Mrs. Noodlekugel and Four Blind Mice

Mrs. Noodlekugel and Four Blind Mice by Daniel Pinkwater and Illustrated by Adam Stower

Description from the publisher:

"Four farsighted mice get glasses — and a talking cat solves a family mystery — as the charmingly eccentric Mrs. Noodlekugel returns.

When Mrs. Noodlekugel’s four mice make a terrible mess with cookie crumbs at tea, she decides to take them on the bus to visit the eye doctor — and invites Nick and Maxine to come along! The mice ride on Mrs. Noodlekugel’s hat, while Mr. Fuzzface, her talking cat, has the indignity of riding in a carrier. Afterward, the hungry crew head to Dirty Sally’s Lunchroom, but the mice overdo their cheesecake and run out the door. Luckily a policeman is at the ready to help with the search — as is a rough-edged, yarn-spinning alley cat with a surprising connection to Mr. Fuzzface! It’s all a day in the life of Daniel Pinkwater’s whimsical characters, in a chapter-book series whose comical tone and cozy illustrations are sure to keep young readers coming back for more."

This is an easy to read chapter book that is short enough to hold a child's attention. To me it looks a little old fashioned and I can tell you that my son would never pick it up off the shelf. He is reading chapter books but the covers have to be colorful and eye catching.

To me, the story line was not that great. I found it boring and at the same time, TOO silly and that is not something I ever thought I would say about a book. It is NOT a book that I would approve for him to read. I think that when a child is old enough to read chapter books, the books should be slightly more realistic. I am not saying they can not be fun and silly but they should not be so far over the top during these important times of a child's life.

Having said all of that, do not take my word on it, go out and read this book for yourself. I would love to know your thoughts on it as well!

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

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Angel was sold into prostitution at the age of 8. One day a man named Michael sees her walking down the street and knows that she is the one God wants him to marry. I am going to leave it at that because you can read the description Here.

The story line to this book was great. You could really see and understand Angel's struggles and I could relate with them in a sense. When you go through horrific things in your past, you do not just forget it and move on, you struggle through it and doubt yourself and those around you. So I felt like her struggles were all very realistically written.

Personally, I thought this book was too long. Parts of it seemed to drag on and seemed irrelevant. She could have cut a bit of this book (mostly the middle fluff) so it stayed more captivating the whole time. It would still be realistic and believable but it would not make me feel like I wasted time reading those parts.

I prefer books that bring God in slowly and gradually.....why? Because if I can convince a non believer to read a book and God is thrown at the the whole time, do you think they would finish reading it? Do you think they would get anything out of it? No. Of course not. They would shut down and turn further from God. This book is good for believers (but even then, it is alot of God to take in) but not for a non believer and personally, the non-believers are the people I want to talk to.

Would I read this book again? No. It is too long and too much God for me (and yes, I AM a believer), do I recommend this book? Yes. Alot of people really enjoy it so please read it and tell me what you think!

***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 has been fun! Max and I went to Chuck-E-Cheese, saw a movie and played! I got lots of cleaning and work done but I did not have much time for reading though. Bummer. 

Last week we read and reviewed:

Save The Date by Susan Hatler

Max gets Tedd Arnold's autograph

Not Guilty By Teresa Pollard & Candi Pullen

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins










Next week we bring you

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Mrs. Noodlekugel and Four Blind Mice

Severed Trust by Margaret Daley










Thanks for stopping by!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My real life friend Dana over at Little Lovely Books wanted us read and review a book together so this is the book she chose.

Now, I tend to pick and read a book based on the cover and title. Gasp! I know! But I like to be surprised by the story and sometimes the back gives away too much information and ruins the fun. If you have never read a book like this, you should try it! So, based on the cover, I expected there to be lots of French Kissing in it. Yeah, not so much *rolls eyes* I did not realize this was a Young Adult book. LOL. I thought it was a Romance!The joke was on me and Dana and I had MANY laughs over this one!

