Angie Dickinson

Dirt-poor depression-era mother Wilma (Angie Dickinson) vows to put her life of poverty behind her. With her two daughters Billiy Jean (Susan Sennett) and Polly (Robbie Lee) she strikes out for California and stumbles into a life of crime. The trio run a number of scams before taking up bank-robbing alongside Fred Diller (Tom Skerritt) and moving on to gambling rackets with gutless huckster William Baxter (William Shatner). It’s all high adventure and fun and games until the inevitable show more comedown. “Big Bad Mama” is a great piece of trashy, mid-‘70s drive-in exploitation care of producer Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Corman and his scriptwriters (William Nolan and Frances Doel) anti-establishment, counter-cultural credentials are to the fore in the targets chosen by Wilma: the conman preacher; conniving bankers; the American Legion; an oil firm and finally an upper-class gathering. The film also works as something of a parody of dustbowl gangster flicks, but these nuances are never left to linger as Wilma and her daughters have too many banks to rob, too many towns to shoot up and to many cop cars to run off the road. The dialogue is sparse and snappy and director Steve Carver keeps the action zippy and fun. The cast are great particularly Angie Dickinson who is powerful (and gorgeous) as the tommy gun totting mother determined that her daughters won’t grow up to a life of grinding poverty. Susan Sennett, Robbie Lee, Tom Skerritt and William Shatner all do fine but pale against the bright light of Dickinson. Dick Miller and Royal Dano are also in the cast, bringing their own idiosyncratic stylings. “Big Bad Mama” is wildly entertaining throughout, it’s trashy, campy, fast-paced and silly and full of sexy exploitation goodness. show less

Truth Cursed was such a delightful book! Short - it had everything a YA fantasy book should have. Mystery, adventure, secrets, friendships and a little bit of romance.

It took me sometime to figure out what the story was about, but when Cressida gets sent on her mission, I really couldn’t stop reading!

Cressida is such a likeable character and only reading about her curse - always having to speak the truth if asked directly - already made me anxious, so it’s more than easy to empathize show more with her. Her curse and her upbringing made her something of a recluse. She understandably shies away from personal contact, so it was very sweet to read about the friendships that were slowly building.

The worldbuilding and adventure were amazing, the part that takes place at the school was mysterious and engaging and definitely reminded me of books I read as a teen. Once arrived at the castle I was completely sucked into the story. (I enjoyed it from the beginning, but the later part of the story had me hooked on a level only few books had in my last year of reading.)

Even though I personally wouldn’t classify this book as Christian fiction since there are only very light faith themes, I definitely enjoyed the little acknowledgments here and there and the Christian values woven throughout the story.

It’s a book about intrigue and trust, about truth and power. It’s a wonderful YA fantasy book with low magic but high stakes and an absolutely sweet romance subplot. I really loved the characters, the setting, the romance.

The “twist” (or twists? since there are a few things revealed at the end) wasn’t too surprising to be honest, but this didn’t lessen the grip the story had on me!

I recommend it to everyone who loves YA fantasy and with the romance being very sweet and innocent, even the most terrible things that happen not being detailed or gory, I will definitely let my kids read this in a few years. Until then, I am going to relive this wonderful story through the audiobook, which is a huge compliment from me. There are books I love and there are books I love so much, I want a physical copy and the audiobook after having read the ebook version. Truth Cursed is obviously in the second category!

P.S.: I can definitely see a sequel to this book, maybe with other main characters. But there is definitely room to explore more about the many secrets presented and I would 100% pick it up!

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own. show less

The Star-Blessed is a magical fantasy novel inspired by the fairy tales Catskin (which I don’t know) and Rumpelstiltskin (which is one of my favorite fairy tales).

While it took me some time to get into the story at first, I quickly empathized with Seren and admired her strength in this awful situation. She’s a silent but resilient heroine that grows continually throughout the story.

Her connection to Corin is really unique and I liked his additional POV. Before their special bond I show more wasn’t completely sure if I should trust him, but he turns out to be as loyal, brave and kind as he seemed to be from the beginning.

I really liked him and their sweet romance!

This is an enchanting tale, but a bit darker than Angie Dickinson’s first book Truth Cursed and I am not sure why this is marketed as YA since the main characters are all 18 or older.
The Star magic was intriguing, but there was something missing for me.

Even though the worldview was Christian, I wasn’t comfortable with witches being presented in a positive way and I personally would have appreciated to know this in advance, since I would probably not have read the book. In my opinion we should be very careful as Christians to call witches or witchcraft good. It can get confusing very quickly when the Bible is very clear about this topic and in every event when a person from the Bible is able to perform any sort of wonder/prophecy/”magic” it’s always given directly by God. I know this is a Fantasy book, but I think it would have been much better to create a world where God gives certain gifts and not call these people witches when witchcraft is so obviously something evil and something to step away from.

I really enjoy Angie Dickinson’s writing (and will definitely share her first book with my kids when they are a bit older) and just hope and assume this was an honest mistake and that her next books won’t include “good witches”.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own. show less

I’m not much on fantasy books but there are a few that really grab my attention. This book intrigued me so much that I couldn’t put it down. Cressida is a young girl who has been sent by her aunts to a finishing school. I had to laugh because Cressida does not fit this place at all. Her aunts wanted her out of the way and convinced the school to take her. She has been cursed with always telling the truth. This makes for some unpleasant moments when the other girls ask her questions.

The show more author slowly reveals that the school has a secret. Cressida is there also to become a spy. Now how is she suppose to spy when she can’t lie? Everyone knows that being a spy entails you to be conniving, sneaky and secretive. Cressida will learn many skills that will help her on her journey but will she be able to complete her mission?

Uncovering why many of the girls family members were murdered are at the center of this operation. The king has fooled many and now must be exposed. I liked the suspense the author creates as we watch Cressida become confident, brave and focused. It was nice to see that she did have an admirer. This part of the story is nice and adds a bit of fun to the story.

Get ready for adventure, intrigue and secrets that make this book a must read. The characters are good and the author delivers a storyline that captures our imagination.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion. show less