robgirlbooks: Marathon Review Time! Thank you Katie McGarry, Bear Grylls, & Bruce Willis for an entertaining week!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Marathon Review Time! Thank you Katie McGarry, Bear Grylls, & Bruce Willis for an entertaining week!

Since I'm a book girl who loves her TV shows and her movies, I thought I'd branch out with my review marathon.

5 STARS!! Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry is a wonderful novella in the Pushing the Limit Series. Can a friendship truly evolve into something more through the simple act of writing letters back and forth? What if one person is scared of her own shadow and the other person would rather skip out on the real world than feel pain? Echo's best friend Lila barely left an impression on me in book one of the series. And I'm not sure Lincoln was ever mentioned. Now I want more of both of them. I love novellas that explore side characters in a series I'm following, but few authors can turn a short story into a favorite read. McGarry has now joined the ranks of Rachel Caine, Nalini Singh, and Patricia Briggs for this particular talent. I can't wait for more!

5 STARS!! Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls is the latest reality TV show on NBC and I love it! We're three episodes in, but this is a show you can pick up at any point. The premise is wonderful; teams of two work together and with the other teams to get out of extreme wilderness situations alive. The last team standing wins $500k. Wow. There is no voting, no tribal council, no finish line. Bear watches, aids when necessary, councils, and decides who wouldn't make it on their own. He's looking for spirit and strength of character. He's looking for smarts and ingenuity. The message behind the show makes it great for the whole family and Bear makes it great for me because I love him. I would like to thank Jaclyn from JC's Book Haven for telling me about the show. She loves Bear too. It's not just me.

3 STARS! I didn't love A Good Day to Die Hard, but that's okay. It was nice spending time with John McClane and company. We meet his (pissy) son in this installment. There are so many special effects, I wondered if they just said, "have at it, guys" and let the two main characters make up their lines as they went along. John's always been a gutsy guy with more survival instinct than brains, but this time it seemed like he was going out of his way to appear dumb. I didn't like that. I also didn't like how pissed off his kid was with him, but I was fine with his daughter hating his guts in Die Hard 4 (Live Free or Die Hard). I'm not sure why the double standard there. Jai Courtney is awesome and I can't wait for more from him, but he came off as bratty to me and I do not find bratty men (or women) entertaining. There was one funny moment and it earned the movie 3 stars. I'm that easy. If there's another installment, I want to laugh. I want my heart pounding. I want there to be dialogue.

16 comments:

Linda @ (un)Conventional BookwormsJuly 29, 2013 at 2:30 AM
I love your review-marathon Robyn! And aren't Katie McGarry's books just made of awesome? I'm always completely immersed in her stories.

I hope you'll have a fantastic week!

Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Boookviews
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Bianca SloaneJuly 29, 2013 at 9:53 AM
Great idea! And you know I'm alllll about TV ;)!
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UnknownJuly 29, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Another cool marathon, Robyn. I love how I get to hear about new TV shows and books here. I think I like the concept of Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls, though I don't watch too much TV.

I loved Live Free or Die Hard, so I think I might enjoy A Good Day to Die Hard. It's among my 2013 movies I Want to Watch List. :)

Thanks for sharing. Have a great week! :)
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JezzebellJCJuly 29, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Sounds like a great novella! I'm watching my Bear right now. He's very yummy. I absolutely love how he chooses who should go. So glad you love this show too :D Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.
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Bookworm BrandeeJuly 30, 2013 at 8:14 AM
I love your review marathon but, um, shouldn't it be a triathlon?!? LOL

I haven't made it to Crossing the Lines yet - actually, I've only read Pushing the Limits. But I loved it. And I'm very much looking forward to reading the other books in McGarry's series.

I haven't seen Bear's new series but I did see a few of his old ones. He's amazing and amazingly yummy. But don't tell my husband I said that, Robyn! ;)

I have to admit to not having seen a Die Hard movie since the original. I'm disappointed there was only one moment of humor in A Good Day to Die Hard. The humor always tempers the violence! LOL

Thanks for making it through all 3 'events' and sharing, Robyn! :)
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AthinaJuly 31, 2013 at 7:22 AM
Crossing the Line sounds really good. Even if I don't usually watch this type of movies, I like watching them once in a while.

A Good Day to Die Hard! Well I wasn't trilled when I saw they made another movie since the previous one wasn't good either.
Reading that you didn't love it too, proves my thoughts. :)

I personally enjoy series more than movies. Especially now that Dexter and Pretty LIttle Liars continues. But I guess Dexter would be a little scary for you. :D

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Little bit about Robyn Jones

I laugh when people fall down. It's a glitch in my programming, but even my mom has suffered this quirk. I have a BA in Studio Art from the University of Puget Sound. My boys make me laugh every day. I steal pens; I try real hard not to. I collect those free bookmarks at the checkout counter at libraries. I've had more stitches than anyone I know. I love stories, writing them, reading them, watching them. You can email me at robgirlbooks@gmail.com or write a comment on a post or on my Goodreads page, just click my picture to go there.

Soul Walker, A Touched Girl Novel

Available Now on Kindle. When five-year-old Anna Pierce is offered a chance to have nightmare-free nights for the small price of her voice, she jumps at it. Silence has to be better than all-consuming dreams about blood and death and fangy monsters. The bargain she strikes comes with a secondary benefit, visions of a person’s future potential. The combination of visions and silence changes her very nature and soon she's diagnosed with autism. Twelve years of living in her head comes to a screeching halt the moment Peter Davis pulls her out of an icy river. Her new life has her twirling, tiptoeing, and crashing through unfamiliar territory, one filled with a cranky grandma, a knocked up cousin, an unpleasant cousin, a bunch of mostly good vampires, and the boy who rescued her. To top it all off, the deal she made at five is no more. Anna is expected to talk, to figure out her reemerging nightmares, and to control her ever-growing powers. And she'd better get it done soon because if the good vamps want a piece of a living, breathing Touched girl, the evil ones simply want. They'll take Anna for their very own.

Soul Bender, A Touched Girl Novel

Available Now! How much can a soul take before it breaks? Anna Pierce has a vampire boyfriend, a driver's license, real friends for the first time since she was five, and now she faces one of her biggest challenges, senior year at a mostly all girls Catholic high school. Sure, she's a member of the talking crowd now, but she'll never be like everyone else. How can she when the first of her kind has camped out in her dreams? Little dead girl Emily decides Anna's destiny can wait no longer. It's time for this generation's Touched Girl to hunt. Trained in a virtual dream landscape to destroy all in her path, Anna must choose between her destiny, the one beat into her on a nightly basis, and her legacy, the one instilled in her by her parents. Along the way, old enemies remain dutifully obsessed, new foes lurk in the shadows, and odd Little Duckie Anna Pierce sets out to be social.

Soul Twister, A Touched Girl Novel #3

Available now! “Peter and I are about to play a game. Don’t help him.” “Game?” crazy Shopgirl asked. “A hunting game,” Peter answered. His voice had a new quality to it. He caught me staring and instead of smiling, he held my eyes. “First one wins the bite. I’m going to win, Anna.” Months into recovering from the bloody events that took place in Soul Bender, Anna Pierce is ready to get back out there and fulfill her self-crafted destiny. Sadly, no one in her life feels the same way. The emergence of buried memories and out-of-the-blue powers send her straight into regular sessions with the school counselor. If only she could talk about her overly protective vampire boyfriend or the real threat posed by former friends turned enemies or her new guide who makes her former guide look like a bowl of sunshine. Anna has a lot going on, but at least she's too busy to think about her first Christmas at Ella's.

"Mom, you said shit." "I know, John." "You said shit, Mom." "Stop saying shit, John." "You stop saying shit."
"Mom, what do you want for Christmas?" "I want two happy boys." "You already have two happy boys." John 3/12/13
"Mama, I want to stay with you forever." John 3/2/13
I keep my perfume out of reach so the four year old won't mess with it. One day, he climbed the closet shelves, grabbed the bottle and sprayed away. After tagging everything from his hands to his penis (did I mention he was naked?) he shouted, "God dang it!" "John, little boys do not say God dang it. Try drat." "God drat!"
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" "Why?" "Because there was poop on the ground." 4yr old John (2/18/13)
"Mom, you're not a superhero. You're just a human." 10 yr old Will (2/11/13)
"When I'm at daddy's, sometimes I think about hugging you, mom." 4yr old John (2/8/13)
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I'll do it the easy way, mom. You do it the hard way." 2/6/13 4yr old John
"I sleep, eat, and watch TV like Garfield." 4yr old John
John snatched his older brother's Lego Star Wars shorts out of the laundry and quickly put them on. "These are mine." "No, John." "But they look good on me."
"John, what was you favorite part of school today?" "When you came to visit me in class."
In an attempt to redirect the morning car-bickering routine, I transformed into one of those newly-minted teachers, you know, the enthusiastic cheerleader smiling kind. "Who knows the number one car rule?" I toss out there in a chipper voice. "I do. I do!" bounces around the car as excited hands wave back and forth. "Okay John, what's the number one car rule?" "No, pooping in the car."
Will's teacher asked him, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" "Help my mom."
Just to set up this next quote, I'm not the best interpreter of 4yr old speak. "Mom, Will's clothes disappeared." Since Will wasn't naked I looked back at John. "What does that mean?" "Disappeared means Will's clothes are gone!" he says with his hands making a vanishing act gesture.
"Mom, what rhymes with duck?" 4yr old John
Recently, John found a handful of Pez dispensers. Since he doesn't like the candy, he plays with them like action figures. "Mom, you play Woody, I'll play Garfield and Thor." I dutifully play Woody from Toy Story. "I'm Sheriff Woody. Reach for the sky." "I'm Garfield. I'm a talking cat. I'm Thor. I'm a superhero. Hey, let's look up." (because that is all a pez dispenser can do)
"Will, stop bossing John around." "I'm helping you boss John around." my 10 yr old
"Mom, I wanted weapons for Christmas. Santa is on the naughty list." my 4yr old
"Hot dogs are made of dead animals, Mom...I love dead animals!" my 4yr old
"When I say I don't like you, I love you." my 4yr old
"I've had a rough day." me "Like a Viking?" my 10 yr old
Seven days before Christmas it snows. "Merry Christmas, Mom," ten year old Will says with his arm around me.
"We have to take care of each other, Mom." my son Will
"The baddest guy in Mexico beat me." 4 year old John
"If you think my name is Cinderella, you just don't get it." my son John
"Mom, I love your Buddha belly." my son John