#Book #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Triple Trouble by Michael J. Pellowski #MichaelJPellowski #WillowispPress

TITLE: Triple Trouble
AUTHOR: Michael J. Pellowski

PUBLISHER: Willowisp Press

PUBLICATION DATE: December 28, 1988

FORMAT: Paperback

LENGTH: 112 pages

GENRE: Childrens

ISBN: 0874063051

In this all-new version of the popular 1987 book, twins Randi and Sandi are at it again, but this time, their identical cousin Mandy is part of the shenanigans.

MY REVIEW:

The Daniels twins are back! I read this book aloud to my younger daughter, and we both really enjoyed it.

Mandy, the twins' cousin from California, stays with the Daniels family for a visit. Although she may look like the girls, she tries to act much more mature than she really is. She cares far too much about her looks, wearing make-up that she really doesn't need at her age and expensive clothes. Mandy does not make a very good impression when the Daniels family picks her up at the airport. She gets mad at the twins' little brother, Teddy, when he touches her pretty dress with his chocolate-coated fingers. When the girls tell Mandy to chill out and that they will pay to have her dress cleaned, she has a snotty response to the effect that they are too poor to afford it! To top it off, Mandy's luggage is delayed and she has to wear clothes from the twins instead of her designer duds (oh! the horror!). Later, Teddy gets into Mandy's make-up set and ruins it. He is definitely on Mandy's bad side!

Dressed down and with her unpainted face, Mandy can pass for one of the twins...and she does! One of the boys from school, Chris, mistakes Mandy for Randi. She continues the charade, but the twins overhear her and realize that Mandy is pulling one of their old tricks...the switcheroo! The twins decide to get back at her to teach her a lesson.

This was a very enjoyable sequel to Double Trouble, and we like the addition of Mandy who created more drama. It was a fun read, and we are continuing on with A Double Trouble Dream Date.

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR if you enjoy middle-grade fiction!

This book qualifies as:

#54 for my Strictly Print Reading Challenge

#73 for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018

#110 for my Beat the Backlist 2018 Challenge

#99 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018

#18.1 for my 2018 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge

#11C for my 2018 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
#20 for my Middle Grade Reading Challenge

#110A for my Good Rule Reading Challenge

#27 for my Charity Reading Challenge

#7 for my Chapter Break Bingo November 2018

#19 for my Bookish Bingo Fall 2018

View all my reviews

What's In A Name 2018 Wrap-up Post #whatsinaname2018

This is my Wrap-up Post for the What's In A Name 2018 challenge hosted by Charlie @ The Worm Hole.

6/6 categories completed

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

1. THE WORD "THE" USED TWICE: The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (DCI Erika Foster, Book #1)

2. A TITLE THAT BEGINS WITH Z: Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone (The Hatching, Book #3)

3. A NATIONALITY: (A) Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie; (B) Wherever I Find Myself: Stories by Canadian Immigrant Women edited by Miriam Matejova

4. A SEASON: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

5. A SHAPE: (A) Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz; (B) Heart-Shaped Box

6. A FRUIT OR VEGETABLE: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

#Book #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender @AimeeBender @doubledaybooks

TITLE: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

AUTHOR: Aimee Bender

PUBLISHER: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2010 

FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 292 pages

GENRE: Magical Realism, Fantasy

ISBN: 9780385501125

The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse.

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose.

The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle).

MY REVIEW:

This one is definitely a little out there!

Just before her ninth birthday, something unusual happens to Rose. As she samples her mother's homemade lemon cake with chocolate frosting, she tastes an emptiness in her mouth that makes her ask whether her mom is okay. Her mom just brushes it off, but then later her mom admits that she wants to quit her job because she wants to do something creative with her hands.

Unfortunately for Rose, this was not just a weird fluke. When takes a bite of food, she can sense the emotions of the person who made it. She can even break down the ingredients and discern where the eggs came from and if the chickens were happy when they laid them and where the beef came from. She finds this unusual gift too overwhelming and, instead, tries to eat as much processed food as possible that has been made in factories and untouched by human hands for the most part.

