Sunday, August 4, 2019

Sunday Post: 8/4/19

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

Good Afternoon, Everyone!


What Am I Currently Reading?


Yes, I'm still reading Stephen King's IT and one of these days I'm actually going to finish reading it. I had to put IT on the back burner because I had to read two other ARC titles - Underestimating Miss Cecilia and The Maine Nemesis. The review for Underestimating Miss Cecilia was posted early this morning and the review for The Maine Nemesis will be posted sometime tomorrow.

On the reading agenda this week is the Scary Stories To Tell in The Dark trilogy. If you don't already know, the feature film based on the first book will be released to theatres on August 9th. I read all three titles during my childhood and I'm going to start rereading them tomorrow. I'll be posting reviews for them later in the week. After I finish reading the trilogy, I'll refocus my full attention on finishing IT, which I'm planning on posting a review for the massive novel next month near the release date of the IT: Chapter 2 movie.


Recent Reviews

 

Understanding Miss Cecilia
(Summer Reads)

Forever Knight: The Complete Series
(Midnight Horror Review)

Sophia, Princess Among Beasts
(Summer Reads)

UglyDolls: Sing-Along Edition
(Blu-ray Review)

Cari Mora
(Summer Reads)

Shark Bait
(Midnight Horror Review)


New in the Mail

Books


It's always nice to get a surprise book in the mailbox and that's exactly what happened to me last week when I received the Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Beyond The Bizarre! (16th Annual) from Ripley's Publishing. Plus, they sent me the 100 Years Of Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Official Anniversary Edition magazine.

DVDs/Blu-rays


I need to get caught up on DVDs and Blu-rays as I have a pile of them on my desk that needs to be reviewed. Yesterday, I received another package from Mill Creek Entertainment. The DVDs titles are: Pan Am: The Complete Series and Dead Don't Die in Dallas. The Blu-ray titles are: The New Kids, White Line Fever, and Roxanne. I've already watched Dead Don't Die in Dallas so keep an eye out on my review for it. It'll be posted as a Midnight Horror Review either on Monday or Tuesday next Sunday. Since there's nothing on TV tonight I might watch The New Kids.

New on the Bookshelf

Summer Reads: Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller


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

KREGEL; AMAZON
I'm up bright and early and on a Sunday morning to write a review for the romance novel Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller, which I just reading yesterday. That's right, I read the entire 352 page novel yesterday afternoon, despite the fact it was a difficult for me to read thanks to my allergies and dry eyes. I just received the title a few weeks ago for the Kregel Publications book tour, and, I guess you can say time slipped away from me pretty quickly as I almost forgot I had to review the book by August 4th, which is today.

I used to read (and review) a lot of romance novels but after a while I gotten a bit burned out on them and this has resulted in me reading a wide variety of genres this year. The only reason why I signed up to review Underestimating Miss Cecilia (the second novel in Regency Brides: Daughters of Aynsley series) is because I've previously read a few other titles by author Carolyn Miller. She's a good writer and I figured I would like her newest novel.

What's the book about?

It's set in the early 19th Century England and centers around Cecilia Hatherleigh, a young woman who has always had her eyes on the earl's son, Edward "Ned" Amherest. The only problem is Edward has never had the same affections for Cecilia. He's always treated her more like a sister than a possible future wife. Despite her intelligence, she's is seen as nothing more that the second daughter of Lord Aynsley in the eyes of many, including Ned.

Circumstances occur that leads Ned to make a few major decisions in his life, which includes resurrecting his legal career and looking for a wife. He's also determined to help the poor and suffering people living on the streets of England. His quest to help other leads him to spend more time with Cecilia. Remember, this is a romance novel, so you can take a guess at what happens next.

Final Thoughts

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Midnight Horror Review: Forever Knight: The Complete Series


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

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon
Does anyone actually remember there being a "Crimetime After Primetime" lineup airing on CBS during the 1992-1993 season late-at-night after the local news?

I was an eleven-year-old in 1992 and I have no memory of any television shows airing that late. Then again, I had a curfew in 1992 and wasn't allowed to stay up late on school nights." Weekends were a completely other story as I would stay up past midnight to watched the edited versions of Tales of the Crypt on Fox.

Anyway, the first season of the cult Canadian vampire series Forever Knight aired on CBS during their "Crimetime After Primetime." After the entire lineup was cancelled to make way for Late Show with David Letterman, the second season moved to syndication and the third & final season aired on the USA Network.

Mill Creek Entertainment recently released Forever Night: The Complete Series DVD set (TV-14; 52 hrs 43 mins; $64.98) featuring all 70 episodes! There are no special features or bonus extras. 

