Dr. Wonderful loves asking big questions…and using science to answer them. She and her dog, Newton, want to know why the moon changes shape in the sky every night. But how can they study the moon when it’s so far away? By blasting off into space, of course! On their amazing journey, this detective duo gathers clues to solve their lunar mystery using the powers of science, curiosity, and teamwork.
Blast Off to the Moon! was an incredibly fun trip to outer space to see why the moon seems to change shape when we watch it from Earth. Dr. Wonderful and Newton ask all the good questions and discover the answers as they explore the moon and how it works. The illustrations were beautiful and showed up very nicely on a tablet.
The information is presented in quite a fun way – more of an exploration than a lecture – and my 9yo enjoyed finding out how it all worked. I may have even picked up a new bit of information here and there (it’s been a long time since I took any science classes).
I highly recommend this for any space-curious kiddos out there.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
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Three Reasons You Should Read This Paranormal Vampire Romance:
First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost is a really exciting vampire romance with some very interesting characters.
Taking place in the Cat & Bones world, it helps to have read some of the original books to get all the nuances, but the main story should still be enjoyable if you haven’t.
It isn’t all about the vampires – there is an entire world of paranormal creatues here, and they will leave you turning pages as fast as you can to see what happens next.
The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family’s past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.
He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .
Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.
If you are already a fan of Cat & Bones and the Night Huntress world, then First Drop of Crimson is the perfect way to get to know some of the best side characters in the series. Denise and Spade have shown up repeatedly in the series, and I was very excited to see them in their own book.
Denise has lost a lot to the paranormal world. And as much as she would like to like to leave it in the past, it isn’t quite done with her yet. But this time it isn’t vampires and ghouls, but a demon out for revenge. While I applaud her for reaching out for help to a group she had hoped to leave behind, I never quite understood why she didn’t want to Cat know what was going on.
When Spade shows up to help her, he quickly tries to take control of the situation to try and save the day – and Denise mostly lets him. She has a few ground rules, but they really don’t last for very long. Especially when they turn to the vampire underworld to help track the demon down.
While at times Denise seemed a little “maiden in distress,” I can’t really imagine most people acting differently when a demon is out to eat you. Through the book, we learn more of how vampire society (especially the less up and up portion of it) works and I really enjoyed how Jeaniene Frost built the lore behind the demon. You will not want to put this book down – the story moves steadily with a fantastic balance between action and exhaustion.
From the author of Off Trail comes a hilarious mystery about what happens when a chilling trip leads to a lost fortune.
Nate and Lily knew their mother was different. All it took was a hunch or a bad feeling and the family would be uprooted and moving to a different apartment or even a different town. But when the two are torn out of their life in the ritzy North Bay for the summer and dropped in “the Mississippi of California” on the Sacramento River Delta, Nate Caldwell and his sister Lily see it as one more move in a series of lurching disruptions driven by their mother’s suspicion that something or someone is after them.
When they settle into life around their uncle’s House of Illusion roadside attraction, Nate meets Mia—who makes all the girls he knew in the North Bay seem shallow and dull—and begins to connect with local teens who couldn’t be more different than the privileged classmates he left behind.
It’s not until they learn that the story behind the attraction is more than just a tale for the tourists, that Nate begins to figure out what drove his mother’s suspicious nature.
“An entertaining, comic, but also thoughtful coming-of-age tale.” – Kirkus Reviews on Polito’s Off Trail.
As a career journalist and a former newspaper reporter, Rick Polito has covered everything from political scandals and natural disasters to taking his dog to a pet psychic seminar. Polito attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism and worked at newspapers in Arizona and California. Along the way, he won multiple state and national feature and news writing awards and fit in a stretch as a syndicated humor columnist. Jokes from that column have been quoted in places as varied as The Tonight Show and The New Yorker, with his viral Wizard of Oz synopsis tweeted, posted and shared hundreds of millions of times. Once told that he “views the world through smartass glasses,” Polito took it as a compliment and prides himself on “thinking three jokes ahead,” a skill he has taken on stage as an occasional standup comic. Off Trail is his first published novel, and Polito says he writes in the young adult genre because he appreciates the “urgency” of the teen years and believes it takes readers to a place that is both dramatic and familiar to everyone. A father of two and a native of Arizona, the setting for Off Trail, Polito now lives in Denver, sharing his COVID bubble with his girlfriend Angela and Rocket, the insane Jack Russell Terrier.
