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RELEASE BLITZ: The Barkeep and the Bookseller by V.L. Locey (Giveaway)
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BLOG TOUR: The Professor’s Date by Lane Hayes (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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MANGA: Kimi no Hitomi ni Ubawaretai
Kimi no Hitomi ni Ubawaretai – Haizaka Kiri
“I like guys.”
Jun, a photographer, meets Haruka while they were both working at a wedding hall. Haruka’s persona for work and his true personality are very different. Enchanted by Haruka’s natural smile, Jun blurts out, “Will you be mine?” He was so sure that he scared Haruka away, but he received an unexpected response back.
Roughly translating to I want to be robbed by your eyes, this is a calm, gentle story of a wedding photographer, Jun who was enamored by a hotel employee, Haruka’s photogenic looks. The more time he spent with him, the more he was drawn to the beautiful man.
One thing this manga got going for it is the beautiful delicate-looking characters, especially Haruka. Their meet-cute was super cute too!
However, the longer I read, the more bored I became to the point I skimmed. This had the makings of a super adorable floofy story, but the execution lacked the oomph to generate feels.
I don’t know if it’s the translation, but the dialogue was flat. The characters also came across as uninteresting. There was an attempt to give them dimension, but it wasn’t enough to hold my attention. This has rave reviews, though, so it could just be me.
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REVIEW: Unraveling the Threads of Fate by Alice Winters
Unraveling the Threads of Fate – Alice Winters
Alex
Some people are born lucky.
Then there’s me, destined to be loved by the man who knows my darkest secret.
My gift has followed me my entire life—the ability to see the threads of fate. I can see the red thread tying together two people destined to love one another.
But my gift has another side to it. A darker side.
I can also see a simple black thread tied to the fingers of those who aren’t aware of it, connecting them to the person destined to kill them. And when I look down at my own finger, I can see the red thread stretched over to Bishop King. The man who is my soul mate.But then why is the black thread also wrapped around our fingers?
Bishop is sweet and caring, and I can’t stop my heart from loving him. I just need to thwart fate before it separates us forever.
Bishop
I swore to never let myself be drawn back into Alex’s world, but the man is funny and charming and the moment we’re together I fall back into the familiarity we shared as teenagers.
I know this time is different; he’s hoping that I can help him walk through his dreams to figure out how an innocent girl is going to die.
While his dreams tell of the future, mine allow us to find the truth. But what happens when we save a life and change fate–will it affect our own future? I can’t keep myself from falling for Alex, but what if helping him leaves one of us dead?
Unraveling the Threads of Fate is a standalone romance with action, mystery, humor, and a happy ending.
I was introduced to the red string of fate via anime. This is a belief that two people meant to be together are linked by a red string tied around their pinkies. So I was ridiculously excited for this Alice Winters standalone novel that features the magical threads.
Unraveling the Threads of Fate is a story of a high school teacher, Alex, whose gift is the ability to see the red strings. It has a neat little twist wherein he can also see the black strings linking people to those who will kill them. To make Alex’s life even more exciting, a.k.a. hellish, his red string AND black string are attached to the same person, Bishop King, his billionaire high school friend. The man is both a hopeless crush and the last person he wants to see.
The world-building reminded me of another urban fantasy series by the author, In The Mind, where people have gifts. The writing doesn’t dwell too much on the hows and whys. It’s just a given that some people have gifts. Bishop’s gift is the ability to walk dreams.
The chapters switch between past and present with brief glimpses of the future. One thing that soon became apparent is that everyone’s got MAJOR daddy issues. Young Alex was manipulated by his drug-dealing father to run drugs. The teen also had to take care of his baby half-sister because his dad couldn’t be bothered. Bishop has his own rich people problems to sort out with his dad.
The book is humor, mystery and suspense with the romance seamlessly falling into place without too much fanfare. It’s driven by the MCs’ desire to stop the deaths of people close to them with the past events heavily impacting the present.
As much as I loved the concept, I wasn’t completely blown away. The beginning to about 60% was really riveting! The plot was tight and fast-paced. I loved how Alex and Bishop learned to make their gifts work together, turning from grudging partners to secret superheroes who saved people from untimely demise.
I’d also like to commend the author for hitting the sweet spot for her trademark humor vs. moving things forward. We got the hilarious snark for snark gags but toned down and short enough that they don’t distract from the plot.
However, the last 40% sorta meandered and lagged. These are the parts where they had to save more people and settle their daddy issues. It would have been exciting, except I got impatient for the story to wrap up because it’s becoming long drawn out.
