So, this book immediately grabbed my attention when I saw it in Asda, on the same shelf as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I bought it a few weeks later and started reading it and….
If I’m completely honest, this book didn’t really meet my expectations. I thought it had a lot of potential…and it was a book that was easy to read. I did like Monica’s character, and I felt bad for her that her mom was so traumatised by her oldest daughter’s death, it had a huge impact on her relationship with Monica. It broke my heart when Monica thought about how low she sat on her mother’s list of priorities, given that it was her younger brother’s birthday her mom used for her passwords.
I didn’t think that it was necessary to have the chapters from five years ago, written from Jen’s perspective. Honestly, those really threw me out of the story…and seemed wholly unnecessary, since anything that was revealed in Jen’s chapters was very quickly uncovered by Monica. And switching between first and third person is very jarring.
I was disappointed that, despite there being chemistry between them, nothing happened between Monica and Ginny. For a lot of the book, it felt like there was a buildup to them getting together…and I’m extremely disappointed this was ignored in favour of pushing Monica together with a guy who she barely seemed to know exist.
I did think there were too many threads in this book. They weren’t really woven together seamlessly; which makes sense, I guess. The tagline on the front of the book doesn’t really fit with anything that happened, though. ‘Five girls lied and five girls died’. The five girls dying is obvious. Those lying…well, I might be able to think of about three, maybe four, who were lying throughout the book. But there was too much going on for those dots to connect. I didn’t have the, ‘That makes sense’ moment when the truth was revealed. And honestly, the whole thing about Jen felt like it was just tacked on to explain what had happened.
This book had so much potential, but unfortunately for me, it just fell completely short. There was too much pushed into this book…and the ending really spoiled the whole thing for me. I might check out other books by this author in the future, but unfortunately, this one isn’t on my ‘read again’ list.
Compared to the previous two books in this series, I found this one took me more time to get through. I’m not sure why; maybe the events of book two had traumatised me in the same way they had Pip? That was one of the really good things about this book, I felt. It was really good, if heartbreaking, to see how badly Pip was affected by everything that happened…to the point of her having to go to a drug dealer just to get medication in order to be able to sleep.
I really liked the scenes of Pip and Ravi together. I honestly truly love their relationship; they’re so incredibly sweet together, and it’s really obvious that Ravi accepts Pip no matter what…and there’s no time more clear with that than reading towards the end of the book.
I found it interesting how Pip’s idea of ‘saving’ herself was to find a case that was more black and white, with no shades of grey. The previous two books did a really good job of showing the shades of grey in the cases in the previous books…and I liked the fact that this book not only came full circle with Andie’s involvement, but also allowed a deeper glimpse into her character and motivations. In this book, Andie was actually a character who I regretted not being able to learn more about in the first book.
It was a bit disappointing not to see as many of Pip’s notes and interview transcripts, which I thought worked so well in the previous two books. I did really like seeing Pip interacting with Nat, thogh, and them actually being friends by the time the third book came along. Nat was a character who really suffered in book one, only to have it all dredged up in the second book…and part of me felt that she got some closure in this third book. Plus, I liked seeing Cara appear more in this book, along with her sister…though I absolutely hated seeing Lauren and Anthony, who were almost worse than the killer in this book. After all, they accused Pip of making everything up about Jamie in book two…something that could have been extremely damaging to the whole case.
While this book was harder to read than the previous two, I still did find it good to read, although I ended the book with some very mixed feelings. Still, I’d say that it’s definitely worth reading. I love Pip and Ravi, and I’d love to read more books with them in. Plus, my understanding is that there will be a TV series of the books soon…and I definitely intend to watch that when it comes out.
I’ve come a long way since I saw one of the first Mission Impossible films, where I sat with my coat over my head for the movie (I really didn’t want to watch it). I barely even remember what happened in that movie, apart from there being someone getting shot in the stomach.
The Mission Impossible movies are similar to the Fast and Furious franchise, in that they really do stretch my suspension of disbelief. The opening scene starts with a submarine under attack by a threat that shows up on their radar…but the attacking vessel doesn’t behave normally and eventually disappears, but unfortunately not before the submarine is destroyed and everyone on board is killed.
