Amelia Winter

Good 👍

Revisado: 02-17-25

Amazing take on a horrible party...worth reading... encourages one to look at things from another perspective.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

It's ok....

Revisado: 04-16-24

While I found all the performances grand, overall this book is just ok to me.
I found myself spacing out or thinking about other titles for me to listen to/read.
Would not recommend. 📙👎

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

I liked it!! ☠️😊

Revisado: 04-09-24

as an amateur death investigator wanting to learn more about death, forensics, and the field as a whole I found "Unnatural Causes" an exciting and interesting read!!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Love the enlightenment!

Revisado: 02-10-24

As a comedic actor of myself, I’ve been struggling the last several years the ins and outs of knowing and not knowing but this book is giving me new courage and enlightenment, and I’m so grateful for Jenna Fisher and encouraging me on my journey, knowing that all will be well! God bless her and everything she does! 

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fun!!

Revisado: 11-07-23

I liked "A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem".
It reminded me of "The League of Extraordinary Women" series by Evie Dunmore.

Though I did enjoy the romance in this book between the two main characters, I found that their love affair went a little too quick. Would have liked a more sexy slow burn between these two characters.

I definitely loved the narration. perfect on point for the setting, time. and story.

Still, this book is great fun and a must-read for all romance, mystery, and historical fiction book lovers.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Loved IT!!!!

Revisado: 09-22-21

WARING SPOILERS!!!!!

"Portrait of a Scotsman" is an entertaining and saucy read, though not what I expected. I enjoyed "Bringing Down the Duke," and I love, love, love "A Rouge of One's Own." As with the previous two, "League of Extraordinary Woman," I listened to the audiobook. Elizabeth Jasicki's narrations are the most excellent!! She was, as before, splendid.....thank you, Audible.
However, unlike the previous two novels, one is bound to experience disappointment when preconceived expectations go in. "Portrait of a Scotsman" took me on an emotional roller coaster and is one of those books that challenged me to look at my own emotions and heal past pains.

Before I go into the story, I am going to start with the characters........

Hattie is a bright, creative, and intelligent woman who sees things that most people miss. However, Hattie is ignorant and inexperienced in many ways. Life outside her realm, love, sex, and knowing who she truly is not only as an artist but as a woman and an individual.
Hattie was controlled and told who to be and how to act from a very young age. She is often described as not having a head for words and numbers. She is instructed to write with her right hand. Her mother chooses all her gowns even though she is now a grown woman and can decide for herself.
Even on her wedding day, Hattie's mother scolds her for holding the bouquet in her left hand!!!

Lucien is a dark and looming figure at first encounter. He is a man who goes after what he wants and is willing to crush and destroy those around him to meet his ends. So, yes, he is a prince of darkness at first glance; however, as one reads on, one learns that Lucien is also a damaged and grieving man. His life changed instantly when his mother, sister, and six other women and children died in the mines due to Rutland's negligence. Furthermore, when called out Rutland, justified and excused his actions and the repercussions. When Hattie finds out that Lucien married her in part of a business deal with her father, and cries: "How could you?! It was my life with which you tempered with!" I believe that was the question looming inside Lucien himself towards Rutland. He became what he despised. No, Hattie did not physically die, and yes, her circumstances are small in comparison. Still, emotionally, both Hattie and Lucien were left drowning with their own heartbreak.
However, unlike his wife, Lucien still desired vengeance on those who wronged him. As they get to know each other more, I love how Hattie proposes to Lucien to let Rutland and all his hatred and resentment towards him go. Hattie, at the time, does not fully perceive what she is asking. Still, despite her personal reasons, I love that she is acutely channeling and challenging Lucien to grow up...as is he to her.
I imagine what he found appealing about Hattie at the start is that she is not intimidated by him. When he kisses her during their first encounter at his house, Hattie reacts by slapping him in the face and calling him out on his actions. Yes, Hattie secretly enjoyed their embrace but still clarified that she is not his just to take.
Lucien critiques Hattie at various moments; he sees his wife as a spoiled brat, and bodily stops her from going to Paris. Still, he also respects and does not attempt to change or force Hattie to conform to him.
Outside of her friends, and even though he had his own motives at the start, Lucien is the first person to choose to see, accept, desire, and encourage Hattie to be herself. One of my favorite scenes is Hattie screaming, several times, into the Scottish wilderness as Lucien stands next to her, listening and watching.......I believe he found it arousing.

I loved that we got to see Annabelle, Sebastian, Lucie, Tristan, and Catriona.
When Hattie finally contacted her friends, they were all supportive and kind to her while still letting her go on the journey of self-discovery.

