Tag: #Books

Review/ The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Review/ The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Posted on by Cindy
Review/ The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina BivaldThe Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Format: ARC
Published by Sourcebooks, Inc. on January 19th 2016
Pages: 400
Goodreads
Genres: Contemporary Women, Fiction, Humorous, Literary

The International Bestseller #1 Indie Next Great Reads January 2016 #2 LibraryReads January 2016 Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen...Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her book-loving pen pal. When she arrives, however, she finds Amy's funeral guests just leaving. The residents of Broken Wheel are happy to look after their bewildered visitor -- not much else to do in a small town that's almost beyond repair. They just never imagined that she'd start a bookstore. Or that books could bring them together and change everything.There's a book for every person ... and a person for every book.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald was a book that I picked up at BEA 2015 and its been sitting on my shelves since then so I was really happy that I could finally dig into this book. I believe it was Lucy from Moonlight Gleams that told me about this book and I am happy that she did tell me about it because I really enjoyed reading this.

The main character Sara. lives in Sweden and use to work in a bookstore until it closed. During that time she was corresponding with Amy from a little town in Iowa called Broken Wheel. Sara has traveled to Broken Wheel by the request of Amy to spent two months together. How much fun would it be to meet a pen pal you have had that shares the common interest of books? I would have loved that.

Upon arriving in Broken Wheel Sara discovers that Amy has passed away. At first Sara doesn’t know what to do and the people of Broken Wheel kind of take her in because that is what Amy would have wanted them to. Sara is uncomfortable at first because honestly who wouldn’t be staying in a person’s house who is no longer there and you haven’t even met?

As the book progresses Sara is starting to meet the people of Broken Wheel. She realizes that they are a unique kind of people where it seems like everyone is there to help each other and have their backs and you can see Sara starting to fit into the town. I loved how every character in the book played a role in it and it all blended so well within the story.

For Sara she has a passion for books and loves to read. Not a lot of people share that kind of passion in the town and the only other person who loved books just as much as Sara was Amy. Gradually Sara begins to think that she needs to find a way to give back to the town for their kindness and perhaps this little town needs a bookstore. Sara brings it up because Amy actually had a empty building just sitting there waiting to be used and Amy has a ton of books that could fill the little store. (This is what I should be because I have a ton of books)

With the towns permission Sara goes a head to prepare the store but due to her visa she is unable to work to sell the books but she can give them away or lends them to the people of the Broken Wheel. At first its not a hit because no one likes to read and they are puzzled at how much and long Sara can seat and read for.

Gradually word starts to spread in the next city called Hope that Broken Wheel has a book store. I think out of curiousity they come to check it out but are quick to point out that no one from the town is ever there so with a little help of the town they set out to prove the people of Hope wrong. Can they pull it off?

As the weeks slip by the people of Broken Wheel begin to realize Sara’s visa is about to expire and they don’t want to loose her so they have to come up with a plan to make her stay but will Sara stay or will she want to go back to Sweden to be with her family?

This was a fun and pretty easy read and I did enjoy it. I think Sara is some one I would be friends with. I would be curious to see what kind of books she would recommend to me because she had that knack about her of giving the right person the right book.

Review/ Unslut A Diary & A Memoir

Posted on by Cindy
UnSlut by Emily Lindin
Format: ARC
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on December 29th 2015
Pages: 304
Goodreads
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Bullying, Dating & Sex, Girls & Women, Juvenile Nonfiction, Social Issues, Women

When Emily Lindin was eleven years old, she was branded a “slut” by the rest of her classmates. For the next few years of her life, she was bullied incessantly at school, after school, and online. At the time, Emily didn't feel comfortable confiding in her parents or in the other adults her my life. But she did keep a diary. Slut/UnSlut is adapted from Emily’s much-acclaimed blog “The UnSlut Project” presenting unaltered excerpts from that diary alongside split-page commentary to provide context and perspective.

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.

