November 30th's Weekly TV Thoughts

A shorter list than normal.  Not only were some shows not on due to Thanksgiving, but I was out of town due to Thanksgiving.  But I'll catch up on the shows that aren't mentioned below for next week.

Superman & Lois (11/18) – Lois sure has a blind spot when it comes to Lex, doesn’t she.  How did she not see it was going to be a massive trap?  I wonder if they are coming to come up a way to restore Superman back to his old self before all is over.  I mean, we only have two episodes left.  I like how the boys are seeing the results of everyone knowing the Kent family secret.  It’s definitely an issue that needs to be addressed.  Again, I wish they had more time.

Tracker – A standout episode.  Yes, it was a little convenient that the wife was hidden at the sight of the transfer.  I don’t know why Colter thought that would be the case.  But overall, really solid episode.  And so many people Colter helped along the way.  But you’ve got to love that product placement/advertising for Amazon Prime there at the end.  Can we say awkward?

Superman & Lois – Really?  We have that as our final cliffhanger?  I wouldn’t say there were any real surprises along the way in this episode, maybe who Lois visited, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great episode.  And they didn’t have any of the recurring players/former series regulars in it either.  Granted, an entire season without them would have been weird, but it worked for this episode.  I can’t imagine how they are going to wrap things up in one episode, but I think I saw that going into every season finale, don’t I?

Poppa’s House – I really don’t like how Jr. interacts with his wife, at least when he is being scared of her.  But I did like this episode overall.  Lots of truth to it (says the single guy).  You can find a good balance, but you are always a parent first.  And some pretty good laughs along the way.  Some of them should have been reigned in a bit, but overall, pretty solid.

Night Court – I think I’d  have enjoyed this week’s episode more if it weren’t for the laugh track.  Keep in mind I’m usually one of those who enjoys a laugh track on a sitcom.  There were some great jokes in the episode, but the laughs just seemed too much.  I’ve felt like this was a fake laugh track (I prefer the ones that come from being filmed in front of a live audience).  That annoys me, too.  Hopefully, the quality of the jokes will continue to improve as the season goes along.  Not sure if there is anything that can be done about the laugh track.

Dancing with the Stars – As I’ve said, I went into this season rooting for Stephen.  And wow what a freestyle.  Easily my favorite of the night.  But the last few weeks, I’ve started rooting for Joey since I felt he was a better dancer.  Not that Chandler wouldn’t have deserved it, but I’m so happy that Joey won.

Movie Review: Three Wiser Men and a Boy

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: The Brenner brothers are still entertaining when together

Cons: Too many storylines mean most are underdeveloped

The Bottom Line:

Brenner brothers back

Second film not quite as good

Still has fun moments

“And Christmas Was Saved!”

After enjoying Three Wise Men and a Baby so much when I watched it last week, I was looking forward to revisiting the characters again in Three Wiser Men and a Boy.  Sadly, like many sequels, it didn’t live up to the original.

While it’s only been two years for us, it’s been five years for the characters.  When we check in on the Brenner brothers, they are facing new challenges.  Luke (Andrew W. Walker) is dealing with the added responsibilities and changing relationships that comes with being promoted to captain at his firehouse.  Taylor (Tyler Hynes) is having trouble getting people to buy the game he’s designed himself, leading to being evicted from his apartment.  Stephen (Paul Campbell) is trying to promote his book at overcoming anxiety while he can’t quite propose to his girlfriend, Susie (Fiona Vroom).

But what none of them expect is to find out that their mother, Barbara (Margaret Colin) has been dating a man for the past six months.  When she introduces them to Pastor Roy (Christopher Shyer), it doesn’t go well.

Then the three brothers get roped into putting on the school Christmas production for Luke’s stepson, Thomas (Miles Marthaller).  Can they pull it off and deal with everything else they are facing?

This movie has a couple of problems.  The first is that it tries to do too much.  By my count, we’ve got at least five storylines going on here, and you could potentially argue for another couple.  The movie focuses on three of them, including a new romance for Taylor, but even so, the results feel rushed.  While I liked where everyone wound up, I wish we could have seen more of the characters growing together.

The Christmas pageant attempts to be the thing that brings the brothers together.  But there is so little focus on it that we don’t really care.  In the first movie, it was taking care of baby Thomas that brought the brothers today, and we were invested in that.  Here, the play gets so little attention that we don’t care.

Plus, the humor from the first movie is definitely missing.  There were things that were supposed to be funny, but I cringed more than I did the first time around.

And this movie was lacking the Christmas spirit the first one had.  Yes, they tried to work some of that in, but it didn’t feel as natural as it did in the first movie.  And the product placement was rather funny but not in a good way.

So far, I’ve done nothing but complain.  That’s because this is one of those cases where it is easy to spot out what went wrong.  So, what went right?  I do still like the characters.  I wanted to see them grow through these new challenges.  And I wanted to see them enjoy spending time together again.  The scenes with the three brothers together were still fun.

The three leads still have great chemistry together.  The rest of the cast is fine as well, although they don’t carry things as well as the leads.  There is a bit of low budget cheese here, but overall the writing and acting work.

I’m sorry that I didn’t enjoy Three Wiser Men and a Boy better.  If you enjoyed the first, you’ll want to give this one a try.  If you haven’t seen the original yet, I definitely recommend you give it a chance to charm you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No new review today.  Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.  I'm thankful for all of you who regularly visit my blog.

Book Review: Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg (Sharpe and Walker #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great crossover with strong characters and mystery

Cons: The set up didn’t work well for me, but soon I was hooked

The Bottom Line:

New building burning

Add in a crossover fire

Second entry fun

Team Ups are Hot

I’ve always enjoyed it when characters from two different series team up.  This seems to be something we see most often on TV, but I enjoy it when authors do it as well.  And Lee Goldberg, a TV writer turned full time novelist, does it wonderfully in Ashes Never Lie.

Officially, this is the second book he’s written featuring Los Angeles Sheriff’s arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker.  We first met them when they were partnered up and got caught up in a wild fire.  Literally.  That was a year ago their time, and they’ve mostly learned how to work well together.

