15 Mar 2023

ELLIE-MAY & HER TOY DRAGON, BEN.

I can't tell you how excited both my little bookworms and I were to have read this book as part of the Book Tour which also stops by Gina's Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers on the 17th of March. 

Today {the fifth day of the tour} its my pleasure to be sharing our thoughts on ...


ELLIE-MAY & HER TOY DRAGON, BEN by GENNA ROWBOTHAM. 

​

Target Age ...  Children: Ages 3-5

Genre ... Children’s Rhyming Picture Book

Publication Date: 14th March 2023

Standalone Novel

Estimated Page Count: 34

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3GmtLp1


Feeling so excited for a new day ahead, Ellie-May struggles to sleep. So when her toy dragon, Ben grows into a real-life dragon, they take to the starry skies and embark on a night-time adventure together, where they visit Ben’s castle and enjoy a dragon party.

But as the sun begins to rise and the stars fade, will Ellie-May be able to stay awake?


The wonderfully colourful, exciting adventures of what happens when Ellie-May, struggling to sleep, sets off on a wonderful adventure with her toy dragon, Ben, who comes to life.

I cannot begin to tell you how much the little bookworms and I loved this book with its vibrant illustrations and delightful story that, written in rhyme in bold print, was easy to read; the slightly older one by himself, the younger ones, alongside myself or their older sibling.

Finding all kinds of excuses not to sleep but to hear the story again and again, its just as well that as Ellie-May found out, as much as she'd like to have stayed and played ...


"But first, I need some sleep:

it's important you know.

It helps me stay healthy

and it helps me to grow!" {Pg not numbered}


Perfect for the home and school library and for children of all ages; the rhyme making it easy to follow {not to mention a fun way of learning to read} the bright illustrations that accompany the story so beautifully ensuring the book will be loved by even pre-readers .. in Genna Rowbotham we have found a new favourite author.


Genna Rowbotham wrote her first children’s story in 2017, fitting it in around caring for her young family, and is now an author of nine children’s books as well as a short story in a magazine. Rowbotham has a passion to write stories that help entertain, educate and inspire young-ones as the reader can escape the seriousness of life and enter a world of magic.

Her other interests include reading, writing, travelling, astrology, spending time with her family and exploring the great outdoors.

She lives with her lively, imaginative family in Derbyshire in a house full of books, magazines as well as colourful drawings and all sorts of artwork from her children (empty cereal boxes are often taken from the recycle bin to reinvent something wonderful like a spy camera or telescope).

​

Website ... www.gennarowbotham.co.uk

Book Bub ... https://www.bookbub.com/profile/genna-rowbotham

FaceBook ~ Pintarest ~ Twitter ~ YouTube


With thanks to Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for another well organised Blog Tour. 

Agree or disagree with me, all opinions are my own. No financial compensation was asked for nor given. Threats of violence towards my favourite teddy bear went unheeded as did promises of chocolate.

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25 Jan 2023

REVISITED, THE BOOKS OF 2022

 01 Adventures In The Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird

02 Life On The Golden Horn by Mary Wortley Montagu

03 The Congo & The Cameroons by Mary Kingsley

04 Finn And Fred's Arctic Adventure {RFR, BT} by Jocelyn Porter {RFR, BT}

05 Burning Bright by Michele Kwasniewski {RFR}

06 At Death's Door by Anna Legat {RFR, BT}

07 Remember This? Volume 2 by Brad Dison

7 books or, if you prefer, 1,189 pages read of which 3 were Received For review {2 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 8 books or, if you prefer, 1,692 pages read of which 5 were Received For Review {3 as part of a Blog Tour}

01 Princess No Knots by Deborah Dillon

02 Unravelling by Helen Forbes 

03 David's Bin Day by Sue Wickstead 

04 The Cornish Captive by Nicola Pyrce 

05 The Last Keeper by J.V. Hilliard

5 books or, if you prefer, 1,307 pages read of which all were Received For Review {4 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 4 books or, if you prefer, 1,621 pages read of which 2 were Received For Review {1 as part of a Blog Tour}

01 Mrs Morphett's Macaroons by Patsy Trench 
03 Mollie Mack, Private Detective by Linda Dobinson 
04 Murder On Oxford Lane by Tony Bassett
5 books or, if you prefer, 1,158 pages read of which all were Received For Review {4 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 3 books or if you prefer, 1,009 pages read of which 2 were Received For Review {both as part of a Blog Tour}

01 The Testament Of Loki by Joanne Harris 
03 Other People's Lives by JE Rowney 
04 Escape From The Ghetto by John Carr
4 books or, if you prefer, 1,207 pages read of which 2 were Received For Review {both of them as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 4 books or, if you prefer, 858 pages read of which 3 were Received for Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour}

02 A Not Quite Perfect Family by Claire Sandy
03 According To Yes by Dawn French
04 Friend Request by Laura Marshall
05 The Hostage Of Rome by Robert M Kidd 
06 The Maids Of Biddenden by GD Harper  

6 books or, if you prefer, 2,259 pages read of which 3 were Received For Review {all of them as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 6 books or, if you prefer, 1,634 pages read of which 3 were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour}

02 Black, White, Gray All Over by Fredrick D Reynolds 
03 Why We Walk by Siena 
04 Driven by Dane Cobain 
05 Kaitlyn by Kevin Lewis
06 A Place Called Here by Cecelia O'Herne

6 books or, if you prefer, 1,653 pages read of which 4 were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last years 3 books or, if you refer, 1,524 pages read of which ?? were Received For Review {?? as part of a Blog Tour}

01 Killing The Butterfly by Dale Ward 
02 The Locksmith by Linda Calvey
03 Now That You're Here by Kate Staves 
05 Mr Toppit by Charles Elton
06 The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton
07 A Little Book Of Gargoyles by Mike Harding

8 books or, if you prefer, 1,576 pages read of which 3 were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 5 books or, if you refer, 1,414 pages read of which 2 were Received For Review {both as part of a Blog Tour}

03 Bodies, Brains And Bogies by Steve Brown 
04 Beginning Of Arrogance by Bryan Cole 

4 books or, if you prefer, 845 pages read of which all were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 7 books or, if you refer, 1,414 pages read of which 3 were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour}

 01 Goods & Effects by Al Schnupp 
03 Exit Wounds by Annie O'Niell Stein 
04 David's Bathtime Adventure by Sue Wickstead 
05 Janet Jackson's Yorkshire B&B by Becky Papworth 

6 books or, if you prefer, 977 pages read of which 5 were Received For Review {2 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 6 books or, if you refer, 1,160 pages read of which 1 was Received For Review as part of a Blog Tour

01 The Gifts by Liz Hyder {RFR/BT}
02 The Empire by Michael Ball {RFR/BT}
03 True Courage by Kathryn Barrett {RFR/BT}
04 Dig It Digby by Jodie Parachini {RFR/BT}
05 The Accidental Detective by Melvyn Small {RFR/BT}

6 books or, if you prefer, 1,128 pages read of which all were Received For Review {5 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 7 books or, if you refer, 1,030 pages read of which 5 were Received For Review {3 as part of a Blog Tour}

02 Young Eagle Rising by Ellie Joyce 
03 Cut From Stone by Brendan O'Meara 
04 Flicker's Garden Rescue by Jodie Parachini 
05 A Mother's Christmas Wish by Glenda Young 
06 Hound On A Scrounge by Maria Bucci  

7 books or, if you prefer, 1,394 pages read of which 6  were Received For Review {4 as part of a Blog Tour} compared to last year's 11 books or, if you refer, 1,523 pages read of which 7 were Received For Review {6 as part of a Blog Tour}

01 Dying For Christmas by Tammy Cohen
02 A Rag And Bone Christmas by Dilly Court
03 The Winter Baby by Sheila Newberry
3 books or, if you prefer, 1,292 pages none of which were Received For Review, compared to last year's 1 books or, if you refer, 400 pages read of which none were Received For Review 

So, altogether 2022 saw ...
67 books or, if you prefer, 15,985 pages read of which 46 were Received For Review {32 as part of a Blog Tour compared to 2021 which saw 65 books or, if you prefer, 15,499 pages read of which 36 were Received For Review {24 as part of a Blog Tour}

OTHER YEAR'S REVISTED ...
2018 {Apologies, for some reason I don't seem to have revisited my 2018 books. I may well revisit them sometime this year as I have a paper copy of all book read}



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16 Jan 2023

SOMEONE TO KISS.

 My first book tour of 2023 and what a great read it was. Today {the second day of the tour} its my pleasure to be amongst the bloggers who over 10 days will be participating in the Blog Tour of ...

