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About Dee

I'm one of those people that no matter how many books I have, I can't turn down a sale or a trip to the bookstore. There are no limits to what I'll read and I hope you enjoy my reviews.

Movie Monday (5) – Book Club

11 Jun

Pop some popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and tell us about the movie(s) you have seen this week!

Anyone who knows me knows that I just cringe when I see 50 shades of grey mentioned – both the books and the movies – because while I tried to read them, I found them horribly written, redundant and as someone who has been reading romances (and erotic romance, and erotic) for probably close to 2 decades, I couldn’t get past the “books that brought romance mainstream.” But that is a rant for another day…when I saw Book Club first previewed at the theatre and that 50 shades of grey was going to be featured during it, I’ll admit that I cringed, ranted on facebook and probably made some idiotic statement about not going to see it (yeah, I can be idiot like that). But I did go and see it and for the most part (aside from the parents that brought their 4ish year old see it and who wanted to watch videos on their phone during the movie)…
All I can say after seeing Book Club is that I would love to have a group of friends like the women in this movie – four friends who have seen each other through marriage, divorce, death, through times that were happy and sad. I have a few friends like that but unfortunately, the military has caused us to be spread across the country, which makes it hard for a real-life book club – but I guess a virtual one has potential.

Of the four women featured in this – Diane Keaton’s was my favorite – but then she has been a favorite of mine for many years – I think I’ve seen a majority of the movies she has starred in over the years. Her story in this was just sweet – a story of finding love for a second time (and besides the guy she falls in love with is just adorable – played by the awesome Andy Garcia). Behind Diane Keaton if I had to rank the individual stories in order of enjoyment – it would be Candice Bergen, then Mary Steenburgen with Jane Fonda bringing up the rear. Honestly, I could take or leave Jane Fonda in most of the movies that she does – Monster in Law is about the only semi-decent one of hers that I enjoyed – the rest…ehhh….Candice Bergen as a divorced judge who signs up for an online dating service – holy shit, I laughed so hard in places and Mary Steenburgen was just her normal solid self. but there were a few funny scenes with her and her husband (played by Craig T. Nelson) that just made me chuckle. I think really the only people in the movie who I didn’t like were the characters of Diane Keaton’s daughters – they drove me nuts with how they treated her (yeah, I know it was part of the movie) – but omg, I wanted to slap them silly a few times!

Book Club is definitely a movie that solidly belongs in the chick flick realm, or if a guy wants to turn in his man card – a date night movie (kidding kidding, I know men can like romantic comedies). While I wasn’t a fan of 50 shades of grey – I think enough of the movie was devoted to the storyline other than the books. I’m curious to know what book they picked to read after 50 shades…lol!

 
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Posted by on June 11, 2018 in Movie Monday

 

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First Line Fridays – 8 June 2018

08 Jun

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

I have pretty eclectic reading tastes – unless its horror because no thanks! Typically, my current read is related to one of the various challenges that I am part of it. My pick this week surprisingly enough fits one of those challenges, but it wasn’t on my initial list of potential books – rather, I discovered it, when I signed up for a challenge where readers are paired up and a book off their pile is picked for them. My book this week is the book that I recommended for my partner and we are going to be buddy reading it starting this weekend!

It is nearly dawn, and the semidarkness casts strange shadows along the footpath.

From: White Chrysanthemum – Mary Lynn Bracht

Goodreads Description:
Korea, 1943. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. As a haenyeo, a female diver of the sea, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Until the day Hana saves her younger sister from a Japanese soldier and is herself captured and transported to Manchuria. There she is forced to become a “comfort woman” in a Japanese military brothel. But haenyeo are women of power and strength. She will find her way home.

South Korea, 2011. Emi has spent more than sixty years trying to forget the sacrifice her sister made, but she must confront the past to discover peace. Seeing the healing of her children and her country, can Emi move beyond the legacy of war to find forgiveness?