This book finds them investigating when a home in a new housing development mysterious catches fire just before the new owners are set to move in.  The fire department is quick to call it faulty wiring, but Sharpe, the more experienced of the two, thinks it is something more.

Before they can fully investigate that case, they are called to a house fire with a corpse in the bedroom.  However, Sharpe’s findings there just bring more questions for the pair of them as well as homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone.  Can the four of them figure out what is going on?

If you haven’t yet me Eve, she is the main character of her own series.  Duncan is her partner, and features prominently in those books as well.  Anyone else from that series pretty much just has a cameo here.  Since I’ve read those books as well, I enjoyed getting to see the characters, but if you just pick up this book, you’ll get enough background to follow the characters just fine.  It was fun seeing them, and I liked how naturally these characters all worked together.

Since this is the second book with Sharpe and Walker, it was nice to get to know them a little better.  Unlike the first book, this one is told just from Walker’s third person point of view.  But it was nice to see his respect and frustration with his partner and get to know Sharpe a bit better from that point of view.  The only other character from the first book who had any real page time was Walker’s wife, and I appreciated the development we got for her.

I’m not quite sure why, but it took me a bit longer than usual to get fully invested in this book.  Probably because I couldn’t quite see how either storyline was going to be used to fill a full novel.  I knew I shouldn’t worry about it, and I was right.  There are enough twists and surprises to make the book entertaining.  Yes, it does get a little over the top at times, but if you have read Lee’s books before, that really shouldn’t come as a surprise to you.  It works in the context of the book, and it is fun.

Since these aren’t my typical cozies, there is a bit more language and crude humor than I would normally read.  Fortunately, they are kept to a minimum here.

But speaking of humor, there are some wonderful jokes along the way.  These mostly come from the characters teasing each other, which I greatly enjoyed.

In the end, Ashes Never Lie is another fun mystery from Lee Goldberg.  Once you get into the story, you won’t want to put it down.

TV Show Review: The Marlow Murder Club - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, humor, and mystery

Cons: Set up takes longer than I expected, but well worth it

The Bottom Line:

Women forge friendship

While solving local murder

Combines twists and laughs

“You Told Me You’d Stop Poking Around.”  “Yes, But I Was Lying About That.  We Both Knew That.”

The novel version of The Marlow Murder Club has been on my radar for a while, and I finally bought it this summer.  Then I found out that PBS's Masterpiece was going to be airing a filmed version of it.  I was tempted to try to get the book read before I watched the show, but I decided to go into it blind, and I wound up really enjoying it.

The story takes place in the British village of Marlow.  Former archeologist Judith Potts (Samantha Bond) has settled there thanks to a house she's inherited.  One morning while swimming in the river that goes through town, she hears what sounds like a gunshot and finds a neighbor dead.

The police won't take Judith seriously when she insists that it was murder, although DS Malik (Natalie Drew) seems to come closest.  So Judith begins investigating on her own.  It isn't long before she's hooked up with Becks Starling (Cara Horgan), the new vicar's wife, and Suzie Harris (Jo Martin), the local dog walker.  Together, the trio of new friends begin to find clues.  But can they figure out what any of the clues mean?

None of our main characters know each other when the story begins, and the first of the four episodes spent time establishing them and bringing them together.  I'll admit, I was used to the faster pace of American TV pilots, but if you are more patient than I was with that first episode, you'll be well rewarded.  

Once the trio meet, things really pick up.  They each bring something to the investigation, and the three of them together bring lots of humor.  I laughed multiple times as the story unfolded.  It was all a natural outgrowth of the story and characters and really was a lot of fun.

The cast is superb.  They bring their characters to life believably and walk the fine line between comedy and mystery with ease.  No matter what the scene calls for, they deliver.

And the mystery itself is solid.  The trio hit multiple dead ends before they finally reach the logical conclusion.  I did pick up on what was happening about the time the characters did, maybe a minute or two before, but I don't mind in the slightest when that's the case.

There are only four episodes in this show, each roughly 45 minutes, so there isn't a huge time commitment to solve this murder.

Now that I've met the characters, I am hoping to get to the novel soon.  I'm sure there will be even more with the characters to enjoy even if I now know who done it.  If you are looking for a fun mystery, be sure to check out The Marlow Murder Club.

Book Review: Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes (Wedding Planner Mysteries #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Kate and the rest of the characters; good pacing

Cons: Needed a little more connection; Kate's stupidity at the climax

The Bottom Line:

When florist is killed

Kate must try to clear her name

Uneven debut

Fatal Flowers

When I first heard about Wedding Bride and Doom, I thought it sounded like fun, so I put it on my list.  Not only that, but it was the first book from Mary Karnes, and I do enjoy finding new authors just as their career is getting started.  Unfortunately, in this case, the book still needed a little work.

The story introduces us to Kate Ludlow, who has moved back from Southern California to her hometown in Connecticut.  As a result of her divorce, her hobby of planning weddings in Southern California is now her profession as she tries to build her clientele in Connecticut to support her and her teenage daughter.

Moving home has also meant reconnecting with friends and family.  And some frenemies.  One of those is Lori-Sue.  They have a complicated history, but are trying to work together since Kate loves the flower arrangements that Lori-Sue puts together.  When Kate stops in one day to place an order, she finds Lori-Sue dead in the backroom.  The evidence seems to all be pointing Kate's way, however.  And the case also means she has to reconnect with her high school boyfriend, who broke her heart, since he is the lead detective on the case.  Being naturally nosey, Kate starts to poke around.  Can she figure out what is going on?

I quickly got invested in the story.  We aren't that many pages in before Kate finds Lori-Sue's body, and I'm always happy with a book gets off to a quick start.  One of Kate's clients wants her to find a family heirloom as well, and that storyline captured my interest.  The pacing was pretty steady overall.

But the further we went into the story, the more the problems started to emerge.  There were details that came at us late in the book that I felt we should have learned earlier about Kate.  I get it, an author has a fine balancing job, especially in a first book in a series, to introduce everything and start the story.  But just a line or two would have helped.

