Thunder Pug Book Review

My girls would really love to have a pet dog but unfortunately with work commitments, money etc, so far their dream hasn't come true. So to help with this problem, I've tried to find replacements in the forms of cute, cuddly toys and different books. 

The latest story to grab their interest is Thunder Pug by Kim Norman. And let me tell you if dogs came as cute as this one I might be persuaded to get one ...

Percy the pug and Petunia the pig love doing almost everything together . . . until Petunia wins a blue ribbon at the county fair. Suddenly, she's too busy to play anymore. So when lonely Percy finds a faded comic book, he takes on a new identity: THUNDER PUG!

He's great at helping other animals out of sticky situations, but it turns out that being a superhero by yourself is not always easy.

Will Percy find a trusty sidekick to join his heroic team?

This story is a wonderfully, charming tale from the get go.

Read With Me 2019 #4

Hello and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. A big thank you to everybody who managed to link up and comment last week.

It's hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of the first month of 2019. It goes quicker with each year that passes doesn't it. 

My Sunday Photo 2019 #4

Discover Our Solar System Book Review

I love that all of my girls love to read and not only that, it's really great that like their mum, they have a real diverse taste in books. Willing to read both fiction and non-fiction and really learn something new every time they pick up a new book. 

Near the end of last year I was kindly sent a book with a difference, Discover Our Solar System by Colin Stuart. This is a book that is child-friendly (and adult friendly too), giving a great introduction to the solar system with a great mixture of bite sized facts and fascinating illustrations thanks to Charlie Brandon-King.

Sit back, buckle up and get ready to enjoy a cosmic tour of our awe-inspiring solar system! Inside this illustrated guide you'll discover the incredible things that make up the solar system and how it came into existence. While you marvel at the beauty of the planets and our Sun and Moon, you can learn astonishing facts about them. You'll find exactly what dwarf planets are, and the differences between asteroids, comets, meteors, meteoroids and meteorites. Plus you can delve into the fascinating history of space travel and glimpse what the future may hold.

Read With Me 2019 #3

Hello and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. Thank you to those who are still linking up. I'm trying my best to carry on both commenting and tweeting links to your posts as I've started a full time job. So please do give me a nudge if I've missed your post!

I'm still trying to make time to read books for myself as well as the books that I need to review and I'm impressing myself as at this point I have read over 16 books and some of them have been relatively long. A favourite of mine last week was one of Fearne Cotton's book, Calm.

My Sunday Photo 2019 #3

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott - January Book of the Month

Every month I like to choose a book that I've really enjoyed. I don't always read new books, sometimes they are book recommendations from others. This month my choice for book of the month was a new release, a novel that I was lucky enough to be gifted via Netgalley. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott.

Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

Read With Me 2019 #2

Hello all you lovely lot and welcome to the latest Read With Me link up. A big thank you to everyone who shared their posts last week. 

I've already made my way through most of the books that I was bought for Christmas so it's lucky my birthday happens to be at the end of the month so I can replenish my 'stock'. I like to have a mix of real books and digital books.

And this could be the year that I persuade my husband to build me a nice big book case so that I don't have to keep donating all of my books to charity after I've read them.

My Sunday Photo 2019 #2

Time to Juggle

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about the idea that you have to juggle all the things in your life and the struggle to keep that act going. Since then I think I've managed to develop that skill quite well. 

During the past two years I have passed a course to become a teaching assistant, be a midday supervisor every lunch time and continue to volunteer daily at my children's primary school too. But I'll admit it's felt like I haven't had a moment to myself.

Fast forward to now and what can I say ... I'm quite simply tired.

I was lucky enough to gain a full time teaching assistant position in another school, something which I previously spoke about, asking could this be the year for me? However I'll admit that there's been a day or two where I've had a feeling of trying to stay afloat.

Don't get me wrong, I am truly enjoying my job but it's an adjustment going from being a volunteer able to pick and choose my hours to being in full time work, having to be places at certain times and jigging about previous commitments.

I always felt that I was an organised person but now even more so.

My day starts at 5.45am. Strong black coffee is in order as I begin my day. I make prepare the pack lunches, put a load of washing on and on certain days I also make sure I fit in a type of workout too. That may be weights, resistance or HIIT based.

Now this is also where I'm glad that I already meal plan as I can also get dinner started so that's one less job I have to contend with when I get home from work. Hooray for the slow cooker, this is an appliance that gets used a lot!

Something I'm missing is the school run.

The Secret Woodland Activity Book - Review

I'm kicking of 2019 with a fantastic book for you all. The Secret Woodland Activity book, it is time for you all to discover the magical and playful wood-folk of this secret Scandinavian woodland island.

As soon as I opened up the packaging my youngest two daughters fell in love with this book. The front cover is illustrated with unicorns, fairies and beautiful woods, looking altogether wonderfully magical and it is just begging to be opened.

Read With Me 2019 #1

Hello everyone, happy new year! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas break. Read With Me is now back for 2019 and I cannot wait to read some of your reviews, I'll need suggestions for what to read this year.

I set my Goodreads challenge for the year. I managed to read 63 books last year, not including all the children's books I read for my reviews. So with that in mind I set my number at 65 novels to read this year.

My Sunday Photo 2019 #1

This seemed like a fitting photo for the beginning of a new year and although the lovely Photalife is no longer hosting the My Sunday Photo on his blog I felt my own blog would somehow be missing something if I just stopped as well So for that reason, I'm going to carry on sharing a photo a week as a sort of snapshot to something that I've perhaps seen or done during the week.

The Year for Me?

Hello 2019. You sure came round fast.

Growing up new year never meant an awful lot to me. And recently all it signalled was the end of Christmas festivities and time for the kids to go back to school again.

As an adult I'll admit to setting silly resolutions: lose weight, save money. All of the usual things that people tend to say but I've got wise to it all.

Last year was the first time I didn't set myself any really goals and it felt good.

No expectations, no disappoint if I didn't manage to achieve certain things, it was a freeing feeling.

And in some ways this year is more of the same, I've not bothered with targets but in another way everything is totally different.

I'm thinking this could be the year for me.

Nothing But the Truth by Dick Lehr Book Review

I'm starting the new year with a review of a fantastic YA book from author Dick Lehr, his latest novel, Nothing But the Truth is a gripping tale about one young girls immense fight for justice her father. 

What would you do if you knew someone had been wrongly convicted of murder?

Trell Taylor was just a baby when her father was convicted of murder, but she's always known he's innocent. And now she wants to prove it.

Not everyone wants to see justice served, however, and Trell's investigation soon attracts unwanted attention. With so much at stake, she'll stop for nothing but the truth - if only she can find the answers she needs in time.

Something that you should know before you read is that Dick Lehr worked for the Boston Globe's spotlight team, where he actually helped to crack the case that inspired this tale, that's right it is actually based on the true story of a young man's false murder conviction.