Tag: NetGalley

Perfectly Creamy Frozen Yogurt – Nicole Weston

Here I am in my winter pyjamas with thunder rumbling in the background. Apparently this is a good time to tell you about some tempting treats to cool you down on a hot summer day, and why not! I love frozen yoghurt regardless of the season!

Once you devour the recipes for the five basics (tangy & tart, vanilla bean, chocolate, dark chocolate and coffee), you’re then treated to another 51 flavours of fruits, sugar and spices, and chocolate and nuts. The subsequent chapters allow you to drool over:

  • Cookie and brownie sandwiches
  • Cakes, cupcakes, and pies
  • Semifreddos, terrines, and bombes
  • Popsicles, bonbons, and other treats, and
  • Sauces.

The frozen yoghurts I most want to try are (take a deep breath; there are a lot!) coffee, lemon meringue, mango, apple pie, maple bacon, spiced pumpkin pie, Dulce le Leche, tiramisu, gingerbread, and cookies ‘n’ cream. I also need ginger spice cookie sandwiches, coffee lovers’ cake, caramel banana cream pie, cinnamon bun pops and sugar cookie bowls in my life.

I was pleasantly surprised that the amount of ingredients needed for the confectionery bliss contained in this book didn’t compete with the entries in a phone book; a lot of the recipes had fewer than ten ingredients. I was shocked that I actually knew what each ingredient was, the aisle where I could find most of them in my local grocery store and how to pronounce the ones I wouldn’t be able to locate without assistance. Sidebar: there are so many recipe books on the market at the moment with ingredients I’ve never heard of!

It’s highly recommended that you use an ice cream maker for these recipes because it’s easier and doesn’t result in the potential chunks of ice mixed in with your flavour that can happen when you mix without one, but you’ll find instructions for both options in this book.

There are accompanying photos for each of the frozen yoghurts but only some of the other sugary goodness is pictured. I’ve been the proud creator of some fairly spectacular culinary epic fails so whenever I attempt a new recipe I prefer for there to be photographic evidence that the creation is possible and what it’s supposed to look like if you get it right. I can’t be expected to know how much laughter is appropriate if I can’t compare my finished product with the original.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Storey Publishing, LLC for the opportunity to drool over this book. Now that I’ve made myself sufficiently hungry I’m going to work out which flavour I want to try first and consider investing in an ice cream maker.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Learn to make frozen yogurt at home that’s just as light, smooth, and delightful as what you buy. You’ll use Greek yogurt as a base and a basic ice cream machine to make these 56 flavor recipes that range from traditional to artisanal, including black cherry vanilla, toasted coconut, peach Melba, chai spice, watermelon, maple bacon, chocolate malted, pistachio, and browned butter pecan. An additional 50 recipes for treats like blueberry sugar cookie sandwiches, brownie baked Alaska, Neapolitan semifreddo, cinnamon bun pops, and salted caramel swirl bonbons ensure this is the sweetest guide ever to making and enjoying frozen yogurt.

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Someone Else’s Shoes – Ellen Wittlinger

Twelve year old Izzy wants to be a comedian but life hasn’t been funny for a while now. Since her parent’s divorce she rarely sees her father. He’s remarried to someone too young for him and they’re having a baby soon so Izzy feels like she’s been replaced. Izzy lives with her mother who seems too preoccupied with everyone else’s problems to listen to Izzy’s.

Her mother’s dentist boyfriend has a 16 year old son, Ben, who is mean and scary. Plus Izzy now has to share her home with her annoying 10 year old cousin, Oliver, and her Uncle Henderson. Oliver’s mother died by suicide and while Izzy is sad about her aunt’s death she doesn’t really understand why it happened or why it’s making her uncle act so strangely.

Izzy knew from experience that when something bad happened to you, your friends got scared, as if they could catch your problems.

Izzy, Ben and Oliver come from different worlds and don’t seem to have any common ground but they wind up on a road trip together searching for Uncle Henderson when he suddenly goes missing. The three kids, through death or divorce, have all experienced the loss of a parent and they all feel abandoned. They each deal with feeling invisible in their own way. They’re kids that wouldn’t normally choose to spend time together but discover they’re not so different after all.

I initially found Izzy’s attitude annoying and sorry, Izzy, but I think your comedy routine needs some work. She grew on me though. Throughout the book Izzy becomes more empathetic and learns that not all change is bad. I thought Oliver was a sweetheart from the beginning. The character that surprised me the most was Ben who, while I think we’re supposed to dislike him (at least initially), I loved from our first meeting.

“Be always tender, a little fragile. It’s not a weakness if your heart breaks just a little.”

I loved that this book didn’t shy away from difficult discussions. Izzy asks questions about her aunt’s death by suicide that I expect would be typical of any child trying to understand and I thought her mother’s answers were quite sensitive and age appropriate. I appreciated that grief wasn’t one size fits all in this book; each character responds to loss in their own way.

I did have a problem with one aspect of the discussion surrounding suicide. I’m not sure how others will feel about this and perhaps I’m being overly sensitive but I was wary of the discussion of the method used. While all of the details are not revealed enough were that I wondered about the wisdom of their inclusion.

Given the subject matter this could have been a devastating book but it was ultimately hopeful, with a focus on the children supporting one another and becoming family.

10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day. In America National Suicide Prevention Week is the Sunday through Saturday of the week surrounding this date. In 2018 this is 9 to 15 September.

If you are thinking about suicide, please know that you are not alone and help is available.

In Australia you can call 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au

In America you can call 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

A list of international suicide hotlines can be found at https://www.befrienders.org

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Izzy, a twelve-year-old budding comedian, feels pretty miserable about her family life – her father is remarried with a new baby on the way, her mother is dating Izzy’s dentist, Dr. Gustino, whose rebellious sixteen-year-old son Ben is a huge hassle, and now her cousin Oliver and Uncle Henderson are moving in with Izzy and her mother. Of course, Izzy feels bad for her ten-year-old cousin – his mother recently committed suicide – and Uncle Henderson has become zombie-like ever since.

When Uncle Henderson disappears one day, Izzy finds herself on an impromptu road trip to upstate New York with Oliver and Ben, the three of them seeking family and acceptance.

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Nature Craft – Fiona Hayes

This book is adorable! I’ve come across so many kid’s craft books that contain instructions that I doubt I could follow, let alone the child that’s supposed to be able to construct the marvellous creations. Thankfully this isn’t one of those books.

With step by step instructions accompanied by step by step illustrations and photos of the final masterpieces this is the type of book that makes me want to borrow one of your kids so I’m not the only one having fun making all of this cuteness. There are also templates included for the shapes you need to cut out. I love that the basics of each project come from nature so there’s a built in excuse to wander outside and rummage for an assortment of items including feathers, twigs and seashells.

While each project also requires additional crafty items there’s nothing overly expensive on any of the lists and a lot of items are used for multiple projects. Besides the items specific to each project you’ll also need:

  • PVA glue or a cool-melt glue gun
  • Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Felt-tip pens
  • Pencils
  • Scissors
  • Ruler.

The animal projects in this book are “Aww!” worthy with sweet little faces and googly eyes. I can definitely see kids wanting to make these for themselves and if I was a parent my kidlet would earn a serious amount of brownie points if I received any of these critters as a gift.

I anticipate this book being a hit with parents, babysitters, teachers and child care workers, along with adults like me who will most likely be pretending we’re buying the items at the craft store for our non-existent children. I want to make the owl, the tortoise, the rabbit, the dragonfly, the mice, the penguins, the tree frogs, the lizard, the hedgehog, the dinosaur, the mushrooms … Okay, fine! I want to make everything!