This movie stretches towards science fiction with the enemy being an AI who’s evolved to think for itself, becoming known as The Entity. And this Entity is searching for a key that’s able to control it…or, in Ethan Hunt’s case, to destroy it.
The action in this movie is pretty good, but I have to say that some of the characters felt a bit two-dimensional. The main one was Grace. I really like Hayley Atwell as an actor, but the character she portrayed in this movie just felt very bland. There was no real depth to her, so her actions at the end of the movie just felt completely forced. And to be honest, I really didn’t see why Ethan cared about her. In his shoes, I probably would have just let her experience the consequences of her own actions. After all, he tried to save her multiple times…and she really didn’t bring all that much to the table at the end of it. Certainly not as much as Ilsa did. And for a ‘bad’ character shown to have more depth to them, I would have been far more interested in that storyline being explored with Paris.
I did find it interesting to see Gabriel, an enemy from Ethan’s past, working with the Entity. It was interesting to see Ethan and his team have to fight against an enemy with complete and total control over technology, able to hack into their comms and surveillance cameras…effectively rendering them unable to trust their own technology.
There were a lot of good action and tension moments in this movie, even if it was a little predictable at times. I don’t think I’d get anything out of watching the movie again, at least not any time soon, but I do intend to watch part two.
I do enjoy horror movies, and I’ve seen all of the Insidious movies to date…so when I saw this movie advertised, I was immediately interested in watching it.
The previous movie in this franchise ended with both Josh and his son, Dalton, repressing their memories of their time of being able to astral project and enter the Further. Originally, it seemed like that was the ending of the franchise. After all, with the memories entirely repressed, how could there be any memories from the Further?
Well, it seems like the Further…and specifically, the Lipstick-Face Demon…isn’t finished with Josh and his family yet. Josh doesn’t remember being able to astral project, and he doesn’t remember the Further, or the traumatic experiences his family and he went through there. Unfortunately, this has resulted in Josh becoming ‘foggy’. He doesn’t remember the Further, but he is also struggling with memory problems…and not being able to engage with his children, resulting in him and his wife separating and a clear divide between him and Dalton especially.
It’s not very clear what triggers the opening of the red door, but the movie is suitably creepy leading up to the appearance of the Lipstick-Demon. I was a bit disappointed not to see more of the Further, however. In the previous movies, I thought the Further was the most interesting and creepy part…and honestly, it would have been nice to see more of it in this movie.
I did think there were some really good creepy moments in this movie. As a viewer, there were a couple of things I saw that the characters didn’t, which was a good and different way of drawing out the fear. There were a couple of really disgusting scenes, though, that kind of ruined the horror for me. I honestly felt that the over the top scene with the ghost being sick ruined some of the movie for me.
I liked the link in with the previous Insidious movies and what had happened there. It was also really good to learn more about Josh’s own past and his family history. I also really liked Chris as a character; I loved her friendship with Dalton, and the fact that she was so enthusiastic about helping him figure out what was going on. Plus, she felt very much like the voice of reason in this movie – which is sadly lacking in so mnay horror movies.
I did enjoy this movie, and it was great to see a couple of cameos from some of the other characters in the franchise. It would be good to see more of the Further in future installments of this franchise…since I can’t imagine everything is now calm and peaceful. Besides. A movie franchise that works well isn’t going to end any time soon…looking at Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious, to name just two.
So…I have to say that I wasn’t planning on going to this event, at all. I love conventions…I love meeting actors and I love getting autographs. But I hate how crowded and how many people there are at the signing events like Showmasters. It’s why I mostly go to Starfury events, because even though there’s a lot of people there, it isn’t overwhelming in the same way…and that’s mainly thanks to the main organiser and his staff. I was also reluctant to go to this event because I’d bought tickets three separate times with the expectation/hope of meeting Clark Gregg…and each time had failed. And the last cancellation had occurred last year, when I was in the hospital recovering from nearly dying from a combination of DKA and sepsis, so…yeah.
Anyway, one of my friends was going to this event…and he wanted me to go with him, because I’m always organised. I make sure I have a clear list of whose autograph I want and what times the photos are that I want. And when I’m at a convention with other people, I automatically organise them too. So my friend wanted me with him so I could be the organiser. Even so, I was still reluctant to buy a new diamond pass for Clark Gregg until eight days before the event, when I saw him reposting the schedule for LFCC. I literally said to my friend, ‘This is a good sign, right?’
