[ARC REVIEW] Gingerbread Christmas by Jan Brett (@PutnamBooks , @byjanbrett)

Title:  Gingerbread Christmas

Author:  Jan Brett

Genre:  Children's / Humor / Family / Christmas

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  2019

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam's Sons

Source:  eARC (Edelweiss)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I would like to thank Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit familiar with Jan Brett’s “Gingerbread Baby” series and I was actually surprised that Edelweiss had a copy of the sequel “Gingerbread Christmas!”  Since the Christmas holidays is around the corner, I figured that I might pick up a Christmas read and this was quite a cute book to read!

The Gingerbread Baby is back and this time, he wants to start a musical band to play with in the Christmas Festival.  So, his friend Matti decided to bake the Gingerbread Baby a Gingerbread Band and the band ended up performing at the Christmas Festival.  Everything was going fine for the band until the children started noticing how tasty the band smelled and this causes the audience to try and get at the band.

Can the Gingerbread Baby and his band get out of being eaten during Christmas?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  Jan Brett has one again created a wonderful story about the Gingerbread Baby and I found myself enjoying this book immensely!  I loved the fact that the Gingerbread Baby wanted to start a band to play with at the Christmas Festival and it was interesting seeing how the Gingerbread Baby would escape from being eaten on Christmas since he is a…well, you know…a gingerbread cookie.  I also loved the Gingerbread Baby’s relationship with Matti as Matti seems to be the only human being who does not want to eat the Gingerbread Baby.  Jan Brett’s artwork is beautiful as always as all of the characters look so realistic!  I also loved how colorful the artwork is, especially of the images of the Gingerbread Baby and his Gingerbread Band!

Overall, “Gingerbread Christmas” is a truly cute read that would be perfect for the Christmas season!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• A Gingerbread Christmas by Tim Raglin and Eric Metaxas

• The Tale of the Tiger Slippers by Jan Brett

• Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett

[ARC REVIEW] Rabbit's Snow Day by Todd Strader (@ToddStrader)

Title:  Rabbit's Snow Day

Author:  Todd Strader

Artist: Penny Collins

Genre:  Animals / Winter / Children's 

Year Published: 2017

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:  Cyfarwydd Books

Source:  eARC (Author)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Release Date:  November 2017

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I would like to thank the author Todd Strader for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have always loved reading books that deal with animals and when I got a free copy of “Rabbit’s Snow Day” from the author Todd Strader, I was really excited to check this book out since I love reading books about rabbits!  “Rabbit’s Snow Day” which is written by Todd Strader along with artwork by Penny Collins is a truly cute story about how rabbits survive in the winter that children will definitely enjoy!

Basically, the plot of this book is about the rabbits trying to survive the winter and about how they try to stay out of the fox and the humans’ way while the winter is raging away and this is all told in a poetic narrative.

Wow!  This book was a really cute read, especially if you love rabbits (like myself) and Todd Strader did a fantastic job at writing this book as the book is told in a poetic narrative that gives the book a unique and beautiful tone.  I also loved the information that Todd Strader provided about rabbits at the end of the book as I wanted to learn more about rabbits in general and how they live in the wilderness and survive the dangers of the wilderness.  Penny Collins’ artwork is gorgeous to look at as all the animals are drawn realistically, especially the rabbits themselves and I enjoyed seeing the winter atmosphere of the artwork as snow covers everything, from the ground to the trees, and all the snow covering up the pages give the artwork a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the story was a bit too short and I wanted a much longer story on the rabbits’ adventures during the winter season and their encounters with the fox and the humans.  I also felt that a good majority of this book was focused more on giving out information about rabbits in general rather than focusing on giving us a story about the rabbits and their time spent surviving the winter season.

Overall, “Rabbit’s Snow Day” is a cute book for anyone who loves reading about rabbits and loves reading about winter as a whole.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

• Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola
• The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

[BOOK REVIEW] Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title:  Shiver

Author:  Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Paranormal Romance / Fantasy

Year Published: 2009

Number of Pages: 392 pages

Date Read: 11/14/2010

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 14+  (Some Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Oh man! I really wanted to give this book six stars instead of five stars because this book is just so brilliantly written and full of romance that make any romance fan go head over heels with this book! But I guess I will settle with a five star rating for now… “Shiver” is the first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s Mercy Falls series and this book has enough action and love making scenes that will have you all breathless with anticipation!

