Movie Review: Avengers Endgame (Spoilers)

Movie: Avengers: Endgame

Genre: Marvel superheros (it's its own genre now, right?)
Starring: EVERYONE I think. But my favorites are Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth. Oh and Jeremy Renner. 
My Rating: Two thumbs up of course


If I understand correctly, it's okay to talk about this movie now yes? At any rate, if you are still nervous about spoilers, you can come back after you've watched it and we can discuss, deal?

So I'm happy we did the little catch up thing before going to this movie. It helped a ton to understand stuff and I actually think it was nice to have it all fresh in my mind. Maybe those who didn't need to catch up rewatched stuff? I'm guessing that probably happened a lot too. Anyway.

I think Infinity War and Endgame should be considered a pair... a part 1 and part 2. Know what I mean?

To summarize: In Infinity War our villain, Thanos, decides to round up the Infinity stones so he can be all powerful and do mankind a "service" by getting rid of half of all people. Our heroes try to stop him and a huge battle happens in Wakanda on the Black Panther's territory in which things do not end well. We are left with a "what just happened?" feeling in the worst worst way!

So in Endgame we pick up right where we left off... for a moment anyway, and things continue to look very dire. Our um... remaining.. heroes are baffled and depressed and have no idea what to do.

Five years pass and a very key thing happens and suddenly there is hope again. Our brilliant minded heroes put their heads together (well one especially brilliant mind) and pretty much figure out how to go back in time to stop Thanos. They actually have to go back before that and get the stones first, before Thanos does.

Which makes for the best part of the movie actually, when they come across their former selves in previous movies. That was so fun!

My other favorite thing about this movie is how many very very human parts there were. Like, I feel like a lot of times these movies are more about the special effects and sometimes forgets about the actual human connections. This movie had that everywhere, which I truly appreciated. I think the emotions of all these characters were so raw and exposed, that they all couldn't help but be more human. Know what I mean?

I may have touched on spoilery things above, but now I'm going to be truly spoilery about stuff, so be warned now especially:

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Loki's death in the first movie (Infinity War) made me sad, but it happened so fast and so out of no where that I was unprepared and didn't really register that it happened. And I really really hoped that he would be saved in this one, but I'm not sure if that happened. His character was left ambiguously and we don't really know what happened to him, do we? He was there in the past and then he disappeared. Where did he go? Did he still get killed in the future?

But my other favorite is definitely Ironman and so... yeah. I cried... okay. Because I LOVE how RDJ portrays this character and this was a hard hard one to watch. And man there is so much foreshadowing that it's going to be him... you all caught it I'm sure. So I think we as an audience were basically prepared. But still. That it had to HIM of all the people!!

Natasha and Hawkeye fighting over who would die... that was hard too. Sob. I heard she is going to get her own movie after all... but what about him? I want him to have one too! He is my other favorite! (Does that make three favorites now? I haven't even talked about Thor!)

Thor! Wasn't he crazy awesome in this one? Oh my word, he sort of stole the show, yeah? LOL! That was funny. Like a total alter ego for him. What the heck. And when he was able to talk to his mom in the past? Dang. That was good.

Ironman talking to his dad in the past was also great.

And then the Captain. I cried again when he saw his love in the past. And for him to get that happy ending after all with her??? YES!!!! The best ending ever!

I was happy the green girl, Gomorrah... yeah? (I had to look it up, lol.) But she needs to remember a few things, eh? Poor Quill. They'll figure it out though. :)

There were a few superheroes that showed up for this movie's final big battle that I wasn't familiar with. I'm guessing a missed a few movies still, and have a few more to catch up on. I think I need to watch the Spiderman movie because that kid makes me laugh.

Oh, and wait, why was Vision not in this one? Or did I miss him? And his girl Wanda, yeah? That felt weird to me since he was a key part of the previous movie. Anyway, I probably missed them somehow in all that craziness.

Okay, I think those are most of my thoughts. It was good. I was glued. My husband, however, fell asleep YET AGAIN. Sigh.

Great job Marvel for taking us all on a crazy fun ride these past few years. It will be fun to see what's next.

Here's a lovely trailer, which I've only just now seen for the first time. It gives me chills.




"WHATEVER IT TAKES."   😭😭😭😭

Kdrama Review: I Hear Your Voice

Drama: I Hear Your Voice
Genre: court drama with a touch of supernatural
Starring: Lee Jong Suk, Lee Bo Young, Yoon Sang Hyun
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

The touch of supernatural mentioned above is that our main dude can hear people's thoughts. Which can make life pretty interesting. Mostly he just goes around with headphones on in order to cope.

