Tag: book review

4*, blog tours, book review, Children's books

#BlogTour #BookReview The Beedog by Addie Broussard @rararesources @TwoUmbrellasPls #KidsBook #insects #wasp #TheBeedog

if only I could read faster

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My Review:

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure what The Beedog was going to be like, I knew that it is a book aimed at 4-8 year olds and that it encourages science and nature learning, yet it appeared to be about a funny bee that lived on a beach.

I found the book slightly confusing at first, I thought that it must have been translated into English but as the author is from the United States I don’t know whether that is the case. But it did read a bit like that.

It’s set in Portugal and we follow Manny and Cora as they go to the beach to build a sandcastle, but while they are there they notice a curious insect. I know quite a lot about nature but I had never heard of the sand wasp, it was a totally new one for me and so I learnt something as well as my children which is great. I love that there’s information about the insect and links to a website with more information about them. Very clever to tell a story about an insect that I expect most people have never heard of.

It’s a bit unfortunate that the reading of this book came only a few days after my daughter was stung by a wasp and had an allergic reaction, so she was put off the story because of that! But if it hadn’t been for that I think that it would have gone down really well with my 7 year olds, although it is quite picture book like which might put off some of the older readers. Talking of pictures, I really loved the illustrations, they’re bright and clear and, most importantly, fun.

Overall, The Beedog is a fun book for younger children. We enjoyed looking at it but I think that it would be best for children up to the age of six. It is an educational book that will make the child excited about a strange insect and hopefully they will want to learn more about it. A clever idea.

I received a copy of The Beedog by Addie Broussard to review, I was under no obligation to review and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

abroussard-beedog-cover-print-v2The Beedog: An Insect Discovery in Portugal

An award-winning picture book that will get little ones excited about science.

While building a unique sandcastle, Cora and Manny spot a rather curious insect.
Soon, the little scientists keep a watchful eye on the insect’s movements, while learning about the natural environment along the way.

A great book for STEM education and home-school projects or just curious little ones who love science. Book extras include fun, printable activities related to science learning and research.

About the Author:

twoumbrellas-addie-profile-02 Addie is an avid traveler, and once went on a solo journey to fifteen countries in one year. When she encounters something unique, she writes about it. Her first published picture book, The Beedog, is about a curious insect that she found in southern Portugal.

Addie began her writing journey when she was just nine years old, with a book called Doggienauts. That book has been updated and is set for publication in 2018. Addie is originally from the United States and is currently a full-time traveler. Home is where her suitcase is.

Illustrator Bio, Joyeeta Neogi

Joyeeta is a children’s book illustrator who has worked with international authors and publishers. Her engagement with worldwide clients and multicultural themes has allowed her to create captivating original animal and child characters. Her art captures the expressions, movements and vibrancy of life within simple compositions to bring the author’s story to life. In her free time, Joyeeta is busy with painting and music. She loves to paint in oil and acrylic, and has also developed a passion for watercolor.

Social Media Links –

https://www.pinterest.com.mx/twoumbrellas0254/pins/

https://www.instagram.com/twoumbrellasplease/

https://twitter.com/TwoUmbrellasPls   

https://www.facebook.com/TwoUmbrellasPlease

Book resources at https://twoumbrellasplease.com

You can buy The Beedog from Amazon US and Amazon UK

4*, book review

#BookReview The Summer Of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman. @rowancoleman @EburyPublishing #TheSummerOfImpossibleThings

if only I could read faster
thesummerofimpossiblethings
The Summer Of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman.

 

My Review:

I have to admit that I read this book quite a while ago but never quite got round to writing the review. I think perhaps it was because everyone seemed to be raving about the book, and while I enjoyed reading it, I wouldn’t rave about it.

I don’t normally read books that could be classed as a romance, or about time travel (although I did love the time travellers wife)  so this book was definitely going to be a bit different, and it certainly was.

There was so much that I loved about this book, the characters were great, the two sisters relationship was great and I really liked Luna, the main character. While I found the whole time travel thing a bit hard to get my head around, and the dark world that Luna found herself in when she travelled back in time was uncomfortable reading at times. But the story was clever, unexpected and emotional.

This is the first Rowan Coleman book that I’ve read but it won’t be the last, she clearly has a great mind for storytelling.

Thank you to the publisher Ebury Press for a copy of The Summer Of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman via Netgalley. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

If you could change the past, would you?

Thirty years ago, something terrible happened to Luna’s mother. Something she’s only prepared to reveal after her death.

