Day: May 4, 2015

Movie Review: If I Stay

Posted May 4, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

If_I_Stay_posterRowena’s review of If I Stay.

Mia Hall thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Juilliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam. But what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, which will not only decide her future but her ultimate fate.

It’s been so long since I read this book that I thought seeing the movie was going to be a new experience but that’s not what happened. As soon as the movie started, the book came back to me.

Mia Hall is a gifted musician with hippie parents and a pretty great little brother. She’s close with her family even though she’s completely different from them. Her parents are free spirits who are spontaneous, outwardly happy and into rock music but Mia is more reserved and into classical musical and playing her cello. She’s a deep thinker and if there was a black sheep in her family, she’d be it. Her family is too close and they love each other too much for black sheeps though. I thought her parents were lovely people and Teddy was a complete delight.

When Mia meets Adam, the popular boy from school who is into rock music (just like her parents), she wasn’t expecting the relationship that would blossom between them. She wasn’t expecting to be so intensely in love with him at such a young age but she was. Adam and Mia were dynamite together and the love that they had for each other was great to witness on the big screen. Their love was pure and lovely and complicated as time pulls them apart. Adam graduates from high school (he’s a year ahead of Mia) and his band starts playing gigs all over the place while Mia is left behind, still in school, trying to figure out what she’s going to do after she graduates.

Adam and Mia made plans for after graduation but Mia starts hoping for different things. Things that weren’t part of the plans she made with Adam and when Adam finds out, he’s salty as shit and they fight and then drift…and even though they still love each other, there’s still hurt feelings and unsure thoughts and when Mia’s entire family (her included) is in a fatal car accident, Mia who is hovering between the after life and coming back to Earth has some decisions to make.

Should she go or should she stay?

This whole movie is a cry-fest. The minute that the accident happens on the big screen, my heart was crying all over the place. Mia is trying to deal with the fact that she’s losing her family fast and trying to figure out what kind of life she’d be staying for and holy cow, the emotions game in this movie was too strong.

I liked the casting of the characters in this movie. From Mia to Adam (who wasn’t my first choice but he totally grew on me as I watched the movie – by the end, I LOVED him!) to Mia’s family, her grandparents, Adam’s band mates and Mia’s best friend. I loved everyone.

There were parts of the movie that dragged a bit in the middle, some parts of Adam and Mia’s relationship that I felt weren’t needed but in the end, I still enjoyed the movie heaps that I bought the DVD the day that it came out. I thought it was a great chick flick and fans of the book will enjoy this one. I know I did.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This movie is available from MGM Studios. I purchased my own ticket and bought the DVD too.


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Guest Review: The Handler by D.R. Graham

Posted May 4, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Handler by D.R. GrahamReviewer: Tracy
The Handler by D.R. Graham
Series: Noir et Bleu Motorcycle Club #2
Also in this series: One Percenter, It Is What It Is
Publisher: Macmillan, Entangled
Publication Date: April 28th 2015
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

He promised he would never be an outlaw...While searching for a member of the outlaw motorcycle gang who murdered his dad, Cain Allen is offered a boatload of cash to "handle" the stunning teen popstar Lincoln Todd. Although he doesn't need the headache of a high-maintenance celebrity, getting out of town will help him keep a low profile until he testifies against two of the killers.Touring Europe with Lincoln proves to be more complicated than Cain anticipated, and despite his efforts, the line between their personal and professional lives blurs. She's sweet, smart, and totally unpredictable. And he loves it.
But Lincoln's association with Cain puts her in more danger than anyone could have imagined. When he joins forces with the Noir et Bleu Motorcycle Club to protect her, Cain discovers the lengths he's willing to go, and the person he's willing to become to protect the people he loves...

Tracy’s review of The Handler (Noir et Bleu Motorcycle Club #2) by D.R. Graham

Nineteen-year-old Cain Allen is in California living and working while he searches for one of the men who killed his father and burned his mother almost to death. He’s working as an electrician when he meets Lincoln Todd – a young girl who has just recently moved off of the Disney Channel. After watching the making of one of her music videos he’s not necessarily got a high opinion of the girl as she’s mouthy and opinionated, but she seems to take his advice about different things pretty seriously. They start to talk and next thing you know they’re hanging out together – against Cain’s better judgment. He knows he can’t get involved with her because of her age but also because of the fact that he has a girlfriend back home in Canada (who was a complete bitch, imho.)

Cain somehow gets roped in to handling Lincoln for the next day and the next thing you know he’s being offered $10,000 a day to be her handler during her 43 day European tour. How can he pass that kind of money up when it can help his family and his mother so much? He can’t. He goes on the road with Lincoln but hasn’t given up the hopes that he’ll find his father’s killer. Cain starts having feelings for Lincoln and finally decides that he can act on them when his situation changes with his girlfriend and he finds out her real age. Unfortunately, getting closer to Lincoln means putting her in danger along with his grandparents and his 14 year old sister. In fact, the killer ends up finding Cain (rather than the other way around) and things start going downhill from there.

I have to say that I was slightly disappointed that this wasn’t a story about one of the actual Noir et Bleu MC members but after reading the story I was quite pleased with it anyway.

Cain was a good guy – trying to find the murderer and taking care of his grandparents and sibling. He tried so hard to stay away from Lincoln but she turned out to be a really nice yet incredibly lonely woman. She really cared for Cain and I loved their relationship as it was very sweet.

We still get some danger because the Noir et Bleu MC is involved in the story. This book still had that dark, gritty feel to it that book one had, and frankly it was hard to put it down once I started reading. Graham certainly has a way of pulling me in and not letting go.  I’ve liked this series so far and I’m looking forward to reading more about NeB.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Entangled Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars


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