[BOOK REVIEW] Under the Highlander's Spell by Donna Fletcher

Title:  Under the Highlander's Spell

Author: Donna Fletcher

Genre: Highlander Romance

Year Published: 2008

Number of Pages: 374 pages

Date Read: 12/9/2010

Series: Sinclare Brothers #2

Publisher: Avon

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Under the Highlander’s Spell” is the first Highlander book and the first Donna Fletcher book I have ever read and I enjoyed it to the very end! Anyone who loves hot Highlander heroes, lots of adventure, drama and pure sizzling romance will easily make “Under the Highlander’s Spell” one of their top romance novels!

The book begins with a beautiful healer woman named Zia being tied up at the stake because the people of the village Lorne believed that she is witch when she started healing everyone at the village without anyone dying. Just as Zia was about to be burned at the stake, a dashing and powerful Highlander man named Artair Sinclare of Caithness comes to the village and saves Zia from being burned at the stake and he decides to take her with him so that he could find out about what happened to his long lost brother Ronan. Unfortunately, Zia could not tell Artair everything about his brother and Artair also discovers that Zia is not safe as long as the villagers of Lorne try to catch her and so he decides that he and Zia should get married so that way Zia can remain safe from the villagers of Lorne. But the question is: will Zia agree to this arrangement and how far will their relationship go?

My goodness! This book was so perfect from the beginning to the very end that I just could not put this book down for any reason at all! Donna Fletcher has certainly done a terrific job at conjuring up an exciting and romantic story that will have every romance fan panting like crazy! What I loved the most about this book was Zia and Artair’s relationship throughout this entire book. If you want to know the definition of “love at first sight,” then Zia and Artair’s relationship definitely confirms just that, since from the beginning, Zia and Artair truly loved each other as they supported each other through hard times and communicated so well with each other about their problems in their lives and you get to actually know the characters’ personalities so well since most of the pages in this book consisted of their dialogue with each other. Also, this book is a fair share of sensual scenes that will send shivers down your spines in a good way. Now that is what I call true love! The characters in this book were amazing and memorable, especially the Sinclare Family as they all truly cares for one another and they tried their hardest to protect Zia from being burned on the stake. The characters I really loved in this book were Zia and Artair as both characters were passionate about their goals in life. I really loved the way that Zia is such a strong and passionate character as she always speaks her mind about what she believes that true love is and I loved how she is always devoted to her work as a healer as she tries to help absolutely anyone who comes in her path, which is what I really loved about her character. Artair is another character I really loved as he is always described in having a muscular body which makes him truly sexy and I also loved the way that he is such a compassionate and devoted character as he always cares about Zia and he will do anything to save Zia’s life. Now that is a true romantic hero!

For those of you who are not comfortable with sex scenes, there are a couple of sex scenes in this book that seem a bit graphic, but not too graphic to be disgusting.

All in all, “Under the Highlander’s Spell” is a truly wonderful and sensual book about true love and I am sure that any romance fan will fall head over heels with this book for many years to come!

You might also like: 

• The Bride by Julie Garwood

• The Devil Wears Plaid by Teresa Medeiros

• The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

[BOOK REVIEW] The Full Moon at the Napping House by Audrey Wood

Title:  The Full Moon at the Napping House

Author:  Audrey Wood

Artist:  Don Wood

Genre:  Bedtime / Humor / Family / Sequel

Year Published: 2015

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Series: The Napping House #2

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Did you know that it has been over thirty years since “The Napping House” by Audrey Wood along with artwork by Don Wood had been published?  Well, did you know that Audrey Wood and Don Wood made a companion book to the “Napping House” called “The Full Moon at the Napping House” in 2015?  Well, I did not know this either until I just recently picked up the book and I must say that it certainly lives up to the original book’s expectations!

