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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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First Line Fridays – 27 April

27 Apr

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

Spring is in the air and unfortunately, I’ve been stuck inside at a training class for work all week and unlike normal classes – this one has been full-on – we have been started at 8am everyday and not getting out earlier than 6pm (normally more in the 6:30-7:00 realm!). And I’ve disappointed because of the last two days, the weather has been gorgeous (after a crappy rainy day on Wednesday). I did take advantage of the weather and eat my lunch outside today and as we speak, I’m getting ready to head out to dinner with some class-mates and the restaurant is outside seating – i can’t wait (plus the food looks just awesome!)

I know that I’m probably breaking First Line Fridays tradition this week, but there are two first lines that I wanted to feature – with tomorrow kicking off the Semi-Annual Dewey’s Read-A-Thon, these 2 books are top on my pile to read.

“I walked into the bar, already feeling about ten years past my prime.” – Into the Blue – Chanel Cleeton.

Initial thoughts – I’ve only read one previous book by Ms Cleeton – but I definitely had a few laugh out loud moments, as well as wanting to just sit in my car after parking, so that I could read “just another chapter.” I hope that this book in the trilogy is as good as the last.

“A cold mist hovered over Lake Washington, a vaporous green after a morning of rain, when John Vandel arrived in Seattle.” – The Quantum Spy – David Ignatius

Initial thoughts – I wouldn’t say that this book is out of my comfort zone because I’ve read some military techno thrillers before – but its definitely not a genre that I gravitate to either. A co-worker of mine recommended it because he said it made him think about the current tensions between the United States and China and the what if…I’ll admit that the first line had me hooked – and its probably going to be first on my pile for Dewey’s Read-A-Thon.

What is the first line of the book you are currently reading?

 
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Posted by on April 27, 2018 in First Line Fridays

 

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First Line Fridays – 16 March 2018

16 Mar

Happy Day Before St Patrick’s Day! One of the best days of the year because its my birthday! I’m happily celebrating the 15th anniversary of my 21st year 🙂 While my choice of book for First Line Friday’s doesn’t have an Irish theme, or even any green on the cover – I know that I’m as excited as a leprechaun who found his pot of gold to start reading it!

Special Agent John Kaiser stood at the window of the FBI’s “tactical room” in the River Bend Hotel and started at the lights of Natchez twinkling high over the dark tide of the Mississippi.

All i’m saying to myself right now as I jump into book 2 in Greg Iles trilogy is “How the heck have i never read you before?!” And I can safely say, if book 3 in the trilogy hadn’t been nominated for an Audie this year in a category that I was listening to, that I would have picked him up. But since reading friends of mine told me that I needed to read the previous two books in the trilogy in order to understand book 3 and i’m soo glad i did. Even though they are huge reads at 700+ pages (the first book) and 800+ pages (book two) and culminating with 28 hours for book three. Of course, then I can go back and read the early books in the Penn Cage series…so basically, I have lots of good reading ahead of me and I can’t wait!

 
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Posted by on March 16, 2018 in Blog Features, First Line Fridays

 

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Review – Hello Stranger – Lisa Kleypas

07 Mar

Hello Stranger
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Series: #4 in the Ravenels
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Review Copy Provided by the Publisher

Description:
A woman who defies her time
Dr. Garrett Gibson, the only female physician in England, is as daring and independent as any man—why not take her pleasures like one? Yet she has never been tempted to embark on an affair, until now. Ethan Ransom, a former detective for Scotland Yard, is as gallant as he is secretive, a rumored assassin whose true loyalties are a mystery. For one exhilarating night, they give in to their potent attraction before becoming strangers again.

A man who breaks every rule
As a Ravenel by-blow spurned by his father, Ethan has little interest in polite society, yet he is captivated by the bold and beautiful Garrett. Despite their vow to resist each other after that sublime night, she is soon drawn into his most dangerous assignment yet. When the mission goes wrong, it will take all of Garrett’s skill and courage to save him. As they face the menace of a treacherous government plot, Ethan is willing to take any risk for the love of the most extraordinary woman he’s ever known.

