Month: November 2015

November 6, 2015

The Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror Review and Giveaway

Get ready for a digital adventure with The Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror.

About The Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirrors

After celebrating their victory over the Snow Queen, Gerda and Orm have given their fellow trolls a taste of freedom. But when Orm gets a cold-hard reality check, they slip into another perilous journey and must protect the world from eternal winter.

Our Thoughts

This was our first time being introduced to the characters of the Snow Queen, Gerda and Orm. This movie is actually the sequel to another film, which is pretty great for fans of the duo Gerda and Orm. If you haven’t yet seen it, no worries as the beginning of the film shows you a recap of the first movie.

The digital copy (available on iTunes November 3rd, 2015) is perfect entertainment for your children on long car rides, after school and those cold days spent inside (because lets face it, winter is coming!). The graphics are clear and bright, drawing you right into the movie and the characters. The animations are better suited for a slightly older child (maybe kindergarten and up) as they are more realistic (versus cute and cuddly) and at times the Snow Queen can be a little scary. Our main characters Gerda is a human girl and Orm is a troll (with an incredibly funny nose!). The humour is fantastic and the plot line is great throughout the movie.

The movie also tells a great story about telling lies. In the opening Orm promises to never tell a lie again. He quickly goes back on this promise and our story unfolds!

Check out the Trailer!

The Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror – Trailer from Momentum Pictures on Vimeo.

Momentum and kaboom entertainment want to give you the chance to win your own digital copy of The Snow Queen: Magic of the Ice Mirror on iTunes. My Canadian and American readers can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this film in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 5, 2015

Bzzzzzz..Enjoy All Natural Skin Care with Beessential Products

After having my own children, my shopping habits and preferences have changed drastically. Natural skin care and cruelty free products have replaced many of my older choices. I want my shopping habits to have as little impact on the environment as possible and at the same be natural skin care products that I feel safe putting on not only my own body but my childrens as well.

Many of you are probably aware because of the news the impact we have had on bees and their decline. Bees are tied to us and the impact we make on our environment directly affects them. David Rzepka was fascinated by bees, their science and culture after a co-worker asked to place a bee hive on their family farm. He probably never realized that this would be the start of something amazing, Beessential!

Knowing the complex relationship we have with bees, David wanted to design products for our skin and body using honey and beeswax, products that are nautral and safe not only for us but for our environment too. This is the philosophy that has guided David and his family as they expanded their natural skin product lines to include lip balm, soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion!

The Products:

Beessential Hand & Body Lotion (In Rose with Mint and Lavender)

This lightweight lotion is the perfect solution for those who want a cruetly free, natural and made in North America lotion. The hand and body lotion was not oily with a light fragrance, which made it perfect for me to use at work as the smell would not bother patients and it wasn’t greasy that could affect my grip when drawing up needles or trying to put gloves on. The lotions contain: Vitamin E, Shea Butter, Honey, Aloe, Olive Oil, Beeswax, Moringa Oil as well as essential oils.

Natural Lip Balm

The Beessential Natural lip balm contains a unique blend of olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax, honey, aloe and hemp. Combine this with essential oils such as lavender, ginger, peppermint and orange, you are left with a uniquely hydrating lip balm.

The Beessential Natural Skin Care Promise:

to give back to their community.
create products that are ecologically friendly using renewable ingredients that are kind to the Earth and all living things.
strive to make products that are natural, renewable and functional without sacrificing quality.
commitment to make products that match their competitors (including the artifical products).
manufacture products with sustainable development.

Make sure you check out Beessential on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with information and deals.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 5, 2015

Merry Mary by Ashley Farley

A longing for a child coupled with loneliness is at the heart of this Christmas miracle story, Merry Mary by Ashley Farley.

About Merry Mary

A young woman stumbles longing for a child stumbles upon a Christmas miracle.

Investigative journalist, Scottie Darden, is photographing the homeless for her Lost Souls series when she makes a discovery that could change her life forever. Under a makeshift tent in subzero termperatures, she finds a dead woman’s body and her infant child still alive. Without her cellphone to call for help, Scottie makes a split second decision to take the baby home. Her initial instincts are to provide the baby with food, shelter and warmth until her family can be located.

But as her fondness for the baby grows, she finds herself facing a life on the run or worse, time in prison.

My Thoughts

This novel was touching in so many ways. I felt connected to Scottie in so many ways, having struggled myself with infertility as well as loss from miscarriages. It has changed how I relate to others, pregnancy and even myself. It leaves you feeling lonely and angry. You lash at people you don’t want or mean to. You hope so badly for good news, to only be repeatedly let down. I can only begin to imagine the thoughts that went through Scottie’s mind as she took that child home. The protectiveness, the love and even the heartbreaking anguish.

