Daughter of Twin Oaks (A Secret Refuge #1)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the next two in the series!!

Having promised her father, on his deathbed, to take the remaining horses from their plantation up to her uncle’s farm in Missouri, Jesselyn Highwood requires courage and perseverance to complete her task.

 The American Civil War is in full swing. Jesselyn hates the war; it has already taken one of her brothers from them and now, her father.

Taking a handful of slaves to assist and protect her and her little brother, they leave the rest behind to keep the plantation running in her absence. The slaves are like family to her and she struggles to leave them. Trying to avoid both the Confederates and the Yankees, they move by night and rest in the day. Living off the land and keeping a low profile, they make their way to Missouri.

This story isn’t just told from one person’s perspective, but switches regularly between different characters as they give their various accounts. The characters are vulnerable and reveal their personal struggles. Jesselyn, although having been raised with her siblings in a Christian home and being one herself, struggles to see how God could allow this war and the destruction happening.

I think an audience of 13+ would be able to appreciate the details of the story line better.

I got this book for FREE on Amazon.co.uk for my mom’s kindle. You can get the next two as well, which although are very affordable, aren’t free :p

Author: Lauraine Snelling

Date Published: April 1^st 2000 (Don’t worry its not a joke J )

Sequels: Sisters Of The Confederacy (A Secret Refuge #2) and The Long Walk Home (A Secret Refuge #3)

Length: 292 kindle pages. 

Florence Foster Jenkins

‘People can say that I couldn’t sing, but they cant say that I didn’t sing’

                                                                                                -Florence Foster Jenkins

This movie is a comical dramatic biography of Florence Foster Jenkins’s musical career.

Florence Foster Jenkins is a socialite, founder of the Verdi Club and amateur soprano singer. Amateur is an overstatement. But she practices hard everyday for a whole hour, sometimes two! People didn’t know if they should take her seriously, because no one in their right mind would stand up in front of an audience and make a fool of themselves.

We had our fair share of laughter, and I admire her for her bravery to stand in front of an audience like that. I think that she was molly coddled by her life partner St. Clair Bayfield and her vocal’s teacher Carlo Edwards. Mind you, they were well compensated.

Then along came Mr MacMoon, an ambitious, young pianist who auditioned to help with Florence’s practice sessions and later on her performances, much to his dismay at first. But as the movie goes on he forges a friendship with her and is a great support to Florence.

Her life partner St Clair Bayfield keeps a tight hold on publicity and takes drastic measures to ensure that Florence doesn’t hear the negative critics. In protecting her from criticism, he kept her ‘singing dream’ alive.

This is a tough review to write, as most of the info would be spoilers, but I would highly recommend watching it. We enjoy watching true-life stories and are glad that we watched this one. Actors Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant played their roles very well. I was really surprised by Simon Helberg’s role in this movie, he acted in a very different role to what I’ve seen before. These are very versatile actors, and they did a great job to bring this story to life. 

Title: Florence Foster Jenkins

Actors: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg and Rebecca Ferguson

Date of release: 6 May 2016 (UK)

Genres: Biography, Comedy and Drama.

Length: 1 hour 51 minutes

Age restriction: PG

In the Heart of the Sea

In the Heart of the Sea really impressed me with its great acting, amazing filming and touching story line!

Based on the book; In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, this is the Moby Dick story.

The film begins with Herman Melville having travelled to Nantucket to interview Tom Nickerson, the only surviving crew member of the whaling ship, the Essex, that is still alive. Herman is looking for a first hand account for his novel he is writing, and Tom is he only hope.

Tom has never gotten over the harrowing ordeal they encountered, and has never told anyone the details, but has chosen to habitually drown his sorrow and guilt in drink, and the only reason that he tells Herman, is because of their need for the money he is offering them.

We go back some 30 years, to when Tom was a 14 year old cabin boy aboard the Essex, which was captained by George Pollard, appointed because of family connections. While Owen Chase, a veteran whaler and role model in Tom's eyes, is sidelined out of a job he was entitled to.

They sail off in high hopes, but as they journey on they find few whales. They carry onwards  into the Pacific in hopes of finding more, but to no avail.

During a stop on Ecuador, they are told of an area 2,000 miles to the west where the whales are bountiful, the area was apparently guarded by a huge white whale. But the lure of meeting their quota and returning home with a ship full of oil outweighs the risk.

They are delighted to find the spot exactly as it was described, and waste no time getting on with the hunt. Their encounter with the white whale is the beginning of the end of their mission. The white whale was more aggressive and stronger than they could ever have imagined, and they realise that they are lucky to get away alive.

The rest of the movie is about their desperate attempt to get to land and eventually back home. Sadly; not all of the crew members survive, but Toms recount of them honours their time together and brings some closure to Tom.

Action packed, fill of suspense and drama, I highly recommend this movie, and am sure you will be impressed as I was by it!