Review:
I’ve been reading Lisa Kleypas since almost before I could remember reading romance – i’m pretty sure that she was one of the first ten romance authors that I read as a teenager (along with Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood, LaVyrle Spencer and Jude Deveraux…yeah, i can actually remember the names of the authors that sparked my love of romance). And to this day, she is still one of my go-to authors when I need a solid read – I’ll admit that I’ve had my highs and lows with some of her more recent books, but since Garrett was introduced in Marrying Winterbourne – I knew her book was going to be a roller-coaster of emotions. I’ve also had a total girl crush on Ethan from the get-go. I love that unlike many of her other books, both individuals in this pairing were lower-class (or rather for the most part they were). It was nice seeing how the other side lived during the late 1800’s – so often it is just glazed over in books and forgotten about it.

There were so many different facets to Garrett that the author developed – not only was she the first female physician and all that entailed, but she was willing to go above and beyond her calling to help people by volunteering to help others in need – which ironically is how she and Ethan first got to know each other several books ago. There were several scenes in Hello Stranger where Garrett was learning how to fence in an effort to be able to protect herself, which of course, Ethan was able to come to the rescue and fix because she had learnt very proper and not how a fight would go down in real life. The strong man to the rescue trope is pretty common in most historical romances and honestly, for this was it was a bit grating – i really wanted Garrett to not need to be rescued and to do the rescuing (which she also did)…I dunno – I think that was the one element that I struggled with the most.

Ethan’s portion of the storyline was kind of obvious and I had pretty much figure out what was going to happen – i’m not saying that this is bad, but it wasn’t as engaging as previous books – i love Garrett and Ethan but Hello Stranger just didn’t quite have all the entire magic that I was hoping for – but it was still a solid read that I gave 3.5 stars to. I’m intrigued to see where Ms Kleypas goes with the next book in the series – it must almost be time for West to get his HEA.


About Lisa:
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas graduated from Wellesley College with a political science degree. She is a RITA award winning author of both historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction. Her novels are published in fourteen different languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Washington State with her husband Gregory and their two children.

Connect with Lisa:
Facebook: @LisaKleypas
Twitter: @LisaKleypas
Instagram: @lisakleypas

BUY LINKS for HELLO STRANGER:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mGsuAd
IndieBound: http://bit.ly/2mRfLvD
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2EQPLH5
Books-A-Million: http://bit.ly/2BckeNI
iBooks: https://apple.co/2DJ339o
GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/2rjQ37l

 
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Posted by on March 7, 2018 in Book Review, Review

 

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First Line Fridays – 23 February 18

23 Feb

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

I can’t believe how quickly we are flying through February – I mean admittedly, it is a short month, but the fact that March is starting to appear on the horizon just blows my mind…I’m neck deck in listening to the various audiobooks for the Armchair Audies right now – so my First Line Friday comes from the book I started on my commute yesterday.

I lay on a psychiatrist’s couch, a couch I’d named Alexander Skarsgard the moment my gaze landed on its buttery curves and wide back, and wondering if I should tell Dr. Mayfield about the dead kid scurrying across her ceiling. Probably not.

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2018 in Blog Features, First Line Fridays

 

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Audiobook Review – The Duchess Deal – Tessa Dare

21 Feb

The Duchess Deal
Author: Tessa Dare
Series: #1 in the Girl Meets Duke series
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Narrator: Mary Jane Wells
Run Time: 7hrs 56min
Narration Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Description:
Since his return from war, the Duke of Ashbury’s to-do list has been short and anything but sweet: brooding, glowering, menacing London ne’er-do-wells by night. Now there’s a new item on the list. He needs an heir—which means he needs a wife. When Emma Gladstone, a vicar’s daughter turned seamstress, appears in his library wearing a wedding gown, he decides on the spot that she’ll do.
His terms are simple:
– They will be husband and wife by night only.
– No lights, no kissing.
– No questions about his battle scars.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s pregnant with his heir, they need never share a bed again.
But Emma is no pushover. She has a few rules of her own:
– They will have dinner together every evening.
– With conversation.
– And unlimited teasing.
– Last, and most importantly… Once she’s seen the man beneath the scars, he can’t stop her from falling in love…

