September 28, 2015
Little Robot by Ben Hatke
Little Robot is a heart warming tale of friendship and overcoming fears that will be cherished by all.
About Little Robot
When a young girl finds a little robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend! But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy for evil purposes, and it’s all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!
My Thoughts
I love children’s books. They give me a chance to unwind with my boys, to make-believe and to talk about important subjects in a neutral and easy way.
Ben’s Little Robot is beautifully illustrated with vibrant colours and images. Presented in a comic style, there are no long sentences that children sometimes find hard to follow. Instead we have thought bubbles with a few key words. The illustrations flow together so well that you can easily put together the story as you read it aloud. In fact, after I finished ‘reading’ it to my son, my youngest read it and then our eldest. We each were able to put our own little spin on it and be silly as we read our own version.
Little Robot teaches us about true friendship that goes beyond language and is found in our hearts, through compassion and listening to non verbal cues. Both the young girl and the little robot had a lot to learn about friendships throughout the story.
Little Robot is truly a beautiful illustrated story from start to finish that can be picked up by any age group and will be cherished.
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Chapters.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Ben Hatke is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Zita the Spacegirl graphic novel trilogy and the picture book Julia’s House for Lost Creatures. He lives and works in the Shenandoah Valley with his wife and their daughters. His latest book mentioned above, is Little Robot.
In addition to writing and drawing comics, he also paints in the naturalist tradition and, occasionally, performs one-man fire shows. You can connect with him on his blog, so head over there and find out more about this fantastic author and illustrator (and as a bonus you can see him doing fire-breathing!).
Watch this clip to learn just a little bit more about Ben as he facilitates a discussion with his colleagues.
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 28, 2015
Wasp’s Nest by Gabriel Valjan
Book Two in the Roma series is Wasp’s Nest, with just as many (if not more) twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat and unable to put it down.
About Wasp’s Nest
In the highly anticipated sequel to Roma, Underground, Bianca (Alabaster) returns to the U.S. for her former employer, the covert organization Rendition. She is to investigate Cyril Sargent and Nasonia Pharmaceutical. Although ambivalent about the assignment and uneasy about her online “friend,” Loki, she is enticed into researching what Sargent is doing with insect genetics. His research might upset the world of cancer research and treatment. Old friends Farrugia and Gennaro uncover a twisted conspiracy from their past and join Bianca in Boston where they will experience conflicted loyalties, question allies, and confront uncertain enemies, as they’re drawn into the wasp’s nest.
My Thoughts
Part two of the Roma series will not disappoint you in the slightest. It is well written, full of suspense with just enough information, adventure and action at each stage of the story. Each movement is cleverly laid out and slowly unravels like a nest would so you can find the truth and meaning behind each step.
I love how this novel pulls from the first just enough to tie the stories together. We see and find out items that were unresolved in the first novel that were closed in this story but only to bring to light a new and completely different problem. There is never any duplication or too slow parts in the novel at all.
Wasp’s Nest is so well written with many hidden under plots that it is truly a treasure to open and read each page. The ‘wasp’ is cleverly wrapped into this story in a very intriguing way (don’t want to give too many spoilers!) but the title which I first did not understand becomes very clear by the end of the novel. A fantastic read from start to finish!
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Gabriel Valjan lives in New England, but has traveled extensively, receiving his undergraduate education in California and completing graduate school in England. Ronan Bennett short-listed him for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize for his Boston noir, Back in the Day. His short stories and poetry have appeared in literary journals and online magazines.
The Giveaway
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 25, 2015
Roma Underground
In the first book in the Roma Series, Roma Underground, we are introduced to savvy Alabaster Black who is currently in hiding in Rome.
About Roma Underground
Savvy forensic accountant Alabaster Black is hiding in Rome from her former employer, covert U.S. organization “Rendition.” While there under an assumed name she meets Dante, an investigator, erstwhile explorer and member of the Roma Underground, a band of amateur archaeologists who map the city beneath Rome. With Italian artifacts disappearing at an alarming rate, Alabaster and Dante search for answers and create a trap for the thieves. Through a mysterious online contact Alabaster learns she is being followed, and with her safety at risk she is forced to rethink her chosen alliances and discover hidden truths about herself.
My Thoughts
Suspense, adventure, history and a little bit of romance. Roma Underground has all of this and more. Alabaster is an incredible female character in this story. I love how strong she is both physically and mentally. The work she does is incredible in this story! It gives female readers a great character to look up to and connect with.
The plot line is fantastic and will leave you not wanting to put it down (which is literally what I did!). I loved my time in Rome so it was pretty neat to get to read about it from this perspective from a woman in hiding who is falling in love with the Roman lifestyle and culture. How they trick the thieves in this story is mind-blowing.
