Wednesday, October 17, 2018

DVD Review: The Resident: The Complete Season One


Fox; 615 mins; Not Rated; Amazon
The last thing network television needs is another medical drama, as there are already way too many of them, but here I am writing a review for The Resident: The Complete Season One DVD, which was recently released by Fox Home Entertainment. There are no special features or extras on the three-disc set.

Created by Amy Holden Jones, Hayley Schore, and Roshan Sethi, the series stars Matt Czuchry, Emily VanCamp, Manish Dayal, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Bruce Greenwood, Moran Atias, Merrin Dungey, and Melina Kanakaredes.

The series centers around the medical staff at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Manish Dayal plays Devon Pravesh, a first-year medical intern who is assigned to a third-year resident internist, Conrad Hawkin (played by Matt Czuchry).

Hawkins is a hot-head doctor, who wants Pravesh to do exactly as he says to do. He's a little bit of a risk-taker, but he also cares very deeply for each one of his patients. When he's not attending to his patients, he's trying to get his ex, nurse practitioner Nicolette "Nic" Nevin (played by Emily VanCamp), to take him back. He also likes to bunt head with the chief of surgery, Randolph Bell (played by Bruce Greenwood), an aging doctor who will do anything to keep his position at the hospital.

Episodes on the DVD set include:
  • Disc 1
    • Pilot
    • Independence Day
    • Comrades in Arms
    • Identity Crisis
  • Disc 2
    • None the Wiser
    • No Matter the Cost
    • The Elopement
    • Family Affair
    • Love Lost
  • Disc 3
    • Haunted
    • And the Nurses Get Screwed...
    • Rude, Awakenings and the Raptor
    • Run, Doctor, Run
    • Total Eclipse of the Heart




Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Tuesday Picks! - October 16, 2018


Welcome to my Tuesday Picks! post, where I'll be picking out my favorite books and movies that are being released this week.


Books
Every Breath
by Nicholas Sparks

Buy Link: Barnes & Noble


Once again, I don't have a clue what books are being released this week, except for Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks. I used to read the author's books, but I got tired of the sappy endings. Nevertheless, his newest book looks interesting.


Movies

Down a Dark Hall

Buy Link: Amazon

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Buy Link: Amazon

Halloween II
(Steelbook)

Buy Link: Amazon

Fall Reads: Blood Communion: A Tale Of Prince Lestat



KNOPF: 275 pages; $27.95; Amazon

The Gothic-horor author Anne Rice didn't hit my radar until I was teenager in the mid-90s after I had watched the edited version of Interview with the Vampire on network television. Shortly later, I bought the film on VHS. Well, my parents bought the movie since I was underage at the time and the movie was rated R. That lead me to seek out Anne Rice's novels, which I believe I got the first three books in the The Vampire Chronicles at Barnes & Noble. To make a long story short, I was obsessed with reading anything written by the author throughout my high school years. While my tastes for books have changed as I have gotten older, I still read every new novel in the series.

The 13th novel in The Vampire Chronicles, titled Blood Communion, was released this month from KNOPF. It's under 300 pages, making it the shortest entry in the series.

Blood Communion takes place after the events Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, where the Prince is telling his life story to the Blood Communion (aka Vampires). The first few chapters is basically a recap of all the previous books; telling us readers (or vampires) about Prince Lestat's past. Then the novel shifts towards the main plot involving the death of the ancient vampire Maharet by the hands of Rhoshamandes, the Child of the Millennia, a demon spirit who refuses to live by the laws set by Prince Lestat.


Monday, October 15, 2018

Monday Morning Madness: October 15, 2018


Once again, I'm a little late with my Monday Morning Madness post! I meant to have this written early this morning, but I was tinkering with this blog's coding and lost track of time. Yes, I said coding, which is something I know very little about. My blog designer is AWOL; actually I believe she might have been finishing college. Anyway, I've had to learn how to create icons, post headers, and other graphics. And now I'm trying to learn coding.

IntenseDebate Is Staying For the Time Being

It has come to my attention that a few reader can't comment with the IntenseDebate comment system. I apologize for the inconvenience, but the IntenseDebate is staying on this blog for now. I get way too much spam through the Blogger's comment system, which is one of reasons why I switched. I'm well aware the IntenseDebate is missing the Wordpress, IntenseDebate, and Twitter login butson. I'll try to get this fixed, if it's even possible. The old Blogger comments have been restored to all the old posts and you still comment on them using the old comment system.

Don't worry this isn't going to be a permanent thing! I do have plans for the blog. 

Book Blogger Hop's Future

Don't worry! I'm not getting rid of the meme. I have a few new ideas and rules to improve the Book Blogger Hop. My ideas are in the early stages right now, so there won't be any official changes until 2019.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Date.

What am I currently reading?

Well, as of this morning, I have only a few chapters left to read in Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice. I'll finish reading it sometime today and my review will probably be posted tomorrow.




I came across America Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon at a Dollar Tree store last week. I don't read very much nonfiction, but I've always admired Norman Rockwell's illustrations, so I thought I would give this book a chance. I'm only on page 13 at the moment. The book is nearly 500 pages with tiny, tiny lettering. I'll be reading a little bit of it from time to time while I'm reading/reviewing other books. I have no idea when I will get it read.


What am I reading next?

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Sunday Post: October 14th, 2018

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!


Good Morning, Everyone!



My Current Reads


A review copy of Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice arrived in the mail on Monday. I read a few pages on Friday, but I got a little distracted by The Haunting of Hill House series on NETFLIX and I didn't get much reading done. The book is under 300 pages, so it shouldn't take me very long to finish it.

