Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Can I Watch HBO In Australia?


 

HBO has become more popular than ever thanks to the awarding-winning series Game of Thrones, True Detectives and Veep. Now with the long-awaiting Deadwood reunion movie finally moving forward (the script has been green-lit), I'm sure it will bring in even more viewers.

Of course technology has changed since Deadwood ended 10 years ago as you access your favorite shows (True Blood) & movies with a HBO GO subscription on any device (tablet, cell phone, laptop, etc.). Sadly, this service is not available in some areas, such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, etc, as you can only have access if you are living in the fifty states of the United States of America.

The good new is that there are a few ways around this problem!

HBO GO can detect if a user isn't located in the United States by the user's unique IP Address. If you use the Smart DNS Proxy Service, you can bypass any regional restrictions, so you can be able to watch your favorite HBO programming in HD anywhere around the world.

DVD Review - Saban's Power Rangers Dino Charge: Unleashed


Retail: $14.98; Buy Link: Amazon

Kicking off a brand-new season on Nickelodeon last Saturday was Saban's Power Rangers Dino Super Charge. Fans (young & old) can also be entertained by the recent DVD release from LionsGate, titled Power Rangers Dino Charge: Unleashed, featuring four action-packed episodes from the twenty-second season.

Power Rangers Dino Charge debuted last February. Just like previous seasons, the series borrows Zords footage, props and costumes from the Japanese Super Sentai series (Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger). 

"Powers From the Past" begins with an
intergalactic bounty hunter Sledge, in his spaceship prison, arriving on Earth in the pursuit of a alien named Keeper, who is the possession of ten Energems that Sledge is desperate to have in his clutches. Keeper outsmarts him by bonding each Energem to a dinosaur. Fast-forward sixty-five million year, where we are introduced to Tyler Navarro (played by Brennan Mejia), a young man searching for his missing father. After bumping into the evil creature Iceage, he must team up with a wannabe archaeologist Shelby Watkins (played by Camille Hyde) to save the day as the new Red and Pink Rangers.

"Past, Present and Fusion" starts out with Iceage still not defeated. Tyler and Shelby must team with Riley Griffin - the Green Ranger (played by Michael Taber), Chase Randall - the Black Ranger (played by James Davies), and Koda - the Blue Ranger (played by Yoshi Sudarso) to destroy Sledges newest evil plan to retrieve the Energerms.

"A Fool's Hour" Sledge unleashes his monsters on Earth and the Power Rangers must use their new Zords to save the day.

Monday, February 1, 2016

[Review] - Bonner by Sherri Burgess


I love reading all books, but I'm not the biggest fan of non-fiction titles. Typically, when I receive a press release about a non-fiction book, I just automatically delete it. However, that wasn't the case when I heard about Bronner: A Journey To Understand by Sherri Burgess as I noticed that I had the same last name as the author. After reading the synopsis, I thought I would give the book a try.


Usually, I write a few paragraphs describing the plot of a book, but I'm finding it hard to do this for this title. Bronner: A Journey To Understand is a spiritual journey of healing and the power of faith. The author uses her own personal pain and suffering when she lost her two-and-half-year-old son, Bonner, in 2008 to teach others that faith in the Lord can help you get through the toughest ordeal, even the death of a child.



Final Thoughts

I was instantly hooked by the author's narration from the get-go. While I don't have any children, I felt the author's pain. Losing a child must be the most painful thing in the world to experience; Sherri, her husband, and their children were able to survive by the grace of God. Sherri shares her memories of her youngest son, the day of his death, and how she has slowly moved on with her life. Now with this book, she can help others that have suffered from the death of a loved one. Overall, Bronner: A Journey To Understand is a well-written, emotional read.





Sunday, January 31, 2016

Winter Reads: A Son's Vow


Blog Tour ; Buy Link
Well, technically I was supposed to have this review posted yesterday, but sadly a few things came up on Friday (as well as Saturday), so I didn't have time to write the review until today.

I always keep an eye out when new titles by my favorite authors are released, so I was thrilled when I heard that A Son's Vow (A Charmed Life, book one) by Shelly Shepard Gray was being released. The author writes many romances that are set in the Amish and Mennonite world.

A Son's Vow centers on Darla Kurtz, a young woman who is dealing with a lot of drama in her life. Three months ago, her father was the cause of a fire that killed five men at the Charm's Lumber Mill. Ever since then, the Amish Community have practically shunned their entire family; leaving her bother to lash out at everyone.

