Book Review: Doodletopia: Cartoons

Doodletopia: Cartoons by Christopher Hart

Draw, Design, and Color Your Own Super-Fun Cartoon Creations

This is a neat book for learning to draw cartoons! The book is filled with drawing exercises and step-by-step tutorials that are fun and easy to learn. Unlike some drawing how-to books, this one has you draw right in the pages of the book so you don't have to have your own paper or sketchbook at hand to enjoy it! Plus, the book is laced with humor throughout which makes it even more enjoyable! I've done the first two step-by-step drawings and both proved to be quite simple to draw! Everything is explained quite clearly so it's easy to understand and follow along. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys drawing or wishes to better their skills!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Time Chamber

The Time Chamber

A magical story and coloring book

by Daria Song

When a tiny fairy who lives inside a cuckoo clock

decides to explore the world outside, she discovers a

human realm where everything is immense and magical.

Filled with fantastical, intricate pen-and-ink illustrations by artist

Daria Song, The Time Chamber presents a Korean pop art-inspired 

vision of our world made new---and ready for coloring.

I've wanted an adult coloring book for some time now so I was excited when 

I saw that Blogging for Books had one available for review! 

This is a gorgeous book with lots of intricate and lovely pictures ready to be colored.

The cover of the book is also gorgeous and the pages are made of a very sturdy, good quality paper.

I already colored one of the pages, and look forward to coloring the rest! A very lovely book indeed! I recommend it to anyone who enjoys coloring, young or old! (though it's definitely more geared toward women than men!)

I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Q&A a Day for Creatives

Q&A a Day for Creatives

A 4 year journal

From the back cover: 

Q&A a Day for Creatives is your go-to source for inspiration, whimsy, and idea generation. Each page of this four-year journal features a compelling question designed to get you thinking, drawing, and dreaming. Open the journal to today's date and fill in the appropriate space as you see fit. (Pencil doodles? Watercolor? Musical scales?) As the journal fills year after year, you'll own a showcase of your ever-growing creative output. 

I am super obsessed with journals, so I was ecstatic to get this! I haven't actually started it yet, but I can tell it will be lots of fun! Some of the prompts seem pretty easy, while others are more thought-provoking, which is nice to get you thinking and get your creative juices flowing! I've flipped through several pages and found lots of prompts that I know I'll really enjoy doing, while there are a few I'm not so excited about, but will be good for getting me outside my comfort zone. The book itself is beautifully put together and of a good, sturdy make. The cover is flexible but not flimsy, and the inside cover is a beautiful sky blue color. The book is a good size and easily lays open for you to do your work. The pages seem to be good quality paper that should hold up through whatever artistic endeavors you put them through. (Though some markers would probably leak through.) I am very pleased with this journal, and can't wait to begin! (The only struggle is deciding  whether to start it now or wait until January 1st!)

I received a copy of this journal for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Luther and Katharina

Luther and Katharina 

by 

Jody Hedlund

SHE WAS A NUN OF NOBLE BIRTH. HE, A HERETIC,

A REFORMER...AN OUTLAW OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.

In the sixteenth century, nun Katharina von Bora's fate fell no further than

the Abbey. Until she read the writings of Martin Luther.

His sweeping Catholic church reformation---condemning a cloistered life and

promoting the goodness of marriage---awakened her desire for everything she'd

been forbidden.

Including Martin Luther himself.

Despite the fact that the attraction and tension between them is undeniable,

Luther holds fast to his convictions and remains isolated, refusing to risk

anyone's life but his own. Katharina longs for love, but is strong-willed. She

clings proudly to her class distinction, pining for nobility over the heart of a

reformer.

They couldn't be more different.

But as the world comes tumbling down around them, and with the threat

on Luther's life a constant strain, these unlikely allies forge an unexpected

bond of understanding, support, and love.

Together, they will alter the religious landscape forever.

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the historical value it held and learning what things were like back then---quite awful, I might say! It was also interesting to learn about Martin Luther and Katharina, and the hardships they faced. It kept my interest through its entirety, and rarely had a dull moment. It was my third read by this author and probably won't be my last. While Jody tends to focus perhaps a bit much on the physical aspect of relationships, her writing is good and she keeps the story flowing at a comfortable pace. I give it four stars.