This also applied to the plotting; at times I felt like we were learning random things, making the book feel disjointed, but only as we neared the end did everything we were learning begin to come together.  And a couple of developments seemed like a bit of a leap to me.

Then there's the climax.  Don't get me wrong, all of our questions are answered.  And I was turning pages to see how everything was going to turn out.  But, the only way it worked was for Kate to do the stupidest thing possible.  Usually, I'm pretty forgiving of characters being stupid, but there was no excusing it in this case.

Which is a shame because I really like Kate, her daughter, and the others who populate Kate's life.  And this book sets up some very interesting storylines for future books in the series, especially with that cliffhanger ending.  But I'm not sure I would be willing enough to try the next in the series.

Each chapter has a small wedding tip at the beginning.  There are some longer ones at the end as well as three delicious sounding recipes at the end.

For some people, the climax will be a deal killer for them.  Others will enjoy the characters and not care as much about that.  For me, I'm wishing Wedding Bride and Doom was a better debut.

November 24th's Sunday/Monday Post

It's the weekend.  Time for this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Tuesday morning, I woke up thinking I was getting a cold.  My throat was sore, but not too bad.  The next stage never really came, however.  I even took advantage of our mid-70's weather on Friday to run at lunch time.  Then came Saturday morning.  I've had worse cold, but I'm definitely sick.  Hopefully, it will clear up before I got home for Thanksgiving.

On the plus side, it meant I got to work from home all week since I didn't want to get my co-workers sick right before the holiday.  It's also nice since it means I can sleep in a bit and not have to drive to and from work.

In other good news, I think I've finished my Christmas decorating for the year.  I've often thought about trying to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, and I always start.  But this is the first time I've actually finished what I think I'll do.  I may play around and add a little more here to here.  After all, I have lots of decorations I don't use every year.  But if I stop here, I'll be happy.  Granted, with how late Thanksgiving is falling this year, I need to get a jump on it.  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is going to be crazy busy.

And in blog related news, I hit a new milestone this week.  I reached 4 million lifetime hits on my blog since I started it almost 12 years ago, at least according to the stats that Blogger keeps for me.  I'm very happy about that.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Ornament Review: Merida and Snow White

Tuesday - Book Review: We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen

Wednesday - Movie Review: Three Wise Men and a Baby

Thursday - Book Review: Murder at Glenloch Hill by Clara McKenna

Friday - Friday Post featuring Ashes Never Lie

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes

Tuesday - TV Show Review: The Marlow Murder Club - Season 1

Wednesday - Book Review: Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg

Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday - Movie Review: Three Wiser Men and a Boy

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

For the second week in a row, I just have one book to tell you about.  And, honestly, it was a surprise to me.

Late one night this week, I got an email about my Kindle purchased book.  Since I hadn't purchased anything, I thought it must be either an error or spam of some kind.  But I opened the Kindle app on my phone (what I use to read Kindle books since I don't have an actual Kindle).  And a new book started to download.  When I saw what it was, I realized it wasn't a mistake.

So what was the book?  It was Eternal Empire by Sarah E. Burr.  This is the fourteenth and final book in her Court of Mysteries series.  I have the rest, although I've only read three of the books so far.  I'm planning to listen to the fourth when I drive home for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  Obviously, I have quite a ways to go before I'm ready to read it, but she's offered a pre-order deal, and I took advantage of that.  Then promptly forgot that I'd done that until it showed up.  I had a good laugh at myself, but I'm not complaining since I really enjoy her books in general and like this series.

What I'm Currently Reading:

Considering we have a holiday coming up, so I won't be reading as much as normal, I've made some interesting choices reading wise.

I try to slip in some of the middle grade books I read when I am getting a bit ahead of my review schedule for regular books.  I was looking at where I was and decided I could read one.  It would be fine if I were going to be reading like normal.  But I won't be.  I won't read as much when I'm with my family for Thanksgiving since, you know, family time.  So I probably shouldn't have done that.  Then, the next book I decided to read it a bit longer than the books I typically pick up.  Fortunately, I have a mostly quiet weekend to work on it.  We'll see how this all plays out, I guess.  Mind you, I currently don't have any ARCs I will be reading for December (although I expect to get one).  It's mostly Christmas books I'm trying to get read.  And then have time for a big middle grade book coming out in a couple of weeks.

Okay, enough rambling.  Let's talk specifics.  The middle grade book, which I finished Friday night, is Wrath of the Triple Goddess, the newest Percy Jackson book from Rick Riordan.  I enjoyed it, although I don't think it is quite as good as the earlier books with the characters.  Will I read the next one (I'm assuming there is at least one more coming given the premise for these current releases)?  Absolutely.

That means, I am currently reading Flower Power Trip by James J. Cudney.  This is the third in his Braxton Campus Mysteries.  I had intended to get back to the series sooner and been trying very hard to get to it the last couple of months.  As I said, it's a little longer than the cozies I typically read, but I'm about a third of the way into it as I type this (my goal for the day), and I am enjoying it.

That's it for me.  Have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving if you live in the United States.

November 23rd's Weekly TV Thoughts

On the annoying front, the CW once again preempted Superman and Lois for basketball.  Please!  I'll get to watch it tonight, at least.

On the good news front, NBC has given Happy's Place another five episode order for an 18 episode first season.  As I say below, I'm really enjoying this show, so that makes me...well...happy.

Now for my list, which includes a season finale, a winter finale, and a season premier this week.

Tracker – Not weird, which I am grateful for.  Did not expect it to twist in the ways it did, especially when they introduced the retired cop.  Heck, I thought he might have been in on it, but I was happy to be wrong there.  Sad episode, but I did like it overall.

The Marlow Murder Club – Yes, I figured out the twist a little early, probably about the time that Judith did.  Haven't seen it used too often, so it was great.  The explanation was a bit long, but I do appreciate how things were wrapped up.  More serious overall, and I feel like Judith overreacted a bit, but still, I really enjoyed this.  Hope they do more seasons, and hope I get to the book sooner rather than later.

