Rapscallion review

 Rapscallion by James McGee is the third in the Hawkwood series, about the adventures of a Bow Street Runner in the early 19th century.  This instalment sees our dashing hero go undercover on the prison hulks, leading evenutally to the breaking of a complex smuggling ring.  They're both set in the same period, but Austen was never like this.  McGee is the Michael Bay of the literary world - explosions, chases, increasingly ridiculous predicaments where the hero narrowly escapes certain death through increasingly preposterous means.  There's not much depth, and almost no character development, but there's certainly rip-roaring adventure!  Now, I hate Michael Bay movies, but I love my Hawkwood.  It's the kind of series that McGee should be able to keep churning out for many years to come, and I'll happily buy every single one.

Miss Potter review

Miss Potter was just the right film to de-stress me after a week of conferences, client dinners, and industry networking (not my strong points).  It was very sweet and very sad, but not too taxing on the brain.  I'm not normally a fan of Renee Zellwegger - and I found her voice just as jarring in this as usual - but she made a very appealing heroine, equal parts strength and whimsy.  It was a very gentle story - not much happened, but what did happen did so beautifully and with tremendous grace.  It was quite probably wildly inaccurate, but I really didn't care.