The Cozies: The Legend of Operation Moonlight by T.L. Fischer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The title of this middle-grade fiction book caught my attention; hence I took the opportunity to request for the reading copy of this in Netgalley. So who or what are the Cozies? According to Thursby, an English black-furred lop rabbit and the storyteller of this book, Cozies are based on nursery figments. They are visible only to small children, cats and dogs; they were born when moonlight enters a home and touches a child’s happy dreams. Also, they will be visible only to adult humans if they are bathed by moonlight.

The life of Cozies revolves on the children in the house; their fundamental mission is to keep them contented at night and on how to keep them entertained when they are awake. Aside from Thursby, there are other cozies in the family where he lives: Musetta, originated from great-grandmother; Gubbins; the twins Gracie and Ruby, who came from Mother’s imagination; and an elephant-like cozie, Rumple, and the youngest of the group. They are responsible to guard for the one-year-old boy named Benjamin or Bingo as they all called him in the house; Rumple is his cozie because he was born from his thoughts.

Aside from the cozies, there is the family dog Dandie or short for Dandie Dinmont Terrier, and the mouse named Pudding; this odd group is in charge of the wellbeing and safety of Bingo. But an unfortunate event happened when the new nanny Agnes arrived in the household. Bingo was gone, or rather kidnapped, and Agnes is one of the perpetrators. Now, the Cozies must do everything they can just to save Bingo and to keep him safe from his captors.

Reading The Cozies will keep you entertain because of how appealing the story was told. It is a well-written, family-oriented, and adorable story; it is jam-packed with adventures and creativity of the characters that will amuse readers.

Terra Nova by Shane Arbuthnott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Terra Nova is the second book in The Molly Stout Adventures series. Despite that I still haven’t read the first book, Dominion, I was able to follow what the tale of Molly and her family in this second installment. The book is categorized under children’s fiction, but I reckon that it is more of a young adult fiction. I found that the narrative is quite long, thus I’ve started to lost interest while I was in the one-third of the story. I just continue reading the book and the story begun to pick-up near the mid-part.

Molly and her feisty personality will amaze and impressed readers; her audacity and dedication to what they believe is truly admirable and is a good image to be copied to. The bond of her family and Molly’s love for them was also an inspiration and commendable. For those who love to read about steampunk, fantasy and adventure type of stories, Terra Nova is highly recommended.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was on my TBR for a long time and I was always finding a way to squeeze it to my list of the books I'm currently reading. Recently, I found enough time to read this novel and it didn't disappoint me. It exceeds my expectation because the character and story build up was to look forward to.

What I like about this novel is that it makes us believe that destiny could bring two individuals together because of an unlikely circumstance or in their case, a greedy human. Their dilemma made them choose the best desirable option though it would make them separate from each other. Yet still there is indeed a happy ending after all because of what happened to them in the end.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

AUTHOR: Maria V. Snyder
PUBLISHER: MIRA
PUBLICATION DATE: October 1, 2005
PAGES: 416
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:
Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

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MY RATING:I had a good time reading this but I cannot consider this as one of my favorite novel/series. I like the fast pacing of the story and the characters especially Ari and Janco. And who doesn't like Valek because of how he was portrayed as Yelena's knight in shining armor? There are also mature content or scenes in this story so I don't think young readers or teens should read this. Hopefully I could finish reading the remaining books in this Study series. I'll try not to be discourage by the low rating of the 3rd book and the lower number of raters for the succeeding books, which I've seen in Goodreads.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Dead of Winter #1

AUTHOR: Kyle Starks
ILLUSTRATOR: Gabriel Bautista
PUBLISHER: Oni Press, Inc.
PUBLICATION DATE: August 2, 2017
PAGES: 26
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

The apocalypse has come and gone and all it's left us are zombies, an endless winter and empty hearts. Diaz keeps bringing back survivors, thinking life is hope, but every new face is a hungry mouth and our stores are growing empty. Another hungry mouth like the legion outside.

Waiting for us.

Except, you know, not eating us. The survivors want, like canned beans or French fries.

You get the metaphor, though.

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MY RATING: The cover of this comics got my attention that's why I bought it right away. I'm not familiar with the crossroads game were this comics series originated from so I cannot compare this to it. If you like reading zombie theme stories or if you are a dog lover just like me, you will definitely love this 1st issue in this comics series. I'm excited what will happen to Sparky our superhero dog and the pack of humans he's protecting.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Korgi: Short Tails

AUTHOR: Christian Slade
PUBLISHER: Top Shelf Productions
PUBLICATION DATE: July 19, 2017
PAGES: 50

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

Korgi: Short Tails is a 48-page comic book collecting all seven Korgi stories from Free Comic Book Day, together with a brand-new adventure called "Cloud Cat." A robot loses its head, finger-puppets battle, a dragon learns to breathe fire, and Sprout the Korgi (of course) stuffs himself with delicious treats! Slade's lovingly detailed pen-and-ink drawings bring his fantasy world to live in small slices, all bound up within a new fully-painted cover.

