March 10, 2017
Home at Last Book Review
Why did their differences matter so much?
About Home at Last
Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.
All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite-well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?
Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?
My Thoughts
Home at Last is by far my favourite book in this series following the Whitman family. We have Link, who loves his family (and their meddling ways) but who has yet to meet someone who can truly make his heart beat. Then we have Shayla, who has had a difficult life to say the least, with her Mother passing and having to raise her brother’s daughter. She has also had to deal with racism as some people couldn’t accept her mixed heritage.
A chance encounter changes everything for the two of them. They slowly begin to develop feelings for each other. While Link adores her, Shayla worries about how others will view and accept their relationship. Her past experiences have shown her that many people wont accept this relationship and as their relationship develops we see this happening again. All they want is to be together and be accepted but there are people in society that wont let this happen.
This book makes you sad, angry and hopeful all at the same time. You want them to find happiness but are worried for them with the ugly parts of society that don’t want this to happen. This is a truly beautiful and honest book that I fell in love with. The ending was perfect for the story and leaves you with hope. I would love to see a part two of their story.
You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of this book here.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Deborah Raney’s novels have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers’ Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken Raney have traded small-town life in Kansas-the setting of many of Deb’s novels-for life in the city of Wichita.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 9, 2017
Bop to the Music with VTech Rock and Bop Music Player
Music is a great way to help children learn, have fun and get active. We have always used music with our children since they were babies to soothe, to have fun and to learn. As they get older and more independent, they want to be just like us adults too. They want their own iPods or MP3 player to listen to music and they won’t hesitate to take yours. While I want my kids to enjoy music, I also know how easily these products can be damaged.
And that is where the VTech Rock and Bop Music Player comes in!
The VTech Rock and Bop music player is a toy that uses ten musical games to educate your child with kid friendly music. The music introduces them to letters, numbers, animals, instruments, time and more. Your child can play the music in different styles, have animals sing songs and can choose different instruments to play around with the melody of a song. This adorable music player even comes with its own set of headphones that allows your child to listen to their music independently without hurting their sensitive ears.
Size and design wise this music player reminds me of a Walkman and you should have seen the look on my kids face when I said that, ‘a walk what?!’. It has the same larger, sturdy build that you know will last. The music player is slightly bigger then an iPhone but will easily fit into your child’s hand. It is light weight and user friendly. Each button has an easy to recognize picture for both parents and children – numbers, animals and instruments.
The music is a delight to listen to, it was upbeat and fun all while teaching important educational lessons for children like numbers and letters.
The VTech Rock and Bop Music player can be purchased at Toys R Us, Amazon and Walmart. The music player retails for $19.99 CDN, making it an affordable and fun gift for any child on your gift list.
Make sure to follow VTech on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with new toys and more.
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 8, 2017
#PlayTestShare with Raincoast Books This Spring Break
Raincoast Books is back with an excellent assortment of books to keep your child (and you) busy during the spring break and through the months to come. The #PlayTestShare collection has a great selection of activity books, games and early literacy books, all with the goal of having you and your child reading and having fun together.
Here is the Raincoast Book #PlayTestShare round up:
Old MacDonald Had a Truck Bingo
A classic family-friendly game gets revved up with a winning combination of construction vehicles and farm animals, featuring artwork from the picture book Old MacDonald Had a Truck . This set includes six illustrated, double-sided game boards plus a set of colorful bingo calling cards and chips.
Old MacDonald Had a Truck Bingo is the ultimate Bingo game for family night! The game boards are large, thick (making it hard for little hands to break them) and use pictures under each letter. This is a huge bonus for children that are still learning and want to participate in games. The pictures on the board game are so cute (a pig painter and construction worker) we were so tickled over them. The game comes in its own box that helps to keep everything together, there is nothing worse then losing chips or cards to a game. This Bingo game will definitely be coming out every family game night.
Crystal Menagerie Colouring Book
Welcome to the creative kingdom of artist Michelle Waldie, where beloved animals become magnificent geometric wonders to color. This fresh new coloring book renders foxes, birds, hedgehogs, and more with a prismatic look that makes them as cool to display as they are pleasing to color. With just the right level of detail, these unique designs can easily be completed in one sitting if so desired, but those who want a more involved coloring session can opt for a 3-dimensional look-and make these animals leap off the page. Crystal Menagerie sets the imagination running wild and will bring coloring fans hours of immersive creative relaxation.
