[ARC REVIEW] Book Love by Debbie Tung (@AndrewsMcMeel , @WheresMyBubble)

Title:  Book Love

Author:  Debbie Tung

Artist:  Debbie Tung

Genre:  Books / Humor

Year Published: 2019

Year Read:  2018

Publisher:  Andrews McMeel Publishing

Source:   eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

When I saw this title over at NetGalley, I was like “What? There’s actually a graphic novel that explores about how much some people love books?”  Well, of course I had to check this graphic novel out since reading is my number one passion in the world and I wanted to see if this graphic novel gets my book senses tingling!  “Book Love” is a graphic novel that is written and illustrated by Debbie Tung and it definitely earns the reputation of being one of the few graphic novels that actually shows just how important and fun reading is for everyone!

What is this story about?

This graphic novel basically details the love that bookworms have for books such as getting upset when they had just finished a good book, but have to wait a whole year for the sequel to come out.  And the exhilaration of smelling brand-new books in the bookstores and also the fact that books can take you to different places that you have never been to before!

What I loved about this story:

Debbie Tung’s writing:  Wow…just wow…Debbie Tung has certainly done an excellent job at writing this graphic novel as it is rare that I read a graphic novel that is all about the wonderful world of reading instead of being about superheroes or slice of life stories.  I loved the way that Debbie Tung explores what the world is like for a bookworm and how books are so essential in their lives.  I just loved the energy and love for reading that Debbie Tung showcased in this graphic novel by using a woman in the lead role and whenever the woman in the story showed excitement for reading, I felt that excitement along with her!  There were many different scenarios in this story that really called out to me, such as a situation where the woman in the story went to the bookstore to buy the second book in the series after she finished reading the first book.  But then she realizes that the bookstore ran out of copies of the second book and that they would have to order the second book from an online store, but it would take over five days for the book to arrive!  Oh man!  I remembered those days when I had to wait a long time for a book in a series to arrive in my mail because the bookstore did not have the whole series!  I really loved the humor that Debbie Tung incorporated into this book as the woman in this story was the highlight as she was such an excitable and hilarious character who has such an exaggerated reaction to books. But at the same time, is highly relatable to the audience as she shows the same love and joy that bookworms have for books!

Debbie Tung’s artwork:  Debbie Tung’s artwork is hilarious and creative to look at as she does a great job at showing the excitement that the woman in the story feels about books!  I loved the way that Debbie Tung drew the woman in the story as the woman is constantly being shown with an excited look on her face whenever she comes across books.  I especially loved the artwork of the woman having large puppy dog eyes whenever she is experiencing something beautiful about reading.  I also loved the artwork for the scenes where the woman is imagining herself floating in space as there is so much attention to detail to the starry skies of space.  I liked the fact that the artwork is done in black and white as I still experience the wonderful world of books through the black and white colorings of the artwork.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Book Love” is a truly fantastic graphic novel that really speaks out to bookworms everywhere!  If you are looking for a graphic novel that details the joy and wonder of reading, then this is definitely the one for you!

You might also like:

• It's a Book by Lane Smith

• Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
• Herding Cats: A "Sarah's Scribbles" Collection by Sarah Andersen

[BOOK REVIEW] East by Edith Pattou

Title:  East

Author: Edith Pattou

Genre: Fantasy

Year Published: 2003

Number of Pages: 498 pages

Date Read: 12/2/2010

Series: East #1

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers  

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 13+ (Some Intense Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I never would have thought that there could be a whole chapter book retelling of a classic fairy tale other than Shannon Hale’s “The Goose Girl.”  Well, I have just recently stumbled upon this book called “East” that happens to be a great retelling of a classic fairy tale!  “East” is a retelling of a classic Scandinavian folktale called “East of the Sun West of the Moon” by Edith Pattou and anyone who is a huge fan of fairy tales will definitely get a kick out of this book!

