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Merissa (11622 KP) rated Hidden (Dragonlands, #1) in Books

Dec 17, 2018 (Updated Apr 10, 2023)  
Hidden (Dragonlands, #1)
Hidden (Dragonlands, #1)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received this book as a gift from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What happens if, at thirteen, you wake up and all the adults from your village have disappeared? What happens if you are suddenly surrounded by a thick, dense, immoveable fog? Is it there to keep you in... or others out?

This is the riddle that Sophia and the rest of the children are faced with early one morning. Then time skips on and you meet Tressa, Sophia's granddaughter. She is someone who has had to deal with the blows in her life and this means that she is not one to cower down and hide behind someone else.

Something is changing in the village and it is Tressa's turn to venture outside. Those who have gone before have never been seen or heard from. Once Tressa steps into the fog, all bets are off and she has to think on her feet.

There are twists and turns aplenty in this book with well described and believable characters for the most part. The one that I couldn't exactly gel with Henry but he was only a bit-part anyway. If you like the more mature fantasy then I think you will really enjoy this one. Definitely recommended.


December 19, 2018
  
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    Privat24

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The Girl Who Saved Christmas
The Girl Who Saved Christmas
Matt Haig, Chris Mould | 2017 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig is a very charming story that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It is the story of Amelia Wishart, who is the first child ever to receive a gift from Father Christmas. She never loses hope throughout the misery she encounters in her very young life and however much she would like to stop believing in magic and goodness, she never fully does. Her hope made that first visit possible, and, just a couple of years later, her hope might just save Christmas itself. 

The story takes place in two locations that couldn't be more different: Elfhelm, where it is clean and only ever gets as cold as you want it to be, and in 1841 London, where it is dirty, cold and unfriendly place to orphans.

The characters in the story are quite fun. Amelia and Father Christmas both have strong personalities with a firm determination to get things done. Mr. Creeper is just as his name predicts, he is creepy and not a nice man at all. The guest appearances of a ruling head of state and a famous author are perfect. One passage was hilarious and it took me several minutes to sop laughing before I could continue reading. I was amused.

I recommend this book for read-a-loud's to children and for middle grade readers. 

I received this book from NetGalley via Random House Children's Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.
  
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    Call-Break Multiplayer

    Games and Entertainment

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The Hairy Hand
The Hairy Hand
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A gothic adventure for 8 -12 year olds, full of jokes, magical familiars and a gruesome cast of characters. When Septimus inherits a magical, treasure-finding Hairy Hand from his uncle, life suddenly becomes a lot more exciting - and dangerous!
Septimus feels out-of-place in his village where everyone else his age is called Darg or Smerg or Blaarg. Good, honest names that sound like you are have just swallowed something pointy or are sneezing into custard. Even his parents make him feel like a complete stranger. Especially his parents. Then he inherits something strange and frightening from his uncle. A Hairy Hand. It has the magical ability to find buried treasure which suits his parents (thieves by trade) down to the ground. However, instead of making his life better, it suddenly gets a lot more dangerous.
So, it is up to Sept to find out what else the Hand knows and put things right.

I enjoyed this humorous and moderately gruesome read which, I think, will appeal to its target audience.
There’s an amazing cast of ghastly characters, including Sept’s parents, Plog the Sneaker and Gertrude!
A fun and adventurous fantasy story of good versus bad, determination and resisting temptation.
The Characters and story line are varied and kept me guessing, laughing my way through the book at the antics and mishaps throughout, with a few cleverly woven in messages for those reading it.
If you are looking to introduce your children to Fantasy Adventure or yourselves or just as gift for someone then this truly would make someone very happy!
I highly recommend this fun book!!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Monster Books and Robin Bennett for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
  
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Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Ashley Bell in Books

Feb 19, 2018  
AB
Ashley Bell
10
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was the best Dean Koontz novel I've read since the first Odd Thomas. I loved Bibi, and there was a great cast of supporting characters, including her parents, her best pal Pogo, and her fiance, a Navy Seal named Pax. Not everyone was on Bibi's side, however, and once again Mr. Koontz proves that sometimes the scariest monsters are those who wear human faces.

This is one of those stories that is very hard to talk about without giving too much away, and I would not want to ruin the surprises for anyone who might choose to read the book. With that said, here's what I can tell you without spoiling anything.... The novel starts out with Bibi, a novelist, discovering that she has brain cancer. After hearing that she has less then a year to live, she surprises everyone (except maybe herself) by waking completely cancer free the next morning. As a celebratory gift, her parents send a psychic to Bibi, and during her reading, she discovers that her life was spared so that she could save someone named Ashley Bell. The journey that Bibi has to make in her quest to locate Ashley forces her to revisit places and experiences from her own past that she has long since forgotten.

The buildup in this novel started out slow but constant, and once it got moving I couldn't put it down. Any Dean Koontz fan, or any thriller fan for that matter, will love this one. While Dean Koontz may be thought of as a horror writer, and there are some paranormal elements to this story, non-horror fans should enjoy this one also.

<i>Note: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest </i>review.
  
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a> at the beginning of December).


When I was asked if I would review this book, I said yes without even thinking about. This book has been on my to be read shelf for awhile, and while it wasn't laugh out loud funny all the time, it was still laugh worthy.

The cover shows that this is going to be a humorous book with funny illustrations. I, personally, like the cover, and it drew me in.

There is one sign that you're a Facebook addict on each page as well as a full page illustration on the other to go with the sign. Some of these are funny while others are mildly amusing. Some signs used in the book include "you've already created a page for your unborn child," your partner angrily claims they've become a Facebook widow," and "you've had a face-off with Facebook." There's also suggestions to detox from Facebook such as "get sent to jail," "join Google+ instead," and "fall in love."

I enjoyed the illustrations the most if I'm honest. Gemini Adams, not only wrote the book, but also illustrated it. While most of them are cutesy, there area few which are kinda crude. Mostly, they only show women's breasts. There's no illustrations of crotches so worry not.

I believe this book would be a perfect stocking stuffer or gag gift for someone who is on Facebook a lot. I'm thinking of getting this book for my dad who is obsessed with how many friends he has and how many likes he gets.

(I received a free paperback copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review).
  
<b><i>I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>Like many classics, I'm not a huge fan of <i>Oedipus Rex </i>(let's just say it was a little boring here and there and maybe I needed Shmoop to help me understand what was going on).

Anyways, despite the fact I struggled with writing an essay over Oedipus, <i>Prophecy </i>seemed interesting enough simply because of the fact Oedipus isn't the main character. Prophecy tells the story of Antigone, one of Oedipus’ daughters, and a princess of Thebes who is believed to be both blessed and cursed (the former being the most popular with the latter being an internal admission) by the gods at the same time - at least in McBurnie’s version.

There does, however, seem to be a bit of a repetition that irked me after it occurred a few times - everyone keeps telling Antigone she's blessed by the gods and she has a gift, yada yada, and it really just made the story feel much slower than it was actually going. (I mean, I totally get why but still….)

I really enjoyed McBurnie’s take of <i>Oedipus Rex</i> in <i>Prophecy </i>- the author breaks down the original story and simplifies it, yet she takes her own spin of the tale from a different perspective (Antigone). It's a refreshing take and from the way McBurnie ends the story, I'm extremely curious where and what the sequel will lead to.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-prophecy-by-coreena-mcburnie/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
    Petal Pop Adventures

    Petal Pop Adventures

    Games and Stickers

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    Join Fairy Flower Petal and her friend rabbit as they go on their Petal Pop Adventures through the...