cvegnad, Author at Working Mommy Journal

June 22, 2021

Grace in Hollywood Book Review

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale.

About Grace in Hollywood

All that glitters… is sometimes blood. With her golden ticket buried in the ground, can she save a wrongly accused teen from the gallows?

Hollywood, 1924. Promoted to lead costume designer of a star-studded film, Grace Michelle should be on top of the world. But between her husband’s debt, her sister’s recent death, and the troubled teenaged girl she’s fostering, she’s struggling to please everyone and still keep a smile on her face. And when a Tinseltown shindig turns deadly, Grace is horrified to discover her young charge unconscious alongside the director’s grisly corpse.

Determined to prove the girl’s innocence, Grace’s own haunted past fills her sleep with prophetic nightmares. And no sooner has she sought clarity from a medium than a second body lands the scared teenager in the slammer.

Can Grace turn the camera on the real culprit before another victim ends up on the cutting room floor?

Grace in Hollywood is the second book in the riveting A Grace Michelle Mystery historical series. If you like fiercely loyal heroines, thrilling whodunits, and the magic of old cinema, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s enthralling tale.

My Thoughts

The glamour of Hollywood mixed in with the quiet, country life of a kind, brave woman who fosters troubled youth and you have quite the plot on your hands!

Grace is a lead costume designer for top Hollywood productions but she is a laid back, quiet woman who is not drawn into the glitz and glamour. Some of this is from being tied to her own tragic past and the nightmares that still haunt her to this date. She reluctantly agrees to host a party at her home (how can she protect the young lives she has been entrusted with and keep them away from the glitz and pain that is Hollywood) and the plot quickly escalates from here. One of the guests (also a major director who has made many enemies in his life) is found dead and the teen she is fostering is found unconscious beside him. It is a race against time as Grace must find the real killer before the young girl’s whole life is ruined.

This was an excellent, well written novel that kept you on the edge of your seat. While it was a second book in the series, it can be read on its own. Kari gives enough information about the characters that you do not feel lost in the story but also that it doesn’t take over the plot. I loved that our main character is the fierce, loyal and determined heroine that loves her foster children with her whole heart. The plot is a bit slower in the beginning but it lays the groundwork for the twists to come and I loved every moment (I couldn’t put this novel down and read it in one sitting!). This novel makes for a great summer time read sitting on the porch with a glass of wine and watching the kids play – it does not disappoint!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels.

An award-winning author, Bovée was honored with the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for Southwestern Fiction for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and won First in Category in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings won First in Category for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards. Peccadillo at the Palace won Grand Prize in the 2019 Goethe Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.

Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant.

You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

You can enter the giveaway here.

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

June 22, 2021

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant Review

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate!

About The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate! Toast, Scone, and Milk think he’s being mean, but Croissant thinks they’re being mean to him. A sip of Milk and ten deep breaths help everyone calm down and talk to each other.

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant is a children’s picture book with fun and colorful hand-drawn illustrations that teach a lesson about misunderstandings any child can grasp. Croissant learns how to let anger pass, and that yelling hurts others’ feelings. It’s a simple story for parents to introduce ideas of managing feelings to children, illustrated by Korey Scott.

The book also features a delicious croissant recipe that parents can make with their children, and full-page coloring activities featuring the characters in the book (kindle and e-reader compatible too!).

Our Thoughts

This was a cute, funny way to get your children talking about their feelings – especially those big feelings around unfairness, grumpiness, feeling left out and how to deal with them.

In this book, Croissant is grumpy because Toast and Scone are taking up all of the room on the plate and he feels that they are being mean to him. But Toast and Scone feel that Croissant is being mean for no reason at all (I think we can all relate to these feelings!). Milk steps in and is able to calm the grumpy Croissant down by taking a deep breath and counting to ten. Suddenly, everyone is calmer and able to talk to each other with kindness and respect.

This is a cute book to get the conversation moving with your child about those tough feelings and how we can work together to calm those feelings. We all can feel intense emotions, and children are the same. They sometimes lack the words to express those feelings and can yell, throw and hit. It is important to teach them to how to notice those emotions that are building up, why they are and how to pause, take a deep breath and calm themselves back down again. The bonus? This book comes with a fun recipe and colouring activities to reinforce the lessons that they are learning. A win-win for parents and caregivers!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and B&N.

About the Author

Mona K is a statistician by training and loves to weave stories with numbers in her day job as a health services researcher. She is also a children’s book author who believes that picture books are a source of both wisdom and silliness. Mona loves to bake in her free time, and her love for croissants and meditation inspired her to write this debut children’s picture book. She lives in New Jersey with her seven-year-old son and husband.

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

June 22, 2021

James Dreadful and the Spell-Guardian (The Dreadful Series Book 1)

Can James survive a dangerous, mystical land haunted by his father’s blood-stained deeds? Or will he choose the path of the Dark Lord and meet the same abysmal end?

