Family, Reviews, Healthy Living, Photography and More!
September 9, 2016
Ladybug and Cat Noir are back in their latest adventures! Your child can join in on the fun with these cool printouts from Shout! Kids. Don’t forget to enter our current giveaway here to win a DVD of Spots On!
Click here to download the here.
To download a Cat Noir mask, click here!
Enjoy!
September 9, 2016
In God Bless Us Everyone, Charlene Dixon—called Charlie by family and friends—is devastated at the recent loss of her job.
About God Bless Us Everyone
For the last five years, the twenty-seven-year-old has blossomed as the activities director of an exclusive all-girls school. But when a misunderstanding with the headmistress leads to a pink slip right before the holidays, Charlie packs up her dreams and returns to her grandmother, Sis, who raised Charlie as her own in the mountains of North Carolina.
When Charlie arrives–broken and confused–Sis immediately puts her granddaughter to work behind the scenes of the local school’s Christmas play, A Christmas Carol. Charlie prickles at working with Dustin Kennedy, the drama teacher and her old crush from schooldays, but is even more put out at that the choice of the Dickens’ classic for the holiday performance. When she discovers her estranged father’s involvement her world turns on its head once more. But when Sis and Dustin encourage her to take a deeper look at the story behind A Christmas Carol, Charlie learns about trust, faith, and forgiveness and the needs of people in their own community.
My Thoughts
A sweet Christmas tale about trust and forgiveness, God Bless Us Everyone will have you smiling and leave you with a warm tug on your heart. Our story starts off with Charlie losing her dream job all over a clash of personalities over modern versus the classics. She is forced to return to her hometown to her Grandmother. When her Grandmother finds out the whole truth of her situation, she puts her to work on the school play to keep her busy.
And this is when the story really gets interesting! When Dustin enters the picture, we learn more about Charlie’s past; the pain and hurt she went through in her childhood and how she ended up living with her Grandmother. Your heart just goes out to her, you understand exactly why she struggles so much with trust and forgiveness. Throughout the chapters you really watch her struggle with herself and her beliefs. She wants to forgive and trust but finds it so difficult – which is something many of us can relate to after we have been hurt.
As the story evolves, we watch Charlie develop as a woman and a daughter. We watch her struggle, feel her pain and hope for her. God Bless Us Everyone is a truly sweet tale that will put you in the spirit of forgiveness and trust, especially right in time for Christmas!
You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 4/5
About the Author
Eva Marie Everson is an award-winning speaker and author of The Road to Testament, Things Left Unspoken, This Fine Life, Chasing Sunsets, Waiting for Sunrise, Slow Moon Rising, and The Potluck Club series (with Linda Evans Shepherd). She is the president of Word Weavers International, Inc., a member of AWSA, ACFW, RWA, the director of Florida Christian Writer’s Conference, and the contest director for Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference. She and her husband make their home in Casselberry, Florida.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of the book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 6, 2016
Had Bossy Flossy finally met her match?
About Bossy Flossy
Flossy is the bossiest girl around. She’s bossy at home and she’s bossy in school. She’s bossy to her friends and she’s bossy to her cat. Sometimes she’s even bossy to her teacher! Flossy doesn’t understand why no one will listen to her. One day, Flossy meets Edward, a boy who may be just as bossy as she is. Has Flossy finally met her match?
My Thoughts
It is hard not to be bossy as a child, sometimes they can’t control their own emotions or even making up with their own perceived disadvantages of being smaller by being bossy. I know my youngest can sometimes be quite bossy but he doesn’t always mean it. When children first meet someone with the same personality they can get quite a shock. Are they really that mean and pushy?? (I know adults can have quite a shock to when they meet their match!). But in some ways this is a good thing, they can learn from these encounters. Children can learn how not to behave and how words can hurt. This is the perfect book for toddlers and young children alike who are entering school or daycare. They can learn so much about behaviour, words and actions and how they can hurt others. It opens up so much discussion between parent and child.
Bossy Flossy is well written, age appropriate language and sentences. The illustrations are bright, bold and perfect for young children. We fell in love with the title of this book and made it into a catchy tune when someone in the house was being too bossy (‘who is a bossy flossy, bossy flossy!’!). A well written, fun book for children that will be perfect to add to your child’s library!
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters and Indigo.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Paulette Bogan admits she was bossy as a child. She is the author and illustrator ofVirgil & Owen, which was chosen as one of Bank Street Best Children’s books of the Year 2016, Virgil & Owen Stick Together, which won a Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal for Picture Books, and Lulu The Big Little Chick, which won a Children’s Choice Book Award. She lives in New York City with her husband, three daughters, and two dogs. They ALL think she is STILL bossy. But they’ve never told her to go to her room! You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 6, 2016
In House of Eire, Hillary Broome, a reporter-turned-ghostwriter from Lodi, California, and her detective husband Ed fly to Ireland for research and a conference.
About House of Eire
Hillary Broome, a reporter-turned-ghostwriter from Lodi, California, and her detective husband Ed fly to Ireland – Ed for a gang conference in Dublin and Hillary to research her ancestors in Galway. Hillary plans to meet up with her friend Bridget, who’s pushing a greedy developer to include a memorial museum inside his proposed Irish theme park. As Hillary travels through Ireland and learns more about her friend’s crusade, she uncovers secrets and mysterious forces nudging her to fly away home.
My Thoughts
A wonderful thrilling adventure full of suspense, mystery and history. This book is set in Ireland and we learn so much about their history, their people and their struggle. I found myself at several times, stopping where I was so I could look up an event or place to learn more about it. It left me in tears at times with the suffering the people went through.
The plot line falls in perfectly with the history of Ireland. Hilary is going back to her home country to learn her past and visit her friend who has been researching and leading a fight to stop a developer from building a theme park without truly representing the suffering of the Irish people. This quickly turns deadly when individuals are murdered, leaving Hilary scared not only for herself but for her family.
The plot quickly speeds up and you literally can not put the book down as it is that exciting! The murder, suspense and never truly knowing what was going to happen next was thrilling. House of Eire is well written, laid out, with amazing characters and an even better plot. You will easily fall in love with this story!
You can purchase a copy of House of Eire on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
June Gillam teaches literature and writing at a Northern California Community College. She describes this series as psychological suspense novels in which Hillary Broome, reporter and ghostwriter, fends off complex villains of many kinds: a berserk butcher, a demented daughter and a haunted theme park developer. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
