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Jorie and the Magic Stones by AH Richardson review and giveaway

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The words that came to mind while reading this book are classic and epic. I really enjoyed reading this introduction to Jorie and her adventures. The style and content reminds me quite a lot of the Chronicles of Narnia series which were some of my favourite books when I was growing up (and still are today!).
Originally I thought the book was a little old fashioned but that isn’t a criticism: I would now change that description to ‘timeless’. It has all the makings of a classic that can span generations in the same way as the Narnia books.

Jorie is a little girl sent to live in a remote part of Scotland with her great aunt. She meets Rufus who lives close by and they explore the local area and develop a fascination with a tarn. Jorie finds a book with magic words and is transported to a magical world of dragons and adventure where she needs to find special stones in order to thwart the plans of Lord Fodomalk.
Jorie is a fantastic lead character, brave and inspiring whilst also kind. The interesting folk she meets on her journey will be loved by children and it will fire their imaginations trying to visualise them.
The book is not particularly scary so younger children would enjoy having this read to them. I think Matthew (aged 7) may be a little too young to read this alone confidently but 9 year olds should have no difficulty with the vocabulary or comprehension.
I would score this book 5/5. It took me back to my own childhood reading but I also loved it in its own right. I hope to read more in the series and follow more of Jorie’s adventures.
The publishers have kindly offered to send a copy of Jorie and the Magic Stones to one of my readers. Enter the competition below for your chance to win!

Win a copy of ‘Jorie and the Magic Stones’ by AH Richardson

If you can’t wait to read the book then here is the link for it on Amazon:

[amazon_link asins=’0692358927′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’tiredmummyblog-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’026ba06d-c551-11e7-9a57-39a1a7f82148′]

*I was sent a copy of the book for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own.

 


Categories: Product reviews.

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Secrets at Seaside by Addison Cole, review and giveaway!

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I haven’t read a romantic novel in a while. I think this is because once I got my own love life sorted I lost interest in other people’s!
I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed the opening chapter. It got me straight into the plot and empathising with the lead characters. I loved the way it showed the events from the point of view of both Amy and Tony.
The main protagonists have a LOT of history that needs to be dealt with before their romance can become secure. The story deals with major issues including miscarriage and death in a very sensitive way.
My only criticism of the book was that there was some repetition which may be a plot device to anchor the characters but felt to me like it slowed the story down a bit when I was eager to hear what would happen next!
I want to read more about the other characters in this book as I understand that the series focuses on each couple in separate books. Each book stands alone so can be read out of order. The first one is free on Amazon Kindle at the moment!
Overall score 4/5
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post for a chance to win an Amazon gift card!

[amazon_link asins=’B0711C22JY’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’tiredmummyblog-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’50ae0ae7-c39b-11e7-b881-99a10e44bac6′]

NEW RELEASE…

Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers features a group of fun, flirty, and emotional friends who gather each summer at their Cape Cod cottages. They’re sassy, flawed, and so easy to relate to, you’ll be begging to enter their circle of friends! All books can be read as stand-alone novels.

Secrets at Seaside by Addison Cole is the sweet edition of New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster’s steamy romance novel Seaside Secrets. The stories and characters remain the same and convey all of the passion you expect between two people in love, without any explicit scenes or harsh language.

In SECRETS at SEASIDE… 

Tony Black is the hottest surfer on the planet. He travels the world throughout the year and spends his summers on Cape Cod with his friends, at the Seaside cottages in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. He’s got his choice of women, but Amy Maples is the one he wants. Fourteen years ago she was his for an entire summer, until a devastating accident changed everything, and what they had seemed like it had never existed—at least for her.

Amy Maples is as consistent as the day is long. She’s spent summers on Cape Cod forever, she always does the right thing, and she’s spent years trying to reclaim the heart of Tony Black, the only man she’s ever loved. She’s back for a summer of fun with her friends at Seaside, only this year she’s been offered the opportunity of a lifetime thousands of miles away, and she’s decided to try one last time to reconnect with Tony. But having a relationship with Tony means dealing with her past—and dealing with her past may knock her to her knees.