I love to colour, it helps to unwind me after a busy day at work, puts me in a great space mentally and helps me to refocus. The Crystal Menagerie Colouring book takes a whole new spin on colouring books with a geometric twist. The book is large, almost letter page sized and each animal image takes up the whole page. Each design is literally turned into a unique design with geometric shapes designed into the animal. They do it in such a unique way that it doesn’t take away from the animal – you can fully see what the image is supposed to be. The designs allow you to go traditional with your colouring or add some pops of colour to be unique – don’t forget to practice your shading! The shapes give you great practice for this. Each page is thick and removable which is a huge bonus if you want to display your art (which is of course you will, you should always show off your work!).
642 Things About Me: Young Writers Edition
A new offering in the wildly popular 642 series, this unique journal encourages young creators to dive deep into the subject they know best-themselves! Packed with quirky, thought-provoking, and imaginative drawing and writing prompts, 642 Things About Me: Young Writer’s & Artist’s Edition is a fun way for kids to document their lives, jump-start their creative talent, and produce a memorable keepsake-or the first draft of their bestselling memoir.
Mighty, Mighty Construction Site
At last-here from the team behind the beloved international bestseller comes a companion to Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site . All of our favorite trucks are back on the construction site-this time with a focus on team-building, friendship, and working together to make a big task seem small! Down in the big construction site, the crew faces their biggest job yet, and will need the help of new construction friends to get it done. Working as a team, there’s nothing they can’t do! The millions of fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site are in for a mighty good time with Mighty, Mighty Construction Site!
Space Playing Cards
Launch into your favorite card games while immersing yourself in deep space! Each playing card features extraordinary NASA photography and two Pantone colors on beautifully designed card backs. Includes a complete 52-card playing deck, plus 2 jokers.
TouchThinkLearn: Fly
A bird arrives, alights on a tree, finds a mate, and builds a nest. Soon its eggs will hatch and one brave hatchling will embark on its first flight. A deceptively simple and joyful celebration of the natural cycle of life, this book adds the bonus of removable-and movable-characters and scenery to the bestselling TouchThinkLearn format, featuring the hallmark production technique of glued-on pieces dovetailing with die-cut openings. In this first narrative title in the series, the movable pieces invite and involve the reader in a meaningful and multisensory participation in the story.
The Towering Tree Puzzle
Join adorable critters as they navigate the seasons and make new friends in their towering tree. Imaginative play and puzzle logic intersect as each interlocking branch of this innovative puzzle tells a new story, providing hours of entertainment. Adventure is just a branch away!
Birds of the World
With their colorful feathers, beautiful songs, power of flight, and dinosaur ancestry, birds are truly astonishing creatures. But did you know that the huge variety of known species includes daring acrobats, inconsiderate noisemakers, ruthless hunters, wonderful swimmers, and blazing runners? Or that the tiniest bird in the world measures just two inches long?
Beautifully illustrated by Olivia Cosneau, Birds of the World introduces aspiring ornithologists to these and other fun facts through a range of coloring activities, removable stickers, and a short quiz. In the process, children learn about the rich variety of birds living in our world, including nightingales, swallows, hummingbirds, pelicans, penguins, parrots, toucans, and flamingos, among others.
The Ultimate Book of Cities
Where does the Express bus take you?
How many swans are in the lake at the park?
What replaces the shoe repair store?
The Ultimate Book of Cities reveals the answers to these questions and much, much more in an oversized fact- and action-packed look at life in the big city! Featuring 59 flaps, pop-ups, pull tabs and movable parts, this all-you-need-to-know guide provides detailed information about what makes a city tick: from the different ways of getting around and what goes on in all the big buildings, to what traffic signs mean and who are all the people who keep the city in tip-top shape! It is a must-have volume to add to a young reader’s library of The Ultimate Book series.
The Giveaway!
My Canadian readers can now enter to win one of the above books from the #PlayTestShare collection. Enter via the rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
Disclosure: I received two of the books mentioned above in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 7, 2017
The Secret Life of Anna Blanc
In The Secret Life of Anna Blanc, it’s 1907 in Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels, but must disguise them behind covers of more domestically-appropriate reading.