I picked up this book at #BEA15 purely by luck and I thought at first this wasn’t the book for me because I normally don’t read this kind of stuff but I decided to give it a chance and I managed to breeze through this in two sittings. This is a debut novel.

The book is basically told in a diary format that Emily wrote when she was in grade 6.  The story begins with Emily in grade 6 and it follows her through grade 7 and 8.

Emily is your typical girl trying to fit in with her peers and how one little mistake has labelled her a “slut” in her school. I am trying to remember when I was in grade 6 if we were like that and I honestly don’t remember maybe I just wasn’t hanging out with those kinds of kids or not. Then again I can’t really compare my experiences with kids now a days because its completely different and I have to say that I honestly don’t think I could handle being a grade 6 now. What I went through some thrity years ago is different from what kids are going through now.

Kids can be so nice but yet so cruel. Why are they so quick to label kinds with names and titles that just aren’t right and appropriate? Things like this carry over with these kids and they hold on to that stigma for ever and we need to teach our kids that this isn’t right.

We as parents need to make communication between child and parent very important and stress that no matter what good and bad we are there to listen and help them out.

 

Review/ This Is Where It Ends

Posted on by Cindy
by Marieke Nijkamp
Published by Sourcebooks Fire Goodreads
Genres: Action & Adventure, Bullying, Social Issues, Survival Stories, Violence, Young Adult

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.

10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve. 10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class. 10:03 The auditorium doors won’t open. 10:05 Someone starts shooting. Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

I think this has to be one of my favorite books that I picked up at #BEA15 last year. Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. It grabbed a hold of me from the first page and it still sits with me today. Just be prepared if you pick up this book to read you will need a tissue. This is a fantastic debut novel.

This Is Where It Ends is told in the point of view of Claire, Tomas, Autumn and Sylv. A new semester has started at Opportunity and the Principal Trenton is giving her regular speech that the kids all know pretty much by heart.

Claire is not in the school for the assembly because she is part of the track team and she is out running the track with her team mates when the sound of gunshots forces them to stop. They try to get into the school but its locked so she comes up with a plan to find out what is going on so she puts everyone in groups.

Inside the school Tomas and his friend Fareed are also not in the assembly because they are breaking into the principal’s office trying to find out some information on a kid named Tyler who has left the school and is due to come back. They are in the office and when they realize something is up the go and look out in the hall way and that is when they hear gun fire. Quick thinking they decide to call the police. They are told to get out of the school but Tomas can’t leave because his sister Sylv is in the assembly. He will do anything to protect her.

I don’t want to give to much away about the book because you know what its about. Everyone is surprised at how the shooter is and I think had there been a little more to the story before hand you might have had the chance to figure it out.

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

 

 

Review/ George

Review/ George

Posted on by Cindy
Review/ GeorgeGeorge by Alex Gino
Published by Scholastic Inc. on August 25th 2015
Pages: 208
Goodreads
Genres: Bullying, Friendship, Social Issues, Young Adult

BE WHO YOU ARE. When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy.   With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

George by Alex Gino has been a book that has been on my radar for quite some time now and its been on my wishlist since then so this past weekend I decided to pick it up when I visited a little indie bookstore in my area.

BE WHO YOU ARE is literally something I live by and I wish more people would actually do this. I loved the message behind the book and I can’t even image the struggles some children and people must go through in life.

If you look at George you will see a boy because he looks, dresses and acts like a boy but on the inside there is a girl screaming to get out and be recognized for who she is. George is only ten years old and she is struggling to keep this deep dark secret inside her. Being a kid is always a hard  but when you have a secret that could possibly make things worse for you its even harder for you and throw in a bully who likes to make fun of you and wants to fight you.

George is in the fourth grade and this year her class is putting on the play, Charlotte’s Web. Which is a favorite of mine. Who doesn’t like Charlotte’s Web?

George decides she wants to play Charlotte which we all know is a girl’s part but for George its a way that she can actually feel like a real girl for once and be who she feels inside around her friends and family who have no clue about what is going on.

