Mrs. Mommy Booknerd's Book Reviews

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Review: The Christmas Tree Elf by Valentine D'Arcy Sheldon

Blink, the most famous elf ever, saves Christmas and introduces Santa to his elves.

Many, many Christmases ago, Santa discovers that Mrs. Claus has always wanted a Christmas tree to decorate. The following Christmas Season, he brings home the very first indoor Christmas tree for her. The Clauses love their tree, but they forget to water it because they are so busy preparing for Christmas. The night before Christmas Eve, the tree is almost lost, but a mysterious elf with a magical blinking red hat saves Christmas, and teaches Santa and Mrs. Claus that all living things need care and attention.

This is a delightful Christmas tale not only about taking care of our Christmas trees, but also about how the helpful little elves first came to work with Santa. You and your children will have such fun reading this story. The pictures are wonderful as well. 4 stars.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Amy's Review: A Second Chance for Christmas by Nashin Sadeer

When Nathan Wyler’s adored wife Emily dies tragically in a car accident in December his entire world collapses around him. He immerses himself in work, doing everything he can to escape the grief and ends up neglecting his young son, Stefan, in the process - alienating himself from everybody he loves. Things are made worse still by Emily’s father, Xavier, who blames his son-in-law for the death of his brilliant young daughter.

As the years pass, Stefan is denied contact with his grandparents and starved of his father’s affections. As a result he becomes increasingly close to Kate, a substitute teacher at his school. An understanding and gentle woman, Kate is quick to identify the impact of Nathan’s selfish actions on his young son. As her bond with the Stefan flourishes, she visits Nathan at work in an attempt to make him aware of the emotional strain he’s been inflicting on the innocent boy. Preparing herself for a tempestuous encounter with Nathan, Kate is shocked to instead find a vulnerable, grief-stricken figure desperate to be saved, and a potent mutual attraction becomes clear to them both.

Nathan finds solace in the calming influence of this mysterious young woman, and, with her help, begins to reconcile his relationship with Stefan. Unbeknownst to him, Kate even brokers a successful meeting with Emily’s father and the two settle their differences over Christmas dinner. All may not be as it seems with Kate though, as Nathan slowly begins to piece together the feeling of familiarity he had experienced when they first met. As her good deeds continue and Christmas draws closer, the Wyler family begin to realise that she may not be who she claims to be. But who else could this ethereal samaritan be, and why does she seem so familiar to Nathan?

Nathan is a single father raising his son Stefan since his wife died when Stefan was 3. Nathan was shut himself out of his sons life by becoming a workaholic. This was very sad to me as he relied on a nanny raising Stefan. The author did a great job portraying how Stefan wanted his dad back in his life. Stefan meets his substitute teacher Kate and forms a loving relationship with her. Kate finds it odd that Nathan never picks his son up at school or attends any of Stefan’s events. Kate makes it her mission to get Nathan back to parenting Stefan and in doing so, Kate and Stefan fall in love.

Kate is hiding something from Nathan and reveals in on Christmas Day. This Christmas story is about forgiveness and love. I give his book a 4 star rating as the author did a fantastic job of bringing out the feelings of all the characters. I shed a few tears in the beginning of the book with how Nathan treated Stefan and my heart sang when Kate got after Nathan to stop shutting Stefan out of his life.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Review: The Holiday Gig by Erin Brady

Taylor Barnes has a dilemma. She is 32 and about to realize her dreams of making partner at her New York City high-powered law firm with a fancy office and a huge salary. She has no time for anything else in her life -least of all a boyfriend. Yet something stands in the way of her coveted promotion: Charles Wigs, family man and managing partner at Gotsall and Craig who questions whether the single Taylor Barnes can project the right image for the firm.

Not only does her own boss question her singledom, but so does her entire family back home! When an invitation to her cousin's Christmas wedding lands on her desk, Taylor must head back to Pennsylvania to face the music.

It seems as if Taylor has to convince everyone that she's got the perfect life with the
perfect boyfriend -all before the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve. But how is she to make this happen?