But the drama starts when he's a kid and he witnesses his dad's murder. There's also another couple of witnesses, a girl and her "friend." At the trial, they have to decide if they will come forward to testify and thus put this terrible dude in jail. One ends up coming forward and one doesn't.

Well, then they all grow up! The girl who came forward is now a public defender, and the other girl is a prosecutor. They end up sort of working together. And our boy is a senior in high school. (He's like 10 years younger than our main girl. Which makes things especially interesting!)

Well, and so all their paths cross again. And our girl ends up figuring out that our boy can read minds, and so she loves having in the court room with her. But more than that, she just starts loving him. Awkward. 

LOL! He makes a pretty good non smiley face too!

There are several different cases we are privy to, but mostly, it's about this terrible dude who is now out of prison and is coming for his revenge. Scary stuff, really. 

Sigh, it's already been too long since I watched this to remember the details! Gah, teach me to get behind! 

I just know that the all the court stuff tends to get boring for me after awhile... I mean at first it's interesting and then it's not. Like there's a fine line for me!

But of course I totally enjoyed the sweet romance. Which at first as I said, felt a little weird and then I was totally rooting for them. It's just, I really love Lee Jong Suk and he needs to smile a lot in these dramas, you know? 

I prefer the smile though.

Things get very intense towards the end when all this stuff is getting wrapped up. Crazy stuff!

Anyway, here's a fan made trailer that I really quite enjoy! It portrays the intense-ness much better than I can!





And a song from the drama:


 

Book Review Discussion: Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike

Book: Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike
Genre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Review
From (and FTC Disclosure):  Received for free from the publisher through Edelweiss. All opinions are my own.

Short Synopsis: So Charlotte is an Oracle and she gets visions of the future. But she has been taught to fight them and ignore them. Then, she starts having visions she can't fight and she begins to see the murders of her classmates. And finally, she decides she can't ignore them anymore and she must, whether she should or not, try to step in and change the future. 

My Response: Very suspenseful and even a bit dark. There's some pretty violent stuff happening here. It's a mystery, but one that I liked and was invested in. I sort of saw the end coming, but still, it kept me guessing. 

Bottom Line: I totally enjoyed it! Pretty awesome page turner!

Let's Talk About: So... if you had the power, would you jump into the timeline to change something in the future? What if you saw your own future? Would you do things to change it or would you like what you see and be paranoid that you would accidentally change it? Yeah. It's a crazy thing to think about. And frankly, I'm glad we don't (at least I think most of us don't) have to really answer these questions!

Other Reviews:

If you like a mystery with a bit of paranormal thrown in, give this one a read. At the very least, you’ll be entertained. From Proud Book Nerd

It follows an all-too familiar, much used, and tired cliché that fails to inject a much-needed breath of freshness into the story. From That's What She Read

I love a good mystery, and this certainly was one. From City of Books

If you enjoy watching the main character try to find herself while trying to save the people around her then you’ll enjoy Charlotte’s story. From This Blonde Reads

Book Review Discussion: House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

Book: House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple
Genre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Review, and Local Authors
From (and FTC Disclosure):  Received for free from the publisher through Edelweiss. All opinions are my own.

Short Synopsis: Jo is a witch, and is from a long line of witches... a line of only women. (The men in their lives come and go.) When her grandma gets sick, it prompts Jo to break a lot of witch rules, including letting her friends in on the secret. There's a powerful force coming to hunt her and her grandma that she doesn't quite understand. Behind the force is a guy and guys don't have magic. Solving this mystery and saving her family and home is the driving force behind this fast paced story.

My Response: I'm not much into the witch talk. All that potion mixing and spell casting isn't my thing I guess. But, though there is a lot of that in this story, it goes beyond that to the relationships between the these women. And also the friends that she ends up including in the circle. It makes a pretty powerful statement for the strength of sisterhood. So that was awesome. The dark magic is pretty scary and creepy too and there is  a lot of gross and evil stuff going on here! If you are into that! The magic in general was all pretty cool.

Bottom Line: I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Let's Talk About: It makes some people uncomfortable reading about witchcraft. I guess maybe because this practice is all too real in the world today? Anyway, I wondered how you felt about it? Does it bother you at all, or do you just shrug and go, eh, it's fiction.