Thoughts:
I don’t know a lot about the Japanese invasion of parts of Asia – so when I read the description for this book, I knew that I had to add it to my pile. I think it will be interesting to see how the present and past POV’s play out – I find its a method of storytelling that can be highly successful or a huge flop. It was a bonus when my pickee, asked if I wanted to do a buddy read with her on it. I can’t wait to start reading it in the next day or so.

 
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Posted by on June 8, 2018 in First Line Fridays

 

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Movie Monday (4) – Adrift

04 Jun

Pop some popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and tell us about the movie(s) you have seen this week!

My movie this week is a new release in the theatre that I checked out Saturday night while I was hanging out in Youngstown, Ohio – also know as military drill weekend. There weren’t a lot of movies showing, but the one that I had seen previewed recently had a show that fit my schedule and so after a great dinner at Appleby’s, I heading off to see it.

Adrift, starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin is the true life story of Tami Oldhem and Richard Sharp who were sailing from Tahiti to San Diego in 1983 when they crossed paths with Hurricane Raymond. Adrift tells the story of their attempt at survival on a 44-ft yacht that had a broken mast, was flooding and had no food/water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For 41 days they were adrift before being rescued (don’t worry, these aren’t truly spoilers).

Both Shailene and Sam are actors who I have enjoyed seeing on screen before – Shailene in Big Little Lies (although I wasn’t a huge fan of the book to TV adaption in general) and Sam in The Hunger Games (mmm, yummy). I thought both of them did a great job of portraying their respective characters – Sam was very charismatic and if he was anything like the real Richard Sharp, I can see why Tami fell for him. There is something about his smile. Shailene had the footloose, fancy free woman down pat – I loved the first scene when she got to Tahiti and the immigration guy was like how long are you going to stay and she just said, “I don’t know” and smiled. She also managed to pull off the haunted, starving, stranded sailor – you could feel the desolation on the big screen. Especially with the scenes where the camera panned out from the sailboat to the vastness of the ocean where you could barely see the boat.

I can’t say that I loved this – mostly because it was tough to watch and I don’t see myself renting it on DVD when it comes out – but it was a decent movie to go and see on a free evening if you had some spare time. In fact, I don’t know if watching it on DVD would give you the feeling of just how big the ocean is.

 
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Posted by on June 4, 2018 in Movie Monday

 

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First Line Fridays – 1 June 2018

02 Jun

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

I’m definitely scrapping in under the wire with my post today – since its 11:31pm…and i’m sitting in my base hotel room in Ohio after my monthly trek for reserve drill. I’ll have to admit that I definitely wasn’t in the mood for that long drive today (normally takes about 5.5 hours) – but in true Washington DC fashion – what normally takes me an hour to get out of the city was closer to two hours…so my drive ended up over 6.5 hours (including my stop in Breezewood…BTW don’t get even me started on the idiocy that is that intersection to get on the Pennsylvania turnpike…) Anyways – enough complaining about that! thankfully, I have a hopefully good book waiting on my kindle to start reading tonight – so without further ado, here is my first line Friday!

Tate Grayson drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, barely resisting the urge to curse

From: Tell Me Something Good – Jamie Wesley

Goodreads Description:
In a moment of restlessness, Tate Grayson sold his multimillion-dollar company and spun his love of sports into a radio talk show. Life, and love, is too short to take seriously—a fact he enjoys rubbing in uptight radio host Noelle Butler’s face.

After the death of her parents, a tragedy she blamed on herself, Noelle vowed to live a controlled, focused life. Now a psychologist, she channels her need for connection into her radio show. But when the arrogant sportscaster next door tells listeners men shouldn’t get married, she’s all too happy to yank the silver spoon out of his overprivileged mouth.

Their heated on-air arguments are a hit, but when the station director forces them to do a joint show for two weeks, Tate and Noelle object. They can’t stand each other, despite the attraction sizzling beneath every interaction. But if they can’t pull the struggling radio station back from the brink, they’ll lose their jobs. Or worse, their hearts.

Thoughts:
so this book has been hanging out in my kindle archives for a couple of years now (apparently I bought it in 2014…) – but it fits a category for the quarterly challenge that I do and it was also picked by a fellow Goodreads-er for a challenge (based on Monopoly). I’ll admit that i’m also a sucker for a enemies to lovers type romance – its one of my favorite tropes – so I hope this one lives up the other books with similar themes 🙂

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2018 in First Line Fridays

 

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Movie Monday (3) – Prince Caspian

28 May

Pop some popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and tell us about the movie(s) you have seen this week!

This week the movie i’m featuring is from a series that I wish had had more of the series made into feature films. I found it while I was flipping through the various movies available on Amazon Prime (and coincidently this morning in the doctor’s office, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was playing). My memories of reading these books as a 5/6 year old, are some of my most vivid and I think that the director did a good job of adapting the book to movie and keeping the C.S. Lewis magic.

I know for many people, if you say the Chronicles of Narnia, most people will be able to immediately answer with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (and of course, that could potentially open up the great literary debate – which book comes first in the Chronicles of Narnia…the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was published first OR The Magicians Nephew which chronologically occurred first…I know what I think, but that is a debate for another day).

If you are familiar with Prince Caspian – it starts off with the Penvensie siblings (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) back in England, approximately a year or so after the end of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There are, for many reasons, some issues in getting reacclimated (I mean going from being a King to being a kid again has to be kind of a brain blender). What we don’t know is how much time has passed in Narnia since they left – because time is different there (if you remember from tLtWtW, they were in Narnia for multiple years, but no time has passed in England).

What I love about this book is so you see the magic of Narnia from the eyes of someone who didn’t believe in it – the Penvensies’ pretty much just accepted that it existed in tLtWatW, but not so much the case with Prince Caspian. I know looking back that this is a Christian allegory for discovery and finding new beliefs but you have to look hard to find that in the movie.

I don’t think a better job could have been done of picking the actors who played the various roles. When I think back to the last time I read the books (probably close to a decade ago) – I had a hard time visualizing who I could see playing those roles and then the movies were made and it was like oh wow! I’ll admit that i’m hugely partial to Georgie Henley who played Lucy with the innocence conflicting with the desire to be a grown-up. And
can I just say that Prince Caspian played by Ben Barnes is hawt – yeah, i’m shallow enough to admit it, even now, nearly a decade after it was first released.

Have you seen Prince Caspian? Or any of the other Narnia movies? Of the books (if you have read them), which one would you like to see brought to the big screen?

 
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Posted by on May 28, 2018 in Movie Monday

 

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Movie Monday (2) – Annie

21 May

Pop some popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and tell us about the movie(s) you have seen this week!

My choice for Movie Monday this week is an oldie but a goodie. Early last week, I was laying on the couch, flipping through the movie options on Netflix, Hulu and Starz, I saw that the original Annie had been added to the Starz line-up and I knew then that I had to watch it.

Annie is one of my all-time favorite movies – i’m pretty sure that the VHS of the movie I had growning up (yeah, i’m so old that I remember VHS) that I wore it out watching it so much, especially the different songs – I would fast-forward between the different songs and just watch them and sing horribly off-tune. There are likely going to be spoilers in this post, but since the movie came out over 3 decades ago, hopefully most people have seen it.

I love Annie because its a story where the underlying theme is hope and dreams – themes that seem so often to be missing from our daily lives – Annie dreams and hopes that her parents will come and rescue her from the orphanage; when Mr Warbucks assistant (Grace) shows up at the orphanage, Annie hopes that she will be picked; even after Mr Warbucks wants to adopt her, she hopes that he will help her find her parents (culminating in her trip to the White House and the iconic song, Tomorrow). And in the movie climax – she hopes that she will be rescued after she is kidnapped….and those are just the key events during the movie.

There are so many actors who starred in Annie who are still appearing in Hollywood movies today – names like Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters. And yet others, like Aileen Quinn who played Annie – has had limited screen time since it was released (only 7 mentions of actress in IMDB). It kind of makes want me want to use Annie as a start place to binge watch the filmologies of some of these actors.

Not long after I watched Annie in my teen years – i read the book that it was based on – it was a fairly good adaptation from the book – there are some scenes that are more fleshed out (as you would expect – most of which have to do with Annie’s time at the orphanage). so I definitely recommend reading it, if you get the change.