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MY RATING: ★★★★★ I'm giving this a perfect 5-star rating because the drawings are indeed detailed. Moreover, I like how the readers' mind will be stimulated because it's up to the reader's understanding how to comprehend the drawings.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Fish-Boy by Vanita Oelschlager

AUTHOR: Vanita Oelschlager

ILLUSTRATOR: Mike Blanc

PUBLISHER: Vanita Books

PUBLICATION DATE: March 1, 2018

PAGES: 48

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:
The Arctic region of North America is a land of long days, icy cold, hardy people and peculiar creatures. The Inuit people there have made traditional use of remarkable folk tales to find the truth and explain the mysteries of an astonishing world.

In Fish-Boy, An Inuit Folk Tale, Vanita Oelschlager retells a tale passed down by a wise old Inuit. It's an origin story involving a little magic and a very odd boy with a large heart for friendship. On a journey with his new father, he must confront misfortune and the malice of cold-hearted villagers. But he has a way.. and a lesson for all in the virtues of kindness and hospitality.

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MY RATING: ★★★★★ This is my first time to read an Inuit folktale. Even though the story is quite long for a children's storybook, I think kids will surely enjoy reading this because of how wonderful the story and the illustrations are. If ever this will be sold here in our local bookstores in our country, I would definitely get one and give this as a present to my niece.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Honey Moon: Dog Daze by Sofi Benitez

AUTHOR:  Sofi Benitez
ILLUSTRATOR: Becky Minor
SERIES: Honey Moon
PUBLISHER: Rabbit Publishers
PUBLICATION DATE: May 31, 2017
PAGES: 240
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

WANTING TO START A BUSINESS together to earn some spending money, Honey Moon and her friends have a magical idea. In the town where every day is Halloween night, Honey and friends start a dog–walking service called the Sleepy Hollow Howlers. But when the business becomes more than the girls can handle, dog–walking suddenly takes on a new leash and fur flies with disastrous and entertaining results.

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MY RATING: If you are a dog lover like me, you will also love this book by Sofi Benitez. Honey Moon rescuing the dog she later named Stormy is the start of her and her friend Becky to start a dog walking business. Along the way, they also met Isabela who happened to be a volunteer in the animal shelter, where Honey Moon and her mom has to surrendered the dog Storm. The story of friendship and the funny antics of the dogs the Sleepy Hollow Howlers has to walk are just few of what this book made a worthwhile reading. Not to mention that young readers will also got learnt a lot from this including being responsible, compassionate and helpful.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Harry Moon: Halloween Nightmares

AUTHOR:  Mark Andrew Poe
SERIES: The Amazing Adventures of Harry Moon
PUBLISHER: Rabbit Publishers
PUBLICATION DATE: September 5, 2017
PAGES: 186
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

This 2nd book from the Harry Moon series recalls the predictions to Harry when he was still a baby; and readers will be able to know on what is really happening behind the Sleepy Hollow's success after Mayor Kligore governed the town. It is a fight between with good and evil; in a more subtle way.

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MY RATING: This 2nd book from the Harry Moon series recalls the predictions to Harry when he was still a baby; and readers will be able to know on what is really happening behind the Sleepy Hollow's success after Mayor Kligore governed the town. It is a fight between with good and evil; in a more subtle way. I guess, as the story develops on each book in the series, not only Harry's skill will improve but his duel with evil will became huge as well. I am not only fond of books that has a theme of magic or witchcraft, but this book series is really magnificent. I'm quite sure that kids ages 10 and above will also love this series. .

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Harry Moon: Wand-Paper-Scissors

AUTHOR:  Mark Andrew Poe
SERIES: The Amazing Adventures of Harry Moon
PUBLISHER: Rabbit Publishers
PUBLICATION DATE: August 15, 2017
PAGES: 206
SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

Harry Moon is up to his eyeballs in magic in the small town of Sleepy Hollow. His archenemy, Titus Kligore, has eyes on winning the Annual Scary Talent Show. Harry has a tough job ahead if he is going to steal the crown. He takes a chance on a magical rabbit who introduces him to magic. Harry decides that the best way forward is to DO NO EVIL and the struggle to defeat Titus, this battle turns epic.

 

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MY RATING: When I started reading this first book in the Harry Moon series, I can't stop turning the page because the author, Mark Andrew Poe, did a good job on making this a page-turner.Harry Moon is an 8th grader who loves magic and he joined the annual talent show in their school. But it's not that easy to win if you are competing with Titus, the son of the Mayor of their town. Not to mentioned that Titus is always trying to bully Harry whenever he can just to scare him from no longer joining. But due to a turn of events, Harry and Titus made peace at each other in the end. I was able to finished this book within an hour and I'm really satisfied with what this book contains.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon:

Touch Wood: A Short Story

AUTHOR:  Chandra Clarke

PUBLISHER: Amazon Digital Services LLC

PUBLICATION DATE: July 6th 2017

PAGES: 11

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS:

Trees: We grow them, we depend on them, we even hug them. But have you ever wondered why? This short, humorous, fantasy story will make you see them in a whole new light.

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MY RATING: It is indeed a short story but it is very well written that readers will definitely enjoy. If you're looking for something that is light reading yet enjoyable, then you must try reading this.

If you are interested in this book, you may buy it from Amazon: