tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50997087125302768692024-02-06T22:03:48.152-06:00Mrs. Y Reviews! *See Twitter for Details! @mrs_y_writer*
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*Amazon search for Mrs. Y. *Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.comBlogger235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-34904856684224614962021-09-01T08:00:00.021-05:002021-09-01T08:00:00.209-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] The Cranes of Blackwell by J.D. Kellner<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602354953l/55618917._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602354953l/55618917._SY475_.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> Dark Brew Press asked me to read this book and review it and sent me a copy. I'm happy to do that today for you, my friends. Today I am giving my honest take on a book by J.D Kellner called "The Cranes of Blackwell." This is a dystopian novel with some action and adventure elements, along with political intrigue and all the good things you find in anything dystopian novel. <p></p><p>Let me start with some critiques. </p><p>This is a structure issue related to the genre, and I know I'm not the only one who gets caught up in this kind of thing. I write reviews for readers and consumers, so here is why this is a critique. Most dystopian novels have a formula to them. "Such and such happens at 25%. Something else happens at 30%. Somewhere around 60%, this occurs," etc. </p><p>"The Cranes of Blackwell" well, that didn't happen here. There was a lot of setup and reasoning behind the choice, but it did not make it formulaic to the general scheme of how this lays typically out. If you love dystopian fiction, you will notice the cadence change. </p><p> The only reason I have this as a critique is that I know there are readers out there who expect the formula. Suppose it's not at certain times, well, gross. That said, for those of you in camp "Formula," please open your mind. I struggled with this myself but have some patience. </p><p>Yes, that first 48% is a dark wild ride, but be patient. That's my most significant piece of advice. And yes, to those of you who are mentally saying, "I'm not going to invest in a book if I have to wait past the 25% mark for a nugget of hope in a dystopian setting," okay, I hear you. I do. But, by limiting yourself to these formulas, you may miss out on a good book, and that's my point in this critique. </p><p>I'm not sure if, in structuring the book, the protagonist was changed at some point. It starts as one center point and shifts to another somewhere around 42%. I liked this personally, but it made some of the earlier establishments in the novel somewhat conflicting to the end. Again, open your mind. Have some patience here. </p><p>That said, let me go into what I liked. Firstly, back to the structure. Okay, remember I said that it wasn't formulaic and the establishment of the protagonist shifted? Well, the reason that I like both things has to do with how perfectly well this book is edited. Oh my gosh. Not one single plothole. Not one. No threads that went awry. The overall story was so elegantly and flawlessly pieced together with a loving hand that there was no way I could get lost down a rabbit hole. I don't know what the first versions of this book looked like, but whoever was the editor on this and did proofreading and beta reading all need hugs and probably candy. </p><p>Next, can we talk about how fantastic the female protagonist is in this novel? She is amazing. She's a strong mama with all the grizzly in her to be a proud mama bear, and she saved the literal day. And no, she didn't set out to do that. To be clear, she didn't like what happened, but at the same time, that is the kind of woman I want to hang out with. </p><p>The female empowerment in this novel, despite all the opposition and oppression, is very well done. I'm just giddy over it. This is to be a highlighted darling of what feminism should be in dystopian novels. And I refuse to spoil it, so I'm not saying who she is because I want you to journey down this same road I did. But, WOW. She blew me away. As a side note, can we please get more robust, empowered, willing to face oppression, and come up with their thoughts even if people are trying to manipulate women. Some of her moments of greatness diminished slightly because other forces manipulated her into them. But that doesn't take away the fact she was great. Despite these manipulations, she concluded and did her own thing to stop the wrong things. I love it when the proud mama bear wins; I couldn't be happier. </p><p>As another aside, the villain was a spineless monster, and there were several antagonists as well. I liked it. It was more like a collaboration of things being fought against than any single villain, and I found that delightful. </p><p>Another structure element of the story I truly enjoyed was the pacing and tension. The character tension was incredible. The dynamic tension was on point. There were reasonable releases to things, and the tension was built up very well in points. The pacing was good (again, ignore the formula bit) for this story. In my opinion, it had the pacing of a spy novel thriller, not a dystopian political thriller. </p><p>The last bit that I loved was the world-building and political world-building. The reason I love this is how stable things are working in the world. It's so well done, right down to the way the politics and double-dealing works and all of it, that it leaves this perfectly bitter-sweet note to the overall politics. Now, if you love dark chocolate, this political system is delicious to you. If you love that in your dystopian fiction, this is yummy. This is so yummy. </p><p>If you do not like that kind of bitter-sweet thing and you like your dystopian to be black and white, either good or bad, no in-betweens, well, this might be tough for you. The ending, I won't spoil, did not have any cliffhanger, and I adored it for what it was. I found this fantastic. Like a bitter orange and chocolate dessert. Just yummy. I was so relieved it ended like this because I initially thought it would end way darker. </p><p>That all in mind, with all of my notes and math, I'm scoring "The Cranes of Blackwell" with 82/100, which is a 4-star-review on Goodreads, my blog, and Amazon. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-25148127803150632192021-08-31T08:00:00.001-05:002021-08-31T08:00:00.228-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "What If: The Avengers Initiative is DOA"<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i2.wp.com/butwhythopodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/What-If...-Episode-3-But-Why-Tho.jpg?fit=810%2C450&ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="800" height="178" src="https://i2.wp.com/butwhythopodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/What-If...-Episode-3-But-Why-Tho.jpg?fit=810%2C450&ssl=1" width="320" /></a></div><br />Welcome back to another Series Review post for the "What If" series. Today we are on episode 3, "What If: The Avengers Initiative is DOA" Just a warning, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to talk about this episode without spoilers. And again, because I release this the night before the next one, I hope you have had time to watch the episode and decide how you feel before reading my opinion. But if you have not, here is your last warning on Spoilers for Episode 3. <p></p><p>Let's start with critiques. My first critique, y'all, this is DARK. I mean uncomfortably so, dark. Not like an excellent ol' horror movie where you can sit and try not to scream while the monster slowly presents itself. No, this is dark in a much more sinister way, and yes, there is murder, but it's not fun. </p><p>I'm not sure why this was done; I think Marvel is trying to get out of its bloodstream different concepts to see whatever people will gravitate to. I do not mind darker-themed things, by the way. (Hello, I also review for Dark Brew Press, duh) but, this is dark in a dispassionate kind of clunky way. Seriously, the best example, watch the death of the Hulk. And then try to rationalize all the other elements as I did and see if you don't break your brain. </p><p>That said, let me go into what I liked. Of all the episodes, I liked the intrigue in this story the most. The premise was unique. Not only does it show all the insanity of a week, but it also shows how life can move. I'm slightly confused about the timeline, but the premise and execution worked out beautifully. </p><p>Next, despite the clunky murder vibe, the story itself was terrific. I liked the idea that if murder is in the house that things might lead to domination. I loved the elements of the various movies that were taken. </p><p>I was a tad confused by the Hope Van Dyne issue because I didn't see that coming, and I guess that must have been the unspoken choice that wasn't mentioned. </p><p>Also, the sadness in my heart for Hank Pym in this episode is astounding, and I think that was positive as well. They built up that factor in the story rather well, and it made it a tragedy.</p><p>Lastly, the big "Should my kids watch this," and my answer on this one is a no. I don't think my 7-year-old will do well with this one. I know my 11-year-old will think it's horrific to watch her heroes get slaughtered like they were. Now, does that mean my kids can't handle death in shows? I don't think it's the death so much as the symbolic death that is done in this episode. Suppose they wanted to up the bar and make it for adults, by golly, that happened in this episode. But for my kids, who rock an Iron Man shirt until it's torn and want me to repair it a billion times, well, I don't know if they will handle this one very well until they are older and can appreciate it more. </p><p>Overall, I'm scoring "What If: The Avengers Initiative is DOA" with a 78/100, which is a 3-star review. The clunky bits were heavy-handed, I'm afraid. </p><p>Anyway, stay tuned for next week's episode review, and whenever the series is over, I'm going to do a series review for the first season! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-18510957573234791522021-08-30T08:00:00.001-05:002021-08-30T08:00:00.216-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Urban Gothic by Stephen M. Coghlan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610441763l/56628925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610441763l/56628925.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br />Today this is my first official review for "Dark Brew Press," I am reviewing this book they sent me for free in exchange for an honest review. I am not paid to review, and I realize I cannot publish this on Amazon because Amazon doesn't like this sort of thing if I don't buy the book myself first. <p></p><p>Today, I'm reviewing the Urban Gothic version out of Dark Brew Press, written by Stephen M. Coghlan. This is a republished book, you may have read it on Kynite, but my review will be only for the newly published version. </p><p>To start, let me go into critiques because, frankly, that works best for me in reviews like this. This book has many jump cuts, and what I mean is that we go from action sequence to action sequence with only a page notation to indicate the change. Now there isn't exactly anything wrong with jump cuts in a book. So let me make that part clear, I like them when they get to the point. But, they can sometimes diminish the tender moments or some of the emphasis from its previous scene to go into something that may not have the same tone. That happened here a couple of times. There were intimate moments the main character was trying to understand who he was and his purpose. Then it was bashed into an action sequence immediately, or something very different. </p><p>This brings me to my following critique, and that has to do with tonal shifts. This book has one leading tone, which looms over everything. Now, I am self-aware to realize how obvious it is with a novel named "Urban Gothic" that the tone should be evident. You're right, that's true. But, now and again, another tone tries to bloom into the story like a flower growing out of a concrete pad, and now and again, you get to see it before the story comes in like a weed wacker and dashes it away. That's not terrible; I'm okay with this tone, but I also love substance and contrast, and I wanted a bit more with this. I am aware that the story's context and the theme lend to a solidified tone, but it was almost stifling. </p><p>The tension in this story is almost unending. It's tense to tense again, which has to do with pacing earlier and what's added to or not given to lessen the tension. Now there are loads of ways to break the tension. Yet what happens if you do not break the tension in a book? Well, what happens to me is I read frantically. I have a stress response, and I need to get past it to release the stress. Sometimes that would happen just because of those jump cuts, but I do not think a jump cut is a solution, more like how the book progressed to the next plot point. I don't mind some tension, I also do not mind dynamic tension or character tension in places, but tension release is excellent. It helps the reader who is so absorbed to unclench their jaws and fingers from the book if they are too absorbed. </p><p>Now for the things I enjoyed about "Urban Gothic." Firstly, this should be a master class on ending the story arc, with the act ending, with the natural bookending all at once. I mean, bravo. You rarely see an ending so abrupt that it is satisfying, fulfilling, and not some horrible cliffhanger. I love this skill as a writer that Stephen has. It's a literal skill. In my opinion, it's such a clean and perfect satisfactory ending, the chef's kiss of endings. Bravo!</p><p>Next, I love the character development in the story and the progression. We travel along with the main character, and the hero's journey that the main character is on is both adventurous and action-packed. There is a lot of darkness, but the character's progression makes it understandable and reasonable in the focused moments. </p><p>I am a massive fan of the adorable little side plot romance that goes on in this story. It's rather lovely. A big part of it would be a spoiler if I give it away, but I want to say one huge thing. Love happens regardless of where we are mentally or physically when it should. The characters who are in love or fall in love, in this case, are perfect for each other. My heart felt so warm and beautiful in those moments, and those parts I felt were where the flower was blooming in the tone cement. I mean, it's just glorious to see those bits. </p><p>There is another side plot that, wow, it knocked my socks off, and it has to do with a library section and what that library means to the fabric of the worldbuilding in the story. I mean, it was brilliant. Brilliant. I loved the characters in the story who was in this section and what the library means overall. I enjoyed these moments in the plot concerning the library and its stakes in the overall plot. </p><p>I want to go into my highest praise because the worldbuilding in this story lends so beautifully to the theme. It's not even funny. The theme is simple, but I have not spoiled this book because you have to read it yourself. Yet, despite the simple nature of the theme, the worldbuilding presented to illustrate the points of the theme was astounding. The callback to the theme came in the form of an object, which to me, solidified the point. The object was used to emphasize why the theme was so important. And then, that object showed its importance when it was correlated to the overall environment and characters that dwell in the story. I found this amazing. I've never seen a writer blend the point and the elements in such a short novel before this. </p><p>So my last overall point, this is a great story to learn how to make a novel mighty but not have it take too long to get to the point or end properly. I like novels like this, just bursts of things. My critiques about some things aside, while there could be things that could improve it, the overall structure and skill level in blending all of the elements of the story was beautiful, in my opinion. </p><p>Thus, I am giving "Urban Gothic" a score of 87/100, a 4-star review on Goodreads and My blog. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-40653104583854980042021-08-24T11:44:00.007-05:002021-08-24T11:44:54.442-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "What If: T'Challa became Star-Lord"<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.theilluminerdi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/What-If-Tchalla-Star-lord-black-panther-the-illuminerdi.jpg?resize=1200%2C640&ssl=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="800" height="171" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.theilluminerdi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/What-If-Tchalla-Star-lord-black-panther-the-illuminerdi.jpg?resize=1200%2C640&ssl=1" width="320" /></a></div><br />Hello my friends, welcome back to some bonus content for "What If: T'Challa became Star-Lord," the 2nd episode in the "What If" series. <p></p><p>I want to start this review with a critique. There is a slight continuity issue with the beginning that would have happened "Off-Page," and it has to do with how things work in the lore. If T'Challa had done all of these things, well, how? </p><p>Like a critique I had last week, I think the idea here is that the audience must suspend disbelief because the story is a short 30 minutes. To which, I'm fine within this case. But if you find yourself stuck in the "What and how" of things, this point may itch in your brain a bit. I found this doesn't bother e the least. This week's episode, I found less clunky on the disbelief scale than the previous one, and that's even with Thanos as a part of it. </p><p>My only other critique, I would have loved an entire hour-long episode of this story. It was riveting from the second it started to the end. </p><p>Now to what I enjoyed. This story was so much easier to get behind and follow for me than "What If Captain Carter." The reason I had an easier time with it all had to do with the choice. The choice was simple if Yandu had gone himself to get Peter Quill, or if he deligated, outcomes could have been different in the universe. I liked that choice a whole lot. </p><p>I truly enjoyed what was done with the characters in this story and how it all worked together. I thought a lot of work was put into writing this episode, and I could almost feel all of the polish put into it. It was wonderful. </p><p>The artwork again was sublime for this episode. I loved how detailed it was and how intricate the designs were. I especially loved Nebula in a blonde wig; that was lovely. A lot of good came from this story in the art, the color pallet was chosen, and the lighting effects of the tale. </p><p>Another thing I enjoyed was the story elements here that involved character progression in the story. It had elements of the James Gunn "Guardians" with the Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther," and I liked the mix. The same lightness was there, but so was the same depth of characters in the story. This was a wonderfully told tale. </p><p>Overall, I'm giving "What If: T'Challa became Star-Lord" a 96/100 on my scale, which is a 5-star review. The series isn't over. I'll do an overall score when it is! See you next week, my friends! </p><div><br /></div>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-88402049020904759652021-08-23T13:25:00.004-05:002021-08-23T13:25:29.761-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Ghostbusters: The Original Novelizations of Ghostbusters 1 & 2<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628423794l/58725302._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="318" height="319" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628423794l/58725302._SX318_.jpg" width="318" /></a></div> Hello, my friends! Today's review is my version of eating comfort food, only in book form. Ever read a book because you need something familiar that makes you feel good? Well, I had a heck of a week this week, and that's what I did. I'm reviewing the Audible of Ghostbusters: The Original Novelizations of Ghostbusters 1 and 2. <p></p><p>"But haven't you watched the movies?" you might be asking right now. Yes, I have. But that's all the more reason to listen to these books. Did you know the novels can sometimes be slightly different than the books? Well, you would if you listened, and considering that the new "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" is coming out this year, I think this is an excellent time to pick this one up. </p><p>Here are my critiques. </p><p>Firstly, adjust your speed settings. I'm not sure what the reader was on, but he went fast on default 1.0. If you like your speed at 1.25, leave it at 1.0. If you prefer a slower pace, adjust on Audible, this could be too fast for you and come off clipped. Thankfully on Audible, that adjustment comes out perfectly well, and I enjoyed that I could change it. Also, there is a notable audio pacing difference between the first and second parts, so adjust again to the 2nd part if you prefer. </p><p>My only other critique is that parts of the story have pacing issues involving audio or narration. Sometimes the pacing is just right, and sometimes it is not. I found that a bit clunky at times, from action pacing that seemed correct to casual dialogue pacing that was off sync at beets. I have seen the films, and I don't remember the dialogue coming off clunky as it can in the book. So I'm not sure why that was a thing, but it was. </p><p>Now for what I enjoyed. This is the comfort food part; this is a two for one special, my friends; you get Ghostbusters 1 and 2 in one novel. It's lovely. I saw differences between the two, and it helped me follow along with the franchise better. </p><p>Another thing I enjoyed, and I think this is where it will help prepare for the new movie because there is a lot of backstory to Egon Spangler. I mean, I didn't realize things about the character because it didn't come up in the film, and it helped me understand some of the quirks he has. This will help, I think, with the new film which is centered on his grandchildren. So if you are ready for that film coming up, this may help you be even more prepared. </p><p>My favorite part of this novel is explaining the villains' motivations that we did not necessarily get in the films. I liked that. It was a lot of fun to read. Vigo was amazing, seriously. Gozer made a lot more sense in this book than it did initially in the many times I've watched the first film. But I liked these elements that made the story more palpable. </p><p>Overall, I'm giving my new comfort food audiobook a score of 81/100, which is a 4-star review on Goodreads, my blog, and Audible. Pick this up if you liked the first two Ghostbusters and if you are interested in some insight for the new film coming out. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-33986053486259092752021-08-17T13:40:00.001-05:002021-08-17T13:40:08.093-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Series Review - What If: Captain Carter <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/marvel-what-if-captain-peggy-carter.jpg?resize=768%2C432" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="180" src="https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/marvel-what-if-captain-peggy-carter.jpg?resize=768%2C432" width="320" /></a></div><br />Hello friends, today for our bonus content, I'm doing a review on the new series by Marvel out on Disney +, called "What If" This series goes through several episodes that give an alternative universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. <p></p><p>Today to start this series review, we start with Episode 1 titled "Captain Carter." </p><p>I don't want to give spoilers, but to do this, I have to give spoilers for both "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "What If: Captain Carter" because, well, this one has spoilers. Sorry friends!</p><p>So let me start with some critiques, and my primary one is the timeline of the episode, to me makes no sense compared to the canon timeline. What I mean by that is in "Captain America: The First Avenger" Red Skull takes the Tesseract in the opening sequence. The "What If" episode says that the only change to the timeline came when Peggy Carter chose the events of the transformation of Steve Rogers in the laboratory. That isn't making sense, given what happens in the episode requires Red Skull to take the Tesseract out of sequence. </p><p>Yes, I realize this is time nerd angst, and I get that. And I also realize, "So suspend your disbelief," and I'm trying to. If someone presents me with clear rules to a situation, I am all about upholding them. If the rules are not what was presented, then I get frustrated. This happens in books too, don't tell me one thing and show me another. </p><p>My subsequent criticism is why Howard Stark would invent the Iron man suit? Nothing in the canon of the MCU version of Howard Stark indicated that he had any desire to make a metal suit. I did see he was obsessed with flying technology, but not the suit. Just because someone invents something, and their parent also invented stuff, does not mean that the parent came up with the idea first. I have an autistic son. he comes up with all sorts of things based on stuff I told him. But that doesn't mean in my brain I ever thought up of his conclusion first. I feel this cheats a lot of the forethought put into the characters that were established, and again, remember, the premise is that only one choice was made, and then we can go off-kilter, not reinventing in whole cloth the brain patterns of a person into offspring they haven't had yet. </p><p>Aside from those quirks, the only other issue I had was how rapid it was. I understand it's a 30-minute show, so they had to do a lot with a bit of time, but it almost took away from some of the elements for me with the squeezed timeframe. </p><p>Now for what I liked about "What If: Captain Carter." </p><p>So firstly, I am pro Peggy Carter. I think she should have had a lot more love and support, and I wish that "Agent Carter" the series had been considered canon MCU. I know it's not, but that's a shame. So for this, I loved how they celebrated Peggy and how they celebrated her and Steve love each other despite whatever size or shape or whoever go the serum. It was wonderful. </p><p>My next favorite part of this show was showing what a pain in the butt it is for a woman to work in any misogynistic environment and be taken seriously. I am speaking from experience working in a misogynistic environment for over ten years. That whole "You're lucky you're even in the room" thing spoke volumes to me. I dislike that and mansplaining more than you can imagine. I was happy to see that element discussed and brought to the effort of how tough it would be for a Captain Carter in the '40s. </p><p>I loved the art direction and style. I thought it was beautifully and artistically put together. It felt comic accurate, and it looked comic accurate, the colors were well done and sharp and clean. I liked the lines and animation. I liked that there was a beautiful canvas to paint this story on. Whomever, the lead artist was, they are talented, in my opinion, especially with facial construction and adding micro-expressions to a drawing. </p><p>Overall this was a fun show. I'm not sure yet on my overall score of the series, but for this specific show, I'm giving "What If: Captain Carter" a score of 82/100, so that's a 4-star review. Let's see how the rest of this series pans out! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-45922627537918457152021-08-16T19:37:00.000-05:002021-08-16T19:37:25.336-05:00Mrs Y Blogs! Changes coming soon! <p> Hello my friends, welcome back to my blog.</p><p>I realized a while ago that there are some things I am very good at and some things I am not great with. I think I am relatively poor at just how much it takes to edit a manuscript into a novel. I get distracted easily, and I hate my own words on the page. This revelation leads me down a Twitter rabbit hole, and I realized many writers also feel the same. The only writers I saw who didn't feel this kind of way about their writing were those who got over that hump and managed to power through this period and found persistence and consistency in their writing.</p><p>With that in mind and armed with a new mindset, I pondered on what I love to write and what I don't love to write. I took time on this, and I realized I enjoy writing reviews a whole lot. I don't know why this came naturally and I wanted to do this so I could help others to get reviews. I have opinions and feelings on many things such as movies, web series, comics, and all sorts, not just books, so I've been thinking about this as I have gone along. </p><p>Admittedly, I am not a professionally trained reviewer. I never took a class on how to criticize art. I probably should, and I may, but for now, I have not. </p><p>I'm a mom with a passion for looking at things and giving my opinion to others so they can use my opinion to help them make up their mind on anything. I'm not here to tell you what to do; I'm only here to help you decide, based on my experience, and it would be up to you to gauge based on whatever I wrote to decide if you are interested in something or not. </p><p>That's me. It's fundamental, but you likely would love my reviews if you can relate to any of this. And if not, if you read them, I appreciate it. </p><p><b><u>Things I promise. </u></b></p><p>1. No politics. I think we all have had enough of divisions. In the USA especially, I think we all need a break. So I won't talk about politics or put it on my platform. </p><p>2. For now, no ads. I have no idea if I will ever change my mind on this. I tried ads once, and it went about and the Hindenburg landing so that we will chalk that up to a lesson in futility. </p><p>3. If a show/book/movie/audiobook/series or another artwork I am reviewing is so bad that it's just horrible, I likely never will review it here. Some reviewers love to stomp on people when they are down. I am not one of them. Now, if you, as my audience, ask me to review something, and I find it bad, I may discuss it. But I don't want to give something bad more negativity. There is enough of that in the world—a one or 2-star review on something that's not fair to someone drowning in them. Me piling onto the fail pile is just that, a pile on. </p><p>4. If, and only if, it's a product review and I found it unsafe, that's the only time I break rule 3. There's one thing to criticize art and pile on. It's another thing entirely if I found a product that has a flaw in it, and that flaw makes it dangerous. You are my readers. I take you seriously and your lives. I promise I will tell you if something I find was dangerous or caused me any problems physically. </p><p>5. I will leave a list of how I score something so anyone can check it. And if you disagree with me, that's okay, and please tell me where you disagree and why. I'm always open to opinions. I may not change my opinion, but I will listen. </p><p><br /></p><p><u><b>How am I going to do this? </b></u></p><p>Today I'm announcing something that's coming. In the coming weeks, I will be transitioning my reviews from "Blogger" to "WordPress," and with that comes some new things.</p><p>A site where comments work, and you, my readers, can subscribe properly to get notifications, and I can add cool things like bonus content to it. I want to make this successful because many people have been there for my reviews, and I want to be there for you who read them. I want the writers I've supported to be supported better, and I want this to be easier to manage on my end. </p><p>With this there will be bonus content and features as well as the book and audiobook reviews you love from me. </p><p>I've noticed people like my film reviews, so I'm going to formally change this to "Mrs. Y Reviews" and add films and possibly series on streaming to it. I feel good about this. </p><p>With all my reviews, be it books, audiobooks, series, or films, you will get the same content from me. This is my perspective and honest opinion about something I am reading or watching and how I feel about it. </p><p>So come with me on this journey. I will announce the new site when I have it ready to go, and the content will be updated as we go along. My tentative date to launch this will be September 20, because it's my birthday and I want to celebrate it with a new site.</p><p>Please journey with me! Stick around and let's enjoy this trip together! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-90954842042419537892021-08-16T19:06:00.000-05:002021-08-16T19:06:03.267-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] The Martian by Andy Weir<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/414J3xG+7+L._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/414J3xG+7+L._SL500_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Audible has this side selection if you have a subscription active called "Included with Plus Catalog." I haven't pursued this before, but I did and then found "The Martian" by Andy Weir. <p></p><p>If you want this and have an active Audible subscription, it's available until September 3, 2021. </p><p>Anyway, no one told me to read and review this, but I thought I would. I heard many good things about this book, and I wanted to see how it was for myself, so I went and picked it up. </p><p>Let's start with the critiques. The writing style changes a few times in the story. It goes from a first-person narrative to a third person. Then later, it becomes a past tense a bit. I was confused slightly, but when a person reads this book, it somewhat makes sense. Even at times, there is an omnipotent narrative voice over the first person in pieces. </p><p>Now, that out of the way, I will go into what I loved about "The Martian" by Andy Weir. The Audible production of this novel was FANTASTIC! Will Wheaton? Really! That guy was great. I didn't think he did novels. He did so wonderfully at this one. I was so glad he was good at this because it made the complicated space and science terms sound normal and realistic. And I truly enjoyed his cadence as he read. He's not the king of other voices, the book was read in one voice and only one voice, so you had to follow along, but aside from that critique, I did enjoy myself. </p><p>Next, I loved the pacing and tension. Something always went wrong for the main character, but it was done beautifully that the tension was continued well. And yes, there were genuine moments of relief. "The Martian" is a master class on how to demonstrate character and dynamic tension simultaneously. This is tricky to do well, and this is done SO well. I enjoyed that. I loved everything about it. And the release of tension came both in dynamic and specific plot points designed to create them and came in the form of the character's interactions with the audience. </p><p>I liked that the majority of the book was written in the first person from the POV of the main character. I liked Mark. I wish I knew a guy like him, he sounds great, and though he suffered through some insane trauma, he's my kind of human. </p><p>I think this book is terrific, and I think that I like this kind of Sci-fi. I'm giving this a 92/100, and I think you should check it out if you haven't yet. Yeah, I know this came out a while ago, but after the year we have had folks, it's nice to hear a book about something like this, and it helped me get perspective back on what the world could be. </p><p>Enjoy! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-31050403496330026032021-08-13T01:46:00.005-05:002021-08-13T01:46:44.432-05:00[Film Review] The Suicide Squad (2021)<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3RchQqVrtyzPBSURT1ulJ4RDa3I2Fbtt27D2VpvUyh0Z7OTBykStQYuHRDQCkki3qrABSqXIp5au31JnsufXwQY_9FCpMPEn0bdQVeYltBmOGWMwAmY51pWA_YsC3KLFY9sUbSMXD0Ub/s628/Screenshot+2021-08-13+014532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="423" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd3RchQqVrtyzPBSURT1ulJ4RDa3I2Fbtt27D2VpvUyh0Z7OTBykStQYuHRDQCkki3qrABSqXIp5au31JnsufXwQY_9FCpMPEn0bdQVeYltBmOGWMwAmY51pWA_YsC3KLFY9sUbSMXD0Ub/s320/Screenshot+2021-08-13+014532.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /><i>So before we get into this review, I want to preface a few things. I am an avid Comic Book reader. Most of my preference has been for Marvel Comics, long before Disney was ever a thing. I liked Batman films, especially Nolan's films, but I am not a DC reader. I never thought the books were as good in my formative comic reading years. So if you think that I am biased about anything regarding my take on this film, for any reason, I apologize. I may have some unconscious bias in here. I hope not. I hope that a thick layer of consumer loyalty doesn't cloud my feelings about a product, and I'm happy I can be honest enough to admit I may have a flaw. </i><p></p><p>On with the review!</p><p>Hello my friends, welcome to an excellent bonus content feature for my review of "The Suicide Squad," directed by James Gunn. This stars Edris Elba, Margot Robbie, and Viola Davis. I am reviewing this as it is a film adaptation to the comic book series "Suicide Squad," done by DC Comics. The movie's premise is simple. The bad guys have to make a deal with Amanda Waller to do something that could get them killed. If they live, they can get some years off their sentence. If they don't well, the Government doesn't care because it's the person who was a prisoner, and that's okay in this weird idea for prison reform. </p><p><br /></p><p>I want to start with some critiques. I have a few. I preface this with I have seen both "Deadpool" and "Deadpool 2" as well as "Christmas Deadpool," where they cleaned up "Deadpool 2" to make it PG-13. </p><p><br /></p><p>Even considering what I just said, my personal take was that "The Suicide Squad (2021)" well, archaic and simplistic as it sounds, was gross. Seriously. That's the best word for this feeling. It's gross and frustratingly so at times. I never walked away from "Deadpool" movies as the last memory in my mind, as I did after watching "The Suicide Squad (2021)". </p><p><br /></p><p>To sum up my "Gross" critique, the film was marketed sa a raunchy comedic superhero film. What I watched had the same male nudity as skin-a-max softcore porn, combined with a lot of realistic blood, on someone's slasher film fetish stuff going on. Gross. </p><p><br /></p><p>I'm still not entirely sure if my next issue had to do with pacing or if the issue was with a writing choice. Hear me out. The movie moves along at a fair clip, but they had to go back and forth between things at times to show stuff because it's an ensemble cast. Writing that is tough. I can't imagine how the script structure was put together, but I know it wasn't strictly linear. Sometimes they'd show the punchline to a premise first and then go back and show you the setup. It's kind of like a Terintino thing, but not entirely because it was the end of a scene first and the beginning of the scene later, at times. I don't yet know if I hated that or if it just would take me time to get used to the idea of a movie full of that. But it is a critique because I'm not sure everyone is going to love that idea. </p><p><br /></p><p>The only other thing I disliked was that they didn't have the right story structure moves to have that one loveable character they wanted to justify toy sales, in my opinion, as a mom who buys her kids toys for stuff like this. I felt as though the movie wanted me to think that character was King Shark, and I realized pretty quickly it was Rat Catcher 2, but you can't make dolls out of her in the way they could with King Shark, and Sebastian the Rat wasn't on long enough for me to feel like getting my kid a stuffed rat. </p><p><br /></p><p>So this, I think, was a marketing issue. In Guardian's of the Galaxy, Groot was the moral center in the first movie. He was doing bad stuff, but he followed Rocket because he loves Rocket and is a good guy. Groot was a big-ticket item in my house. My kids love Groot. They have Groot everything. Let me be clear here, and I'm that mom movie makers love for marketing. I'm that mom who watches the movie, judges if the kids can go, takes them a billion times, buys the merch and all the toys and t-shirts. I'm that mom. It has nothing to do with the rating. It has to do with the content and is there a moral center character they make in a plushy my kids would like. The answer. Nope. I can't show my kids "Deadpool" now. But someday, I can. And when that day comes, they can get the stuff I got. </p><p><br /></p><p>For this film, I think they were trying to do the toy stuff with King Shark. But King Shark, I think, could have been his own Drax. I want him to be his own Drax, and I want him also to have his show. He's not a Groot, though. </p><p><br /></p><p>Also, I realize that through the film, and as I review it, I keep comparing this to "Guardian's of the Galaxy," and I can't help that. There is a lot of comparable stuff. And that in and of itself is a critique. I'm not comparing this to the "Suicide Squad (2016)" in my head at all. It's nothing like that film. Sure some of the characters are the same, but that's not the same movie as this. This is like "Guardians" in its structure. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, with that in mind, let me go into what I liked. </p><p><br /></p><p>The character of Harley needed this film. I felt that she has a better story arc in this story than, frankly, she had in "Birds of Prey." ( I know that's not going to be popular with everyone, but I feel this way). I wouldn't say I liked how that movie treated her entirely. Harley should have had her own thing entirely. But I digress; Harley, as we all should know by now, she has had some weird choices in her life. She's met and loved some toxic men, and she's had some terrible things happen to her, and she's done terrible things. </p><p><br /></p><p>This movie stands out because, for the first time, in a moment of madness, she did one thing for herself in this movie that I felt was healthy in thought. It was not, however, healthy indeed. She is crazy. If you don't think she's crazy, you haven't been paying attention. I'm not going to spoil this moment, but Harley grew as a person in this film. Good for her! I wanted her to do well, and I'm pleased with the direction here. Also, I loved that she was fighting in a red prom dress, that made me so happy! And more than the esthetics of Harley, I think as we see her do things on screen, if they keep going down this direction, she could potentially have a proper redemption arc, and that'd be fantastic. </p><p><br /></p><p>The costumes in this film were great and realistic to the situation. I loved that about it. We need great costume designers in our lives, and I think everyone who did makeup and costumes was on point. Bravo! </p><p><br /></p><p>The cinematography wasn't painting-worthy, but it was good. I liked the shots and the framing and how it worked with the practical and special effects. </p><p><br /></p><p>I want to give massive praise to the team of people who did King Shark. Stalone was great as the voice. The CGI was fantastic, and the skin was perfect. He looked so good! The rendering was terrific! Great job, CGI guys and gals. I'm so happy! Same with the Starro stuff. </p><p><br /></p><p>Peter Capaldi, for me, had a fantastic side villain part, and I loved it. I miss him on Who, but he is an outstanding actor in and of himself. I thought he did fantastic in this film and fit the role well. </p><p><br /></p><p>Edris Elba is never bad in anything I've seen him in. He again was a master, and I enjoyed watching him like the outstanding actor he is always. I'm so glad I enjoyed him in this film too. He captured his character very well. </p><p><br /></p><p>But I think the role I loved the most is the one that made me buy the ticket. I was debating watching this movie, but it would have meant missing Viola Davis. I don't miss Viola Davis movies. Nope. I love her so much. I am a fangirl, and I hope that's okay. She's amazing. If you never saw her in the movie "Widows," you need to go see that. I mention that film because it's a different approach to this character of "Amanda Waller," and she's brutal. Amanda Waller reminds me of a former manager I had, and I wouldn't want to work for her, no way. But the character is, deep down, very calculated and intelligent, and I enjoyed watching it. </p><p><br /></p><p>I also want to praise the arc involving "The Polka-Dot Man" and, this was great to cover. It was presented light-hearted, but truthfully, I know what it's like to have to live in the shadow of parents. And I think anyone who has mental hangups that were caused by well-intentioned parents who did the wrong things, sometimes even medically, to watch how the guy made it to the end was beautiful. I'm proud of "Polka-Dot." </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, I am giving "The Suicide Squad (2021)" a rating of 3 stars. I liked elements of it, but I walked out uncomfortable. I wouldn't say I like leaving a comedic-toned movie uncomfortable. I think that's what bothered me the most. Anyway, I'm sure I'm in the minority here, and I understand. I am sure others loved everything I disliked. We can agree to disagree. This is my take! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-75814332617875966182021-08-10T12:26:00.001-05:002021-08-28T18:43:45.919-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Falling Light by Crystal L. Kirkham<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1618543165l/57751929._SY475_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1618543165l/57751929._SY475_.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Hello my friends, welcome back to another review by me, Mrs. Y. This is my first book review, which isn't an Audio Book review, in a while, so I'm glad to come back this way. Today I'm reviewing a book by Crystal L. Kirkham, and I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review by Crystal. <p>Now, some context. Crystal L. Kirkham is one of the authors on Twitter I met first when I was first starting to review. She was the very first writer who asked me to read her work for an honest review. I've reviewed 3 of her books prior, and I feel like I have grown as a reviewer as Crystal has grown as an author. Truthfully, she's so far past where I have gone; it's not funny. She's an editor, a pod-caster, and a cover artist as well as a novelist. That said, I will do my utmost not to be biased anyway, I wanted to return to books with something I was comfortable with, so here we are. </p><p>Now that is out of the way, let me tell you what this won't be. I will not be waxing poetic on anything in the book if it's not there. One of the reasons I respect Crystal, she lets me tell it like it is. So I'm going to do that. </p><p>Let's get started on this review. </p><p>The critique, how does one categorize this book properly? Starting with critiques, this one is non-scoring because it's not the author's fault; this falls more into the fault lies with Genre categories. "Falling Light" is a romance novel with adventure, dark urban fantasy and features an LGBTQ couple. However, if someone were to put that into genres or "Gay Romance" or "LGBTQ Romance" or anything like that, then the book is put in the same category as the "Torso" romances. </p><p>If you aren't familiar with "Torso" romances, those are the romance novels that feature a male character, from chin to just below the belly button, with or without an opened shirt, oiled up like a WWE wrestler, and has very cliche titles, sometimes with the word "Hard" or "Oil" in them. This isn't that kind of book, and that's why I'm frustrated as a reader. I don't know that this kind of LGBTQ Romance exists other than in this book. "Falling Light" has no sex in it and is a kissing book, and the intimacy in the moments is emotional more than sexual. So how do you categorize this? That's my non-scoring critique; where does this fall? I have talked to Crystal about this before, and I don't think the primary category should align with "Torso" books. </p><p>My following scored critique has to do with something I sometimes find with comedy overused to move tension; in this case, it's the romance. I loved the romance, but there were whole cloth parts of the plot that I loved bypassed by the romance part. </p><p>As readers, we live and love and move around this couple, and again, the romance is beautiful. But I, as an action-adventure nerd, also wanted to know what the bad guy was up to. The bad guy almost felt like an afterthought. Crystal writes some compelling villains, so I felt the loss of that delicious evil bad guy part going on. "In Feathers and Fae," she had these perfectly evil bad guys, and the plot drove toward it. I was hoping for more of that, and that story, too, had a romance. But for some reason here, it wasn't the same. </p><p>Granted, I realize adding more would have made this book as big as "The Stand" but, I'm all for it. It's just tiny things I enjoy about books like this that are fulfilling and satisfying conclusions. If the said bad guy is so bad that he has to meet an end, whatever that end maybe, wouldn't it be nice to know how that happened? I missed that part. I saw the results, but explaining what was done wasn't explained, and then we had more romance. Again, I love the romance, but I'd like a bit more in the "And here is how this happened" part. </p><p>For my final critique, it is almost a deus-ex-machina cliche issue. I say almost because none of the tropes were directly involved with climax exactly, so this isn't a cliche as much as a writing trope bordering to the cliche. And if you're not familiar with what I mean, let me explain it this way. </p><p>If you saw the "Lord of the Rings," and after Frodo had dropped the ring, here came the eagles to get him, and we can surmise that Gandalf asked his Eagle buddies to help. We didn't have to see Gandalf call them or summon them; we just were able to imply it and watch the result being that Frodo and Sam got away. That is a writing device. </p><p>Whereas, if you saw the "Hobbit" and you saw the part with the fire, and the eagles just showed up and took the dwarves away, that felt more deus-ex-machina. That was a cliche. It came across as though the director wanted us to remember how this worked for Frodo and was trying to get the group from point A to point B before the credits rolled on the 1st film. </p><p>In "Falling Light," we had many the first type going on with off-page stuff. I can accept some of it to "Secret organization" stuff. But I wasn't sure if that was a writing device or if it was the deus-ex-machina trope. It got blurry at times. Examples of these situations were resolved or caused in these manners as such, "This happens because of money" or "This happens because of a secret organization" or "This happens because of reasons." </p><p>Again, a writing device makes sense when used where needed and is okay, but that began to multiply and happened a lot, especially near the end. And to be honest, I'm not sure if it was Deus or if it was a writing device because I'm not sure if the frequency is enough to make it cliche or not. So, therefore, I'm noting this as a critique, but I'll leave you, the reader, to decide how you felt about it when you read the book. </p><p>With all of this out of the way, I'm going into what I enjoyed about "Falling Light," and I want to applaud Crystal on her diversity of cast, characters, and approach. This is an LGBTQ novel, the main characters are incredibly diverse, and this book is an all-world kind of book. I think the characters were elegantly portrayed, and again, for a romance, this wasn't a torso book. I wasn't getting hot and bothered by anything. I was falling in love with the story with descriptions. Anyone can read this book, I firmly believe it, and enjoy it. I think a person would have to work very hard not to enjoy something about it. </p><p>I want to applaud here; there is a cliffhanger in "Falling Light," but Crystal has mastered the way of closing all the story threads for the specific book before moving on to give the audience a taste that there may be more to come. My copy also included the 1st chapter of the sequel, but I did not read that. I'll read it when that book comes out. So I am not scoring the bonus chapter, but I do love this kind of cliffhanger. I wish everyone could do a cliffhanger like this. I also loved that there wasn't a prologue. This book gets to the point quickly, stays on task, and continues its way to the end. That's the best kind of book. I genuinely enjoy structure like this in novels because it just gets right to the point. There isn't a thing wrong with prologues, but sometimes, you don't need one. </p><p>Thematically, I took away from "Falling Light" were three themes going on. These are my takes on it, and if I'm missing a theme or I've lost a concept, I apologize. The first theme is the family you chose. The second is that work shouldn't be paramount over your life, and the last is that you can love whomever you love, and it's okay to feel that way. I loved that there were three themes. I also loved that none of it was dropped or lost, and I enjoyed the story threads built upon these themes and ended satisfyingly. </p><p>Next, I loved the level of darkness to lightness in the story structure. This has a lot of balance to it. The purely evil things are not purely evil, the purely good ones are not purely good, and even the actual Villian, I could see his point of view perfectly. I think this is more of a story discussing how we all are approaching how to deal with life. If someone wants all the badness to go away and everyone to be good, how would they go about doing it? When the villain's goal is to take away evil from the world and make it good again in the purely black and white sense, you have to admire the genius of the villain's consideration. I think that's why I enjoyed this villain. It's that "Thanos" thing. When the bad guy has a point, and he still has to be stopped, how tough is it to not mourn for losing the point? </p><p>Anyone who has read or been on Social Media in the last three years should know what I mean by that. Things are gross right now; no one agrees on anything, there is a lot of shouting people down and telling people they are wrong. This villain's goal was to stop that, but he would make things worse in so doing. So now, how does one rectify that in their mind? </p><p>So once again, Crystal wrote a fantastic villain, compelling, well-rounded, well thought out, and a perfect counterbalance to the story's heroes. I say heroes because there was more than one, and two of them were falling in love. </p><p>The pacing, tension, and book structure were delightful. Aside from the before-mentioned issues I had with the romance, the book moved along very well for the most part. I was done with this book in about 1 and 1/2 days of full reading. That's not something I usually do anymore, but the book didn't make it feel like an exercise. Crystal has come such a long way. I've read many of her novels, and this one by far, I think, was the best-written one so far. I am so honored I get to grow as a reviewer as she has grown as an author. </p><p>Finally, and it's my favorite part. This story was a striking dark urban fantasy under a romance. I loved the lore and the building of the world, the way the secret organization was brought up and spelled out, and I enjoyed the rules system was straightforward and in place. Worldbuilding can be complicated, but Crystal did a fantastic job here. The book was well done, well structured, and written for the rules and alignment, and I enjoyed that. </p><p>I'm scoring "Falling Light" with a 95/100, which is a 5-star review on Goodreads, Amazon, my blog, and The Reading Desk. This may be perfect for you, and I hope you enjoy it as well. Overall, this was a lovely read. I can't thank Crystal enough for this opportunity. It felt good to read again. I want to read more books, and I think I'm almost in a good enough place to do that again. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-35104527759338817612021-08-03T08:00:00.036-05:002021-08-03T09:48:01.266-05:00[Mrs Y Reviews] The Green Knight- Film Review<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcX9zbRj6MX_r3iaOUYz_t0_egZfqyAGCX96htsJhlsrbz9J2eG1vFOJKMxyqJn2XurwZYYRjgi2YnBBZeZmUX0hcKN881X51fPw2dCWrLed26ZxOXtRUBD7RZKl8t6tKrsDyEKlPgg2J0/s1324/GK1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1324" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcX9zbRj6MX_r3iaOUYz_t0_egZfqyAGCX96htsJhlsrbz9J2eG1vFOJKMxyqJn2XurwZYYRjgi2YnBBZeZmUX0hcKN881X51fPw2dCWrLed26ZxOXtRUBD7RZKl8t6tKrsDyEKlPgg2J0/s320/GK1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Hello, my friends, this is your lucky day! Today is Bonus Content day from Mrs. Y!<p></p><p>Today I will go into a different medium of entertainment and do a movie review. I haven't done one in some time so bear with me. Today I am reviewing "The Green Knight," directed and written for the screen by David Lowery and starring Dev Patel. </p><p>I'm going to do my movie review differently than I do book reviews, and I hope you all can forgive me for going off-page a bit. I'm going to do this review in this manner because I feel the film is different from books, and the film needs to be critiqued differently. I can't go over things like grammar, spelling, or book pacing in the way you can with a film. </p><p>So let me start with the things that I felt were a tad weak in the film for me. To begin with, you probably should know some about Authrorian lore before you walk into this film. I'm not sure that film has done the best job of preparing an audience for this movie; it's going to need some books, in my opinion, to get an initial grasp of who the characters are. It helps to solidify act 1 because a lot of the subtle clues and whose who bits come in knowing a tad more about everyone and who they were overall. I am very sure, that if you are into movies with more action and adventure, or where you shouldn't have to read things ahead of time, that this movie may be a miss for you. But hear me out, "The Green Knight" is worth a little research. And given how the movie goes on, I believe that was the intention of the writer/director, that he wants you to read this and the other bits of Arthurian tales, so you do have an understanding. "The Green Knight" has a very sharp learning curve. </p><p>Now given my love of all things fantasy and that I've seen and read many adaptations of the Arthur Legend, I figured out who was who to the most extent, and it helped me. The reason this is a critique, I know I'm not everyone in the world. So, if you are a novice or do not know who anyone is in the tale of King Arthur, you may find the first act confusing if you do not do some basic research. </p><p>My following critique comes from the fact that adopting a tale of the Green Knight into a Movie means there will be a few plot holes. It's not the end of the world. I'm chalking a lot of these little "But wait, how did he?" moments to there's only so much they can do or show, and if they give away every little bit of it, the poetry of the picture does not move. If you are an "I hate plot holes" person, this isn't your film. If you don't care, this critique is not going to apply to you. </p><p>Now I want to talk about the things I loved about "The Green Knight." Let's go from the bottom to the top here. Firstly, the costumes, makeup, set pieces, and all the practical effects were gorgeous. I am looping all of these things together because they blended seamlessly. I have no idea if any of it at all is period-accurate, my guess is no, but they are so beautiful. The crowns are beautiful, the capes and belts, and gowns are lovely, and the way that themes are placed in these pieces make for an enjoyable experience. But more than that, the special effect and practical effect makeup were beautiful. </p><p>I had a slight critique of how they did the makeup for the actress Alicia Vikander who played Lady Essel. She had cheekbones that were sculpted out like a Kardashian, and that took me out of the moment because I kept thinking, "I wonder which bronzer she has" and "Huh, they really added that highlight in at that angle on her eyes well, I wonder if they used cream or powder highlighter there, it looks great." and "Woah, they hollowed out that cheekbone." I shouldn't have to pick out the highlighter, blush, and contour regime of an actress when all the other makeup looks natural. Aside from this one and only one thing, everything on the makeup was beautifully done. They had Ralph Ineson look so believably like a tree that I was lost in it. I had to IMDB who it was because I knew the voice, but I couldn't see who it was, and I knew this wasn't a Gollum situation; this was practical special effect makeup. </p><p>My next highlight comes to the fact that the cinematography is just gorgeous. Andrew Droz Palermo did such a fantastic job. The use of color, light, and frame was so magical it was transportive to me. There wasn't any shakycam, and that means a lot to me. The framing was so good. If you can see beautiful paintings in every shot of a film, you are looking at fantastic cinematography. This move was so beautiful. And there wasn't a single muddy or dark or dull shot in the bunch. There was an excellent use of smoke and water, but none of that muddied the picture. </p><p>My love of this film goes to how well the theme is carried out. This is a beautiful example of thematic cinema. We need more like this, where the writer knows what every element is leading towards and follows through. The pieces of the story are woven beautifully, and that's why I want to make clear, plot holes don't matter in this kind of film. It's brilliant how well this is structured to fit the theme and the journey, and the acts are tightly done, which I love. I want more of this and less "Subversion of expectations" in my movies. </p><p>Next, I want to give an impressive stand-out performance, and it's a shame she's not listed as a central cast member. Erin Kellyman played the character of "Saint Winefred." If you may or may not remember, Erin was Karli Morgenthau in "The Falcon & The Winter Soldier," and I was shocked when I saw her in "The Green Knight." She was fantastic. Her part was more minor, but it had a lot of tension behind it, and it added to the heart of the journey that Gawain was on, and the quest he was on, and her purpose in the theme of the story was significant to me. I felt she embodied it well, and I wish she had more screen time, but I understand why she did not. The character was only needed for a tiny bit. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj9Etfm5VFf8Lv72g-Hdkw4hP2sDHuISapa7qD3kqQTqf49VrKKkI1Dlk8rkh_AvIyz1ir5HiwUin3onX-nbBkSJL3IjLxicuCaMKSH2jjav34_wv-CwmbmFWd4VXpO0VnpNOU8nQNuF6n/s1052/GK2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1052" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj9Etfm5VFf8Lv72g-Hdkw4hP2sDHuISapa7qD3kqQTqf49VrKKkI1Dlk8rkh_AvIyz1ir5HiwUin3onX-nbBkSJL3IjLxicuCaMKSH2jjav34_wv-CwmbmFWd4VXpO0VnpNOU8nQNuF6n/w320-h244/GK2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>But my main love of this film comes from Dev Patel as Gawain. Dev Patel is an amazing actor. He only does smaller films and refuses to do tent pole movies ever since that "Last Airbender" disaster. I think he's wise. He was a master in this film. Even at the parts where he's entirely on his own, he is believable. The way he can be so expressive with his eyes and facial features is terrific. I fully believed everything he was going through, and I fully embraced the hero's journey entirely. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, I loved this film. If you love fantasy movies that are paced in a methodical way to show the hero's journey through the theme and structure for that theme, you would love this movie as well. As far as my scoring, I'm giving this a 5 out of 5 because I do not have a mathematical scoring system for films yet. If I did, my gut says this falls about a 94, but again, I can't use book math for film math. So stick to the 5's. </p><p><br /></p><p>Tell me what you think, though, please! I'd love to hear your views. Did you see "The Green Knight" yet? What did you think of the theme, and what was your take on the overall structure? I'm dying for more interaction, friends. Hit me up on Twitter @mrs_y_writer, and we can continue this conversation. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-10135381830035247842021-08-02T14:04:00.000-05:002021-08-02T14:04:40.587-05:00[Mrs Y. Reviews] The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumatake Koga <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535970576l/41641923._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535970576l/41641923._SX318_.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><p></p><p>"Mrs. Y, you said you weren't reading advice books anymore" I could almost hear you telling me this as I listened to this book. Well, dear reader, I know that. I remember saying that many times. The one I had read before this was infuriating, and I tossed it and never even spoke about it to any of you, my readers because it was that upsetting. But it did prompt me to say, "No more advice books." </p><p>Then Audible suggested this to me, and after reading the synopsis and a blurb off of Goodreads, I decided to take a try. So today, my reading buddies, I am doing a review of "The Courage to be Disliked" by Ichiro Kishimi. </p><p>Now, this review will not be on the validity of the advice, nor am I going to get on here and become some kind of zealot for the advice. This review is on the book, its listenability, the way it's structured, and its overall presentation. I'm doing that for every other book anyway, so let's keep up with it. The only thing I will say that is personal, this book gave me ideas on ways to feel more comfortable in my skin. If you are looking for something like that or a result like that, it'd be worth listening to and evaluating any advice in the book on your own. </p><p>That said, if you are a strong advocate of psychology by Carl Jung, or Sigmund Freud, or even Nietzsche, this may not be a book for you unless you have a very open mind because I think it might break the fourth wall of the narrative. This is the only spoiler I'm giving. </p><p>Onto the review of "The Courage to be Disliked." </p><p>Let me start with critiques. </p><p>My main critique comes from the category I have for "Lost In Translation." Allow me to preface this a bit. The book was easy to understand, but the concepts and validating them for myself would require research. It's the nature of the book. So, I will critique that aspect a bit, but I do so under the guise that I am a total novice. I know nothing of this stuff, so if I were going to validate it, I'd have to get into research mode. Spoiler, I didn't do that. If I do it later, that's on my time, but I have not as of writing the review for this book. </p><p>Now let me go into what I liked about "The Courage to be Disliked." The outline and the way the book's structure is set up changes this from a dry textbook that it could have been to something far more entertaining and easy to understand. I do not like psychology, I never have, but with this book, I can understand complicated terms in a realistic sense. So for that, this book is great. </p><p>Let me go into what I truly enjoyed, and it was the three narrators. Noah Galvin, Graeme Malcolm, and January LaVoy, worked in harmony to tell this story. There is one who is the omnipotent third-party narrator who does the setting. Then there is the young man, and then there is the older man. They play their parts well, and I felt like I was listening to a great conversation, which I feel is the group's purpose. It was wonderful. </p><p>Overall, this book is exciting and good food for thought. I don't know how sound any of this is for advice, and I'm not sure what would happen if a person took all of this to heart or not. I'm not here to grade it on that level. But if you listen to this book as a book and have it tucked into your mind as something to consider, it's rather enjoyable. </p><p>"The Courage to Be Disliked" on my scoring has earned an 81 out of 100, and that's a 4-star review on Audible, Goodreads, my blog, and the Reading Desk. If you are a psychology nerd and like enjoyable books, this is the book for you, in my opinion. If you would like to have an exciting counter to how you live, this may also be for you. As for me, I just enjoyed the conversation; it was pleasant and gave me things to think about. </p><p>Let me know what you think on Twitter! Find me @mrsy_writer and leave me some comments. </p><p>Until next time have a great rest of your week. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-82271307164108803852021-07-29T09:24:00.000-05:002021-07-29T09:24:20.450-05:00[Mrs Y Challenge] Clean vs Dirty Romance Compare & Contrast<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5270bf21e4b03475d0dc3cfc/1597832370066-NNZL8MGPKQXBIFWB20OL/compare_and_contrast_venn_diagram?format=1000w" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="800" height="351" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5270bf21e4b03475d0dc3cfc/1597832370066-NNZL8MGPKQXBIFWB20OL/compare_and_contrast_venn_diagram?format=1000w" width="508" /></a></div><br />Hello, my friends! <div><br /></div><div>Today is the day! If you are not sure what this post is about, please <a href="https://mrsyreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/mrs-y-challenge-clean-vs-dirty-romance.html" target="_blank">click here</a> to read my announcement! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p></p><p>If you have read it and know what this is about, welcome! Today is my spoiler-filled comparison of the two subgenres of Romance, Clean vs. Dirty. </p><p>If you have not read the reviews for "<a href="https://mrsyreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/mrs-y-reviews-proper-scandal-by-esther.html" target="_blank">A Proper Scandal</a>" or "<a href="https://mrsyreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/mrs-y-reviews-dirty-letters-by-vi.html" target="_blank">Dirty Letters</a>" here are the links. Or, if you are not a link person, please take a minute, go back to the front page, and you should find them and read them. </p><p>I'm going to compare what I liked or didn't like about their subgenre representation. I'm going to contrast my personal main takeaways of a Clean versus the Dirty romance subgenre's as I go. This will be filled with spoilers, so if you have not read the books or do not like spoilers, you should read or listen to both books. Also, please remember, these are my opinions only. My opinions are subjective to me, and may not be your opinions. You may walk out of this feeling you have a different pick than I do. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let's get started! </p><p><br /></p><p>Part one! Slow Burns. I want to clear this misconception up based on the "A Proper Scandal" review. I was talking to an avid fan (you know who you are) and, I realized I am giving a perception that I am against slow-burn books. </p><p>I like slow burns personally, but I do not like dry as dust slow burns with all the passion of blade of grass on a sidewalk. </p><p>Let me give a hypothetical. Let's say you have a romance novel that is 250 pages. Now let's say that those 250 pages, the story's point is person A, and person B has to meet, fall in love, break up, and fall back in love again; a slow burn will change the act structure. In the many books I've read, what this generally translates to with most authors of romance, is all of the action happens in the 2nd act, and the first act is dry. This isn't every single book, but it is in most I've read with a slow-burn romance between 250 and 350 pages <b><u>if</u></b> the writer isn't paying attention to chemistry and tension. </p><p>So let me be clear here, slow burns are fine. Tolkien was the master of the slow burn, simmered that stuff right. But Tolkien did not write romance novels, and the point of some is to get to the point. Especially if the ultimate goal is a sex scene. However, if there is not a sex scene, slow can be beneficial if the tension and chemistry are great. </p><p>I am perfectly delighted to read a romance novel with no sex, all sorts of tension among morally gray or morally ambiguous characters. They can be opposite gendered, same-gendered, or identify however they prefer. As long as the tension and setup are structured right, a slow burn, no sex, just kissing romance is perfectly done. Those are fun. </p><p>For my next part, this idea that Clean romance is designed for those who want something more wholesome to read while also getting to fall in love. In contrast, by saying such a statement, would that mean those who prefer their Dirty counterpart do not like being wholesome? I don't think so. But I can say that you'd be mistaken if you go into the subgenres and you personally are under such a belief. </p><p>Grace, the main protagonist from "A Proper Scandal," was raised in a vicarage and constantly around the Bible. By contrast, Luca, the main protagonist from "Dirty Letters," was not. She was born and raised in a secular system and went to public schools. And yet, if you asked me to pick between the two of them and decide who was more honest and morale, it'd be Luca. </p><p>Why? </p><p>The story with Grace puts her in these positions that make her a liar and incredibly untrustworthy. It's the primary plot device of the story, and she uses this to get a guy to marry her in less than two weeks. </p><p>Whereas Luca, who did tell one lie in the entire story. Specifically, Luca lied when she didn't come clean with recognizing her pen pal to his face. Okay, that's not the end of the world. Luca did not lie about anything else in the story and was brutally honest and forthright. </p><p>This tells me quite a bit about character development in a story. If one says, a type of genre is supposed to be more moral than another, why? If the point is that "A Proper Scandal" does not have sex scenes and "Dirty Letters" does, well, okay, fine. But if it's because the characters are of higher quality and more morale, then you'd be incorrect. Which frustrates me for the subgenre title. </p><p>Let's go into another thing I really found frustrating. When we talk about the male leads, we have Griffin from "Dirty Letters," and we have Nate from "A Proper Scandal." </p><p>Nate is a hard-working man trying to fix his family's name and reputation through work, and he denies himself any female comfort because his ex was a horrible monster. </p><p>On the other hand, Griffin is an ordinary guy, who eventually makes it in music, and he has a lot of money and is a literal rockstar. If you look at that on paper, one obviously is doing more than the other with immoral things: rock stars have stereotypes of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. </p><p>But, if you asked me after reading both books which one was trying to help his fellow man and more likely to help feed the hungry, clothe, and comfort the sick, it would be Griffin without question. Sure, Nate does bring in a widow to his household to help her after a situation, but he's not the time to go looking to help whole groups of people out of their plights like Griffin is. </p><p>Again, for this subgenre, are we looking at the characters' morality, or are we looking at the fact the story is lacking Sex or has it included? </p><p>Griffin drops all he's doing to care for Luca, he helps her get the treatment she needs, he donates money to charities that treat an assortment. Is he perfect as a human? No. Is Nate perfect as a human? No. </p><p> Here's my ultimate point. I think this genre tag needs to change. I think instead of "Clean" vs. "Dirty," we need it appropriately labeled and correctly. </p><p>The dirty book, for me, had a lot more morality in the character foundations than the clean book. Of the two, though, if we are talking about Sex or kissing, well, I liked the clean book more. I had a few issues with how some of the discussions between Luca and Gryphon about their turn-ons were, and frankly, I love a hot kissing scene. </p><p>I blame the fact that I have come to fully enjoy and revel in Korean dramas on this. K Drama's if there is Sex, you have no idea. At least the ones I watch. I watch lots of build-up to a kiss, and the kisses are spectacular. I love those kinds of stories. I like a hot steamy kiss. I don't need the bodily fluid part because I just don't like discussions about bodily fluids. I'd probably be "Doctor Mrs. Y," not "Mrs. Y," and we could eliminate that. </p><p>Now, if that makes it clean to have a kissing romance, can we call it something else? Can we give books proper ratings? I know on an R-rated movie, the reader or viewer will have more adult-oriented situations. In erotica or pornography, the reader or viewer will get a lot more graphic details on fluids and viscosity. But if I'm watching a show on prime time, or a K Drama, it will probably be a kissing scene. </p><p>Why not classify it as "Kissing" or even use the movie "G, PG, PG-13" system? As a parting thought, I think they should use colors. In Comedy, when someone is going to use vulgarity and graphic detail, they call it going blue. Perhaps, for this genre thing, we can give colors. If it's a kissing book with morally gray characters, maybe we call that a "green" romance for the fact that it's free of Sex, and the ones that have the Sex, but the morally okay characters can be "coral" or "orange"? I have no idea; I'm just throwing ideas out. </p><p>These "Clean" and "Dirty" titles are misconstruing to the reader character development and morals. </p><p>The intimacy, and emotional touching of "Dirty Letters" to me, did laps around "A Proper Scandal." Truthfully, the Ferby thing and some of the actual letters in "Dirty Letters" are about the only spot I can call the book dirty. </p><p>There is no way, as a person who is being fair, that I can categorize call Grace and Nate from "A Proper Scandal" clean. That book is not a book of proper morality or anything to aspire to. They have all sorts of problems with trust, morality, and general honesty. </p><p>So what is the verdict? What do I, Mrs. Y, prefer between Dirty and Clean?</p><p>Neither.</p><p>I like my romance with appropriately paced slow burns that are kissing books. I like my romance if it has to have sex, to have characters that have good chemistry but aren't making a mess or causing one of them physical issues, or having to get dentistry work because in no way that didn't hurt someone's teeth in the description of the sex act. </p><p>If my bias on that came out, I'm sorry; this is my opinion, of course. </p><p><br /></p><p>Both books got a 4 star from me, had high and low points, and were enjoyable. I don't know that I'd reread either one, but this is where I'm at as of writing this review right this moment. </p><p>Please tell me what you think in the comments! Also, if comments aren't loading (because they aren't from what I'm told by some), please send me a tweet to link this review. I'd love to continue this dialogue. </p><p>My Twitter is @mrs_y_writer. I am curious about your opinion on these things and, if you want, join me on Twitter for more conversation. Any and all interaction is excellent, and I appreciate that you took the time to read this. </p><p>Also, if you liked this or any of my content, please share the link with your friends. It would make me feel good to see more than 5 people read this one. <3 </p><p><br /></p><p>Have a fantastic rest of your week, and I look forward to the discussions. </p></div>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-14329753362565206082021-07-28T21:31:00.092-05:002021-07-28T23:51:09.871-05:00Not a book review - Small statement<p>I don't believe in my heart of hearts that anyone is going to read this post, and that is okay. It took me time to even have the courage to write it. </p><p>I like to keep myself anonymous slightly, but I'm going to open up a bit because there is a movement going on, and it's going on around things I lived through personally. </p><p>I worked for Blizzard Vivendi, later Activision Blizzard, for a little over ten years. I'm a woman, I am white, and I have children and a husband. I worked in a support department, and during that time, it was the first ten or so years of my marriage to my wonderful and supportive husband. </p><p>Earlier as of writing this, there were walkouts going on at Blizzard in Irvine. I want to walk with them but I can't. I'm almost paralyzed with fear of even writing this, but if they could be strong, well, I can be too. But I can do this in my own way, and I want to air this out, but also do so at my speed where I'm comfortable. Not everyone can just jump up and say #MeToo or someone hurt me. I'm not one of those people. For a long time, I thought it was just me, and to find out all this stuff going on is not just me, well, it's taking me time to wrap my head around it. </p><p>I want to be crystal clear about something in the offset. I loved my job. I loved every person I worked side by side with. I have fond feelings for people, from those who were on teams with me to those I worked with in cross-team events. There are lifelong, loving things I remember tenderly about my time there. But, that said, I like I think every other woman who worked there at the time I did, have things that happened to us. </p><p>In that time, there were a lot of little and big things I had to survive. You do not survive in the gaming industry as a woman without them. Some things were slightly bad; others were pretty terrible. </p><p>The thing that I feel was a life achievement was I survived a toxic direct supervisor, and that toxic direct supervisor wasn't male. That person is not going to be named, they are not going to take any more power from me, and I am not going to immortalize them with even a drop of infamy. </p><p>I could sit here and spit out chapter and verse of the terrible things that this person subjected me to, but I'm going to narrow it down to some general issues. For a non-male to be a leader of any sort in that kind of masculine chauvinistic environment, they have to be ten times more cruel and vile than their male counterparts. It's a disgusting fact I've come to realize and one that had me step back and reconsider my carrier goals entirely. </p><p>I don't ever want to become this kind of person, so I stopped the path I was taking in gaming when the time came after careful introspection. </p><p>This person did not treat me as a human. This person would call me for a meeting, berate me and, wouldn't leave me alone unless I left this person's office crying. They wouldn't leave me alone if I wore makeup or things in my hair so that I could feel good as a person. I was belittled and humiliated daily, sometimes many times a day. I could not celebrate anything in front of this person as it would be used as leverage against me. </p><p>For this portion of this discussion, I am leaving it at that. I learned from this person that people could be horrible to one another behind closed doors and in front of their faces, and again, it's been traumatic to even consider it. </p><p>My main trauma, however, came not from specific people, as it did company policies and their enforcement. This is probably the most painful thing I had endured. Whenever I was pregnant, it was a scary situation at work for me and the baby I carried. </p><p>As employees, we were only allowed to get up to use the bathroom so many times a day. I always was very nauseated during pregnancy. So to make sure I didn't get fired for too many breaks to vomit (because pregnancy does that), I asked my doctor for medication that was safe for the baby and also allowed me to work. The medication would often dehydrate me. </p><p>As a result of the medication, I know I lost at least one child to the side effects of whatever I had to do to get rehydrated or have proper functions in my system. </p><p>I lost two other pregnancies during my period of time working there, and the doctors never could figure out why. I've been told many times that sometimes you just lose kids. And maybe that's so, but I'm pretty sure there was something involved with the breaks, lack of having them, and the inability to really take proper leave when you have a history of scary pregnancies and are in need of help. </p><p>Having a miscarriage in a work environment of men is a thing they never will understand and some of them are incapable of even an inkling of understanding. Some of my coworkers, male and female alike were more considerate to me than others. Some of my coworkers just didn't even have a comprehension of the issue. </p><p>That said, I do want to emphasize there were good things among the bad and this mostly was policy, not specific people. After one miscarriage, and when I got back to work after burying my child, several of my coworkers did a kind thing for me, and it's gotten me through this entire situation to let my heart heal after losing my wanted and perfect child. This gesture, was so endearing and kind, that it will be my most beloved memory of all, even though it came at the back of pain and severe tragedy. Some of my coworkers went out of their way to help me heal my heart. </p><p>I do not want in any way or fashion, to take away from the memory of my kids. I loved all three, just as I do the ones who made it. No, they aren't in my arms right now, but they are loved still. This pain I endure, might not have been so bad, if policies at Blizzard and the treatment of pregnancy, or pregnant women in general, had been better at Blizzard for those who do not have corner offices or clear doors to their own desks. </p><p>There were other women pregnant too, but often those were executives or higher managers or in HR. They were often baffled at my troubles, I could see it. But I wasn't one of them, I had to take breaks I had to keep working more closely with my department. I couldn't just take a week off or a day off with nausea without either losing time or being in some kind of violation. You see, if I took the time off for being pregnant, it would take away from the 6 weeks postpartum time I had total to give birth and bond with the baby and get my hormones adjusted to where I could function at work and be what they considered 'normal'. I needed every minute of that time, so I never took even a day off if I could before giving birth. </p><p>I've heard this policy adjusted to the postpartum time, but it was after I lost my children. It doesn't make up for what happened before the change. </p><p>My last topic. Yes, the rumor that everyone talked about, that there was a mandate that we get on a Period App, is true. It was called Ovia, and it was on the Jiff Rewards App that they were using to see how much we walked around or how much exercise we did. It was sold as a tracker to see if we could all get healthy, but I have a feeling it was used so they could see if we were staying at our desks to work or not. </p><p>I, however, did not use the period app. I had my own app I used. I'm very glad I did not download and use that thing, I feel like my data would have been used against me, and it could have been worse.</p><p>Several months after I lost my child, I developed a condition that severely affected my memory and what I've retained. Thankfully, a good opportunity came, and I was able to leave with my dignity and graciously. Since that time, I've been just working on healing myself and finding activities and things I can do to help me out and help the world in my own way. </p><p>I do not play Blizzard games, I have nothing to do with anything there, and I haven't kept in touch with very many people at all because I just want to be me. I'm not a company; I am a person who was trying to piece out their life when things happened that I had no control over. </p><p>Okay, this is the very last of my statements. It's painful to relive all of this trauma, I've been reliving this since the lawsuit came out.</p><p>There were some things that were beautiful about that place I worked, but there were some bad things too. </p><p>Please remember, this is my truth, and my statement and this is all I'm going to say on it ever. </p><p>Thank you for respecting my privacy, and thank you for reading this if you got this far. And no, I'm not going to talk to anyone about this. If you are a reporter or something, I'm not talking to you; please don't ask. I just want to get past this pain and move on, do book reviews, and live my happy life with my family. </p><p><br /></p><p>Thank you. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-39265804183889244662021-07-28T10:24:00.005-05:002021-07-28T10:27:47.780-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Dirty Letters by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516lQ+Fk9uL._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="297" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516lQ+Fk9uL._SL500_.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>Hello my friends, welcome to the 2nd review of my compare and contrast series. This comparison and contrast are on the Romance Subgenres of Clean and Dirty romance. Today we do the review for the Dirty Romance. Last week was the Clean, and you can check out my review on my blog. And if you are reading this here, you are on my blog, so please stick around for the next part next week! <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Today's review is on "Dirty Letters" by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward. This is an Audible performance that I purchased with my subscription to Audible. I chose this entirely on my own. Now, a bit of a curtain back, I have read this dynamic duo of authors before in a previous book, and I liked it, so that's partially why I chose this book. I find the title entirely to the point of why I was doing the comparison, and I liked their other novel, so here we are. </p><p><br /></p><p>To start this review, I'm going to go into some critiques. Firstly, there was a pacing issue for me initially. This book has a slow beginning and a bit of a slow ending. There is plenty of good pacing in the 2nd act and the beginning of the third act, but that first act was entirely set up for establishment, and it dragged. I know why, and I understand why, but if you were getting into this romance thinking you'd have the target couple in your sites quickly, you are going to be in for a mistake. That said, I'm only saying this is a critique because I felt this broke from more traditional romances, both dirty and clean, and the formula was a tad different. I liked it, but if you are the type who likes your romance novel plotting to be consistent, this may jar you a bit. </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, I didn't find it so bad. Pro-tips to my friends who like a formulary approach to Romance or even Mystery, sometimes it's okay now and again for a fresh take to the rhythm, in my opinion. If you struggle, don't worry, it's okay; the second and third acts are almost perfectly on par. The third act does have a different take to the ending of most, but it also works very well for the story, and I won't kick it out of bed. (No pun intended.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Let's go to my following critique. This one has to do with a story structure issue. I'm not going to give spoilers, but essentially here is the problem I had. The letters the couple sends to each other have a very distinct tone to them. After listening to the book, I understand the letters were written first, and the story fit in around them. The reason I say this, there are times the letters feel tonally entirely different to the character who supposedly wrote them. Now, eventually, it's smoothed over in the edit with the way the narration goes, but there are so many little things that don't feel right to the characters. And no spoilers, but the big one for me was the Ferby discussion. It eventually becomes a mulligan needed in the plot. Still, the introduction was jarring and made no sense to the tone of the character I had just spent so much time and heartbreak with. I mean, really jarring, way out of the left field, and I had to go back and listen again to make sure I hadn't gotten it wrong. </p><p><br /></p><p>I'm fine if things are plotted out, but things like that specific letter and passage and some others just felt very out of place at times. I have no idea how or what the fix is for that either. It wasn't just one thing, nor is it tied to sexual things, nor is it even oversized items. These out-of-place pieces were many little things, generally preferences that the characters had specifically for some things they enjoyed. The only spoiler one I will talk about is this. One of the characters said that due to something happening, they do not like music. Later on, the other character asks them a music question. I kept thinking, "Oh, how sad this will be when that person finds out they do not like music," and, well, that didn't happen. They blew past the quirk.</p><p><br /></p><p> So it's akin to, you meet a person, you see how they live, and then out of the blue, they tell you that they do something or like something, that doesn't fit whom they have presented. And then the other person does that as well. And sure, we can smooth it over with "Personal preferences," but, at the same time, the image of the person presented doesn't make that preference make sense at times. So there you go. That's a critique. I'm sure I cannot be the only one who found some of the letters jarring. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now to what I did love about "Dirty Letters," we start with the character building. These characters are believable, not cliche at all, have absolute truth to them, and come across well (except in letters at times). Yes, my critique stands, but the warmth and sadness, as well as the character depth of each specific person, resonates. No one character, not even NPC characters, is without heart and blood. I found the work done was deep and lasting. I found the relationships realistic. I found the chemistry accurate of every character in their respective relationships.