The story starts off with the full moon coming over the Napping House and its residents (a grandmother, a young boy, a dog, a cat and a mouse) are trying to go to sleep.  But, the family has become restless during the night and it seems like they will never go to sleep until an unlikely visitor comes by the house…

Wow!  I never would have thought that the day would come when I would see a companion book to Audrey Wood and Don Wood’s classic children’s book “The Napping House!”  “The Napping House” has always been one of my most favorite reads during my childhood, especially during bedtime.  So, imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that a companion book was being made for one of my most favorite childhood reads and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this companion book!  I like the fact that Audrey Wood managed to keep the narrative of this story faithful to the narrative of the original book, while telling a different story in this companion book (such as the fact that in this story, the residents of the Napping House are actually having trouble falling asleep while in the original book, it focuses on them sleeping through the night).  It seems like a reverse storytelling method of the original book and I found that approach to this companion book to be extremely creative as I am still reading the narrative of the original book, but from a different perspective.  Don Wood’s artwork is as beautiful as ever before as the characters look exactly as they did in the original “The Napping House” book.  I really enjoyed the humorous images of the boy, the dog and the cat playing around during the night while the grandmother is trying so hard to go to sleep as I found myself giggling at this display.  I also enjoyed the more beautiful aspect of the artwork as we see the full moon shining through the house and making everything in the house glow in such beauty.

Overall, “The Full Moon at the Napping House” is a fantastic follow up to “The Napping House” that fans of the original book will certainly fall in love with!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

[BOOK REVIEW] Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes

Title:  Lilly's Big Day

Author:  Kevin Henkes

Genre:  School / Weddings / Manners / Animals / Aspirations 

Year Published: 2006

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:   Greenwillow Books

Series: Mouse Books #9

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, it has been a long time since I had read a book from Kevin Henkes’ famous “Mouse” series since I had so many other children’s books to get through over the years.  Many of the books from the “Mouse” series had an everlasting place in my childhood nostalgia as I used to read these books when I was little and I was surprised that there was a newer book from Kevin Henkes’ “Mouse” series called “Lilly’s Big Day” which seems to be a conclusion of a sort to Lilly’s story!

Mr. Slinger, Lilly’s teacher, is about to get married to Ms. Shotwell, the school nurse and he excitedly tells the class about this big news.  Lilly is excited about this news as well as she believes that Mr. Slinger will ask her to be the flower girl at his wedding. However, when Lilly told her parents about the big news, her parents tried to explain to Lilly that just because Mr. Slinger is having a wedding, does not mean that Lilly will automatically become a flower girl in Mr. Slinger’s wedding. But Lilly still believed that she will become the flower girl in Mr. Slinger’s wedding and when Mr. Slinger finally told Lilly that she will not be the flower girl at his wedding and that his niece Ginger will be the flower girl, Lilly was upset by this.  But Mr. Slinger assured Lilly that she can be Ginger’s assistant and help her get through the wedding.

Will Lilly help Ginger get through the wedding and will she still be the center stage of the wedding?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  You know it has been so long since I had read a “Mouse” book from Kevin Henkes and I have not heard anything about Lilly and her adventures for many years now.  So, imagine my pure delight when I finally sat down and picked up a “Mouse” book that featured Lilly again and I was able to read more of her adventures in this cute and amazing book!   I loved the way that Kevin Henkes made this book seem like a finale to Lilly’s story (although, this might or might not be the final book featuring Lilly since I am not sure if Kevin Henkes is still writing books featuring Lilly) as we get to see Mr. Slinger finally getting married and seeing most of the characters featured in other “Mouse” books such as Chester, Julius and Victor make their appearances in this book.   I also enjoyed the scenes of Lilly imagining herself as the flower girl, even though Mr. Slinger had not said anything about Lilly being a flower girl as it shows that Lilly is in her own little world which was entertaining to watch.  It also shows how some children in real life would occasionally get their expectations for an event a bit too high and not think things completely through once they start imagining themselves in situations that they normally would not be able to participate in.  I also like the fact that Kevin Henkes actually progressed the characters much further in their lives in this book as we get to see Mr. Slinger get married and we see Lilly slightly maturing as a character, despite her need to be a flower girl.  Kevin Henkes’ artwork is as always adorable to look at as the mice characters look so cute and I loved the fact that we get to see these mice characters performing human activities such as planning weddings in a humanized way!  I especially love the appearance of Ginger herself as she is possibly the cutest character in the story with her pink dress and her small smile that shows up on each page!

Overall, “Lilly’s Big Day” is a truly fantastic book in Kevin Henkes’ famous “Mouse” series and I hope to read more from Kevin Henkes “Mouse” series in the near future!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless parents think that Lilly’s bratty behavior might be a bit troublesome for smaller children.

