This is the story of a single document, a Victorian certificate of marriage, encompassing the backstory of how it came into being and the significant impact it can have in hte modern day. I envisage this story came into being after the author stumbled across such a document, and it’s fascinating to wonder what is the drama behind the simple piece of paper.

I liked the concept of this from the start - the story of a murder told in two halves. One aspect, from the moment it happened onwards, and the other, from way back leading up to the murder itself. The first quarter of the book didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it felt a little contrived to be introducing all these men as we readers were supposed to be desperately guessing which one was lying on the carpet with a dent in his skull.

This was not the film I was expecting at all. The cover, and the fact that Pierce is in it, are so reminiscent of The Love Punch, that I assumed it was going to be a bit of a rom com dash about beautiful locations with some fun dialogue. It was way more serious than I’d expected, although not a heavy film overall - there were still laughs to be had and a few twists and turns along the way.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, and I was surprised at the intensity of the story right from the beginning. Flowertown tells the story of what happens when a chemical spill means an entire community is quarantined from the outside world… for years. With relationships growing tense, supplies running out, and conspiracies going wild, Flowertown dives right in with our heroine Ellie, and doesn’t let up until the end.

As a book, it got off to a slow start for me. Lots of French words that didn’t make a lot of sense, and that whole report to M that took me several times to read and fully understand. There’s also the full description of how baccarat works, but I’m such a dunce at these casino card games, I couldn’t get my head around that either.

I saw the film before I read this book, and I think it would have been better to have the big reveal be a surprise upon reading. However, it was still interesting to see how it all unravelled in text, and how we dipped between Amy and Nick’s point of view all the way through - whether it was in diary form, was truthful or made up or otherwise.

This was such a hit and miss film. It wasn’t a patch on the first one, although I wasn’t expecting it to be at all. The trouble is, the story was nowhere near as good - although underneath there was a really good point about where the line for human/animal/teddy bear rights is drawn. It’s like there was a great discussion to be had, but Seth opted to skirt around it for most of the film. In the end, this was just a vehicle for some more of the tasteless nonsense of the first.

On the surface, this was a solid indie film, taking a close up look at a relationship and how it works when compared to the next generation. All the acting was good, I quite enjoyed Ben trying to relax and unwind even in scenarios he wasn’t quite comfortable with. And the younger couple were just so hipster it hurt.

Last month, Mr C and I finished watching all of the Bond films. We’d been pondering the merits and pitfalls of doing such a thing, but when I bought the iTunes bundle of all 23 films up to and including Skyfall, it was inevitable. We finished the films just in time for the hype to start for the new film, Spectre, which means there’s a lot of great Bond content on TV and the internet just as our interest has peaked.

I’ve been looking forward to this one from the moment it was announced, being the minion fan that I am. However, there was also so much hype and press about it that I felt like it was familiar right from the off. There were still some nice surprises, particularly the opening intro Pitch Perfect style, but actually it just felt like a nice, comfortable, minion-tastic ninety minutes.

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I felt like this story took a while to get going - there was a lot of buildup about our protagonists rather chequered history of her own, alongside a quite drawn out first meeting with her new next door neighbour, the celebrity film star.

Properly loved this one. It was no doubt helped by the fact that we’ve just trawled our way through the entire James Bond archive, but what a fantastic comedy spy homage film. It was packed with nods to the source material, but was an equally solid story in its own right. How one woman manages to dig deep and do what’s right for her country, despite being surrounded by, let’s face it, fools.

Such a frustrating film. All the elements seemed like they were going to be great - stellar cast, beautiful setting, interesting script. Sadly, none of it made any sense at all. There was plenty of implied knowledge about Hawaii and its myths, history and legends. I had no clue who all the people were supposed to be and how they fitted in to the story, who actually was Bradley Cooper and what was he doing?

It’s a great story - a different dimension in time and space where creative thinkers get free reign? Sign me up! It’s overall optimistic, despite the undertones, and although it does feel a little bit preachy about positive thinking and how we’re clearly not doing anything to change the end of the world as we know it, mostly I just felt inspired to do awesome things.

I’m always in awe of people who decide to do crazy things like row across an entire ocean - but to do it with someone you barely know is even more of an endeavour. Ben Fogle and James Cracknell seem like the most unlikeliest of rowing partners and were it not for a slightly drunken moment of bravery from Ben, it might never have happened!

I’m always intrigued to start a new crime/thriller series because you always have to wonder how it can be any different to what has gone before. Annoyingly, I’ve picked up this series partway through, but still, then you get to see how the author helps new readers along. Whilst the standard elements are in place here - cop with new partner, murder to be solved, frustrating case that drags on - it’s all a little bit different.