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next, the thing that sold this book for me was the honest talk about mental illness, how that could affect relationships, long-term and short-term, and how tough it can be to be a caregiver. I know this is out of the blue, but I love this aspect of the story so much. To me, there was so much depth from this aspect alone. And yes, it's a romance novel, but I was not at all expecting to see a realistic depiction of caregiving. Fun fact, I know a lot about loving someone who has trouble trying to leave the house. No, it wasn't an ex or the current Mr. Y., but I had a family member with troubles. Novels like this, who bring mental illness and how it affects the people with it and who love them, help destigmatize the entire problem by reaching out for help. I think that was great, and I would love to see more books be honest about topics like this. Without advertising this book as one with a mental illness aspect, they seamlessly put this topic into the writing without making it uncomfortable or awkward. Both writers are writing a book just about a real relationship that can happen.</p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, so this is a romance novel, and thus, a dirty one by the subgenera, so the question comes up. How was the sex scene or scenes in the novel? I found the scenes were realistic, had great chemistry, had true passion behind the words, and were rather hot. I didn't find the scenes distracting with improbable positions that break physics. Nor was Newton there shaking his head about the laws he wrote for gravity, forgotten in the manuscript. Sex scenes should be believable and hot; that's all they need to be. I liked them for what they were. I also loved the kisses and intimate holding and touching just as much and felt that this made a realistic relationship on paper. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, I think the narration combo was sublime. Andi Arndt and Jacob Morgan worked together on this story, alternating the points of view on the story and making it a beautiful performance. Both have these vulnerabilities, and both have dynamic strengths in the story that harmoniously move together. Sometimes in a chapter, both voices are heard. It depends on if there is a letter or not, and other times it's not that way. I loved how they worked together, and I felt that they made this entire novel very special. </p><p><br /></p><p>So with that in mind and all the scoring that I do, I'm giving "Dirty Letters" a score of 89/100, which is a 4-star review on Goodreads, Audible, and my blog. Please stay tuned on my blog to compare and contrast this book and the Clean Romance book I reviewed last week! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-56279201093274138302021-07-19T05:18:00.002-05:002021-07-19T05:18:56.365-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] A Proper Scandal by Esther Hatch<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576595283l/49361146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576595283l/49361146.jpg" /></a></div>Hello everyone, today we start my contrast discussion of the romance subgenres with the "Clean" one. If you want to know more about this, please stay tuned to my blog here!<p></p><p><br /></p><p>This is my review of "A Proper Scandal" by Esther Hatch, an Audible book I picked up on my own, thanks to my Audible Subscription. No one asked me to review this, and I found it entirely on my own. </p><p><br /></p><p>To start, I want to go into a brief synopsis/context of this story. This is the story of Grace, it is set in the 1800s in England, and it is a drama piece with many aspects. Grace is a lucky woman as far as aesthetics and finances, but she has the trust and common sense of a standard garden gnome. </p><p><br /></p><p>The story premise is relatively simple and has easy-to-understand stakes, moving in a positive progression story arc. Furthermore, that is all the context you get because I will not be giving spoilers here. If you want my thoughts, please check out my blog for the 'Dirty vs. Clean' romance comparison I make. </p><p><br /></p><p>To start the review of "A Proper Scandal," I will discuss critiques. To begin, I found the use of comedic timing was distracting in places. From page one, the tone was established to be a drama. I was on board with the tone. Nevertheless, somewhere well past the initial setting, comedy began to set in. </p><p><br /></p><p>Comedy is a wonderful writing technique to take character tension and bring it relief or pressure. I fully appreciate an author trying to add some levity as a tension device to their story. For this book, however, the slapstick situations felt so out of place in the story. There were random hair things, hat things, and then there were smells or random awkward social situations.</p><p><br /></p><p>Furthermore, there is not anything wrong with humor, and I promise that is not the critique. The problem was the amount of slapstick humor in a period drama/romance novel. No one ever opens up Jane Austin, and thinks "Wow, those funny bits were the best!"</p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, a critique about cliches: I have not brought this up in ages, but this cliche is one I have named "Drama Romance Barbie." Why is it that some romances have to have the most "beautiful" woman in the world meeting the "Oh, he is handsome now, because he bathed" type? Moreover, why is it the impossibly beautiful woman has to be blonde? She has to have huge blue eyes and has to have the self-preservation of a Roomba? It is just ugh. I mean, I like the girl fine, but give her zits or something. She is rich, gorgeous, has somehow an understanding of business, and a voice of an angel goes to church like a good girl. Her flaws are that she is dumb as a box of rocks, overly trusting, and 'too good to lie. </p><p><br /></p><p>Ask yourself, have you ever met Drama Romance Barbie in your real life? I have not. I have met plenty of pretty women, but they had flaws that were not like that. I have met plenty of not so pretty women, and they had better characters. I do not understand the need for this stereotype critique that often is parodied in romance novels. I will discuss this more in my comparison critiques on my blog if you want more of my thoughts, but for now, this was an eyesore of a cliche.</p><p><br /></p><p>I enjoyed several parts of "A Proper Scandal," so I shall now discuss the positives in this review. Firstly, the kissing scene is fantastic. Clean romance is known for lack of a sex scene and a pivotal kissing scene. Well, this book did not disappoint. I liked that a few marked parts were lovely kisses, and I liked the tension and chemistry between the characters. There is no issue with gravity or Newton's laws when there are kissing scenes, and I find it a lot less distracting. Also, I found the technique used to bring chemistry between the lead characters very comfortable and approachable. I did not feel it was over the top, nor did I feel this part was dashed with comedy and made it awkward, either. </p><p><br /></p><p>The next thing I enjoyed was the narration by Abbigail Warren. Abbigail has got to be one of the best I have ever heard in a romance because I enjoyed that for dialogue. She used British accents, and for narration, she used an American accent. It helped me keep track of the action, and I enjoyed being so diverse and comfortable. Abbigail has a good voice. She can do multiple voices and genders. She also is exceptional at adding tension into a scene by just whispering words. I loved that part. She can make any part of the novel feel so realistic. I found myself holding my breath a couple of times with the story due to her verbal queues, and I liked that feeling. Abbigail had a stunning performance of the material. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, let us go into the structure of the story. "A Proper Scandal" was, for me, well outlined and plotted. The story moved with it has all the makings of an adequate historical drama as well as a romance. I do think my critiques are worthy of mentioning regarding the comedy. However, I also think that despite the distractions, the story is strong. The antagonists in this story, for there are many, are all unique and well fleshed out.</p><p><br /></p><p> That said, and this is slightly spoilery, but I will try not to be. There is a Lord in this story who is in an antagonist position, and honestly, this guy should have his own story. He is amazing. He has good and bad elements. He would be a fantastic character who could be the leading role in a story efficiently. So I hope someone writes a book about him because that would be cool.</p><p><br /></p><p>Furthermore, isn't that what we want with some villains/antagonists? This guy could be a "Loki" type. A plotline is another story that becomes something more substantial later somewhere for himself.</p><p><br /></p><p>Overall I am giving "A Proper Scandal" by Esther Hatch 81/100, a 4-star review on Goodreads, Audible, and my blog. Please check out my blog for my final thoughts on the contrast between the two types of romance! I am reviewing the other side of this coin. Stay tuned next week, my friends. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-77669158643496621802021-07-18T16:22:00.002-05:002021-08-28T18:48:35.675-05:00[Mrs Y Challenge] Clean vs Dirty Romance Reviews plus Compare & Contrast with Spoilers later. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5270bf21e4b03475d0dc3cfc/1597832370066-NNZL8MGPKQXBIFWB20OL/compare_and_contrast_venn_diagram?format=1000w" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="800" height="271" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5270bf21e4b03475d0dc3cfc/1597832370066-NNZL8MGPKQXBIFWB20OL/compare_and_contrast_venn_diagram?format=1000w" width="392" /></a></div>Happy Sunday, everyone, <p>I wanted to spice up the Summer with a challenge to myself. I've decided to compare and contrast two sub-genres in the same type of fiction. Why? Well, it's just something I got in my head to do. </p><p>But if you take my challenge, pick two sub-genres of a genre of fiction (and they must be labeled as such on Amazon or wherever you get the book/audiobook from), and tag me on Twitter with a link to your analysis. My Twitter is @mrs_y_writer. To those of you who are Book Bloggers, please consider me challenging you to do the same. Simply tag me, and I will Retweet your reviews and comment, and I ask you to do the same for mine! </p><p>Here is some contest to the specific topic I have chosen to compare. "Clean Romance" vs. "Dirty Romance." I've heard this argument on Twitter. Some say that the clean ones are better than the dirty because of how tough it is to write romance without quickly slipping into some topics. Others say that clean romances are bland and preachy, and boring. That's a fundamental summary of some of these discussions I've seen; I've got no evidence, just these are my takeaways from the threads. </p><p>So, let's do this. Let's take two books that fit these categories, and I'll review them as per usual, then break them down with a compare and contrast. Ah, but what makes a romance clean or dirty? Here are the basic definitions I have to go by based on what I've seen on Twitter discussions. </p><p>Clean romance should be devoid of a sex scene but emphasize a kissing scene instead. You likely will not see cuss words in this kind of novel (hence the term clean). Regarding the plot, there should be about the same. It should be two people and their madcap start and beginning of a relationship. There may be a breakup part somewhere, but it will be about the budding and flowering relationship. </p><p>Dirty romance should have sex in it, and there is an emphasis on the budding relationship. This book should have some cussing and vulgarity in it (hence the term dirty). The fact that it has sex and vulgarity is a big difference. These don't have many if any BDSM or gravity/physics-defying sex scenes like their Erotica counterparts. Everything else, from how the people meet and their budding relationship, should be the same. There may be a breakup somewhere in it, but that's part of the formula of a romance novel. </p><p>To be clear, any review I do will have nothing to do with religion. I don't skew or move my reviews with any bias one way or the other. Everyone is entitled to whatever faith or belief they have, and if the book is covered in faith or belief, with no plot, I may note that. But as to the faith or belief system, I likely will not mention it unless it's a plot-driving device. </p><p>And also, no, I don't review Erotica anymore. That's more a personal preference. I like plotting and character growth with my romance, and I like sex scenes that make sense to physics and Newton's seven laws of gravity. Some erotica goes so beyond that. But clean vs. dirty, well, I figure this will be a good experiment to see what I like. </p><p>At the end of the two posts, I will post a compare and contrast with spoilers for both books just on my blog with my general feelings on them. I'm not sure which one I will prefer or not at the end, so this will be interesting. I would love to get some comments from anyone interested in this topic! </p><p>And so take this journey with me. Here is my review for the Clean Romance and my Dirty Review. I will post this coming week, With my Clean romance review. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-49039736165506278992021-07-16T16:55:00.001-05:002021-07-16T17:01:41.487-05:00[Mrs Y. Reviews] The Gravedigger by Rebecca Bischoff<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560050523l/44313475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="318" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560050523l/44313475.jpg" /></a></div>I was on NetGalley, and I decided to go through the audio-book list and found this one. I picked it because the cover and description to me sounded like fun. It was presented to me as a children's horror book and some campy nature to it, and mostly that last part I got from the cover. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>So with that in mind, let me start with my review and the critiques. I start with "Presentation," and I'm labeling this where I haven't been doing that so much recently. The cover does no justice for this book. This is a serious subject matter book. It doesn't need a cartoon cover. The cover gave me the impression I was in for a Halloween like a good time. That is not this book, nor should anyone ever think that about this book. </p><p><br /></p><p>My second critique is under the "Structure" section. This book has the structure of a children's book. I don't think this book is intended for children. I do think it's YA. As an example of why I don't think this is a children's book, one of the many intense subject matters in the tale involves miscarriages and stillbirths. As someone who has had to have that conversation with a child, I'm very sure this book is not intended for a child to read. Thus my critique is, why make a cover and why make a book structure, like an early reader chapter book, when the intensity and subject matter is for an older reader? It came across as somewhat jarring to me. </p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, onto what I liked about this book. First and foremost, the narrator was terrific. They had a lovely voice; it was soothing and able to do a massive amount of accents and genders, and I found it comforting, and I felt as though I was listening to an ensemble of voices. So much so that, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what pronouns to use for Mike, the narrator. I don't want to presume anything to use "They/Them" respectfully. I hope that's okay. </p><p><br /></p><p>Next, another golden bit of this book is the historical drama that plays out in the guise of this book. Some INTENSE-heavy subject matters are going on in the narrative. So much so, these are still politically and culturally talking points to this day, and I loved how well they were explained in bite-sized pieces to the historical significance. But with that said, and going to my critique, I still don't think this is for a child. I genuinely wish the cover had been more mature for the subject matter matching it. I would have gone into the book with a different mindset. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, I loved the story's pacing, and I felt that it was a lot more melancholy than initially leading to believe. With that in mind, despite the intense subject matter, this book is well-outlined. </p><p><br /></p><p>So thus, to score, I give "The Gravedigger" by Rebecca Bischoff a score of 82/100, which is a 4-star review on Goodreads, and NetGalley, and my blog. Again, my friends, this is an exciting story. I do recommend it if you love YA and you like deep, significant historical drama. But also, this isn't a kids' book, don't let the little ones listen to this until you have first. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-10477734031943395152021-07-08T12:43:00.000-05:002021-07-08T12:43:42.564-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Murder in the Crypt by Irina Shapiro<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hZPPgVqeL._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="431" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hZPPgVqeL._SL500_.jpg" width="431" /></a></div><br />I've been paying particular attention to books with more puzzles or intrigue this summer. Today is no exception. I went with the historical dram/mystery story "Murder in the Crypt" by Irina Shapiro. I picked this up on Audible. No one asked me to review this, I just wanted to on my own! <p></p><p><br /></p><p>As a side point, one of the things that attracted me to the story was the cover. I love how the color has such fantastic color to it, but it also isn't telling me everything about the book. There is something very alluring about the cover. I'm glad the book was a match to it. Spoilers, I liked this story. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me go into my critiques first, and my big one is pacing. "Murder in the Crypt" is a slow burn. It does get to the point, but it does so after a lot of detail work. There isn't a darn thing wrong with details. But the reason this is a critique is that I know some readers are not into a slow burn like this. I don't mind it so much, but I am aware that slower things like this can lose someone if they aren't paying as close attention as they need to. You need to pay attention because the red herrings, along with the truth in clues, are blended very well and are subtle until the pace picks up. </p><p><br /></p><p>The second issue I had was a structure point. In that it's set up so detailed, the issue with the backstory as to why the doctor is who he is or in the position he is in is almost shoehorned in. The reader finds out everything they need to, but it's clinical in how we find it out. There isn't much passion there, just very matter-of-factly presented off-the-page facts as to history. And yet, the issues with the American Civil War and its trauma on the characters have more passion and care. I sensed the imbalance as the reader. I'm not sure if that was deliberate in tone or not, but it's of note to me that there was a cold uncaring to the characters' backgrounds in some parts instead of other aspects of it. </p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, now, with all that said, because these are nit-picky detail issues I had, I have come to the part of the review about what I love. "Murder in the Crypt" has so many excellent story elements to it that it's challenging not to enjoy this book. I had to work very hard to find critiques! </p><p><br /></p><p>"Murder in the Crypt" brings together mystery, historical fiction, and fun but unexpected 'Buddy Cop' element. I genuinely love the blend of styles and genres in this story. You have bits of just about anything delightful in one book. </p><p><br /></p><p>The narrator is fantastic. She brought such life to all the characters. Was this my favorite narrator? No, but she is very good at her job, and I enjoyed her cadence and approach to characters. It was lovely to listen to and enjoy this story. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, I really enjoyed the antagonist and how beautifully and with such care, the detail on where and who that is was placed in the story. Sometimes it's obvious; other times, it's really not. That was wonderful. When a mystery writer can do such a good job at how to write an antagonist and their backstory, it should be praised. Writing villains and antagonistic plots are not easy. Writing one so well that takes skill. There is a lot of talent here, and I really enjoyed the story and how it was laid out. </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, I give "Murder in the Crypt" an 82 out of 100, which is four stars for Audible and audiobooks. If you are looking for something fun to listen to that has a lot of heart and soul, this is a great audiobook to pick up this summer! Enjoy! </p><p><br /></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-70824686508871805042021-06-24T23:32:00.001-05:002021-06-24T23:32:15.147-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "Out, Mouse!" by Valerie L. Egar<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1622413637l/58207877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="255" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1622413637l/58207877.jpg" /></a></div> Now and again, I like to treat my kids to a good Audiobook while in the car. Today's review is for "Out, Mouse!" which I found on NetGalley. No one asked me to review this, but I thought the cover was cute and picked it up. I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me to review this. It's also on Audible, the last time I checked, please pick up a copy if you are interested. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>"Out, Mouse!" isn't a very long little Audiobook, but it's perfect as a chapter book for your beginning readers. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me go into my critiques first. I honestly have only one, and there isn't a perfect ending to it. I don't mind a cliffhanger if it has a proper ending to the story with the story notes, which ends the story. Unfortunately, the ending we have left us, the listeners/readers, on a cliffhanger. If you have been following my reviews for some time, you know I dislike cliffhangers like this one. </p><p><br /></p><p>I want to know what happened with Finn and Mr. and Mrs. Mouse when they meet again. I realize it's probably left like that to let the imagination flow of the intended audience member, but I'm not too fond of cliffhangers like this in Adult fiction, nor do I like these cliffhangers in YA either. </p><p><br /></p><p>On a side note, and I know this may not be the same precisely because of the genre, the trope of the cliffhanger is. I think George RR Martin did the world a disservice letting Jon Snow hang in the ice all this time. Okay, I'm an adult, I can get over my foibles with Jon Snow, but cliffhangers aren't fun for readers regardless of age. </p><p><br /></p><p>If the idea is "Hey Kids, get used to this. It's a common storytelling trope and a lot of people do it," then fine, it's a cautionary tale. I consider the kids warned. I'm glad my children aren't as obsessed as I was with random questions such as: "Are they ever going to see eachother again? Will Finn tell them what he really thinks?!" They don't have that kind of connection as I did with the multitude of panic-filled questions for myself about Jon Snow and the last actual image I have from the books. Anyway, here is my only critique. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now onto what I liked about "Out Mouse!" and the first part is the narrator. I enjoy how Paul Collins worked and performed this story. He gave so much atmosphere and joy to the already fun setting of the story. His voice was clear and crisp, and Paul knew who he was reading this to. I think he is one of the best Children's narrators ever; I'm sure he does a fantastic job with other stories too. I may look for more because his performance was top-notch. </p><p><br /></p><p>Next, the structure (aside from the cliffhanger) was great for this novel. Every chapter was clear and concise. Every problem had its explanation, challenge, and resolution. The story was well done from a structured point of voice. </p><p><br /></p><p>Another vast positive I have about this story is how much character development three characters can have in such a short story. This was well done, and I've seen adult fiction that doesn't have the amount of character personality nearly as well thought out as this book did. I think Children's authors get a bad rap sometimes that their stories may lack substance and structure, but Valerie L. Egar did such a fantastic job with hers. Every sort of perfect story note that there could be (aside from the cliffhanger) in this book. I felt empathy and sympathy. I felt the plight of all three characters and what they were doing for their individual character goals. </p><p><br /></p><p>The tension and story pacing were also well done. There was action and adventure in this story that was believable and logical too. I enjoyed the chapter about the Inn. That made me laugh a lot, and I could picture the amount of work and worry the couple went through with their part in that section. </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, "Out, Mouse!" is a beautiful children's novel. I give this an 87/100, a 4-star review on Netgalley, My Blog, Goodreads, and The Reading Desk. "Out, Mouse!" is something you should get your 1st - 4th grader if they like imaginative cute stories, or you happen to be on a car trip and want something the kids can listen to on their way to their activities. It's so fun! Thanks again to NetGalley for letting me review this, and I'll see you all next time. </p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-19628141822981907402021-06-14T00:36:00.000-05:002021-06-14T00:43:11.115-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] The Booktaker by Bill Pronzini <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="395" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61DlgA-y7pL._SL500_.jpg" width="395" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Audible has some outstanding selections, and from time to time, they suggest things to me. This week's review is one of the shorter stories I have located on Audible, but there are many good things in such a small package. This is my Audible review of "The Booktaker," a Nameless Detective Mystery by Bill Pronzini, Narrated by Nick Sullivan. </div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>For this review, let me give you a little context. I was looking for more mysteries to listen to. I like the format of the mystery genre, and I'm on a bit of a kick. When I stumbled across this shorter story, I thought it'd be perfect. It's about 1 hour 30 minutes on default settings. This has a very streamlined format for time. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me go into the critiques. My main critique is that a lot of this story is easy to figure out, more than perhaps a more densely layered mystery. That said, I feel that a mystery format doesn't have to be complicated and that a short one can be just as complicated as others. </p><p><br /></p><p>The main plot points as to the "Who dun it" bit is satisfying. The premise is unique and compelling. But the issue I had was the red herrings to me were very obvious. Mysteries novels rely on that bit of the format to make them what they are, so if you are a would-be mystery writer and want to do a shorter story, make sure you secure your red herrings so they aren't obvious. </p><p><br /></p><p>My other critique is a tension issue. I didn't find a lot of tension. One scene has a lot of tension, but there is such a lack from other spots. And I don't mean that kind of tension that is suspense. I mean character tension. Character tension can happen just from dialogue. There were elements there, but nothing had any natural substance until the crucial piece in the story led to dynamic tension. I would have liked a bit more, even a bit more, from some of the employee interactions. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now let me go into what I enjoyed from "The Booktaker". </p><p><br /></p><p>First, I loved the brevity of the story. It's nice when someone can have a delicious bite of a story that I can enjoy. This is very much an enjoyable audiobook to take your mind off a DMV or Tax Assessor waiting room you are sitting in. It's just the right amount of time for a doctor's appointment you have to wait on or that MRI that they said you could listen to something on your headphones for. It's perfect for getting your mind off of your troubles. A good story is sometimes just the right thing. And while yes, some of the stuff I've described doesn't sound fun, I can say it's good to have this book around for just about anything. </p><p><br /></p><p>Next, I liked the narrator of this story, Nick Sullivan. He brings warmth to this story and believability to the characters, and I like the variety of voices he used. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, this is a terrific little mystery story. Is it perfect? No. But it's delightful and warm and just suitable for what it should be. This is a book that understands what it is and who it's aimed for.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think the part I enjoyed most is how much it refers to the old paperback noir books that were the precursors to comic books. Those old dime novels are mentioned frequently in this story with love and care. As a lover of comic books and their origins, I was happy to see the love put into talking about dime novels and those who wrote them. That was lovely. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, with everything in mind, I'm giving "The Booktaker" by Bill Pronzini and 84/100, which is a 4-star review, and I hope you enjoy it! Pick this up when you need something to pick me up between errands! </p><div><br /></div>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-69257354653039615282021-06-08T12:47:00.006-05:002021-06-08T12:56:55.097-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "The Heiress of Linn Hagh" By Karen Charlton<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51IvL+KwIlL._SL500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="359" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51IvL+KwIlL._SL500_.jpg" width="359" /></a></div>One of the book series I enjoyed when I was younger was Sherlock Holmes. There was something about the dynamic with Holmes and Watson and how the stories were laid out that registered with me from the classic series. I'm mentioning this because I found this audiobook for this week's review that hit all those notes I truly enjoyed from the classic Sherlock series and has its own unique and fascinating voice. <p></p><p>This week I am reviewing the Audible "The Heiress of Linn Hagh" by Karen Charlton, which is Book 1 of the Detective Lavender series. The period for this piece is during the Napoleonic period. Purchasing this audiobook to review was entirely on my own. I was rifling through similar titles to EM Powel and stumbled across this pretty gem of a book. I purchased this with my Audible plan, and you can find it there if you are interested. </p><p><br /></p><p>I went into this thinking the book would be a good mystery novel, and I do love me some mystery. To those of you wonderful friends who read my reviews on the regular, you know that's probably my comfort zone genre now. There is something about having a good story with laid out puzzling pieces to figure out. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me jump into this review. We are going into critiques first because I want to get them out of the way. My main critique is a story structure that is common in mysteries, and I found a minor snafu in this one. When laying out red herrings and clues, it's good when someone can do that and make it clear what those red herrings and clues are. There was a clue that had been laid out, but it was so subtle and so gently put in that it wasn't even presented as a clue again for a good 1/3 of the book. This clue has to do with a primary antagonist and, it just wasn't clear that the clue was even a clue until much later. </p><p><br /></p><p>I need to give props, though, and respect a writer their due because that was the big and only major issue I found in the entire store. Thus, my dear friends, let me go into the positives. </p><p><br /></p><p>The structure of this story is fantastic. Aside from clue snaggles, everything else fell into a perfect cadence of mystery novel decidence. If this were a cake, it'd be a Chocolate Torte with all the sugar work and infinitely delicate technique work that a Torte needs. It was delicious. </p><p><br /></p><p>As far as the pacing goes, it was beautifully paced. There are two parts initially to the story, that of the detectives and that of the clue elements that are infused in the narrative. And this story has the main story, but this sumptuous secondary plot is so fun and delightful. That secondary plot, by the way, oh, it's so good. I want to keep reading this series because that's the part I want to know more about for the life of Detective Lavander. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now for my favorite part, the narration, and the Narrator is Michael Page. Michael has a fantastic cadence in how he speaks. I find his female characters very intriguing and believable, and his codgers are my favorite. I enjoyed how he told this story, and I think I may search for more titles to enjoy his performance more. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, every mystery needs a grounded, believable element as well as the unbelievable. What I found remarkable about this story is that the believable element is so believable that it logically makes sense to the story when the unbelievable comes in. In this case, it has to do with mental illness and how that affects families and dynamics with siblings. I'm not giving any spoilers here. I refuse. The story is too good for me to spoil it. The mental illness described in this book happened in a setting before the Victorian day, but it's still something that is addressed and yet not addressed. </p><p><br /></p><p>There also is a good deal about how racism and prejudice, and playing to people's fears of the unknown, are used as means of control. People with wealth and influence can manipulate people with lower incomes to do things they may not normally do, using gaslighting techniques. Sound familiar to real life? I thought so. And it was demonstrated beautifully as an element of the story. I hope that this kind of thematic discussion continues in future books. </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, after scoring, I give "The Heiress of Linn Hagh" a score of 97/100, which is a 5-star review, on Audible, The Reading Desk, Goodreads, and my blog. If you are interested in a copy, check out Audible. And please, leave me a comment on my blog or The Reading Desk anytime! </p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for reading, catch you soon! </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-37687574534172146342021-06-01T00:33:00.004-05:002021-06-01T00:33:27.399-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "Blood Cold (Chris Black Adventure #2)" by James Lindholm<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1598244380l/54896062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1598244380l/54896062.