Net-Galley

REVIEW | Cat’s Don’t Like Christmas! by Andy Wortlock and Nahum Ziersch (Illustrator)

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The Storygraph | Goodreads
Title: Cat’s Don’t Like Christmas!
Genre: Children’s, Picture Books
Publisher: Splash Books
Format: E-Book
Pages: 35 pages
Source: NetGalley

Description

It’s Christmas time! It’s here again!

But first I need to say…

I think you’re making too much fuss

about this holiday!

Our adorable little cat is back this Christmas and he thinks there might be a little too much fuss this holiday season. Cats aren’t great with change and there’s plenty this time of year, in such a short period of time! For little and big readers, this is the funny, festive, companion to the award winning, Cats Don’t Like That! by Andy Wortlock and Nahum Ziersch.

Enjoy this special holiday treat and get your festive paws on a copy today!

(Goodreads)

Review

This feline-tastic book is an adorable and hilarious picture book detailing all of the annoyances cats face during a busy family Christmas. Each page features a clever rhyme and is beautifully illustrative of the narration, full of wit and charm!

As a mega cat lover, I feel like there is also an important tale to tell here: with compassion and empathy, we can enjoy Christmas while not pestering our pets too much, if only our family and guests let them have adequate quiet time in addition to love, and affection.

Make sure to read until the end because every page features a hidden mouse! Enjoy finding these together with your little ones (or, in my case, my cat Olivia who was eager to spot them!).

Highly recommended! Purrfect for kids and adults, too!

Thank you to NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions are my own.

This Book in Three Words

Witty, Charming, Cute

Values/Themes

  • Cats during Christmas time
  • Awareness of feline friends during the holidays
  • Scavenger Hunt

Favourite Part

Clearly, our favourite part was the mouse scavenger hunt!

Feelings

  • Funny
  • Lighthearted
  • Adorable

Overall Rating

Numerical Rating: 5 Stars

QOTD: What is your favourite Christmas-time picture book? This is a new favourite for us!

Review | Tacos for Two by Betsy St. Amant

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The Storygraph | Goodreads
Title: Tacos for Two
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Format: E-Book
Pages: 364 pages
Source: NetGalley & Hoopla

Description

Rory Perez, a food truck owner who can’t cook, is struggling to keep the business she inherited from her aunt out of the red–and an upcoming contest during Modest’s annual food truck festival seems the best way to do it. The prize money could finally give her a solid financial footing and keep her cousin with special needs paid up at her beloved assisted living home. Then maybe Rory will have enough time to meet the man she’s been talking to via an anonymous online dating site.

Jude Strong is tired of being a puppet at his manipulative father’s law firm, and the food truck festival seems like the perfect opportunity to dive into his passion for cooking and finally call his life his own. But if he loses the contest, he’s back at the law firm for good. Failure is not an option.

Complications arise when Rory’s chef gets mono and she realizes she has to cook after all. Then Jude discovers that his stiffest competition is the same woman he’s been falling for online the past month.

Will these unlikely chefs sacrifice it all for the sake of love? Or will there only ever be tacos for one?

(Goodreads)

Review

I’ll be frank: You’ve Got Mail is one of my all-time favourite movies. I watch it nearly every Christmas, it’s the film that made me fall in love with coffee shops and NYC as a setting, and I cannot think of a better RomCom. Of course, that leaves me searching for a similar read, and I’m always on the lookout for an adaptation with similar vibes.

Betsy St. Amant did a great job with Tacos for Two and crafted two characters I enjoyed reading. You learn that there is much more than meets the eye with these two, especially Jude, who could easily fit into one stereotype but breaks the mould. Pair that with delicious food and cooking scenes, and it combines to make one super cute RomCom.

Perhaps it’s because I know the plot of YGM so well that I found it predictable, but some creative decisions kept me engaged. And it was so much fun to see the cooking lessons unfold!

I recommend this one if you are looking for a cute RomCom with a cooking contest, themes of family heritage, a second-chance romance, and You’ve Got Mail vibes. And if cilantro is a divisive spice in your household, watch the drama unfold!