When Rose can taste her mother's deception and affair, that made me feel really sad for Rose. That would just be plain torture for a child to be saddled with such a big secret. I really hated Rose's mom for that. While Rose's dad is a little self-absorbed and totally hands-off in terms of raising his own children, his role as a provider for the family is one that he is good at. He isn't so good at the nurturing part.

Where the book got REALLY weird was with what was going on with Rose's brother, Joseph. At times, he would disappear for days or longer and come back malnourished. No one knew where he went or what happened to him during these periods of absence, but that is revealed at the end of the book.

What bothered me about the format of the book is that there are no quotation marks. It drove me batty!! Instead of: "Or a toaster oven?" Carl said, making sparky sale motions with his hands; we get: Or a toaster oven? Carl said, making sparky sale motions with his hands. For me, I found that it slowed down the pace of my reading because I had to sometimes read sentences over twice to figure out whether or not someone was actually speaking.

I really enjoyed Rose's storyline, but I have to admit that I could have done without the even stranger one concerning Joseph. I just didn't get that!

MY RATING:

3 stars!! It was good, and I enjoyed it.

This book qualifies as:

#53 for my Strictly Print Reading Challenge

#42 for my 2018 Library Love Challenge

#109 for my Beat the Backlist 2018 Challenge

#98 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018

#71 for my New Authors 2018 Reading Challenge

#73 for my 2018 Try Something New Challenge

Advanced #6 for my 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
#10B for my 2018 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
#11A for my Monthly Key Word Challenge 2018
#6 for my What's In A Name 2018
#3N for my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge

#109A for my Good Rule Reading Challenge

#2 for my 2018 Foodies Read Challenge
#37 for my 2018 Paranormal Reading Challenge

Task #11 for my Goodreads An Apple a Day Fall 2018 Seasonal Scavenger Challenge
#6 for my Chapter Break Bingo November 2018
#17 for my Bookish Bingo Fall 2018

View all my reviews

Color Coded Reading Challenge Wrap-up Post

This is my Wrap-up Post for the Color Coded Reading Challenge hosted by Bev @ My Reader's Block.

9/9 prompts completed
42 "color" books read
CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

1.     WHITE IN THE TITLE/COVER: (A) White Bodies by Jane Robins; (B) Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz (Moonlight Bay, Book #1); (C) White Fang by Jack London; (D) In the Woods by Tana French (Dublin Murder Squad, Book #1); (E) What She Knew by Gilly Macintosh; (F) 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson

2.     BLUE COVER: (A) Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan; (B) Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Wonder, Book #1); (C) Dreamfall by Amy Plum (Dreamfall, Book #1); (D) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; (E) Hallowed by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly, Book #2); (F) Radiant by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly, Book #2.5); (G) Devil to Pay by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress, Book #3.5; (H) Starry Night by Debbie Macomber; (I) The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen (The Messy Man, Book #1); (J) The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher; (K) Agatha Raisin and the Witches’ Tree by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin, Book #28)

3.     A BOOK WITH ANY OTHER COLOR IN THE TITLE/ON THE COVER: (A) Silver in the title - Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop (The Others, Book #3); (B) Purple cover: Pushing Up Daisies by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin, Book #27); (C) Orange cover - Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

4.     RED COVER: (A) Survival by Gordon Korman (Island, Book #2); (B) Genesis by Brendan Reichs (Project Nemesis, Book #2); (C) The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor; (D) Boundless by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly, Book #3); (E) Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan, Book #1); (F) Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz; (G) The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre (Deanna Madden, Book #1)

5.     GREEN COVER: (A) Escape by Gordon Korman (Island, Book #3); (B) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky; (C) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce, Book #1)

6.     BROWN COVER: (A) The Bat by Jo Nesbo (Harry Hole, Book #1); (B) Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone (The Hatching, Book #3)

7.     BLACK COVER: (A) Stung by Bethany Wiggins (Stung, Book #1); (B) The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (Hawthorne, Book #1); (C) Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (Sky in the Deep, Book #1); (D) Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley; (E) The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black, Book #1)

8.     YELLOW COVER: (A) The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (The Girl with All the Gifts, Book #1); (B) Run From Fear by Jami Alden (Dead Wrong, Book #3); (C): Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore; (D) Ready to Die by Lisa Jackson (To Die, Book #5)