I actually ended up getting two diamond passes, one for Clark Gregg and one for Mike Colter. Because I hate being later in the day to conventions, I pretty much insisted to my friend that I didn’t want to risk getting there after the initial opening time of 9am…especially considering that last year, Showmasters stopped allowing people into the event and operated on a ‘one in, one out’ system. So we got the train to Bournemouth Friday night…and got the coach to London in the early hours of Saturday morning (1:30am, to be exact). So we did get to the venue about two and a half hours before the opening time, which was fine by me…but unfortunately, my body refused to sleep on the coach, so I was pretty tired by the time we got to the event. Also unfortunately, I managed to knock my sensor for my blood sugar off my arm…so I was left with only my testing strips and constantly needing to prick my finger to check my blood sugar.
We were told to queue up at a particular entry, but about 40 minutes after being in one place, we were told we had to go to a different area to queue. Unfortunately, by this time, the line was pretty long, which meant that those who’d been at the front of the line ended up nearer the back…and considering a lot of those were people on access (including myself and my friend), it wasn’t so good to end up at the back of the line, especially since there were no chairs to sit on in sight.
We were let in to the diamond pass collection earlier than the event opened, although there was a lot of confusion, as I had my diamond passes and my friend didn’t…but since we were both on access (or extra help), I didn’t want to risk us getting separated. Eventually, my friend was able to have a seat outside to wait for me…and I got in and was able to collect my diamond passes, although it did take them a while to find my Mike Colter pass, since I’d only bought it the day before.
Once we were inside the venue, it was early enough that I wanted to try and get all of the autographs (I wanted four; my friend didn’t want any) before the photos started at 11:30. When we got in, most of the guests weren’t there, so I collected virtual queue tickets for Jessica Henwick (13) and David Wenham (21). Then I joined the queue for Clark Gregg’s autograph.
Clark Gregg was very nice to talk to. I had a lot of trouble deciding on the photo I wanted to get signed. Unfortunately, there was just too much choice. In the end, I picked up a picture which had Phil Coulson and Nick Fury in it…although if I’d had the money, I probably would have got one of the others. (I thought about the one with Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers, but unfortunately, Coulson was a bit blurry in that, so I put the photo down again).
When I got to the front of the autograph line, I told him I was really happy that he was there (I kept the diamond pass up until last year, when I finally gave up on meeting him and requested a voucher that I then used for a couple of other guests in 2022). I think he was happy to hear that…I mentioned that I was sure he’d had a long trip, but he told me he’d been in Europe for the past three weeks, to make sure he actually made it, and had been in London for the past couple of days, so it hadn’t been as long as it could have been. So while the autograph queue was massive, it didn’t feel like a production line.
The next person I picked up an autograph from was David Wenham…but I was getting the autograph as a gift for another person, so I’m not going to share a picture here. But he was such a genuinely nice person, I did regret not getting an autograph from him as well. Maybe if he comes to another event, I might take the opportunity to meet him for myself.
The third person I went to get an autograph from was Jessica Henwick…and her queue was really long as well, which wasn’t surprising. She’s not only a big Marvel guest, she’s also been in Game of Thrones and The Matrix: Resurrections. I was a bit torn about whether to get an autograph from her as Bugs or Colleen and ultimately decided on Bugs, but…I was very tempted by a visually stunning picture of her character in Game of Thrones. I sort of wish I’d picked up a second autograph as well. Ah, well. Maybe another year.
She was also someone who seemed to really enjoy being there and talked with people…and was very happy and smiley, so a genuinely good meet.
The final autograph I got was, of course, Mike Colter. I accidentally made use of my Extra Help wristband; when I joined the queue, I was questioned, and when I said I was a diamond pass, the staff member said he needed to ask what to do. So I added that I was extra help, since I was worried I’d be asked to come back later. Instead, I ended up being taken to the front of the line. So sorry to the other people I skipped past! I honestly hadn’t intended for that to happen.
Anyway, Mike was also nice and friendly. I didn’t know which photo to get signed and asked him if he had a favourite. He told me all of them, but also that he had quite a few back at his house that he thought he should have brought with him. I’m fairly happy with the photo I did get signed.