Roma Underground is a fantastic start to this series – I can’t wait to see what happens to Alabaster and where the ending in this book will take her.
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Gabriel Valjan lives in New England, but has traveled extensively, receiving his undergraduate education in California and completing graduate school in England. Ronan Bennett short-listed him for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize for his Boston noir, Back in the Day. His short stories and poetry have appeared in literary journals and online magazines.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 24, 2015
How We Pamper Our Fur Baby at PetSmart
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias
It has been said that man’s best friend is his dog. For us, this statement could not be any more true.
We first brought home, Toopy a bichon shih tzu, when our eldest was two years old. We had moved into our first townhouse and we were finding it hard to fall pregnant again. We wanted a friend not only for our son but us too! I still remember the first night we brought Toopy home – she was so tiny and would literally hang onto our ankles as she was too scared to be on her own. I spent the first three nights laying downstairs with her sleeping on my head to help soothe her and stop her crying.
Almost eight years later and I can’t imagine a day without our Toopy (who has been affectionately nicknamed Miss Toopelina). Toopy has quite the personality (some days I am surprised she wasn’t born a cat as she loves to sit on the top part of the couches and don’t even mention walks, she hates them!).
She has also become the best of friends with both of our boys. She is so much more than a pet, she acts as though they are her own children with how protective she is. When our youngest was a baby, she would sit under his chair making sure no one was getting too close to him or upsetting him, so cute right?!.
This may come as no surprise to other pet owners, but we love to spoil our Toopy. The best place to do this? PetSmart. It is honestly like dog paradise.
Toopy knows exactly where we are the minute we drive in the PetSmart parking lot and she can start sniffing around. From the parking lot to the front door, Toopy’s senses are alive as she smells other animals, sees them coming in and all the neat toys at the front.
PetSmart has everything we have ever needed for Toopy, from toys to beds to food to grooming. It is our all in one store for shopping and the bonus is that Toopy can come in and help ‘pick’ her toys. On our last visit, Toopy even made a friend with a rescue dog that was the same breed as her! I was able to talk with the owner about their similar skin conditions. Both of our dogs had developed skin irritations later in life which has involved rounds of steroids injections, fungal as well as antibiotics and ointments. It was pretty awesome to be able to talk to another pet parent about our concerns and to know that we were not alone.
Toopy left PetSmart with a brand new bed (because of her skin condition her bed needs to be changed almost monthly) and two new toys. The boys convinced me that these were the two best toys for her because in the store she came running when they squeaked!
And clearly, Toopy couldn’t wait to get them in her new bed – she didn’t even wait for me to take the tags of her bed before she claimed it as her own!
We love to spoil and pamper our Toopy because honestly she deserves it. She is always the most nurturing member in our home, senses our moods and always tries to make us feel better. None of us could even begin to imagine life without her.
Where do you take your fur baby to spoil them and purchase items for their everyday needs?
September 23, 2015
Declutter Your Home and Earn Money with VarageSale
Have you made purchases that you almost immediately regret? Like the twentieth sleeper for your child that they will never wear? Maybe that deep fryer that seemed like a good purchase at the time but you never actually deep fry anything (I still don’t know why we bought it!)?
I know as a family we have done this too many times. These purchases always seem like a must have in the moment but then they sit in a closet, garage or basement for months and years. Garage sales and classified ads make me nervous (nor do I have the time to commit myself to this), and I am too uncomfortable to post or sell in the Mom groups on Facebook.
VarageSale is an online community where you can safely buy or sell items and connect with locals in your community. VarageSale was founded in 2012 and currently has communities in 42 states in the US, Canada and world-wide. They are continuing to expand in Canada and have just recently included a community in Hamilton. VarageSale is completely free to use (win-win!) as well as having a mobile app for iOS, Android and Kindle. This is perfect for so many of us who do the majority of our work on our smart phones – I live and work on my phone so for me, an app like this saves time and increases efficiency. 
VarageSale offers:
- local community groups, with a new group in Hamilton
- easy labelling that lets users know if an item is for sale, pending or sold
- recommend sellers and follow their feeds to see what they are currently selling
- easy search options with multiple categories to explore
- a safe environment to sell items within your own community
Setting up an account is simple and free, you can set up your account on VarageSale. Once you have a live account, you can start uploading photos and items to sell, search other users and browse through your notifications.
This is the perfect way for busy families to safely sell unused items in their community while earning extra money that can go back into their family budget or for extra curricular activities (for us – soccer!). Which I know so many of us would appreciate the extra boost in their bank account.
Still on the fence? Watch this quick video:
How do you declutter your home? Have you set up a VarageSale account?
Make sure you follow VarageSale online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Disclosure: I received compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.