Other Reviews:

House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple was an intriguing tale filed with old school witchcraft set into a very contemporary setting. From Bewitched Bookworms

Ultimately, The House of Ivy & Sorrow is a classic Good Against Evil story, but it's done well, and I enjoyed every minute with these characters. From Annette's Book Spot

This was a refreshing YA paranormal read with great characters, cute romance, and a fun plot. From Dark Faerie Tales

Book Review: Perfect Lies by Kiersten White

Book: Perfect Lies by Kiersten White
Genre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
For: Review
From: Edelweiss

This is the second book that continues the story beginning in Mind Games. I wanted to like it so much more! I really enjoyed the first book, but this book confused me like crazy.

So here's what happened, I think. Our two sister characters are separated and in different places and experiencing different things, especially Annie who sees the future with her visions. She can tell something is going to go down soon, and it's not good for Fia. So her whole purpose is to stop whatever is going to happen. Meanwhile Fia's whole purpose is to kill the big bad mean dude who started this terrible school for special girls (which we learn all about in the first book) in the first place. It just so happens that the bad dude is the dad of her boyfriend. Now while he appears to be on board in this endeavor to stop his dad, can he really be trusted? Hmmmm....

I went away from this book loving Annie's story the best. She has a pretty sweet love interest going on for herself and she is just much more interesting this go around. So I enjoyed it when we flipped to her point of view. But I just didn't get Fia's story.

Yes, there was lots of flipping back and forth between Fia and Annie, and usually I'm okay with that, but it was really confusing this time because I couldn't figure out what was going on with the timeline. And there were many characters that I just didn't know who they were and I couldn't remember if I was supposed from the first book. Most of the time when I read a sequel I can pretty quickly get back on board and remember things. That really didn't happen for me this time, sadly.

That being said, I still enjoyed the tone and the whole psychotic-ness of this one! These girls really are crazy!

Bottom line: Despite the confusion, it was fun to read.

Other Reviews:

Readers need to pay close attention because the story flows quickly, the answers are fast and furious, and there is no respite for the inattentive. From That's What She Read

Annie's character development is astonishing, and she's definitely not helpless anymore. She's tough and determined, and it was great to see that fire in her. From City of Books

Instead, this book is completely useless without the first. It's the second half of the first. From Amusing Reviews

The story is fast paced, filled with action, and the countdown only adds another layer of anticipation and suspense throughout the story. From Book Nerd Reviews

Book Review: Blackout by Robison Wells

Book: Blackout by Robison Wells
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/Supernatural
Rating:★★★★☆ (or 3 1/2 if I could)
For: Review
From: Edelweiss (released Oct. 1, 2013)


A new series (I'm assuming series since the book left us very much hanging!) by the author of Variant and Feedback, which takes us this time to a very recent apocalyptic America. In fact, if apocalyptic means AFTER a devastating event, I guess you'd have to say this is not apocalyptic because it takes place WHILE the event is actually getting going, and in a really crazy way.

So it appears that during this time, terrorist attacks are happening constantly...like major devastating things. The book opens with one in progress where they are hoping to collapse the Glen Canyon Dam. And, it appears these attacks are being done by kids. Something has gone really really wrong with the country's teenagers.

We then flip to another group of kids whose school dance is interrupted by the army coming and rounding them all up and taking them to some detox center to be tested and categorized because it appears that some kids have been infected with something that makes them suddenly have super powers.

Eventually, the paths of these two groups of kids collide and that's when we aren't sure who are the good guys and who are the bad. I love it when that happens. And these kids must figure that out and figure out who to trust and figure out how they will get themselves out of the mess they find themselves in.

It's crazy!

I totally enjoyed  it despite the military and gun talk that abounded. Many kids, I'm sure, will find that talk fascinating, but I found myself with the glazed over eyes in parts and anxious to just get to the other stuff, the character stuff. Also, there were a lot of questions that remain unanswered. This, I don't like!

However, a truly fun thing for me was that much of this book takes place right here in little old Utah, so picturing the scene and setting was really awesome and easy for me.

Bottom line: It was a fun and crazy ride!

Other Reviews:

It was a fun and fast read with a great premise. From Dark Faerie Tales

I'm just not a big fan of being strung along and still left so largely in the dark by the end of the story. That being said, the entire book kept me sucked in and I honestly couldn't put it down. From A Book Obsession

I'm hoping that its sequel vastly improves upon itself as far as story goes or at the very least moves the plot along at a quicker pace. From Blood, Sweat and Books

My ultimate favourite character was Jack. His personality was flawed without exceptions, yet his faith and simplicity were in great contrast to the general mood of Blackout which made him stand out. From YA Midnight Reads

Book Review: Seers by Heather Frost

Book: Seers by Heather Frost
Genre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Utah Book Month
From: A book exchange at a work party

I first heard about this book and author when her grandma came up to the library administration offices, handed us some book swag (and a book too I think!) and said, "Here. You need this book in your library! She's even local!"