Poppa's House – I know, it was a rerun.  And how weird that they had a rerun in November and so soon into the run of the series.  But, since it's the pilot, which I missed, I thought I'd watch it.  I had most of the character relationships figured out already, but it was still nice to see it.  Pretty strong for a pilot episode, too.  I feel like the show is devolving some, so I hope they get back to some of the stronger stuff here.

Rescue: HI Surf – That was one of the worst episodes of TV I've watched in a while.  And I'm talking about how it was written.  The one guy is drinking and hooking up again.  Last we saw, he was sober, right?  (Or did I miss something?)  Em and Will are hooking up when last we saw was a kiss they broke away from.  The two young guards are suddenly going from nothing to something.  And the storyline with the kids was resolved off camera when we had no idea how to reach their parents.  Is it really that hard to connect the dots for us?  One story jumping I would have bought, but all of them?  The Christmas trapping were fun, I'll definitely give the show that.

Night Court – New season but the same over the top attempts to be funny when it's just not that funny.  I really can feel them trying so hard.  I wanted to like it because of the returning guest stars (who I'd forgotten were part of the cliffhanger), but it didn't work overall.  A couple of the scenes were fun, but that was it.

Dancing with the Stars – I'm trying to think if there was ever a season where there wasn't an elimination at the last round.  Probably, but none are springing to mind.  I'm happy for all of them, although I will say that my favorite going into the season, Stephen, probably isn't going  to win.  I'd love it if he did, but the scores reflect my feeling on how well the stars are doing.  Personally, I'm rooting for Joey at this point.

Survivor – This is a very chaotic season.  Usually, I have some idea what the dominate alliance is going to be, and if those players leave early, it’s because of advantages.  This season, the players seem to be all over the map.  Not that I am complaining.  It is very entertaining watching everyone scramble and try to come up with a reason to keep them in the game.  I am definitely here for it.

The Challenge – There are some players that I feel like talk a better game than they actually play.  Josh was one of them, so I wasn’t that surprised to see him gone.  I feel like this season, everyone is at risk at some point.  It’s definitely not as safe as it was last season, which is great.  Last season got pretty darn predictable for a lot of it in the middle.

Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking – I decided to watch this show this week.  Fortunately, I was able to watch the two hour premier from last week as well as this week’s episode.  Those pieces are so creative.  Since I can think or build that way at all, my hat is off to them.  But that one guy has got to stop dropping his cakes or it is going to hurt his team eventually.

Happy’s Place – It’s official, I have finally found a sitcom I’m enjoying again.  I figured they’d find something for Isabella before they left the house, but most of the other things surprised me.  And surprised me in a good way.  Some smiles and a few laughs that didn’t feel forced along with the heartwarming ending.

November 22nd's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday!  I've got another Friday Post for you.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

This week, for the first three, I am sharing teasers from Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg. 

This is the second book in the Sharpe and Walker series.  They are arson investigators for the LA County Sheriff's office.  And here's how the book begins:

The charred, steaming hulk of a Toyota Camry sat in a burned-out patch of scorched brush in the middle of what was now the Chatsworth Nature Preserve, which had previous been a sacred Chumash Indian ceremonial ground, a limestone kiln used by Spanish settlers, a movie studio back lot, and the dry lake bed of the long-abandoned Chatsworth Reservoir.

On page 56, Walker has teamed up with homicide detective Eve Ronin (the lead in another series from the author) to go talk to someone.  However, they aren't getting an answer....

No answer.  He leaned on the doorbell and called out to her again.  Still no answer.
Walked look at Eve.  "Maybe we should knock louder."
She smashed the door with the battering ram.

This is a fun book.  I'll be back with my full review on Wednesday.  I hope you'll come back then.

Meanwhile, let's take a look at this week's Book Blogger Hop.  The question is:

Are there any novels set on or near Thanksgiving that you love rereading or recommend as a heartwarming November read?

I did review Sheer Window earlier this month.  It's a Thanksgiving set novella.

On the whole, I don't tend to read a lot of books set around Thanksgiving.  And I don't have the time to reread books as much as I might like, unfortunately. So nothing else is coming to mind.

Have a great weekend.

Book Review: Murder at Glenloch Hill by Clara McKenna (Stella and Lyndy Mysteries #6)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mystery with characters we love

Cons: A few minor things, but enjoyable overall

The Bottom Line:

Golfing in Scotland

Finding murder once again

Love these characters

Golf Clubbed to Death

The best part of reading a series is getting to revisit characters we’ve fallen in love with. That has certainly been the case with the Stella and Lyndy series from Clara McKenna. So I was looking forward to revisiting them in Murder at Glenloch Hill, the sixth in the series. 

This book takes us to 1906 Scotland as we check in with the title couple. When we met them just a year ago their time, Stella was an American heiress who wasn’t aware her father planned to marry her off to Lyndy, the heir to a British estate. Despite that less than ideal beginning, the two have fallen in love and are enjoying their married life together. 

When this book opens, it’s been six months since we last checked in with them. They’ve enjoyed that nice break from murder and mayhem, but sadly for them, it won’t last. They are traveling to Scotland to meet some distance cousins that Stella just found out about. They are going to be there during the Open Championship, which is taking place on the Old Course nearby. Since Lindy’s soon to be brother-in-law is a professional golfer, Lyndy’s sister Alice is rounding out the group so the three of them can cheer her fiancé on. 

But an unexpected guest throws a wrench in the party when they arrive. Something is off, but Stella and Lyndy can’t quite figure out what it is. A surprising accusation from a maid only further complicates things. Then Stella finds a dead body, and Lyndy finds himself the chief suspect. Can they figure out what really happened?

As I said earlier, I love the characters. Which made me a little sad that we weren’t at home. We are missing a few of the regulars and the growth in their relationships I have enjoyed watching. Having said that, we got some interesting growth in the characters we did see, which was nice. 

This series uses multiple third person points of view to tell the story. The majority of the book is told from Stella and Lyndy’s points of view, but we get some from other characters, which give us insight into them. All told, I did enjoy meeting the new cast of characters here. 

And yes, since this book takes place in Scotland, we get some dialect in the dialogue. A few times, it was a bit much, but even Stella and Lundy were being frustrated by it. Most of the time, it added a fun lilt to what I was reading. 