Review:
Tessa Dare is one of those authors that I feel like I should more of because I have enjoyed the few of her books that I’ve read and yet, I tend to pass her other when looking at various historical romances…i’m honestly not sure why…that being said, because of this, I was happy when the first book in her new series was nominated for an Audie in the romance category. I happened to start the Duchess Deal on my 6hr trek to Ohio (which I do once a month) – so I was able to fully invest myself in the story for almost the entirety of my trip and i’m glad that I did – because the audiobook that made that drive pretty much fly by. I found myself laughing hard quite often and when I did stop for gas and snackage – hurrying through the story, so I could keep listening. I’ll admit that there wasn’t anything overly special about the story line – but it just hit the spot for what I was currently looking for – some angst, a marriage of convenience, as well as a Beauty and the Beast type storyline and the requisite Happily Ever After. I’m a simple girl, what can I say? 🙂

This is the first time that I’ve listened to Mary Jane Wells, but I had to say that I overall enjoyed the experience. Her feminine voices were all distinct to me and i could easily identify who was talking; although I will say that her masculine ones weren’t as distinct – but thankfully, the majority of the book was told from a female POV. Taking a look at her other available audiobooks, it looks like she has found her niche in historical romance (I saw many authors that I have read in the past and I would likely pick up an audiobook narrated by her, in order to continue reading those authors). Her narration pacing was solid and the narration was neither too quiet or too loud (I didn’t have to adjust the volume on my radio while listening).

Overall, I gave the writing 3.5 stars and the narration 4 stars – but I am definitely interesting in trying the later books in the series when they are released in audio.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2018 in Uncategorized

 

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It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (19 Feb 2018)

19 Feb

It’s Monday – What are you reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

It’s been a while since I did a “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?” Post – I blame it in part to a reading funk, being uber busy at work (and that doesn’t appear as if that is going to change any time soon). But since i’m sitting at home today on a long weekend and catching up on some TV viewing (normally I would be watching the Olympics, but i’m not a huge fan of Ice Hockey) – I felt like it was a good time to do a post. The weather in DC has been fluctuating been freezing cold (with accompanying snow or rain) and low to mid-70’s (its very confused for sure). My poor heater is currently flipping between on and off, wayyy to frequently and my heating bill isn’t appreciating it!

I’ve actually been on a pretty decent blogging roll recently as I have been busy posting my various Audies blogposts. For those of you who aren’t audiobook fans, the Audies are like the Oscars of Audiobooks – where the best of the best narrators are judged against each other to determine the winner. This is the 4th year that I have been participating in the Armchair Audies and this year, I’m psyched to say, that I am going to be co-hosting with Miss Susie from Miss Susies Reading & Observations. If you like listening to audiobooks and want to join in – check out the blog at Armchair Audies. I’ve signed myself up for 3 categories – Romance, Paranormal and Thriller/Suspense – so will be neck deep in those over the next few months (the award ceremony is scheduled for the end of May). Being that I have 16 books to listen to over the next three months (several of which are in the 20+hr range) – I’m currently neck deep in two different nominees – both in the Paranormal category. Silver Silence is a re-listen after I read it in print when it was released last year and Finding My Pack (Lane Whitt) is a new to me author and narrators. Both books run in the 10+hr range, so they should take up most of my listening for the next week and a bit.

My current/upcoming reading choices are as eclectic as always – sometimes I think my ability to jump between different genres is what keeps me partly sane. As example, the top 3 books on my pile right now are a WW2 alternate history, a women’s lit and a criminal suspense/thriller. I’m also looking forward to Rosalind James’ new book that was just released (Just Say (Hell) No, as well as Laura Kaye’s newest Blasphemy book (On His Knees. I’m sure a few other books will move their way up the pile over the next week, but these are the ones I am most looking forward to. I should also finish up I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios as well as read my ARC of Hello Stranger, the newest by Lisa Kleypas.

What about you – what are you reading or looking forward to reading this week?

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2018 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

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First Line Fridays – 16 February 2018

16 Feb

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books

It’s Valentine Day’s week for First Line Friday’s this week! I’m an avid romance reader, so this week it was more about deciding which of the various romances I have on the pile was going to be featured – so in true Dee fashion – I closed my eyes and did an enny-meanie-minie-mo to select and the winner was….

Maggie Sullivan sought refuge in the stairwell between the sixth and sevenths floors at the far west end of the hospital, the steps least traveled in interns and residents racing from floor to floor, from emergency to emergency.

 
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Posted by on February 16, 2018 in Blog Features, First Line Fridays

 

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