9.     A BOOK WITH A WORD THAT IMPLIES COLOR: (A) Tartan Candy by K.C. Burn (Fabric Hearts, Book #1)

#Audiobook #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for Tartan Candy by K.C. Burn @authorkcburn @dreamspinners

TITLE: Tartan Candy

SERIES: Fabric Hearts, Book #1
AUTHOR: K.C. Burn 

NARRATOR: David Ross

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press. LLC

PUBLICATION DATE: October 10, 2016

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 7 hrs and 21 mins

GENRE: Contemporary, Romance

ASIN: B01LY3TQ03

Finlay McIntyre (aka Raven) is a successful adult film star with a penchant for kilts, until an accident cuts short his stardom and leaves him with zero sexual desire, lowered self-esteem, and no job. He knew his porn career wouldn’t last forever, but he wasn’t prepared for retirement at twenty-eight. While trying to figure out the rest of his life, Raven agrees to attend a high school reunion. That’s when a malfunctioning AC unit in his hotel room changes everything.

Caleb Sanderson, an entrepreneur with his own HVAC business, has no idea what to expect when he steps into Raven’s hotel room to fix his AC unit. They’re attracted to each other, but Caleb, closeted, can’t afford a gay relationship, not with his mom pressuring him to produce grandchildren. If he wants to keep Raven—who no closet could hold—he’ll need to tell his family the truth. But Raven has a few secrets of his own. He refuses to reveal his porn past to Caleb, a past that might be the final obstacle to Caleb and Raven having any kind of relationship.

MY REVIEW:

A prompt in one of my reading challenges is to read a LGBT romance. I don't ordinarily read contemporary romances, and I also have never read one that features LGBT characters. So, this is a first for me!

Finlay (aka Raven) is a young, good-looking guy. After having been involved in a serious accident, he could no longer work as a gay porn star so he works as an escort minus the sexual services. His "date," Jeremy, hired Raven to accompany him to his high school reunion. The air conditioner in Raven's hotel room is not working, and Raven goes gaga over the repairman that shows up. Actually, the feeling is mutual. Caleb is also attracted to Raven but neither makes a move. Later, Raven busts the air conditioner on purpose so that Caleb has to return and he can make the moves on him.

Meanwhile, during the reunion, Jeremy is all hands and Raven regrets having agreed to this arrangement.

While Raven is out and flaunts his sexuality, Caleb is not. Caleb worries how his ailing mother will react, especially since all she talks about is wanting to become a grandmother and Caleb's family members are constantly setting him up on blind dates hoping that he'll meet the woman of his dreams. They have no idea that he wants to settle down with the man of his dreams! The only one that Caleb can be honest with is his gay cousin, Jaime.

I really felt for Caleb in this story, who clearly was torn between wanting to please his parents but also wanting to be able to be honest with them. That's a hard line, and I get how difficult it would be for him to come out of the closet. I really enjoyed the relationship between Caleb and Jaime, and how nice it must have been for Caleb to have at least one family member that he didn't have to pretend with. I also really enjoyed Caleb's friendship with Francesca, one of his blind dates who saw right through him.

Raven is used to his body being on display, so he obviously had loads of self-confidence and didn't have a problem with that. However, the accident did a number on him and he is very self-conscious of his scars. 

The romance between Raven and Caleb was both hot and sweet, but there was a big showdown when Caleb found out from Jeremy about Raven's porn past. This was my main issue with the story. In this day and age of STDs and HIV, Raven never should have been sexually involved with someone without revealing his sexual past! Caleb had every right to know who he was climbing into bed with, so that part about Raven bugged me.

So, this was my first M-M romance. While I did enjoy the story and it pushed me out of my comfort zone, I probably wouldn't reach for another book in this genre unless I was again trying to fulfill a reading challenge. If that was the case, then I would likely read the next one in this series, Plaid versus Paisley.

David Ross' narration was good, and he was pleasant to listen to. He's very soft-spoken, and he seemed a good fit for the characters.