Title: A Place to Belong Author: Alexa Rivers Genre: Contemporary Romance
Horror author Felicity Bell moves to the charming town of Oak Bend after being shunned from the last place she called home. When she walks in the door of her new rental, she doesn’t expect to find a half-naked man standing in her kitchen. There’s just one problem: Wyatt Dawson seems to think it’s his kitchen. Misunderstandings aside, her new neighbor is lumberjack hot, and his grumpiness only makes her more determined to bring a little joy to his life, even if he’d rather be left alone.
Burned by his past, Wyatt isn’t about to let the cheerful free spirit next door into his heart only for her to crush him when she flits out of town again. But with his well-meaning, matchmaking, mother on the case, these two end up spending far too much time together and things between the unlikely pair quickly heat up. It may be true what they say—opposites do attract, but only if their relationship can survive Wyatt’s interfering ex-girlfriend and Felicity’s fear of history repeating itself. Welcome to Oak Bend, where blue-collar hotties work hard and love even harder, especially when it comes to landing their happily ever after.
Alexa Rivers is the author of steamy and heartfelt small town romances.
She lives in a small town herself, complete with nosy neighbors and quirky traditions.
She shares a house with a neurotic dog and a husband who thinks he’s hilarious.
When she’s not writing, she enjoys travelling, baking and decorating cakes, eating those cakes, cuddling fluffy animals, drinking excessive amounts of tea, and absorbing herself in fictional worlds.
Two chefs are catering the fifteenth birthday parties of two girls who are definitely not friends. Only one of the celebrations will be chosen to be featured in the local paper. And both chefs have something to prove.
Tony Sanchez, the established executive chef of a New York restaurant, is on a long-overdue visit home to Miami. He’s committed to making the celebration the best it can be—for the sake of his niece, the rest of his family, and his reputation.
Sara Kelly hadn’t known much about quinceañeras before she agreed to cater one for her niece. It’s a chance to both help her family and to promote her brand-new restaurant in Miami. From her Cuban sister-in-law, Sara learns about quince traditions, appreciating the meaning behind them.
When Tony was growing up, Sara was his best friend’s little sister; now, he sees her in a very different light. But his last relationship with another chef ended in disaster…and Sara knows that, once the parties are over, he’ll be gone. Can either of them entertain the idea of a new romance?
South Beach Love is a sweet romance that can really pull on your heartstrings. It’s a return to home and a culinary adventure into the unfamiliar. Tony and Sara are a fun couple, and their trip to a relationship isn’t all sunshine. It includes plenty of thunderstorms as well. They have intense personalities – especially when it comes to cooking.
The two nieces really help make the story a success. Both are sweet girls, but they have a fierce rivalry. These two girls were really the glue of the story, bringing Sara and Tony together and maybe playing a little matchmaker behind the scenes. My only complaint here is that there weren’t differentiated enough – I never knew which was which.
I loved seeing the culture and cuisine of Cuba. It was such a large part of the story and was a driving force behind the cooking and much of the competition between the chefs and the nieces. The families played a big part in the culture, and everything came together so nicely to build an amazing picture.
The ending was sweet and believable – it seemed like everything turned out just the way it was supposed to.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Title: Mister Know It All Author: Amélie S. Duncan Genre: Romantic Comedy
A romantic comedy set in the world of Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s Stuck Up Suit
What’s a girl to do when she discovers that her boss/boyfriend (I don’t need a lecture, thank you very much!) is a cheating windbag?
Dump him and quit her job, of course.
After that, it was supposed to be the Summer of Me—a totally self-indulgent few months.
Except that I met a drop-dead gorgeous Viking with a bossy attitude.
We clashed on his arrogance and crassness, but geek bonded over Star Wars and Star Trek.
He offered himself as a no-strings-attached candidate for my get-my-groove-back sex plan, and I left because he already had a girlfriend, even if they were on a break.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
I really, really needed to find someone less complicated, but he infiltrated my thoughts.
He was hot, after all (And his towel might have slipped on purpose.) Seriously hot.
No matter how many times I decided not to pursue anything with him, he kept showing a softer side of himself.
But we couldn’t keep going like that, neither here nor there.
Some decisions had to be made.
One that could change everything.
If someone had told me how my Summer of Me would end? I’d never have believed them.
“I won’t change for him or any man. No matter how fab I treat them, they still cheat. Maybe I just need to focus on my career and let relationships happen later.”