Grace had spent her time watching the various wolves that come out of the woods, after she was bitten by a wolf a few years ago. However, when one of the students at her school go missing, the townspeople suspected that the wolves have something to do with it and they all tried to go out and kill the wolves. But, Grace will not let that happen since she cares so much for the wolves and after she manages to stop the hunting of the wolves, she meets an injured wolf and she realizes that the injured wolf was a teenage boy named Sam and once Grace discovers Sam’s secret, she tries to do everything in her power to help Sam stay human while sorting out her feelings for Sam!

Wow and double wow! Maggie Stiefvater has created a true masterpiece that is all about true werewolf love! When I read this book, it constantly reminds me of Stephenie Meyer’s famous “Twilight” series, except that we see hot werewolf guys in this book instead of hot vampires, which I found to be extremely enjoyable to read about. There were many aspects that I loved about this book and one of the aspects that I really loved about this book was how each chapter of the book was set up to detail the situation from two different point of views, who were Grace and Sam, which means that each chapter will either have Sam or Grace narrating the story from their point of view, which I thought made this book extremely interesting and creative to look at. Another aspect that I loved about this book was the characters, especially Sam and Grace. I loved the fact that Grace is shown to be an independent and enthusiastic teenage girl who was willing to put her life on the line in order to save Sam, the love of her life and although there were times where I knew more about Sam’s side of the story rather than Grace’s side of the story, I still really enjoyed Grace’s spirit throughout this book. Sam on the other hand, may come off as being too somber for his own good, but that is own to the fact that he really wants to be human instead of a werewolf and he is possibly the sweetest and hottest werewolf character to ever grace upon the world of paranormal romance. What I really loved the most about this book was that over ninety percent of this book was spent in Sam and Grace’s romance with each other as there are a bunch of sweet kisses and sensual hugging (though not in a R-rated way) that made this book somewhat cute yet sensual at the same time!

For anyone who does not like language, there is a good deal of language in this book, although the language is not really strong here, but I think the language in this book would be better suitable for young adults.

All in all, “Shiver” is a truly awesome book for werewolf loves everywhere and also is a great book for paranormal romance fans who love action and hot werewolf love!

* 2010 Children's Choice Book Award Nominee for Teen Choice Book of the Year

* 2010 Florida Teens Read Nominee

* 2010 Georgia Peach Book Award

* 2010 The Inky Awards for Silver Inky

* 2010 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Silver Inky

* 2010 Teen Read Award Nominee for Best Read

* 2011 Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee

* 2012 Lincoln Award Nominee

* 2012 Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

• Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

[BOOK REVIEW] Vision in White by Nora Roberts

 

Title:  Vision in White

Author:  Nora Roberts

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2009

Number of Pages: 325 pages

Date Read: 12/22/2016

Series: Bride Quartet #1

Publisher: Berkley Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+  (Strong Language and Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I will be honest here.  Even though I have been reading romance novels for a long time from various romance novelists, I had never read any of Nora Roberts’ works before and her work is everywhere in the reading sphere!  So, when I stumbled upon this book by Nora Roberts called “Vision in White,” I just knew that this was the book that was going to introduce me to Nora Roberts’ works in a good way!

Mackensie “Mac” Elliot had dreamed for all her life about taking pictures at a wedding and she finally has her dreams come true when she and her best friends, Parker, Emma and Laurel all came together to create Connecticut’s wedding planning business called “Vow.”   With Mac being a well-renowned photographer, she is able to capture the most beautiful moments at the weddings with a click of her camera.  But, unfortunately Mac has no desire to get married despite working at a wedding planning business due to her trust issues that started with her father leaving her and her mother when she was a child and her mother Linda constantly asking Mac for more money, despite the fact that this act is emotionally hurting Mac.  Then one fateful day, Mac runs into a shy yet sexy teacher named Carter Maguire, who she has known since high school and it turns out that Carter has been infatuated with Mac ever since they were in high school.  Now, Mac must conquer her fears of falling in love with Carter if she has to make her own happy ending.