MY RATING:

3 stars!! It was good, and I enjoyed it!

This book qualifies as:

#69 for my Audiobook Challenge 2018
#10 for my 12th Annual Canadian Book Challenge
#108 for my Beat the Backlist 2018 Reading Challenge
#97 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018
#70 for my New Authors 2018 Reading Challenge
#72 for my 2018 Try Something New Challenge
#11A for my 2018 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
#9 for my Color Coded Reading Challenge
#2C for my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge
#108A for my Good Rule Reading Challenge
#20 for my 2018 Platypire Diversity Challenge
#8 for my 2018 Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge

#11 for my 2018 Romance Roundabout Challenge
#19 for my Literary Pickers Scavenger Hunt 2018
#9 for my Let's Read Indie 2018 Reading Challenge
#5 for my Chapter Break Bingo November 2018
#17 for my Bookish Bingo Fall 2018

View all my reviews

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Seven Days by Patrick Senécal #PatrickSenecal @SimonSchusterCA #CanadianAuthor

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.

Here is this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection:

TITLE: Seven Days
AUTHOR: Patrick Senécal 

TRANSLATORS: Howard Scott and Phyllis Aronoff
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Canada

EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2019 (first published 2002)

FORMAT: Paperback

LENGTH: 320 pages

GENRE: Horror, Thriller

ISBN: 9781982102616

For fans of Stephen King’s Misery and Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman comes an engrossing thriller about a monster who becomes a victim and a victim who becomes a monster. From Patrick Senécal, the Quebec author who has sold over a million books worldwide.

One sunny fall day, Dr. Bruno Hamel’s life changes forever.

His beloved seven-year-old daughter, Jasmine, is the victim of a tragic crime. Grief-stricken, Hamel sets in play a meticulous plan. He will kidnap the man responsible for his daughter’s death and make him pay horribly for what he has done. He manages to ambush a police transport and disappear with his target.

But Hamel hasn’t accounted for Hervé Mercure, a detective with a troubled past who becomes certain he can track down Hamel by studying clues in his past—and in the increasingly unsettling phone calls Hamel makes to his partner, Sylvie.

Both riveting and provocative, this daring thriller is an enthralling meditation on what it means to be human—and to battle the monster within and without.

Who isn't in for a bit of vigilante justice? It also sounds like a plan gone wrong so, yes, count me in! It looks like this book was originally published in French in 2002, so this appears to be the English release. Perhaps this is why I've never heard of this French-Canadian author? I'm always excited to find new Canadian authors to enjoy and I'm adding this one to my list.

What are you waiting on? Please leave a comment in the section below. If you participate in this meme, please leave a link so I can visit your blog!

#Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Gladiator by Anna Hackett @AnnaHackett

TITLE: Gladiator
SERIES: Galactic Gladiators, Book #1

AUTHOR: Anna Hackett

NARRATOR: Vivienne Leheny
PUBLISHER: Anna Hackett

PUBLICATION DATE: April 26, 2017

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 6 hrs and 21 mins

GENRE: Science fiction, Romance

ASIN: B07169WX7M

Fighting for love, honor, and freedom on the galaxy’s lawless outer rim…

When Earth space marine Harper Adams finds herself abducted by alien slavers off a space station, her life turns into a battle for survival. Dumped into an arena on a desert planet on the outer rim, she finds herself face to face with a big, tattooed alien gladiator…the champion of the Kor Magna Arena.

A former prince abandoned to the arena as a teen, Raiden Tiago has long ago earned his freedom. Now he rules the arena, but he doesn’t fight for the glory, but instead for his own dark purpose—revenge against the Thraxian aliens who destroyed his planet. Then his existence is rocked by one small, fierce female fighter from an unknown planet called Earth.

Harper is determined to find a way home, but when she spots her best friend in the arena—a slave of the evil Thraxian aliens—she’ll do anything to save her friend…even join forces with the tough, alpha male who sets her body on fire. But as Harper and Raiden step foot onto the blood-soaked sands of the arena, Harper worries that Raiden has his own dangerous agenda…

MY REVIEW:

While I do love sci-fi/dystopia, I don't have much interest in anything even remotely space related. One of my reading challenges is to read a sci-fi romance, and I've been dreading it because it really isn't my thing...or so I thought! I saw this author's books featured on another blog, and I made a note of her name because I'm not familiar with this genre. I'm a convert! I really REALLY enjoyed this sci-fi romance and can't wait to read the rest in this series!