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

This Book in Three Words

Scrumptious, Adaptation, Cute

Values/Themes

  • Family Heritage
  • Forgiveness
  • Trust
  • Second Chances
  • You’ve Got Mail Influenced/Adaptation

Favourite Part

I really enjoyed all of the cooking scenes! And Jude coming into his own as a chef.

Feelings

  • Hopeful
  • Lighthearted
  • Cute

My Ratings:

Writing Style: 3.5
Characters: 4
Plot Development: 3.5
Originality: 3.25
Engagingness: 3
Insightfulness: 3.5
Comprehensiveness: 3.5
Impactfulness: 3.5
Spice: Mild
Makes you want to eat? YES (but no cilantro, please!)

Overall Rating

Numerical Rating: 3.5 stars

QOTD: Do you enjoy romance books centred around food? Let us know!

Review | Dark Room Etiquette

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The Storygraph | Goodreads
Title: Dark Room Etiquette
Genre: YA, Thriller, Horror, Contemporary
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: E-Book
Pages: 512 pages
Source: NetGalley
Date Started: September 5th, 2022
Date Finished: September 8th, 2022


Dark Room Etiquette comes out tomorrow!

Description

Sixteen-year-old Sayers Wayte has everything—until he’s kidnapped by a man who tells him the privileged life he’s been living is based on a lie.

Trapped in a windowless room, without knowing why he’s been taken or how long the man plans to keep him shut away, Sayers faces a terrifying new reality. To survive, he must forget the world he once knew, and play the part his abductor has created for him.

But as time passes, the line between fact and fiction starts to blur, and Sayers begins to wonder if he can escape . . . before he loses himself. 
(Goodreads)

Review

When I sat down to start this book, I knew a couple of things: this is about a sixteen-year-old kidnapped boy told that his former life was all a lie and that he needed to adapt to his new environment to survive. I thought I came prepared for the emotions I would feel along this journey – I was not.

First, the book is unsettling. Even before the kidnapping, I felt uneasy due to conflicting emotions. Sayers is a highly complex character; you see his weakness, strengths, and humanity. Presented as a teenager from an incredibly wealthy background, I appreciated how his privilege impacts his behaviour at school and with his family and friends.

Secondly, Sayers has to adapt to survive, and how he does so impacted me immensely. As the plot progressed, I could appreciate how a knowledge base and background research would be essential to write this story. The book presented some theories in psychology that impacted Sayers in the story, some he recalls later on.

Third, many characters were multi-dimensional – you could see a clear contrast between their personalities at the beginning and end of the book. In fact, some characters were almost unrecognizable by the end and others, such as Garrett, were static. Sayers’ personality experienced many changes; some of the directions his mind went brought me to tears.

Finally, I like that this was a story not just of the event – the kidnapping, but responses to trauma and the aftermath. Learning to cope in an abusive environment was Sayers’ key to survival. Sadly, the intense trauma he faced hindered him in some very unexpected and heartbreaking ways. At several points, I desperately wanted to plead with Sayers on what he should do – I can imagine other readers having the same response.

Please review the content warnings before reading this book. This book is such a memorable, emotional, and intense read. It is my first time reading the author’s works and I look forward to reading many more!

Thank you to NetGalley, Robin Roe, and HarperTeen for providing this review copy. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

This Book in Three Words

Tense, Survival, Adaptation

Values/Themes

  • Kidnapping
  • Survival
  • Trauma
  • Coping Mechanisms

Favourite Part

There are two friendships that forms later on in the book that I really loved to see.

Feelings

  • Dark
  • Emotional
  • Tense

My Ratings:

Writing Style: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Plot Development: 4.5
Originality: 4.5
Engagingness: 5
Insightfulness: 5
Comprehensiveness: 4.5
Impactfulness: 4.5

Overall Rating

Numerical Rating: 4.5 stars

QOTD: Have you read any of
Robin Roe’s books? Let us know!

