Tag: Kate

#CurrentlyWatching: From Dusk Till Dawn

Kat Impossible11 Comments

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Today’s #CurrentlyWatching will look a little different than usually. The thing is, in the regular feature I have reasons why you should watch the show and why you shouldn’t, but I am having difficulties doing that here. I am not one for gore, violence, blood and slaying all the time. Especially when it’s really gross, I usually just fast forward, because why would I subject myself to that? Therefore From Dusk Till Dawn would not have been my go-to-choice-of-show. I am not even sure I liked the show, but I can’t get it out of my head, so this is my venting space.

From Dusk Till Dawn is a remake by the El Rey network (can also be found on Netflix) of the 1996 movie of the same title. There are 3 Seasons so far and even though it is not officially cancelled, I am not the only one who thinks that the show is kind of concluded at this point. But there still might be a mini-series, which I would very much love!

The infamous Gecko brothers are on the run after robbing a bank and taking a hostage with them. Pursued by a Texas Ranger, the eventually end up trapped in a desert bar that is nothing like it seems. All along they were part of a vampire conspiracy without even having known it.

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So, I need to explain how this happened. When I immerse myself in a show, I go full in (I think you’ve noticed that by now). While I was cluelessly watching my shipping videos for some random show on YouTube, they kept suggesting Kate and Seth videos and I had no freaking idea what show they were even from. The videos kept appearing so much though, that I did some research and when I found out about the show, I immediately knew it wasn’t for me. I tried like two episodes, but it was no fun.

Then came my first week of unemployment and a ton of bureaucratic stuff I had to do. I needed background noise while doing all that stuff, so I put on From Dusk Till Dawn. I don’t think I have seen the movie. Of course, I know some of the film stills, but other than that I knew absolutely nothing and therefore had zero expectations. The first season dragged a little in the first half (then again, I barely paid any attention). From what I hear it’s basically the movie spread out over the entire season, but after that I simply couldn’t stop and binged all of it in two days.

Vampires are so outdated at this point, but since they are like snake-vampire-hybrids (called culebras) here, they totally work for me. The mythology was really fascinating and I just love that Robert Rodriguez was the one to do the remake, because it’s just always better if the idea comes from someone who was involved with the original. They even managed to get some of the old cast (in different roles) to appear on the show now.

In my opinion, basically everything got better from season 2 onward – the production value and the pacing as well as the storyline! There was just so much more to discover and I enjoyed the journey the characters went through. They went full circle and that’s always a thing of beauty, because nothing is worse than dragging on with a show so long that it becomes terrible. Believe it or not, in the end I even loved some most of the characters. Which brings me to the next and to me probably most important point. The ships!

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The main people this shipping stuff revolves around are the Gecko brothers Seth and Richie, good girl Kate and badass culebra goddess Satánico Pandemonium aka Kisa. From what I found out both guys are shipped with both girls (and I can definitely see why), but I like the Seth-Kate and Richie-Satánico combo best (although I stopped shipping the latter at some point). It might have something to do with me finding out about the show because of Seth and Kate but they are my favourite thing in that show and the most frustrating ship in the history of me watching horror ships. Spoiler alert: they never even kiss!

The thing with Kate and Seth is that they work incredibly well together, which lead so far that people even ship the real life people with each other (but they are just friends!!!). I am usually trying to be a relatively open to age differences in relationships, but when I found out that Madison Davenport (Kate) was only 20 and D.J. Cotrona (Seth) is 36, even I stopped to pause. It didn’t really affect me on the show though, because the characters just have a bond.

In my opinion, Seth protected Kate from the beginning, which is an odd thing to say considering that he kidnapped (and therefore basically doomed) her entire family and held them at gunpoint several times. But they became partners and Seth would give about anything to get her life back to normal, which is not really possible anymore. So, they became my new Bonnie and Clyde! YAY!

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So, be cool! I know this isn’t for everyone. Any takers? Or have some of you already watched it?

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Book Review)

Kat Impossible15 Comments

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Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Page Count: 427

This Savage Song was featured in the July OwlCrate box and so far I have not been disappointed by any read I have got from them, this one not being an exception – I loved it!

I know that Schwab has quite an impressive bibliography, but I haven’t read anything other than the Shades of Magic books so far. While I did enjoy them, I did not necessarily love them though, but now I have simply fallen for This Savage Song.

She created this world full of monsters and music. No one is safe. No one is truly good or evil – or at least that’s what the premise promised, but I thought it was pretty obvious who was on which side. I think that might have been a point that disappointed people a bit, but I personally didn’t really mind it. Good people have to do terrible things all the time. It’s how they deal with it afterwards that makes me decide if I still consider them good people or not and whatever August and Kate had to do in the book, you saw with a certainty that they did not fully enjoy doing really terrible acts.

At first I was a little confused with the set-up. Why were the monsters there? How were they created? How can something just begin to exist with a plop and be this fully developed being? The thing is, we don’t really get answers to that, but that is the exact same thing August is struggling with. You get a vague break-down of what happened, but it didn’t feel like a real explanation to me. Going through the same process as the character makes all the difference though and was maybe also the reason why I liked August a tiny bit more than Kate. She was tough and had something to prove, but I felt more connected to August’s struggle to just hold on. He soon turned into my baby that I just wanted to protect, but failed miserably at it.

One of the things I liked most was that it all was so quietly exciting. You got an in depth feel of the characters and their inner workings, but the real action didn’t start until the final third and I was totally okay with that. Also, I was glad to find that the ending open but not with a terrible cliffhanger. I knew going into this that it was a series and I am really looking forward to the continuation of the story. Right now our MC’s are all over the place, but I am sure they will find their way back together (just like Kell and Lila).

Fazit: 5/5 stars! It was an exciting, character-driven story that I cannot wait to dive back into with the sequels!

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Have you read This Savage Song? Do you share my feelings for it or did you have a different experience? Let’s discuss!

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour/David Levithan (Book Review)

Kat Impossible25 Comments

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Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Page Count: 250

I got this book because I won it at a giveaway (my FIRST giveaway win!) from Aila who is blogging at One Way or an Author AND Happy Indulgence. She’s currently on hiatus, but I still cannot thank her enough for hosting the giveaway and letting me choose this amazing book! THANK YOU!

I don’t know if you remember, but a while back there was this TTT topic of author duos you wish were real, and I totally called for a Levithan-LaCour-pairing AND IT HAPPENED! Not because I said it, since they were already working on You Know Me Well by then, but I didn’t know that … so, I like to pretend my wishful thinking made it come true! I just knew that combined, they would make a beautiful LGBT+ novel and I was right! It would have been the perfect read for Pride month, but you should celebrate pride all year round, so I am not that disappointed I didn’t get to it in June.

This is not a book about teens coming out (although there may or may not be a character in the story who still needs to come to terms with his sexuality), but rather it is about finding that one person you feel comfortable with. Where you are not afraid to be yourself around and who you are ready to be there for and share everything with – a true friend. Kate and Mark have been in school with each other for years but they weren’t among the same group of people, until one fateful night brings them together. I definitely don’t believe in insta-love, but I do think that insta-friendship can be real.

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Sometimes you just click with a person and that’s what happened here and it’s 100% platonic and there is no indication of romancing between Kate and Mark whatsoever, which is just perfect (and the way it should be since they both aren’t into the other gender). They were comfortable with their sexuality and so were their surroundings. I am not saying that they didn’t have to face problems in their life because of it at some point, but I was so happy to see them in an accepting environment, that simply took it all as a given.

As much as it was about friendship, it was also about changing relationships, heartbreak, wrong expectations, fear of the future and the fact that everyone needs to figure out their path all by themselves at some point in their life. I loved that, because I could relate to so much of it. But first and foremost, I adored how good it made me feel. I was on the verge of crying and it wasn’t because it made me sad, but because it was so precious.

Lastly, I remain of the opinion that Levithan does his best work when he is having a co-author to par with and I am glad this one worked out so well. It all took place during the course of a week, but I didn’t even need 24 hours to finish it, which means it was way too short for me. I could read about the adventures of Mark and Kate forever!

Fazit: 5/5 rainbows! Light, beautiful and really fun! Perfect (but not only) for Pride month!

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Have you read You Know Me Well? What do you think? Do you want to read it?