George’s best friend is Kelly and they both decide to rehearse together for the part. Eventually George decides to let Kelly in on her secret and knowing its a huge risk she is taken but I have to say I thought Kelly handled the situation extremely well and I would only wish more kids had a friend like Kelly in their lives.

When the day for the auditions happen Ms. Udell is not happy that George wants to audition for the part of Charlotte and tells George that it won’t happen that he can have another part but George says no that if she can’t be Charlotte she wants no other part in the play.

Fast forward to the day of the play and Kelly and George come up with a plan that in the second performance they would switch. Ms Udell is not happy but thankfully Principal Maldonado came to the  rescue and told George that if she ever needed to talk her door was always open and I think that is what kids need to hear that someone will be there to hear them speak.

As a parent I have always let Michael know that we are not all the same but we all deserve love and respect from one another and that it doesn’t matter who we are, what color our skin is its whats inside that counts. When I look back over the last 12 years of Michael’s life I see that I have instilled those values and he treats everyone with kindness, love and respect and that everyone is a person no matter what.

 

 

Book Spotlight/ Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Posted on by Cindy

Publication Date: October 6th, 2015

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met-a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

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I was able to pick up an exclusive sneak peek sampler of this book at #BEA15 and I have to admit I have never read anything by Rick Riordan before this. After reading this one chapter sampler I really want to pick up this book to read and see what happens.

Its a brand new series for Rick and its based on Norse Mythology which is something else I have never read anything on.

Have you read any Rick Riordan books? Which should I read next?

Book Spotlight/ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Posted on by Cindy
Book Spotlight/ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Format: eARC
on October 6, 2015
Pages: 256

For the first time, J. K. Rowling's beloved Harry Potter books will be presented in lavishly illustrated full-color editions. Kate Greenaway-award winning artist Jim Kay has created over 100 stunning illustrations, making this deluxe format a perfect gift as much for a child being introduced to the series, as for the dedicated fan.

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.

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.

I was able to pick up a little sampler of this book at #BEA15.

I have yet to read the Harry Potter series (yes I know where have I been and why have I not read the books?) of books but I have to say after seeing this little sneak preview of the illustrated book I think I might just have to pick it up to read. Perhaps this is what I need to get me into the series.

The illustrations in this sampler were amazing and I can’t wait to see what the actually book will look like.

Are you a Harry Potter fan?

Review/ Stay

Posted on by Cindy
Review/ StayStay! a Top Dog Story by Alex Latimer
Format: eARC
Published by Peachtree Pub Limited on September 1st 2015
Pages: 32
Goodreads
Genres: Animals, Boys & Men, Dogs, Pets, Young Adult

Looking after Ben's dog, Buster, is no walk in the park. Buster is messy, he is naughty, he is EXHAUSTING! But Ben loves him more than anything. When Ben goes away, he tells Grampa exactly how to look after Buster. But has Ben remembered the most IMPORTANT thing?

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.

Its been a little while since I have reviewed a picture book and I have to admit that I miss doing them.

Stay by Alex Latimer is such a cute little book that I am sure all the kids will love to read. I know I enjoyed it.

The illustrations are really nice and colorful so when you are reading the book you can’t help but look around at everything on the page.

Ben has a dog named Buster and lets just say that Buster can be a handful all the time and loves to get into trouble. When Ben’s parents announce they are going on vacation but Buster will not because of his actions. Buster will be going to stay at Ben’s grand dads house.

Ben takes to writing notes for his grand dad and they include what Buster likes and doesn’t like, favorite scratching spots, and so much more and these notes continue to arrive even while Ben is on vacation because he loves Buster so much.

While Buster is with grand dad, grand dad takes it upon himself to start trying Buster into a better dog and when Ben comes home he loves the changes in Buster and he loves that grand dad even wrote Ben notes on how to keep things up.

Has Buster changed for the good? Or is there still a little of the old Buster inside?

If your looking for a fun picture book then I highly recommend this.