Tell me – have you ever seen Annie? If yes, what is your favorite song from the movie? If not, tell me what movies you have watched this week?

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2018 in Movie Monday, Uncategorized

 

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First Line Fridays – 18 May 2018

18 May

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if i was going to do a post this week because its been a relatively slow reading week (meaning I’ve only finished 1 audiobook and that’s about it)…which is probably why I’m so far behind on my reading challenge for the year. But my first line Friday is from my current lunch book (aka, the book I carry in my bag because I can’t have my kindle in the office…)

“Regan?” Dr Lee arched an eyebrow and rested the tip of his pen against his pad. The ink slowly seeping into the paper, a small pool of blue against a yellow backdrop.

From: Life Unaware – Cole Gibson

From the Goodreads description:
Regan Flay has been talking about you.

Regan Flay is on the cusp of achieving her control-freak mother’s “plan” for high school success―cheerleading, student council, the Honor Society—until her life gets turned horribly, horribly upside down. Every bitchy text. Every bitchy email. Every lie, manipulation, and insult she’s ever said have been printed out and taped to all the lockers in school.

Now Regan has gone from popular princess to total pariah.

The only person who even speaks to her is her former best friend’s hot but socially miscreant brother, Nolan Letner. Nolan thinks he knows what Regan’s going through, but what nobody knows is that Regan isn’t really Little Miss Perfect. In fact, she’s barely holding it together under her mom’s pressure. But the consequences of Regan’s fall from grace are only just beginning. Once the chain reaction starts, no one will remain untouched…

Especially Regan Flay.

Thoughts:
so I’m about halfway through this book so far and its intriguing – because rarely do you see (at least in my experience) the bullying of a popular kid because of something that happened…admittedly the alternate titles Blacklistee or The Social Media Experience caught my eye and I want to see if they maybe fit better than Life Unaware (because from my observations so far, I don’t think Regan is really that unaware…i think she likes her place in the world and feels the pressure to maintain it)…but who knows…

What About You – what is the first line of the book you are reading today?

 
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Posted by on May 18, 2018 in First Line Fridays

 

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Movie Monday (1) – Life of the Party

14 May

Pop some popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and tell us about the movie(s) you have seen this week!

I’ve been toying with doing a Movie Monday feature for a while – mostly since over the last few months I’ve seen seeing more movies, because I’ve been traveling a lot (and you can almost always find a movie theatre to kill time at night). So I figured, why not start a blog feature where people can share what movies they have seen in the previous week. It could be a new release you saw at the movie theatre, or something you stayed at home and watched with the family. But share with us!

From IMDB:
After her husband abruptly asks for a divorce, a middle-aged mother returns to college in order to complete her degree.

My Thoughts:
I’ll admit that I haven’t always been a fan of Melissa McCarthy’s (I’m sure i’m one of the few) – for the longest time i felt like she was acting too young in many of her movies and not her age (I also felt the same way about Sandra Bullock pre-The Blind Side) – but when i first saw Life of the Party previewed a couple of months ago – i knew if i didn’t see it on opening weekend, then i would be seeing it not long after. So Saturday, i meandered my way down to the local movie theatre (ugh, i had to people!), bought a ticket and went on it.

I have to say from start to finish, i don’t remember the last time i laughed so damn hard in a movie – i think it maybe surpassed Game Night – the whole theatre was almost rolling out of their seats with laughter (which is a hard things since the local theatre totally has that whole reclining chair thing going for it). It had McCarthy’s trademark humor, with an appearance by Maya Rudolph (who appeared with McCarthy in Bridesmaids) and Julie Bowen from Modern Family, who played the evil witch (whoops, meant to say Bitch, i really did!). Aside from a cameo by Christina Aguilera, the rest of the cast was (at least to me) relative unknowns – but i have a feeling they won’t stay that way for long.

There wasn’t anything really new about the storyline – it was a classic – something bad happens, person (in this case Deanna) picks themselves up and makes a success of the tragedy that occurred (FWIW, also having the main character share a name with you is kind of freaky weird). But even so, i enjoyed seeing how it was tackled – and kudos to anyone who could go back to school and live in the dorms as an adult…i couldn’t wait to escape mine (since i lived on campus for all 4 years). For one the one-liners from McCarthy really made the movie – especially the Vagoogle (all i can say is don’t be having a drink when that line comes on the screen or you may spray your sode everywhere…don’t ask me how i know!).

Life of the Party is definitely a must-see comedy – probably a great girls night out movie (not sure about date night – but has potential!).

Tell me – what movie did you see this weekend? Have you seen Life of the Party and if yes, what were your thoughts?

 
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Posted by on May 14, 2018 in Movie Monday

 

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First Line Fridays – 11 May 2018

11 May

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

I never thought I would be sooo glad to sleep in my own bed! I got home Monday night after nearly three weeks on the road, including being busy on all the weekends – so my plan for Saturday and Sunday is to resemble a sloth as much as possible.
(normally i would insert a witty picture of couch sloth here…but i couldn’t find one I liked!). Anyways, on to my reading for this weekend – when I got home Monday night I had a package from St Martin’s Press which wouldn’t you know it, had an ARC for BA Paris’ new book in it. I honestly can’t remember if i signed up to receive it or if it was a gift from previously reviewing for them – either way, i’m not going to argue! Without further ado, here is my First Line Friday!

“We were on our way back from skiing in Megeve. I decided to stop in Paris on the way up as a surprise for Layla, because she had never been there before.”

Bring Me Back – B.A. Paris

From Goodreads:
A young British couple are driving through France on vacation when they stop at a service station. He runs in to use the restroom, she stays in the car. When he returns, her car door has been left open, but she’s not inside. No one ever sees her again.

Ten years later he’s engaged to be married; he’s happy, and his past is only a tiny part of his life now. Until he comes home from work one day and finds his new fiancee sitting on their sofa turning something over in her fingers, holding it up to the light. Something that would have no worth to anyone else, something only he and she would know about, because his wife-to-be is the sister of his missing first love.

As more and more questions are raised, their relationship becomes strained. Has his first love somehow come back to him after all this time? Or is the person who took her playing games with his mind?

Why FLF?
I just finished listening to The Breakdown by this author a month or so ago and she kept me on the literal edge of my seat during the entire 13hrs of the audiobook – which I didn’t think was possible. While I had an inkling of how I thought it would turn out, i was so far off base…so i’m hoping that Bring Me Back will keep me equally as much engaged and anticipatory!

 
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Posted by on May 11, 2018 in First Line Fridays, Uncategorized

 

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First Line Fridays – 4 May 2018

04 May

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books.

Spring (or is it summer?) is definitely in the air and i’m still stuck in a hotel room traveling for work – although the end is in sight – i’ll be home mid-next week! But before that happens, I have an 8hr drive tomorrow and then a 5hr one Monday evening (yay, i’m sooo excited…NOT!). So my First Line Friday for today is the audiobook that is next up on the pile.

I pulled up to Soulwood and let the truck lights shine on my house and garden. The trees were leafless, stark branches reached up to the sky and down to the earth, roots thick and gnarled and digging deep.

From:
Curse of the Land – Faith Hunter
Series: Soulwood, Book 2 (spun-off from the Jane Yellowrock series)

And since i’m listening to the audiobook – narrated by Khristine Hvam.

From Goodreads:
Before Nell Ingram met skinwalker Jane Yellowrock, she had no one to rely on, finding strength only in in her arcane connection to the dark woods around her. But now she has friends in the newly-formed PsyLED team to keep her grounded—even if being part of the agency responsible for policing paranormals presents dangers of its own…

After training at the PsyLED academy, Nell returns home to her woods to find the land feeling sick and restless. And that sickness is spreading. With the help of her team, under the leadership of agent Rick LaFleur, Nell tries to determine the cause. But nothing can prepare them for the evil that awaits: an entity that feeds on death itself. And it wants more…

What about you – what is (or was) the first line of the book you are currently reading (or listening)?

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2018 in First Line Fridays

 

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