Harper Adams is a space marine, who has been working aboard the Fortuna Research Station 600 billion kilometres from earth for almost 18 months. An alien ship travels through a wormhole, and Harper along with two of her friends are captured. She is taken to a gladiator arena, where she must fight to survive. She is determined to escape, but not before she finds and rescues her friends. She forms an unexpected alliance with Raiden, a powerful alien who belongs to the House of Galen. Their chemistry is pretty hot! Who knew that aliens could be sexy?!

I loved this sci-fi world that Hackett created, and I can't wait to learn more about the Thraxians. This book had lots of action, and I loved the fighting that takes place in the ring. The budding romance between Harper's friend, Regan, and Thorin (another alien warrior from the House of Galen) continues in the next book in the series, Warrior.

Vivienne Leheny's narration was great! She gave each character a unique voice which made it very easy to distinguish between characters. I'm planning to continue the series on audio, and I hope Leheny does them all!

MY RATING:

4 stars!! I really enjoyed it, and you should put it on your TBR if you enjoy sci-fi romances!

This book qualifies as:

#68 for my Audiobook Challenge 2018
#71 for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
#107 for my Beat the Backlist 2018 Reading Challenge
#96 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2018
#69 for my New Authors 2018 Reading Challenge
#71 for my 2018 Try Something New Challenge
#37 for my 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
Task #25 for my 2018 Reading Challenge (Linz The Bookworm)
#11 for my Ivyclad Bingo 2018
#107A for my Good Rule Reading Challenge

#10 for my 2018 Romance Roundabout Challenge
#18 for my Literary Pickers Scavenger Hunt 2018
#36 for my 2018 Paranormal Reading Challenge
#20 for my Science Fiction vs Fantasy Bingo 2018
#8 for my Let's Read Indie 2018 Reading Challenge
Task #14 for my Goodreads An Apple a Day Fall 2018 Seasonal Scavenger Challenge
#4 for my Chapter Break Bingo November 2018
#16 for my Bookish Bingo Fall 2018

View all my reviews

Books with Great Platonic Friendships

This is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, they post a new Top Ten list that one of their bloggers will answer. Everyone is welcome to join!

Books with Great Platonic Friendships

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne
Oh my gosh, this book!!! The friendship that develops between Bruno, the 9-year-old son of a Nazi commandant, with Shmuel, a Jewish boy in a concentration camp, will rip your heart out. Bruno is deserving of the highest award to Best Friend Ever!!! I wept, and wept, and wept. If you haven't read this one, go right now to the library and pick it up. Seriously, it's one that you'll never forget and will stay with you. A beautifully tragic story.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by J.K. Rowling
(Harry Potter, Book #1)
I adore the friendship that developed between Harry, Ron, and Hermione! Very sweet, and the sacrifice that Ron made during the chess game so that Harry could checkmate the White King - ack! my heart. A very emotional scene.

Wonder
by R.J. Palacio
This should be required reading for every person on how to treat others. The friendship between Auggie and Jack is heartwarming but will also break your heart, as it did Auggie's. His relationship with Summer helps to repair the damage. This is another story that will stay with you.

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
A very moving story about Asif and his friendship with the servant boy, Hassan. It's tragic, but there is also a redemption theme.

The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton
The Curtis boys are orphans, and their friendships with their fellow Greasers are just as strong as blood ties. 

A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
I loved how the relationship between Ove and his neighbours next door developed! Truly a heartwarming story.

The Christmas Angel Project
by Melody Carlson
You're going to want to put this one on your Christmas TBR. It's about a group of bookish friends who meet for book club. When one of the ladies dies from cancer, she leaves a legacy behind with special gifts that she made for each of her bookish buddies before she died.


So, what are your favourite books with great platonic friendships? Please let me know in the comments, or leave me a link to your blog post if you are also participating in the meme!