I’m a big Jack Reacher fan, and whilst the concept of an author nabbing someone else’s characters isn’t new, I wasn’t totally sure I was comfortable with it initially. Then I saw that Lee Child was totally on board with this outside in view of the world of Reacher, so I figured I’d give it a go.

This film felt like it had all the potential to be great but it just sort of fell short. It got off to a slow start, with a focus on the Icelandic families and their need to send kids out to hunt to prove themselves. Sort of hard to relate to that but okay. It got better when Samuel LJ got involved, although it felt like he was trying just a bit too hard at points. Doing the Die Hard line felt out of character, really.

I loved this. It can never get close to the first film, which has something special that I can’t quite put my finger on, but it undoes a lot of the damage of the two sequels. Chris Pratt does an excellent job in the title role, although I feel like it wasn’t too much of a stretch - guy being skeptical about crazy people messing with dinosaur DNA - who wouldn’t be?

I enjoyed this because I love a good disaster film but let’s all be honest - it’s not actually a great movie. It has all the elements necessary for the disaster genre - scientist being ignored, hero in search of his family, plucky kids doing their best to stay alive, and some relationship drama thrown in as well. There’s some incredible CGI in this one, you can really tell how the technology is marching forwards. From the skyscrapers wobbling, to the ripples in the earth, with some impressive physical stunts thrown in for good measure.

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, as I’ve been a follower of Joanne’s work in podcasting and promoting writing as a career. I enjoyed the story, one of your classic religion meets action thrillers where there’s a global chase in search of artefacts that could just see the destruction of the world. It’s a tough genre to stand out in but I think the characters in Pentecost do a good job at holding their own.

If you’d asked me before we started which was my favourite Bond film, I’d always say this one. Not the best, for sure, but my favourite. North Korea, hovercraft, ice palace, invisible car, Halle Berry, lots of good stunts and plenty of fun. Plus Pierce.

Two strong female characters, although I properly cannot get over the name Christmas. Bond films do funny names, I understand, but Christmas Jones isn’t a pun in and of itself, and they barely reference it until right at the end. Weird. Loved Sophie Marceau, the right mix of vulnerability and vengefulness.

Such a sad tale this one. It starts and ends with death, and traverses the exhausting trials of grief throughout. There’s a mystery to be solved - why did Ellie’s husband die in a car crash with a strange woman in the car? Was it an affair? An accident? Or, more likely, given the genre of the book, murder?

On a whim, I started watching the entire series of Bond movies starting from the beginning and working through each iteration. Somewhere along the way, I realised I had the Roger Moore autobiography, but I didn’t want to read it until I’d finished watching his 007 outings. With that achieved, I dived in.

Not only is this a Brosnan Bond film but it’s also one I’ve seen before - finally! I love this film enormously. From the brilliance of Jonathan Pryce as your media mogul gone mad, to the incredible helicopter versus motorbike stunt, to the superb stealth boat and remote control car, there’s so much to love.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the process of working our way through every Bond film, I can’t quite describe the relief to get to my beloved Brosnan. I can see why people attach themselves to the different variations of the character, but Pierce is definitely mine. Suave but funny, womaniser but without the aggressiveness we’ve previous seen, an action hero with some relatively up to date kit, and that general feeling of over-the-top but fun and fantastic action.

The story of a journalist working in Berlin in the fraught moments before world war breaks out for the second time, Zoo Station is captivating. Although much of it is logistical - travelling here, meeting this person, setting up arrangements - it’s never boring. There’s a tension throughout that keeps you second guessing and eager to know more. And there’s a sort of depressing foreboding to the piece, watching horrific events unfold without being able to stop them, knowing something terrible is about to happen at any moment.

I was looking forward to this but yet again Mr Franco doesn’t quite manage to deliver. The trailer looked far more exciting than the end result was. It was entertaining enough, and a passable way to spend 90 minutes but it felt quite contrived and a bit of a mish-mash of other, better films.

I’ve grown to really quite like Timothy Dalton as James Bond, even though it’s only been two films. But, as Paul said to me on Twitter, the guy really wasn’t given the best of scripts to work with. The last film was passable, but this one, oh boy, it was not great. I can’t get over how horrific some of it was - and okay, you always expect a few nasty things to happen in a Bond film, but the list was endless.

I was concerned about watching the two Dalton films, mostly because I didn’t know anything about his or Lazenby’s efforts, and the latter wasn’t exactly an outstanding Bond contender. Thankfully, Timothy was a heck of a lot better. He was just as good at hiding his accent as Sean Connery, but made up for it with a stern intensity that Roger Moore had been completely missing.

This is the story of two deaths, or near-deaths, told in two distinct parts by two narrators. It follows the story of Holly, a girl who seemingly has it all but finds her life crumbling around her as she falls ill and subsequently tries to kill herself. The second part of the story follows Holly’s best friend as she tries to pick up the pieces.

