Love You Dead - Peter James

Ahhh Roy Grace, you seemed to take a little back seat in this your latest adventure, only popping up every now and again to share your wisdom and more focus on your family.  Instead we get to meet Jodie - she's a bit of a femme fatale who is in search of her next new hubby to entertain.  She is a bit of a naughty girl, and now quite a few people are looking for her and who will find her first?

In the meantime Roy is trying to be a good father and husband - but he hears from Germany as Sandy rears up again.  What will she want and will it disturb his relationship with his wife Cleo? I like this sensitive Roy - seeing his soft and sensitive side, magic to middle aged lady fans. 4/5

Music Monday - Lily Allen - Somewhere Only We Know

I like a bit of Lily Allen, she is good when she is fun and when she is serious and always makes me smile when her songs pop up on my ipod.  I loved watching the making of this video which I think was for a Christmas ad in the UK.

The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo - Amy Schumer

It seems to be the modern way of celebrity living, that if you are in your twenties or thirties you need to look back on your life and write a memoir, because you are wise and want to impart your wisdom to the masses.  I can hardly criticize as I do like to read memoirs.   I had only encountered comedian Amy Schumer on the odd chat show on TV and on her movie Trainwreck.

In this book, I was amused by lot of her stories, she is funny although a bit borderline smutty, I did like that she didn't name drop a lot or write boring anecdotes about dull shows that I hadn't heard about.  Where her writing shines is where she talks about her family, sexism, gun violence and sexual violence.  Maybe she is a voice that is needed to speak to the younger generation about some of these issues, and I am sure it will generate many conversations of a political nature, which you may not expect from this type of book.  4/5

Dead to Me - Lesley Pearse

Lesley Pearse is what I like to think of as a reliable author.  She turns out solid historical fiction that are filled with strong female characters.  Although this one was a bit of a door stopper in size, I ripped though it and enjoyed losing myself in 1930s and 40s England.

Verity and Ruby meet as youngsters in London, when Verity is a girl in nice clothes from a posh home, while Ruby has only one dirty dress and never enough to eat.  Both girls become friends and even though their circumstances change drastically they still manage to help each other out, even after a bad falling out. 4/5

Labyrinth of Lies

Another quiet night at home made it a middle aged mumster night in.  Chores were done, a nice dinner made - candles lit and time to sit down and relax and be mellow.  I had heard from someone I worked with that this was an interesting movie, so thought I would give it a chance.

Based on a true story this is about a young German public prosecutor who takes an interest in the case bought against a local school teacher who was a SS officer at Auschwitz.  However he finds that there is limited interest in prosecuting him because of many of the men involved were also in the Nazi party.

I was surprised by one of the scenes where many of the young Germans are asked about their knowledge of Auschwitz and other camps, with most of them unaware of the horrors commited there.  Eventually put in charge of making a case against the workers at the camp, his team are able to take some of them to trial.  With only 789 of the approximately 6,500 workers being tried, this was still the biggest prosecution of some of those responsible for the murders of the many people who died in the camps.

It is hard to say if I enjoyed this movie - it was certainly not the most cheery of subjects, but it was interesting and the main character was a charismatic watch. 3/5

When Fraser Met Billy - Louise Booth

This was a sweet book telling about the friendship between Fraser, a young autistic boy and his rescue cat Billy.  His mother tells us about how he struggled as a young boy, with limited communication,  difficulties with his walking and movement and lots of frustration and temper tantrums  unless his rigid routines were followed.  With a young baby girl, they were struggling with how to deal with Fraser and how to reach him and help him cope with life.

With an older cat who was scared of Frasers screaming and crying, they decided to adopt a younger cat, and enter Billy who right from the start stuck by Billys side and was able to help him.  His ability to calm Fraser down and reassure him is truly amazing, and I loved all the stories about their friendship.  An awesome bond that is truly special. 4/5

The Perfect Girl - Gilly Macmillan

Zoe Guerin is trying to overcome an earlier trauma, an accident that she can't forget that has changed her life.  Now her mother has remarried, there is a step brother and now a young baby sister and things are gradually returning to normal.  So Zoe and Lucas are now about to perform in public, and they are confronted with her past - changing everything.

This felt like one of those books that I was meant to like, but I found it a bit meh.  I found the changing narrators made it a bit stilted for me, as I kept having to go back to see who was talking and the time periods kept jumping round too, going from the present, back several years then going between last night and today made the book feel like it had been chopped up.

I was expecting a big twist, and it didn't hold any surprises for me leaving me a bit wanting. 2/5

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

So Saturday night was a middle aged lady night in for me.  A nice dinner was made, the chores were done, the candles were lit and a movie was picked.  Going to the cinema is an expensive night out - costing $17 for a ticket, which isn't as much as the UK, where a blog I read during the week said it was 10 pounds ($25 NZ) which is crazy, and makes it unaffordable for many including families.  I don't have a DVD player anymore, but use my apple tv to stream movies, which cost around $8 here to rent a movie.  I still love going to the movies, and hadn't had a chance to see this one and was happy to watch it by myself at home.

It is a very Kiwi film, one that I think does a great job of merging drama and humor, in a way that Hollywood films fail miserably at doing.  Ricky Baker is a 12 year old that has struggled with previous foster homes until he is sent to the country to live with Bella and her husband, the very grumpy Hector (Sam Neill).  Here he learns survival skills and an unlikely buddy story emerges.

Julian Dennison was awesome as Ricky Baker and you can't help but love his cheeky Kiwi charm and his need to be a gangster.  From the interviews I have seen he is just as likable in real life and is enjoying all the attention of being a movie star.  4/5

Music Monday - Brave - Sara Bareilles

 I love this song, but the video makes me smile and feel like dancing.  I need a bit more dancing, but not so sure I am brave enough to dance on the streets.

The Words In My Hand - Guinevere Glasfurd

Helena is a young maid who is sent to work in the home of an English bookseller in Amersterdam as a teenager.  There she encounters the writer Rene Descartes, and finds her future changed because of him.  As she has taught herself to read and write in a time when girls weren't educated this gives her new skills that she is able to share with her friend and allows her a little power in her life.

I enjoyed this novel about the real life character who little is known about, as I am intrigued about womans lives at this period of time when there were so many restrictions on her choices, and parents, employers and husbands or partners were able to control what the ladies got up to.  4/5