Rose is the youngest child of seven children and because she was a born a North born child, according to her mother, she always loved exploring her homeland Njord and getting into trouble.  One day, however, a mysterious white bear comes in and promises Rose’s family that he will make them rich if they agree to let Rose come away with him to his cave.  At first, Rose’s family did not want her to leave with the white bear, but Rose decided to go with the white bear to save her family and so she and the white bear traveled for days until they reached the white bear’s magnificent cave where Rose lived for many years.  During her years with the white bear, Rose realizes that a mysterious stranger has been sleeping in bed next to her and when she discovers the stranger’s true identity, she embarks on a journey to save her true love from a terrible curse!

Beautiful! Simply Beautiful!  I never would have thought that I would have read a retelling of a popular folktale that was written so beautifully!  Edith Pattou has certainly done an excellent job at retelling the ancient Scandinavian folktale.  I loved the way that Edith Pattou added more elements to this story such as adding background information about each character in the book, especially Rose and we actually get to read about the other point of views of each character associated with Rose’s life like her father, her brother Neddy, the White Bear and the Troll Queen.  What I loved the most about this book is that each chapter is split up into a different character’s point of view.  Like for example, you have one chapter entitled “Rose” and the chapter is narrated by Rose herself and her point of view on the situation she is thrown into and then another chapter would be entitled “White Bear” and the white bear is narrating the chapter, and I really love this setup because you can actually get a feel of what each character is thinking about the situation at hand.  Another thing that I loved about this book was the relationships between all the characters in this book, especially between Rose, Neddy and her father.  I loved the way that Neddy and Rose’s father cared so much about Rose that they were willing to put their lives at stake in order to rescue her from any kind of danger.  I also loved the fairy tale elements in this story, especially since this story is based off of “East of the Sun West of the Moon” and I am a huge fan of many fairy tales and folktales, so the fairy tale elements in this story (enchantment, epic journey) are always relaxing to me.  I also think many people would enjoy this story if they enjoyed “The Golden Compass” since this book does have a similar element to “The Golden Compass” which is a girl riding a white bear on her journey.

Now the reason why I gave this book a four and a half star rating instead of a five star rating is because the story tends to drag on too long in certain scenes such as during the scenes where Rose is exploring the cave of the white bear and she is describing every single item she comes across.  It is alright to describe some items that have significance to the story, but to describe every other item that has nothing to do with the main point of the story does become tiresome really fast.

Overall “East” is truly an absolute masterpiece in its own right as it is filled with drama, fantasy and romance that anyone who is a huge fan of fairy tales will instantly take a liking to.

* 2004 Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee
* 2008 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

• Alice by Christina Henry

[BOOK REVIEW] Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

Title:  Just Like Heaven

Author: Julia Quinn

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 436 pages

Date Read: 12/30/2011

Series: Smythe-Smith Quartet #1

Publisher: Avon Harper Collins 

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I have been reading so many historical romance novels that I must have read almost every one, mainly works from Lisa Kleypas, Teresa Medeiros and Jennifer Ashley. But, this is the first novel I have read from Julia Quinn and it is called “Just Like Heaven.” Actually, “Just Like Heaven” is Julia Quinn’s most recent book to date, so I had the pleasure of reading one of Julia Quinn’s books. 

The story starts off with Honoria Smythe-Smith meeting up with her childhood friend Marcus Holroyd, who is the Earl of Chatteris and the two of them just claim that they are only friends. However, when a terrible tragedy strikes Marcus, when his leg is affected in an accident and he is struck by a terrible fever, both Marcus and Honoria will soon discover their true feelings for each other!

I have read many historical romance novels where the hero and the heroine had an attraction for each other throughout the book. However, this is the first romance novel I have read where the hero and heroine start off as good friends and slowly start to realize their feelings for each other, which was quite unusual for me. Julia Quinn has done a great job at writing this story as the story is extremely cute and playful. I loved the way that Julia Quinn set up the conversations between the characters, especially between Honoria and her cousins as the dialogue that goes on between them is hilarious and comforting, as you can feel the close relationship that these cousins share with each other. I also loved the dialogue that Julia Quinn sets up between Marcus and Honoria as they always have friendly and spirited conversations between them that always make me smile every time I read them! It was also really cute seeing Marcus Holroyd go head over heels for Honoria Smythe-Smith as he clearly cannot understand these “lovely” feelings he keep having and yet, he cannot stay away from Honoria. The story about Marcus’s life as a child was heartwarming and sad as he had a lonely life as a child since he did not have a loving family like the Smythe-Smiths did. However, when he became like a little brother to the Smythe-Smith family, my heart just filled with joy at seeing Marcus being happy with this family! I also liked Honoria Smythe-Smith as she is so kind hearted and understanding towards Marcus’s situation and the scene where Honoria was trying to help Marcus heal from his injury was probably the most emotional and wonderful scene in the entire book since it showed how much Honoria truly cares for Marcus.

