Magic Mike

 SPOILERS ladies so don't read if ya don't wanna know.
**************

This movie is being sold on all the talk shows and in the trailers as a fun movie. Well it takes a dark turn that I wasn't expecting and knocked the wind outta my sails. In the commercials it looks like they're this fun-loving bunch of guys, working together and hanging out when not at work. Channing is trying to impress Alex Pettyfers sister, while grooming Alex, aka "The Kid" to take his place in the strip club so he can move onto building his own custom furniture biz. Well that ain't it. One minute all is well and the next McConhaughey is this slimy backstabber, Alex is selling drugs, and Channing is left in the cold.

Oh and they have Joe Manganiello making the rounds like he is a frontrunner in the movie, and he is a background dude like Bomer, Rodriguez, and someone who I thought was Mickey Roarke's twin bro(at least in t his movie) Kevin Nash. So not fair!  Probably trying to capitalize on his True Blood fame. He did come out looking like an Oscar statue in one quick, and I mean quick dance scene.  Boy they wouldn't let him steal a second from Channing.

I know I know, sour grapes again, but I was soooo looking forward to a light fun movie.  I went with my daughters and we still had a fun girls night out.  My hubs kept telling my daughter Victoria who was putting her make-up on in the kitchen "They aren't gonna be there Vic, no Magic Mike stars."  I was cracking up.

Gabriel's Rapture

Gabriel's Rapture
Sylvain Reynard















 Amazon Blurb -

 Professor Gabriel Emerson has embarked on a passionate, yet clandestine affair with his former student, Julia Mitchell. Sequestered on a romantic holiday in Italy, he tutors her in the sensual delights of the body and the raptures of sex. But when they return, their happiness is threatened by conspiring students, academic politics, and a jealous ex-lover. When Gabriel is confronted by the university administration, will he succumb to Dante’s fate? Or will he fight to keep Julia, his Beatrice, forever?
*****

Tell me, who is Sylvain Reynard? This mysterious man has a way with words that consume you. Is he a man, I can't find any pics anywhere?  He rights such beautiful love scenes, I wonder if it's a woman pretending to be a man.

Gabriel's rapture was wonderful, I enjoyed it. Julia is such a great character. Unlike Ana Grey, Julia is not so lost that she won't walk away from Gabriel if necessary. The two ladies are so very similar in their innocence, but for the incident that Julia suffered under her ex Simon. That is where it ends. Where Ana is a slave to Christian's demented ways, Julia will not compromise her values if Gabriel is not honest with her and lets go of his desire to always protect her.  I did find the first book very similar to Fifty Shades in the intensity of the protagonist males, but it ends fully with this one.

Ah, Gabriel, where does one begin? Here is this Professor, so uppity in his likes, from his clothes to his fine scotch. So handsome and sexy, I find him such a contradiction! What an alpha, he growls for Christ sake! Yet he is a Professor who's expertise is Dante, one would never think of him when you think of a Professor. His love for Julia is impossible to put into words. It goes beyond anything he desires in life.

In this installment the two are a victim of a jealous vicious spoiled brat who is angry at being spurned. You feel so sad at what they go through due to her machinations. The question is, will their love survive what takes place? One can only hope.

 There is one scene that so puts just how alpha Gabriel is into perspective, out in the hallway of the university, Gabriel's attorney points his finger at Julia and Gabriel tells him "take your finger out of Miss Mitchell's face or I will separate it from your body." and you can just feel the intensity of the moment. You also get a blast of it every time he calls poor Paul the angelf*cker.

 A word about Paul, I felt bad for him. He loves Julia, and there have been books I've read where you actually want to see the girl with both men, but this was not one of them for me. He kind of just gets left out, no hea for him. Oh well. I recommend this book highly, if you haven't read #1, please do so first so that you can follow properly. I have reviewed it *HERE*. 

 4 cannolis

Another Piece Of My Heart

Another Piece Of My Heart
Jane Green
June's Book Club Choice













Amazon Blurb -

Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she's finally found him.  Ethan--divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia--is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts. 
*****

Andi has finally found the perfect man!  At 37 she is taking the plunge and getting married to handsome divorced dad of two girls Ethan.  He is so sweet, handsome and just a wonderful man.  The same can't be said about his 12 yr old daughter Emily.  She is hell on wheels and the exact opposite of her sweet 8 yr old sister Sophia.  Where Sophia adores Andi, Emily hates her guts and at every turn tries to make Andi's life a living hell.

Ethan is a wonderful loving dad who suffers something fierce with divorced parent guilt.  It doesn't help that his ex Brooke is an alcoholic so instead of curbing Emily he allows her to go off on her insane screaming rages which only progressively get worse as this kid gets older.

Poor Andi wants a baby of her own, she was clear with this out of the gate and Ethan was fine.  She can't get pregnant and Ethan will not consider adoption.  If it happens, fine, if not, that's that.  Between dealing with the insanity that is Emily, and her growing resentment of Ethan's do nothingness and his unwavering no to adoption Andi is pushed to the limit of leaving.

Five years into this mess, Emily has done something that just might tear this family apart forever.