About James Dreadful and the Spell-Guardian (The Dreadful Series Book 1)

Fourteen-year-old James Dreadful is living a normal life in a small Colorado town. But his past is anything but normal. Born in Nobrocoso—a mystical land of magic and myths—James was brought to earth at the age of three to escape sorcerous assassins after the death of his parents.

When a powerful and evil goblin arrives years later to steal a secret book that once belonged to his father, James discovers his father’s true identity—Jack Dreadful was the Dark Lord who waged a terrible war in Nobrocoso.

Now, dark forces are stirring, and James must return to Nobrocoso to confront the legacy of blood left by his father. But as James learns his father’s secrets, he fears saving himself might just cost him his soul.

Can James survive a dangerous, mystical land haunted by his father’s blood-stained deeds? Or will he choose the path of the Dark Lord and meet the same abysmal end?

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Alan Creed fell in love with storytelling after seeing Star Wars for the first time as a child. When he was ten years old, his tutor asked him to write sentences containing three words: Ocean, Desert and Jungle. Instead of sentences, Alan wrote a 103-page story entitled Journey through the Desert. That’s when he knew he wanted to be a writer. His 103-page story served as the source material for the Dreadful Series. Alan is currently working on the next installment in the James Dreadful series. You can connect with him on his website.

Book Trailer

The Giveaway!

Enter to win here.

Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this post, all opinions expressed are my own.

June 21, 2021

Maxed Out Book Review

The Owl’s Nest Couturier Shoppe is a huge success! Business is booming and Alexa Owl’s love life is heating up. Yet much to the seamstress’s dismay, Detective Bobby Starr is suddenly back again!

About Maxed Out

The Owl’s Nest Couturier Shoppe is a huge success! Business is booming and Alexa Owl’s love life is heating up. Yet much to the seamstress’s dismay, Detective Bobby Starr is suddenly back again! Bobby isn’t your everyday gumshoe. Rather, he’s an angel who’s trying to earn a place in Saint Peter’s Guardian Angel Squad. He’s required to solve murders he had left unsettled from when he walked the earth in order to be accepted into this prestigious group. Of course, they will need to return to the time period in which the murder took place, and again, Alexa is a reluctant time traveler. Oh, and there’s one more little problem—this time, Bobby’s brought along a friend, Maxi Krogen, and she’s no angel!

My Thoughts

Alexa is back with her problem solving detective cap on, working alongside Detective Bobby Starr on a new case with a brand new twist and quite the layered plot.

Maxi was found guilty of murdering her husband and lived out the rest of her years in prison. She maintained her innocence right up until her death and continues to do so when she meets Alexa and Bobby. She is not your typical spirit and is quite angry, mischievous and at times downright rude (Alexa has the patience of a saint in this book!). You would think that she would really want to clear her name but she is the most uncooperative individual that I have seen! She is definitely her own worst enemy and does not make life easy for Alexa and Bobby.

What Alexa was not quite expecting (and neither was I) was the complicated plot that begins to develop around the death of Maxi’s husband and how it is tied to the disappearance of another man and the takeover of a favourite restaurant (and how this is tied to the future!). What seemed like a rather simple case, had quite the side plots which were slowly uncovered and kept you on the edge of your seat and guessing right up until the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this laugh out loud novel that was full of surprises, humour and a great mystery. You never quite knew what to expect next from Maxi, Bobby and Alexa. It is a definite must read novel for the summer.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and B&N.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries has nine books.

Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh. The Owl’s Next Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy!

Cindy resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister.

You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

Enter the giveaway here.

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

June 16, 2021

Counting Campers: One, Two, Three..Help the Campers Get Their S’mores!

Reinforce important math skills with this fun new game from Goliath which has kids adding and subtracting on their mission to get the s’mores.

About Counting Campers

Counting Campers is a fun counting game for your little camper. Players move their pawn forward or backward on the board along their individual hiking trail by drawing a ‘plus’ or ‘minus’ card, thus allowing little ones to practice counting and to develop fine motor skills. Follow the path through the muddy swamp, across the fishing pond, over the old bridge, and more, to get back to the campsite. The first camper back to camp wins the game!

Each game includes:

folding board game
four coloured camper pawns
playing cards
instructions

Our Thoughts

We fell in love with this adorable, bright and fun game that all members of our family enjoyed, regardless of their age. Each player takes a turn choosing a card and they will have to move their player forward or backwards on their colour markers depending on the card drawn. To add a little bit of variety, there are also “happy” and “sad” camper cards that cause you to lose a turn or take an extra turn.

As a parent, I loved how this game encouraged simple addition and subtraction for little ones, they weren’t simply sliding down a ladder, they had to think about how many spots forwards or backwards they had to move. I actually liked the fact that there were no dice, instead just the cards to help guide the movement across the board.

While this game is perfect for ages 4 to 9, we all had fun playing this game (right up to the adults). It was competitive but fun game to play all together (although you have to watch the moves of the little ones trying to steal extra spots!). The board, card and pieces are durable, which is a bonus with younger children that can be rough on their items. Counting Campers will make a great addition to family game night for the whole family.

You can purchase this game at Walmart and Amazon.

Make sure to follow Goliath on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the newest games and products.

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