Review | Baker and Taylor and the Mystery of the Library Cats

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Title: Baker and Taylor and the Mystery of the Library Cats
Genre: Children’s, Animals, Picture Books
Publisher: Paw Prints Publishing
Format: E-book
Pages: 32
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis (from NetGalley):
This is the first title in a newly independent reader series that combines fun storylines featuring two bookish cats, with factoids throughout to create an immersive reading experience for bibliophiles, cat-lovers, and learners of regional history and culture alike.

Meet Baker and Taylor, two cat buddies (opposite in every way) who are about to leave the comfort of their cozy public library reading nook to embark on one epic literary road trip!

After spending most of their time reading in the library, Baker and Taylor are encouraged by their friend Flora to get out and see the world. Their first stop? New York City. There, Flora tells them, they’ll meet another pair of cat besties eager to share their library—the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library —with them.

Review

Purrfect book for library and cat lovers, alike!

This was a fun and short picture book starring Baker and Taylor as they try to uncover a mystery: what are the famous library cats of New York City’s public library? And how do they find them?

As the two cats seek out these felines they use the transit system and traverse the streets of NYC. Being a studious and literary cat, Baker has brought along his guidebook and together he and his friend, Taylor, make sense of their surroundings while learning tons of facts about NYC! I thought this was such a fun way to incorporate an educational component into this picture book and it’s so much fun when they finally find out exactly what the NYC library cats are.

The illustrations are so charming and display beautiful detail of the cats and their surroundings. The text is easy to read and the dialogue and narration component is written well. It includes information on how diverse NYC is, it’s population size, and information about the wide range of languages spoken in the city. And, at the end, there are info pages of the New York Public Library and other landmarks in NYC.

Absolutely wonderful book that fosters a love of the two cats, the discovery of new sights and locations when travelling, and of libraries! An absolute joy to read. My cat Olivia and I read this together – this is highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Paw Prints Publishing for this advanced review copy. This was voluntarily read; all opinions are my own.

Themes

  • Exploration
  • Education
  • Mystery

Feelings

  • Informative
  • Adventurous
  • Fun!

Rating

Numerical Rating: 5 stars!

QOTD: What is the last children’s
book you’ve enjoyed? Let us know!

REVIEW | Shoo!

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Title: Shoo!
Genre: Children’s Fiction, Animals, Picture Books
Publisher: Punshkin Press, Punshkin Children’s Books
Format: E-book
Pages: 32
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis (from Amazon):
A raucous debut picture book about an invasion of pesky animals.

Mrs Golightly doesn’t like animals – and now a whole zoo has moved next door! No matter how hard she tries to shoo them away, she finds animals everywhere: a kangaroo on the loo, a giraffe in her bath, and even ants in her pants.

What can she do to get rid of these stinky, bothersome creatures?

Bursting with colour, delightful rhyme and outrageous humour, Shoo! is acclaimed children’s author Susie Bower’s first picture book.


Review

This eARC was a cute picture book about Mrs. Golightly, a character who does not like the company of animals; however, a zoo opens up next door. What is she to do?!

The illustrations were adorable and filled with cute creatures that each display so much personality. I enjoyed the rhymes within, their structure and placement, and the themes of tolerance, acceptance, and embracing/adapting to change.

Some text was hard to read (e.g., black font on a grey/dark blue/dark green background). While I liked the themes, I think the story itself was alright. The illustrations had a simple colour palette of neutral and dark greens, greys, blues, and reds which were melancholy.

I enjoyed that you do see personal growth with Mrs. Golightly as she adapts to the neighbouring zoo and root for her and the zoo’s inhabitants to befriend, or at the very least, coexist with each other. And to be flexible while adapting to these changes, which can be a challenging thing to do!

Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions are my own.

Themes

  • Tolerance
  • Facing changes

Feelings

  • Funny
  • Lighthearted
  • Reflective

Rating

Numerical Rating: 3.5 stars

QOTD: What is the last children’s
book you’ve enjoyed? Let us know!