About The Secret Life of Anna Blanc
It’s 1907 Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels, but must disguise them behind covers of more domestically-appropriate reading. She could match wits with Sherlock Holmes, but in her world women are not allowed to hunt criminals. Determined to break free of the era’s rigid social roles, Anna buys off the chaperone assigned by her domineering father and, using an alias, takes a job as a police matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. There she discovers a string of brothel murders, which the cops are unwilling to investigate. Seizing her one chance to solve a crime, she takes on the investigation herself. If the police find out, she’ll get fired; if her father finds out, he’ll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he’ll cancel the wedding. Midway into her investigation, the police chief’s son, Joe Singer, learns her true identity, and shortly thereafter she learns about blackmail. Anna must choose – either hunt the villain and risk losing her father, fiancé, and wealth, or abandon her dream and leave the killer on the loose.
My Thoughts
The Secret Life of Anna Blanc is an amazing story from start to finish! I fell in love with the character, she is independent, free spirited and full of life. She is stuck in a world that discourages everything she stands for. But she still finds a way to follow her dreams and the path that is truly meant for (even if she has to lie a little bit to do so!). I admired her courage and even her naivety at times. She makes rash decisions but most of them are made with her heart and will good intentions. She becomes your best friend through the audiobook.
When a series of murders at brothels is swept under the covers by the police department, she takes this as the opportunity she has always wanted – to solve her own mystery. She has so much riding on this – she can prove herself to the world but if caught she will have to face her father, her fiance and even the police department! It seems as if the whole world is against her. But with her optimisim, she sets out to discover the truth.
The Secret Life of Anna Blanc is well written and narrated with plenty of twists and surprises that keep you hanging on to every word. Adventuours, suspenseful and with a perfect main character that makes you just fall in love with her – this is the perfect read for young adults and adults a like.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Audible.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Jennifer has been a block layer, a nurse’s aid, a fragrance model, and on the research faculty at UCLA, where she spent 11 years conducting studies to inform health policy. A native of Southern California, she now lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two teenagers. She’s currently writing book three in the Anna Blanc Mystery series. Book two, THE WOMAN IN THE CAMPHOR TRUNK, is coming out in Fall of 2017 from Seventh Street Books.
About the Narrator
Moira grew up in teeny-tiny Rutland, England’s smallest county, which is fitting as she never managed to make it past five feet herself. Moira’s work spans the pantheon of the voiceover world: plays for BBC radio, plays for NPR, video games, commercials, television promos, podcasts, cartoons, movies and award winning audiobooks. She’s won Multiple Audie Awards, Earphone Awards, as well as Audible’s prestigious Book-of-the-Year Award. She has lately set foot in front of the camera again, appearing in “Pretty: the Series” and the Emmy-winning “Dirty Work.”
Disclosure: I received an audiobook in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 7, 2017
Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden Dragon Giveaway
Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden Dragon, is the first of two Kikoriki movies and is set to release March 7th, 2017 from Shout Factory.
About Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden Dragon
The lovable simple residents of peaceful Kikoriki Island are thrown kicking and screaming into big adventure when their resident scientist invents an amazing device – a helmet called “the Improverizor” – which takes personality traits from one person and swaps them with someone else’s!
But when spineless young Wally tries to use the untested device to cure his cowardice, he ends up even more spineless – by getting accidentally body-switched with a squirmy little caterpillar. Now he’s got more to fear than he ever dreamed, and so do his fellow villagers, as they’re dragged into a madcap adventure packed with plane crashes, mistaken identities, erupting volcanoes and angry natives on the warpath. Boy, do the Kikoriki Сrew wish they could switch places now – with anyone!
My Thoughts
Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden Dragon is an adorable movie with loveable characters, especially Wally. Wally is scared of everything and just wants to be brave and show his friends that he can be just like them. He would do just about anything – even use a device to improve himself! This backfires on him and he turns into a caterpillar and this is when the adventure really begins.
Wally needs to change bodies back otherwise he will be stuck as a caterpillar and eventually a butterfly. He enlists the help of his friends but nothing seems to go right. They are met with danger, angry villagers, tomb raiders and more. Wally is tested to his limits at each obstacle and meets it with grace and courage.
Kikoriki is a beautiful story of having the courage to stand up and believe in yourself no matter your size or how brave you are. We all have courage inside of us, we just need to find it. Wally was just a little caterpillar but he managed to save the day and his friends. The movie reminds us that even though we may wish we were someone else, no one can be a better you. You are special and a gift to this world in your own way.
You will fall in love with the adorable creatures, great graphics and fun music. It was a true delight to watch from start to finish.
Rating: 4.5/5
Trailer
Now my Canadian and American readers can now enter to win their own copy of Kikoriki: Legend of the Golden Dragon. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck!
Disclosure: I received a DVD of this movie in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.