Rather than the sticking to the previous format of Mary Poppins arriving in a random fashion, bringing with her adventures galore before leaving again without a whisper of warning, this book follows selected stories from those times. I quite like that change, rather than knowing it will all end sadly when she disappears again, instead you can just revel in the joy and go with it.

I snapped up the book, and read it over several sittings. It took longer than I’d have liked so was a little bit disjointed for me, but luckily there were plenty of recaps throughout to keep us up to speed. I think if I’d read it in a shorter space of time it might have been annoying, particularly having to browse through the whiteboard of clues over and over again.

Lots of mixed feelings about this one. It was, of course, brilliant but definitely not perfect. For a start, the story had me very confused. It felt like a Transformers movie - long, confusing, sort of in two parts, and many times I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. There was also a lot of references and characters dipping in and out, which is part of the joy of the Marvel Universe, I know, but made it very hard work when I couldn’t remember or place half of them.

Thankfully, it lived up to the high expectations. Great returning characters, with some nice surprises along the way. Fab new characters too, with Hailee Steinfeld squeezing in seamlessly with her own brand of craziness to add to the group. Love the concept of the girls being knocked down a peg or two and having to claw their way back up, particularly against the absolutely terrifying Das Sound Machine.

What’s great about being a couple of books behind in a series is that you don’t have to wait so long to read up on the cliffhanger ending of the previous book. In that one, we were waiting to learn if our heroine tied the knot or not, and although you’d think the answer would be easy - as always with Jess, it’s more complicated than it looks.

After some fairly lacklustre Bond efforts recently, this one came storming back with great actors, great action and for once, a pretty solid story! You can sort of tell that Moore is starting to feel a bit old for this one, but soon that is swept aside in favour of an action-packed blockbuster.

The first HTTM wasn’t exactly a rousing success (‘Not a great film, but moments of brilliance and certainly worth watching, if you can cope with it.’) and I wasn’t expecting the second to be any better. In fact, I was actively expecting it to be worse as the trailer looked shocking. I’m not totally sure why I even watched it, other than for that sense of completeness and because it was an easy-going watch for a wine-fuelled evening.

It’s easy to sum this one up - hugely enjoyable but very hard work. It’s fast paced and so quick witted that it’s clearly aimed at hip teens that don’t use the word hip, and can catch onto all the jokes instantly. As oldies, Mr C and I tended to be a few steps behind, but it was a lot of fun trying to keep up!

I tweeted that Moonraker was the worst Bond film to date, and expected that to be the low point. Sadly, Octopussy plumbed new depths of terrible, but for totally different reasons. Where Moonraker had a rushed plot with laughable ideas, Octopussy felt like it could have been good - but it was all wrong.

Another good entry in the Jessica Daniel series, although this one brought out some new reactions in me. Where previously, Jess has had a certain disregard for the rules to go with her hunches and it has tended to work out in the end, this time it felt so clear that she was wrong. Everyone was saying it, and I wasn’t keen on just how far over the line she went in her efforts to prove a point.

It’s not hard to love Clare Balding, talented and knowledgeable presenter, feminist, hugely likeable sports presence and generally a bit of an inspiration. I was keen to read her book, even though it was structured around animals quite so heavily - I’m not a huge animal fan, and horses aren’t up there as my favourites.

Intensely similar to the books that have come before, this sequel in the Mary Poppins series follows the formula that has been so successful - the super-nanny arrives, promising to stay for a limited amount of time, and takes the children under her care on magical adventures in the meantime.

It was great fun to catch up with Jessica Daniel again, as well as her ever-increasing circle of friends and acquaintances. I like to see how the focus ebbs and flows between the secondary characters - some moving into focus in each book and others taking a back seat.

This was a much better outing for Bond after the disaster that was Moonraker. It wasn’t one of the best, but felt very much like your standard 007 adventure. I quite liked that he gradually amassed a team around him, so that the final action sequence was a team effort rather than a solo spy mission. The ice skater was a little intense and scary but Topol was fantastic.

After a hectic day which involved taking in a lot of information and thus resulted in whirling brains, we were looking for something calm and quiet to reset the balance in the evening. This film ticked those boxes, but I think it went too far in the other direction really.

I was expecting this to be your run of the mill high school film - fun but nothing special - but it turned out to be a highlight of the year so far! Brilliant fun, witty dialogue, stereotypical but not boring characters, and a good story. It felt a lot like this generation’s Clueless - finding your feet in high school, and learning how to fit in or accept the fact that you’re never going to do so.

I had such high hopes for this one, coming off the back of the fabulous Spy Who Loved Me and having plenty of space action. Sadly, it was easily the worst of the bunch so far. Clearly rushed and thrown together in a hurry (to capitalise on the success of Star Wars), it was disjointed and in many places laughable.