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Netgalley has been offering some delicious picks in their audiobook selections. Today I'm reviewing something that caught my attention the other day on NetGalley, and no one asked me to, which is the beauty of Netgalley. I picked up "Blood Cold (Chris Black Adventure #2)" by James Lindholm, Narrated by Tom Taylorson. You can purchase this on Audible. I listened to it on the Netgalley player because Netgalley let me. </p><p><br /></p><p>Before I go into the Audiobook review of "Blood Cold," though, I'm pulling back the curtain a bit for some transparency. </p><p><br /></p><p>"Blood Cold" is similar to another series of books I read, is the "Callie and Decker" series by K.D McNevin, which I've reviewed two of the books in the series for her. The difference between "Chris Black" and "Callie and Decker" has to do with technical things in the story and how it's told. "Callie and Decker" are severe and a fun adventure series, with a lot more points for technical reasons that her books surpass this book on the scoring system I have. The overall feeling, though, they both hit similar notes in my heart. </p><p><br /></p><p>I could write this review very straight and only on the technical merits, and you all will probably dislike this book or think I do. For once, I'm also going to let my personal feelings on a book out in this review. This book is one of the best examples of why my scoring system is not based on my enjoyment usually. My scoring system is based entirely on math for specifics that make a book on the craft of writing. I judge every book the same with points, which is outlined on my blog if you are ever confused. That doesn't mean I love high-scoring books more than low-scoring books. Spoiler alert, I LOVE this book. I feel this is going to be something I listen to a few times. But, "Blood Cold" is not going to be a high-scoring book for technical reasons. </p><p><br /></p><p>Also, typically, I work SO hard to keep spoilers out. I generally review vaguely to make sure no one gets anything spoiled. I can't do that perfectly with this review because it's in the details that I have to point out what I like and also where it doesn't work with the scoring system I have. </p><p><br /></p><p>So let me go into why. Here are my technical critiques. </p><p><br /></p><p>Critique one, specifically for the audiobook, the narrator Tom Taylorson has the voice inflection of Ben Stine for this book. I found the same static beats precisely and perfect inflection. His voice probably added the most to my cheese factors. He's so severe. He sounds like someone you'd have read instructions to you on how to install a wifi network. For this book, it works, though. But if you are looking for an entertaining narrator who will keep you on your toes and handles various accents or dialects with enthusiasm or differences, this isn't that audiobook. Tom Taylorson does a load of different accents, don't get me wrong. This book is set in South Africa. There are loads of voices and inflections here, but he does them with the same rhythm, and they all somewhat blend. </p><p><br /></p><p>I often thought to myself stuff like, "Okay that must be a bad guy based on how he sounds right now." </p><p><br /></p><p>Or </p><p><br /></p><p>"Oh wow, here's that one woman who keeps showing up. She sounds like she's always on the verge of a mental breakdown and about to cry. I bet there's something up with her!" </p><p><br /></p><p>Spoiler, though, for this book, it works. Tom Taylorson is so awesome. I think he knew what to do precisely for this book and its perfection. A chef's kiss, as it were. </p><p><br /></p><p>Critique two, there are no stakes to the seriousness of events presented. Even terrible stuff, and there is some terrible stuff, is carried out with comical intent. It's not scary, nor is it terrifying. The opening sequence, the way it sounded to me had me laughing. It's a horrible situation. Positively terrible! But it was funny! I don't know if that was the intent, but nothing breaks tension like quippy one-liners or the absurdity of what is I was given to listen to. </p><p><br /></p><p>As another example, at one point, there comes a load of tourists. I knew in five seconds when they started giving us the background to every tourist that was doing something that this was the proverbial Star Trek Esq Red Shirt moment. It was so abundantly evident what was about to happen. At no other point had the author even tried to introduce people outside the tiny leading core group in this fashion. And I was right. I also think the author has a personal thing against New Jersey divers. I found that an amusing aside. And sure enough, in classic 90's cheesy camp action films, the severe and terrible issue was deligated to "Oh the authorities handled that off page." </p><p><br /></p><p>It was classic camp! There are so many "Of course he escaped, there is 2 hours to go in this book" moments. There aren't genuinely dynamic moments of character tension where you go "Oh that's so touching" or "Oh my heart is breaking" with any of it. </p><p><br /></p><p>There isn't even character growth. The hero does hero things because he must! Justice! Little fishes need him to do this! What about the coral?! This book is a lot of "Of course he punched that guy like that. He's a big strong American scientist. That sounds legit!" I laughed so hard sometimes I had tears rolling down my face. He didn't learn anything either. The last two pages are priceless. </p><p><br /></p><p>Critique three, a Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation issue, is "Told" a lot about the main character and his friends. I know I didn't read the first book. I know that the first book has information. This book is like an advertisement for the first book in so many cases. "I did this cuz first book" comes up a whole lot. I mean, I love to get into a series, but if the sequel cannot hold itself together without heavily laying upon the first book, that's not a great way to tell a story. </p><p><br /></p><p>But my most prominent critique is the thing that I probably love the most about the book. This book has SO many cliches. The bad guys lose! The good guys win! The girl is an afterthought! Yea! And guns too! </p><p><br /></p><p>You probably, at this point, think I'm sarcastic or that I'm not too fond of this audiobook, and you'd be wrong. I LOVE it. This trainwreck of things that you shouldn't ever do in a novel is such a good read! I know writers on Twitter who spend hours crafting and working very hard to be perfect in their craft. They spend so much time scoping and perfecting things. They work to ensure there are no cliches and tension is meaningful and all those things. Well, this book didn't do any of that, and I LOVE it. I love it so much I can't explain it. This book needs to be a movie and directed by Tika Wiki. I'd watch this all the time. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here are my positives. There are sharks eating people left and right. A boat explodes underwater! Even the stuff tied to these terrible things is masked in a wave of campy cheese. You're told to be sad, but the apparent comical way these things go down is just classic "Don't go in the water!" moments. </p><p><br /></p><p>For example, the bad guy in this book is a mustache-twirling snidely whiplash racist, and everyone wants him dead. And of course, we do! He's a racist monster! We need that guy to pay! And the ending where he's facing the reality of his choices, it's the campiest thing ever. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are no stakes, and that to me is positive on the way I feel after reading it side. It's not good from a technical standpoint, but for my heart, I felt good. I never had to worry about getting attached and having a murder fest happen to my love characters. The reader is never going to feel like, "Oh no that's so sad. I bet he is so sad!" What stops it is some quippy one-liner from the main character's mother, best friend, or a random guy who happens to be more decorated than a general and is some mercenary the main character knows. The one-liners and quipping from various characters are fantastic. </p><p><br /></p><p>So please, everyone, you need to know how much I love this book. I hope the author James Lindholm reads my review, and I hope he sees this for the delight I have. I love this book! I want more of this. I hope he writes ten of these! I hope more sharks and more explosions or a megashark thing or a ghost pirate ship or something. I hope James doesn't lean into the camp. What makes this work is how serious it sounds until your brain figures out it's not. It's SO good. This is why there are dozens of "Fast and the Furious" movies because we need stuff like this in media to take our minds off of other things. After the year we all have had, this is a perfect book. </p><p><br /></p><p>I completely love it right down to the Ben Stine-like narration. Is it a good book from a technical sense where I can grade it like I would Hemmingway, or heck, is it anything as skillful as a William F. Aicher novel? No. Not a chance. It's nothing like that. </p><p><br /></p><p>And yes, there is a lot of science and stuff that is technical to environmental issues and scuba diving and submarines and stuff. There is a lot that is referenced about Apartheid and racism. Topics like these are serious and need serious books to bring challenges to have those social conversations. We need those honest conversations. They need to be serious. We cannot have them with this book any more than when Steven Segal made all of those "Environmental" movies just as an excuse to blow stuff up and show off his fighting skills.</p><p><br /></p><p>It's like this book was supposed to be taken seriously. I can't take this book seriously if a shark is trying to bite a guy through a ladder, and he just "luckily" got back on the boat right on time. I can't take it seriously if one of the bad guys has a machete for an emotional support device because of his tormented childhood. I'm a child of the 80s, I grew up on American action movies in the '90s, and John Wu is my spirit animal. This book is so similar in its notes to any John Wu movie. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me get to the score. This book, on my official scoring scale, with everything taken into consideration, is a 72/100, which is a 3-star review. Please read my blog under "Know the Score" to find out more if you want to know how I score stuff. </p><p><br /></p><p>But ignoring stars and scores, "Blood Cold" is good. This review is like me trying to convince you to eat a slice of cold pizza the next day after a long night of partying because it's there, and it's satisfying and delicious. Who cares if it's terrible for you healthwise? I don't at this moment. Cold pizza will fill your belly, make you smile for a moment, and give you some joy while you try not to think about the calories. This book will do the same thing. You will laugh, and take life a little less severe for a few hours, and hopefully find this dry humor to your liking. I did! </p><p><br /></p><p>Suppose my humor isn't your humor, okay! You might like it for the adventure story. There are a lot of fight scenes and swimming! I learned more about scuba diving from this book than anything I ever read before. Not that I go into the ocean ever, but still, I learned things! </p><p><br /></p><p>So hear me out, we have all had a terrible year. We all need an escape valve to let this tension of just life right now go away. My prescription for you is to get this audiobook and listen to it. Tuck it away when you are sad and need a laugh. Enjoy it. This is an enjoyable romp! I fully intend on getting a copy off of Audible for myself personally as soon as I have credits. I loved this. I hope you do too. And if you don't, I understand, send me a blog comment sometime and let me know what you think! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-61916724956272512372021-05-04T10:43:00.007-05:002021-05-04T10:43:48.869-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] Drift by L.T Ryan and Brian Christopher Shea<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514qYRNoEaL._SL500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="287" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514qYRNoEaL._SL500_.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><p></p><p>Upon the suggestions on Twitter, I decided to look up a book from a narrator I did know, and that narrator is Maryne Young. Moreover, she so sweetly suggested I listen to this specific book, and so using my Audible credit for the month, I purchased up "Drift" by L.T Ryan and Brian Christopher Shea for an honest review!</p><p><br /></p><p>I do not want to give spoilers because I feel that would be a terrible idea and spoil a book you as a listener may enjoy. Instead, what I want to do is give a basic synopsis. Rachel Hatch comes from an experienced military background, and she knows a lot about criminal behavior from that perspective. She gets a call from her mom to come home, which sends her life into a spin she is not comfortable with and is adjusting to. Without any other spoilers, Rachel has to find the person or people responsible for the death of a beloved woman in the community. This is the story of how she does it and how she adjusts to a life she is not comfortable with. </p><p><br /></p><p>For the review, my only complaint falls in how this story is set like a mystery but has different pacing notes, and for me, that threw me off a bit on the genre nature of it. I am a big fan of mystery pacing. I love when things are put together like breadcrumbs. Some easier to figure out than others. "Drift" has different notes, and the red herrings are not as obvious, nor are the mystery clue paces. I like it, but it threw me off, and that is my most significant criticism. </p><p><br /></p><p>Another issue I had was a structure issue regarding the desire to care about a victim and not use that as a prop. We do not ever really get to know the victim intimately. We are told about them a lot, but there is not that connection. Furthermore, while yeah, that is often done in an Agatha Christie type novel, I felt that it was a missed opportunity with what was going on in this story. I would have liked to know more about the victim, aside from the few things we got. </p><p><br /></p><p>Like for example, why was she a single parent? What happened to the husband to make her a widow? What else did she like to do with her kids? These questions represent the little things that would have helped connect to the prize a bit more, in my opinion. Again, this is just my opinion here. If you, as a reader, do not need to know the little details of the victim behind the story, please ignore my critique here. </p><p><br /></p><p>So now, allow me the opportunity to go into what I truly enjoyed about this story. Rachel Hatch is an unforgettable female protagonist. She is not strong because we are told she is strong or given off-page descriptions of her strength. We are shown bullet for bullet or punch by punching a solid and wonderful female protagonist. Hell, she is more robust and better than Rambo, in my opinion. </p><p><br /></p><p>Secondly, I loved how the tension went in the story and how that enhanced the pacing. The story flowed so well. When it was tense, the story was fantastic and helped me feel the pace increase. I found this especially significant during the fight sequences. There was the initial introduction one, and the tension at the end as Rachel was going into a place she did not know, but felt confident against her component, was fantastic. The tension was the best during the fight between the cars later and her new ally by her side. I loved this part. It was thrilling, and I could see it in my mind's eye in a cinematic score. Tension is essential, and it was masterfully placed through the narrative by the writers. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, I truly enjoyed Maryne Young's performance. Her ability to do voices was fantastic. She also did a phenomenal job at adding to the story by giving it a voice. The best part for me was her ability to make the moments with the children so touching and warm where they needed to be and make a fight sequence more realistic with her vocal ability. Maryne has a skill at her craft of narration, and I think her Twitter handles her role. She truly is an Audio Sorceress. </p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, "Drift" was a wild ride. I have scored "Drift" with a 91/100, a 5-star review on Goodreads and Audible. It is the first book in a series, and I am planning on looking into the series further because I enjoyed this book so much, and I hope you do as well. </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099708712530276869.post-58468556925892622602021-04-27T11:14:00.003-05:002021-04-27T11:15:29.443-05:00[Mrs. Y Reviews] "The One Great Gnome" by Jeff Dinardo<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616474923l/57502532._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="318" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616474923l/57502532._SX318_.jpg" /></a></div><br />Children's literature isn't usually my favorite thing to review, but I saw this on Netgalley, and I thought it looked charming. The cover is delightful, whimsical and the written tales of gnomes have always delighted me. Today I'm reviewing the Audiobook for "The One Great Gnome" by Jeff Dinardo, Narrated by Simone Stevens. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Firstly, let me give a brief synopsis here. Sarah is 11, and she moved with her family to Connecticut, and she has to get used to her new surroundings. Like most eleven-year-olds I know, she's curious and goes looking about everywhere. She finds a gnome statue and then brings it inside, and in so doing, ends up in a world of gnomes. I'm not going to give any spoilers; I think it's worth listening to or reading this story for more details. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now for the review, and to start, I'm going to critiques. The first act of this story is very dry and slow. The idea is for children to listen to this, and it was a long haul on me getting my son even to sit to listen. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, and I never could get him back after chapter 2. My daughter, who is 11, was fine with it, but she thought the beginning was dry also, so be aware of that. </p><p><br /></p><p>If you're a mom like me who plays audiobooks in the car for a captive audience, this is the perfect book to do that with because of the slow burn. I feel though this could have been edited a bit tighter. The meat of the story happens after chapter 5 for me at least, and I think chapters 1 to 3 could have been tightened up personally, but again that's my opinion here. This wasn't just pacing or structure; it was a combination of things that caused this slow-moving beginning, and with kids, that's not easy to get them back to reading voluntarily, from what I've observed in my house. </p><p><br /></p><p>Since that critique encompasses many things, I'm going to leave it at that. The good news is it was my major issue, so I say we get on with the good stuff. </p><p><br /></p><p>The narrator Simone Stevens is a treasure. She had a great vocal tone for the story, made beautiful voices, and had a great pacing to her cadence. My son thought she was fantastic when he did stick around. Additionally, the production of the story was fantastic. There were ambient and secondary sounds like fire, crashing, doors shutting, thuds and thumps, all sorts of great things to enhance the audio presentation. I adored that. I think audio sounds should be in any audiobook because I feel like it enhances the story. </p><p><br /></p><p>Second, I love the ending of this. The thing about stories where a character can go in-between places is that there are time issues. But as this is a children's book and not a horror novel, it should end on a positive note but be logical in its whimsey. I love how this story came to a close and did just those things and made the story so fantastic. </p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, the character development, story arcs, lore, and world-building are fantastic. The character of Masey, for example, is a well-done character that is used not only for guidance but also to show growth in herself and the characters around her. Fiona, another character, is handy and great, and even she has a decisive role to play in this story. Everything that was set up made the tale fun and unique and had some realism in its theme. The central theme I took home is where your family is, and it's worth fighting for. </p><p><br /></p><p>Thus, I give "The One Great Gnome" an 80 out of 100, which is a 4-star review on Goodreads, NetGalley, My blog, and The Reading Desk. If you are interested in a fun children's fantasy audiobook, this may be the perfect thing for you! </p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Mrs. Yhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13386572008605442773noreply@blogger.com0