Lukas Kinsinger has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Besides from taking care of his three siblings, he is also in charge of his family's lumber mill. His stress levels has been skyrocketed ever since the fire and his friendship with Darla is on the rocks. After learning of what the Kurtz family is going through, Lukas makes it his mission to try to help as much as he can, and hopefully grow his friendship with Darla into something even more meaningful.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Book Blogger Hop: January 29th - February 4th

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews!

Can you pass by a book store without stopping in?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
  

My Answer: 


Yes and No! If the bookstore is new, then I'll probably need to look around in it. However, I tend to ignore Barnes & Nobles and other bookstores when I'm in the city because if I go in, then I'll just spend too much money. If I want to read a specific book, then I'll order it online or ask the publisher if I can review the title.


Linky List:

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Review - Rotten School: Lose, Team, Lose!


I'm not the biggest football fan in the world; however, I did watch the Denver Broncos beat the New England Patriots last Sunday. For this week's reread, I read Rotten School: Lose, Team, Lose! (book four in the series) by R.L. Stine and illustrations by Trip Parker, which happens to have a football plot.

Published by Parachute Press in 2005, Lose, Team, Lose! centers on Bernie Bridges, a forth-grader troublemaker who is living at the private school called Rotten School. Being the coolest and best-looking student (according to Bernie), he has become the quarterback for the school's football team, the Fighting Apples. Unfortunately, the team has a losing record of 1,500 straight losses!

Bernie has a crush on the prettiest girl at the school, April-May-June, but sadly she barely notices him at all. She is one of the school's cheerleaders, but they never attend the Fighting Apple's games due the long losing streak. Instead they cheer on the soccer team, which mostly consists of students from the Nyce House, including Bernie's archenemy, Sherman Oaks.

Bernie is desperate to get April-May-June's attention, and to do so, he must find a secret weapon for the Fighting Apples. Or in other the words he needs to persuade the tallest and biggest student to join the team - Jennifer Ecch.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Winter Reads: Beyond the Silence



Blog Tour; Buy Link
Wow! The first month of 2016 is nearly over, and I've already read several great books, which includes the recently released Beyond The Silence by Tracie Peterson & Kimberly Woodhouse, whom also collaborated on All Things Hidden.

Beyond the Silence is set in the early 1890s and centers on Lilian Porter, a young woman who leaves her home in Indiana and heads to Angel Camp, California, where she takes a job as a nanny, despite objections from her grandfather. Going out west was a dream of her mothers, so she is eager to start a new life; though part of her is scared to death of the unknown.

At first her employer,  a thirty-year-old widow Woodward Colton, seemed to a nice man, who is struggling to take care of his seven-year-old son, Jimmy. The boy hasn't spoken one single word in over a year. However, Lilian hears some odd rumors that Woodward is hiding a dark, deadly past.

As Lilian gets closer to the boy, she begins to suspect that someone might have scared him so badly that he has shut himself off from everyone. Strange situations occur at the Woodward olive farm as well as the arrival of a few unwanted guests, leading Lilian to wonder who Woodward Colton really is.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Winter Reads: Sage's Eyes by V.C. Andrews


Retail: $7.99; 400 pages
If you're an avid reader of this blog, then there's a good chance that you've seen a few reviews for V.C. Andrews' titles on here. My late grandmother was a big of V.C. Andrews' writings, well, up until she learned that the ghost writer that took over after the author's death in 1986 was in fact a male, Andrew Neiderman. After the that, my grandmother quit reading the books, with the last one in her collection being Willow (book one of the DeBeers series).

I now have all the books in my grandmother's collection. I continued to collect each new installment that is released; I even filled in the gaps by finding the rest of the books in the DeBeers and the Broken Wings series, which were missing from her collection.

While I still haven't read all the titles, my opinion of the ghost writer's writing has been mixed. There have been a few good stories and there has been several horrible entries, mostly due to the lack of a "Gothic" feel in the most recent releases.

Available today from Pocket Books is the standalone novel, Sage's Eyes (978-1451650914), which I had received an ARC copy a few months ago. I didn't care much for the last standalone book, Bittersweet Dreams, so I've been putting this book aside; waiting to the very last minute to read it. To my surprise, it's better written than the last few releases. While I would never call it "Gothic," it's not a bad read.

The plot centers on sixteen-year-old Sage, who from an early age has had a "third eye" gift. She can see things that others cannot as if she has lived a past life. Her adoptive parents have tried to hide her gifts from the outside world. Actually, they have convinced themselves that she just has an active imagination.