Friday Reads

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Hi everyone! We had a good reading week – we have now finished 9 NetGalley books for ARCathon! Our NetGalley feedback ratio is currently 87% (note: we started this readathon with a 75% feedback ratio). Finally, we are almost all caught up with our TBR game reads and only have two books left to complete.

So, we are certainly happy with our progress.

Check out our Friday Reads Recap Video for details on our reads!

Our Friday Reads recap video! Enjoy!

Recently Read

The Nine: Origins by Kes Trester. YA, Fantasy. (NG)

The Gravity of Existence by Christina Sng. Adult, Poetry, Horror. (NG)

Currently Reading

Lore by Alexandra Bracken. YA, Fantasy.

Ghostcloud by Michael Mann. Middle grade, fantasy. (NG)

Next Reads

Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe. YA, Thriller, Horror, Contemporary. (NG)

Lost Witch by Paige Crutcher. Fantasy, Romance, Fiction. (NG)

And one day, I hope to read Anna Karenina for the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, which looks like it will be a lifelong challenge for me!

NetGalley copies are designated as NG. These are provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
ARCathon is hosted by Marti and Britt! 

QOTD: What are you reading?
Let us know!

Related posts:

REVIEW | A Treacherous Tale

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Storygraph | Goodreads
Title: A Treacherous Tale
Series: The Cambridge Bookshop Series #2
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Fiction
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Format: E-book
Pages: 288
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Lately, Molly has been feeling that she might have fallen into a fairy tale: she’s reinvigorated the family bookshop Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, made friends in her new home of Cambridge, England, and is even developing a bit of a romance with the handsome Kieran—a bike shop owner with a somewhat intimidating family pedigree.

Having recently discovered The Strawberry Girls, a classic children’s tale, Molly is thrilled to learn the author, Iona York, lives nearby. But while visiting the famous author at her lovely cottage in nearby Hazelhurst, an old acquaintance of Iona’s tumbles off her roof to his death.

Then, when one of Iona’s daughters—an inspiration for the original Strawberry Girls—goes missing, Molly begins to worry this story might be more Brothers Grimm than happily-ever-after. Especially after Molly learns about the mysterious long-ago death of Iona’s husband and co-author of The Strawberry Girls…could past and present crimes be linked? Molly must put the clues together before someone turns this sweet tale sour.

Review

A dark fairy-tale of a cozy mystery. And an absolute pleasure to read.

This is the second book in The Cambridge Bookshop Series by Elizabeth Penney and I was so excited to read it, especially after enjoying Book 1 – Chapter and Curse. They both have their charm and Book 2 was an absolute delight to read. I loved learning about the mysteries that cat lover and bookshop part-owner Molly Kimball gets pulled into along the way.

This time, Molly is meeting with Iona York, co-author of The Strawberry Girls to discuss her latest book, The Strawberry Girls. While visiting, a family acquittance of Iona’s, Robin, has tumbled off her roof to his demise. Additionally, Iona’s daughter suddenly goes missing and is nowhere to be found. Was Robin’s death an accident? Or could there be a link between the two events, and perhaps to a crime committed in the past that still leaves questions to this day? Molly, yet again, is left to uncover the truth.

This book will have you hooked and wanting to know more after the very first chapter. In fact, every chapter leaves on a bit of a cliff-hanger, encouraging you to keep reading which I absolutely love. Molly is a character that truly seeks to support her friends and family and is fiercely loyal to them, and I think that acts a powerful driving factor as to why she is so invested in helping to investigate these cases, despite not being a formal investigator herself.

I loved the mysteries in this book, which had a scavenger hunt feel to them at times, but I truly loved one element which is the incorporation of a story-within-a-story. The Strawberry Girls was co-written by Iona’s former, Nate, who also had a similar suspicious death to that of Robin. Passages of the book are incorporated into the novel, and I absolutely loved that! It really helped set the stage and evoked mystery and intrigue in the story, while also making you feel as if the real-life characters of the book were in their own dark fairy tale.