I liked this book even though I couldn't form a real connection to the characters, I don't know what the heck is happening to me, but the past few book club choices I just couldn't connect with them.  I found Ethan weak and selfish, and Andi just downright silly in her tiptoeing around Emily.  The two I really liked were next door neighbors Topher and Drew, they were awesome, but not the main so they were in just bits and pieces.  It still was a fast moving story with some really hold your breath moments.  I would have given it a 4 if I had more feelings for the characters.

3 1/2 cannolis

The Death Of True Blood

Well it's official, Alan Ball has just destroyed the show.  I don't know if there is anyway to get this puppy back on track.  I know there are those out there who have not read the books and find it great, but really, it has just tanked.  The whole Guardian/sanguanista crap?!  Puhlease, Christopher Meloni is Law and Order vamp style with some f words thrown in.  Salome and Eric's "sister" is ridiculous, and the whole silver iv drip and wooden stake harness is for the birds.  Reverend Newlin, OMG  this is just absurdity.  What a damn mess.

DUMB

 DUMBER

 DUMBEST














There are so many story lines going on it's just pathetic.  No one cares about Terry, or Arlene for that matter, it would have been way better for the show to mimic the book where she was concerend.  When you start looking forward to Jason and his goofiness, you know there is a problem.  And speaking of Jason, is he even going to be a panther or not?  What has this man done here?  Sookie confessing to Alcide what happened to Debbie, my God what is going on?  Changing Pam's history? Why, and Tara, don't get me started.  I actually thought for a minute that they were going to make her the Bubba character after epi 1 but no, keep her being the bitter bitch but now a bitter bitch vampire.  Oh and wait, did we get a glimpse of Claude in the clothes store?  Was THAT supposed to be hot male stripper Claude Sookie's Fae cousin?!   Holy crap AB better go see Magic Mike to see what male strippers are supposed to look like, cuz that sure as hell ain't it!!!!  But then, why would we expect him to follow that storyline correctly.

I just can't deal with Bill being the king, Eric being subservient to him. When no one can stand the protagonist (Sookie) any longer, their is a major issue. The whole thing is her. In A.B's quest to push Bill/Sookie to the forefront, he pushed Eric to the back and I think it is just going to explode on him, the ratings are down from last year, and the purists are just sick over the whole mess.  I don't know if it really will come back next year for a sixth season, and I know there are some going to comic-con just to lay into AB during the q-n-a.  He just refuses to see that Eric is the one who was at the forefront with Sookie, and straying so far from the books is plain wrong since he's so damn full of himself and his supposed "genious" status.

The Daily Beast gives a great synopsis of what a mess this has become, The Huffington Post laces into it just click to read.

Hopefully this will be a lesson for all series authors to NOT relinquish all creative control when signing over tv or movie rights.  I know she doesn't come right out and say it, but Charlaine Harris has got to be pissed at what has been done here.  Odds are that egomaniac wouldn't sign unless she let it all go, but this is just disgusting.  As someone said on the Sookieverse blog, imagine if Harry Potter or Lord Of The Rings went off like fan-fic how pissed would those fan's be?  And yes that's exactly what this has become.  Fan-fic, the taking of characters and just changing them to what he wanted, with no resemblance to their original states. 

I could go on and on about this, I can't wait to hear the buzz from comic-con and what the fans are going to say to him!  In the meantime I will continue to watch like a runaway train, but still hope that somehow it will be redeemed.  I know an exercise in futility.

Snake Skin

 Snakeskin
 CJ Lyons












Another book read for Marce's psycho thriller challenge. Check it out *HERE*

Amazon Blurb -
Just your average Pittsburgh soccer mom, baking brownies and carrying a loaded forty-caliber Glock... Lucille Teresa Guardino. A woman of many identities. Lucille to her doting mother, Lulu to her devoted husband, Mom to her pre-teen daughter, Lucy to her friends, LT to her co-workers, and Supervisory Special Agent Guardino to the criminals she captures for the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement squad. A loving mom and wife, dutiful daughter, consummate professional, and kick-ass federal agent, Lucy is living the perfect life. Until the day she comes up against a predator more vicious and cunning than any she's ever tackled before, one who forces Lucy to choose between the life of the young victim she is fighting to save and her own daughter's....and Lucy's dream life is shattered. 
*****

I like Lucy Guardino.  She's tough, but not obnoxious or over the top.  She has a happy family with her psychologist husband and her 12 year old daughter.  Not perfect by any stretch of the word, she has a tough time dealing with her daughter falling ill, finding it easier to deal with cracking a tough case. Lucy goes after pedophiles and she is real good at it.  Her comrades respect her, and have no qualms about taking orders from her.

The bad guy was a surprise all the way to the reveal for me which I loved, the side characters were all great. One thing I found which was very similar to the Kay Scarpetta novels was the relationship between Pittsburgh cop Burroughs and Lucy.  Reminded me of Marino and Scarpetta. They had a nice banter, though Burroughs is finding Lucy very attractive. I will read the next, Bloodstained. I highly recommend this book.

31/2 cannolis