I also liked him in the movie Breakthrough, which I saw at the cinema quite a while ago. Similar to Clark Gregg, I was supposed to meet him a few years back, but unfortunately, that convention company closed, so that ended up not happening.
I got those autographs pretty quickly, which was good. Me and my friend got to have a look around some of the stalls, which was fun. I found a comic book that I wanted to go back and get, but…unfortunately, it got snapped up before I got back. I did look at the others, but none of them caught my attention in the same way. I did glance at the book stalls, but none of them really grabbed me.
My first photo of the three I got was with Clark Gregg. I made sure my friend was at the photo studio for his photo (they were happening close to each other time wise) and then went to find the photo studio I was meant to be at. (I had a woman ask me where the photo studio I needed to go to was, while I was trying to make arrangements for meeting up with my friend after both of our photos. I might have been a little short with her when saying I was in the middle of sorting something out with my friend, but…please don’t interrupt someone when they’re clearly having a conversation? I did tell her where I thought the photo studio was, but I couldn’t really wait around, as I was running out of time).
Actually, finding the photo studio I was supposed to be in was fairly easy…I had to go towards the massive crowd of people. And because I’m short, I couldn’t see anything. So I had to call out to ask what was going on…and then fight my way through the group of people pressing in close, since extra help meant I needed to be at the front. (Honestly, this is one of the things that Showmasters is bad about – letting people crowd around and effectively stop those who need to from getting through). In any case, I was able to fight my way through and join the queue…and I was able to finally get my photo taken with Clark Gregg.
After I’d got that photo and my friend had queued up for two of his (but been told he had to come back later, as he didn’t have diamond passes), we went to get lunch, which was…ridiculously expensive. £15 for a burger and fries…though I have to say, they didn’t scrimp on the amount. Still, the food was pretty basic in taste. And there were too many people around, that it triggered my need to ‘get away’. Fortunately, I was able to stay in place while my food was cooked, but as soon as I had it in hand, I had to get away from the crowd. I fortunately found a place I could sit on the floor with my back against the wall and not many people around. (The lack of seating was atrocious).
After lunch and another bit of browsing, my friend and I ended up back upstairs for our next two photos. This unfortunately was another problem, as I wasn’t up to going up and down the stairs (thanks, diabetes, for making me tired out more than I used to be), so we had to get the lift. And there was one lift…and lots of people needing to get the lift. And I didn’t mind waiting in the queue, but if you’re waiting for the lift, please don’t stand around having a conversation when the lift reaches the floor and refuse to get in until someone has to ask you! (I also wish there’d been a better system for waiting for the lift, as people tried to form two separate lines).
I did get to have a massage from a Mobile Massage company, who were at the event. I have a lot of tension in my neck, shoulders and back, so the massage, while a bit painful due to the pressure, was definitely helpful! And it was a really good system, with people paying what they wanted between £15 and £50. I paid £30, although if it had been in a quieter/calmer location, it would have been more. Unfortunately, although I did my best, relaxing entirely just wasn’t an option.
My other two photos were good and went off without a hitch. Mike requested no full body hugs, which was fair enough (I’m not good with physical contact myself, so always try to pay attention to how comfortable the actors are. I basically have to spend weeks/months mentally preparing myself for the huge sensory overload I’ll experience when I’m at conventions).
Anyway…despite the difficulty with being at the convention, I did still enjoy myself. I was able to tick two actors off my specific wishlist (Clark Gregg and Mike Colter), and I enjoyed meeting Jessica Henwick. I do think an event like this needs to have more seating for people with mobility issues…and one lift for a maximum of four people each time was actually quite ridiculous. I was very relieved to finally get out of the event and back to the coach station…and I pretty much fell asleep for most of the journey back.
Signing events are not the same as weekend conventions, but I do think this event could be better, especially when it comes to people crowding the photo op areas. I was able to fight my way through the massive crowd, but what about someone in an actual wheelchair? I don’t want to experience sensory overload every time I go to a Showmasters event, but unless something changes, it’s either that…or not attend again.
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
There was a lot of potential in this book. The front cover, along with the blurb, immediately caught my attention.
There were some good parts of this book. It was fairly easy to read, and the way the events were told worked really well, despite the constant jumping around between the past and the present. The scenes set before the events of the book could have felt really jarring, but they seemed to work really well, and gave more of an insight into some of the characters.
