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Showing posts from March, 2015

Presenting, Princess Olivia

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This is going to be my review of Notebook of a Middle School Princess eventually. For the moment however I wan't to let you look properly at the book covers above. The one on the left is the UK cover and the one on the right is the US cover. The main differences, the UK get a paperback and the US get a hardback and there are different publishers... and that last bit probably explains the dramatic difference in covers. Personally I think they've made the UK one look too childish, but that is often a theme that happens with publishers. But you never judge a book by it's cover after all... so forget my moaning! To the review! Olivia Grace is your average half orphan, wildlife illustrator wannabe. These things combined together don’t make you think average, but that is what Olivia has grown to accept. She’s getting by quite happily until Annabelle “the most popular, prettiest girl in the sixth grade” and sort-of friend, turns on her. No one knows why, but Annabelle is go

Vote For Cats With Free Wi-fi

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Joe is an ordinary boy, who loves his mum and wants her to be happy. So when she finds out they've closed the park she works in all he wants to do is find out why, and how it can be fixed. It sounds exactly like the way every great political career should start, with concern and a drive to make things better. "Oh, will you shut up, you bumbling great warthog!" With that one line, Joe is thrust into the public eye and goes viral... the internet kind, not the ill kind. Maybe it's not the done thing for a kid to stand up to an adult like that, but he has some good points. All he wants to do is save that park for his mum, and for kids like him who want to have fun... and when it looks like he's going to get what he wants he's so excited by what the prime minister is saying to him that he signs the bit of paper put in front of him and becomes the Accidental Prime Minister. It's happened to all of us hasn't it? We sign bits of paper without read

Phoenix Code

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Ryan Flint is the son of an investigative journalist on the trail of a scoop. Cleo McNeil is the daughter of the archaeological team leaders in search of the long lost Benben stone. They are brought together in the dusty tomb of Smenkhkare, when Ryan is the only one with the time to listen to Cleo's theory about where the stone might be hidden. As the theory develops, the pair embark on an adventure filled expedition of their own to learn the secrets of "Old Smenkers" and Rahotep, a temple servant. When they realise they aren't the only ones on this secret path, the hunt heats up. As they decipher the ancient and cryptic puzzles their goal is getting ever closer, but so are the unknown shadowy figures who have been following their every move. Will the next clue lead them to the hidden tomb? Who can they trust? There is some great atmosphere created in the beginning of the book. You get a great sense of what the cramped conditions are like in the tomb, with its

City Of Time I Want Back

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So... I had City of Bones by Cassandra Clare in my TBR for a long time. I attempted to start it a couple of times without success. Here's a quick summary of the book for you. Clary and Simon take a trip to Pandemonium, an off beat local club, when Clary see's some people behaving strangely she follows them into a store room [as you do]. At this point she discovers there's more to the world than she could ever have imagined. There's just one problem, is she crazy? Why is she the only one seeing these things? After a terrifying call from her Mother, Clary is thrown in to the glamoured world of demons, vampires, werewolves and Shadowhunters. I would love to go into the plot further than about chapter 2 but... well... I just can't bring myself to. This book is definitely Marmite. I didn't hate it as much as some reviews I've seen online. From what I've read Clare was a fan fiction writer, and that's how she started. I haven't rea

Death Is A New Beginning

When you receive sad news it's always a shock, even if it was expected. Loss is not an easy thing to deal with, whether close or distant. What words of comfort can you say? Nothing ever seems enough, or sincere. Death affects everyone differently. Death should remind us to live like there's no tomorrow. That's all just a collection of random thoughts on death, I wanted to write something profound about loss, but nothing really sums up the feeling.