Taylor thinks she’s found the answer. Why not hire a temporary boyfriend to help her get through the holidays? It’s the best of both worlds and without any of the emotional baggage that comes with a real relationship. However, when handsome Hunter Ryan answers the ad for the position, Taylor finds herself with more than she bargained for. Ryan can certainly talk the talk, but does he have what it takes to walk the walk? Could he possibly cost her that coveted partnership that she has been working for since the beginning of her career? Could something that starts out as a simple employment proposition turn out to have her questioning everything she has worked so hard to achieve? Will this Holiday Gig turn Taylor's professional and personal life on its head?

This was the most delightful holiday tale about finding out what is most important by going home again. Taylor Barnes is a motivated lawyer on the track to become partner. Taylor never really had time for much else, until she was put into the position of showing her boss that her life consisted than more than just work. She then hires a temporary boyfriend and everything she thought made her happy suddenly changes. In this whimsical tale of finding what makes us most happy you will root for Taylor and her many mishaps in attempting the partner track. 4 stars!

Review: The Widows of Braxton County: A Novel by Jess McConkey

Family secrets can bind and destroy

Kate is ready to put her nomadic, city-dwelling past behind her when she marries Joe Krause and moves with him to the Iowa farm that has been in his family for more than 140 years. But life on the farm isn't quite as idyllic as she'd hoped. It's filled with chores, judgmental neighbors, and her mother-in-law, who—unbeknownst to Kate until after the wedding—will be living with them.

As Kate struggles to find her place in the small farming community, she begins to realize that her husband and his family are not who she thought they were. According to town gossip, the Krause family harbors a long-kept secret about a mysterious death that haunts Kate as a dangerous, unexplainable chain of events begins.

The Widows of Braxton County portrays two women, Hannah and Kate. They marry into the same dysfunctional family, only century apart. The woman's husbands, Jacob and Joe Krause, die in the same manner...knifes to the back.

The story alternates between Kate's story and Hannah's in rather seamless fashion. McConkey writes a great mystery. She lays out bits of the mystery, leaving the reader anxiously turning pages. If you like mystery and family secrets buried and then revealed, this is for you! 4 stars

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Bridging the Gap Blog Tour ~One Sweet Christmas by Darlene Fredette Review ~ Excerpt

************************************************************

One Sweet Christmas

Darlene Fredette

Sweet Contemporary Romance

Holiday Novella

78 pages

************************************************************

************************************************************

Blurb:
It’s going to take more than a few pieces of chocolate to fill this Scrooge’s heart with Christmas cheer. Luckily Candice Cane has a whole shop full... Candice Cane is not proud of the way she acted after her last encounter with Jackson Frost. Sure revenge was fun, but it’s left Jackson standing, angry and looking for answers, on the welcome mat in her chocolate shop. Now he’s after some revenge of his own. Jackson returned to his small hometown for one reason and one reason only...so he’s not sure how he’s ended up in a Santa suit in the middle of a chocolate shop, at the behest of its beautiful owner, instead of high-tailing it back to the city as fast as he can.

************************************************************

EXCERPT:

‘You’re late.’ She shoved the bag at him. ‘Here’s your suit.’
He stepped back. ‘Wait, you don’t actually think I’m going through with this.’
‘If you ever want to be single again, you’ll take this bag and get changed in the washroom — now.’ The children were waiting, and lack of sleep made Candi in no mood to argue.
He stood still for several seconds and then, without warning, he closed the door behind him. Jackson grabbed the bag from her hands and tossed it on the counter.
Candi held a breath.
His eyes filled with longing. His chest expanded, as if he attempted to control his breathing. Every nerve in her body tingled in anticipation. The voice in her head demanded she flee, yet her feet remained cemented to the floor. She waited — hoping Jackson would pull her into his arms.
Children’s laughter echoed from the shop and broke his advance.
‘You and I need to clear a few things that are screwy in my head but, apparently, I have a job to do first.’ Jackson shrugged out of his coat and unzipped the bag.
‘You can change...’ Candi stopped. Did he have no modesty? Jackson whisked his blue, long-sleeved shirt over his head and stepped from his dark trousers. He stood in front of her in only a black T-shirt and matching boxers.
Candi’s cheeks burned, but she couldn’t look away. He was beautiful, even more than she remembered. The thin T-shirt stretched across the planes of his chest. His legs were long and muscled. If Jackson meant to embarrass her, his plan worked. Unable to tear her gaze away, she watched as he stepped into the red pants and slipped his arms into the coat. He strapped on the pillow-stuffed belly bag and fumbled with the buttons through the fake fur trim.
The pants were a bit short, but nothing the boots wouldn’t hide. The coat fit snug across his broad shoulders and the pants clung nicely to his butt. Candi sucked in a breath and passed him a wig and fluffy, white beard. Jackson rolled his eyes, donning the fake hair, and topped off the disguise with a floppy red hat.
‘How do I look?’
He would definitely win over the children, but a sinking feeling washed through her stomach when she envisioned the youngsters fighting their mothers to see who first sat on Santa’s lap. ‘Just like jolly old Saint Nick,’ she said. But much hotter!