So aside from the hilarious let down about the title, I thought this was a good book. The plot was good although I DID find it to be a little slow at times. Watching the relationship grow between Anna and St. Clair was fun and exciting. There were ups and downs in their relationship so it was pretty realistic (although there was not any French kissing. Just sayin' LOL)

For a Young Adult, I thought this was a great book. For an adult who reads Romance, it was a little bit of a letdown but it was still good and I am very glad that Dana suggested I read it. I DO like to try new things now and then! Now I need to make her read a REAL Romance book. Anyone have any ideas? I need a good one!!! hmmm.........

Not Guilty By Teresa Pollard & Candi Pullen

Not Guilty By Teresa  Pollard & Candi Pullen

In this book you have a Pastor's daughter who is pure and clean. She is in love and engaged to be married to the man of her dreams when she is raped by a masked man. As she falls into depression she finds out she is pregnant. This book goes through her struggles that come with rape and pregnancy and judgmental Christians but I do not want to give too much away so I will stop there.

My attention was hooked on page 2 and I did not want to put this book down. I brought it with me while I ran errands and if I had one minute, I would read a page. LOL. I wanted to have someone read it to me while I drove because I did not want to wait a second to find out what was going on! Even through the unrealistic parts, I was still intrigued and wanted to read more!

After Carrie is raped, the emotions and struggles she goes through are very realistic and believable  to me. She reacts the way I would expect. Her parents act the way I would expect a pastor and his wife to act. Joe.......... Joe was a little unrealistic to me. He accepted the pregnancy with open arms immediately, he did not hesitate or anything. I have never met a man like that. I am not saying he does not exist, I am just saying that I have not personally met him so it is hard for me to believe he would be THAT open and understanding.

The one thing I want to say to the author (and I would LOVE to know what all of you thought as well). The majority of this book (with Joe being the exception) was realistic and great. I loved the religious aspect but the end......... I was disappointed. Without giving too much away, I can say that I found the church scene to be very fake and unrealistic. There is no way any of it would have unfolded like it did and I felt let down.

All of that being said, overall I thought it was a great book and I will read it again and I do recommend it, but I will warn you, this is a very Christian book, God is talked about on almost every page so non believers would more than likely not enjoy it.

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

Tedd Arnold's autograph

Max ordered a book from Tedd Arnold (Hooray For Fly Guy) and it arrived in the mail! He was SOOO excited to get a book in the mail AND the fact that "the REAL Tedd Arnold" signed it TO him, made him giddy with excitement! Don't believe me? Check out these pictures!

Who DOESN'T like getting books in the mail? LOL

Can you tell how excited he is? He just saw the autograph. 

He is just ticked that Tedd Arnold signed this book for him!

Tedd Arnold even included a special pin. Max could not believe it! 

Save The Date by Susan Hatler

Save The Date by Susan Hatler

Description from the publisher:
"Kristen knows men hide things. Case in point, her last boyfriend turned out to be married. Just like anyone else, Kristen is devastated. However, since Kristen evaluates people for a living, her ex’s duplicity has her searching for a new career as well as swearing off men.

Touring history museums with her sexy friend Ethan doesn’t count, because he has a girlfriend, and has only shown friendly interest in Kristen. He even helps with her career counseling tasks. Although Kristen has a secret crush on Ethan, spending time with him is safe. Until she discovers he’s actually single. Gasp. And now he’s flirting with her, too.

Suddenly, Ethan is way too dangerous. Not to mention tempting. Sure, he seems like sixty shades of perfect, but how’s a girl with bad judgment supposed to detect what skeletons he has in his closet?"

Personally I thought this was a cute book. There is a good, solid, real story line with great characters and a little romance. Watching Kristen struggle after being betrayed was very realistic to me. She went through lots of emotions and it was a great change of pace. I liked how she was still counseling people even after she said she would not do that anymore. She could not just walk away from it.

There is not a lot of romance here.  A few small "awww" moments but nothing big or spectacular but Ethan still gets your attention!

To me, the cover is kinda boring and not very catchy. To be honest, I would not have picked this up from the store because the cover did not call to me but I am glad I did. This was a very cute story.

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