Secrets at Seaside is the sweet edition of the steamy romance novel Seaside Secrets by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Available to buy from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble   KOBO</span   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

Also available… 
Read, Write, Love at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 1)
Bestselling author Kurt Remington lives to write. He spends twelve hours a day in front of his computer, rarely leaving the seclusion of his beach-front property, where he’s come to finish his latest thriller — that is, until free-spirited Leanna Bray nearly drowns in the ocean trying to save her dog. Kurt’s best-laid plans are shot to hell when he comes to their rescue. Kurt’s as irritated as he is intrigued by the sexy, hot mess of a woman who lives life on a whim, forgets everything, and doesn’t even know the definition of the word organized.

Leanna’s come to the Cape hoping to find a fulfilling career in the jam-making business, and until she figures out her own life, a man is not on the menu. But Leanna can’t get the six-two, deliciously muscled and tragically neat Kurt out of her mind. She tells herself she’s just stopping by to say thank you, but the heart-warming afternoon sparks an emotional and unexpectedly sweet ride as Kurt and Leanna test the powers of Chemistry 101: Opposites Attract.

Read, Write, Love at Seaside is the sweet edition of steamy romance novel Read, Write, Love by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Get the 1st book FREE!!

Available to buy from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble   KOBO   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

Dreaming at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 2)
Bella Abbascia has returned to Seaside Cottages in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, as she does every summer. Only this year, Bella has more on her mind than sunbathing and skinny-dipping with her girlfriends. She’s quit her job, put her house on the market, and sworn off relationships while she builds a new life in her favorite place on earth. That is, until good-time Bella’s prank takes a bad turn and a handsome police officer appears on the scene.

Single father and police officer Caden Grant left Boston with his fourteen-year-old son, Evan, after his partner was killed in the line of duty. He hopes to find a safer life in the small resort town of Wellfleet, and when he meets Bella during a night patrol shift, he realizes he’s found the one thing he’d never allowed himself to hope for—or even realized he was missing.

After fourteen years of focusing solely on his son, Caden cannot resist the intense attraction he feels toward beautiful Bella, and Bella’s powerless to fight the heat of their budding romance. But starting over proves more difficult than either of them imagined, and when Evan gets mixed up with the wrong kids, Caden’s loyalty is put to the test. Will he give up everything to protect his son—even Bella?

Dreaming at Seaside is the sweet edition of the steamy romance novel Seaside Dreams by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Available to buy from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble  KOBO   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

Hearts at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 3)
Jenna Ward is vivacious, spontaneous, and confident—except when she’s around the man who stole her heart years earlier, strikingly handsome, quiet, and reliable Pete Lacroux. After years of trying to get his attention and overwhelmed from dealing with her mother’s new cougar lifestyle, Jenna’s giving up on Peter—and is ready to explore other men.

As the eldest of five siblings, with an alcoholic father to care for, boat craftsman Pete Lacroux always does the right thing and has no time for a real relationship. He’s looking forward to seeing his friend Jenna, a welcome distraction who’s so sexy and painfully shy that she equally entertains and confuses him.

When Jenna picks up a hard-bodied construction worker, jealousy ignites Pete’s true feelings, and he’s unable to ignore the desires for Jenna he never realized he had. But Pete’s not the quiet guy he appears to be, and his life is anything but conducive to a relationship. Can Jenna handle the real Pete Lacroux—the most alpha male she’s ever seen—or will she crack under pressure? And can Pete reclaim the life he once had without tearing apart his family?

Hearts at Seaside is the sweet edition of the steamy romance novel Seaside Hearts by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Available to buy from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble  KOBO   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

 

Sunsets at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 4)
Jessica Ayers has lived a sheltered life with little more than cello lessons and practices taking up her day. Now a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she escapes the prim and proper symphony to vacation in the Seaside community in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, to determine if she is living life to the fullest or missing it altogether.

For the first time since developing the second largest search engine in the world, billionaire Jamie Reed is taking the summer off. He plans to work from the Cape and spend time with his elderly grandmother—and falling in love is not in his plans.

From the moment Jamie and Jessica meet, the attraction is white-hot. Once-overly-focused Jamie can think of little else than sweet, smart, and alluring Jessica, and Jessica discovers a side of herself she never knew existed. But when Jamie’s business encounters trouble and his attorney and best friend intervenes, he proves that the brown-haired beauty is too distracting for Jamie. To make matters worse, it appears that Jessica might not be who she says she is, turning Jamie’s life—and his heart—upside down. In a world where personal information is always one click away, Jamie must decide if he should trust his heart or watch the woman he loves walk away.

Sunsets at Seaside is the sweet edition of the steamy romance novel Seaside Sunsets by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Available to buy from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble  KOBO   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

Nights at Seaside (Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers Book 6)
Sky Lacroux has finally realized her dream and opened her own tattoo shop in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She’s happy as can be, preparing the shop for its grand opening and renting a cottage in the Seaside community while renovations to her new apartment are being completed. The only thing missing is the one thing she longs for, and has no control over—love.

Sawyer Bass, a professional boxer, plays his guitar at a local bar to escape the painful reality of his father’s deteriorating health and a recent health warning of his own. But when he spots a stunning brunette across the room, escaping reality goes out the window, and the beautiful woman becomes the focus of his next song—and maybe even the rest of his life.

When Sawyer walks into Sky’s tattoo shop and sees the woman from the bar—Sky—the chemistry between them is instant. Sawyer is everything Sky could ever hope for in a man. He’s honest, loving, sensitive, and potently virile—but boxing goes against everything Sky believes in. The closer they become, the more she realizes that her alpha boxer is waging his own emotional battle—only the battle she thinks he’s waging isn’t the one that threatens to tear them apart.

Nights at Seaside is the sweet edition of the steamy romance novel Seaside Nights by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster.

Releasing December 13th

Available to pre-order from …
Amazon.com   Amazon.co.uk   Barnes and Noble  KOBO   iBooks   GPlay   Paperback

Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers 

Available!

Read, Write, Love at Seaside
Dreaming at Seaside
Hearts at Seaside
Sunsets at Seaside
Secrets at Seaside

Pre-order!

Nights at Seaside (releasing December 13th)

Coming Soon!

Seized by Love at Seaside
Embraced at Seaside
Lovers at Seaside
Whispers at Seaside

About the author
SIGN UP for ADDISON’S Sweet with Heat newsletter. Fun, flirty romance with a dash of heat. www.AddisonCole.com/Newsletter

DOWNLOAD the first book in Addison’s Sweet with Heat: Seaside Summers series free: READ, WRITE, LOVE AT SEASIDE

Addison Cole is the sweet alter ego of New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Melissa Foster. She writes humorous and emotional sweet contemporary romance. Her books do not include explicit sex scenes or harsh language. Addison spends her summers on Cape Cod, where she dreams up wonderful love stories in her house overlooking Cape Cod Bay.

Addison enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups and welcomes an invitation to your event.

Addison’s books are available in paperback, digital, and audio formats.

Find Addison on the following sites….
Website   Newsletter   Facebook   Twitter    Google+   Pinterest   Goodreads   Bookbub   Amazon Author Page

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I received this book through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, I have volunteered to share my review and all the opinions are 100% my own.

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR’S GIVEAWAY !!

Win $10 Amazon.com Gift Card
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Categories: Product reviews.

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Spider Stampede by Ali Sparkes

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Last night we finished reading Spider Stampede which is the first book in the SWITCH series of books by Ali Sparkes. I bought this for Anya when Ali visited Matthew’s school last half term. The book centres around twins Danny and Josh who live next door to scientist Petty Potts. They accidentally get transformed into spiders and then the adventures begin!

 

I am not a huge fan of spiders (and neither is poor Danny in the book!) but I don’t mind them too much and was fascinated to read how Ali had imagined the world through their eyes. There are fantastic descriptions and the children loved this book. There are also a range of activities at the end of the book which are fun plus a sneak preview of the next book in the series.
Matthew can read this book confidently by himself whilst Anya needed it to be read to her but she could appreciate the concepts involved so I would say the age range is probably 5-8.
My competition to win a copy of Ali’s Thunderstruck (aimed at slightly older readers) is still open to entries: enter below

Win a signed copy of ‘Thunderstruck’ by Ali Sparkes audiobook

[amazon_link asins=’0192739360,0192729322,1467721719,1467732346,B00OX8CT22′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’tiredmummyblog-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’b1126933-be0f-11e7-a5e6-938c42321951′]


Categories: Product reviews.