SOMEONE TO KISS by JAMIE ANDERSON.

Genre ... NA / Adult Romance, Romantic Comedy

Publication Date ...  26th September 2022

Standalone Novel

Publisher Content Warning ... While it is funny and ultimately uplifting Someone To Kiss does tackle some more serious issues like addiction (alcohol) and consent and features good mental health and anxiety representation. It is closed door, also some swearing.

Order Link ... https://mybook.to/someonetokiss


A Hilarious and Heartening Take on the Pitfalls of Modern Dating.


As the clock strikes midnight over a disastrous New Year’s Eve and happy couples celebrate all around her, Kate makes a resolution, hastily scrawled on the back of a napkin, that next New Year’s Eve she will have found someone of her own to kiss.

​

But when you’re a forty-something cat-mom who’d rather binge Netflix than brave the singles scene, finding someone to kiss turns out to be harder than it sounds. Kate is totally unprepared for navigating hook-up apps, speed-dating, and sliding into somebody’s DMs.

​

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, Kate seems further than ever from reaching her goal. As relationships crumble around her and dark long-kept secrets spill out, could Kate's fixation on her quest cause her to let true love slip through her fingers forever?

​

Someone to Kiss is a wry and witty romantic comedy, tackling serious issues with real heart. 

 


The story of forty-something Kate who having found herself alone on New Year's Eve, drunk and underneath a table, her underwear exposed, vows that the next year will be very different.

Hmm! A forty-something year old who finds herself drunk, under a table, her underwear on show. I certainly wasn't going to relate to Kate. Question being, was I going to like her, let alone enjoy her as a character?

As it turns out I liked Kate well enough {I mean she loved her cat, Mittens, so couldn't be all bad, right?}, actually enjoying her as a character even if at times I thought her a totally believable forty-something, at other times, far from it; her behaviour more like that of someone a decade ... or two younger.

Unsettling images flashed through my head like I was remembering a trauma.
Flash: Dancing with Nate to "Cotton Eyed Joe", grabbing his beer and pounding it like it was a glass of water.
Flash: Sharing glossy pink lipstick in the bathroom with a woman I'd never met.
Flash: Shivering outside on a bench, asking if I could have a drag of someone's cigarette.
Flash: Concerned, blurry faces - someone pulling me off the ground and bringing me back inside, the smell of vomit following close behind. {Pg 11/12}

The comical and kind of tragic tale {or is that just me being a smug, happily married fifty-something? Actually don't answer that} of what ensues when, determined to find Someone To Kiss, Kate finds herself, the member of several on-line dating apps, having one, err, unremarkable date after another. Which is kind of frustrating when there are two eligible men right there in front of her; two eligible men that, like carrots before a donkey, are being tantalizingly dangled right there under her very nose ... and that of us readers. The thing being, will she end up with Someone, anyone, To Kiss come the new year and could it be best friend Julie's brother Ben OR the friendly barista ?

Told mainly from the point of view of Kate but with interjections from some of the other characters and including some of the messages between Kate and her potential Someone To Kiss {Not my favourite format I have to say but here it worked well enough}, whilst being funny, the book did feature some mental health issues which part of me thought commendandable, the other half? Well! The other half of me was kind of longing for a read that was simply light-hearted entertainment. 

In a nutshell, the main characters, surprisingly endearing; an easy, humorous read that, longing to know the outcome, I found myself reading until the wee small hours, I did enjoy this debut novel and am looking forward to its follow-up, Love Julie.



Jamie Anderson is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. A proud Canadian and Saskatchewanian, she wanted to set her first two novels in the place she was born and raised.


​She works in content marketing, has a certificate in professional writing and has done a smattering of freelance writing, character development and copyediting over the past several years.


​She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, and has been reading for longer than that. She lives happily with her mountain of books, her TV and her two plants.


Sign-up to Jamie's newsletter ... https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cxifz0ucfv for news on her follow-up romance novel Love, Julie. You’ll also receive exclusive deals, special offers and a FREE copy of Jamie’s sweet, uplifting novella Running from Christmas as a welcome gift!  


Social Media Links ... ~ Twitter ~ GoodReads ~ TikTok ~ Instagram ~ FaceBook ~ 


With thanks to Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for another well organised Blog Tour. 

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