Title: In the Heart of the Sea
Length: 2 hours and 2 minutes
Age restriction: PG 13
Genre: Action, Adventure and Biography
Date of release: 11 December 2015 (USA)
Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whisham and Cillian Murphy.

Jaws of Death

‘Consuela couldn’t take her eyes off the cabinet. Her pulse was hammering furiously, nausea rising in her throat. What was going on out of sight in the trunk? Was Max okay? The spectators were still waiting patiently, but they wouldn’t wait for ever. She couldn’t delay any longer, she just had to have faith in Max, trust him to get it right. Taking a deep breath she pressed a red button on the console.

Out on the platform, the shallow, petrol filled metal troughs that surrounded the cabinet suddenly ignited, sending a wall of fire shooting up into the air. A gasp of surprise reverberated around the crowd, people recoiling from the explosion.’

Max is a 14 fourteen year escapologist, following in his fathers footsteps, and already making his mark as one of Britain’s most exciting performers. Since the disappearance of his father Max lives with Consuela, his father’s faithful assistant. His mother is serving time for murdering his father, a crime Max knows she did not commit.

Since his escape from Shadow Island with Consuela and his friend Chris, he has been plagued with nightmares and fears for his father’s life.

Waiting for Julius Clark, the mastermind behind the Shadow Island operation, to make his move, Max tries to be on his guard at all times. In a wrongful search of his house by an old enemy, Rupert Penhall, Max loses the only evidence he has that his father is alive. Determined not to give up, Max continues his search for survivors who returned from Shadow Island and in the process learns about the Cedar Alliance, an environmental organisation his father helped lead. Max travels far and wide hoping to find answers from his father’s colleagues who are spread across the globe.

Despite this being the second time that I have read this book, I found it very exciting and adventurous. I enjoyed how Chris, Consuela and Max all stuck together despite the challenges they faced. It is fast-paced, full of adventure and intrigue!

Paul Adams has a very descriptive style of writing which made it easy for me, as the reader, to ‘see’ the story in my head.

Recommended reader age: 10+

This is the second book in the three book series, the first one being ‘Escape from Shadow Island’ and the third one is ‘Attack at Dead Man’s Bay’.

The Finest Hours

The Finest Hours is just a brilliant movie! Its one of those movies that are clean, appropriate for the whole family and tense and exciting for older viewers.

Based on the book: ‘The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S Coast Guards Most Daring Rescue’ by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman, the movie is about an oil tanker that has fallen into distress during a blizzard, in the winter of 1952.

Bernard  “Bernie” Webber, a passionate young coast guard in the small town of Chatham, Massachusetts, takes on the challenge of rescuing the crew of the oil tanker. Still facing resentment from a colleague, having failed on a previous mission that resulted in the loss of life, Bernie assembles a team of young willing men to help him attempt to rescue the distressed crew. Bernie’s challenge is to get over the sandbank that leads out to sea during the blizzard, in rough seas with impaired visibility.

On board the tanker engineer Ray Sybert, a shy and humble man, inspires the crew to help him implement some unorthodox ideas to keep the ship afloat in the hopes of someone coming to rescue them. Ray cares about each one of his crew mates and tries to guide them to the safety of a reef and to keep the ship afloat for as long as possible, while avoiding any reckless ideas of escape.

Both Bernie and Ray are heroes in this story, both men showing determination and persistence in their challenges.

Title: The Finest Hours

Length: 1 hour 57 min

Age restriction: 12PG

Genre: Action, Drama, History.

Date of release: February 19^th 2016 (UK)

Actors: Eric Bana, Chris Pine, Michael Raymond-James, Casey Affleck and Holliday Grainger.

I recognised a few familiar actors and couldn’t place where I’d seen them before. I was surprised at what I found:

Chris Pine (Star Trek, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit)

Eric Bana (Star Trek)

Michael Raymond-James (Jack Reacher)

Casey Affleck (Interstellar)

Holliday Grainger (Merlin, Robin Hood - BBC series)

This relatively well know cast have combined their talents wonderfully in The Finest Hour! It was spectacular to watch!

Jimmy Coates: Killer

Jimmy thinks he’s just a normal kid: playing video games, going to school and wrestling with his older sister Georgie. One day, Jimmy’s world falls apart and he is exposed to what he really is: an assassin engineered by the government for their use. On the run, not knowing whom he can trust, Jimmy survives by his instincts imbedded in his DNA, until his agency (NJ7) captures him.

Commissioned to eliminate Christopher Viggo who is a ‘threat’ to the government, Jimmy uses the opportunity to rescue his parents, his sister and his friend Felix from the evil and corrupt clutches of NJ7.

This was a very gripping story, loaded with action and adventure. Joe Craigs writes in a style that is easy to read and captures the reader’s attention. Appropriate for younger readers (11+), I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the many sequels.