Wildwood Creek
Moses Lake series, book 4
By Lisa Wingate
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: February 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0764208249
Pages: 384

Review:

There are many writers in the Christian market today and, sadly, many of them don't standout of the crowd for me. If I don't recall the author's name, then the book probably didn't leave a lasting effect on me. However, I do recall reading "Never Say Never" by Lisa Wingate when I first started blogging. Though I haven't read very many of her other titles, her name stood out for me when I decided to sign up to review the title, Wildwood Creek, courtesy of Bethany House.

Wildwood Creek centers on two women, Allie Kirkland and Bonnie Rose, from two different times. Allie is a modern day woman who takes a production assistant job on a docudrama set near Moses Lake, Texas. Bonnie Rose is an Irish schoolteacher back in the year 1861.

Allie has been kinda lost. Her still mourns for her late father. Her relationship with her mother, stepfather and her step-siblings is estranged. Her father was a director and she finally has a chance to follow in his footsteps when she takes a job working on a docudrama.

She multitasks by working in the costume department and playing the part of Bonnie Rose. The docudrama is about what happened at Wildwood Creek when the townspeople mysteriously disappeared in 1861. During the production, Allie begins researching the real-life events that occurred in the town, but there is danger just around the corner for her.

Robert Ludlum's The Janson Option
By Paul Garrison
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pub. Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0446564489
Pages: 368

Review:

Author Robert Ludlum died over a decade, but stories based on his characters and ideas are still being published; written by other authors; similar to the ghostwritten V.C. Andrews’s paperbacks or the recent continuation of Robert P. Parker's book series. Last week, Grand Central Publishing released the third installment in the Janson series, titled The Janson Option.

The first book in the series, The Janson Directive, was published posthumous, a year after the author's death. Author Paul Garrison stepped into Ludlum's shoes to pen the sequel, The Janson Command, in 2012 and returned to write the third installment.

The Janson Option centers on ex-Navy Seal and former member of the U.S. government covert agency, Consular Operations, who now spends his time as a corporate security consultant. This time around Janson is hired by the president of the petroleum division of American Synergy Corp., Kingsman Helms, to help rescue his wife, Allegra Helms.

Allegra is a 30-year-old Italian countess, whose last known whereabouts was aboard the yacht Tarantula when it was hijacked by the Somali pirate Maxammed and his goons in the Indian Ocean. This sort of rescue mission would typically be easy for Janson and his partner, Jessica Kincaid, but they encounter several twists and turns around every corner.

I'm barely awake, as I'm patiently waiting for my coffee to finish brewing, while my bed fittings are being washed in the washing machine, so it is a typical Monday morning. I fully agree with Garfield when he said, "I Hate Mondays."

It seems nothing was on television over the weekend except of the overblown coverage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. For me there is less actually news and more wild conspiracies. At least The Walking Dead was new last night, though the season finale is next week. That leaves only Games of Thrones on Sundays, which starts up again next month. Luckily, I did receive the Beetlejuice: Seasons Two & Three DVD Saturday, but I only got around to watching one episode.

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 Kisha!

 

What is your favorite weekly meme?

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: 

I don't have time to participate in weekly memes anymore, except for hosting the Book Blogger Hop, so I don't have any favorites.

Saving Mr. Banks
Director: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Retail: $36.99
ASIN: B00HT944D4
Running Time: 125 minutes
Rating: PG-13

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray this past week is the critically acclaimed Disney film Saving Mr. Banks, starring Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. Special features includes The Walt Disney Studios: From Poppins To The Present, "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and deleted scenes. The film is also available on DVD and Digital HD.

The 1964 musical, Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Almost everyone knows the tale of the nanny Mary Poppins flying down on her umbrella to babysit the Banks children. The film, along with P.L. Travers book series of the same name, has been entertaining kids for generations, but some people may not know the struggles that went into making the film.

Saving Mr. Banks is based on true events involving the creation of Mary Poppins and the tension between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers. Walt had made a promise to his daughter to make a film version of Mary Poppins, but it took twenty-years to acquire the rights.

P.L. Travers has never been impressed with anything Disney has ever created and is very skeptically on Disney's version of Mary Poppins; therefore, she travels from England to Los Angeles, where she collaborates with the Mary Poppins creative team at the Walt Disney Studio.

A Sky Without Stars
Quilts of Love, Book 15
By Linda S. Clare
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: February 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1426752797
Pages: 272
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/a-sky-without-stars-linda-clare
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Last year, I happen to stumble across the Quilts of Love series from Abingdon Press. Though I don't know how to quilt, I have several family members that do, so I do respect the hobby and is one of the reasons why I signed up to review the newest book in the series, A Sky Without Stars, written by Linda S. Clare.

Set in 1951, the fifteenth installment centers on a Lakota woman, Frankie Chasing Bear, who finds herself raising her son, Harold, alone after husband is suddenly killed. To honor their heritage, she is trying to pass down the Lakota ways to her son, but it is difficult for her to do with her son uninterested in his past.

Lakota decides the only way to help her son respect their ancestors is to make a Lakota Star-pattern quilt, something that can be passed down to him one day and become a reminder of his heritage.

I Know What You Did Last Summer
Director: Jim Gillespie
Starring: Jeniffer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe
When A Stranger Calls
Director: Simon West
Starring: Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy, Clark Gregg
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Retail: $9.98
ASIN: B00HZMZ29U
Running Time: 3 hours 6 minutes
Rating: R/PG-13

Review:

Arriving in a single-disc DVD is the horror film double feature of I Know What You Did Last Summer (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe) and When A Stranger Calls (starring Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy, Clark Gregg) from Mill Creek Entertainment. There are no extras or special features on the disc.

I Know What You Did Last Summer was released in the fall of 1997, loosely based on the book of the same name by Lois Duncan; though besides from the title and characters' names, it hardly resembles the young adult novel. Kevin Williamson (he wrote the Scream movies) penned the script.

The film revolves around four seniors accidentally running over a stranger that was walking in the road. Since they had all been drinking, they decide to take the body to the nearby docks and dump the body in the water. One year goes by and Julie (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt) has never gotten over that horrifying night. She returns home from college for summer break, only to be tormented by random letters saying, "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Julie, Helen (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Barry (played by Ryan Phillippe) and Ray (played by Freddie Prinze Jr.) are all being stalked by a crazed killer. They start to suspect that whoever they dumped in the docks last summer might be still alive and wanting revenge.

Riding the backbone of the original Scream movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer was a box-office success. A sequel with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddy Prinze Jr., titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, was released in 1998. A direct-to-video sequel, titled I Always Know What You Did Last Summer, was released in 2006 with a brand-new cast, but was unsuccessful.