However, the book lacked any real sense of urgency. Elle spends a lot of the book going between her husband, Bill, and her husband’s best friend, Charlie…who very obviously has a crush on her and is doing his best to seduce her, despite the fact that her son has gone missing and might well be dead.
Despite the title of the book, there’s not really that much detail about the screaming Elle hears constantly. She seems convinced that it’s her missing son and yet…despite this certainty…she wastes so much time of the book doing other things. Like the aforementioned love triangle. And she’s working constantly on her book, which is about an explorer who went to the place Elle ultimately believes her son is in…and yet Elle drags her feet. People grieve in different ways, it’s true…but Elle doesn’t come across as a grieving mother. I honestly don’t understand why she didn’t go to into the timberland as soon as she thought she was hearing her son from there. I don’t have any children myself, but I have four niblings who I absolutely adore…and I can say with 100% certainty that nothing would hold me back from tracking them down if they were lost and I believed I knew where they were.
Most of the book was slow, without much happening…which meant that the last act, the final part of the book, felt really rushed. There was too much buildup and not enough payoff and honestly…I would have liked to see more of the timberland. For a while in the book, I thought it was meant to be another dimension, almost as if it wasn’t quite a real place…but although it was indicated to be a completely different society, it was still a real place. Which, again, meant it made even less sense for Elle not to try and get there back when she first thought the sound belonged to her son.
I would have liked this book better if the focus had been more on Bill. I felt that his grief process was more understandable…and even though I was seeing him through a murky lens, through Elle’s own eyes (and she clearly resented him, if not outright disliked him), there was enough there that I would have been more interested in seeing him as the main character of this book…not Elle.
On the whole, there was a lot of potential in this book…but I was disappointed in the execution. I would read a book more focused on the timberland, though…because the idea of the explorer who visited there, and the war going on, were both intriguing aspects of the book. Sadly, though, neither was enough to make up for what didn’t work here.
I liked the opening scene of this movie. It was really interesting to see the flashback to a young Indiana Jones and his fellow archeologist, Basil Shaw, as they tried to retrieve one of the most famous artifacts at the beginning of the movie. Yes, there was a lot of CGI used, considering the age of Harrison Ford now, but it wasn’t enough to affect my suspension of disbelief.
The prologue was a pretty long one, though it did manage to hold my attention throughout. However, knowing that Indiana Jones was alive in the ‘present’ day (well, what amounted to the present in the rest of the movie), it did mean that none of the danger he was in at the beginning felt real. After all, he couldn’t have died then, considering he was appearing as older later in the movie.
I have seen other Indiana Jones movies before, though the one that sticks mainly in my head is Temple of Doom. One thing that strikes me is how formulaic the movies are, with very similar supporting characters…and this movie was no exception.
Unfortunately, I developed a very strong dislike for Helena early on in the movie. I thought there could have been an interesting twist where it turned out she was lying to Indy about who she really was, but that wasn’t the way things went.
Unfortunately, sometimes a character can make or break a movie for me…and Helena completely broke this movie. The friend I saw it with mentioned that the film felt like Helena was the main character and Indy was just her sidekick; and honestly, I can’t say that he was wrong. She was obnoxious and arrogant, without anything to back that arrogance up with. And honestly, I wish Indy had just left her behind and continued on without her. One of the worst parts about her character was when she was gloating about getting one over on the bad guys…right after said bad guys had killed one of Indy’s friends.
The inclusion of Helena pretty much ruined most of the movie for me. I was more irritated at her than I was invested in the rest of the storyline. The action scenes were good…but the bad guys were just the same as normally seen in the Indiana Jones movies: the Nazis.
Generally, this movie wasn’t one I had to think too much about. The scenes that didn’t involve Helena were entertaining enough, but her presence dragged what could have been a decent movie. If the film had focused more on Indy and his last hurrah, instead of a ‘younger, more hip’ version of the character…it would have been 100 times better.
As it is, this film is probably worth watching if you’re a fan of Indiana Jones. But it isn’t one I would watch a second time.
I got to see this movie in advance of it being released at the cinema, thanks to Cineworld having a secret screening.
I’m actually glad I got to see this movie. I did see the trailer, but it wasn’t one that immediately grabbed my attention. It was one I might have gone to see if there was nothing else on at the cinema I wanted to watch, but I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see it…which would have been a shame, as I actually really enjoyed this movie.
I found Ember to be a really relatable character…perhaps because I’ve been working in retail for so long and could 100% understand her blowing up at the customers who were acting so entitled. I really did enjoy learning about her back story, with her parents coming to Element City…and having to deal with prejudice from the other elements. Considering that water could actually be so destructive to fire, it was a little surprising to see that Element City was so heavily geared towards the water element…but then again, I guess fire was the only element that could be outright harmed by water; though as Ember pointed out, fire could just as easily cause water to evaporate.
I really liked the growing relationship that formed between Ember and Wade. Considering that it started out as fraught with conflict…and that’s not even counting the animosity between water and fire in general…I felt that the feelings growing between them was shown really well. It was also good to see that not all of the water elementals were the jerks who had been seen at the beginning. Wade and his family were really interesting characters and his mom was really sweet. I honestly loved how easily and readily she accepted Ember and Wade’s feelings for her.
I did like a lot of the secondary characters, such as Ember’s parents and Gale. While the main movie was about Ember and Wade, I thought that there was a lot of attention paid to developing the other characters. Plus, there was no real ‘villain’ of the movie, which I don’t get to see very often even in movies only aimed at adults.
I did love the visuals of this movie, too, and getting to see the different areas of Element City. I also thought that it was a nice touch to have Cinder do fortune telling and use the smoke to see the compatability between a couple…and I really loved how that was handled when it came to Ember and Wade.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a lot of fun and provided escapism for a couple of hours. It’s definitely worth watching if you’re on the fence about it!
So, I actually got my gold ticket for this event last year, shortly after they initially went on sale at the start of the Marvel event in 2022. I did think I’d been one of the first people to buy the ticket…and while I did get the lowest number I ever have for a Starfury event, it wasn’t quite as low as I was expecting. Not a disappointment, but more of a, ‘Wow, so many other people got there before I did!’
This event was a small one, with the amount of attendees being about 250 and the total guests being five. There was supposed to be a sixth guest attending, but unfortunately, the flight he was meant to be on was cancelled and the airline refused to refund the flight cost. The small event was a lot of fun, feeling far more intimate and cozy with such a small amount of people.
Since I had a gold ticket, I got to be part of the meet and greet reception, which had all of gold attendees getting to meet each guest and spend about five minutes with them. Groups gathered around a circular table with one empty seat, and the guest would come and sit in the empty seat and chat to us. I somehow ended up with all but one of the guests sitting next to me, which was really nice! And Nick Blood recognised me…I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one, although I have now met him on four separate occasions, with one of those being the Marvel event last year.
I only had one photo op over the weekend, on the Saturday, with Adrianne Palicki, who plays Bobbi Morse in Agents of SHIELD. She’s also appeared in The Orville, Supernatural and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, along with numerous other roles.
I also only got two 10×8 autographs, one from Adrianne and one from Katy O’Brian, whose appeared in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and The Mandalorian, along with various other roles. In fact, Katy was only there for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Due to a change in the filming schedule of her current project, she had to leave by 11am on the Sunday.
I don’t normally go to many of the talks, but at this convention, I went to all of the guest talks on the Saturday, which were fun…if difficult to sit through (for me personally). Lyrica Okano, who appears in Marvel’s Runaways and plays Nico, had so much energy and was so lively…I loved how she took every question in her stride and answered even the most bizarre one about Doctor Who, that she’d never heard of before. And it was a lot of fun to hear about Jeff Ward’s character on Agents of SHIELD…and I loved that Katy ‘offered’ to answer someone’s phone when their boss called. And Nick and Adrianne were a lot of fun in their talk. Nick, of course, has so much of the Starfury energy and really gives off the vibe that he wants to be there. (I’m not saying that the others didn’t, but to the best of my knowledge, he’s the only one who, last year, came all of the way from Scotland and then back again for one day of the con).
One thing that I also thought was exceptionally good was that there was a young girl in the talks, who asked each of the actors what advice they’d give to someone who wanted to be an actor (her). All of them were completely genunine and honest in their answers, instead of brushing the question off, or ‘dumbing down’ their answers because they were speaking to a child. Nick, especially, gave a response that was incredibly thoughtful and sincere.
