Slammed series book 27/8/2023 ![]() ![]() The slam poetry inclusion gives the book a creative edge and the poems are well done. ![]() Both characters have a lot of baggage in their lives but I rooted for them to make it work. Even when they are apart you could feel the magnet pulling them back together. Even though they fall for each other awfully fast the obstacles and tension between them kept things from being too predictable. ![]() I could feel the raw emotion and chemistry between Will and Lake. And then there’s another whammy that hits Lake that has her needing Will more than ever. But soon their relationship veers off course with the introduction of a shocking reveal. Will and Lake hit it off right away and he introduces her to his passion slam poetry. She meets her new neighbor, 21-year-old Will and his younger brother who are living on their own after losing their parents. In Slammed, 18-year-old Layken (Lake) moves with her mother and little brother to a new town after the death of her father. I’m including my thoughts on each book and a chance to win e-books of them both. And the inclusion of slam poetry in the storytelling is a great touch. The characters and emotional connection in Slammed made this series memorable for me. I’ve just started getting my feet wet with the indie scene but I’ve been pretty lucky with what I’ve read so far. There has been an explosion of YA contemporary/ New Adult books by indie authors lately and it’s exciting to see all these fresh new voices on the scene. ![]() I picked up the Slammed series by Colleen Hoover on a whim after seeing several positive reviews on Goodreads. ![]()
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Victory. Stand! by Tommie Smith7/8/2023 ![]() Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships. ![]() ![]() On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. ![]() A groundbreaking and timely graphic memoir from one of the most iconic figures in American sports-and a tribute to his fight for civil rights. ![]() Catch and cradle by katia rose7/8/2023 ![]() Becca has no time or tolerance for any distractions from the game. ![]() After witnessing way too much drama in the past, Captain Becca Moore is intent on keeping her players' love lives out of the locker room. The UNS Women's Lacrosse team doesn't have an official policy against inter-teammate relationships, but those words might as well be carved into stone tablets in the middle of the field. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Hope Hastings has been since the day she showed up for tryouts. ![]() ![]() Book review of the westing game7/8/2023 ![]() This had me in hysterics, I was really caught off guard. ![]() “I’m getting dizzy,” she said, shifting her position on the hard wooden folding chair, “and worse yet, I think I’ve got a splinter in my fanny.” The ending was done beautifully and I adored it! Really recommend for a quick read that you’ll enjoy □ġ. This was a good read! It took a little to get used to all the characters but the plot was so gripping you just couldn’t put it down. I’m on the edge of my seat! Placing bets now, I don’t trust Turtle fully… She’s definitely hiding something but I’ll just have to see.” The characters have all developed so it’s so much easier to tell them apart. ![]() – page 118 64.84% “It’s getting really good now. ![]() It’s definitely a character info dump at the start And there’s so many of them but none of them feel entirely complete because of this, but maybe with time they’ll develop and become more detailed.” – page 57 31.32% “I love the plot, it’s really intriguing and I can’t wait to get into the clues more. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger-and a possible murderer-to inherit his vast fortune, one thing’s for sure: Sam Westing may be dead … but that won’t stop him from playing one last game! ![]() Publication Date: 1978 (I did not know it was this old – it has aged beautifully!)Ī bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. ![]() Sonnets from the portuguese 217/7/2023 ![]() ![]() After a few months of this courtship, they decided to marry, but Elizabeth Barrett’s father did not approve. They exchanged numerous letters by using the words of Shakespeare, someone they both admired and were influenced by (Stewart 50). When she published her collection called Poems, it caught the eye of Robert Browning who proceeded to write her a letter. She wrote through her mother’s death, brother’s drowning, and father’s loss of the estate while never giving up on her literature. Regardless of her ailments, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was able to rise above and become a respected and glorious poet in both England and the United States. This led to a more concerning injury to her spinal cord and the overall frailty of her health (). When she turned fifteen, however, she contracted a lung illness, resulting in her taking a dose of morphine every day for the rest of her life. ![]() Browning began to read and write at 6 years old (Stewart 50). She was educated at home but along with that she taught herself as she was always eager to learn. Her family gained their fortune from sugar plantations in Jamaica but lived in different places in England before settling in Wimpole Street, London (Poetry Foundation). ![]() She was born as the oldest child in a household of 12 children on March 6, 1806, in Durham, England. The highly renowned Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was known for her vibrant personality and feminist views. By Naqiya Ujjainwala, Michael Griffin, and Jie Lyu ![]() Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() While unfailingly kind to the official Queen of Versailles, Louis sought others to satisfy his romantic and sexual desires. In 1660, Louis married his first cousin, Marie-Thérèse, in a political arrangement. A devout Catholic, she instilled in her son a strong sense of piety and fought successfully for his right to absolute power. The king’s mother, Anne of Austria, had been in a childless marriage for twenty-two years before she gave birth to Louis XIV. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis’s accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women. The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life. ![]() Tao te ching the book of the way7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() The best way to look at it, though, is like the forest and the mountain. The Tao must be lived, not just read about and discussed. We are all on the path, whether we know it or not. ![]() Others might call it 'God's Will' or 'the laws of nature'. It applies to everyone, in every walk of life because it is simply the way of things. Confucianism and Buddhism) because it is so generic. The Tao Te Ching is largely compatible with any religions or alternative philosophies that it encounters (e.g. Having said all this, none of this is that important-they're only the messengers-the principles inside are what matters most. It was eventually declared 'finished' and definitive by Wang Bi about 800 years ago. It's essentially open source wisdom.Īfterwards, it was adapted and edited by various sages throughout China. ![]() Rather, it is said that he was essentially summarising the collected wisdom of the previous few thousand years. The Tao existed long before Lao Tzu is reported to have written it down, when he did so for an admiring army officer. ![]() Splintered book series7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Whilst the books differ in thickness, each hardback edition measures 215mm wide by 255 mm high and between 20mm - 27mm thick (approximately). You will also receive all relevant unlocked stretch goals. In the epic third installment of Robert Beatty’s 1 bestselling series, Serafina takes her rightful place among literary champions as she battles fiercely to defend all she loves and become everything that she is meant to be. ![]() ![]() To complete the bundle, you will receive a fold out Legendary Kingdoms World Map and local maps for all 3 books Plus, 3 deluxe character sheets for all 3 books. You will receive three hardback copies one each of The Valley of Bones, Crown & Tower and Pirates of the Splintered Isles, books 1-3 in the Legendary Kingdoms gamebook series.Īdded to this you will receive a Kickstarter exclusive, unique Pirate of the Splintered Isles piece of artwork from the hand of Robin Smith, artist and illustrator for Legendary Kingdoms. ![]() Hearts in atlantis king7/7/2023 ![]() I doubt King will revisit this character. ![]() It ended too quickly, leaving us with kind of a cliffhanger, and I find myself thinking about what could come next. I loved the way it was told, each section noting the time progressing through the day, and as we get to see the transformation of the main character through the day we feel like we're seeing it in real time. "Blind Willie," at a little over 50 pages, could have been longer. "Hearts in Atlantis" was the second and the second longest, clocking in at 150 pages, and I might argue that it was a little too long, but I loved the way it ended, so I forgave him dragging us through the first 100 pages when the last 50 were top notch. The rest of the stories were pretty good as well. Mostly because I was already half-way through this book (the first story is by far the longest, at about 250 pages) and second because I'd read a good review of it, had heard that these stories were interconnected, and I wanted to see how he pulled that off. After I finished TDK, I went back and finished the rest of these. ![]() ![]() It's directly connected to the last book in that series, so I read it before I hit that one. I read the first story in this collection, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," as I was going through The Dark Tower (TDK) novels. ![]() And the band played on shilts7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was awarded the Stonewall Book Award, became an international bestseller translated into 7 languages, and was made into a major movie in 1993 starring Richard Gere and Sir Ian McKellen.Īnd the Band Played On is one of the great works of contemporary journalism, and provides the foundation for the continuing debate about the greatest medical epidemic faced in our time. If there are lapses, director Spottiswoode’s engrossing, powerful work still accomplishes its mission: Shilts’ book, with all its shock, sorrow and anger, has been transferred decisively to the. Shilts exposed why AIDS was allowed to spread - while the medical and political authorities ignored (and even denied) the threat. ![]() He quickly devoted himself to reporting on the developing epidemic, trying to understand the cultural, medical and political impact of the disease on the gay community and United States society as a whole.Įxtensively researched, weaving together personal stories with political and social reporting, And the Band Played On is a masterpiece of investigative reporting that led to Randy Shilts being described as "the pre-eminent chronicler of gay life" by The New York Times. In 1981, the year when AIDS came to international attention, Randy Shilts was employed by the San Francisco Chronicle as the first openly gay journalist dealing with gay issues. ![]() |