************************************************************

This novella is truly a very sweet Christmas Story. I read it in one sitting and immediately fell in love with Candice Cane. Candice is one busy woman both running her chocolate shop and helping out with the Inn. She is struggling financially with her chocolate shop and the bank is telling her she needs to lay off her employees, which she does not want to do. A man from her past, Jackson Frost, comes into town wanting something from Candice and in exchange she asks him to play Santa for the children in her shop. Candice and Jackson find that they each have a stronger feeling for one another than what they thought. The author does a fantastic job of developing their relationship. I give this a 5 star review.

One Sweet Christmas is a cute, tender and heart warming novella about second chances. It will have you rooting for love and forgiveness to rein over hurt and anger! Do Christmas miracles exists? You will have to read this adorable 4 star novella to find out for yourself!

************************************************************

About the Author:

An avid reader since childhood, Darlene loved to put a pencil to paper and plot out stories of her own. Her writing is a combination of contemporary romance with chick lit flare, and a main focus as a plot-driven page-turner. When Darlene isn’t writing, editing, or reading she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and Yellow Lab.

************************************************************

Contact links:

Web Blog: http://findingthewritewords.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarleneLF

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarleneLF
************************************************************

Buy Links:

Amazon

B&N. - http://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-sweet-christmas-darlene-fredette/1117368711?ean=9780857991058

Escape Publishing - http://www.escapepublishing.com.au/product/9780857991058

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Highlight: The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson

Book Description:

Publisher: Quad City Books (October 22, 2013)
Genres: Children’s Picture Book, Christmas
Tour Dates: December, 2013
Available in: Print and ebook 32 pages, with Illustrations

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats is a Seuss-ical tale for young children which builds upon the moral of the first ChristmasCats book to once again teach children a valuable life lesson.

In this second Christmas Cats adventure the lesson to be learned is: In life, always keep an open mind. Don’t accept stereotypes as true or let the unfounded opinions of others prevent you from finding out the truth for yourself. We all need to act without prejudice and learn to accept each other as individuals.

The Christmas Cats learn that rats, too, should be judged as individuals. Another message: all of us should try to help others.

Written for the author’s four-year-old granddaughters, Ava and Elise Wilson, with the assistance of talented professional illustrator Gary McCloskey, The Christmas Cats continue to have adventures while attired in their familiar silly hats from Book One (The Christmas Cats in Silly Hats).

Learning to accept others in a non-judgmental, open-minded fashion is a lesson we all must learn. If children can internalize this behavior while young, learning to help others and to do good works, the world will be a better place.

Buy The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats here:

Barnes & Noble

Quad City (if you order here, you also get book 1 free and both are signed by the author)

About Constance Corcoran Wilson:

CONSTANCE WILSON graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in English and Journalism, but she began writing for her hometown

(Independence, Iowa) newspaper at the age of 10 and was Editor-in-Chief of her high school newspaper. She continued her education, including a Ferner/Hearst Journalism Scholarship and a Freshman Merit Scholarship at Iowa, and then at Berkeley, WIU, NIU and the University of Chicago. Connie holds a Masters (+30) in English, Journalism and Education. Her career path led to teaching 7th and 8th grade language arts (Silvis, Illinois) and teaching writing at 6 IA/IL colleges or universities, including a class teaching film at Black Hawk Junior College. She then established the second Sylvan Learning Center in the state of Iowa and a Prometric Testing site, in conjunction with ETS of Princeton, NJ. She has taught writing and literature classes at all 6 IA/ILQuad City colleges.