Wow!  I have to say that as the first book I had read from Nora Roberts, it was simply amazing and heartwarming!  I loved the fact that Nora Roberts made friendship and the importance of true love a central theme in this book as I enjoyed seeing how Mac starts developing as a character as she slowly learns to start trusting people despite her tragic past with her parents and the fact that her mother Linda keeps trying to take money from her.  I also enjoyed the scenes where Mac confides in her friends Parker, Emma and Laurel about her romantic woes and her issues with her mother as it shows that Mac’s circle of friends are extremely supportive of Mac through her life and it shows that they are truly good friends towards Mac and it makes me want to have such friends in real life!  Nora Roberts also did a great job at developing the relationships between Mac, her friends and Carter as not only does Mac have great friends who support her through her issues, but she also has a love interest in Carter who showed her what it is like to trust and love someone again.  I loved almost all of the characters in this novel (well, except for the antagonists, of course) as they all felt so genuine and are supportive of each other through tough times.  I especially loved the characters of Mac and Carter themselves as they were the stars of the show with their unique romance and support of each other.  I loved the fact that Mac is a successful photographer as it shows that she is a strong and determined young woman who is trying to get her personal life together and it was great seeing her character develop throughout the story as she is trying to learn how to trust and love someone again.  Carter was absolutely fantastic as he is truly supportive of Mac and knows how to comfort Mac when she really needs it and who says that high school teachers cannot be HOT and SEXY!?

For readers who do not like strong language and sex scenes, this book does contain some strong language such as the usage of the “s” word and some sex scenes, so some readers might want to skim over these scenes if they find them to be a bit too much.

Overall, “Vision in White” is a truly fantastic book about the importance of true friendship and love and I am sure that anyone who loves a good winter romance will enjoy this book!

 * 2009 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Romance

  

      

[BOOK REVIEW] Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola

Title:  Pancakes for Breakfast

Author:  Tomie dePaola

Genre:  Food / Comedy / Wordless / Winter / Pets

Year Published: 1978

Year Read:  2016

Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

You know, I have been reading Tomie dePaola’s works ever since I was a child and out of all of those works, I had never once read a book of Tomie dePaola’s that was…WORDLESS!  Now, I have been reading many wordless picture books for ages, but I never knew that Tomie dePaola wrote a wordless picture book called “Pancakes for Breakfast” which was indeed his first wordless picture book!

The story starts off with an old woman waking up from bed, along with her dog and cat and she wanted to make a nice batch of pancakes for breakfast.  So, the old woman went to her kitchen to get the ingredients she needed for the pancakes, but she realized that she did not have any eggs for the batter.  So, she goes out to the barn to get some eggs from the chickens and after she got the eggs, she realizes that she does not have any butter for the batter.  So, she goes outside to milk her cow and create the butter with the milk she churned from the cow and after she made the butter, she realizes that she does not have any maple syrup!  So, she goes to her neighbor’s house to get some syrup and just as the old woman got all the ingredients to make her pancakes…

Does the old woman finally get the chance to eat her pancakes?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  For a wordless picture book, this was some pretty impressive work from Tomie dePaola, especially when you are so used to Tomie dePaola’s works having text to narrate the stories!  Tomie dePaola’s artwork really sold this story as it shows how an old woman wanted to make pancakes for breakfast, but keeps on forgetting the essential ingredients to make her pancakes such as milk, eggs, butter and syrup.  It was cute seeing the old woman try to obtain the ingredients for the pancakes in many different ways such as milking her cow to get the butter and milk, getting eggs from her hens and getting syrup from her next door neighbor as it gives the story an old fashioned and traditional vibe that really made this story stand out from the other modern day stories about obtaining ingredients for a recipe.  I also loved the images of both the dog and the cat as it was adorable seeing them accompany the old woman in her need to obtain the ingredients for her pancakes.

Overall, “Pancakes for Breakfast” is a truly cute story about an old woman trying to find the right ingredients for her pancakes that many readers, who had to go through the same experience, no matter how differently they went about it, would definitely relate to! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.