The plot was good. A couple of times, I felt it lagged a bit, but it soon picked back up. I was swept up in the final third and didn’t want to put the book down when I had to return to real life. The solution wrapped everything up well. 

The time period came alive for me once again. There is little actual history happening in the pages, but I do feel like I’m visiting the 1900’s when reading these books. 

If you are looking for a series with characters you’ll love, be sure to pick this one up. Fans will enjoy getting to read Murder at Glenloch Hill. 

Visit again with the rest of the Stella and Lyndy Mysteries. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book. 

Movie Review: Three Wise Men and a Baby

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Sweet, funny, and charming Christmas movie

Cons: Some of the characters are on the stereotypical side

The Bottom Line:

A sudden baby

Brings three brothers together

Charming Christmas film

“We’re Family.  If It Happens to One of Us, It Happens to All of Us.”

So, apparently, this year I’m giving in and watching Hallmark Christmas movies.  I’ve got multiple on my DVR.  Who knows if I will get them all watched before Christmas (I’m betting no).  I started out with one that isn’t from the 2024 crop of new movies – 2022’s Three Wise Men and a Baby.

The movie introduces us to three Brenner brothers, all of whom still live with their mother.  The most successful is Luke (Andrew W. Walker), a fire fighter who is trying to build his own house so he can move out.  Meanwhile, there’s Stephan (Paul Campbell), who is a pet therapist and lives in the house behind his mother’s house.  Finally, we have Taylor (Tyler Hynes), the video game programmer who lives in the basement and has just been fired from his job.  Again.

Things change when someone leaves a baby boy at the firehouse with Luke’s name on it, asking to help take care of him for a few days.  Since it’s almost Christmas, the family takes in the baby, at least through the holiday.  But when their mom (Margaret Colin) has to go out of town, the three brothers have to take care of the baby by themselves.  Can they do it?  What will they learn along the way?

Obviously, this isn’t the typical Hallmark movie set up.  So maybe this wasn’t the best one for me to start with since it would be a nice break from the formula later.  But I completely enjoyed it.  There were lots of laughs at watching the brothers try to care for the baby, especially as they started to fall into the typical complaints that parents of babies make.

While the set up might not have been predictable, the plot pretty much was.  I did figure out where most of the storylines were going to go early on.  But, as I always say, I don’t mind as long as I’m having fun, and that was definitely the case here.

On the other hand, I did feel like the characters were a little stereotypical at times, especially the men who never move out thing.  But this is a minor complaint.

Yes, this is a Christmas movie, which means there are quite a few Christmas moments.  There’s even a late breaking Christmas plot that comes into play.  And they completely worked.  I was decorating while I was watching, and this just helped put me even more in the Christmas spirit.

This is a Hallmark movie, which means there are some low budget cheese moments.  But these are kept to a minimum.  The acting and writing are both mostly good and really pull us into the story.  Having said that, there are some pretty big plot holes we have to accept in the premise of the movie.  But if you aren’t willing to do that, then Hallmark Christmas movies probably aren’t for you.

I was curious about this movie since I knew it was getting a sequel (which premiers this coming Saturday).  Having watched it, I can easily see why they decided to revisit these characters.  The story is fun, the characters are charming, and the movie will make you laugh and tear up even when you see those moments coming.

So if you’ve missed Three Wise Men and a Baby, you really should fix that this year.  I’m glad I kicked off my Hallmark Christmas movies watch for the year with it.

Book Review: We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen (Royal Spyness Mysteries #18)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Georgie and the cast; history unfolding

Cons: Mystery is uneven

The Bottom Line:

Film crew on estate

An uneven mystery

History unfolds

An Invasion of Guests

It’s been interesting watching the historical arcs develop in Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness Mysteries. Even knowing what was coming there, I was fascinated to see how it would play out on the page. We get to see the next part of that, along with mystery and mayhem, in We Three Queens, the eighteenth book in the series. 

If you are new to the series, it features Lady Georgiana, a minor royal in 1930’s England. While the early books spent time on her trying to survive even though she was penniless, she is now married with a baby and a stable if still not wealth home. 

When the book opens, it is October 1936, and Lady Georgie is enjoying her life as a new mother. Things have been quiet for a few months, and she’s happy about that. Unfortunately, that is going to change. 

First comes a request from Georgie’s cousin, King Edward, that they host his love, Wallis Simpson, so the press doesn’t hound her while he tries to convince Parliament to change the law so he can marry her. Then, Georgie’s brother and sister-in-law arrive to stay while they try to find a good school for their son. 

But trouble really arrives when Sir Hubert, Georgie’s godfather and the owner of the estate where Georgie lives, returns home with a film crew in tow. They are filming a movie about King Henry VIII, and they think the house is perfect for some of the locations. Georgie’s trying to make the best of it, but when someone vanishes from the house, things really get out of hand. Can Georgie figure out what happened?

As I said, we’ve been following the saga of Edward and Mrs. Simpson since the beginning of the series, and I’ve enjoyed watching it unfold. I was glad to see it as a strong subplot in this book. 

But things really don’t kick off until the film crew arrives in full force. Unfortunately, even then, I found the plot uneven. The story did reach a logical and satisfying climax, but it wasn’t as strong overall as I would have liked. 

The story is saved by the characters. I really do love Georgie and the others, and it was fantastic to spend time with them again. There were a couple of the regulars we didn’t hear from here, but it would have just slowed things down to shoehorn them in, so it works for me. The new characters fit flawlessly into Georgie’s world. 

Fans will definitely enjoy catching up with Georgie and getting a front row seat to a little more history in We Three Queens. If you are new to the series, I recommend you start with an earlier book. You’ll appreciate this one so much more that way. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the Royal Spyness books. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book. 

Ornament Review: Merida and Snow White - 2024 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mini ornaments of two princesses, especially Snow White

Cons: Merida’s face missing details; weird characters for set

The Bottom Line:

Merida, Snow White

Combined for this mini set

That’s good overall 

A Mismatched Pair of Miniature Ornaments

Over the last couple of years, Hallmark has been releasing miniature ornaments of the Disney princesses – two a year. This year, they decided to release the two ornaments for the year as a set. It makes for a different pairing since they released Merida and Snow White.

Fans of either Princess will be happy with how they look. Merida is wearing her green dress. She has her arms crossed and she is looking out at us. Her mouth is a thin line, so I will say I find her mouth a little hard to see. Given her size, I get it.

Snow White, on the other hand, looks fantastic. She’s wearing her classic dress. She’s got a slight smile on her face, and she has her dress in one hand to strike a classic pose. It looks like she is dancing a little.

I’ll admit, if Hallmark hadn’t bundled these two together, I probably would have only gotten Snow White. I know I’m in the minority, but I’m not a huge fan of Brave. But I couldn’t pass up Snow White. And neither ornament is bad, so I’m glad I didn’t pass up this set. 

I’ve mentioned these are miniature ornaments. I want to emphasize that again since it is important. The ornaments are each roughly an inch and a quarter tall. That’s it. So keep that in mind when you purchase the set. But given that size, the detail is pretty impressive. 

While the princesses are supposedly standing on their feet, they really aren’t big enough to hold them up if you set them out to be displayed. But when you go to hang them, you’ll be happy to see they hang straight. 

It’s fun to have more Disney characters to put on my miniature trees. I’m happy overall I added the Merida and Snow White mini ornament set to my collection. 

November 17th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

I'm looking back at my week trying to find something exciting to talk about.  Don't really have much.  Got a couple of things that we are trying to figure out before our fiscal year end (which is November 30), so that's making things more exciting at work.  Other than that, not too much to talk about.

Two weeks ago, I rearranged my living room to start putting up my Christmas trees.  With how late Thanksgiving is and the fact that I'm always out of town with family for both holidays, I really want to be done, or close to it, by the time I leave for Thanksgiving.  This past Wednesday, I finally got the trees out of their boxes.  But that's it so far.  So maybe I should get on with things and gets some lights and ornaments on them.

Joke of the Week:

Shout out to the people who demand to know what the opposite of “in” is.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Jungle Book - 2016

Tuesday - Book Review: Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

Wednesday - TV Show Review: The Amazing Race - Season 36

Thursday - Book Review: You Feta Watch Out by Linda Reilly

Friday - Friday Post featuring Murder at Glenloch Hill

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Ornament Review: Merida and Snow White

Tuesday - Book Review: We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen

Wednesday - Movie Review: Three Wise Men and a Baby

Thursday - Book Review: Murder at Glenloch Hill by Clara McKenna

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Believe it or not, I only have one book to tell you about this week.  I know, I can't believe it either.

Monday, the Kindle version of Always the First to Die by R.J. Jacobs was on sale, so I snagged it.  Sadly, it looks like the sale is over.  It's a bit of a departure for me since the book is more of a thriller.  But it's about real deaths surrounding the production of a slasher movie in the Florida Keys and the lead actress going back years later.  Given my fascination with slasher movies, this seems like something I have to at least try.  Whether I like it or not will remain to be seen.

What I'm Currently Reading:

As I'm typing this on Saturday afternoon, I'm currently between books.

I recently finished Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes.  It's the first in a series about a wedding planner solving mysteries.  Unfortunately, it felt a bit like a first book by a new author, which it is.  It needed a little more polish, but the biggest issue is that the climax only works because the main character is completely stupid.  But my full review is to come.

Up next will be Ashes Never Lie, the second Sharpe and Walker novel from Lee Goldberg.  Definitely not one of my cozies, this series features two arson investigators for LA County.  I usually enjoy his books, so I'm looking forward to diving into this one.

That's it for me.  Hope you have a good week.

November 16th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Superman & Lois (11/4) – That was intense.  Yes, they lightened it up at times like the last scene with Sarah and the boys.  And how is it she is talking about junior year next year.  I thought they were juniors when the show started.  I realize it’s been TV time vs. real time, but still, I feel like they should be older by now.  Anyway, there were so many moments in this episode.  I realize we are in the final half (already), but they are going for broke.  And I loved that nod to the original comic’s release in the amount Clark owed in the store.

Tracker – And we’re back to the weird.  I really truly hope they get away from this quickly, or I will drop the series.  Honestly, I don’t think I have much more to say about it than that.  Well, it was nice to get a very little background about one of the supporting players.

The Marlow Murder Club – More fun with some interesting twists.  I’ve very confused as to where it is going.  Okay, maybe I’m also missing who a couple of the characters are, but that’s on me and my distracted watching more than anything else.  I’m definitely enjoying watching these ladies solving the murders.  Several more great lines as well.

Superman & Lois – Please tell me they are going to get another season.  Please.  I need to see more of Clark living in a world where everyone knows who he is.  Yes, it was a quieter episode again as far as suspense goes, but it was so powerful.  And that ending!  Yes, I teared up.  Something about the actor they picked for Jimmy didn’t sit quite right for most of the episode for me, but that last scene where he and Clark reconnected?  He was perfect in it.

Poppa’s House – There were some parts I laughed at.  And some parts I really cringed at.  Not sure if I want to be sticking with this one or not.  And, I’m embarrassed to say I had to look at IMDB to figure out that the headmistress was Rebecca Mader.  I knew she looked familiar, but I just couldn’t place her.  And after being a loyal Lost watcher and huge Once Upon a Time fan.

Rescue HI Surf – Just one rescue, and it impacted a lot of the episode.  Enough that the storyline with the two new lifeguards was very much a sub-sub-plot.  I don’t get why the Cap said anything when it wasn’t sounding good for her to get the promotion.  Unless they cut a scene, he had no business saying anything.  And I had to laugh at how the flying scene at the beginning was filmed.  Every trick in the book to keep from showing the stunt people instead of the actors up there.

Dancing with the Stars – Quite a milestone celebrated in style.  I think I would have appreciated the first round a bit more if they had shown us the original version of the dance so we could see how it was changed up.  There have been so many dances (and so many years), it’s hard to keep them all straight.  I also feel like we had something like the insta-dance in the past.  I’ve got to say my hat is off to everyone for pulling those off as well as they did.  I’m surprised Dwight lasted as long as he did due to that height difference.  But they did a great job each week.  Sorry to see him go, but it probably was the right time for him to leave.

Survivor – Well that drama was fun.  But in the end, every single person voted for Sol.  So Genieve could get her revenge.  Very sorry to see him go.  And sorry that Rachel didn’t have his back after he saved her just two votes ago.  But the scramble and drama sure was fun from the couch.

The Challenge – Michelle manages to hang on when she needs to.  I do but I don’t feel sorry for her and Olivia.  I mean, the way they ran things last season (yes, I hold grudges just like they do) was pretty brutal.  And Michelle can be downright mean as well.  But, Bananas has a huge ego problem as well.  I’d be quite happy to see him be brought down a couple of pegs.

Happy’s Place – Sweet episode overall.  I like the fact that they are rounding out Gabby a bit.  Yes, the character is right in Melissa Peterman’s wheelhouse, but it’s nice that she isn’t Barbara Jean redux.  However, how old is the character supposed to be?  Having a baby?  Really?

November 15th's Friday Post

It's been a few weeks.  Time to jump back into doing Friday Posts.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My quotes for the first three will be coming from Murder at Glenloch Hill by Clara McKenna.

This is the sixth Stella and Lyndy Mystery.  This particular book takes place in 1906, and Stella and Lyndy are traveling to Scotland.

Here's how the book opens:

Aggie Neely lingered in the doorway, the fresh breeze welcome on her flushed cheeks, and watched him go.

How does that tie in to the mystery and Stella and Lyndy?  I'll leave that for you to uncover.  Meanwhile, on page 56, we find this exchange between Stella and her maid, Ethel:

"I met a maid this afternoon at luncheon who seemed to have been..." Ethel bit her lip and she sought the right word. "Injured."
"Oh, no. She's all right, I hope. What happened?"

Want to know what happened?  You'll have to read the book.

It officially comes out November 26th.  I got to read an ARC, and I enjoyed it.  I'll have my full review up early, on the 21st, so I hope you'll come back then to see what I thought.

Meanwhile, here's this week's Book Blogger Hop:

Do you like to annotate your books or leave them untouched?

I leave them untouched.  I even try not to crease the covers when I'm reading them.  I like them to look as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

That's it for me.  Have a great weekend!

Book Review: You Feta Watch Out by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love; Good mystery; Christmas spirit

Cons: I’m not Scrooge

The Bottom Line:

When actor is killed

Carly steps in to clear friend

Strong Christmas spirit

Who Made Sure Marley Really Was Dead as a Doornail?

I hadn’t expected to get a Christmas entry in Linda Reilly’s Grilled Cheese Mysteries this year until You Feta Watch Out crossed my radar. I’m so glad it did since this was a fun entry in the series. 

This Christmas, a theater company has come to town to put on a production of A Christmas Carol. While Carly Hale is focusing on her grilled cheese diner, her friend Gina has joined the cast as a background extra, singing in some of the caroling scenes. Gina’s been excited, so when Carly gets a chance to attend the dress rehearsal, she jumps at it. 

It’s at the dress rehearsal that Carly discovers the flaw in the cast, Preston Lennon, who is playing Jacob Marley. Preston is so disruptive that the production must take an early intermission. But things get worse when Gina finds Preston’s dead body in his dressing room. The evidence seems to point to Gina as the suspect. Can Carly prove her friend’s innocence?

This isn’t the first time I’ve read about a production of A Christmas Carol in a Christmas cozy mystery. I appreciated that it was the actor playing Jacob Marley who was the victim this time. It was a fun little tweak. 

The plot itself is good. We have more than enough reasons to dislike Preston, which means there are enough suspects to keep us guessing. I didn’t figure out what was going on until the end. But the killer and motive made sense when Carly figured it out. 

And the characters are fantastic. I like how author Linda Reilly is progressing their lives in logical ways. The series regulars are fun to be around, and the suspects were believable as well. I also appreciate that, while Carly does get a few warnings to be careful, people don’t pile on her like they did in the previous book in the series. 

I was reading this book at the beginning of November so I’d have enough time to review it around release date. Even so, it put me in the Christmas spirit. I was wishing I had my trees up already so I could be reading it while enjoying them. I’m not sure I’d want to try the new grilled cheese sandwich featured here, but I appreciate the theming there as well. 

Speaking of which, the recipe for that and an appetizer is at the end of the book. 

If you are looking for a Christmas cozy, you’ll be glad you picked up You Feta Watch Out. Grill up a sandwich and enjoy. 

Be sure to savor the rest of the Grilled Cheese Mysteries. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book. 

TV Show Review: The Amazing Race - Season 36

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: They go to some amazing places

Cons: The race part is rather boring

The Bottom Line:

South America

Plays host to boring season

For diehards only

The Locations Were Amazing.  The Race, Not So Much

My entire family loves The Amazing Race, so we considered one of the positives from the recent strikes to be the fact that we got two seasons of the show in the 2023-2024 TV season.  Unfortunately, season 36 of the show was a disappointment, especially after the return to Amazing Race form that was season 35.

This season had to overcome the fact that it was filmed in the fall of 2022.  Countries were just starting to really open up again after Covid, so all the filming and planning restrictions we’d seen in seasons 33 and 34 were still in place.  While the show didn’t advertise it, the contestants were all traveling on chartered flights instead of finding their own way.  And the teams were starting each leg in heats.  That meant there was little chance for a team that was behind to catch up.  There were some ranking changes, but they were few and far between.  This was my complaint about the other Covid seasons.  With little in the way of taxis and public transportation being used, the teams tended to go from one task to another without any of the drama that makes the show fun.

This really hurt season 36 since season 35, which was filmed in the spring of 2023, was back to the original format where teams had to book their own flights and had bottlenecks were teams could all catch up.  This season had none of those.

Additionally, the teams weren’t that inspiring.  It was obvious early on who the strongest teams were, and so the show had little in the way of suspense or surprises.  There were several teams I was actively rooting against, but the rest of the teams were okay.  There just wasn’t anything to make us want to root for them.  Once again, the episodes were 90 minutes.  In this case, I’m not sure if that hurt or helped, especially since the season was originally created for the traditional 60 minute run time.

On the other hand, they went to some amazing places.  The season started outside the US, starting in Mexico.  From there, we spent most of the season in South America, wrapping up in the Caribbean before returning to Philadelphia.  There were a couple of tasks that I didn’t quite follow, and the teams seemed to avoid those, so we didn’t get to see how it was supposed to work.  The armchair travel is always fun even if the racing parts aren’t.

My family pretty much agrees with me on this.  While this was better than no season of The Amazing Race, it was definitely at or near the bottom of the show.  If you are a casual fan, skip this one in favor of a more entertaining season.  But if you’ve seen them all but this one, turn it on keeping in mind the weaknesses.

Book Review: Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters we come to care for

Cons: Lacks focus, so feels disjointed

The Bottom Line:

Chasing Narnia

But plenty else going on

The book lacks focus

Mixed Journey of Self-Discovery

The first time I read The Chronicles of Narnia back in 3rd grade, I fell in love with them. So when I heard about Once Upon a Wardrobe, a novel about CS Lewis and the creation of the series, I was curious. Sadly, the book tried to do too much and fell short for me. 

The year is 1950, and Megs is in her first year at Oxford. She still goes home on weekends, however, to her small village so she can spend time with her younger brother. George has had a weak heart all of his life, and the doctors can’t do anything for him. 

George’s world has been enhanced by the books he reads, and someone has given him a copy of the recently released The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He’s obsessed, and he wants to know where Narnia comes from. Meg’s will do anything for her brother, so she sets out to see if she can get the answer from C.S. Lewis. But what will she find if she meets the author? 

This book has a lot going on. There’s the story of Megs in the “present,” then there’s what’s going on with George. And, of course, the flashbacks to Lewis’s life. Unfortunately, it doesn’t balance them well. We get some vignettes from Lewis’s life from boyhood to young adult, but many of them are summarized stories for us and don’t really let us get to know much about him. Several of the things that happen in the 1950 storyline are illogical. Don’t get me wrong, I liked them, but they didn’t feel plausible. 

Ultimately, this is a coming of age tale for Megs. Again, I liked where it ended up, but it didn’t quite feel like it worked from what we were being given. 

I think part of this is that the basic premise, where did Narnia come from, is a weird question. Especially since the novel kinds of skirts around, giving us all the answers without giving us any definite answers. Trust me, this makes sense when you’ve read it. 

Ultimately, I feel like this is a book where the author had a grand theme planned, but she couldn’t quite pull off her vision. I’m not quite sure how it could have been fixed. Maybe cut out so much about Megs and her personal life? But that was a storyline I really enjoyed. 

Because, don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the characters. And the book did make me cry a few times. There is something good in here, but it doesn’t work like it should. 

In the end, Once Upon a Wardrobe is a book you should pick up if you are curious about it. I’m not sorry I read it. But I wish the author had focused just a bit more on a core story. It would have helped cement things. 

Movie Review: The Jungle Book (2016)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Mostly enjoyable; amazing visuals

Cons: Christopher Walken, darker tone

The Bottom Line:

New take on classic

Adds some interesting parts

Darker overall

Disney’s Newest Jungle Book Remake Offers a Slightly Different Take on the Tale

Near the beginning of Disney’s recent live action remake craze came The Jungle Book.  No, I’m not talking about the ones they released in the 1990’s (which I never have seen); I’m talking about the one from 2016.  Unlike the some of the other early ones, this one stuck close to the animated original, but made a few tweaks to the story.

The set up is definitely familiar.  Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a man cub raised by wolves.  Despite his best efforts, he has never been able to quite fit into his pack because, well, he’s human.  However, when Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) shows up planning to kill the boy, Mowgli gets off with Bagheera the panther (voiced by Ben Kingsley).  What will happen to them along the way?

As I said, if you think you know the story, be prepared for a few surprises along the way.  I appreciated many of them as they helped flesh out Mowgli and especially his relationship with the wolves a bit more.  Shere Khan is a much more fearsome and present villain in this take on the story, another change I appreciated.

Of course, there was the time I spent expecting certain events or characters from the animated film to pop up.  I kept having to remind myself that this was a different take on things and it was okay that it was different.  It’s not like Disney didn’t really change things around when they made the original animated movie based on some unconnected short stories.

I’ve fallen into Disney’s trap so far by referring to this as a live action movie.  It really isn’t.  Mowgli is real, but everything he is interacting with, including the sets, is computer generated.  They do a marvelous job.  It’s easy to turn off your brain and believe that everything you are seeing is real.  The animals do have just a hint of animation to them, making their speaking seem more natural than in the computer animated The Lion King remake.

And I have to give praise to Neel Sethi.  He was interacting with nothing as his part of the film was made, but I believed his performance completely.  It’s real and helps ground the movie for us.

The voice cast is good.  I enjoyed Bill Murray as Baloo.  Scarlett Johansson was fun as Kaa.  I’m realizing I’m not really a fan of Christopher Walken, and that didn’t help me enjoy his take on King Louie.

The movie does incorporate some of the songs from the original, but not all.  They aren’t a big feature of this film, and maybe that’s why a couple of them seemed out of place.  (See once again, King Louie.)  But it’s hard to go wrong with “The Bare Necessities,” and I certainly enjoyed that scene.

Parents of young kids should know that there are some intense scenes.  This movie is rated PG for a reason.  Most kids will probably be okay, but sensitive kids should still with the animated version from the 1960’s until they are ready for something more intense.  I’m sure parents will be able to judge that for their own kids.

I think that darker tone was what bothered me the most about this film.  It felt like they went needlessly dark, keeping some of the humor and fun from the original out.  That doesn’t make this film bad, but I think I prefer the animated original over this one.

I enjoyed most of what the new material added to the story, but overall, I found the newest version of The Jungle Book a little dark for my tastes.  I’m not sorry I finally watched it, but if you want a fun story, it’s best to stick with the original.