* 2007 Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Highly Commended Title

* 2007 Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Book Award

[BOOK REVIEW] Anansi and the Talking Melon by Eric A. Kimmel

 

Title:  Anansi and the Talking Melon

Author:  Eric A. Kimmel

Artist:  Janet Stevens

Genre:  Animals / Folktale / Africa / Trickery

Year Published: 1994

Year Read:  2016

Publisher: Holiday House

Series: Anansi #2

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

Now, I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was little and I was always so amazed at the gorgeous artwork and the hilarious writing in each book!  So, when I stumbled upon another “Anansi” story that was written by Eric A. Kimmel along with illustrations by Janet Stevens, I was pleasantly surprised by how this story turned out to be as entertaining as the previous “Anansi” stories!

The story starts off with Anansi looking down on Elephant’s melon patch from the trees and he wanted to have a melon.  But since Anansi was always too lazy to do any work, he decided to wait until Elephant went off on break to eat a melon.  So after Elephant left the melon patch, Anansi took a thorn from a tree and started digging a hole inside the melon to jump inside and eat the melon from the inside out.  Once Anansi was done eating inside the melon, he tried to get out from inside the melon, but he become too fat to get out and he had to wait until he got thin again.  Elephant then comes back to the melon patch and picks up the melon that Anansi was inside of and Anansi decided to play a little trick on Elephant by pretending to be the melon and successfully convinces Elephant that the melon is really talking.  Elephant is so excited about this development that he decided to tell his friends and the king about the talking melon.

Will the King be impressed by the talking melon or will he realize that it is Anansi playing this trick?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  I must admit that I was quite surprised that I have not read this book yet since I have been reading the “Anansi” series ever since I was a child!  Eric A. Kimmel has once again done an excellent job at writing this story as the story is highly creative and hilarious at the same time and I really loved the scenes where Anansi tricks the other animals into thinking that the melon is actually talking to them.  I like the fact that in this story, Anansi does not actually steal anything like he did in the previous book “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” since it makes him into a less amoral character (although he still did dig inside one of the Elephant’s melons without Elephant’s permission) and the fact that he is just playing tricks on Elephant and the other animals just for the fun of it, makes him less malicious in nature.  Janet Stevens’ artwork is as usual gorgeous to look at and I loved the way that Janet Stevens is able to convey the emotions on the characters’ faces, especially whenever the melon seems to insult each animal character and you get to see the animals’ angry expressions really close up.

Overall, “Anansi and the Talking Melon” is a truly hilarious book that is another great addition to Eric A. Kimmel and Janet Stevens’ “Anansi” series!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

[BOOK REVIEW] Manners by Aliki

Title:  Manners

Author:  Aliki

Genre: Manners / Children

Year Published: 1990

Year Read:  2014

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I will admit that I had only read a handful of Aliki’s works with “Feelings” being one of my absolute favorite books by Aliki.  So, when I found out that Aliki was making another book that followed up after “Feelings” called “Manners,” I just had to check this book out and believe me, I was totally blown away by the informative nature of this book!

In this book, children are taught about how to show good manners towards other people such as learning how to say “please” and “thank you” and to not be rude towards other people.

Aliki has done it again with creating a book that teaches children about good manners and also about how it is not good to show terrible manners (such as eating sloppily at the dinner table and being insulting towards other people).  Probably my most favorite moment in this book was when Aliki showed scenes of various children doing little skits about how to act during a certain situation, such as one skit called “Manners Lessons #4: At the Table” where it showed a girl and a boy performing a skit where the girl was politely eating her food at the table, while the boy was being extremely rude at the table by slurping down his food instead of taking little bites like the girl.  These skits can be used to help children who are reading this book on how to behave properly around other people and they could also try to do these same skits to practice showing good manners towards other people.  I also loved the fact that Aliki not only shows how to portray good manners towards people, but also shows what bad manners are like, such as in the “How Anthony Almost Ruined Diana’s Party” segment, the title character Anthony almost ruined Diana’s party by insulting everyone at the party by calling them names and being disrespectful to the other children who brought Diana various gifts.  Aliki’s artwork is both cute and expressive at the same time as they show various children performing different situations in which they show both good and bad manners.  Probably my most favorite artwork in this book was when they showed a girl and a boy in “Manners Lessons #4: At the Table” performing both the polite and rude way to behave at the dinner table, such as showing the boy shoveling food into his mouth and drinking his water in huge gulps, since it was so hilarious to see!

Overall, “Manners” is a fantastic book for children who want to learn about when to show good manners and what is considered bad manners for many people.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless you are worried about smaller children copying the bad manners segments in this book.