Notice that I have not mention much of a romance blossoming between Marcus and Honoria because this novel spends too much time with Marcus and Honoria trying to sort out their feelings for each other. That is not to say that this is a bad thing because I really did enjoy the friendly conversations that Marcus and Honoria had with each other, but as a fan of romance novels, it felt like there was not enough romance, fire and passion between the two of them to make me really believe that their love for each other is real. Marcus and Honoria’s love for each other does not really show up until towards the end of the book and it felt like their relationship with each other was being forced towards the end instead of letting it naturally run along throughout the book. Also, there were many slow moments throughout this book that I was finding it hard to keep up with the story because there were scenes that dragged on for too long before they got to the exciting part of the story. 

Overall, “Just Like Heaven” is a really cute story for romance fans who love stories where the hero and heroine start out as friends and then become lovers. Also, this novel is great for readers who are uncomfortable with sex scenes since this novel does not contain too many sex scenes. Now that I am interested in Julia Quinn’s books, I think I will check out her “Bridgerton” series! 

* 2012 All About Romance (AAR) Annual Reader Poll for Most Disappointing Romance & Honorable Mention for Funniest Romance

You might also like: 

• The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

• Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

[ARC REVIEW] The Fairy in the Kettle by Pauline Tait

Title:  The Fairy in the Kettle

Author:  Pauline Tait

Artist: Debbie Bellaby

Genre:  Fantasy / Weather / Homes / Fairies

Year Published: 2016

Year Read: 2017

Publisher:  Matador  

Series: The Fairy in the Kettle #1

Source:  eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Matador for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went surfing around NetGalley again for some new children’s books to read and I spotted this cute children’s book called “The Fairy in the Kettle” which is written by Pauline Tait along with artwork by Debbie Bellaby and this book was truly adorable to read through!

In the land of Bramble Glen, there lives a village full of fairies and they all lived in various flowers across the village.  One fairy however, who was called Leona, actually lived in an old round cast-iron kettle and she loved her kettle home, despite the fact that the other fairies thought that the kettle was too noisy on certain days.  One day however, a huge storm hits Bramble Glen and at first, the fairies and Leona are unaware of the storm coming, but when the storm gets worse, the fairies immediately try to find a safe place to hide from the storm.

Will the fairies survive the storm?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  I found this book to be so adorable and inspiring as I not only found it interesting to read a fairy story where the fairy in question lives in a kettle pot, but a fairy story that teaches children about the importance of loving your home for what it is, no matter how strange your home is.  Pauline Tait has done a great job at writing this story as I found the story to be extremely cute to read through, especially since it involves fairies doing cute activities like dancing and living in flowers.   I also loved the message that Pauline Tait sends to the audience about the importance of having a loving home, no matter how bizarre it is, as I found the story about Leona living in a kettle pot and not caring about its flaws to be truly inspiring!  Debbie Bellaby’s artwork is truly gorgeous to look at, especially of the images of the flowers surrounding the fairies and of Leona’s gorgeous pink and purple dress.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the pacing was a bit slow in parts and I wished that more had happened in the story besides the fairies mostly dancing around in the story.