I received this book for free from Water Brook Press in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Sabotaged

Sabotaged by Dani Pettrey (Alaskan Courage book 5)

Growing up, Goody-two-shoes Kirra Jacobs and trouble-maker Reef McKenna were always at odds. Now as they work search-and-rescue together for Alaska's arduous Iditarod race, a growing attraction seems to be forcing aside old arguments. Then Reef catches Kirra sneaking from camp in the middle of the night.

Kirra's uncle, a musher in the race, has disappeared. Kirra and Reef quickly track the man, but what they discover is harrowing: Frank's daughter has been kidnapped. Kirra and Reef, along with the entire McKenna family, are thrown into a race to stop a shadowy villain who is not only threatening a girl's life---but appears willing to unleash one of the largest disasters Alaska has ever seen.

This was a good book! The first I've read by this author, and I'd be interested in reading more by her. Even though it was the 5th in a series it didn't seem to throw me off much, I think that while the books have a lot of the same characters, they don't necessarily have to be read in order. I actually do have one of the other books in this series that I had gotten for free a while back on my iPod, so now I'm looking forward to reading that one! All-in-all a good, suspenseful read that will hold your interest right up until the end.

I received this book for free from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: The Pharaoh's Daughter

The Pharaoh's Daughter 

by 

Mesu Andrews 

_________________________________________________________________________________

"You will be called Anippe, 

daughter of the Nile. Do you like it?"

Without waiting for a reply, she pulls me into her squishy, round tummy for a hug.

I'm trying not to cry. Pharaoh's daughters don't cry . . .

When we make our way down the tiled hall, I try to stop at Ummi Kiya's chamber. I know her spirit has flown yet I long for one more moment. Amenia pushes me past so I keep walking and don't look back.

Like the waters of the Nile, I will flow.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt's good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment that awakened in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to become the bride of Sebak, the kind but quick-tempered captain of Pharaoh Tut's army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives---women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.

When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt's gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son, Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.

As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan for them all?

This book is easily one of the best I've read in a long time! It's fast paced and compelling, and once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down! I sat up late several nights in a row until finishing it last night. It's so full of many different things---love, war, suspense, drama, joy, sadness . . . everything a book needs to be truly good! This was the first book I've read by Mesu Andrew's and I look forward to reading the next book in the series, the story of Miriam! I highly recommend this book and suggest you get your hands on it as soon as possible! My only complaint would be that I felt at times the characters acted and talked a little too modern, and some of the descriptions had a few modern phrases or words thrown in as well. But other than that, a stupendous read! A five star rating from me. 

I received this book for free from Water Brooke Press in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: The Secret of Pembrooke Park

The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen

Abigail Foster is the practical daughter. She fears she will end up a spinster, especially as she has little dowry, and the one man she thought might marry her seems to have fallen for her younger, prettier sister.
Facing financial ruin, Abigail and her father search for more affordable lodgings, until a strange solicitor arrives with an astounding offer: the use of a distant manor house abandoned for eighteen years. The Fosters journey to imposing Pembrooke Park and are startled to find it entombed as it was abruptly left: tea cups encrusted with dry tea, moth-eaten clothes in wardrobes, a doll's house left mid-play . . .
The handsome local curate welcomes them, but though he and his family seem acquainted with the manor's past, the only information they offer is a stern warning: Beware trespassers drawn by rumors that Pembrooke Park contains a secret room filled with treasure.
This catches Abigail's attention. Hoping to restore her family's finances---and her dowry---Abigail looks for this supposed treasure. But eerie sounds at night and footprints in the dust reveal she isn't the only one secretly searching the house.
Then Abigail begins receiving anonymous letters, containing clues about the hidden room and startling discoveries about the past.
As old friends and new foes come calling at Pembrooke Park, secrets come to light. Will Abigail find the treasure and love she seeks . . . or very real danger?

This was a fairly good book. The mystery kept me interested, though it did have a few slow parts throughout it. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that it seemed like the author was trying to make her characters act like the people do in Pride and Prejudice, and I just didn't like that very much. It was TOO much like Pride and Prejudice and how the people talk in those movies. Most of the men ended up having "prissy" voices in my head because they didn't talk like men . . . haha. But other than that, a pretty interesting read that kept my interest all throughout it, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good mysterious historical romance!

I received this book for free from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review.