We thought, wow, aggressive!

Later I saw the author at the favorite LTUE conference and thought, wow, she is WAY too young to have written a book already!

So my first impressions, before even picking up the book was that I was a little bit wary and skeptical, you know? How unfair is that!

But how wrong those first impressions were! It turns out that this book is awesome! It kept my attention constantly through the whole book (and it's not the smallest thing) and I fell in love with the characters completely. It's one of those books where, when not reading, I'm thinking about it and wondering about the characters and longing to get back to them. However, it only took me a day and maybe a half to read this book, so I didn't have much of that yearning to do really!

It's the story of a girl who, after a near death experience, can suddenly see the auras of people around her, which lets her know their emotions. Then one day a new guy (always the new guy!) comes to school, and she can only see silver around him. And he gives her a bit of the creeps because of that and she can't tell what's up with him at all! A couple of other weird things happen and when she finally gets the guts to talk to this dude, she finds out...well, I want you to read it and find out what too!

But maybe I'll say one thing... he's Irish, complete with accent and piercing blue eyes and all.

Anyway, this discovery sends her and her new friends on an adventure which turns out to be quite more complicated than they first expected, and quite the dangerous one.

I loved these guys! Both Patrick and Kate.. and there's an especially wonderful sidekick, Toni, with an awesome comic relief sort of personality that we all love. I loved the simple and straightforward writing that kept me reading and the end was so nicely wrapped up and yet left me hanging at the same time... perfectly setting up the sequel (and trilogy.)

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this one, a lot.

Other Reviews:

The writing style is quite good,the story flows easily and in general,I was quite pleasantly surprised by the way Heather Frost managed to deliver her story. From Books to Brighten Your Mood

I thought this book was great, and well written. This is the author’s first book, and I was very impressed. From LDS Women's Book Review

Book Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Fun
From: Bought for my Kindle

As with the other books I've been reading lately, this one has been on my radar forever it seems. I knew nothing about it except everyone was always swooning over the love interest. So yes, I was curious as to why!

Well, first of all, there's his name, Daemon. I mean, that's a good start right there, don't you think? :) And then he's definitely got that dark mysterious thing going on. Add to that his apparent stand offish-ness, and his "I'm a jerk" facade, and yes, you have the makings a pretty intriguing guy! (Who doesn't, by the way, look at all like the guy on the cover, at least in my head.)

Much of this book fills the same old same old formula. The new girl, Katy, moves in and starts at a new high school. She has trouble fitting in but makes a couple friends. One of those friends lives next door, along with her twin brother.

It turns out that she can't stand this boy, well, she thinks she can't and he makes her crazy, but of course, you know that really they are sparking with intense chemistry and tension.

And then she starts finding out who they REALLY are and how she suddenly fits in to the whole picture somehow and the world must be saved! (Gah, I only read it a week or so ago and already I can't remember the details! My dumb brain!)

But here's the thing. I found myself truly enjoying this one and the cliches were fun and not annoying and the big reveal was a little different than expected and the swoon worthy bits were pretty... swoon worthy. I can see why everyone has been so gaga over this character and his....mmmmm.... appeal.

So that was fun.

But beware Twilight haters, this has a lot in common with that book. A lot. So depending on your mood or inclination, you will love it or hate it. As for me, I leaned on the love it side. I must have been in the right mood.

By the way, is this author a book blogger? Either she was in a former life, or she still is, or she is very familiar with our little community because she threw in many many book blogger-isms. So that was fun too. It makes us book bloggers really relate to this main character in a whole new way!

Bottom line: Despite its cliches, I ended up totally enjoying this fun and crazy story! I know there's more in the series, I'll be keeping an eye out for more good Kindle deals!

Other Reviews:

Blech I hate bad boys. But…damn you Jennifer L. Armentrout, I sort of love Daemon. From Anna Reads

He was just a jerk. He would have a rare tender moment with Katy in one scene then totally acting like she’s nobody the next. Not acceptable. Not sexy and definitely not cool. From Muggle-Born

I definitely recommend picking it up for the fun times and watching a really cute love story develop. From Bookalicio.us

This book was painfully like Twilight. I try really hard not to compare the paranormal romance books I read to the “saga,” but here it is just glaringly obvious. From Reutreads