Category: reviews

The Here and Now #review

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares is the romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world if she can let go of the one thing that she has found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

These are the three biggest rules that seventeen year old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve must remember. The only thing is that Prenna did not immigrate from a different country. She came from a different time – a future where a mosquito borne illness has mutated into a pandemic killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who have escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules to never reveal where they are from, never interfere with history and never be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she is told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

Where to start with this novel – I loved every moment! Ann Brashares has the most incredible way of writing that has you wanting more (to be honest when the novel was finished I was hoping for a teaser to a second part!). I love stories set in the future and the way they had traveled back in time was brilliant. The romance that blooms between her and Ethan is forbidden but could not be helped. I know that this will be a hit for many young readers!

Rating: 5/5

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book but was not obligated to write a post. I wanted to share this awesome book with you!

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Little Champion Reader 3-Level Reading Kit

Reading is one of the most important skills we can teach our children and also one of the hardest. We want to ensure they are challenged but that they are still having fun so that they do not become discouraged. There is nothing worse then a discouraged child when it comes to reading. You want them to know that reading is  important but also fun too!

The Little Champion Reader 3-Level reading kit has everything that you could possibly need to ensure a successful introduction into reading. The reading kit combines phonics, sight word memorization and whole language to help young readers get off to a great start. If you have looked into each technique they each have a wealth of advantages as well as disadvantages. The perfect part about this kit is that each one overlaps to ensure your child has the best opportunity to learn.

The kit comes in it’s own box that is easy to carry which is perfect because our eldest son wanted to help out his little brother (and siblings can be the best teachers!). It also keeps everything together so that nothing becomes lost or broken – and as a Mom to two boys this happens more often then not! The kit comes with three DVDs designed to introduce the learning session to your child at the beginning. The DVDs set up for your child what they will be learning without the pressure of being given a list of words to learn.

You then follow up those lessons from the DVD using a combination of phonics books and sight word cards. We love the books! They have beautiful, large and bright photos with an interesting story line. This is actually what sparked our eldest son’s interest to help his brother. The stories were just so funny and cute that he could not resist helping read them aloud!

If you are familiar with sight word cards (or even made your own like me) you know how easily they can be lost, ripped or ruined. These sight words cards are made from a thick material that will not easily rip and are thick and stable for little hands. I also love that they include a slide out picture to help children if they become stuck on a word.

The Little Champion Reader 3-Level reading kit is the perfect resource material to have in your home as your child begins their reading journey. It is easy to use, full of a variety of activities and extensive background research that went into the developing stage combine to bring you one of the best reading kits out there. It is also a PTPA award winner and definitely well deserved.

What did you use to help your child on their reading journey?

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Brewing Coffee Perfection One Cup at a Time #Tassimo

I love my coffee. I can’t start my day without a good cup of coffee – it relaxes me, focuses me and is just plain delicious!

I was recently gifted with my own Tassimo machine – I can’t even begin to explain how much this gift meant to me! It has been on my wish list for ages but my husband (who doesn’t love his coffee as much as I do kept pushing it off!). I fell in love with this beauty at first sight.

Tassimo has a sleek modern design with neutral colours that easily fit into our kitchen decor. Despite it’s sleek design it can still hold enough water to make several cups of coffee (it has a 1.8L tank with a Mavea water filtration system to prevent limescale build up). Set up was pretty simple which included several rinses using the cleaning t-disc which has its own barcode before being able to use the machine. The machine weighs 3.6kg and is easy to move around if required.

The machine uses a barcode to brew the perfect cup of coffee. It tells the machine how much water to use to ensure the perfect blend. You can also adjust the size of the cup holder if you are making a smaller cup of coffee or the ability to remove it if you are making a large cup of coffee. You also have the ability to choose to add more or less water during the brew cycle by pressing the centre button. Total brew cycle is probably around one minute and the drink comes out hot and perfect.

Tassimo carries several popular brands such as Gevalia, Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Nabob, Twinnings, Maxwell House, Tetley and quite a few more. You can find their full list here.  They even carry recipes on their website that you can use to create different types of beverages using your regular brand of coffee. You can find their recipes here.

Tassimo definitely makes a superior cup of coffee. I look forward to my cup of coffee through out the day – the taste is superior to any type of coffee maker I have used in the past. The taste of each cup is perfect each time, always hot and the perfect taste right down to the last drop (no coffee grinds in there ever!).

The Tassimo brewer is a definite must have in every house hold – you will not regret this purchase!

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Spider Man: Character Encyclopedia #DKCanada #MayBoutique

Our youngest son is a HUGE Spider Man fan! He loves his super heroes but there is something special about Spidey that he just loves.

Spider Man is one of the most famous super heroes and is part of the Movie Maniacs May Boutique at DKCanada. DKCanada also has up to 30% off at their Movie Maniacs May Boutique this month so if you haven’t taken advantage of this you really should!

The Spider Man Character Encyclopedia takes a closer in depth look at the famous Spider Man. The Encyclopedia contains more than 200 of Spider Man’s friends and foes as well as tons of facts on the famous Spider himself. Each profile is full facts, statistics and original comic book art!

Our son loved his character encyclopedia. He learned about the different versions of Spider Man and all his friends. Some of them were new to me but most of them I knew (which they were proud of). The comic art was incredible – I felt like I was going back in time looking at the art. He fell in love with the whole book and we are still slowly working our way through the book at bed time with him.

Disclosure: I received the above featured book free of charge in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Marvel Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide #MayBoutique #DKCanada

DKCanada is celebrating Movie Maniacs in the May Boutique with a fantastic line up of guides and books that will suit all ages.

I was able to surprise my kids with the Marvel Avengers: Ultimate Character Guide last week and they were over the moon!

The Ultimate Character Guide comes in a hardcover format and contains all the Avengers from super heroes to super villains. The guide takes you in alphabetical order and gives you details about their powers, weaknesses, enemies and origins.

We loved how the Guide encompassed many years of Avenger history – there are characters that we had no idea who they even were prior to reading this book together! There are plenty of bright, colourful pictures to keep our youngest entertained as we read through the book. Our eldest loved how each character was broken down and all the special information on each character that was given. The book comes in a hardcover which I love as my youngest tends to rip the covers of his superhero books (not on purpose but when he brings them to bed with him soft cover books covers rip easily).

You can now purchase a copy at the May Boutique Movie Maniacs at 30% off!


Disclosure: I received the above mentioned book at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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