Speeding Down The Spiral

Speeding Down The Spiral, An Artful Adventure by Deborah Goodman Davis, Illustrated by Sophy Noess

Synopsis: "When Lizzie and her baby brother Ben visit the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum with their father, they experience more than the world-class art on view. After taking an elevator to the top of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famed rotunda, Dad is distracted by an e-mail and Lizzie is startled when she comes face to face with Roy Lichtenstein’s giant growling dog. Lizzie accidentally lets go of Ben’s stroller, and leads a madcap chase down the spiral, with help from a museum guard, a teacher, students, and people with earphones listening to an audio tour..."

I was not sure that I was going to like this book when I first saw it but I was pleasantly surprised! I LOVE it! It is cute, fun AND educational! The best part is that my son did not realize he was actually learning while we read this book! There are great pictures and a little info about a few of the art pieces in the Guggenheim. The story line is funny, I mean, come on, who does NOT want to run down the spiral? When I went as a child, all I wanted to do was to start at the top and run all the way down! How fun!!!!

I WOULD recommend this book to anyone and I would read it to my class of students!

Review from my five year old son-"This book was funny! The stroller was running away and she was chasing it!!!"

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review."

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  is a chance to share news,  A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news on what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead.

This week I was able to read some! YAY!!!!! I still did not read as much as I wanted too but considering how much I had to work this week, I am thrilled to have found any time!!! :)

Ok so this week I was able to read and review the following:

Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart
Little Star by Anthony DeStefano
Wishing On Willows by Katie Ganshert
Mums The Word by Kate Collins
Slay It With Flowers by Kate Collins

This week I plan to read and review:

The Very Secret Weapon by Tillman Gilson

Waiting For Dead Men's Shoes by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

I hope to read a few others but I have not decided which ones yet so I will not tell you. I feel the need to sneak in a few romance books this week. I have no idea why but I may have to see what I can do :) I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a great week!!!!

Kate Collins-A Flower Shop Mystery Series

Kate Collins writes a series about a girl named Abby Knight. She owns a flower shop named Bloomers and is definitely a meddler. She meets the owner of a bar, Marco and he helps her as she works her way through the messes that she gets herself into.

Mum's The Word by Kate Collins

This is the first book of the series and I have to say, I am hooked! As soon as I finished it I had to start the next one (see below). This book started out strong, grabbed my attention with a hit and run and held my attention all the way through. I thought there was a good mystery, great characters and a wonderful story line. Once I started it, I could not put it down and read the whole book in a day.

Slay It With Flowers by Kate Collins

The second book in this series was not quite as good as the first one although I did enjoy it. There was still a good mystery to it but it was not as catchy. It felt a little slow and boring and took me a few days to read. I am still excited about this series though and I hope the third one is more like the first one!




I had no idea how big this series is so I will be trying to get my hands on the rest of them so I can see what other trouble Abby gets herself into! I can not wait!!!!

Wishing On Willows

Wishing on Willows by Katie Ganshert

A single mom (widowed) is raising her 3 year old son while running a cafe that has sentimental value to her in a small town. Along comes the wolf, aka Ian who is trying to buy her precious cafe so he can tear it down and build a condo. The town splits, half wanting to save the cafe, the other half in favor of the condo and the money it will bring in. But wait, there is also a ministry in danger of getting torn down! Can she save her own cafe and the ministry or should she give up and let them go? I am not going to tell you the details because it would spoil this book so you will have to read it to find out!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt every emotion Robin went through as she struggled with the tough decisions she had to face. As a single mom, I could relate to her parental problems (guilt from not spending enough time with her son, the pain of living everyday alone and raising a child alone, ect). She calls to God and feels like she is not answering her and feels even more alone and that is huge for me personally right now.

I have been in this struggle with God myself during the last few weeks so it was nice to read about someone else struggling. It seems like every book I read lately has been about perfect people in a perfect world so this was a great change of pace and leaves me wanting to read more of Katie Ganshert's work.

I DO recommend this book. It IS a Religious book but I thought there was a good balance. I think that someone who is not Religious could still read it and enjoy it.

Here is the First chapter if you would like to read it.

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***

Little Star

Little Star by Anthony DeStefano, Illustrated by Mark Elliott

This book is a very cute Christmas story. I like the way you get the star's version of the night that Jesus was born. That is very different and I liked it alot. The pictures are great! Colorful and fun. The book was easy to read and short enough to keep our attention. I recommend it to anyone who wants their young child to know about Jesus coming into the world.

Review from my 5 year old son-"This book is really good, I liked the part where the star shinned all the way down!"

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***

Portrait of A Dead Guy

Portrait of A Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart

This book is a typical cozy mystery. There is nothing scary or too intense. There is some mystery and some romance with some witty characters and of course a woman (Cherry) who can not help but put her nose right in the middle of a murder mystery.

To me, parts of this book were a little creepy (like a dead guy falling out of a coffin on Cherry) but it was not overly bad. I do not like to read details about a dead person so a few scenes kinda freaked me out to be quite honest but once we got past those scenes the book got better for me. I thought the mystery was good and kept me guessing and I was a little surprised to find out who was the murderer.

