Tuesday 31 October 2017

The drowning

The Drowning
Author: Rachel Ward
Read by: Paul Chequer
ISBN: 9781471342981



Hi Everyone

This is the second book I have listened to by Rachel Ward (you can link to my review of Numbers here).  This book is just as good as the first book I listened to by Rachel.  I'm not sure if this is because of the reader - Paul Chequer, or the plot.  Either way I'm pleased I have experienced the book and especially pleased that I listened to this one.

First things first - the book.  The characters all have their unique part to play in this story.  I hated the aunt!  Lets get that off my chest.  I felt for the mother, although she did need extreme help in many ways.  Now to the main characters... I wanted to scream many times in this book, especially at Carl's brother.  He was too dam real for my liking.  His character was so well written that I was left wondering if he had actually died?  Now that's good writing in itself.  I liked Neesha, she seemed caught up in bizarre situation.  Really, she seemed like a normal-ish sort of girl.  But these two brothers take her on a trip beyond reality.  To Carl... you really should listen to the audio to get the fill impact of Carl's character.

The plot was weird, but brilliant.  I often wondered where it was going to take me.

Now to the audio/reader.  Brilliant!  

Listen to this book if you get a chance.  Carl's character is given so much impact through the reader of this audio book.  I don't think I could have given him so much dramatic force in my minds voice.  I could his pain, anxiety and strength due to the reader, Paul Chequer.  I can't give enough credit to the reading of this title on audio.  He gave the book more strength and the characters more creditability.  Excellent work produced.

So, this book is worth putting on your phone or device and listening to while you go about your day.  Really it makes doing the dishes do much exciting 😉


Description:

What happens if you've done something terrible, but you can't remember what? And you don't know how to put it right... When Carl opens his eyes on the banks of a lake, his brother is being zipped into a body bag. What happened in the water? He can't remember. When he glimpses a beautiful girl he thinks he recognises, she runs away. Suddenly he knows he must find her - because together they must face the truth before it drowns them.


Happy reading


Tuesday 24 October 2017

I rode a horse of milk white jade

I rode a horse of milk white jade
Author: Diane Lee Wilson
ISBN: 978-1-4022-4027-0


Hi Everyone,

Once again I have just finished a book my daughter has been telling me to read for a while now.  She has such good taste in books!  This book came to our bookcase via Sonlight curriculum  My children really enjoyed reading through their books and I recommend most of the books they have on their reading lists.  There has been a few that have been really dull, but overall most of the book my kids have read from the Sonlight reading list have been worth reading.

Anyway,  to this book.  It was a page turner.  To be honest the first few chapters I could have given or taken whether I read the rest.  But once she got her horse the book really switched up in pace.  I was impressed by the characters, they all had distinctive placement in the plots importance.  As for Oyuna... for a very young girl she completed tasks far beyond her years.  But, it was believable, as one knows times have changed and what is expected of many young people now is not what expected in times gone past.  This is what I noticed most about this book, the strength and endurance of such a young lady.

By the end the end the life lesson is distinctive.  The ability behind and understanding of her life lesson is highlighted in such a way that I think any middle grade reader would take hold of it and think far beyond the books end.

So just as my daughter recommended I read, I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade, I recommend you and your children read this book.  You will have plenty to think and talk about after doing so.


Description:

When Oyuna was a baby, a horse accidentally crushed her foot, cursing her family with bad luck.  Oyuna vows to restore good fortune to her family... but how?

One fateful day, soldiers from the great Khan's army invade her village to steal horses and gather new soldiers.  In hopes of bringing honor to her family, Oyuna courageously disguises herself as a boy and joins the soldiers on their quest.

With only her horse and her cat to keep her company, Oyuna sets off on an amazing journey across deserts and mountains - a journey that will change her life forever.


Happy reading

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Tovi the penguin goes trick-or-treating

Tovi the penguin goes trick-or-treating
Author: Janina Rossiter
ISBN:
Tovi the Penguin Goes Trick-or-Treating
Hi Everyone

Tovi the Penguin goes trick-o-treating is free on Kindle over at Amazon.com today.  So, I have it now on my Kindle and as I open the pages I am going to share what I think...

