Friday, 19 October 2018

Book Review- Blog Tour: Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend (Middle Grade)

Title: Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend
Author: Cheryl Carpinello
Publisher:Bublish Incorporated
Publication date: May 2017
Pages: 150
Fornat Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of Women on Writing Tour

Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend is available to purchase on Amazon.com. 



His one desire...To be a knight.
His future queen...At times reckless.
Best friends…Bound by Friendship and Loyalty.

When their adventure turns deadly & dangerous, Guinevere & Cedwyn find themselves embroiled in a life-or-death struggle.

Not only are they in danger, but so are the kids of Cadbury Castle.

Renegades--foiled in their attempt to kidnap the princess--steal the children of Cadbury Castle to sell as slaves. Guinevere and Cedwyn vow to rescue the children, but a miscalculation puts them all in more danger.

As the plan quickly unravels, Cedwyn chooses to turn his dream of becoming a knight into reality.
Will their courage be strong enough to survive, or will one make the ultimate sacrifice?


 


Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend is the second book in the Tales and Legends for Reluctant Readers series.

In this book Guinevere and Cedwyn sneak out to visit the wizard’s stones. They are eager to see the magic they have heard Merlyn talk about. When their horses are spooked by a piercing scream they flee afraid for their lives. The closest place is the Abbey and they know the monks will take them in. However they will not be safe there when the renegades attack. And what danger awaits Cadbury Castle whilst the men are away fighting?

Guinevere and Cedwyn’s fun adventure turns into a fight for their lives and what they will see and endure will cause the youngsters to grow up fast and take on grave responsibilities.
Cedwyn’s voice did not crack as it had a day ago. He was no longer a boy on an outing with his best friend. He had become their leader, their protector.”

Books for reluctant readers need to be fast paced and the plot uncomplicated and easily visualised. Guinevere: On the Dawn of Legend delivers on all these aspects.

The two main characters are likeable. Cedwyn has made a vow to protect Guinevere for life and he takes this very seriously. Guinevere is headstrong and determined although she still has a lot to learn about her future role as Queen.

There are themes of decision making, responsibilities and ruling with your head not your heart. The story has plenty of action, danger and breath-holding suspense with a splattering of light humour.

I didn’t agree with all the characters’ decisions and I think this leaves scope for good discussions.

The story is open ended and will leave many readers eager for the next instalment.

If your young reader loves stories filled with adventure, magic and mystery, heroes, strong women and good prevailing over evil then I recommend this series.

The book also has discussion questions at the end, ideas for further research and a rundown on the King Arthur legend.

My rating 4.5/ 5                     🌟🌟🌟🌟

Suitable for ages 8-12 years
Content: one non-graphic scene where the characters come across men killed by arrows.


I’m a retired high school English teacher. Currently I'm on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Authors' League, the oldest writing organization in Colorado. I also belong to the RMC-SCWBI, the Historical Novel Society, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and the Egyptian Study Society.

A devourer of books growing up, my profession introduced me to writings and authors from times long past. Through my studies and teaching, I fell in love with the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Now, I hope to inspire young readers and those Young-at-Heart to read more through my Tales and Legends for Reluctant Readers set in these worlds—Ancient Egypt, Medieval Wales, and coming soon, the ancient world of Atlantis.


This review is part of the Women On Writing blog tour. You can follow the other blogs on the tour below:
 

October 15th @ The Muffin
What goes better in the morning than a muffin? Be sure to stop by the launch day post for Cheryl Carpinello's blog tour for her book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend where we interview the author and you have the chance to win a copy of the book.
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com

October 16th @ Write Like Crazy
You'll go nuts today over at Mary Jo Campbell's blog where author Cheryl Carpinello talks about finding stories within stories as you write. Also you can enter to win a copy of the book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
https://www.writelikecrazy.com/



October 19th @ Lori's Reading Corner
Visit Lori's blog where you can read Cheryl Carpinello's post about where her search for the Legend of King Arthur has taken her.
http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/

October 19th @ Jill Sheets Blog
Visit Jill's blog today where Cheryl Carpinello talks about the continuing popularity of the King Arthur Legend.
https://jillsheets.blogspot.com/

October 19th @ The Burgeoning Bookshelf
You'll want to stock up your bookshelf once you visit by Veronica's blog, where she reviews Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend by Cheryl Carpinello.
https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com/

October 20th @ A New Look on Books
Stop by Rae's blog and take a glance at author Cheryl Carpinello's blog post the importance of reading and understanding myths, legends, and mythology.
https://anewlookonbooks.com/

October 22nd @ A New Look on Books
Come by Rae's blog and get a new look on Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
https://anewlookonbooks.com/

October 23rd @ A Day in the Life of a Mom
Stop by Ashley's blog where she shares Cheryl's guest post about do boys respond to reading and writing differently than girls? And what should parents do about that?
https://adayinthelifeofmom.com/

