Category: giveaway

October 27, 2016

Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree Giveaway

The Equestria Girls are back in an all new DVD set to release November 1st, 2016. This time they are setting up camp in Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree.

About Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree

Fresh air – check. Starlit nights – check. Scary stories – freaky deaky! The Equestria Girls are leaving the halls of Canterlot High School for a field trip to Camp Everfree. However, they get more than canoeing and camp fires when magic begins to wreak havoc on the camp. They’re surprised to find a magical force is causing strange things to happen, and the girls seem to be developing new powers. The Equestria Girls will have to work together to control the magic or it will destroy their beloved camp!

Bonus Features Include:

bloopers
sing along
audio commentary
Camp Everfree patch

The movie can be purchased online through Shout Factory (which comes with its own awesome poster) or at Walmart (the DVD comes with a gorgeous pair of Twilight Sparkle barrettes!).

Our Thoughts

We couldn’t wait to have our niece over to pop in this DVD, especially me. Living in a home with three boys can be tough sometimes. The movie selections are always all about superheroes, fighting and action. Sometimes a girl just wants to enjoy a cute, funny movie with another girl!

We all fell in love with this DVD from the Equestria Girls. It was funny, sweet and full of lessons that our niece and even our own boys were able to appreciate without them realizing how much they were learning. It is so important for children to learn about the strength of friendships and working together and this is what the Equestria Girls stand for.

This DVD had great graphics, as well as a fantastic and engaging plot line. You were never left bored or uninterested. This DVD would make an excellent addition to family movie night as well as an even better stocking stuffer for this holiday season. You can also download these two colouring and activity pages for your child that will go along perfectly with the movie.

Trailer

The Giveaway

My Canadian and American readers can now enter to win one of three copies of Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree on DVD. Good luck!

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

October 24, 2016

How to Raise a Smart Ass

How to Raise a Smart Ass is a funny, witty, rollicking ride through the joys of early parenthood.

About How to Raise a Smart Ass

How to Raise a Smart Ass is a funny, witty, rollicking ride through the joys of early parenthood. The so-titled “Best Butt Wiper in the World” delights audiences by recounting tales of ninja nurses, naughty knights, and super-duper poopers. Whether you’re a proud parent or you aspire to populate the world with tiny terrors of your own someday, this book will have you laughing out loud, or at a minimum buying lots of sanitizer. Kids are messy.

My Thoughts

When I first picked up this book, my first thoughts were that it would be a parenting book based on raising confident, funny and intelligent young children. I was so surprised and happy that it was not! Instead what I found was a hilarious and very real journey through parenthood. The ups, the downs and the hilarious moments in between. Children just truly have an amazing way of saying anything they want in the most innocent way, that leaves you sitting there looking at them and wondering “really, really?!”.

How to Raise A Smart Ass is an honest and loving look at parenthood. She writes with open honesty and you feel like you are having a conversation about being a Mom with your best friend over coffee. She covers every stage of her journey and many of them we can relate to. I literally as laughing out loud at so many times throughout the book. Her girls are amazing young children and will do great things. I hope they keep their confidence and humour through every stage of their life, as you can see they have a true love for life and others. We are aware that Lucia is pregnant with baby number three, a boy, and it would be amazing to see the second part of this journey. How is raising a boy different? How do the girls react to their baby brother? I wish her all the best of luck on her third adventure through parenthood (and boy are you brave – I was nervous with just two!!!).

A well written, honest and hilarious look at the joys of parenting kids who are confident, honest and full of live and love. I loved every moment of this book.

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

Rating: 4.5/5

About the Author

Lucia Walinchus is an award-winning journalist, author and ice hockey addict. She has written more than 500 articles for various publications throughout her career and was recently named to the 2016 Fulbright Berlin Capital Program. She has been featured as a guest speaker on CNN and is a contracted freelancer for the New York Times. Walinchus currently lives in Oklahoma because she enjoys wide, flat golf courses that make her think she isn’t actually that bad.

Upcoming event: Lucia Walinchus will be a the Enid, Oklahoma Public Library at 11AM on Saturday, November 12th.

You can connect with her on her website and Twitter.

The Giveaway!

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

October 12, 2016

Blinky Bill: The Movie DVD Giveaway

Get ready to venture across the exotic Australian outback with the world-famous Australian koala Blinky Bill when the highly anticipated animated feature BLINKY BILL: THE MOVIE arrives on Blu-ray™ , DVD, iTunes, and VOD on October 11, 2016 from Shout! Factory Kids.

About Blinky Bill: The Movie

Blinky Bill (voiced by Ryan Kwanten) is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of leaving the little town of Green Patch and following in his missing father’s footsteps. Mr. Bill went missing in the Outback some time ago and Blinky is the only one who believes his father is still alive. When Blinky discovers a mysterious marker that hints at his dad’s whereabouts, he embarks on a journey that takes him beyond the boundary of Green Patch and into the wild and dangerous Outback. He quickly makes friends with Nutsy, a zoo koala, and Jacko, a nervous frill-necked lizard. Pursued relentlessly by a vengeful cat (voiced by Rufus Sewell) who has a personal score to settle with Blinky, the trio must learn to work together if they ever want to survive the rugged Australian landscape and find Blinky’s father!