First impressions are... cute!  Good colour and it looks like a simple read.

I like the way print is in the clouds.  I don't know what it is about this concept but it is grabbing my attention as I read.  I will ask my students what they think over the next week and see if they feel the same as they read it.

Okay... I love the little penguin and his wheelbarrow 😊

So, here we have Tovi and his friends in a pumpkin patch looking for the right pumpkin, then there is a scarecrow, turn the page and 'BOOM, CRASH, BANG' and I am left giggling.  The illustrations are awesome.

This book is so simple in it's concept that I love it.  It is well plotted and well presented.  I think I want a copy of this in paperback so I could read it to the little people in my life.  I'm flicking through the pages and smiling all the way.  The language is brilliant for our little ones and the book would still interest the early readers.  And, then there are the people that never out grow picture books, like me!  

So, it's free today why not pick up your Kindle or phone, where ever you may have a Kindle app loaded, and take a look.  I'm going to be sharing it over the next week or two 👻


Description:

It's autumn and Tovi and his friends are getting ready to celebrate Halloween.
After Tovi’s decorated his house, the friends all meet at the farm to pick pumpkins. But what a surprise they get while they’re there! It gives them a good idea for a Halloween trick! Will their trick work? And will they get treats? Let’s find out ....


Happy reading



Monday 16 October 2017

An unexpected afterlife

An Unexpected Afterlife
Author: Dan Sofer
ISBN: 978-0-9863932-2-8

An Unexpected Afterlife
Hi Everyone

I've had a little holiday with my kids.  It's been the school holidays here and life got busy in a whole new way.  I only got a little reading done, but I did purchase more books and I will give you a little overview of of my little book haul sometime this week too.

I was given a reading copy of this book, An Unexpected Afterlife, and I picked it up over the weekend.  This book is beyond any other plot I have ever read.  Every now and then I feel like I am reading similar plots one after another, especially when I read popular bestsellers of the season.  Then, once in a  while I get an email asking me if I would like a copy of an authors book.... And I am given a book like this.  I'm left awaiting the second book in the 'Dry Bones Society Series' now.  There are things left answered like, what happened to Eli? Is he who I want him to be?  He seemed to fall out of the book in the last chapters and I want him back! He has a job to complete!

So what has drawn me into this novel and now the series?   A totally different concept of plot!  We start with Mose Karlin - dead for two years and now totally alive.  His family has moved on, kind of anyway, and his identity is known as dead.  This is just the start.  More people begin to emerge with the same situation.  Why?  Then there is Eli.  He is given a couple of names in the book but the most connected identity is that of Elijah the prophet.  Problem is he is in hospital after a road accident and not in a good state.  Who believes him?  Well, who would?

I quickly became a reader on the edge of my seat.  Where was this plot leading me?  I got some answers by the end of the book, but then there were a few events that left me with more questions that when I started.  I will have to look at reading the next book too.  I have to find out what happens with Eli.

Here we have it, a new book, a new concept, a new plot.  Not the same old popular plot of the day, but rather one with a difference.  I like that difference, it's fresh and thought provoking.


Description:


YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE?

When he wakes up naked and alone in the Mount of Olives Cemetery, Moshe Karlin doesn't remember dying two years ago, nor does he realize how hard he'll have to work to win back his perfect old life... and his wife. In fact, he'll be lucky to survive his first week on the streets of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, other changes are afoot in the Holy Land. A reluctant prophet prepares to deliver a message of redemption–and the end of life as we know it–when a freak accident changes the course of history.

An Unexpected Afterlife is the first novel in the "highly original" new fantasy adventure series, The Dry Bones Society. If you enjoy romance and adventure, humour and heartbreak, engaging characters and non-stop surprises, then you'll love this romp in legends of the Resurrection and the World to Come.


Book II: An accidental Mesiah


Happy reading 


Saturday 14 October 2017

Being quiet...



Hi Everyone,

I have enjoyed a weeks holiday with my family but I will back this coming week with what's been happening in my little world of liturature.