Starfury is incredible value for money…and one of the main things is that many guests are included in autographs, even for regular tickets. At this event, all five of the guests’ autographs were included in both gold and regular passes, which was awesome. You can see below my shiny autograph card, which is a must-have for if you want to collect your autographs.
As you can see, although it’s technically a check list for the guests’ PA to tick off, most of them do things a bit more interesting than just the check mark. And I didn’t realise until the Sunday that one of the PAs had done a sad face for Gregg Sulkin! (He was the guest who unfortunately couldn’t make it last minute).
I was extremely happy with my included autographs. I always like to get my convention booklet signed, since it fits very nicely into a plastic wallet to go into my (one of five) autograph folders. Both Katy and Lyrica had extremely long autograph queues; Katy because everyone was keen to get hers on the Saturday, due to her leaving early on the Sunday…Lyrica because, well…I’ll let the autograph speak for itself.
Lyrica’s was actually the last autograph I got on the Saturday and I said to her, ‘You can have the whole of the front!’, and she took it. Which was awesome. All of the guests were lovely people to meet, but I saw Lyrica write a lot on everyone’s autograph they had…which I’m sure wasn’t very comfortable by the time the event ended.
And I mentioned that Katy was leaving early, but in spite of that, she took her time talking to everyone…asking me if I’d seen the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. I said yes and that Jonterra was my favourite character, which I think (hope) made her happy.
These were not, in fact, all of the autographs I got from this event. I mentioned before that Multiverse was a very small convention…and because of that, the organiser very kindly offered everyone another photo to get signed on the Sunday, by the four guests who were still there…and also promised that the same photo could be signed as an ‘extra’ by Katy at any future Starfury event she might attend.
There really aren’t any other convention companies who would give you an extra autograph from the majority of the attending guests! I really can’t recommend Starfury enough, because while it looks more expensive on the surface…it really works out as much better value for money. Not only are you paying for the whole weekend convention, but you get all of the talks included, plus access to the evening parties, and autographs from the majority of the guests included.
Book for Starfury. You won’t be disappointed. I’m hoping to attend Witchbomb this year. I did also want to attend Cross Roads 7, but I don’t think that will happen for me. But Witchbomb is almost a certainty…just a few more days until I can book!
Thanks to my sister and her two children, I read the first book in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and when my sister lent me the next two books in the series, I was immediately happy to be able to continue reading.
I particularly liked that this book didn’t shy away from the problems caused by Pip’s investigations in the previous books. While they obviously had a negative impact on Pip’s family, there were also a lot of conflicts that were caused between Pip and other members of the town…such as Nat da Silva. While she was definitely hostile to Pip, I could thoroughly understand why she felt the way she did…and empathise with how everything Pip had done previously brought up old, emotional wounds. To be honest, though, I didn’t like her brother. From what little I saw of him, he seemed to let personal bias get in the way of doing his job and…well, he just wasn’t a nice person.
I liked the inclusion of Sal in this book and the fact there was a memorial to both him and Andie, even though the memorial was what set off the events of this book.
It was good to see that Pip had a wider reach in this book, due to the site that she’d created. I also thought it was good to see that, for as many people who were willing to actually help out (one commenter actually giving an idea for further investigation), it was obvious that there were trolls; people who said things that were deliberately hurtful, or who made threats because of the public attention everything was gaining.
I really didn’t like Ant and Lauren in this book. Pip kind of describes them as a single entity…and I can’t really say that she’s wrong. I’m not sure I can describe them as friends of Pip, Connor and Cara…honestly, if I was any of them, I would have cut off the two the moment they proved they didn’t care about their friend’s brother having gone missing.
I thought it was really good that, like the first book, this one contained transcripts of the interviews Pip conducted, along with the details of her notes. Both of those helped to add more to the story, as well as to gain a little more insight…not only to Pip, but to other characters as well. And I thought the inclusion of the photos worked really well too.
I found this book really easy to read and I got quite emotional towards the end. I would completely recommend reading this book if you like reading young adult thrillers. I’m not even sure you need to have read the first book in this series, as I think this one stands well on its own, but I would highly recommend reading the first one too.
Ink of Blood 