“What you don’t need to do is waste your prime-time mourning losers. You need to have a passionate fling to get that windbag out of your system. A rebound could make you over, babe.” Hopefully my rebound, if I found one, won’t ask if I’ve come seconds after he does. Thank you, Randall. Pretentious, pipe-sucking ass.
My phone buzzed. Randall’s smug face popped up. Speak of the devil. I swiped the decline button. “He’s still calling.”
“Forget him. What you need is a good fling to recharge your ego. Reach in my bag and check my phone. My Tinder app should be accessible.”
I pulled up her handbag from the back seat and pressed her profile.
My mouth dropped open. “You kept this secret.”
Tam Nguyen—valedictorian, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, most likely to win a Nobel Prize for physics—had a raunchy profile with pictures of close-up body parts.
“What the hell, Tam? Some creep is copying this on his phone.”
She grinned and lifted her shoulder while keeping her hands on the wheel. “I don’t care. I’m not running for political office. Besides, women shouldn’t be afraid of expressing their sexuality.”
She took the ramp for the highway and increased her speed to join the traffic ahead.
I returned her phone to her purse and groaned. “I’m not ready to advertise or date again. Maybe time alone is good.”
“That’s feeling sorry for yourself bullshit. You fall off; you get back on. And before you find the guy who lives inside your heart, you recharge. I’m not talking about dating. Go to a bar or nightclub and hook up to get him out of your system. Just be safe. Find a man who turns you on. You’re not trying to date him, so you can be as shallow as fuck.”
“Don’t we always go for what attracts us?” I asked.
“Rhetorically speaking. But in reality, not all the time, and you know it. But this time, you do for sure. Kiss the guy in the bar to make sure you won’t end up with a sloppy tongue. Feel his junk under the table too. Or better yet, ask to feel his cock, like you can’t make it out of the bar without touching it, so you can make sure you’re on the same wavelength.”
I shook my head. “That’s your advice, grope a stranger?”
“You’ll thank me later. Trust me, it will save you the naked reveal.”
I howled with laughter. “You’re crazy. I’m feeling up random guys to find the cock-nirvana? I guess this is a bar I never want to return to out of sheer embarrassment.”
“Everyone goes to bars and nightclubs to hook up. Who are they to judge? Oh, and make sure you tell him you want to get fucked, not make love.” She said make love like it was a nasty word. “Keep the convo on sex. Don’t let him talk too much about himself. You don’t want this guy in your head.”
“Am I hooking up, or is this Silence of the Lambs?” I mused.
“These are trade secrets, darling.” We laughed.
Revenge sex aside, I still wasn’t completely sold on a mindless man-toy fling.
Amelie S. Duncan writes steamy, sexy stories. Her inspiration comes from many sources including her life experiences and travels. She lives on the West Coast of the United States with her husband.
College sweethearts, Sam and Isla, were crazy in love and looked forward to a life together. That was until his father died suddenly in a tragic accident.
The news sent Sam into a tailspin causing him to spiral out of control. After telling Isla, the woman he hoped to marry, he never wanted to see her again, he hit rock bottom.
Pulling his life together more than a year later, he realizes nothing will ever be the same without his one true love…Isla. Finally locating where she moved to for Vet school, he shows up to beg her forgiveness only to find her kissing her soon to be husband.
Twelve years later, Sergeant Sam Wolfe’s police K-9, Blue, was shot on-duty and suffers from PTSD. Unbeknownst to Sam, his Lieutenant arranged for Isla, the best trauma Vet in Florida, to take over Blue’s care while Sam is on vacation with his son in Bliss Cay.
When they see each other again, neither are prepared for what the summer holds. As Isla helps Blue through his physical and emotional traumas, her and Sam’s worlds collide as skeletons are unearthed changing their lives forever.
When I release the radio button, more shots ring out and the thud of someone falling to the ground near the perp’s house follows.
Seconds feel like hours while I wait for my fellow officer to answer me. All I hear is silence—never ending radio silence. My respirations grow faster as my heart tries bursting through my bulletproof vest.
Still listening, my K-9 partner gasps for air on the groundnext to me. Cutting my eyes at him, the faint glimmer of light from the street lamp reveals something red on Blue’s upper body. After that, everything happens in slow motion—like I’ve entered an alternate reality where my worst nightmare has come true.
“K-9 down, K-9 down!”
“Noooo!” Finding myself in the middle of the bedroom crying and shaking, I feel my dog’s nose in the palm of my hand as he licks it, whining.
I drop to the floor when I realize I had another flashback of that horrible night I can’t seem to forget. Blue climbs on my legs and leans against me.