Happy reading



Monday 9 October 2017

An American Cage

An American Cage
Author: Ted Galdi
ISBN: 978-0-3232507-1-1
Publish date: 16 October 2017

Hi Everyone

I would like to thank Ted Galdi for the opportunity to read this brilliant novel.  I enjoyed this right from the opening pages, as three prisoners escape from prison, to the final pages which were full of page turning suspense.

I found myself often reading to find out what was happening to Jane rather than the prisoners.  Just so you know where I am coming from with Jane, she was a hitchhiker they picked up along the way and she quickly became a suspect.  I had all forms of ideas running through my head as to where Jane could go within the novel.... all of them ended up being wrong.

It was the unravelling of lies and truths that kept me reading; I thought were well woven into the plot.  It always amazes me how good guys can cover up a number of sins and get away with it.  Well, for a time that is.  As the information unravelled the novel became more dangerous and suspense packed.  I found myself turning the pages (as you do on your Kindle 😀) quicker and quicker as I came to the final quarter.  The climax was well plotted and organised, I thought it connected the whole story together well.  It has been a while since I have read a book of this genre and I have missed them.  Crime/suspense and fantasy have become my favourite genres over time much to my surprise.   An American Cage ticked all the boxes for me.  I really enjoyed it.


Description:

Three inmates break out of a maximum-security prison in Texas, one of them Danny Marsh, a suburban kid in his twenties who landed in jail because of a crime he never intended to commit.

An American Cage follows Danny and his two escape partners over a twenty-four-hour period as they struggle to cross Texas to freedom in Mexico. On this dangerous journey, Danny has to evade the rabid Texas authorities, and even worse, the schemes of one of his closest allies, who isn't who he seems.

The second novel by Amazon #1 bestselling author and multi-award winner Ted Galdi, this psychological thriller is packed with suspense, twists, and grit, all while having heart. The story follows its young male protagonist on a journey of self-discovery and redemption as he weaves through a rocky landscape of family issues, guilt, betrayal, and questions about the nature of good and evil.

Along the way, he encounters an eclectic supporting cast, including a renowned psychology professor, a car thief, a young female hitchhiker, the leader of a biker gang, and a small-town Texas policeman with big ambitions.


Description taken from Goodreads.com https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35648233-an-american-cage?from_search=true


Happy reading



An American Cage

Wednesday 4 October 2017

Ghosties

Ghosties
Author: Gerald Hawksley


Hi Everyone

It has been quite a week here with the school holidays, work and I have been helping relatives move house.  So reading time has been a little it smaller, but I do have a good one nearly finish and coming your way over the next week.  

This morning I opened up an email which informed me Amazon had this lovely little book free on Kindle today.  I still love children's picture books and look for them everywhere I go, especially for tutoring.  Hence my little computer mouse clicked on the link and then clicked in the buy button and I have in front of me, on my Kindle this lovely little book - Ghosties.

So here I go.... I'm opening it on my Kindle and reading it now as I talk to you 🙊

First page introduces us to the fact 'Halloween is in the air'  and they are on a bit a hunt to see a ghost.  The first picture looks good.  Not to much on the page.  I think I would enjoy reading this to a little tot.

Turing the page... We have a town.

The next page grabs my interest more.  The picture is brilliant, the ghosts in Ghostie town look human, they are all in a rush.  I'm smiling now 😊

Still turning pages... this is quite a simple quick little read.  It is very well done.  There a even cat ghosts and they all look so friendly and cute.  I really like the cleaning ghost!  The lazy ghost is kind of cute too.

Okay I'm convinced.  I recommend this book, especially if your children are little.  I wish someone had given me a book like this when I was little and scared of the dark.  Yes I was once scared of the dark!

There is even jokes in the back 😉.  Well done Gerald Hawksley the kids are going to enjoy this one.

And if you go to Amazon today, it is free on Kindle.  What more can one ask for?


Description:

Halloween is in the air.
You'd like to see a ghost - but where?
At night when the sun's gone down,
Come with me to Ghostie Town . . .
Where you will find the most colorful and cheerful collection of ghosties you could ever hope to meet.
Another silly rhyming kindle picture book from Gerald Hawksley.



Happy reading