As for the strings, I loved how they were used in the story, especially Alex and Bishop’s connection. They were changing the course of fate by saving people, but were they really?
Unraveling the Threads of Fate took a deeply romantic concept of soulmates, turned it upside down, and gave something of a Schrödinger dilemma. All in all, a funny, suspenseful, surprisingly gritty tale tying past, present, and future together.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Red String
Artist: Aldious
Album: Dazed and Delight
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Unraveling the Threads of Fate: US | UK
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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SOUNDTRACK: Red Strings by Aldious
Soundtrack to Unraveling the Threads of Fate by Alice Winters
Red Strings by Aldious for a book about two men connected by the strings of love and death and their fight to defy fate.
I have the confidence to get it!!
But it’s not worth it.
Still, the hard-line shouts were noisy.
Red threads, please don’t fray.
To be able to trace and return without hesitationI’m confident we’ll see each other again, but…
Not equal to nothing.
Don’t think, “It’s more fun now than it was before.”
Red threads, please don’t forget.
To be able to trace and return without hesitationSo that one day everything will be back.
***duck duck go translated lyrics
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空っぽな木の部屋 真夏なのに寒くて
僕等「夢と共に暮らす」一人一人誓った
思い出話やたらと響いて
舞い落ちたホコリに埋れ「ありがとう」と「さよなら」生きれるか死ぬかはわからない
手すりのない橋を
視力も悪くたった一人で渡り切れるのかな渡れる自信はある!! けどないに等しくて。
夢見る少女じゃもうごまかしがきかなくて
赤い糸たちよ どうか伸びていかないで
迷わず辿(たど)って戻ってこれるようにコミュニケーション取りすぎたせいかな。
パズルのワンピース欠けて絵にならないみたいな
坂道…。曲がり道…。細い道…。暗い道…。
それぞれに合った茨の道を進んで行こう大勢か堕落かわからない歌い続けていても
君を救う僕に偉大な力は持てるの？手にする自信はある!! けどないに等しくて。
それでも強硬な叫びだけはうるさくて
赤い糸たちよ どうかほつれて行かないで
迷わず辿(たど)って戻ってこれるようにまた会える自信はあるけど…ないに等しくて。
「前より今の方が楽しい」と思わないで
赤い糸たちよ どうか忘れて行かないで
迷わず辿(たど)って戻ってこれるようにいつかは全て戻ってこれるように
An empty wooden room, it’s the middle of summer, but it’s cold. Each of us vowed to “live with our dreams”
Memories resonate and sound profusely
Buried in the dust that fell on me, “Thank you” and “Goodbye”I don’t know if I’ll live or die
A bridge without railings
I wonder if my eyesight is bad and I can cross alone.I am confident that I can cross!!
But it’s not worth it.
The Dreaming Girl Can’t Cheat Anymore
Red threads, please don’t stretch out.
To be able to trace and return without hesitationMaybe it was because we communicated too much.
It seems that the one piece is missing and the puzzle does not become a picture
Slope…. Bend road…. Narrow road…. Dark roads….
Let’s go on the path of thorns that suit each oneEven if you keep singing whether you are a lot or a depravity,
Can I have great power to save you?”I have the confidence to get it!!
But it’s not worth it.
Still, the hard-line shouts were noisy.
Red threads, please don’t fray.
To be able to trace and return without hesitationI’m confident we’ll see each other again, but…
Not equal to nothing.
Don’t think, “It’s more fun now than it was before.”
Red threads, please don’t forget.
To be able to trace and return without hesitationSo that one day everything will be back.
***duck duck go translated lyrics
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MOVIE FEATURE: They/Them
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BLOG TOUR: Again by Morgan Brice (Excerpt & Giveaway + Q&A with Author)
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FLICKer: The Good Waiter (2018)
Featuring LGBT short films I found around the interwebz a.k.a Youtube. Okay sucky intro, but yeah, that’s it.
With one exhausted actor-waiter struggling to get out of the restaurant world, and another just trying to break in, ‘The Good Waiter delves into the complicated psychology of pursuing ones dreams; could it be that La-La Land might not offer everyone a happy ending? Romantic, sweet but also disturbing and weird, ‘The Good Waiter’ forces the viewer to reexamine the classic idea of living as an ‘aspiring-whatever.’
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NEW RELEASE: Looks Aren’t Everything by Emily Carrington (Excerpt & Giveaway)