“Constance (aka Connie) was Midwest Writing Center Writer of the Year, Content Producer of the Year for Yahoo, and Illinois Women’s Press Association Silver Feather Award winner (Chicago chapter.) She was named one of the “10 Most Creative Teachers in America” in a TAB Scholastic Books competition. Her Sylvan Learning Center (#3301) in Bettendorf, Iowa, was named Best Business of the Year by the Bettendorf Chamber of Commerce that year and the free reading program for poor kids she established was the largest scholarship program of its kind among a 900-member chain, for which she was personally awarded a Bi-State Literacy Award by then sitting First Lady Barbara Bush in 1993.

Constance lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their four-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, recently returned from a year spent living and working in Australia and now lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.

Connies Website: www.WeeklyWilson.com

Christmas Cats Website: http://www.thexmascats.com/Connie on

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConnieCWilson

Connie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connie.c.wilson?fref=ts

Connie on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/conniecwilson/

Monday, December 2, 2013

Sal Barbera's Mary Elizabeth The Spotless Cow Blog Tour!

******************************************************************

About the book:

The story of "Mary Elizabeth The Spotless Cow" takes us on the journey she travels to figure out how to get the cows at a new farm to like and accept her.

While she hopes to find friendship at her new home, instead she learns what it means to be different from everyone else. (Spotless!) Mary Elizabeth uses clever ideas and a sense of humor to help her on her quest for friends at the new farm.

This inspiring tale shows how perseverance in spite of obstacles, using a sound thought process to arrive at solutions and the importance of having fun, using humor and enjoying playtime can build friendships.

When you buy this book, 50% of net proceeds go to Phoenix Children’s Hospital Child Life Program to make a difference in the lives of children with critical and life threatening illnesses.

******************************************************************

Excerpt:

Once upon a time........there was a farm in Ohio with lots of Cows. They all had many spots to be proud of. One day a truck pulled into the farm. The back door opened and out came a new Cow. The other Cows were so excited to have a new friend!

But as the new Cow came out of the truck the other Cows looked on in shock!!! "Oh My!’’ ’’What on Earth?!"

It seems the new Cow, whose name was Mary Elizabeth, had no spots!

’’Where are your spots??!!’’ Demanded the Cow called Anna Belle. ’’I don’t have any spots. I was born spotless, you see.’’

Well, Anna Belle and the other Cows were horrified.

(Not mad, you had to be very careful about mad)

******************************************************************

Watch the trailer: http://youtu.be/72fOn1tEbDM

******************************************************************

I adored this wonderful book. What a cute and clever way to teach about discrimination to young kids. This books WILL become a whole lesson in my classes. I think that this is one of the best stories about discrimination I have seen in a long time. My kids also loved it and we had a long talk about judging people by their looks alone. There are so many other things to consider when determining friendship. What a great dialogue building book for the whole family. What a great story...5 stars!

******************************************************************

Purchasing information: From now through December 31, 2013, you can purchase Mary Elizabeth The Spotless Cow from the Sweetles website for only $12.00 (List price: $17.99).

When you buy this book, 50% of net proceeds go to Phoenix Children’s Hospital Child Life Program. Visit http://www.sweetles.com/product/books/mary-elizabeth-the-spotless-cow-book/ for more information.

******************************************************************

About the author:

Sal is the author and illustrator of “A Sweetles Dream”® book series. As the Creative Director for Hartman-Barbera llc, a family media & entertainment company, he is also an animator, sculptor, painter and all around fun guy. Sal lives the phrase: “A day without laughter is a wasted day”. To that end, he uses his writing, illustrating and animation skills to create endearing characters and comedic stories.

Sal's sense of humor and empathy for his characters explore personal and social situations in ways that makes it enjoyable for both adults and children to experience together. Born in New York City, Sal moved to North Bergen, NJ where he grew up on a steep hillside neighborhood with his four older sisters. He currently lives in sunny Arizona with his wife and artistic partner, Sheri, who he defines as his inspiration. On any given day Sal might be painting, sculpting, drawing, animating, writing or enjoying one of his favorite pastimes: cooking, television, movies and golf.

Visit Sal Barbera’s website at http://www.salbarbera.com.

******************************************************************

Follow the tour.......

Mary Elizabeth The Spotless Cow Virtual Book Tour Schedule

October 1st

Interview at Blogcritics

October 2nd

Book spotlight at The Writer’s Life

October 3rd

Book spotlight at As the Pages Turn

October 4th

Book review at Alicia Finn Noack