Blinky Bill is one of Australia’s most recognized characters and a bona fide icon. The lovable antics of the mischievous koala have captured the hearts of millions since the release of The Adventures of Blinky Bill book series in 1933. In 1992, the first feature film Blinky Bill, The Mischievous Koala was released in major territories. This was followed by several successful TV series and movies which continue to air around the world today.

Bonus Content:

music video
The plot
The Characters
The Evolution
The Voice Actors
What’s Your Favourite Aussie Animal?
What’s Your Favourite Aussie Food?

Our Thoughts

Blinky Bill is an absolutely adorable must see movie! We were giggling at his antics (he tries so hard to be just like his Dad!) and his adventures. He is adventurous, loving, caring and kind koala bear who wants to be an adventurer. When he decides to go out into the world to find his Father, he meets a fantastic new friend, a relentless foe and a world he could never have imagined. His first encounter of the human world is interesting – I felt sad for the way we have taken over their environment and made it so difficult for them but at the same time they added in some humour as Blinky Bill tries jelly beans and other sweets for the first time!

Nutsy adds in a whole new level of humour to the movie – she just wants to get back to her zoo, maybe have a spa day. She is just too precious in this movie but I love watching her change and grow as a koala as she travels with Blinky Bill.

Blinky Bill: The Movie is an exciting, humourous family fun movie that everyone in the house will love. It had us giggling and wondering what Blinky Bill and his friends would get up to next.

Make sure you print out this colouring page, connect the dots and activity page all on Blinky Bill.

Trailer

The Giveaway!

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

October 10, 2016

Michelangelo’s Ghost

In Michelangelo’s Ghost, a lost work of art linking India to the Italian Renaissance. A killer hiding behind a centuries-old ghost story. And a hidden treasure in Italy’s macabre sculpture garden known as the Park of Monsters… Can treasure-hunting historian Jaya Jones unmask a killer ghost?

About Michelangelo’s Ghost

Filled with the unexpected twists, vivid historical details, and cross-cultural connections Pandian is known for, Michelangelo’s Ghost is the most fast-paced and spellbinding Jaya Jones novel to date.

When Jaya’s old professor dies under eerie circumstances shortly after discovering manuscripts that point to a treasure in Italy’s Park of Monsters, Jaya and her brother pick up the trail. From San Francisco to the heart of Italy, Jaya is haunted by a ghost story inexorably linked to the masterpieces of a long-dead artist and the deeds of a modern-day murderer. Untrustworthy colleagues, disappearing boyfriends, and old enemies—who can Jaya trust when the ghost wails?

My Thoughts

An exciting, adventure and educational full novel that demands your attention and leaves you never wanting to put it down.

I love history, I took the majority of my university electives in anthropology and history while studying for my Bachelor’s degree. I loved learning about people that lived hundreds of years ago, their culture and their beliefs. This story is based on one of the greatest artists in history – Michelangelo. In this novel, we find missing art, unfinished manuscripts, deception and a murder.

Jaya, a strong, intelligent young woman who I admired throughout the novel, heads to Italy with her brother and his new girlfriend to follow the missing trail of art. This is when the story gets very interesting! We find a town wrapped up in superstition (not uncommon for these parts), secrets, lies and a garden full of mystery. Every layer of this novel is intricately woven and revealed to us slowly. The path the novel follows is not one I had expected! I definitely was not expecting the ending that happened but it was perfect and fit the book excellently.

Michelangelo’s Ghost is a well written novel that draws you in chapter by chapter, as you follow Jaya as she seeks to help discover a possible lost art treasure and hiding spot of the great artist. It is full of mystery, suspense and leaves you on the edge of your seat to the last minute. You will not regret one minute of this novel!

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

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India. She spent her childhood being dragged around the world, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gigi writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, the Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories. Gigi’s debut novel, Artifact, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” debut by Suspense Magazine. Her fiction has been awarded the Lefty Award and short-listed for Macavity and Agatha Awards. Sign up for her email newsletter at www.gigipandian.com/newsletter.

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

The Giveaway!

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

October 10, 2016

Killer In the Band Spotlight

It’s the summer of love and murder in Killer In the Band.

About Killer In the Band

Joshua’s eldest son, Joshua “J.J.” Thornton Jr., has graduated at the top of his class from law school and returns home to spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to Joshua’s and Cameron’s shock and dismay, J.J. moves into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm, the largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, to rekindle a romance with Suellen Russell, a onetime leader of a rock group who’s twice his age. Quickly, they learn that she has been keeping a deep dark secret.

The move brings long-buried tensions between the father and son to the surface. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in Crime must set all differences aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the cross hairs of a murderer.

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

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Book Trailer!

The Giveaway!

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