Now Luna and her sister have a chance to go back to their mother’s birthplace and settle her affairs. But in Brooklyn they find more questions than answers, until something impossible – magical – happens to Luna, and she meets her mother as a young woman back in the summer of 1977.

At first Luna’s thinks she’s going crazy, but if she can truly travel back in time, she can change things. But in doing anything – everything – to save her mother’s life, will she have to sacrifice her own?

About The Author:

rowancoleman
Rowan Coleman. Taken from her  website

Rowan Coleman lives with her husband, and five children in a very full house in Hertfordshire. She juggles writing novels with raising her family which includes a very lively set of toddler twins whose main hobby is going in the opposite directions. When she gets the chance, Rowan enjoys sleeping, sitting and loves watching films; she is also attempting to learn how to bake.

Rowan would like to live every day as if she were starring in a musical, although her daughter no longer allows her to sing in public. Despite being dyslexic, Rowan loves writing, and The Memory Book is her eleventh novel, which was chosen as a Richard and Judy bookclub selection in 2014. Others include The Accidental Mother, Lessons in Laughing Out Loud and the award-winning Dearest Rose, a novel which lead Rowan to become an active supporter of domestic abuse charity Refuge, donating 100% of royalties from the ebook publication of her novella, Woman Walks Into a Bar, to the charity.

Rowan does not have time for ironing.

The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview One Little Lie by Sam Carrington. @Sabah_K @AvonBooksUK @sam_carrington1 #OneLittleLie #book

if only I could read faster

One Little Lie Blog Tour

My Review:

One Little Lie is told to us by a number of characters, quite a few characters, with different chapters told by different characters. I like this method of storytelling but sometimes it makes the book a bit disjointed and confusing.

I’m not great with names and so sometimes I struggle when there are too many character names as I can’t remember who they all are and so it takes the first part of each chapter to remind me who is talking and what they’re doing.

One Little Lie has many narrators, I would say too many but each of them play an important part to the story and I couldn’t imagine any of them being left out. Some have more to say than others, but all are part of the puzzle.

I have to admit that I have never really given much thought to what the parents of a murderer must feel, I’ve fleetingly thought of it, especially when there have been mass school shootings in America, but it isn’t something that I tend to dwell on. But this book made me think about it.

I know when there are murders many people say that we should talk about the victim and not the murderer, and I definitely agree with that, but how would it feel to be the victims mother, your son murdered in a brutal and painful way, but all the focus is on the boy who did it and his parents? Your son seems to be forgotten but then that mother wants to make amends for what her son did and asks for forgiveness.

One Little Lie is a twisty read, what you think is happening might not be what is really happening, and are people who they seem? I think that the story is a clever one, there’s lots to like and the pace is fast with short chapters, but something was missing with it, somehow it all didn’t quite fit. I enjoyed reading, I wanted to finish it so that I could find out how it was all going to end and that is a sure sign of a decent read. But this book was so very nearly brilliant, and it’s a shame that it didn’t quite get there. But it so nearly did.

Thank you to Avon Books for a copy of One Little Lie by Sam Carrington. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

onelittlelie‘My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer.’

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime.

Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs.

Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control…

They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

A twisty and unnerving story about the price of motherhood and the unthinkable things we do to protect our children. Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter and Laura Marshall.

‘Sam Carrington has done it again. One Little Lie is a twisty, gripping read that deserves to fly. I loved it.’ Cass Green, bestselling author of In a Cottage In a Wood

About The Author:

samcarringtonSam Carrington lives in Devon with her husband and three children. She worked for the NHS for 15 years, during which time she qualified as a nurse. Following the completion of a Psychology degree she went to work for the prison service as an Offending Behaviour Programme Facilitator. Her experiences within this field inspired her writing. She left the service to spend time with her family and to follow her dream of being a novelist. SAVING SOPHIE was her debut psychological thriller novel and became a #1 ebook bestseller, her second, BAD SISTER is out now. ONE LITTLE LIE follows in July 2018 (ebook) September (paperback).

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4.5*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview Do No Harm by LV Hay. @LucyVHayAuthor @OrendaBooks #DoNoHarm #TillDeathDoUsPart

if only I could read faster

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My Review:

Do No Harm by LV Hay tells the story of Lily and her husband Sebastian. But Sebastian is not Lily’s first husband, that was Maxwell, a controlling doctor who does not want Lily to be with anyone other than him. Preventing Lily from cutting all ties with her ex is their son, Denny who is six.