Annabelle wants to help and possibly even rescue Hattie for her fate. Still, she knows that hers' and Sebastian's power only go oh so far. Being her father, Mr. Greenfield agreed and announced that Hattie would marry Lucien. Though a Duke and Duchess, Annabelle and Sebastian would be crossing a line by interfering and venturing to stop the wedding.....and they knew it.

I don't think Tristan gave one tinkers damn but instead was bothered by the fact Lucie was upset. Yes, he talked with Lucien, but only because Lucie made her feelings on the nuptials unquestionably known to him....and the whole street, I bet. I am sure that Luice declared that a man to man (rouge to beast) from Tristan to Lucien might convince Lucien to change his mind and let Hattie go or, at best, postpone the wedding. He wanted to make Lucie happy and keep himself out of her line of pixie fire.

I think it's more the circumstances than anything, but I get the sense that Lucie does not like Lucien. (Oh boy, I can see myself name swapping these two going forward.....haha)
Lucie takes Lucien as a kidnapping, dishonest, selfish cad. Deep down, Lucie just wants Hattie to be happy. Which, over time, I believe Luice understands Hattie is with Lucien.
When they are standing outside the end of the book, Luice loops her arm around Hatties and begins to walk her away. Hattie genty pulls out of Lucie's hold to finish talking to Lucien and kiss him goodbye, making Lucie realize that, yes, the situation of their marriage is unfair. Still, her friends' feelings for this man are pure and just.


Catriona was not seen as much. I know she is shy and reversed, but I would like to have seen more of her. Oh well, I will just have t wait until book #4.
It's cute how when Hattie talks to the girls about Lucien, Catarina states she thought Lucien would look sexy in a kilt.
I look forward to reading about Catriona and her story.


Now to the story......

I loved the early beginning, Hattie sneaking off and venturing out on her own again, the kiss she and Lucien have in his study. The rush of the experience and how Hattie confronts Lucien for making assumptions and crossing a personal boundary despite enjoying it. (Little does Hattie know that the kiss and his tongue is the most undersized expression of affection she would experience with Lucien...lol) I relished the wonder and curious attraction Hattie felt towards Lucien afterward.
After their second kiss in the gallery, however, my feeling went to inraged. I am aware that Hattie's situation is common for the time. Still, I was infuriated by the injustice of Hattie's forced marriage to Lucien, her family's attitude, and how she is prevented from communicating with the ladies after the fact. Hattie is punished for her responses by being thrust into a frightening circumstance; she is clueless about what to do or what will happen. Even though her mother provided her with a "manual."
I took a break from the book, at it was having a profound effect on my mood. For personal reasons, I will not be going into depth though I will say that this story struck a nerve and hit home.
Reading on, I fell in love with the story—the train ride from London to Scotland. I would gladly take the lodgings at the inn where Hattie and Lucien stay at. The beautiful Scottish wilderness.......Evie Dunmore did a great job describing the surroundings of Scottland, the miners, and the atmosphere. I felt as if I was Hattie herself at the wedding party, dancing and drinking the night away. Though I would not want her hangover the following day. Lol, poor thing did not know the power of Scottish whiskey!! :)

Hattie and Lucien's relationship and love story overall are unusually delightful. They get to know each other and themselves through the circumstances, which I liked to see. In the end, when Hattie chooses to divorce Lucien only to remarry him was a sweet finish. I believe that Hattie did not want to divorce herself from Lucien, his love and affection, or a relationship with him, but instead start over. Pursue, desire, and grow in each other and a new relationship. When they initially said their vows, they were saying and doing what was expected of them. Now, when Hattie and Lucien state the vows and live as a remarried couple, I think that they will not only understand but feel and have experienced their meaning. They will now be a couple in passion, not an obligation.
I think they both are; as Stella in "Rear Window" said, "When my husband and I met, we were a pair of maladjusted misfits. We are still a pair of maladjusted misfits and loved every minute of it."

I greatly look forward to book #4 with Catriona!!!!
See you, lads and lasses, then.
Happy reading and writing.
;)

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Uhhhhhhh!!!!

Revisado: 07-31-21

"My Therapist, My Lover" is a thumbs down, no-go for me.
I found it to be confusing; it has a weak hook coupled with awkward and unappealing pacing.
At less then ten minutes in, I turned it off

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

WHAT the f*&k!!!!!!!

