Blog Tour & Review: The Emerald Ring

Today is my stop on The Emerald Ring blog tour. I have a review of Dorine White's fun new middle grade fantasy book.

Book: The Emerald Ring (Cleopatra's Legacy #1) by Dorine White, 2013 by Cedar Fort, Inc., 192 pages.

Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ordinary tween life turns upside down when Ancient Egypt intrudes on modern middle school life. Twelve year old Sara Guadalupe Bogus reads about adventures, but unexpectedly is drawn into one when a mystical emerald ring that once belonged to Cleopatra becomes stuck on her finger.
A series of burglaries spook Sara’s small Ohio hometown. Concluding that the root of all the crimes is the emerald ring, Sara realizes it’s up to her and her friends, Heidi and African exchange student Kainu, to save the town and protect Cleopatra’s legacy. Filled with magic, the ring thrusts Sara into a world filled with nightmares, allows her to shape shift into an Egyptian cat and battle assassins.

My Thoughts:
What a fun book! Twelve year old Sara finds a mysterious emerald ring in her grandmother's attic. Once she puts it on, all sorts of strange things happen that throw her into a mysterious and dangerous world of an ancient Roman cult and dreams of Cleopatra.

There is so much in this book that kids will love - adventure, mystery, intrigue, cats, history, cultural diversity, friendship... The story is well written and will keep kids turning the pages wanting to know what will happen next.

I love how White drew the reader into Sara's world and made us root for her as she faced danger and solved puzzles. She also has a fantastic imagination and draws on ancient Egypt, a time that is fascinating for most kids, in a unique way - often from the point of view of a cat.

Overall, this is a great first book in this series and it will be interesting to see where it goes. I think that both boys and girls will enjoy this book because the story is told at a great pace with lots of danger and adventure, along with solid friendships.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Get in touch with Dorine White:
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Guest Post: Ten Tools for Writing & Giveaway

Today I have Elizabeth Parkinson-Belows on my blog with a Tens List of tools she uses for writing. She is the author of the Alexander Drake's book series. For more information on these great books, click here. Also be sure to read to the end of the post for the $25 Amazon or Paypal giveaway. You can click here for the rest of the tour schedule.

Now here's Elizabeth Parkinson-Belows with her list:

We all have methods for our daily tasks and tools to use. Here is a list of my tools for writing in random order. This was so much fun; thank you for having me!

Ten tools I use for writing…

1. My clunky old desk – so old I can’t remember where it came from

2. Extra cushion for my chair to prevent my backside from getting sore

3. My laptop with the faded “L” key

4. Caffeine - Starbucks Carmel Coffee and herbal tea

5. Cookies… or anything chocolate

6. Yoga pants

7. Books on CD – anything from Wayne Dyer to The Hobbit

8. My kids (for inspirational purposes)

9. A tablet for when I’m out and have an idea – If fifteen minutes passes the likelihood of me forgetting the details goes way up.

10. My wandering mind… the best time to jot stuff down is when the mind wanders

Author Elizabeth Parkinson-Bellows

Being the frizzy-haired tomboy with buck teeth gave me a slight case of shyness as a kid. A colorful imagination meant escape and adventure at the drop of a hat.
Over the years I learned that the insecurities I carried around were a waste of time. I still prefer a football game to a manicure any day of the week. That indispensable imagination has found its way into my writing providing a sense of joy and a true purpose.

Website * Twitter * Facebook

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Blog Tour & Review: The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh

Today I am excited to be part of the blog tour for The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh by Adam Mortimer & James Allen.

Book: The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh by Adam Mortimer and James Allen, 2012 by Cedar Fort, 64 pages.

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Achieve the ultimate in health, wealth, and happiness. This modern update on a timeless classic will teach you how to direct your mind to get exactly what you want in life. By applying the life-changing principles in this book, you'll discover how your everyday thoughts can open up a new and exciting world and ensure you a life of true abundance! 