If you’re like me and your crafty enthusiasm outweighs your crafty expertise then it looks like the worst that could happen is that your finished critter will have more character than intended. I can definitely see a craft day with my mother coming soon.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – QEB for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Make fun animals and objects from nature’s finest materials! Collect twigs, fir cones, feathers, leaves, shells, and pebbles from your yard, park, or vacation, and create animals and objects with them.

Stunning projects included are a bird nest bowl made with feathers and leaves, a nut mask and feather mask, seed pod flowers, and fir cone owls, a feathery bird bookmark, fir cone fish mobile, painted snail shells, and a twinkling night light jar. Learn about the nature around you whilst being creative.

Perfect activities for parents and children to do together. Over 40 crafty makes feature a well-balanced mix of techniques, materials and colours for a range of ages. 

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What If? – Anna Russell

Josh is a drummer, is good at maths and loves The Beatles. He also needs to count the cracks in the ceiling and perform specific rituals exactly the right way or something really bad will happen. Josh has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and that is why I needed to read this book.

I have a family member with OCD and I was the one that unofficially diagnosed them several years before someone qualified to do so concurred. Besides living with it I’ve spent countless hours researching OCD to try to get into this person’s head, to understand why the light switch has to be turned on and off so many times and why they’ve had a catalogue of obsessions and rituals, some constant and others morphing, over the years.

When I discovered this was a hi-lo book I was initially disappointed as my first hi-lo experience was a let down. I was pleasant surprised by this book though, finding the explanations of what OCD is and how it affects Josh’s everyday life easy to understand and accurate. I really liked Josh’s psychiatrist, who takes a perplexing condition and explains the basics in a down to earth way.

There are descriptions of Josh’s struggles before and after his diagnosis and I appreciated that his treatment was multifaceted. I did feel that Josh’s acceptance of his condition and how quickly he began to learn to manage it wandered into wishful thinking territory but acknowledge that that may be my experience talking.

I thought the information given to Josh about a family member towards the end of the book was obvious from the beginning but again I concede that my experience may account for my “I already knew that” moment. I loved that the other characters accepted Josh and tried to understand what he was going through and that his diagnosis wasn’t the end of the world, resulting instead in learning to manage it and accepting help from others.

I was interested in the characters’ stories but didn’t become emotionally invested with anyone. However I don’t think it’s fair to automatically expect a lifelong bond with characters you meet during such a short book.

While I would have liked the impact of Josh’s diagnosis on his family to be explored further I understood that the length of the book made a deep dive on the issues raised prohibitive. Similarly the impact of the death of another character’s parent was only lightly touched on. I loved the way that music was woven through the story.

I really liked that this book was told in verse; the way it was written made poetry more accessible than anything I came across in high school. Besides its intended purpose as a hi-lo book I think What If? would also be a helpful introduction to OCD for teens who have recently been diagnosed and their family members, regardless of their reading level.

Thank you to NetGalley and West 44 Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Josh Baker isn’t sure why his brain tells him to do things that other people don’t need to do: checking his locker again and again, counting cracks in ceilings, and always needing to finish a song, for starters. He is a talented drummer, a math genius, and he knows everything about rock and roll. Yet, he knows his problems have the power to hurt his family and make him fail at school. When Josh is diagnosed with OCD, it’s a blessing and a curse. Can he overcome his thoughts, or will they break him?

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Hocus & Pocus #1: The Legend of Grimm’s Woods – Manuro

Illustrations – Gorobei

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid and I’ve loved graphic novels since then so a combination of these in game form seemed like a trifecta that couldn’t fail. In Hocus & Pocus you have the choice of character and which magical creature you will take on your adventure. Aimed at kids in middle school this interactive graphic novel includes “choices, puzzles, mysteries, and powerups”. For this adventure you will need a die, pencil and eraser.

Pocus has pink hair so naturally she was who I wanted to be for my first adventure.

My choice of magical creature was also easy; the Boxobullfrog, “who keeps a bunch of weird things in its mouth to take when you need them”. I barely looked at the other options. Why wouldn’t I want a creature that produces handy weirdness when required?!

