March 27, 2014
The Tyrant’s Daughter #Review
The Tyrant’s Daughter written by J.C. Carleson, a former CIA officer, follows the account of a royal Middle Eastern family exiled to the American suburbs.
The Story
When 15 year old, Laila’s father is killed she flees from the war torn middle east to a life of anonymity in the U.S. Gradually she begins to adjust to a new school, friends and culture but while she focuses on her new life her mother is focused on the past. Her mother is conspiring with CIA operatives and rebel factions to regain the throne her family lost. Laila feels torn as an international crisis begins to shape around her but is conflicted on what one girl can do to stop a conflict.
My Thoughts
The Tyrant’s Daughter was an incredibly powerful and moving novel. It allowed us to see inside the world of a young girl who is on the verge of womanhood and trying to discover her own place in the world. She is torn from the only life she has ever known and placed into the safety of unfamiliar neighbourhood. She slowly begins to see her family and the people she knew back home in a different light as she is allowed to use the Internet for the first time – is her Father the man she thought he was or the one portrayed on the Internet?. Being immersed in a new culture so different than her own allows her to understand herself better and at times embrace her own beliefs stronger. Everything from gender interactions to food to clothes is so different then anything she has ever experienced before.
The novel gave such a different perspective of politics and the effect it has on the families of those involved. How the decisions their loved ones makes effects them and so much more.
Rating: 5/5
A definite must read! The book is meant for young adults but I found it perfect for my own age group as well.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 26, 2014
The 30 Day #BeatTheFlu challenge with A.Vogel
As many of you may know, I have been participating in A.Vogel’s 30 Day #BeatTheFlu Challenge along with several other Canadian bloggers this past month. The challenge involved taking the Echinaforce tincture and hot drink daily as recommended on the bottle. I have just wrapped up the challenge and wanted to fill you all in on how it went!
Due to my work, I am in contact with germs on a daily basis. Combine that with two children in school and daycare it is incredibly hard to avoid germs during the winter months!
When we were little, we had a little dropper of Echinacea and we would place several drops under our tongue to help fight off colds and the flu during the winter months. So many people I knew swore by it. I had stopped using the drops by the time I was in high school (the good ole days of being invincible, right?!).
So I was ready to start building up my immune system along with my own personal goal of eating healthier and increasing my physical activity. The A.Vogel challenge could not have come at a better time for me. February to March are definitely harder hit months at work where the majority of people are off sick. Last year I was off several times during that time period due to frequent colds and chest infections.
I liked how easy it was to take the Echinaforce drops. I could add it to my water before I headed out the door and would drink it on my way to work. I never really like the taste of adding it under my tongue as a child (nor could I find the time to take the amount of required drops) so it was perfect for our on the go lifestyle to take it with me. It added only the slightest taste difference to the water (at times I could not even notice it) but it wasn’t unpleasant.
The hot drink tasted really good – hard to describe the actual taste but was quite pleasant. I had no trouble having my drink at night! It felt like I was having a normal cup of warm tea at night to relax before bed.
So the final results?
I did have a mild chest cold during the month (along with the dreaded gastro bug!) but I also found that it was not as bad (no sleeping upright because I could not breathe from coughing or nose running so badly that I have tissues stuck in my nose all night!). Echinacea has been widely used for the treatment and relief of cold symptoms, sore throats and coughs. While it did not stop my cold nor prevent it definitely lessened the typical severity of my colds and the symptoms that accompany the typical cold. I was also eating healthier and exercising more as well which has definitely helped my overall health and immunity!
Do you have any great tips and tricks to help #BeatTheFlu? Any home remedies?
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product for free in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own. As always before starting any natural remedies check with your family doctor especially if you are on daily medications!
March 26, 2014
Banana Peanut Butter Bites
I was on Pinterest about a month ago (big shock there right?!) and I saw these delicious looking chocolate covered frozen banana peanut butter treats (can not find the original link now but I am sure if you search it on Pinterest you will find it!). I wanted to try the recipe out but I am not a huge fan of chocolate covered fruit so I altered it a bit.
For this tasty treat you will need:
- one banana
- 1-1.5 tbs of peanut butter (I love Earth Balance Coconut & Peanut Butter Spread)
- tooth picks
Slice up the bananas thinly (pairing them helps me remember if I cut the right amount!). Add a small amount of peanut butter to each one. I found this part to be the trickiest as the peanut butter wouldn’t stick too well on the bananas sometimes it was more of a “blob” of peanut butter. Squish the two pieces of banana together and stick a tooth pick through and voila! I love having these for an early afternoon snack.
What is your favourite snack to enjoy in the afternoon?
March 25, 2014
Sneak Peek At A Beauty So Rare!
Want a sneak peek at a new book that I am currently reading? Here it is! A Beauty So Rare – scroll down to find an excerpt of the novel.
March 25, 2014
Wishful Thinking #WW w/linky
Last week we were able to attend a Safe and Sure car seat demonstration (as well as have our car seat fitted in properly into our car). While we were there, our eldest had a field day looking at the cars (he is a huge car fan!). He wanted me to feature his favourite for this week’s Wordless Wednesday, so here it is:
Beautiful right?
Link up below so that I can visit your Wordless Wednesday post!