Cindy

Review/ The Tapper Twins Go To War (With Each Other)

Posted on April 6, 2015April 13, 2015 by Cindy

The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other) Series: #1

by Geoff Rodkey
Format: eARC
Published by Hachette Children's Group on April 7th 2015
Pages: 224
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Genres: General, Young Adult

Wars are terrible things. I know this because I've read about a lot of them on Wikipedia. And also because I was just in one. It was me against my brother, Reese. That might not sound like a war to you. Trust me. It was. This is the oral history of the terrible war between twins, Reese and Claudia Tapper. It began with a cruel and senseless sneak attack in the school cafeteria on Monday, September 8th, at approximately 8:27 a.m. Or possibly it began in the Tapper family kitchen, earlier that morning, with the greedy guzzling of the last brown sugar cinnamon toaster pastry. What really happened? It depends on who you speak to... This is a hilarious middle-grade comedy that's both totally timeless and completely up-to-the-minute.

I received this book for free from publisher/pr firm in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This was such a fun and quick read. I think I managed to read this in two sittings. As an adult I enjoyed reading this and I think it’s a perfect read for the tweens and older.

Claudia and Reese are twelve-year-old twins. I think that Claudia and Reese were the perfect characters for the book as they were very believable and it makes you think the story is real and it could actually happen.

Claudia and Reese are your typical siblings we have been trying to one up each and to humiliate the other one. It makes you wonder who will get the upper hand?

I love the format of the book. Each chapter has a title which goes along with the dialog. Its sort of like a script which I have to say I enjoyed. Within chapters there is text messages, photos, hand written text, emails and so much more. Its very well done and it makes you want to continue reading it.

Claudia is the main voice of the book but other characters come out such as Reese, Sophie, Mom and Dad, Akash, Ashley and a few others. It was nice to see how each character plays an important part to the story line.

I loved the message behind the book and its one that kids can easily grasp. Even though Claudia and Reese were doing everything they could to humiliate their sibling they both realized that in the end everything they did has a consequence to it. Which kids need to realize.

This was such a fun read and it was nice to take a break in my regular reading. I think tweens and the little bit older ones would enjoy this. I know Michael plans on reading it especially once I mentioned Minecraft was in this.

This is also my first BEA Buzz Book for 2015.

Library Loot April 3rd Edition

Posted on April 3, 2015April 4, 2015 by Cindy

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

I figured since the weather was starting to get nicer I would start walking to our local library and get back into borrowing books and perhaps get away from buying so many books.

This week was a small haul as I didn’t bring a tote bag with me so I didn’t go over board since I would be carrying everything home with me.

For Michael I borrowed two DS video games and they both were Zelda ones that he wanted to try out to see if he liked them.

I borrowed two dvds that we plan on watching next Monday and Tuesday since they are ped days and they were Mary Poppins (its one of my favorite movies and I can watch it over and over again. This was also my first broadway play I saw in NYC) and The Wizard of Oz (Michael’s grade 6 class put this play on at their school and he wanted to see the original movie)

The books I borrowed this week are:

Living Me to We (The Guide for Socially Conscious Canadians) by Craig & Marc Kielburger
The World Needs Your Kid (How to raise children who care and contribute) by Craig & Marc Kielburger and Shelley Page
Free the Children by Craig Kielburger with Kevin Major
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I probably won’t be going to the library weekly to borrow books as I am going to make every effort to read what I borrow first and bring back and then borrow new ones. Its easy to get sucked in because we have two adult cards and a childs card that each hold a limit of 50 books/card.

Do you borrow from the library? What is your card limit? Do you get all the newest books?

Meme/Waiting on Wednesday #13

Posted on April 1, 2015March 11, 2015 by Cindy

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and its spotlights upcoming books that we are eagerly waiting for. I plan on including upcoming releases and books that are already released.

This week I am featuring:

On sale April 7th, 2015 from Chronicle Books.

Something is not right with Nadia Cara. While spending a year in Florence, Italy, she”s become a thief. She has secrets. And when she tries to speak, the words seem far away. Nadia finds herself trapped by her own obsessions and following the trail of an elusive Italian boy whom only she has seen. Can Nadia be rescued or will she simply lose herself altogether? Set against the backdrop of a glimmering city, One Thing Stolen is an exploration of obsession, art, and a rare neurological disorder. It is a celebration of language, beauty, imagination, and the salvation of love.