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Relaxation #Blogtober17 day 18

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Errr. I’m a parent. Relaxing doesn’t happen!
Actually that isn’t true.
The problem is that when I do have 5 minutes of freedom, me-time, peace that doesn’t need to be filled with chores, work or blogging I feel guilty.
Yep, the dreaded mum guilt steps in to make me feel bad 🙁
I feel selfish for wanting to be alone or spend some grown up time with Chris. I feel bad for hoping the kids leave me alone long enough to have a sit down. I feel nostalgic for the days before children when I only had to worry about myself. I feel like a failure for not being a supermum (or even an instamum!) who is on call 24/7 and still has an immaculate house, perfect snot free clothes and pristine makeup.
Three or four times a week I have a bath and relax with my book as soon as the kids have gone to bed. I only last about 10 minutes though as there is so much that needs to get done around the house or work-wise and blogging related.
I enjoy a glass of wine in the evenings. It helps to switch off my brain. I am a total lightweight now so a small glass is all I need to make me chilled out and snoozy 🙂
During the day I try to read a little while Zach naps in the bed next to me. This is a new habit we have got into since the older 2 started back at school. Zach sleeps in his cot for about half an hour then wakes and if I put him in our bed and lay with him then he goes straight off for another hour at least.
I long for the days of being able to leave the kids unsupervised for a while to have a coffee and crisps (good old ‘crisp time’ as I call it 🙂 ) Matthew and Anya are now at the stage where they don’t bicker constantly so could play nicely for 20 minutes or more without me needing to intervene but Zach is very clingy and demanding. I imagine in 3 years or so the three of them can play together and give me a little time…
It is difficult to switch off some nights. I often stay up to midnight to cram in all the ‘blogmin’ that I haven’t had time to do during the day but the screen time must affect my brain and make it hard to relax.
So, basically, relaxing is easier said than done!

Categories: Daily thoughts.

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Halloween Is Murder by Carolyn Arnold: review and giveaway!

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I am a bit ‘bah humbug’ over Halloween so to try to get me in the ‘spirit’ before the big day I read this new release from Carolyn Arnold.
Halloween Is Murder is a fun novel centred around a pair of private investigators, Sean and Sara MacKinley, and their team. They have to negotiate with their former police colleagues to investigate the murder of a local news reporter who was covering the opening of their charity haunted house.
I enjoyed the investigation and procedures to find the killer (who I didn’t guess) but I felt that we could have seen them got to the police with their findings rather than it being reported to us in the concluding chapter.
This book has made me want to know more about the main characters and read Carolyn’s previous novels. However, this book does not require you to have read any of the other books in order to fully enjoy it.
Overall score: 4 out of 5.


NEW RELEASE….

Beware of all that goes bump in the night…
 
Sean and Sara McKinley are excited about the haunted house they’ve set up as a Halloween charity fund-raiser, but things take a ghoulish turn when the reporter covering their story is found dead. With the media keeping mum about how she died, Sara’s curiosity is piqued, and she convinces Sean to take on the investigation through their PI firm.
 
But this case is not without its challenges. The police are actively investigating it, as well, and it’s not even clear that the woman was murdered. It will take a little cloak-and-dagger, dress-up, and finesse for the McKinleys to get to the bottom of it, but they aren’t the kind to give up.
 
As they troll for leads and work through the skeletons in the reporter’s closet, they unearth a few suspects, but they’ll need to carve out the whole truth if they’re going to find her killer. If they do so fast enough, there might even be time for a little trick-or-treating.

 

Available to buy from…… 

What to expect from the McKinley Mysteries:

Romance. Humor. Murder. Are you looking for a murder mystery without all the graphic violence and foul language? Something that you can enjoy in an afternoon and walk away feeling good about afterward? How about a dash of humor and romance? If so, meet former detectives Sean and Sara McKinley. When a billionaire leaves them all his money, they no longer have to work, but they find themselves sticking to what they’re good at—solving murders. Undercover, off the books, and around the world, they’ll get to the bottom of things…and romance it up along the way.

 
Read an excerpt

 

 

 

About the author

CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures.
 
Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
 
Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.



She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada.

Find the author on the following sites… 
Newsletter   Website   Facebook   Twitter    Google+   Pinterest   Goodreads   Amazon Author Page
 
Follow the Book Tour

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I received this book through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, I have volunteered to share my review and all the opinions are 100% my own.

 

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR’S GIVEAWAY!
d
Win $10 Paypal Cash
2nd winner – choice of ONE McKinley novella books 1-10 

(HALLOWEEN is exempt from this, not included)

Ending on Sunday 29th October at 11.59pm EST
Open Worldwide
 
Enter Below & Good Luck !!
Are you a book reviewer or book blogger? Join our book tours reviewers team – Apply Here x
Current book tours open for sign ups HERE
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Categories: Product reviews.

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