Still sobbing, I throw my arms around his torso and tell him, “I’m so sorry, Blue, it’s all my fault, I should’ve seen it coming.”
“What happened, dad? Are you okay?”
Swallowing back the sobs and wiping my eyes, I turn to see my son standing in the doorway. “I’m fine, just had a bad dream.”
“Do you wanna talk about it? You used to tell me it helps when you share it with someone.”
Of all times for my kid to be so wise, it has to be now when the last thing I want to do is rehash what I’ve tried for weeks to forget. “Have I told you you’re too smart for your own good?”
“Yeah, once or twice.”
“It helps most of the time, but in this case I think it’s best not to—, at least not at this hour. I uh, think I’ll go downstairs and make some hot tea before going back to bed.”
“I can go with you if you want.”
“I appreciate it, son, but—” With the hall light shining on him, I see the concern on his face. “—actually, I’d like that. Let’s go, come on Blue.”
Freda was born in southern New Jersey but grew up in Florida. She has loved writing her entire life. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, she knew it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a published author.
She’s the author of The Hawaii Series, proudly named from her love of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. It’s a three-book series with all of them written as standalone books.
Freda loves her large family, horses, dogs, cat, and close friends. She hosts monthly family dinners at her home in the country, which she shares with her husband.
She loves baking (she owned and operated a cupcake business for years), cooking, yoga, crocheting, nature and traveling with the love of her life.
What helps her write? Music makes her happy! If music doesn’t give her the right motivation, she puts on a romantic movie, usually from the Hallmark Channel, which she can’t get enough of!
Freda speaks her mind and pushes perfection to its limit. She strives to be her best, most positive self she can be in life. With time, determination, and practice, she believes anything is possible.
Two ordinary sisters. A long and brutal war. A heroic sacrifice…
London, 1915. As German bombs rain down on the East End of London and hungry children queue for rations in the blistering cold, fifteen-year-old Florrie is forced to grow up fast. With her father fighting in the muddy trenches, Florrie turns to her older sister Edith for comfort. But the war has changed Edith. She has grown quiet, with dark shadows under her eyes, and has started leaving the house at night in secret. When Florrie follows her sister through the dark and winding streets of London, she is shocked by what she discovers. But she knows she must keep her sister’s secret for the sake of their family, even if she herself must pay the ultimate price…
Years later Kate, running from her broken relationship, is sorting through her dead aunt Florrie’s house, which she shared with her sister Edith. As she sits on the threadbare carpets, looking at photos of Florrie during the war, she notices the change in her aunt – from carefree young girl with a hopeful smile to a hollow-cheeked young woman, with dark sad eyes.
Determined to put her family’s ghosts to rest, Kate must unearth the secret past of her two aunts. Why is there a hidden locked room in the little house they shared? What is the story behind the abandoned wedding dress wrapped in tissue and tied up with a ribbon? And when Kate discovers the tragic secrets that have bound her family together, will she ever be able to move on?
Kate’s two great-aunts, Florrie and Edith, are really the stars of this book. Watching them grow up through Kate’s eyes as she reads through a diary offers an interesting view into their lives. Kate is only going through the diary because her life is in a bit of turmoil as well, but her story really takes a back seat to the past.
Florrie and Edith’s family actually does quite well in the war compared to those around them. They have set up a garden and are raising rabbits. But the boy Edith loves has gone to war and they may never see him again. As the years go by, the worry and unknown eat at Edith, and she begins to act very oddly.
Florrie, on the other hand, is quickly thrust into the role of caretaker. Even though she is the younger sister, she seems to be the only one holding the family together at times. The relationship between Florrie and Edith is the central point of the story. The sisterly disputes never outshine the love and devotion they feel for each other.
Meanwhile, Kate is navigating her relationship and career crisis in the present. The way her life changed and she came to appreciate the little things as she learned more about the past was quite sweet. I don’t really understand why her brothers and their families were such a prominent piece of her narrative. I feel like they mainly served to distract from her storyline and make her seem like an incredible person by giving me some awful people to compare her to. The book could have done without them.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Three things I’ve learned this week: 1) Never fall for a client 2) Never fall for your best friend 3) And most importantly, never fall for your back-up guy …especially if they’re all the same person.
I’m the queen of dating disasters—I’ve had more rotten dates than you can shake a long stemmed rose at. After years of one disappointment after another, I’m beginning to feel like I’ll never say “I do.”
So after being dumped one too many times I do something stupid:
I make a pact with my best friend Asher. If neither of us are married by 35, we tie the knot. That’s five full years of searching for The One.