Overall, “The Fairy in the Kettle” is a truly cute story about the importance of staying in a home that is safe and useful to you no matter how different it is from other homes.  I would recommend this book for children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm by LeVar Burton and Susan Schaefer Bernardo

• Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen
• Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

[BOOK REVIEW] The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Title:  The Paper Bag Princess

Author:  Robert Munsch

Artist:  Michael Martchenko

Genre:  Comedy / Royalty / Dragons / Feminism / Fantasy

Year Published: 1980

Year Read:  1994

Publisher:  Annick Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Some Rude Behavior and Brief Scenes of Destruction)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I have been reading most of Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko’s works ever since I was a child and I have enjoyed most of their works! I have recently re-read a book from the popular duo that I had enjoyed during my childhood called “The Paper Bag Princess” and it is about how a princess is stripped down to wearing a plain paper bag when a dragon attacks her castle and she has to go rescue Prince Ronald, who has been kidnapped by the dragon. “The Paper Bag Princess” is definitely one of Robert Munsch’s and Michael Martchenko’s most hilarious books ever written!

Elizabeth was a beautiful princess who was going to marry Prince Ronald. One day, however, a dragon comes by and burns her castle to the ground and kidnaps Prince Ronald. With nothing left to wear except for a paper bag, Elizabeth decides to go after the dragon and save Ronald.

If you think that “Stephanie’s Ponytail” was one hilarious and creative book, you should really check this book out! Robert Munsch has truly done an awesome job at writing this story about how a princess loses everything but still wanted to save the love of her life. Robert Munsch’s writing is simple yet sassy and hilarious at the same time and what I really loved about this book was that Robert Munsch made the heroine, Elizabeth into a clever and brave girl and I loved the way that she tries to go and rescue the prince by herself even though she lost everything that she owned and the way that she beats the dragon at its own game is just truly hilarious! Michael Martchenko’s illustrations are creative and hilarious in this book, especially of the images of Elizabeth being in a paper bag throughout the book. The images in this book are a bit more simplistic in this book than in Robert Munsch’s and Michael Martchenko’s later books as the black outlines of the characters make the characters stand out much more. I also loved the images of the dragon itself as it is green, have red spikes down its back and always look more suave than terrifying to the readers.

All in all, “The Paper Bag Princess” is a brilliant book from the famous Munsch/Martchenko duo as it shows that true courage will always win the day. Although I would have preferred the ending to be a little longer so that way it would be more satisfying just knowing what happened to each character after the adventure is over, this was not a major con for me, so I would still recommend this book to children ages four and up, but because of the dragon scenes, I think children ages five and older might stand those scenes better and the children ages four and up will like the simplistic writing of this book.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke

Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

[BOOK REVIEW] Garfield Brings Home the Bacon by Jim Davis

Title:  Garfield Brings Home the Bacon

Author:  Jim Davis

Genre:  Humor / Animals / Relationships 

Year Published:  2012

Year Read: 1/14/2017

Series:  Garfield #53

Publisher: Ballantine Books 

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Introduction:

 

Since I have been reading “Garfield” comics like almost every year since I started this comic book series years ago, I have decided to make it a tradition for myself to read a “Garfield” comic every year and this year, I picked up another “Garfield” comic called “Garfield Brings Home the Bacon” and it is just as hilarious and witty as the previous “Garfield” comic books I had read!

What is this story about?

In this collection, Garfield continues to have fun adventures with his dorky owner Jon Arbuckle, his dim witted sidekick Odie and the sane Liz as his adventures go from having dreams about food falling from the sky to smacking spiders left and right!

What I loved about this story:

Jim Davis’ writing: Jim Davis’ writing continues to be witty and hilarious to read through as I thoroughly enjoyed Garfield’s snarky comments about Jon’s dorky ways and Odie’s simple mindedness and I also loved the fact that Garfield and Liz seem to bond with each other due to both of them being snarky towards Jon’s odd lifestyle, although Liz is a bit more understanding of the two due to dating Jon.  I also enjoyed seeing Arlene, Garfield’s love interest, in this collection since it is rare that we see storylines that revolve around Arlene and I hope that the future “Garfield” comic book collections feature more of Arlene just so we can see another cat who can match wits with Garfield! 

Jim Davis’ artwork:  Jim Davis’ artwork is as usual hilarious and creative to look at as all the characters are drawn in an exaggerated manner.  But the two characters that really stood out in this volume were Liz and Arlene themselves as they are drawn with huge lips and eyelashes that set them apart from the rest of the goofy cast!

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Garfield Brings Home the Bacon” is another fantastic collection of “Garfield” comics that anyone who is a huge fan of “Garfield” will enjoy greatly!