She is mentally stable but some might think of her actions as opposite to this. She is just a woman who has suffered more than she should have and wanted to protect and love the child that by some miracle, she was able to rescue just in time. If she had not been there, this child would have had no chance of survival. It is as if the child is a gift of life and hope in Scottie’s time of despair.

This gift, Mary, teaches Scottie so much. She learns to trust, she believes in her own strength and courage and she learns to let go. So much happens to Scottie in this novel, some good and some bad, but all so heartbreaking real. Mary is more then just a child, she is a symbol of hope, strength and life. Merry Mary will leave you smiling and crying, and each page is worth every moment.

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and Kobo.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

HER SISTER’S SHOES—June 24, 2015—is a women’s novel that proves the healing power of family.

Look for MERRY MARY this holiday season, a heartwarming story of the powerful connection between a caring soul and an innocent child in need.

You can connect with her online, Facebook and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

Ashley is giving away a $50 giftcard choice of Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Paypal (international). My readers can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I recieved a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 4, 2015

Jesusita by Ronald Ruiz

Jesusita is the story of immigrants—legal and illegal—trying to survive in California in the years after World War II.

About Jesusita

Jesusita, alone and impoverished, struggles to keep her four young children together. Though she finds support from Padre Montes at St. Teresa’s Catholic Church, her faith won’t solve her problems, especially those with her daughter, Paulina. Far from home, Filipino laborers are denied by law any contact with white women. Angie, the young daughter of an illiterate and unmarried mother, knows only one way to make money. And Felix, abandoned by his mother and separated from his only brother, is placed in a foster home on an isolated ranch. The interrelated lives of these people provide a complex, sometimes violent, and often tragic image of American poverty within the nation’s postwar boom.

My Thoughts

Jesusita, tells the story of one woman who has struggled to earn a living in a country that is not accepting of her culture and a society that would do anything to keep their existence hidden.

Jesusita is the main character in this novel and the other characters seem to move around her and as we get to the later half of the book we understand the importance of finding out about the lives of Angie and Felix. It is from her the story flows and that we learn about the others tied in to her story and her struggles. She suffers to keep a roof over her children’s heads and food in their stomachs. This is a pain that I can not even begin to imagine experiencing as a Mother. The emotional and physical strain takes a toll on her and we can witness this through the relationships between herself and her children.

It is God that helps her through her darkest moments but also that helps her hide her frustrations and angers instead of dealing with them. She hides behind the perfect image she portrays to her religious family, while her home life falls apart.

Jesusita was a fascinating novel, that at times was hard to follow but near the end of the novel the story comes together full circle. It is complex, intricate but fascinating at the same time. A very good read!

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

After reading Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment at the age of 17, I knew I wanted to be a writer. But I knew nothing about the craft. My first novel, Happy Birthday Jesús, was published 36 years later. Surprisingly, it received good reviews

For many years, I was a criminal defense attorney and at the end of my career a prosecutor, but I always managed to find time to write. What I saw and experienced during those years often serves as a basis for my writing. For me, learning how to write has been a long, continuous and, at times, torturous process.

Now retired, I try to write every day and I feel fortunate that I have found something in writing that sustains me. I’m glad I persevered during all those years of rejection. More than anything, writing about what I see and experience in life has given me a sense of worth.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 3, 2015

SuperKind: Help Spread RAOK Around the World

How many of you have been personally touched by a RAOK? Maybe someone paid for your coffee on a day you were running late, held a door open for you instead of rushing off and slamming it in your face or maybe a neighbour cleaned up your leaves as a surprise. Every little act of kindness goes a long way to help make our world a better place! SuperKind wants to help you, help your child learn these valuable lessons.

So what exactly is SuperKind?

SuperKind is a personalized product aimed at spreading RAOK around the world while building a team of RAOK superheroes! Each SuperKind kit contains sixteen custom kindness cards, sixteen custom stickers and a certificate to stick the stickers to.

The cards are double-sided and about the size of a business card (2″x3.5″). On one side of the card is a picture of your child performing a RAOK. The idea is for your child to perform the act of kindness and then pass the card on encouraging the next person to perform an act of kindness in the next seventy-two hours.

SuperKind wants all children to be able to participate in this campaign, so right now you can receive a free digital version of this campaign just by sharing the Kickstarter page. A win-win for all children (and their parents too!).

You can also enter to win a $500 Cash giveaway on the SuperKind website right now! Make sure to head over there now to enter and find out more about this awesome project from SuperKind.