I’ve got to meet Mr. Right by then, don’t I?
Except when I take a job redecorating Asher’s bachelor pad, I realize he’s a lot different from the guy I thought he was. Against all odds, I find myself falling for my best friend. Maybe my back-up guy could be The One after all?
Except there’s only one problem…
My back-up guy has a secret that could ruin everything.
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Kate O’Keeffe is a bestselling author of fun, feel-good romantic comedies. She lives and loves in beautiful Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand with her family, two scruffy dogs, and a cat who thinks he’s a scruffy dog too. He’s not: he’s a cat. When she’s not penning her latest story, Kate can be found hiking up hills (slowly), traveling to different countries, and eating chocolate. A lot of it.
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Leraine has finally returned home, but the welcome is not as she imagined it. Tension is rising within the Mochedan Federation as many advocate for an end to the long peace and a return to the glory of war.
She sets off to the most important festival of the Mochedan, hoping to preserve the peace for at least a little while longer. Eurik joins her, to help his friend and to finally find the answers about his parents he’s been chasing since he left the island.
What they find is theft, murder, and a conspiracy to end their world.
“Ah, so we’re heading for smithies,” Misthell said.
Startled, Eurik glanced over his shoulder at the blade. “We are. How did you know?”
“We’re looking for my makers, that’s the point of this whole story. Also, there were at least two carts laden with iron bars and coal we passed heading the same way we are.”
Looking past Misthell, Eurik spotted one of the carts in question. “Right. I should have noticed that.”
“You’re too focused on one thing. Or should I say, one Way. Why don’t you try Dance of the Whirlwind to find what you’re looking for?”
He hesitated for a moment as the people flowed around him. But these past weeks, what little time he’d had for training had been taken up by Silver Fang. And on the Road, even wind chiri didn’t quite work as it should.
Taking a deep breath, he reached out only to have Misthell whistle sharply in his ear. Eurik flinched away. “What was that for?”
“Because you’re starting wrong. The wind is motion, so if you’re trying to become one with the wind . . .”
He sighed. He should know this and he did. “So must I.” Eurik moved forward, arms hanging loose at his side, fingers lightly splayed, and felt for the flow of wind chiri. Though flow was the wrong word for the chaotic mess swirling around him, a chaos he added to with every step, every breath. On reflex, he closed his eyes to better concentrate on his other sense.
He tried feeling for the ringing of steel, of hammers striking hot iron. But the wind chiri shied away from his reach, his flow rebuffing those around him.
Eurik sidestepped a group walking toward them, their wake washing over him. A sharp flow snaked its way out of a tavern to his left, carrying a jaunty tune. Behind him an ox exerted himself, hot air blasting out with every huff.
Those flows he could feel, because they mixed and bounced off his own, but they also constrained his world. He pushed, wind ruffling clothes and hair, and he felt his perception expand. So did the chaos, new flows emerging within his flow while more flows beat at it from without.
The wingbeat of a lake gull, the wind blowing over the rooftops of Urumoy, hot air rising from a dozen chimneys, the staccato of a thousand voices whispering, speaking, hollering.
Eurik swayed, and a wagon wheel ground past his toes, almost crushing them. “Look where you’re going!” Opening his eyes, he staggered away as he lost his connection with the world. Out of the flow of traffic, into a narrow, shadowed alley. The air hung in there, thick and fetid. His deep breaths only set him to coughing.
“What did you do wrong?”
“I—” Another cough. Eurik shook his head. “I don’t know.” Breathing through his nose wasn’t better, only made the smell worse, but it helped against the coughing. “I tried to reach out to find the smithy, but I got swamped by the city. There was too much.”
“Wind is not earth,” Misthell said, his voice changing into a familiar one. One Eurik had not heard in months. “It is more like water, flowing from a place of abundance to one where there is absence. The wind dances to its own music, and you must dance with it if you wish to guide it to where you need it.”
Eurik blinked until his sight stopped being blurry. “You talked a lot to sesin.”
“Yeah. What, you thought I’d spent all that time in a box?”
Eurik shook his head. “Hard to imagine. I would have found you within a year or so if that were true. All I would have to do is follow the stream of complaints.” “You mean pointed reminders. Not my fault your fleshy minds leak memories like sieves.”
Pemry Janes grew up on a family-owned farm. He has had a love for history for as long as he can remember and studied it at university. Fantasy he discovered a few years later and now tries to combine the two in his writing.