About Adam Mortimer:

Adam is an executive personal development coach at Prosper, Inc. He bases his coaching philosophy on James Allen’s statement, “They themselves are makers of themselves.” He has coached many people all over the world. He loves to travel and considers himself fortunate to be able to do what he loves and at the same time help people achieve their dreams.  Adam is the CEO of Blufish LLC, a successful technology-based business. He has dedicated his life to understanding the power of the human mind. He is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur.  Adam and his wife, Moana, live in Utah and are the parents of twin boys.

My Thoughts:

I've always been curious about As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, but have never read it, so thought this was a great opportunity. In this book, Mortimer takes the original text by Allen and annotates it, putting notes throughout that explain Allen's concepts in modern terms.

First off, even though I only had the pdf version of this book, I could tell that it was beautiful, from the colour and size of the pages, to the subtle illustrations and variations in colour for the text, to how certain key points and quotes were blocked off. This makes it an easy book to read, thumb through, and savour.

When I started the book, I did get confused. I thought is was Mortimer's insights supported by Allen, but it is actually the opposite. The main text is actually Allen's, with Mortimer putting his comments in periodically in blue. I am also unsure if the entire work of As A Man Thinketh was included, or just select parts, so it would be nice to have a bit of explanation at the beginning about the history of As A Man Thinketh and how the book is structured.

That being said, once I figured it out, I enjoyed the book. It is a funny one to review because most of the book is Allen's iconic work. I did find, however, that Mortimer's annotations did help to clarify several points and make them relevant. He gave specific examples which made it easier to take in what was being said.

The underlining message that our thoughts become our reality is, I think, an important one, and one that I have believed for many years now. I love the ideas around taking responsibility for myself, that I have the power to make changes, that I can create what I want for myself and am not limited by circumstance.

Reading Allen's work left me torn, however, because sometimes he talked about joy and dreams and at other times he talked about right thoughts, sacrifice and rigid discipline. I feel like there is a piece missing, maybe about being gentle with ourselves when our thoughts are not perfect, or how to get started... It is intimidating (and I would argue, impossible) to control our every thought and emotion. Sometimes we need our emotion to guide us to what it is we truly want - we need that negative emotion to create the contrast of what we do and do not want. I was also curious to know what he would recommend a person do who is struggling with their thoughts, what baby steps could be made to go in the right direction or what to do when you fail. Allen acknowledges that you will fail, but doesn't say what to do when that happens.

Having said all of that, this book does do, I think, what it set out to do, which is to be a short (it is only 64 pages long) introduction to Allen's work and Mortimer's modern updates of it. I only mention all of the questions that stirred up in me because I think it may be part of the book's purpose - to make the reader curious for more. However, the book may have benefited from more annotation or one more chapter by Mortimer gently coaching people on how to get started. Overall, though, this is a great introduction to how our thoughts create.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author for review.

Book Review: Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks

Today I am happy to be part of the book tour for Robert Gray's Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks.

Book: Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks (The Nightmare #1) by Robert Gray, 2011 by Createspace, 252 pages.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows lives in a monster-inhabited place where everything is horrible, which in her world means wonderful, but things are about to become wonderful (horrible) when she must move to the human world.

My Thoughts: 
This was a cute book with a fun premise. Eve Hallows is the only human living in the monster realm. When it becomes unsafe for them to stay there, her and her family move to the human realm, where only Eve (sort of) fits in. 

I loved the idea of turning everything on its head and having the human realm be the unusual one. Kids will like reading how Eve finds everyday things so strange, how horrible means good and adorable means bad.

This is a fast paced book that will appeal to both girls and boys. We get to watch Eve grow and become comfortable in her human skin, but also have adventures with zombie pirate triplets.  I'm sure most kids will laugh when they read about how her and her family tries to fit into life as humans.

Kids will like reading about the monsters from her world - zombies, gorgons, vampires, fairies, invisible men, and many others - but having them be approachable and even friendly (most of the time). There is a great mix of scary and humour.