March Book Unhauling #3

Posted on March 29, 2015April 2, 2015 by Cindy

Its hard to believe we are already at the end of March. Where is the time going?

With spring just around the corner I will once again be doing a whole bunch of spring/summer cleaning in the next few months. I have boxes upon boxes of books in the basement that I really need to go through and purge what I realistically shouldn’t hold on to. I rarely reread my books so why am I holding on to them?

But for now here is what I am unhauling:

I Will Always Write Back: How one letter changed two lives by Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda with Liz Welch. I read this and enjoyed it. My review will be up in April for this.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan. My review will be up on April 7th.
The Tapper Twins Go To War (with each other) by Geoff Rodkey. My review will be up in April.

We discovered we had doubles of these ones:

Thea Stilton Mouseford Academy: Mouselets in Danger #3
Thea Stilton Mouseford Academy: Dance Challenge #4
Thea Stilton and the Chocolate Sabotage
Geronimo Stilton The Enchanted Charms The 7th adventure in the Kingdom of Fantasy

The total unhauling for March is 7 and the total to date is 61.

Meme/Waiting on Wednesday #12

Posted on March 25, 2015February 20, 2015 by Cindy

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and its spotlights upcoming books that we are eagerly waiting for. I plan on including upcoming releases and books that are already released.

This week I am featuring:

Welcome to SmartMart, where crime pays minimum wage…

Busted. Alexis Dubois just got caught shoplifting a cheap tube of lipstick at the local SmartMart. She doesn’t know what’s worse—disappointing her overbearing beauty-pageant-obsessed mother for the zillionth time…or her punishment. Because Lex is forced to spend her summer working at the store, where the only things stranger than the staff are thecustomers.

Now Lex is stuck in the bizarro world of big-box retail. Coupon cutters, jerk customers, and learning exactly what a “Code B” really is (ew). And for added awkwardness, her new supervisor is the totally cute—and adorably geeky—Noah Grayson. Trying to balance her out-of-control mother, her pitching position on the softball team, and her secret crush on the school geek makes for one crazy summer. But ultimately, could the worst job in the world be the best thing that ever happened to her?

On sale February 3, 2015

April is National Letter Writing Month

Posted on March 23, 2015March 20, 2015 by Cindy

Did you know that April is National Letter Writing Month?

I had no idea it was until I got an email from I Heart Daily. You can find out more about it by clicking on this text.

I am committing myself to writing 30 letters (via snail mail) in 30 days in the month of April. Would you like to receive a letter/card/post card from me? If you would like to be included please send my your mailing address to cindyATcindysloveofbooksDOTcom.

If you would like to reply back that would be great as I love receiving mail via the mail.

Meme/Waiting on Wednesday #11

Posted on March 18, 2015February 20, 2015 by Cindy

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking The Spine and its spotlights upcoming books that we are eagerly waiting for. I plan on including upcoming releases and books that are already released.

This week I am featuring:

Prom should be one of the most memorable nights of your life. But for Camilla and Joshua, some elaborate promposals are getting in the way. Will they be able to land their dream dates in time for the dance?

Promposal (n.)—an often very public proposal, in which one person asks another person to the prom, eliciting joy or mortification.

Camilla can’t help hoping her secret crush, Benjamin, might randomly surprise her out of the blue with a promposal. But when she’s asked to prom by an irritating casual acquaintance—who’s wearing a fancy tux and standing in front of a news crew—she’s forced to say yes. However, all hope is not lost, as a timely school project gives Camilla a chance to get closer to Benjamin…and it seems like the chemistry between them is crackling. Is she reading into something that isn’t there, or will she get her dream guy just in time for prom?

Joshua has been secretly in love with his best friend Ethan since middle school. Just as he decides to bite the bullet and ask Ethan if he’d go to prom with him, even if just as friends, he gets a shocking surprise: Ethan asks Joshua for help crafting the perfect promposal—for another guy. Now Joshua has to suppress his love and try to fake enthusiasm as he watches his dreams fall apart…unless he can make Ethan see that love has been right in front of his eyes the whole time.

The road to the perfect promposal isn’t easy to navigate. But one thing’s certain—prom season is going to be memorable.

On sale February 10, 2015