Forever Knight is a reworking of the television movie Nick Knight starring Rick Springfield that aired on CBS in 1989. For the series, Geraint Wyn Davies took over the role of Nick Knight, a vampire who works at as a nighttime detective for the Toronto police. He was born in A.D. 1200. As adult, he was forced to fight in the Crusades to avoid facing a murder trial which he was being accused of killing his love, Gwyneth. He returned to Europe after the Crusades where became a drunk. Eventually, he meets the vampire Janette DuCharme (played by Deborah Duchêne) and along with her master, Lucien LaCroix (played by Nigel Bennett), they seduce him into becoming an immortal. After many many years of killing innocent humans, Nick turns his back on being a vampire and goes on a quest to redeem himself.

As a cop, Nick Knight uses his supernatural abilities to protect the innocent and to capture the bad guys. The only human who knows of his "curse" is medical coroner Natalie Lambert (played by Catherine Disher). And of course his maker LaCroix knows all about Nick's past and will do anything to make sure he stays a vampire forever.


Final Thoughts

Friday, August 2, 2019

Book Blogger Hop: August 2nd - 8th





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


Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop! 


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

The Book Blogger Hop now has its own Facebook Group! Please join the group to get all the newest Book Blogger Hop updates. Also, you can communicate with your fellow book bloggers in the group.

What To Do


1. Post on your blog answering this question:


This week's question is submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.


2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below. Please enter your Name/Nickname @ Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Here's an example: Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer

3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading a few 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.

Review - Sophia, Princess Among Beasts


AMAZON
For those of you who don't already know, for past month I have been reading Stephen King's IT. What you don't know is that I had to put that book aside to read a two ARC's this week. So I'm basically "booked" with reads for the moment and the last thing I needed to do was to begin reading another novel. However, that's exactly what I did early (pre-dawn early) yesterday morning!

Last week, I bought the recently released Sophia, Princess Among Beasts by James Patterson and Emily Raymond. And everyone knows how much I love (and occasionally dislike) Mr. Patterson's stories, so naturally you can understand why I wanted to add the title to my collection. Anyway, the novel has a gorgeous art cover, which has been sitting on the coffee table starring straight at me every since I got it. I finally let my guard down and started reading the darn thing.

As far as my knowledge goes, Sophia, Princess Among Beasts is the first medieval fantasy novel by James Patterson. It's set in an unnamed land and centers around Princess Sophia, a young woman with little to no training to one day take over the throne. After her father is murdered, Sophia is sent into a nightmarish world full of half-beasts, full-beasts, and demons when she is kidnapped by her family's nemesis, Ares, who's determined to force Sophia to marry one of his demon knights.

To escape her horrific imprisonment, Sophia must rely on a handsome peasant, Raphael, to help her put a stop to Ares' evil plans and find a way to return to her kingdom.
<

Final Thoughts

The Friday 56: Underestimating Miss Cecilia



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.


At the butler's urgent gesture, footmen opened the doors, and Ned walked into the drawing room, where he found this father, brother, and the magistrate engaged in conversation which ceased at his entrance.

page 56, Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller

  My Thoughts

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Blu-ray Review - UglyDolls: Sing-Along Edition


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

Blu-ray; DVD
I must be living under a rock because I wasn't aware there was such a thing as an UglyDolls toyline, let alone a feature film that was released to theatres earlier this year. I only recently became aware of what the UglyDolls were when I was sent a a review copy of the Blu-ray Combo Pack which was just released this week by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. It was also released on 4K Ultra HD, DVD, and Digital HD.

Directed by Kelly Asbury and produced by Robert Rodriguez, UglyDolls features the talented voice cast of Kelly Clarkson (The Star, “The Voice”), Nick Jonas (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Janelle Monáe (Hidden Figures, Rio 2), Blake Shelton (The Angry Birds Movie, “The Voice”), Pitbull (“Empire,” Epic), Wanda Sykes (“Black - ish,” Bad Moms) and Gabriel Iglesias (Ferdinand).

UglyDolls (PG; 88 minutes) is set in a hidden world within our own where newly manufactured dolls are given anthropomorphism and are assigned to be the perfect toy to a specific child. Any dolls that are deformed during manufacturing gets tossed into another hidden world called Uglyville where UglyDolls can live a peaceful life. Well, that's until one curious doll named Moxy (voiced by Kelly Clarkson) wants to learn what's beyond her home. Alongside her pals Lucky Bat (voiced by Wang Leehom), Ugly Dog (voiced by Pitbull), cynical baker Wage (voiced by Wanda Sykes), and Babo (voiced by Gabriel Iglesias), Moxy travels to the Institute of Perfection, a place where human dolls are trained to be the perfect toy.

Let's just say they're not exactly welcomed there by the Institute's toyleader,  Lou (voiced by Nick Jonas) and a few other dolls. However, Moxy and friends are determined to learn how to be a perfect toy so they can one day find a child to love.

Bonus Features include:
  • Sing-Along Edition
  • Sing-Along Tease – A small taste of the big fun the Sing - Along Edition provides.
  • Fun with the Cast of UglyDolls – Watch the cast of UglyDolls play fun games that showcase their unique talents.
  • Making UglyDolls – A closer look at the music behind the film and the talented voice cast that brings these rich characters to life. 
  • Theatrical Trailers 


Final Thoughts