#Review of A Beginner’s Guide To Ruling The Galaxy By David Solomons #DavidSolomons @NosyCrow #MiddleGrade #ChildrensBook #Humour #Sci-Fi #ABeginnersGuideToRulingTheGalaxy #BookRecommendation

A Beginner’s Guide To Ruling The Galaxy
By David Solomons

A Beginner’s Guide To Ruling The Galaxy is a humorous Middle Grade book for ages 9 plus and already a hit with some “reading teachers” in schools for reading for pleasure times. David Solomons has also won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
Thanks firstly to Nosy Crow for accepting my request to review.

A brilliantly funny story for 9+ readers about what happens when a galactic princess moves in next door and almost brings about the end of the world, from the bestselling, award-winning author of My Brother is a Superhero.

Gavin’s got a new neighbour and she’s really annoying. Niki follows him everywhere, bosses him about, and doesn’t care that her parents will obliterate Earth with their galactic warships if she doesn’t stop running away from them.

Can Niki and Gavin sort out the alien despots (aka Mum and Dad) and save the planet? Possibly.

Will they become friends along the way? Doubtful…

A hilarious new story from the author of My Brother Is a Superhero, winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the British Book Industry Awards Children’s Book of the Year. Perfect for fans of David Baddiel and David Walliams.

Review

A Beginner’s Guide To Ruling The Galaxy is humorous with much hi-jinx in a fast-paced sci-fi adventure.
Children will find it fun finding out about Gavin, who is generally quite a private person and his strange new neighbour, Niki. The quirks and adventure is the type of fun that children can really get stuck into. There is a lot to like in this packed-full book. It’s a book that is great for reading for pleasure alone and with an adult together as there are certain quips that adults would appreciate but children would see very differently, much like in family films, there’s something for everyone.

The book makes me remember tv drama My Parents Are Aliens and Third Rock From the Sun but with the quick humour of the likes of David Walliams. That aside, the book has its own originality too with its own blend of relatable characters, who are interesting to discover more about, throughout its themes of family, friendship and kinship.
The premise of aliens walking among us is always going to be fun, but with the way this is written, the author has nailed it!

#BookReview By Lou of We Are Not Like Them By Christine Pride and Jo Piazza #ChristinePride #JoPiazza @HQstories #LiteraryFiction

We Are Not Like Them
By Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

We Are Not Like Them deals with current issues surrounding race and friendships in a powerful book. It may be thought-provoking for many and certainly good for book clubs. Discover the blurb and review below. Thanks to HQ for gifting me the book.

Blurb

Not every story is black and white.

Riley and Jen have been best friends since they were children, and they thought their bond was unbreakable. It never mattered to them that Riley is black and Jen is white. And then Jen’s husband, a Philadelphia police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed black teenager and everything changes in an instant.

This one act could destroy more than just Riley and Jen’s friendship. As their community takes sides, so must Jen and Riley, and for the first time in their lives the lifelong friends find themselves on opposing sides.

But can anyone win a fight like this?

We Are Not Like Them is about friendship and love. It’s about prejudice and betrayal. It’s about standing up for what you believe in, no matter the cost.

Review

We Are Not Like Them is set in the USA. It is incredibly current and reflects what is still part of USA domestic affairs reported across the main news channels worldwide.
The main protagonists are Riley – a black woman who is a reporter and Jen – a white woman who is the wife of a police officer who just happens to pull a gun on a black unarmed teenager.

Riley and Jen have been friends for many years, but this incident causes much heightened tension in the community in-which they live and between each other as they need to pick sides to be on. Their bonds that seemed so strong, strong enough to last a lifetime are put to the test in a way neither had ever imagined. What ensues is even more complex, hence the by-line highlighting that not everything is black and white. There are nuances as well as different perspectives on this one incident, which demonstrates just how involving such a matter can become and the explosive effects it can have on those not directly involved and directly involved. It shows how not everything is as clear-cut as first assumed.

It’s one I’m sure will have many people discussing and would be suitable for book clubs as well as of course reading it alone.