Revisado: 07-29-21

I am in shock. As I write this, I am crying. I don't know what to say.
"The Silent Patient" is the debut of Alex Michaelides, and even though it is Michaelides's debut, it takes place after his second novel, "The Maidens."
Having thoroughly enjoyed "The Maidens" and wanting to go back into Alex Michaelides' world, I started "The Silent Patient" the day after completing "The Maidens."
Man, oh man, am I glad I did. I could not pull myself away and completed "The Silent Patient" in two days.
I thought Alex Michaelides was a good writer after reading "The Maidens." Now I believe he is a great writer and storyteller.
"The Silent Patient" is one of those books that not only left a mark on my heart but intuitively I know has altered and affected me as an amateur writer.

I look forward to going down the rabbit hole again.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting

Revisado: 07-26-21

4.7 stars. CONTAINS SPOLIERS.

The Maidens is about a group therapist named Mariana who, when we first meet her, is in the abysses of grief over the death of her husband a year previously. One night, Mariana receives a call from her niece, Zoe, saying a dead body was found outside her Cambridge campus. She thinks that it is her friend and roommate, Tara. Wanting to support and comfort Zoe, Mariana travels and stays in Cambridge.
During her time at Cambridge, two more girls are found dead. Mariana believes that the Greek Tragedy professor Edward Fosa is the killer. With his subject knowledge, extraordinary student devotion, most of them girls, and the fact that he is the head of an unusual and private study group for his "special" female students called "The Maidens." Who all worship Fosa and with whom the murdered students were members.
As she digs deeper, Mariana discovers the truth that not only solves the murders but casts the past crimes of her environment into bright and unavoidable light.

There were many things I enjoyed about this book. I like how Marianna works as a group therapist. It occupationally highlights how she keeps herself entrenched with the grief, pain, and trauma of other people so that she does not have to look at her own.
Her mother dying at such a young age.
Her childhood and the relationship she had, or rather did not have, with her father.
The death of her husband, Sebastian.
Despite all that takes place, I admire how Mariana must confront and dive deep into her emotions and part of the problem in the end.
What did she choose not to see or acknowledge?
What subtle or obvious signs about both Sabastian and Zoe did she choose to ignore?
How did she allow her own grief, pain, and abandonment issues to hinder her from noticing her niece in the same situation, if not a worse one?
When Mariana is at the Grove visiting Zoe in the last scene, we as the audience do not know how the encounter goes or concludes. I believe that Alex Michaelides wrote it like that on purpose because Mariana is unsure how this will finish.

I do see Mariana and Fred being together and healing as a couple. Fred sensed the pain and grief Marina had from the beginning. He heralded towards and perceived the light inside her and that she hid from it. Though he may have come on strong at times, his heart was in the right place.
I love how he is both cerebral and intuitive. He believes in the beyond while acknowledging the facts.
Like how in another universe, his mother did not die, and he got to have a life with her.
Or when he shares his premonitions with Mariana. Though she is not open to them, he still shares them with her.

Edward Fosca is definitely a charmer. I found myself actually transferring into Mariana and her dislike for Fosa at times, especially with the dinner scene. It felt so real. As if I was looking back on a past life or memory of a frightful and unwelcome encounter. However, I did find myself early on suspecting that Fosa was not the actual killer. That the attention was being placed on him but would reveal in the end that it was someone else.
I planted Fred, Morris, and even Henry with the killer title. I, too, suspected Zoe after hearing her initiation story, but Sebastian never once came to mind. Though I did not correctly put my theory on the distinct character, I was correct in the literal sleight of hand. Edward is not the killer, but he is nevertheless a predator and an opportunist. His relationship with "The Maidens" is unethical and unprofessional, but he never physically hurt them.

Zoe being the madman, or madwoman as the case be, at the end was a bit of a letdown and felt anticlimactic. Yes, all the points hooked up but did not impress. As if Michaelides struggled with the close and threw some last pieces together.
Like Mariana, I struggle to see Zoe as a victim. Yes, she was young and stupid, and her uncle took advantage of her in numerous ways. Still, Zoe relished the attention she received from Sebastian. She felt no guilt in their affair, nor was she saddened by the murder of her grandfather and planned murder of her aunt. Zoe played her part well. Though I do feel empathy towards her, I believe Zoe had a choice, and she chooses to be cruel.


Overall I enjoyed The Maidens and look forward to diving into "The Silent Patient" and any future works of Mr. Michaelides.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Beautiful and Happy Read

Revisado: 10-18-20

Not typically a romance chick, but I LOVE this sweet and sexy novel. Bringing Down the Duke with have you laughing, dreaming, and your heart will crackle with beautiful yummy tension. 
Elizabeth Jasicki is a wonderful and engaging narrator.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña