Admittedly, I had never heard of Disclaimer by Renee Knight before seeing an Apple+ series being advertised about it. With an incredible cast led by Alfonso Cuaron, I was intrigued to check out the source material first, even it goes against my basic media consumption policies.
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Book Review: Armed & Dangerous by Abigail Roux
I think I’ve said this since reading the first book, but I cannot get enough of this Zane Garett and Ty Grady series by Abigail Roux. While she did collaborate on the first three novels with Madeleine Urban, Armed & Dangerous was her first outing alone.
Read moreBook Review: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
After Riley Sager’s abysmal The House Across the Lake, I kind of have trust issues with him, though his last book and the latest, Middle of the Night, have him squarely back in the same camp as before. Actually, I’d like to think that Sager was able to get just a little bit of the supernatural shoe-horned in here. A compromise I can live with.
Read moreBook Review: Divide & Conquer by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
Now that I’ve found the Cut & Run series, I cannot stop. And thankfully, Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux have plenty more novels for me to devour! Heck, Divide & Conquer is only the fourth of nine! And that’s not including two novellas! I’m excited.
Read moreBook Review: The Kill Code by Ellie Marney
Even though I loved Ellie Marney’s books featuring teenage FBI recruits, I was for whatever reason hesitant to check out her most recent and totally unrelated effort, The Kill Code. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that it takes place during the second World War.
Read moreBook Review: Fish & Chips by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux
Once I decided to keep going with this Ty Grady and Zane Garrett series, I finally decided to look up how many books actually make this up. It’s a whopping nine novels! That’s so great! Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux have somehow managed to work so seamlessly together to create entertaining and flowing stories that I can’t wait to keep reading.
Read moreBook Review: One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
I sure do hope Ruth Ware doesn’t have a ghost writer out there, because it seems almost impossible that she’s cranking out four hundred page novels around the same time every year. I certainly know it’s possible to write that much, and with an author as popular as she is, I know the publishing house would probably drop everything to get it out as quickly as possible, but still. I suppose I will remain in awe, because Ware delivers again with One Perfect Couple.
Read moreBook Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Ever since reading None Shall Sleep and it’s sequel just a couple of months ago, I’ve been in desperate search for something similar. After some very pointed searches, the internet kept taking me back to this four-novel series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Of course, I started with the first novel, The Naturals, and I can tell you that I’m pretty satisfied with the recommendation.
Read moreFellow Travelers Miniseries Review
I must admit, Fellow Travelers was not my cup of tea. Even the promise of lots of smut couldn’t make this less of a slog for me to get through.
That’s probably got a lot to do with the fact that it centered around politics. Yes, they were politics from a very important time in history, but it was just so boring. And honestly, the takes weren’t that fresh. Hawkins Fuller is a former WWII veteran and an official at the state department who gets to know congressional staffer, Tim Laughlin really, really well. Given that most of this series takes place in the 1950s, being gay is a big no-no, so Hawk hides his desires with an almost painful rigor. He certainly puts Tim through the wringer over those years. And even though Tim is devoutly religious, he can’t seem to find the sin in something that brings him such happiness. He certainly tries to repent every time Hawk throws him to the wayside, but he always comes back.
And for that, Tim is a fool. Every time that he gives Hawk the benefit of the doubt, or truly believes he’s changed, Hawk just destroys that trust and sends Tim into a tailspin. All while this is going on, there are plenty of political fires going on involving the likes of Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy, but that stuff I couldn’t tell you many details about. The historical stuff never sticks in my brain because I just don’t find it that interesting. What was interesting though, was seeing how involved the state department was in uncovering homosexuals amongst its ranks. Absolutely ridiculous.
Fast forward to the 80s and it’s clear that Hawk has never embraced who he is. He’s married to Lucy and has a couple of children, all the while still hooking up with Tim in secret whenever Tim’s defenses are weakened. But now there’s the AIDS crisis to deal with, and Tim is unfortunately very sick. Hawk, to his credit, drops everything to be in San Francisco with Tim as he lives out the rest of his life in full activist mode, even now. Though it feels like it’s too little too late, Hawk does make some strides in this time.
Overall, I didn’t feel like I learned anything new from this miniseries that I haven’t already seen play out in films like Milk or The Normal Heart. Sure, we get a more inside look at what went on in the state department, but that was pretty dang boring from where I’m sitting. And even though Matthew Bomer and Jonathan Bailey had some incredibly steamy chemistry, it wasn’t enough to redeem this show for me. Certainly a lot of good to be said here, so if you’re unfamiliar with those times in history and what they meant to the LGBT community, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Read moreBook Review: A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay
Now that it’s a new year, I am trying to make a concerted effort to read the books that are in my possession. That is the case for this bargain bin purchase I made sometime in the last few years. A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay certainly redeemed itself in the last fifty pages or so, but the journey there was a bit of a drag.
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