#Review By Lou of Promise Me By Jill Mansell @JillMansell @Emily_JP @headlinepg @HeadlineFiction #ContemporaryFiction #readingcommunity #booktwt

Promise Me
By Jill Mansell

Promise Me by Jill Mansell is delightful and so engaging it is hard to put down as it pulled you immediately into the village of Foxwell. I was delighted to win this book in a competition ran by Headline Books. I entered having enjoyed previous books by Jill Mansell, long before I even began my blog. Find out what I thought of this one below and also discover the blurb below.

Blurb

One minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.

The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn’t intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.

Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn’t recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction – and luckily one’s about to turn up.

Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead…

Review

With a main character called Lou, how could I possibly resist? That and Jill Mansell’s sublime writing, this is a book to slink back in a chair and take time to enjoy what is an engaging story.

Jill Mansell is one of the masters of having a main character and then also writing all sorts of characters, just as strongly, round about them, to create a whole community of all different ages in a charming setting and she’s done it again in Promise Me. She will also make you feel many emotions and has a knack of having you care one way or another about each character and be entranced by the words on the page, that suddenly sail by, as does time and before you know it, you’ve reached the end, and what a great ending it is.

There is a map of Foxwell and it looks ready to jump right in and begin a new life there, which is what Lou does. She feels she needs to move onwards with her life and for her, that means moving to a small, seemingly idyllic village in the Cotswolds. It totally has small village vibes, when you look beyond the perfect setting. It consists of people knowing each other and there being secrets that never are that for long and people breaking promises. Edgar is different and he makes a promise of a lifetime for her and vows to keep to it.

Edgar, an octogenarian curmudgeon is perfectly written, I’m sure everyone has or will come across a curmudgeon at some point. Lou ends up, unplanned, working for him and he seems a guy whose curmudgeoness is in every ounce of his body, heart and soul and is evident in absolutely everything, but then he has had some disappointments in his life. The pairing between him and Lou is great! Readers will see how she opens up his world too, which is heartwarming.

There are also subplots pulled in as you get to know other people if Foxwell, such as Jess, who has an uncle who owns the antique shop and a dog called Captain Oates. There’s Sammy who’s perhaps going to be a music sensation and more… There’s also a single guy in town. Could there be someone perfect for Lou?
You get to see all the different relationships develop as well as the various buildings within the village and the food in the restaurant sounds delicious!

This is a book I terrific book, which highly recommend. It’s a Must Read for a heartwarming story with life about it.

#BookReview By Lou of David’s Bathtime Adventure By Sue Wickstead @rararesources @JayJayBus #PictureBook #ChildrensBook #Bathtime #BlogTour

David’s Bathtime Adventure
By Sue Wickstead

David’s Bathtime Adventure is an imaginative and fun story and today I am on the blog tour with a review. Find out more about the blurb and my review below. Thanks first to Rachel’s Random Resources for the invite and book.

Blurb

David loves his bath time!

As Mum fills the bath with water, David gets himself ready for a swimming adventure.

With toys and his fishing gear, he certainly enjoys splashing around in the water.

(And making a mess!)

Where will his imagination take him?

Review

Bathtime can be fun! David’s Bathtime Adventure makes it look like the best of times in this picture book, with a great story. It is about David and his bath toys having such a joyous and imaginative time of adventure. This book is perfect for those children who like fun and excitement as well as those who are reluctant to go into the bath. Parents/carers can use it as an aid. It’s also great for using to enhance bonding over bathtimes. The illustrations are also bright and bold as well as exciting and full of adventure. At the back of the book there is also a bit about water play and its importance.

50 Books To Read If You’re An Armchair Detective By Eric Karl Anderson @lonesomereader @MurdochBooksUK @RandomTTours #BlogTour #50BooksToRead

50 Books To Read If You’re…
An Armchair Detective
By Eric Karl Anderson

*****

If you’re that armchair detective who likes to solve puzzles, then this is the perfect book for you, where you’ll find 50 book recommendations of the detective sub-genre of crime fiction. It is perfect for yourself or as a present for your partner-in-crime. They set me up good and proper with free gifts of a notepad and small pencil, detective glasses and magnifying glass to solve the cases. Thanks to Random T Tours for the invite and Murdoch Books UK for the surprise gifts and book. Investigate more in pics, blurb and review below…

A book lover’s guide to the 50 most iconic and interesting ‘cosy crime’ novels.

By Eric Karl Anderson

50 Books to Read If You’re an Armchair Detective is the perfect gift for book-loving friends.

Part of a new series of gift books celebrating books and reading, 50

Books to Read If You’re an Armchair Detective is packed full of

inspiration for fans of cosy crime to discover lesser-known books and revisit forgotten classics.

Whether you’re a Richard Osman fan or a Sherlock Holmes devotee, bibliophile and book blogger Eric Karl Anderson will introduce you to some new and unexpected novels. The book includes an interactive element with space for star ratings, lists of favourite reads, thoughts and dates for beginning and finishing books.

Encompassing a range of authors and books, from classic to contemporary, 50 Books to Read If You’re an Armchair Detective offers the lucky reader plenty of scope to discover the best cosy crime books across the globe.

Review

This is perfect for armchair detectives and would even make a perfect gift for someone or a treat for yourself. This book has a bit about contemporary titles and their authors, such as The Thursday Murder Club By Richard Osman, In The Woods By Tana French, The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis, The Windsor Knot By S.J Bennett to Classic Crime such as Moonshine By Wilkie Collins, The Mysterious Affair At Styles By Agatha Christie and perhaps lesser known titles to discover such as from the mid 1900s such as The Clock Strikes Twelve by Patricia Wentworth, Why Shoot A Butler By Georgette Heyer. This is only a small selection of what you can find in this beautiful compact book that is full of useful and interesting information. Readers can also keep themselves organised at the back of the book as there are pages to write thoughts and lists on. It is a real gem of a book for avid and new readers alike.

#BookReview By Lou of 50 Books To Read If You’re… A Hopeless Romantic By Eric Karl Anderson @lonesomereader @MurdochBooksUK @RandomTTours #50BooksToRead #HopelessRomantic

50 Books To Read If You’re A…
Hopeless Romantic
By Eric Karl Anderson
*****

Today I am pleased to be on the blog tour to review this list book that gives you a bit of insight of 50 great romantic books. Thanks first to Random T. Tours for inviting me to review and to the publisher, Murdoch Books for the book and lights and love heart sweets (see pics below). The sweets are eaten, the book duly read and scrutinised and the lights were on the mantle piece, but will be part of my Christmas decorations in December. Now, onto discovering the book through pics, the blurb and my review.

Books to Read If You’re a Hopeless Romantic is the perfect gift for book-loving friends.

Discover lesser known books and revisit forgotten romantic classics with 50 Books to Read If You’re a Hopeless Romantic.

Whether you’re a Bridget Jones fan or a Pride and Prejudice devotee, bibliophile and book blogger Eric Karl Anderson will introduce any fans of love stories

to some new and unexpected novels. The book includes an interactive element with space for star

ratings, lists of favourite reads, thoughts and dates for beginning and finishing books.

Encompassinga range of authors and books, from classic to contemporary, 50 Books to Read If You’re a Hopeless Romantic offers the lucky reader plenty of scope to discover the best romance books across the globe.

Review

Discover 50 romantic books through different eras, from historical to contemporary, the author has thought about something for everyone who takes pleasure in this genre. Within this , you’ll find books dating from the 1800’s right up to present day. It takes readers to, perhaps well-known books such as Wuthering Heights, The Graduate, One Day, Bridget Jones Diary, Gone With The Wind, Normal People, Never Let Me Go, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, Open Water to name but a few, to perhaps, lesser known books for these days such as The Well of Loneliness, The Price of Salt, The Narrows to name but a few.

This is more than a list that the author has compiled, you’ll find a bit of information about the books that will be sure to inspire. It is a bit like an unearthing of a treasure trove of love and romance through the eras within books. Each with romance and fun but also with storylines to really get your teeth into. It is a list that may also remind readers that romantic fiction isn’t frivolous, it also has gripping, emotional storylines.

The interactive element is both practical and fun as you can jot down your favourites and thoughts. This would be a great treat for any reader, even as a present or for yourself.

What will you unearth and give a try from this book? It is well-worth a read.