One thing I liked was the ending. I will not give details but it was not a typical ending and for that I am grateful. The author was really good at being descriptive and getting me into this book. I would love to read more of her books.

So if you have read this book, who would you chose? Luke or Todd? I am all for Luke. He sounds hot. LOL.

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer  is a chance to share news,  A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news on what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. 

This week, I read NOTHING!!! Gasp! Can you believe that??? I really seriously had ZERO time to read and I am bummed. :( The good news is that my life will slow back down some now so I will read more this week and get some reviews up for you all!  I am going to have to check out my accounts and see what review books I have to read! Wish me luck! LOL. 

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, it is a chance to share news,  A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news on what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. 

Hello to you all! It is a new week!! Last week I was able to read a little more than I thought but this week will be even busier than last week! AGH!!!! I am going to try to read some but I KNOW I will not have much time. But lets see what happens shall we? :)

Last week I read and reviewed:

Wonderfully Made by Joyce Meyer
What A Son Needs From His Mom by Cherri Fuller
Where Do Animals Go When It Rains by Janet S. Crown
Missing Barbados by Willem Pain 

I DID read It Takes Balls by Josh Wolf but I have not posted the review yet, it will be coming soon!

This Week I plan to read:

Cropped To Death by Christina Freeburn

Little Star by Anthony DeStephano 

Portrait of A Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart











Until next week....................................................

Where Do Animals Go When It Rains?

Where Do Animals Go When It Rains? by Janet S. Crown.

This is a super cute book about animals settling down when it rains. There are sing-song type rhymes and I found it fun to read. It was a short book but worth read. The pictures are adorable and I really liked the colors in the words also, it made it even more fun. My 5 year old son was able to read it without a problem!

This would be a great calming bedtime story. The pictures are sweet and the story is nice. I would buy this for my son's collection if he were younger.

Review from my 5 year old son-"I thought this book was funny but I think it is for younger kids. I liked it but babies would like it more."

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***

Missing Barbados

Missing Barbados by Willem Pain

Susan and Dutch are off to solve a mystery in Barbados."Based on an actual event from Barbados history, our woman sleuth and hard-boiled detective take us through the past and present of Barbados where nothing is as it seems. While trying to find the missing girl, Dutch and Susan are hired to find a golden sword, a real relic of history, the actual historical record transcribed in the preface of this book. Entwined within the history of the golden sword and its place in royalty, together they must overcome villains and their own feelings toward each other to right a centuries old wrong and solve the crime."

This book is not for me. I am not saying it is not a good book but it is not my cup of tea per se. I enjoy books that are a mystery but are also funny and there just was not much humor in this book. I did enjoy the things that Dutch destroyed and his character was pretty good but just not as funny as I wish he had been. I found it hard to read and stayed focused. 

***This book was given to me in exchange for an open and honest review.***

What A Son Needs From His Mom

What A Son Needs From His Mom by Cherri Fuller.

I found this book very helpful. I will share a few of my favorite parts with you.

Weave prayer into everyday moments, the author uses examples like, when you drive by your child's school and see the yellow school zone sign, say a prayer for the teachers to have wisdom, when you pick up your son's shoes, pray that his feet will stay on the right path. Small prayers like that weaved through the day will help you get closer to God. I LOVE this. I have been trying to do it and it works. Very great idea.

Face to face communication. A boy wants his mom to LOOK at him while he is telling her a story, not just listen while she is doing a million other things. To me, that is hard because, well, life as a single mom requires lots of multi tasking. I listen to my son while he tells me about everything but I am also fixing dinner, working or doing chores. It is hard to find time to just sit and look at him while he talks. The Author also talks about not being on the phone as much and spend more time talking with your child. I am guilty there. I am on the phone alot and it is NOT fair to my son. I am going to try to work on that one more. When my son is older, he is going to want to be on the phone or computer all the time and how can I tell him no, if he grows up watching his mom do it? That is not going to fly!

I do love that this book helps you with all stages of a boys life from infant all the way through full grown man, married and out of your house. How to bring Faith into your son's life and how to nurture it. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a son of any age!

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***

Wonderfully Made

Wonderfully Made by Joyce Meyer, Illustrated by Mary Sullivan.

The animals are having a talent show but poor Hayley could not figure out what her talent could be! All of her friends had their own talents and they were really good but Hayley had nothing. She tried all kinds of things but could not do them right.  She thought that maybe God forgot to give her a talent. She was sad and about to give up but her friends showed her that she DOES have a talent. Her talent is different from her friends' and it is amazing!!!

This book is very cute. A great children's book showing the love of God. I thought it was a great story line with a mix of God's love. How could you go wrong with that? The illustrations are beautiful and charming. The whole book was catchy and is one that I would LOVE to add to my son's collection. This is now one of my favorite children's books!

Review from my 5 year old son- " This book was awesome! It was so so so so so funny! The animals are really cool and they are funny!"

***This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an open and honest review***