give me a break. (Take A Break's Fate & Fortune)

Member Name: thebigc1690

Product:	Take A Break's Fate & Fortune
Date:	24/05/07 (1011 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gave me a good laugh

Disadvantages: impossible to believe 99% of what is in it.

Ok for a start off I am not big into magazines of any kind (with the exception of computing mags) and I am certainly not an avid reader of the original take a break magazine or this spin off from it (take a breaks fate and fortune) so in order to write this review I have done plenty research, a fair bit of first time reading of this mag and I have also taken a lot of very good advice from my fiancée who cant get enough of these types of magazines, so here goes!

The original take a break magazine has many features in it and one thing I have to give it great credit for is the fact that it tells real life tales and stays away from slagging off celebs and taking pictures of them not looking their best which I feel is a very poor way to try to entertain people. The original take a break mag actually pays people like you and I for our real life stories not only so others can delve into your secrets but so perhaps our experiences can help other readers. For me this magazine gets a thumbs up, however the spin off mag which this review is about gets an all together different vote from me.

Take a breaks fate and fortune magazine is a monthly magazine which for me contains a collection of the biggest lot of rubbish I have ever had the misfortune to read. Including sections on voices from beyond, real magic, the psychic detective, phantoms on film and other such garbage. It is very much a magazine for people who are believers in the supernatural, horoscopes and being able to contact the dead which to me is all nonsense. I will however let you know what the magazine holds in store for you so you can make up your own mind.

The front cover:
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Where better to start than at the beginning? The front cover is very bright and definitely catches the eye, especially the guy’s eyes as it follows in the footsteps of its sister magazine with a picture of a beautiful girl on it for some reason best known to the publisher. Apart from the pretty girl it has only the price, the month of issue and a quick description of what you can expect to find inside.

The features:
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This is a list of the features in this month’s issue (May 2007) but my fiancée assures me they tend to be pretty much the same from month to month.

Letters: as you can probably guess from the title this section is used to publish letters that readers have sent in usually about something spooky they feel has happened to them or rather in my opinion some ghost story they have dreamed up to try to win the prize of £50 for best story.

Voices from beyond: this section belongs to a medium that due to the thalidomide drug was born without arms. She goes by the name of Mandy Masters and claims to be able to contact your dead relatives or friends. This section kicks off with a letter from some deluded person telling the great Mandy Masters a bit about the person they wish her to get in touch with, then without any prior knowledge or so we are led to believe Mandy will tell the reader all about this person and the relationship they shared with them and guess what? From what I have read she’s usually right. Now I don’t mean to mock people who believe in this sort of stuff I am just giving my opinion on it and on what I have read.

Real magic: what magazine would be complete without a section from its own resident white witch? Well this magazine wouldn’t anyway and it has one named Leanna, she not only lets you into the secret of her spells but offers you a prize of £100 if you send her a spell of your own good enough to be printed in this fine magazine.

True life: take the title very lightly because once again there is a prize involved, this time £200 can be won if they publish your story of your “real life encounter with the supernatural”. Having read one from this month and one from last I feel the people writing them are as mad as the people who came up with the idea of this magazine in the first place.

The psychic detective: I loved reading this part, not because I was drawn in by this ex policeman Kevin Wade who now goes around trying to solve unsolved murders and other crimes with his psychic ability but because it gave me the best laugh I have had in years. Mr Wade is pictured in his trench coat and there is a story of the crime he will investigate followed by his judgement on what went on. He could clearly write anything he liked as the cases have indeed never been solved so we have no idea if what he says is anywhere near the truth or not.

Psychometry: according to my other half this section is a fairly new one but I can tell you it’s equally as crazy as the rest. In this section readers send in a photo of a household item and she gives them a reading from it, brilliant eh?

Your health: this is one of the more believable parts of this magazine. It contains recipes for herbal remedies and a slimming feature. Judging by the rest of what I have read though I would still suggest things in this section be taken with a pinch of salt.

Horoscopes: well we all know what to expect from this section, a list of all the star signs followed by some mumbo jumbo about what to expect in the coming weeks. What I have never understood about this section not only in this mag but in any, is if the mag has around say a thousand Leos reading like myself then are we expected to believe that we are all going to come into money or meet the love of our lives all in the same month.

Psychic road show: each month a group of psychics go out and about giving readings to members of the public then return to write a bit about them for us all to be amazed by.

Phantoms on film: this section is for the readers to send in images they have captured which appear to have spooky images within or strange goings on for us all to gape at.

Texas the psychic horse: although this is not the last section in the magazine I have left it last to write about because if you thought I was making it up you might stop reading. There truly is a section in this magazine in which you can write in sort of agony aunt style and tell your problems to Texas the not only psychic but also talking horse. Don’t know about you but I am truly amazed!!! (Falls of the seat laughing)

Also include:
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As with most magazines this one is littered with adverts and competitions. The adverts tend mainly to be for premium number call lines for tarot readings and the likes although some of the competitions offer decent prizes.

My over all opinion:
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Although people who just enjoy reading can pretty much just pick up anything and browse through finding something of interest I feel this is an either love it or hate it type magazine. If you are a believer in all things psychic then you will probably really enjoy this magazine. On the other hand if you are a non believer then you will probably not find anything of interest in these pages. If you are unsure and feel you would have to try it to be sure then the good news is it is fairly widely available, most newsagents and supermarkets will have a copy and at only £1.60 it doesn’t break the bank to give it a shot. As I have made perfectly clear this magazine was not for me and if like me you are a sceptic then give this a wide berth unless you just want it for humour value because the thought of grown adults writing in to a talking psychic horses certainly gave me a laugh. If on the other hand this sort of thing is right up your street then this magazine will have enough variations of the unknown to keep you interested from beginning to end.

I just have to end by saying that although I have made fun of this magazine through my review it is merely my opinion and it is not intended as a put down to people who do believe in life after death, horoscopes and such like. this site is all about opinions and I am sure there will be reviews written on the subject by people who enjoyed the magazine. I would also like to say that if this is not for you then try the original take a break it just might be!

Once again I hope you found my review useful and enjoyed reading it, thank you all.

Summary: a quite ridiculous magazine that you will either love or hate there really is no in between.