So with my character and creature chosen I took off on my adventure and fairly soon I was lost. I ended up on the exact same path in the forest several times and I thought for a while that I was going to be lost forever. There were times where I wandered around paths with no story. I went from a panel where all I needed to do was choose a number, flipped to the number and found another panel where all I needed to do was choose a number.

On my second adventure I decided to be Hocus with his hair sprayed pompadour. I kept my Boxobullfrog because “weird things in its mouth”! There was no other option for me although this little critter wasn’t as useful to me this time around. While I didn’t get lost on a path this time I had to return to the map of the castle so many times I felt the urge to scream in frustration. If I wound up at the Groundhog Day map again in a future adventure I’d write down each number I followed from it so I didn’t accidentally wind up at the same place so many times more than once.

There are rules to follow regarding whether your magical creature is awake or asleep which involve searching for its food in the drawings and marking boxes on your Adventure Tracker. I probably would have loved this part when I was in the age group the book is intended for but now that I’m old it felt too much like homework to me and so I may have cheated, deciding that my magical creature was always going to be awake when the story gave me the option of obtaining their help. I expect a lot of kids will enjoy making notes each time they find some food for their creature or a star.

Because my brain has a habit of connecting pieces of information that have no relevance to one another (thanks, brain!) this book reminded me of an article I read last week where someone was discussing the differences between Pass the Parcel from the good ol’ days and now. Back when I was a child sometimes the music stopped on you during a game and sometimes it didn’t. When the next layer was opened there’d be a cheap plastic toy or a lolly or nothing. Apparently every layer now has a toy (that’s not some cheap plastic thing) and everyone has to win something or they’ll feel left out. Hold on; my brain is about to try to connect the dots for you.

In this story it felt as though no matter what I chose everything would end up fine in the end and that it was more an illusion of choice than the real deal. There was always the possibility in the Choose Your Own Adventures of my childhood that the wrong choice could be dangerous for the character and potentially lead to their demise but when I read this graphic novel straight through I didn’t uncover anything dastardly, which was disappointing. I was encouraged by the amount of panels I came across when I read from cover to cover that I hadn’t already seen so you could potentially read this a number of times and discover different parts of the story, albeit with the same ending.

The illustrations were cute. I particularly liked the tree at the crossroads in the Woods of the Treemen that looked like it was shrugging, not knowing which path to choose either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for granting my wish and giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Introducing a new series of interactive graphic novels – first published in France, and translated/transported to English language readers by Quirk Books.

Enter a world inspired by all of your favorite fairy tales – complete with gingerbread houses, a girl dressed in red, and seven children lost in the woods. Hocus & Pocus offers a new kind of reading experience – part game book, part graphic novel, and part Choose Your Own Adventure story. Readers can play as Hocus (a girl) or Pocus (a boy), choose a magic animal companion, and enter a colourful fairy tale forest of riddles, magical objects, and unusual characters. Succeed or fail, it’s all up to you! 

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Black Bird of the Gallows #2: Keeper of the Bees – Meg Kassel

I need all of the stars for this one but it feels more appropriate to say it like this: 💛🐝🖤🐝💛

I was initially denied early access to this book and I completely understood why. This is the type of book I’m supposed to want to avoid. The love between this girl and (sort of) boy is insta and as sweet as honey (sorry, I had to go there) so it makes perfect sense that a romantiphobe should steer clear. So why did I beg for it? Because I should have wanted to stay far, far away from its companion, Black Bird of the Gallows and I really enjoyed that, so I just knew this would be the book for me, despite everything that screamed otherwise.

What attracted me to Black Bird of the Gallows was intense insta cover love and I was quite shocked when I also loved the story. This time around, while another gorgeous cover drew me to it, my memory of being drawn into Angie and Reece’s story (and love) gave me the confidence that Keeper of the Bees was for me. However, I didn’t expect to love this one more!

