24 Hours in Nowhere Book Review

Young Adult is a genre that has become more and more popular over recent years and we are lucky that there are plenty of authors who are writing some fantastic books to add to this growing genre. One such book that my daughter was lucky enough to get an advanced reading copy of is 24 Hours in Nowhere by author Dusti Bowling. Author of the book Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, she's back with a fresh voice to be heard.

Welcome to Nowhere, Arizona, the least liveable town in the United States. Fo Gus, a bright 13 year old with dreams of getting out and going to college, life there is made even worse by Bo Taylor, Nowhere's biggest, baddest bully. When Bo tries to force Gus to eat a dangerously spiny cactus, Rossi Scott, one of the best racers in Nowhere, comes to his rescue - but in return she has to give Bo her prized dirt bike.

Determined to buy it back, Gus agrees to go searching for gold in Dead Frenchman Mine, joined by an old friend, one of Bo's cronies and Rossi herself. As they race to find the treasure before the most important biking competition Nowhere has ever had, they bond over shared stories of how hard life in Nowhere is - and they realize this adventure just may be their way out.

Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson Book Review

Julia Donaldson is an author many of us have come to know and love. I've read many of her books to my children and have enjoyed many moments of exploration as the stories have got their imaginations expanding. And now she's back with something altogether extraordinary and quite frankly simply beautiful... Animalphabet.

An exquisite exploration of the animal world with peep-through pages and amazing fold-out flaps. The perfect gift for animal lovers by the bestselling Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, and visionary illustrator Sharon King-Chai.

This book isn't a story as such, more like an interactive book of discovery. With stunning imagery that displays a wide range of exotic animals with each turn of the page. Children are given the opportunity to learn the letters of the alphabet whilst also guessing which animal might be featured as they gaze through cleverly placed holes within the pages.

Read With Me 2018 #43

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me linky. All book reviews and book related posts are welcome here. I love all my regulars that link up every week but I'v noticed this year that there are very few of us still here,. I'd be ever so grateful if you could all help me promote the linky to see if we can't get some fresh faces joining in.

Many of you are actually starting your half term this week, whilst others had last week off. My youngest three are lucky as they are now into their second week of half term as their school combined all their training days into one week this year.

Win a Lindt Bear Advent Calendar - Competition

Ok, now that we are nearing the end of October I think we're safe to start mentioning the 'C' word, that is Christmas. It always comes round faster than we're prepared for doesn't it!

If I'm honest I love this time of year and I always try to be as organised as possible, this includes buying presents whenever I spot a bargain. I've already purchased my own advent calendar (Reese's) for fear that that they might sell out before December arrives.

And the lovely people at Wow Free Stuff seem to be just as forward thinking as me and they want to help you guys get ahead with your festive preparations.

They currently have a fantastic competition running where you can enter and to have a chance of winning one of ten of the very yummy Lindt Bear Advent Calendars, and who wouldn't love to be counting down the days to Christmas one of those, anyone else think this chocolate makes the ideal breakfast during December?

My Sunday Photo 2018 #43

Family, Rainbows and sleepovers #weeklyroundup

Hello and welcome to another #weeklyroundup. This week saw the start of our half term here. I see from social media that many of you don't begin your holidays until the end of school today. We're actually quite lucky here as we've still got a week to go. This is because the youngest three's school combined all of the teach training days and bundled them all into one week which meant that we got 2 weeks off in October this year.

We've had a great start to our time off because for a change the lovely Mr Hazelden was off with us, it's the first time we've ever had him with us at this time of year and made for a wonderful change. And actually we haven't done an awful lot, it's just been lovely having time, not feeling like we're cramming in conversations into a short space of time.

I even managed a day with just me and the husband when my lovely mum offered to have my daughters for a whole day along with their cousins. The last time we had any time alone together was on our wedding anniversary at the beginning of September so it was really appreciated.

And now it's tine to see the other things I've loved this week:

Read

I haven't had a lot of time to read books for leisure recently as I have had quite a few novels to review but last week one of my lovely friends came to my house to borrow some books of mine to take on holiday with her and at the same time she surprised me with literally a suitcase of books for me to delve into. We've got quite similar tastes in stories so there was plenty for me to choose from.

