Reviews

Okay. I'm not a huge Disney fan. Whenever Disney showcases their amazing movie-making ability they always use Little Mermaid (don't like), Lion King (love), and Aladdin. Lion King was in '94. It's been how many years since then? I don't even want to do the math. I digress. Anyway, I feel like Disney dropped the ball as far as kids movies: Hunchback, Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinson's to name a few. I did have to go and look a few of these up. Yodeling cattle thief and crazy ADHD on Jolt drinks script about a kid who meets his own kid? Really, Dis?
However, Princess and the Frog was redeeming in my opinion. Jackson likes it, the movie is cute, believeable...
Tangled continues to raise Disney in my opinion: dashing rogue, lost princess, magic, and a wicked witch? Fantastic! What it lacks in plot (there are some holes and weird characters) is makes up for in the acting. Mandy Moore is great as Rapunzel. Perfect! And Flynn Ryder is also pretty believable as well. Max the horse grated because he reminded me too much of the horse in Home on the Range. BUT I definitely want to see this again!
I've been battling myself whether to write about this or not. For a month. I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Even though I've got opinions about it (don't I always), it's been jumping on and off my train of thought since I finished it. And certain cool scenes or takes on werewolf or vamp culture pop up and I think: That was a pretty cool book.

The good: It really is well written. I read the cover and thought, "Werewolves, vampires and Victorian England? Are you joking?" But I picked it up anyway. It was fantastic. I loved Twilight in so far as the new take on vamps goes. I liked Soul Screamers because it covered banshees. This book really does meld horror and polite frippery with the greatest of ease! It is wickedly funny and thoroughly enjoyable. And Steampunked out! If you don't know: Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Phew! Thanks, Wikipedia. Apparently it's one of the best steampunk books around. And it really is. Miss Taraboutti's parasol is a prime example.
The bad: The only beef I really have with this book is that the romantic scenes, while not overly explicit, were a bit much for my taste. I did have to skim. That being said, I had to skim over a couple of pages in Breaking Dawn. If this book were a movie: STRONG PG-13 rating. It also touches on the gayer aspect of society, emphasis on gay. One of the main characters is more than a little effeminate (but we love him anyway). I personally didn't get uncomfortable with this aspect.
The ugly: There are two more books in the series I will not be reading because it continues with gender-bending characters that get close to Miss Alexia T. BUT
I am waiting for the next book to see if any of that gets resolved because I certainly wouldn't mind reading more from this author!