Doodletopia Fairies - Draw, Design, and Color Your Own Super-magical and Beautiful Fairies

I love to draw and I love fairies, so this was a fun book to get my hands on. I love that you can draw, design, and color in this book or use the drawings and tutorials to draw on a separate piece of paper as well. The drawings are adorable and fairly easy to duplicate. My daughter and I enjoyed spending time together copying the pictures from this book and making up a story for our new cute fairy creation. I liked that it starts with learning how to draw the faces, then the bodies, then clothing, accessories, and such. There is even a section with some cute fairy homes as well. There's a variety of different fairy looks and the fairies are all doing different things which makes this really fun and makes you want to try to draw them all.This is my first doopletopia book but I will certainly be looking for more of them to explore with some other fun new things to draw. 

** I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. **

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Author Bio

Shift by Sidney Bristol

Shift by Sidney Bristol

3.5 stars


Shift is the second book in the Hot Rides series by Sidney Bristol. The first book Drive, introduces Aiden and his team, who work at a classic car garage that is also a front for their FBI operations. Shift picks up shortly after the happenings in Drive and focuses on Emery aka "The Walking Brain" and Tori who is hiding from the Russian Mob. When things hit the fan we find out that they have both been harboring a secret crush on each other without the other ever knowing. Emery is a tech genius and Tori is a mechanic but boy when these two get together do they seem to be just the right fit. Things get hot, fun, and a little crazy while they're on the run but that only helps to bring out the feelings they might would otherwise hide.

I really liked both Emery and Tori and thought it was nice that they were both a bit of an unconventional character. Emery has a limp and is conversationally challenged and Tori is a bit of a Tomboy who would rather work on cars than fix up and who wears a sports bra instead of lace. It was rather refreshing actually. The glimpses of Aiden and Madison were nice for me since I have read Drive but I liked that you wouldn't necessarily have had to read the first book to be able to get into this one. The characters were my favorite part of Shift. I felt that after a while the chase and all that jazz got a bit dull and dragged out, but I still liked the story plot overall. So although I didn't love this one quite as much as I had hoped, I still think it was a solid read and am ready to get my hands on Chase ( Hot Rides #3 ).



** I received this book from the publisher solely in exchange for my honest review.**

Review: The Night Voyage - A Magical Adventure and Coloring Book by Daria Song

My Review:

 I absolutely adore Daria Song's work! The Night Voyage is breathtakingly lovely and I love that there is a story to go along with all the beautiful illustrations. The drawings are gorgeous and range from simple to complex and very intricate. Which is great to suit your many coloring moods. The quality of these books are superb and would make a fabulous gift. Of course you would probably want one for yourself as well! I like using color pencils most of the time but the paper is nice and thick so you could even use paint or watercolors if you like, without having to worry about leak-through. The Night Voyage is one of the most magical coloring books I have came across yet and I am going to love exploring this coloring adventure. 

P.S. There's even a card for you to color and cut out in the back! How cool is that?! 

** I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. **

Review: With All Due Respect 40 Days to a More Fulfilling Relationship with Your Teens and Tweens By Nina Roesner and Debbie Hitchcock

My Review: 

We are soon to be moving into the tween stage here in my household and when I saw this book I thought it would be a great motivator to keep things positive even as the hormones start to rage. In all sincerity I have a great relationship with my daughter but still thought this sounded like a nice read. I've never read a parenting book from the Christian perspective. I think it makes a big difference in the type of advice you receive. I believe this book has the right approach with lots of prayer and focusing on things that you can do as a parent instead of trying to manipulate good behavior from your child as some other books suggest. One of the first things this book mentions is for the parent to stop clinging to your our expectations of  your child. While this doesn't sound like a mind blowing revelation, it is sage advice. I think it's easy to put too many expectations on our children because we want better for them and from them. I think this book lays out lots of good reminders to help us to keep a healthy relationship with our kids and ourselves. The name is very suiting as I believe the whole book is very respectfully and tastefully done. 

 ** The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers for review purposes. **

Me: A Compendium by Wee Society

Review: The Form of Things Unknown by Robin Bridges

The Form of Things Unknown by Robin Bridges


The Form of Things Unknown is the second book in this series. Both of which involve teens having to deal with some pretty heavy stuff amidst falling in love and trying to figure things out in general.

In The Form of Things Unknown Natalie's family has moved in with her grandmother to help take care of her since she has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Apparently Natalie's ex boyfriend gave her some ecstasy that triggered hallucinations of her own and with her family history of mental health issues she now has to take medication to keep her from possibly having more hallucinations. This would understandably be tough on anyone, much less a teenager. So I don't find it hard to believe when she makes some mistakes with skipping her medication or drinking with it when she is hanging out with friends. This may not be the smart move or even be what us as readers would want her to do but it is very realistic for her age and situation. It also adds to the mystery of her believing that she may be seeing things at the theater. It really keeps you wondering if it's because she isn't taking her medications properly or is it because the theater is truly haunted, or maybe it's something else entirely. Add in the possible budding relationship with Lucas a boy she knows from the rehabilitation facility and it definitely keeps things interesting. I like that it's not all gloom and doom and there is humor throughout as well and some fun characters like Lucas's younger sister and the boy Natalie's brother has a crush on to help keep things light. I find it refreshing to find characters in ya contemporary dealing with some big real life issues such as mental health and not just boy drama. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more novels by Ms. Robin Bridges.

** I received this book from the publisher in exchange for honest review **

Review: Secret Heart of Lacie Blade

My Review:

 The entire Robbin' Hearts series has been so magical and Secret Heart of Lacie Blade is a wonderful new addition to that. It takes place in the same familiar setting of Bender lake as the previous books and features one of my favorite characters, Granny Tinker. It could definitely be read as a standalone since this story does not depend on the previous ones to be told. With that said, I do recommend reading the series as a whole because it is so wonderful and Reed just has this beautiful mystical aspect to her work that I so enjoy. This one is a bit quirky much like the first book of the series and has that gypsy aspect that is just so cool. I haven't read many books with gypsies and Granny Tinker is a really unique character that really breathes life into every scene she's in. Although this is a short story it is not lacking in depth or story. Small packages can pack a big punch as I'm sure Lacie Blade would tell you ;-) . 

I'm not sure if Ms. Reed has more stories in mind for this series but I am always happy to visit Bender Lake. I highly recommend this entire series and hope that you love it as much as I do. 

** I received this book from the author in exchange for honest review. ** 

http://dianejreed.com/series/robbinhearts/