Jon Favreau

Starring:

Josh Hutcherson

Jonah Bobo

Dax Shepard

Plot:

Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.

Review:

Loved Jumanji growing up and I’ve wanted to see this for a while. My husband put it in to entertain our daughter and I ended up watching.

At first I had no idea what was playing and couldn’t understand why my husband would be watching something with such bratty children. They were horrible and he just looked at me and said, “This is our future.” Not at all disconcerting.

The movie was fun and basically a space version of Jumanji, but I’m totally fine with that.

I loved that they made fun of the sister for her reaction to a certain thing.

I really liked the movie and it will probably hold a special place in my heart because it’s the first movie we’ve sat through as a family.

4.5/5

Side note: I want that house

On Borrowed Time (Library Lover’s Mystery #5) By: Jenn McKinlay

on-borrowed-time-jenn-mckinlay

On Borrowed Time (Library Lover’s Mystery #5) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

Loving a good cup of coffee runs in the family for Briar Creek library director Lindsey Norris. But when her brother, Jack, a consultant for a coffee company, goes missing, her favorite beverage becomes a key clue in a dangerous mystery. Between preparing the library for the holidays and juggling the affections of ex-boyfriend, Captain Mike Sullivan, and her new crush, actor Robbie Vine, Lindsey has her hands full. But the mysterious disappearance of her world-traveling playboy brother takes precedence over all. Afraid that involving the police could brew trouble for Jack, Lindsey takes matters into her own hands. But as her quest for her brother embroils her in a strange case involving South American business dealings and an enigmatic and exotic woman, it’ll take the help of both her library book club—the crafternooners—and her eager-to-please suitors to keep Jack from ending up in hot water…

Review:

I’m well on my way to being a Jenn McKinlay superfan. I own ebook and paperback copies, though, I do still check out some from the library.

This book didn’t move Lindsey’s relationships forward as much as I wanted, still hasn’t gotten back with Sully. She was actually a bit stupid in this one, which is one of the things I’ve always liked about McKinlay’s books, the heroines aren’t stupid. Her plan at the end and the way she acted wasn’t the normal smart Lindsey. Of course her brother was involved and people don’t always think clearly when family is involved.

This book was kind of filler character and relationship wise. The mystery was fairly predictable but fine. Overall not my favorite in the series.

3.5/5

Aunt Dimity’s Death (An Aunt Dimity Mystery #1) By: Nancy Atherton

Aunt Dimity's Death

Aunt Dimity’s Death (An Aunt Dimity Mystery #1) By: Nancy Atherton

Plot:

Down-on-her-luck Lori Shepherd thought Aunt Dimity was a pretend character in her mother’s bedtime stories … until the Dickensian law firm of Willis & Willis offers the possibility of large inheritance — if she can discover the secret hidden in letters between Dimity and her mother. Plus 1-pg recipe Beth’s Oatmeal Cookies.

Review:

I didn’t realize just how long ago 1992 was until reading this book. The lead character is early thirties, I believe, maybe younger and she talks about how her mother worked for Eisenhower during WWII. The language is also more dated than I had expected.

Was not a fan of the heroine, Lori, she was destitute barely surviving and gets handed a golden ticket, awesome, but she’s so—ugh. I don’t have a problem with her attitudes toward money and all of a sudden getting to buy stuff, I have a problem with how she treated Bill. He was nice to her and she acted like a bitch to him. She was annoyed he was trying to be some kind of knight in shining armor and seemed to always think he was playing a prank on her, but he wasn’t.

She eventually warmed up to him, and she got better, still not one of my favorite characters, though. She was bossy to Bill, super friendly to everyone else, and went from not being able to cook to being able to pull off meringues without issue.

I picked this up months ago in my search for cozy mysteries. It was billed as one and I thought it sounded interesting enough, but this would not be considered a cozy with todays definitions. There wasn’t much of a mystery, just why did the ghost of Dimity feel unable to cross over. It was easily solved once they actually got around to it, and then that was it. The mystery wasn’t the reason for the story, overcoming grief and moving on with your life was. It was like the publisher really liked the story, wanted to publish it, but had no idea how to bill it so just slapped a mystery label on it.

I ended up crying within the first few pages because like the movie Up it hits the character with one loss after another and it’s super depressing. Honestly I cried throughout the entire thing because I empathize way too easily and all Lori did was come across things that reminded her of her mother or Dimity or someone else that was dead. Super depressing book, for me, and I don’t see myself reading the rest of the series.

3/5

 

A Potion to Die For (A Magic Potion Mystery #1) By: Heather Blake

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A Potion to Die For (A Magic Potion Mystery #1) By: Heather Blake

Plot:

TROUBLE IS BREWING…

As the owner of Little Shop of Potions, a magic potion shop specializing in love potions, Carly Bell Hartwell finds her product more in demand than ever. A local soothsayer has predicted that a couple in town will soon divorce—and now it seems every married person in Hitching Post, Alabama, wants a little extra matrimonial magic to make sure they stay hitched. But when Carly finds a dead man in her shop, clutching one of her potion bottles, she goes from most popular potion person to public enemy number one. In no time the murder investigation becomes a witch hunt—literally! Now Carly is going to need to brew up some serious sleuthing skills to clear her name and find the real killer—before the whole town becomes convinced her potions really are to die for!

Review:

I missed the fact that this was written by the same author that did the Wishcraft Mysteries. I ended up liking this magic system more, but I wish there was more hocus pocus and paranormal elements.

Carly was an alright character and the supporting cast was pretty good. It was kind of sad, though, that the one person murdered wasn’t a bad guy in any way. Normally in a cozy only eh people die.

I do really wish there was more magic in the world and kept hoping more would show up, but it never happened. It was pretty non-magical to be honest. She made potions that were really just herbal remedies with a “special” ingredient. She also had some empathic abilities that she kept under wraps and a little witchy sense to danger.

I thought her relationship with Delia, her “evil” cousin was well developed and I hope there’s more done there in future books. I actually really liked Delia and Dylan, Carly’s love interest.

All in all, it was a really good mystery, but the magic was a bit lacking for my tastes.

3.5/5

Smiley (New Species #13) By: Laurann Dohner

Smiley

Smiley (New Species #13) By: Laurann Dohner

Plot:

Vanni is furious when her fiancé tricks her into attending a conference where his father’s church is protesting the New Species Organization. She hates everything those vile bigots stand for. Vanni goes to the bar to cool off and ends up seated next to a handsome New Species. Things heat up fast when they are both drugged.

Smiley doesn’t want to believe the sweet human would dose them with the breeding drug. He’s willing to trust her and determined to save her life. He’ll hold her. Protect her. Offer up his body to distract them both from the pain. She is his female, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

Review:

I really loved Smiley as a character but I did not like this book. First off it started off with the couple getting drugged and if they didn’t have sex they’d be in a lot of pain. There was pretty much no foreplay before the reader was thrown into a lot of explicit sex scenes. Did not like. I ended up skipping a lot of this book.

I liked Smiley but hated Vanni. She was super weak and shy and submissive and just not my type of female lead.

The story was also a lot shorter than a normal new species and I felt like not much happened. They got her to Homeland quickly and she never left. The bad guys were captured behind the scenes and that was pretty much it.

I thought some of the ideas in the book were really good, but they didn’t reach their full potential. They kind of unraveled and became nonsense. I’m also getting tired of all the human males being depicted as horrible. Out of all of the human men in this series I think there might be one nice one. One. Maybe.

I really like the idea behind the New Species series and in the beginning I liked what she was doing with it, but lately there just hasn’t been enough development. The series has kind of stagnated.

3/5