Maxwell causes a lot of stress for Lily and Sebastian but can they find a way to stop Maxwell from sabotaging everything? It doesn’t take long before the marriage is being pushed to its limits, between Lily’s ex and Sebastian’s poorly mother life is anything but simple for the newlyweds.

The story is told to us by Sebastian and Lily in alternating chapters. This works well as we get to know what each of them in thinking and how they are reacting to the events happening around them.

I really don’t want to give too much away but this book kept me holding my breath wondering what was going to happen and when Lily and Sebastian would finally realise what was going on. I did get a bit frustrated at them, they made some silly decisions and between them failed to work out what was going on and how to deal with it together.

The characters were definitely flawed but they felt pretty real too, and although I had worked out who was doing it all I still enjoyed reading the book and thought that the ending was great. LV Hay doesn’t take the obvious path with her stories, something that I really admire, and this makes her books interesting and thought provoking.

Thank you to Orenda Books for a copy of Do No Harm by LV Hay. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

D0_NO_HARM_COVER (1)Till death do us part…

After leaving her marriage to jealous, possessive oncologist Maxwell, Lily and her six-year-old son have a second chance at happiness with headteacher Sebastian. Kind but vulnerable, Sebastian is the polar opposite of Maxwell, and the perfect match for Lily. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and that’s when things start to go wrong…
Maxwell returns to the scene, determined to win back his family, and events soon spiral out of control. Lily and Sebastian find themselves not only fighting for their relationship, but also their lives…
Chilling, dark and terrifying, Do No Harm is a taut psychological thriller and a study of obsession, from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.

About The Author:

Lucy Hay author photoLucy V. Hay is a novelist, script editor and blogger who helps writers via her Bang2write consultancy. She is the associate producer of Brit Thrillers Deviation (2012) and Assassin(2015), both starring Danny Dyer. Lucy is also head reader for the London Screenwriters’ Festival and has written two non-fiction books, Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays, plus its follow-up Drama Screenplays. Her critically acclaimed debut thriller The Other Twin was published in 2017.

 

Do No Harm by LV Hay is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Her Name Was Rose by Claire Allan. @Sabah_k @AvonBooksUK #HerNameWasRose @ClaireAllan #book

if only I could read faster

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My Review:

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book, I like reading books without reading the blurb, or when I read the blurb so long ago that I’ve forgotten it and just know that I want to read the book.

The book starts off brilliantly with an intense scene where Emily sees a woman hit by a car and killed instantly. It sucked me right into the story and I was excited about where the story was going to go next.

Seeing something so horrific will mess anyone up right? But as the book progresses I became unsure of Emily and quite how stable she was. Her way of thinking about things and events seemed so unlike that of people around her so it wasn’t clear who was telling us an accurate account, if anyone was.

When Emily steps into the life of Rose, the woman that she had seen killed, we know that it can’t be a good thing. She’s so desperate for friendship and love, but will that make her blind to what is really going on?

At times I felt frustrated with Emily, she really was incredibly naive, but had she finally found people that cared about her for who she was? People that would finally help her move on with her survivors guilt and the mess that she got herself into?

I really liked how some of the characters in Her Name Was Rose developed, small characters became big characters, nice characters became bad and bad became good. It was cleverly written and played out.

I didn’t really like Emily and I felt that the ending was just a tad too obvious, but I really enjoyed reading My Name Is Rose and I know that this book will appeal to many readers. It certainly appealed to me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for a copy of Her Name was Rose by Claire Allan. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

hernamewasrose

This new Irish voice is bursting onto the scene with her first foray into the thriller genre. This promises to be one of the most exciting debuts of 2018. Perfect for fans of Lianne Moriarty, B. A. Paris, Gillian Flynn and Marian Keyes.

 Her name was Rose. You watched her die. And her death has created a vacancy.

When Emily lets a stranger step out in front of her, she never imagines that split second will change her life. But after Emily watches a car plough into the young mother – killing her instantly – she finds herself unable to move on.

And then she makes a decision she can never take back.

Because Rose had everything Emily had ever dreamed of. A beautiful, loving family, a great job and a stunning home. And now Rose’s husband misses his wife, and their son needs a mother. Why couldn’t Emily fill that space?

But as Emily is about to discover, no one’s life is perfect … and not everything is as it seems.

About the author: 

claireallan

A former journalist and columnist, Claire Allan has been writing fiction since 2006.

An Irish Times bestseller, she has tackled issues from post-natal depression, infertility, and dementia through to writing a based-on-a-true-story book about a couple reunited after 50 years apart. She has now decided to unleash her dark side!

Married with two children, two cats and a mad puppy she is happiest lost in a good book. She has kissed Michael Buble.

Her Name Was Rose by Claire Allan is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview The New Girl by Ingrid Alexandra. @ingridwrites @sabah_k @AvonBooksUK #bookblogger #book

if only I could read faster

The New Girl Blog Tour Banner

My Review:

The New Girl is one of those books where the blurb doesn’t really fit the book, actually remove the word really from that sentence as it doesn’t fit at all.

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless you loved the sound of the blurb I suppose. There is no mention of the book being set in Sydney, something that I really liked and from reading other reviews I am not alone with that. The setting doesn’t have a big role, but I still enjoyed the walks on the beach.

The main character, Mary, is an interesting character. If you like your characters to be unreliable witnesses then Mary is for you. She is so very unreliable and as a reader I was never quite sure whether she was completely insane, mentally ill or a pathological liar. I also spent the whole of the book thinking that the name Mary just didn’t fit the character.

Mary’s relationship with her oldest friend Cat was complex and at times confusing, was she good or bad? Did she really have Mary’s interests at heart?

And then there’s Rachel, a character that comes in late but quickly becomes an important character, but is she who she seems?

So you might be getting the fact that the reader doesn’t really know what is going on and who is who for a good chunk of the book, it is full of unreliable characters and slow reveals. The start of The New Girl grabbed me, I was sucked right in and desperate to find out more, I did feel that the book lost its way a bit in the middle and was trying to juggle too many things, but I still wanted to keep reading so that I could find out what was really going on.

There’s a big twist at the end, one that you might have worked out already, or partly so, but that isn’t always a bad thing. There are, however, quite a few plot holes and loose ends that aren’t tied up or explained. I think that the book would have benefited from a shorter middle and a longer, less rushed, end.

The New Girl by Ingrid Alexandra is an interesting read, it is a shame that the blurb isn’t truer to the actual book but it is a quick and easy read and one that I’m pleased that I read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for a copy of The New Girl by Ingrid Alexandra, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

thenewgirlYou’ve only just met.

But she already knows you so well.

When Rachel moves into the spare room in Mary’s flat, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that there’s something strange about her. Everyone apart from Mary.

And when Rachel starts sleepwalking, everyone’s fears grow. But there’s something about the new girl that Mary can’t help but trust, and having recently escaped a toxic relationship, she needs the support.

Rachel becomes a friend and an ally, and Mary soon discovers that they have more in common than she ever could have imagined.

In fact, Rachel seems to know more about Mary than she knows about herself…

About The Author:

ingridalexandra2Ingrid Alexandra is based in Sydney. Her work has previously been long-listed for The Ampersand Prize and while living in London, Ingrid had the privilege of being mentored by the Guardian First Novel Award shortlisted and Nestle Prize winning author Daren King. THE NEW GIRL is her first psychological thriller novel.

 

The New Girl by Ingrid Alexandra is out now on ebook and is available from Amazon UK. It will be released in paperback in October 2018.

4*, book review

#BookReview The Things You Didn’t See by Ruth Dugdall. @RuthDugdall @LegendPress #bookblogger #book

if only I could read faster
thethingsyoudidn'tsee
The Things You Didn’t See by Ruth Dugdall

My Review:

Reading the blurb of The Things You Didn’t See by Ruth Dugdall I’m struck by how the focus is on Cass and what happens to her in the book. I think of the book quite differently, with the main character and the one that I will remember being Holly, the student paramedic who is called to Cass’ house early one morning.

Holly is the character in the book that felt real, she appeared to be a much more reliable witness than Cass was and it is her that I enjoyed reading about most. There’s also something about Holly that is different, a gift that she has (or a curse??) that was intriguing and something that I wanted to read more about.

I enjoyed reading this book, as always Dugdall writes well and keeps the reader engaged and wondering just what is going on and who is telling the truth. She definitely keeps you guessing and I love that in a book.

I’m a big fan of Ruth Dugdall, I’ve enjoyed every book of hers that I’ve read and I love how they always make me think and this book is no different. If you like to be kept guessing, unsure of who is telling the truth, then this author is for you.

Thank you to Ruth Dugdall and Legend Press for a copy of The Things You Didn’t See via Netgalley. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

Her instincts are telling her something isn’t right…

On a chilly morning in rural Suffolk, Cassandra Hawke is woken by a gunshot. Her mother is clinging on to her life, the weapon still lying nearby. Everyone thinks it’s attempted suicide—but none of it makes any sense to Cass. She’s certain there’s more to it than meets the eye.

With her husband and father telling her she’s paranoid, Cass finds an unlikely ally in student paramedic Holly. Like Cass, she believes something is wrong, and together they try to uncover the truth. But is there more to Holly’s interest than she’s letting on?

With her family and loved ones at risk, Cass must ask herself: is she ready to hear the truth, and can she deal with the consequences?

About The Author:

ruthdugdall

Ruth Dugdall was born in 1971. She holds a BA honours degree in English Literature (Warwick University) and an MA in Social Work (University of East Anglia). She qualified as a probation officer in 1996 and has worked in prison with offenders guilty of serious crimes, including stalking, rape and murder. This has informed her crime writing. Since she started writing, Ruth has won awards in several writing competitions, and has had short stories published in the Winchester Writers’ Conference and the Eva Wiggins Award anthologies.

 

The Things You Didn’t See by Ruth Dugdall is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite. @BCopperthwait @bookouture #Bookblogger

if only I could read faster

The Perfect Friend - Blog Tour.jpg

My Review:

Regular readers of my little blog will know how much I like author Barbara Copperthwaite. I love how her books all feature such realistic characters, allowing the reader to get right into the story and feel it along with the characters. It keeps the reader emotionally invested in the story and desperate to find out what will happen.

Alex is a funny character, we know that she has anorexia and she sees a counsellor regularly, as well as having checks and weigh ins. We know that her husband divorced her and that her children barely speak to her, but we don’t know why. And we know that Alex goes to a support group, and that is where she meets Carrie.

Carrie is younger than Alex but they quickly become good friends, although Alex can’t help but feel maternal towards Carrie. When Carrie gets some bad news Alex is determined that she will be there to support Carrie and takes on a real responsibility, but will this prove to be too much for the fragile Alex.

And what is Alex hiding? We know that her counsellor wants her to talk about something, something that Alex refuses to discuss. What is she hiding? And is she the only one hiding something?

The Perfect Friend is a clever novel, even the twists have twists which I love in a book. It’s a clever concept and I really enjoyed reading The perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite. Now I will wait for her to write another book.

Thank you to Bookouture for a copy of The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

The-Perfect-Friend-KindleShe’ll do anything for you…

My name is Alex, and my world has been shattered.
My husband has left me.
My children won’t speak to me.
My friend Carrie is the only person I have.
She’s the only one I can trust to keep all my secrets.
She’d never do anything  to let me down.
Would she?

This dark, gripping psychological thriller will have you holding your breath until the very last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Sometimes I Lie, and The Girl on the Train will be captivated.

About the Author:

barbaracopperthwaite
Barbara is the Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of psychological thrillers INVISIBLE, FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD, THE DARKEST LIES, and HER LAST SECRET. Her latest book is THE PERFECT FRIEND.

More importantly, she loves cakes, wildlife photography and, last but definitely not least, her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy (who force her to throw tennis balls for them for hours).
​​
Having spent over twenty years as a national newspaper and magazine journalist, Barbara has interviewed the real victims of crime – and also those who have carried those crimes out. She is fascinated by creating realistic, complex characters, and taking them apart before the readers’ eyes in order to discover just how much it takes to push a person over a line.

When not writing feverishly, she is often found hiding behind a camera, taking wildlife photographs.

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorBarbaraCopperthwaite

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BCopperthwait

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_barbara_copperthwaite/

Website: www.barbaracopperthwaite.com

The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite is out now and available from Amazon   mybook.to/TPFBCSocial

5*, book review, debut author

#BookReview Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. @rhiannonnavin @MantleBooks #bookblogger #greatread #5star

if only I could read faster
onlychild
Only Child by Rhiannon Navin.

My Review:

Sometimes a book comes along that climbs right inside of you and lodges itself right into your heart. It doesn’t happen very often but when it does you know that the book is really something very special.

That is what happened to me when reading Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. It isn’t an easy book to read, I think that even the most hardened reader will struggle to stop the storyline from affecting them.

This book grabbed me from the start when Zach was hiding in the cupboard at school listening to the pop pop pop of a gun going off. Little does he know that his life is about to change forever. I loved Zach as a character, aged only six that could have been very different, but he is believable and just wonderful in so many ways.

As his family falls apart Zach struggles to understand what has happened and how he can get his family working together again, as they once did. I really liked Zach’s Dad, while his mother fell apart he struggled to keep things as normal as possible for Zach and although he hadn’t been the best Dad before he works hard to make things better. I think that he was underused as a character and I loved reading the scenes between Zach and his Dad.

Readers of my blog will know that I love reading crime and thriller books, but once I finished Only Child I really struggled to read anything with a gun in it. Very unlike me but that is the impact that this book had on me. It didn’t last (thankfully), but this book did have a strong and long lasting impact on me. It really was a wonderful read but not an easy one. For a debut novel it is nothing short of outstanding, I can’t wait to read more from the author and I am pretty sure that Only Child will be on my top reads of 2018 though.

Thank you to the publisher Mantle, for a copy of Only Child by Rhiannon Navin. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

Readers of Jodi Picoult and Liane Moriarty will also like this tenderhearted debut about healing and family, narrated by an unforgettable six-year-old boy who reminds us that sometimes the littlest bodies hold the biggest hearts and the quietest voices speak the loudest.

Squeezed into a coat closet with his classmates and teacher, first grader Zach Taylor can hear gunshots ringing through the halls of his school. A gunman has entered the building, taking nineteen lives and irrevocably changing the very fabric of this close-knit community. While Zach’s mother pursues a quest for justice against the shooter’s parents, holding them responsible for their son’s actions, Zach retreats into his super-secret hideout and loses himself in a world of books and art. Armed with his newfound understanding, and with the optimism and stubbornness only a child could have, Zach sets out on a captivating journey towards healing and forgiveness, determined to help the adults in his life rediscover the universal truths of love and compassion needed to pull them through their darkest hours.

About The Author:

Rhiannon+Navin,+AuthorRhiannon Navin grew up in Bremen, Germany, in a family of book-crazy women. Her career in advertising brought her to New York City, where she worked for several large agencies before becoming a full-time mother and writer. She now lives outside of New York City with her husband, three children, two cats, and one dog. Only Child is her first novel.

 

You can follow the author on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and on her website.

 

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, book review, Children's books, historical fiction, non-fiction

#BookReview Wojtek war hero bear by Jenny Robertson. @Jenny_Writes #Wojtek @LoveBooksGroup #kidsbooks #war #bear #book

if only I could read faster

 

Wojtek book cover (1)
Wojtek war hero bear by Jenny Robertson.

My Review:

What a lovely little book this is. I really wasn’t sure what to expect but I really enjoyed reading about Wojtek war hero bear. It seemed like such an implausible story yet Wojtek really did stand with Polish soldiers.

What shines through in this book is the great character that Wojtek was and how important he became to the soldiers that he was with and what a huge boost he gave them.

I was disappointed to learn at the end that not all of the characters were real, but given the time that has passed since the events in the book took place that isn’t really surprising that some of the story has been lost.

I’d never heard of Wojtek before, I had no idea that a bear had helped the Polish army in the second world war. It really is a heartwarming story. I liked the way that the story was told, sometimes we heard what Wojtek was thinking but most of the time told as if by an observer. It is simple in language and I think that it could be read by children aged 10 and over, but adults will enjoy the book too.

The illustrations also need a mention, for they match the writing in the simple way that they are presented but they fit very well with the story and I enjoyed seeing them a lot.

If you’re interested in reading about wars then this book will be sure to give you a different and unique story. If you don’t enjoy reading about the war then don’t let that put you off, it is the amazing story of Wojtek that is the story, and it is one that is well worth reading.

Thank you to the publisher Birlinn, for a copy of the book. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

The Wojtek MonumentWhen a tiny orphaned bear cub is adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II, little does anyone know that little Wojtek will become one of the bravest fighters of them all. As the soldiers train to take part in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, Wojtek grows up, providing headaches and laughter in equal measure as he learns to drink beer, chase horses and wrestle with his human friends. But at Monte Cassino, as the Allies try and dislodge German troops from their mountain-top eyrie, Wojtek, now a fully signed-up solider with his own rank and number, comes into his own, dodging the bullets to carry ammunition to his comrades as they inch their way to victory. After the war, the Polish solders move to Scotland. Wojtek comes too and soon becomes the centre of attention in a new country. But with hostilities ended, how long can he keep his freedom? Best-selling children’s author Jenny Robertson explores the themes of friendship and trust in this moving and inspirational story.

About the Author:

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Jenny Robertson has written numerous books for children and adults – fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her children’s novels and Bible stories have been widely translated and also read on Yorkshire Television and STV.
 
 

Twitter:

@Jenny_Writes
 

To buy Wojtek war hero bear by Jenny Robertson click here:  https://goo.gl/c4nRTp