I very seldom read non-fictions books, unless its on a subject that intrigues me. I came across American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon at a Dollar Tree store and I had to have it as soon as I saw it. I've always admired Mr. Rockwell's artwork, so I thought it would make an interesting read. I'm only page 13, but I'm not for sure when I'm going to finish it. The book is nearly 500 pages and the print is really small. I'm just going to read a little at a time. I have a stack of books that I need to read for the upcoming 13 Days of Halloween event, which starts on Friday. I'll be putting my full attention on those books, but hopefully I can read a few pages of this book once in awhile. 


Last Week's Reviews

A Willing Murder by Jude Deveraux (book)
Sleep No More (DVD)


In The Mail

Books

  
Besides from Blood Communion by Anne Rice, I also received Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein and Ambush by James Patterson in the mail, but neither of these are for review purposes. I was ordering a few other things from Walmart and added the two books to my cart at the last minute. I'll probably be reading the books sometime in November or December. If I have time, I might write reviews for them.

Since I didn't receive a review copy Map of Days: The Fourth Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs from the publisher, I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon, which it arrived in mailbox on Friday. The book jacket for it is beautiful. 

I've made out a reading schedule, so if everything goes as planned, I should be have the first three books reread, read the the fourth, and have my reviews posted for them by the end of November.


Library Finds

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Blu-ray Review: Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete Collection



Lionsgate; Not Rated; 14 hrs 20 mins; Amazon
Arriving on Blu-ray & DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment on October 16th is Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete Collection, featuring all 30 episodes on a six-disc set.

Based on the characters created by Sam Raimi, the series is a sequel to the original Evil Dead trilogy with Bruce Campbell returning as Ash Williams, who once battled the evil forces of the Necronomicon.

For the last 30 years, Ash hasn't done too much with his life. He still works as a stock boy, smokes pot, flirts with almost any woman in his sight, and he still drives the old Delta. Late one night, he smokes Marijuana with a hooker and accidentally reads from the Necronomicon, which unleashes the evil Deadites upon Michigan.

This time Ash doesn't have to fight the Deadites alone, as he teams up with his young co-workers Pablo and Kelly (played by Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo) to become an unlikely demon hunting trio. They must stop an immortal being named Ruby (played by Lucy Lawless), who happens to be the creator of the Necronomicon, from unleashing more Deadites.

Season Two brings Ash, Pablo, and Kelly out of demon hunting retirement after the Deadites attack them. This leads them to travel to Ash's hometown of Elk Grove, where they meet his grumpy father (played by Lee Majors). It seems the entire town still blames Ash for the brutal murders of his sister, girlfriend, and two friends that occurred over thirty years ago. He told everyone the Deadites had killed them, but nobody believed him. Well, they're going to have no choice but to believe him when Ruby's Deadites wreck havoc all over town, which eventually leads Ash to time travel to 1982 before he originally encountered the Necronomicon.

Ash met his teenager daughter Brandy (played by Arielle Carver-O'Neill) during the third and final season. And he also meets his identical evil spawn that was created by Ruby, who is once again trying to kill Ash and pals.

Blu-ray Special Features include:
  • Season One
    • Inside the World of "Ash vs Evil Dead"
    • How to Kill a Deadite
    • Best of Ash
    • Audio Commentaries
  • Season Two
    • Season 2 First Look
    • Inside the World of "Ash vs Evil Dead"
    • Up Your Ash
    • Women Who Kick Ash
    • Puppets Are Cute
    • Dawn Of The Spawn
    • Bringing Henrietta Back
    • The Delta
    • How To Kill A Deadite
    • Fatality Mash-up
    • Audio Commentaries
  • Season Three
    • Season Overview
    • Inside the World of "Ash vs Evil Dead"
    • Audio Commentaries




Friday, October 12, 2018

The Friday 56: Blood Communion: A Tale Of Prince Lestat


Rules:
  • Grab a book, any book.
  • Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
  • Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it).
  • Post it.
  •  Add your (url) post below in the Linky at: www.fredasvoice.com
  • Add the post url, not your blog url.

Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition! - October 12th - 18th




Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML



Welcome Ghouls and Goblins
to the
Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition!
  
If you want schedule next week's thrilling question, click here to find the next prompt fright-fest. 
To submit a question, fill out this form.

How to participate in this week's creepy meme:


1. Post on your blog answering this haunt:

  You are suddenly transported into a future time in which (horrors!) books are unknown. How would you explain books, and how wonderful they are, to the people of that time?


(This week's question is submitted by Maria @ A Night's Dream of Books.)

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting 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 a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  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.
 

Billy's Answer!

Hopefully, I'll have a few good books with me when I time traveled. Instead of explaining about books, I can read a book to them.





Linky List:

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Fall Reads: A Willing Murder: A Medlar Mystery


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mira Books; 336; $26.99; Amazon
Now available from Mira Books is the murder mystery novel A Willing Murder: A Medlar Mystery by Jude Deveraux, an author who has written dozens of historical romances, such as A Knight in Shining Armor.

A Willing Murder is the first book in a brand-new mystery series. It centers around Kate Medlar, a young realtor who packs her bags and moves to Lachlan, Florida to be closer to her estranged Aunt Sara, who happens to be a bestselling author.Kate had everything planned out: she has a new job at a local real estate business and Aunt Sara has a room already set up for her. However, there is one thing Kate didn't have planned - meeting Jackson "Jack" Wyatt.

Jack is almost like a grandson to Sara, who was good friends with his late grandfather and she's a partner in his construction business. When a freak accident injured Jack and killed his half-brother, he moved in with Sara while he healed his wounds.

After two female skeletons are found buried under a tree on one of Jack's properties, his past comes back to haunt him. He knows who the victims are, a mother and daughter who have been missing for twenty years. Jack has a heartfelt connection to the daughter and he makes it his personal mission to find the murder, with a little help from Kate and Sara.