October 25th @ A Day in the Life of a Mom
Check out Ashley's blog again where she shares her opinion on Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
https://adayinthelifeofmom.com/

October 25th @ Fiction Thoughts
Stop by Emilie's blog where she shares her opinion about the book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
https://www.fictionthoughts.com/

October 28th @ Leonard Tillman’s Blog
http://leonardtillerman.com/ 

October 29th @ A Storybook World
Journey to today's blog post where Deirdra shares Cheryl Carpinello's blog post about how the author's years as an educator led her to writing Tales & Legends, (or why the author writes Tales & Legends for Reluctant Reader).
http://www.astorybookworld.com/


November 1st @ Look to the Western Sky
Make sure you look to Margo's blog today where she interviews the author Cheryl Carpinello, author of the Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
http://margoldill.com/

November 2nd @ Author Anthony Avina Blog
Visit Anthony's blog where he shares his thoughts about Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend and read an interview with the author.
https://authoranthonyavinablog.com/

November 3rd @ The World of My Imagination
Stop by Nicole's blog where she shares her thoughts on Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
theworldofmyimagination.blogspot.com

November 4th @ Author Anthony Avina Blog
Stop by Anthony's blog today where you can read author Cheryl Carpinello's blog post about whether it is really necessary for kids today to read the classics such as stories and plays from Ancient Greece, Rome and Shakespeare.
https://authoranthonyavinablog.com/

November 5th @ Coffee with Lacey
Grab a cup of your favorite brew, and join us at Lacey's blog where Cheryl Carpinello talks about the definition of reading and what medium qualifies as actual reading.
https://coffeewithlacey.wordpress.com/

November 7th @ Choices
Visit Madeline Sharples' blog where she shares Cheryl Carpinello's blog post about building characters that young readers bond with and how the author uses a combination of traits from my students over the years.
http://madelinesharples.com/

November 8th @ Fiona Ingram's Blog
Stop by Fiona's blog where she interviews a character from Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
http://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com/

November 9th @ For the Hook of a Book
Make sure you stop by the book blog For the Hook of a Book and catch their review of Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend. 
https://hookofabook.wordpress.com/




November 10th @ Chatty Patty's Place
Stop by Patty's blog where she spotlight's Cheryl Carpinello's book and also does a giveaway of the book for one lucky reader.
http://www.chattypattysplace.com/

November 11th @ Bri's Book Nook
Stop by Briennai's blog where she shares her thoughts about Cheryl Carpinello's book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend. 
https://brisbooknook.wordpress.com/

November 18th @ David Chuka Blog
Stop by David's blog where he interviews author Cheryl Carpinello about her and her book Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend.
http://davidchuka.com/blog-2/



Winner of My Polar Dream by Jade Hameister announced



A big thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for a copy of My Polar Dream by Jade Hameister. The giveaway closed on 17th October and the winner was randomly selected from all correct entries. Congratulations to....

                                               Leon Jane

You will receive an email shortly and have 7 days to provide a mailing address. I hope you enjoy your prize.

 

Thursday, 18 October 2018

Product Review: Literary Book Gifts (online gift shop)

               A Bookish Gift Idea for the Reader in your Life



With Christmas on the horizon it’s time to start thinking of that special gift for all the book lovers in your life.

If you are looking for something other than a printed book to give this year the Literary Book Gifts company has a wonderful range of book themed T-shirts and tote bags.

They have a wide variety of men’s and women’s T-shirts featuring many of the classics.
A couple of my favourite T-shirt designs are:

Women's Wuthering Heights T-shirt

Men's War & Peace T-shirt


And now that audio books are becoming more and more popular, how great is this Headphone T-shirt!

Women's Headphone T-shirt


The T-shirts come in a large range of sizes and colours in both women’s and men’s styles. There is sure to be a favourite amongst them!

The tote bags come in three sizes. I just adore the colours in these two bags.



There are so many fabulous designs and colours the hard part will be choosing which ones to buy for your friends and family and of course you will need to get some for yourself.

Literary Book Gifts is giving The Burgeoning Bookshelf readers a 20% discount on all purchases. Please use code theburgeoningbookshelf20 on checkout.

Postage rates are a very reasonable $5US for orders within the US and $10US for Canada and International (Postage prices were correct at time of posting). Please note prices on the website are in $US so please check current conversion rates.

You can check out the whole range with colours and sizing chart by visiting the website.     

                                   https://literarybookgifts.com/



If you have any further questions you are welcome to contact Literary Book Gifts directly.

*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Literary Book Gifts and receive no commission on orders placed.


Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Book Review: No Place Like Home by Bronwyn Jameson

Title: No Place Like Home
Author: Bronwyn Jameson
Publisher:Mills and Boon
Publication date: 20th August 2018
Pages: 528
Format Read: paperback
Source: Courtesy of author

Zane: The Wild One

Everything Julia Goodwin had ever wanted was right here in the quiet little town of Plenty. At least, that was what she thought, until Zane O'Sullivan came home - and rocked her peaceful world to its foundations...

Yet he wasn't the same black-leather-and-denim bad boy who'd haunted her dreams in high school. This Zane was very much a man. But what would become of their growing love when he learned about the child their out-of-control passion had brought into being?

Quade: The Irresistible One

Chantal Goodwin had always had an unsuspected weakness for Cameron Quade. And now that he was back in town, she discovered a single glance still made her ache like the lovesick schoolgirl she'd once been.

But Chantal was a woman now, one could take what she wanted - and what she wanted was a single shattering night of passion with Cameron. She told herself she could still watch him walk away, but that was before she learned about the consequences of their passionate night...

A Tempting Engagement

The last time Mitch Goodwin had seen Emily Warner, she was crawling out of his bed, and then out of his life. Six months later he was begging her to resume her job as his son's nanny. But what, exactly, had happened that night...?

Seeing Mitch and his little boy again reminded Emily how it felt to want what she couldn't have. But resisting the sexy single dad was impossible. There was only one solution: see if the fantasy lived up to the reality.


No Place Like Home is a Mills and Boon by request release of three of Bronwyn Jameson’s much loved books brought together in one book.

Each story features one of the Goodwin siblings as the main character and is set in their home town of Plenty.

Zane: The Wild One
Proclaimed good-girl Julia Goodwin is back in Plenty after the breakdown of her marriage. Zane, the town’s bad-boy is also back visiting his sister, who also happens to be Julia’s best friend. There is no avoiding each other and they are inexplicably drawn to each other.
I love how Julia urged Zane to show people his good side and told him until he faces his feelings towards the town he will never feel worthy.

Quade: The Irresistible One
Quade has returned to his parents’ property in Plenty. Both his parents have passed and he craves solitude to lick his wounds after his broken engagement to his career focused fiancé. The last thing he wants is his neighbour, lawyer Chantal Goodwin, poking her nose into his life. However Chantal has been in love with Quade since she was a teen.
This story moves straight on from the first story. Quade and Chantal are much more open about their feelings but Chantal still has a hard time getting Quade to open up about his parents and his failed engagement.

A Tempting Engagement
This story is about Mitch Goodwin. We already know a little about Mitch as he has dropped into the first two stories. His wife has left him with their young son, Joshua, so Mitch decides to move back to Plenty to give Joshua some stability. He desperately wants to re-employ Emily as Joshua’s nanny but there is history there and Mitch doesn’t quite know what has happened.
Mitch and Emily’s story is a much more sympathetic read. Each treading lightly around the other’s hurt. There was lots of cute flirting and Emily was a fun character.

I loved this compilation of three books in one as it followed the three Goodwin siblings with each story following straight on from the last. There was plenty of banter between the characters, some of it snarky and some filled with humour. All the characters were likeable and highly capable yet broken and scarred.
There is lots of heartbreak behind each character’s past and plenty of misunderstandings to keep the reader on tenterhooks.
And of course as with all perfect romance reads each story ends with a ‘happily ever after!’

My Rating 4/5           🌟🌟🌟🌟    

No Place Like Home is book #29 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

and part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie Author Challenge
 


Bestselling and award-winning author Bronwyn Jameson grew up on an Australian farm where she developed a lifelong love of animals and the written word. Happily she was able to marry the two working as a rural journalist before a magazine article introduced her to Romance Writers of Australia and the possibility of a new career writing the books she loved to read.

After five years, a handful of contest wins and an equal number of rejections from Harlequin Mills & Boon, Bronwyn received the phone call all aspiring novelists dream of: Leslie Wainger at Silhouette Books wanted to buy the manuscript she'd judged in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award.

Silhouette Desire published In Bed With The Boss's Daughter in July 2001. Since then Bronwyn has continued to write take-to-bed romance for Desire, winning contests such as The Aspen Gold, The Write Touch Readers' Award and the Anne Bonney Readers' Choice. In 2006 she was a triple RITA finalist with her Princes of the Outback trilogy and a nominee for the Romantic Times Series Storyteller of the Year.

As well as strong Australian heroes and spirited heroines, her stories feature all kinds of animals including an energetic Border Collie named Mac, a jet black racehorse named Stella, an attack cat named Gizmo, a talking pony nicknamed Mini Ed, a bitzer named Digger, a Russian Blue named Tolstoy…well, you get the picture.

She still loves animals and the written word. Her home is still a farm in the Australian heartland, which she shares with her husband and three sons, a thousand sheep, half a dozen horses, three dogs, an echidna and a wallaby.