Cats Puck and Clarence are always a joy to read, and we hope to see much more of them in future instalments!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced eGalley of this book. All opinions are my own.

Themes

  • Murder Mystery
  • Missing Person
  • Uncovering secrets
  • Family
  • Loyalty
  • Fairy Tales

Feelings

  • Light-hearted with dark elements
  • Mysterious
  • Enchanting
  • Adventurous

Rating

Numerical rating: 4.25 stars

QOTD: do you enjoy cozy mysteries?
Let us know!

REVIEW | Radium Girls

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Storygraph | Goodreads

Title: Radium Girls
Author: Cy
Release Date: 23 August 2022
Pages: 136
Publisher:
Format: E-ARC
Letter Better Publishing Services, Iron Circus Comics
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis:
It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.”

The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues, which they use to point the fine brushes used in their work. It’s perfectly harmless . . . or so claims the watch manufacturer.

When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them.

A stunning graphic novel retelling of the shocking and inspiring true story.

Review

This graphic novel did a good job of giving an inside look into the lives of “Radium Girls,” a group of women in the early 1900s that were instructed to point the tip of their paintbrushes with their mouth when painting dials, thus leading to radiation poisoning.

It is very grim to read about the working conditions women had to endure, and it’s very frustrating that they were lied to about the inks, being told they were harmless and not to worry about applying the brush to their lips.

The illustrations within are fairly simple and I think that allows the story to make quite a big impact. There are two colours used, greens and purples. I’m not sure I am a fan of the used of coloured pencils, and think perhaps the illustrations would have looked even better had the crayons been blended together. As is, the colouring looks a bit unfinished/unpolished but I still overall enjoyed the illustration style.

I recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning more about this topic. Before reading this book, I didn’t know that these events happened and I feel like I learned quite a lot about both the events that took place and the importance of having conditions in place that protects workers from these sorts of occupational hazards in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for a review copy. The expected release date is August 23rd 2022.

Themes

  • Educational: reviews the lives of working-class young women who suffered radiation poisoning from painting dials on watches with self-luminous paint.
  • Fighting for compensation/acknowledgement from the watch manufacturer company.
  • Occupational hazards in the workplace.

Feelings

  • Emotional
  • Informative
  • Reflective

Rating

Numerical Rating: 3.6 stars

QOTD: What is the last children’s
book you’ve enjoyed? Let us know!

REVIEW | The Ghosts of Rose Hill

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Storygraph | Goodreads
Title: The Ghosts of Rose Hill
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Magical Realism, Poetry
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Format: E-book and Audiobook
Pages: 452
Source: NetGalley and Audible

Synopsis:
Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez—a biracial Jewish girl—finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents’ desire for her to pursue a more stable career.

When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin’s grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth

But Benjamin isn’t the only one interested in Ilana. Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow, has become fascinated with her and the music she plays. He offers to share his magic, so Ilana can be with Benjamin and pursue her passion for violin. But after Ilana discovers the truth about Wassermann and how Benjamin became bound to the city, she resolves to save the boy she loves, even if it means losing him—forever.

With spellbinding verse prose, R.M. Romero channels the spirit of myth into a brilliantly original tale, inspired by her experiences restoring Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe.

Review:

Haunting, entrancing, and so poetic.

Absolutely beautiful story of a biracial Jewish girl who is sent away to stay with her aunt in Prague. I was soon hooked after reading the first chapter and read this book late at night finding it difficult to put down.

Ilana is torn between pursuing her parent’s wishes of having a stable career, for example in the sciences or medicine, and becoming a violinist. While she’s in Prague, she learns about a forgotten Jewish ancestry, encounters a ghost name Benjamin and also a man with no shadow, Rudolf Wassermann and is compelled to know their stories.

The book stresses the importance of remembering our history. Quick and impactful read – I recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetic storytelling and is intrigued by the synopsis. Beautiful.

Feelings

  • Haunting
  • Enchanting

Themes

  • Heritage
  • Fairy tales
  • History

Rating

QOTD: do you enjoy
listening to the violin? Let us know!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.