One of those books happened to be The Husband's Secret. This is a novel that's been on my to read list for quite some time and actually it is an author that I haven't managed to read any of their works before even though I have heard many good things about Liane Moriarty. The book definitely didn't disappoint and I've decided that I'll be asking for a couple more of her books for Christmas this year from various people.

Teamsterz Street Race Showdown Toy Review

Something my husband was always into when he was younger was fast cars. Well if I'm honest he still loves them and often reminisces about the cars he used to own and will show our daughters pictures and talk about how fast they used to go. So I'd say that it is no surprise that my girls are quite partial to a race car, they love playing Forza on their Xbox.  

Now imagine their delight when they received a surprise package recently containing the new Teamsterz Street Race Showdown!

"Your little racer will have endless fun with this Teamsterz Street Race Showdown Track set.

It features gravity fed two lane trackset with single loops, start line countdown and finish line gantry with winning lane detector & race time notification.Includes 5 die cast vehicles."

True Sisters by Keren David October Book of the Month

In this day and age I do believe that we as people are becoming more and more aware and accepting that families come in all different shapes and sizes, whether that be to do with race, culture, parents, divorce, siblings through fostering, adoption or half related. No one family fits into a particular category anymore. And this is why I felt compelled to pick Keren David's latest novel, True Sisters, as my book of the month.

There's the family you're born into, and then there's the one you make for yourself!

Ruby has had a lot of foster siblings over the years, but none of them have been anything like Clara. After growing up in almost complete isolation, Clara is distraught at being separated from her mother and overwhelmed by life in a world she doesn't understand.

But the more Ruby tries to help Clara fit in, the more she realises she has to face up to some struggles of her own.

True Sisters was a book I originally asked to review as I thought my eldest daughter would really benefit from reading it, but I too felt compelled to read it.

Read With Me 2018 #42

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. A massive thank you to everyone who linked up and commented last week.

I started reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials a couple of months ago but after reading the first in the trilogy I sort of got distracted by other novels. But I've found my way back and I'm determined to make it to the end now.

My Sunday Photo 2018 #42

A Summery Feeling Autumn #weeklyroundup

It's been a strange start to October hasn't it. Well I say start but we're over half way through now. Although the mornings have been somewhat darker, the days have been feeling less like autumn, more of a summery vibe with lots of beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. I'll admit it's been quite odd not having to put on my winter coat yet although I haven't gone so far as to dig out the flip flops again.

Funny thing is that now it's the beginning of half term, I think we can sort of predict that the weather will suddenly take a turn for the colder and wetter!

But enough of my typically British weather talk, on to this weeks weekly round up:

Read

It was a few months back that I begin reading Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. However I got side tracked. Not only with other books that suddenly caught my interest but also with review books which took priority.

But now I've begun to delve back in again.

Babysecrets Merbabies Toy Review

Earlier in the year my children had the pleasure of reviewing another new collectable to hit toy shelves, Babysecrets. These little cuties each came with their very own bath and when run under water would be revealed to be either a boy or a girl.

And now they are back but not as we know them.

Introducing Merbabies.

The babies have turned into mermaids and instead of coming in their signature baths, you can now reveal surprise Merbabies and accessories when you open their clams.

Dead End by Rachel Lynch Blog Tour

Way back in January I had the pleasure of reading Dark Game, the first in a series of books from author Rachel Lynch featuring character DI Kelly Porter. This was a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed so when I was asked if I'd like to join the blog tour for the third story in the series, Dead End it was kind of hard to refuse.

Now I'll admit I'd not even realised that a second book had been written let alone a third so I was a little worried that I wouldn't understand parts of the storyline but I can say straight away that like the first book, this one can be read as a stand alone, you don't really need to have read the previous ones to comprehend the events that occur this time round.

Read With Me 2018 #41

Hello there and welcome to another weeks Read With Me. As always I thank everyone who continues to link up and share the book love. It really is appreciated not just by me but by all of you who join in each week.

Reading has been going well for my youngest two recently, both going up in reading levels at school and actually I've noticed their enthusiasm for reading increasing too. There was a time where reading at bed time stopped but now they are choosing to either read to me or read with me rather than me just reading stories to them. And of course the length of the books have increased significantly as well.

My Sunday Photo 2018 #41

I actually took this photo a few weeks ago but forgot to share it. This was from one of our random walks, exploring amongst the trees. I'd be interested to see what this area looks like now that autumn is setting in.

Bad Backs and New Glasses #weeklyroundup

Hello there and welcome to another weekly round up. I may have missed another week because I was busy promoting the new Hatchibabies but I'm back and I am pretty certain you didn't really miss my updates too much.

So what's new?

Well October hasn't been bad weather wise has it. I've managed to get my washing out on the line more often than not and so far I have also somehow got the husband to keep his hands off of the heating. I plan on not turning the fire on until at least the beginning of November!

I'm still applying for jobs, didn't manage to get an interview for the last position I applied for but I'm nothing but determined, there is a job out there for me somewhere . . . I hope.

Read

My reading has slowed down somewhat again, I've almost lost that mojo to want to pick up a book and get lost in it. Might have something to do with the fact that many books I'm reading lately just aren't living up to their expectations.

The latest novel I read was the latest one from Lauren Oliver called Broken Things. I got all excited as I love the author and the blurb caught my interest but the story itself seemed quite a let down from my initial feelings.

Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit Toy Review

If your children are anything like mine then they will love a good collectable, but what's better than buying them? Making your own of course. And now with the Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit your kids can do just that!

With this clever piece of kit your little ones can create, customise and of course then begin to collect these adorable, colourful smooshy characters again and again! There are over 10,000 combinations of characters and accessories to collect, which means never a dull moment.

How to Become a Knight Book Review

Have you asked your children the question of what they want to be when they grow up? I've asked mine and the answers change on a daily basis. Right now my eldest wants to either be an author or work within something like architecture. My ten year old is all about art and fashion and my eight year old is still eager to become a pop star. Now these all sound like respectable careers but a certain book that came through the post may just influence my youngest in her next job choice . . . 

How to Become a Knight (in Ten Easy Lessons) is the latest picture book from author Todd Tarpley. Illustrated by Jenn Harney, this story tells the tale of Sir Simpleton, his student Sam and his quest to give the King a new skilled knight.

Read With Me 2018 #40

Hello you lovely lot and welcome to another weeks Read With Me. A big thanks to everyone who linked up last week. As always those posts and comments are always greatly appreciated.

We're now a little way through autumn and I've managed to reach my Goodreads target of fifty two books read in a year. I'm now wondering just how many novels I can read from now until the end of the year.

My Sunday Photo 2018 #40

Hatchimals Family is EGGspanding with HatchiBabies Reviews

Are you getting EGGcited? The Hatchimals family is EGGspanding and there are some new additions to come from the Hatchery Nursery over in Hatchtopia.

Hatchibabies!

Hatchifans can prepare to be EGGspecting as there are two new species to be discovered - Ponettes and Cheetrees but the question is will it be a boy or a girl?

How to Feed Your Parents Book Review

We've all heard of certain children being fussy with their food but we don't see so much of this behaviour from adults. That's not to say that they aren't fussy, I mean I can tell you that I'll refuse to eat anything with mushrooms in and I'm not a huge fan of green sweets. Now Ryan Miller's latest hilarious picture book offering shows kids that their parents can be just as much of a pain as them at meal times.

Parents can be such picky eaters!

Matilda Macaroni wants to be adventurous at mealtimes, but her parents only ever want grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken nuggets on the table!

She decides that if she wants to try something new, she'll just have to cook it herself.

Once Matilda perfects paella, masters miso soup, and conquers croquettes, she knows her parents would enjoy the flavours too. 

Can she come up with a plan to show them there's more out there than cereal and pizza?

Firebird by Elizabeth Wein Book Review

I love that a lot of children's books these days have a focus on history, and Firebird is just that. Based on the authors real life research on female pilots in the Soviet Union in the WW2, this is the story of Nastia, who is the daughter of revolutionaries and a brilliant pilot. 

Nastia is no traitor. She is a daring pilot, the daughter of revolutionaries, and now, as the Second World War descends on Russia, she must fight to save the glorious Motherland. But all is not as it seems, and when the battles begin, secrets are revealed and everything that she once knew is challenged... A thrilling adventure brimming with historical detail and powerful female characters.

My eldest took great pleasure in reading this tale and here is what she has to say about it;

Read With me 2018 #39

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me post. A big thanks to everyone who continues to link up and comment. 

How is it October already?

I feel like this year is speeding by and somehow feel like I haven't read enough new books yet. Talking about new books, I just wanted to give a mention to a book I was kindly sent a couple of weeks ago, Never Too Young.