Middle Grade Review: Hunt for the Silver Dragon

 

* Book 7 in the Curious Cat Spy Club *

Kelsey, Becca, and Leo are out hunting for lost animals when they come across a sheep with an arrow through its leg. They immediately call their parents to take over. Kelsey's mom forbids her daughter from investigating the matter - saying it's too dangerous.

This leads to Leo to advantage of an opportunity. He's hoping to change school and attend the gifted school. Becca and Kelsey have a massive fight over a boy. Becca's interested in the new volunteer at her mom's animal sanctuary. But Kelsey doesn't trust him. 

When the Sherriff asks Kelsey for some help, she's happy to go undercover and investigate. She's not happy to keep the truth from Becca. Will the friends recover? Will the mysteries be solved?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I love the friendship moments and the animal moments. I love how many animals find forever home or are reunited with their families. I felt terrible about the friendship drama between Becca and Kelsey. And also terrible for the animals. There was such a cast of characters in this book. I had to keep turning the pages to see how everything turned out. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute

 Source: Book sent for review

Library Recommendation: A fantastic mystery series for animal lovers. 

Picture Book Review: It's Taco Knight

In a kingdom, knights feed everyone dinner and everyone takes turns - until Taco Knight comes to town. Everyone loves Taco Knight, so he decides to make dinner every night. But having the same thing for dinner every night makes people cranky. They booed him. With a little help, he realizes what he's done and tries to fix it.

This is a funny story about dinner but also about change and variety. Perfect for fans of Dragons Love Tacos.

Christmas Movie Reviews: Hallmark Movies

 

Here are a few Holiday Movie Reviews from Hallmark:

Christmas on Duty:

Military

Friends to Enemies to Lovers

Saving Christmas

The banter between the two leads was fantastic

Delivering the toys was sweet

The problems getting the toys were entertaining and I chuckled a few times.

I recommend this one.

Three Wise Men and a Baby

This is my 3rd watch

It's still funny

I love the nods to Three Men and a Baby

I adore the Christmas dance

Highly Recommended

A Royal Montana Christmas

She's a Princess, but loved the Christmas she spent on the ranch with her father. She goes back when the pressure of the royal world becomes too much.

Fish out of water

They met as children

Sweet Moments

The prep for the dance seemed a little over the top, but it worked.

I enjoyed this one; I'm a sucker for royal romances.

A Newport Christmas:

After her father tells her he's arranged her marriage to a man she's never met, Ella goes out in her sailboat where she sees a comet and makes a wish. She lands in 2025 - in the same boat.

Time Travel - the boat is mine - is entertaining

Woman has always been told she's too much

Spreading joy 

Sharing with those less fortunate

Finding home in a person

Fish out of water - Loved the Boss lady moment

This was a charming movie - high recommended

* I do think I recognized some places from Newport - but none of the famous houses.

Have you seen any of these? Did you like them?

Do you have a Christmas movie recommendation for me?

Mini Review: The Correspondent

1. My sister told me about this book

2. I LOVE epistolary novels

3. I couldn't put this book down

4. The ending made me cry

5. This gave me a book hangover

6. This debut author is one to watch

7. I loved the characters - they had so much pain but also hope

* this seems like it would make a great book club book

Mini Review: Joy to the Girls

 

Sequel 3.5 years later to She Gets the Girl

Hallmark Town

Figuring out the Future

Ice Skating

Gingerbread Houses

Christmas Tree Farm

One Bed

Meddling Family

Gifting Giving

* also secrets and not communicating 

This is a fun Christmas tale that is full of seasonal fun, sweet moments, friendship, and love.

Picture Book Wednesday: Thanksgiving Books (2)

More Thanksgiving Picture Books:

A young girl is excited to help at Thanksgiving this year! Her family makes two lists: one for the local market and one for the Korean market. Their Thanksgiving is a blend of their two worlds. 

This is a sweet story about family, trying new things, and traditions. 

The kids of the family don't want to eat the turkeys this year, so they come up with disguises.

This is a funny and clever story. I love all the disguises. 

This is a lovely story about Thanksgiving.

The illustrations are soft and warm. While this book does have religious undertones and prayer is mentioned, it's diverse and heartfelt. 

Thanksgiving isn't just for family; it's perfect for friends too

I love this one; it's sweet and it shows all the joy of people coming together. I love seeing people in all the windows. I loved seeing people appreciate each other. It's just a wonderful book about caring and sharing the day together. 

Top Ten Tuesday: 5 Star Reads

 This week's topic is modern classics. I'm changing the topic to be my last 5 star reads.

Have you read any of these? Did you also enjoy them?

Middle Grade Review: House with No Keys

* Book 2 in the Delta Games series *

Sarah and her two best friends are excited to test out the new escape room; it's supposed to be very hard. It's challenging, but they do beat it - barely. They leave a good review and that's when everything goes sideways.

The creator of the room is opening an Escape Room in their town. It's going to compete with the escape room they work at. And worse, they are using the Delta's positive review as advertising. The three friends are dumbfounded. They are invited to play the first game. 

Can they escape the house on time? Will they sort out this misunderstanding?

My Thoughts: I loved this book - it develops the friendship and relationships. The games are clever and entertaining to read. I wanted to wrap these three in a hug; they were so naive. No one should be taking advantage of them like this. I did enjoy how everything worked out. While I've never been to an escape room, this book makes them see so fun (and challenging). I can't wait to see what happens next! 

Cover Thoughts: Clever

Why I Read this Book: I loved the first book

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: A must have series for your public and school library's collection

Picture Book Review: Best Buds

Spencer is new to town and his mom is worried about him making friends. But right away, he makes friends with a plant. He learns about plants and finds new friends everywhere. Does he really need human friends?

This is a cute story about friendship and being yourself. All the plants have different traits and personalities. Spencer knows what he likes...and what he doesn't. The pictures are lovely. The ending is very sweet. 

Board Books

Just a few new to the library board books:

Yaya and Boo books are so much fun! They are so good at hiding, just like MoMo.

The photography are fun to pour over as you search for hidden object, especially Scout the Bear.

A must have board book for your collection

** This makes a super cute gift too

This book is super cute with pictures of all the animals at the farm and what they like to do. The photographs are fantastic, and the rhymes are cute. Readers of all ages will enjoy this one. 

An adorable book about puppies and getting ready for bed. The photographs are too cute for words. This rhyming story is simply perfect. 

This is an amazing vocabulary book. The photographs of children are mixed with illustrations. Kids can learn to identify animals, the sounds they make, and what they eat

Christmas Crafting

 

It is time to start ALL the crafting.

I have several ideas on what to make this year. 

I can't share them here in case of spoilers. 

But are do you make crafts for the holidays? Do you like getting handmade gifts?

What do you make? Or what do you like to receive as gift?

Bookstagram: Kiss Me in New York

It's that time of year again, when I want to be tucked up with hot chocolate reading holiday stories like this one.

 

Picture Book Review: Thanksgiving Books

Just a few picture books and board books for Thanksgiving:

This is board book is stinking adorable. I love the photos of puppies. Full of Thanksgiving and puppy moments, this book is perfect to pour over again and again. I hope this is a series of holiday and animal books.

I loved Corduroy as a child, so I love seeing more books with him and Lisa. This hits all the Thanksgiving notes. 

Animals and people gather food together for the colder months of fall.

While this rhyming book isn't strictly a Thanksgiving story, it does showcase how animals and people are very similar when it comes to gathering food and family. 

In this book, there's room for everyone at the table.  There's room for new and old traditions, new and old friends, and room to give thanks for people and the earth. And of course there's always room for dessert.

This is a sweet diverse story that highlights important pieces of the day - not just the togetherness but the thankful and happiness part. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Outside My Comfort Zone

 This week's topic is books I've read and enjoyed that are outside my comfort zone. To be honest, I don't pick up many books that are outside my comfort zone. There are too many that I want to reads and not enough time to read them. 

This was classified as Horror: It was a light thriller, which I did enjoy

I don't read too many nonfiction books, but I was curious about Lewis and Tolkien

This was really disturbing, but I didn't realize that before I read it:

That's all I have from this year....