Our main characters, Essie and Dresden, are both damaged, victims of cursed lives. People either don’t even notice them at all or steer clear of them. They’re desperately lonely outcasts. Essie experiences a reality that ‘normal’ people don’t and her hallucinations cause people to fear her. Dresden is a beekeeper, feeding off peoples’ fear and condemned to wear the features of the victims of his curse. Their instalove appears doomed from the get go and although this goes against my very being to say this, I was hoping their love would find a way from their introduction.

There’s something about the agony of the person they once were fighting against what their curses have transformed them into that I really connected to. Essie’s struggle to distinguish the boundaries between the reality she sees and the reality others see was heart-wrenching. The struggle of a beekeeper, being bound to an existence where over the course of centuries you’re witnessing the worst humanity has to offer with no hope in sight, no known end to your pain or isolation, broke me.

While the curses of the harbingers, beekeepers and their mythology are explored in both books, the focus is different in each book. In Black Bird of the Gallows one of the main characters is a harbinger of death, whereas in this book it’s a beekeeper. I always love learning the mythology in characters’ worlds and adore the mythology of this series. Once again Meg Kassel’s writing is gorgeous and intoxicating. While the world of Black Bird mesmerised me, Keeper of the Bees made me a believer and I need more!

I was delighted by Dresden’s unorthodox friendship with Michael, one of the harbingers, and I loved Stitches. Now I definitely need a companion book where a Strawman is the focus as I have to know more about these mysterious beings.

Essie’s aunt was my favourite entirely human character; her ability to see beneath the curse to the girl Essie truly was made me love her and want her in my life. I know what it’s like for people to see a label or what’s on the surface and to fear or resist getting to know what lies beneath so the insights into the complexities of people, the light and the dark, captivated me.

While this book could be characterised as a romance it’s so much more and it’s the so much more that had me hooked. There’s the exploration of mental illness, the murder mystery, the growing unease of an impending catastrophe, the impact of our past on our present and the underlying hope of overcoming that which seems impossible.

As this is a companion, not a sequel, you could read this book first but I’d highly recommend you read both because they’re just so good! Also, if you read Black Bird of the Gallows first you’ll be rewarded with a ‘where are they now?’ segment, a fleshing out of the mythology and an appreciation of just how remarkable Essie and Dresden’s love is, along with Dresden and Michael’s friendship, in this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Keeper of the Bees is a tale of two teens who are both beautiful and beastly, and whose pasts are entangled in surprising and heartbreaking ways.

Dresden is cursed. His chest houses a hive of bees that he can’t stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries – since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people.

He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations. His bees want to sting her on sight. But Essie doesn’t see a monster when she looks at Dresden.

Essie is fascinated and delighted by his changing features. Risking his own life, he holds back his bees and spares her. What starts out as a simple act of mercy ends up unraveling Dresden’s solitary life and Essie’s tormented one. Their impossible romance might even be powerful enough to unravel a centuries-old curse. 

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The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter – Tim Collins

Illustrations – Sarah Horne

I blame myself for needing wanting to read every book with ‘dinosaur’ in the title. Not being familiar with this series it took me a little while to realise that our main character Ann lived in the 1800’s. It took me until the end of the book to find out that it’s set in 1870. Ann’s story is told in diary form and is inspired by the life of Mary Anning who, along with her brother, found the first complete Ichthyosaur skeleton in 1811.

Ann finds fish lizard bones and her father, who’s essentially a snake oil salesman, sells them to tourists as a “cure” for whatever he deems wrong with them. His scams and tactless sales pitch tends to get him into trouble and Ann appears to take on somewhat of a parental role, trying to keep him out of trouble and entertained.

One day a surgeon who collects fossils encounters her father’s stall, realises the scientific importance of her discovery and after some setbacks Ann and her father wind up visiting the New World (America) on an expedition to hunt dinosaurs. Despite the old men at the Geological Society dismissing her due to her age and gender Ann is determined to become a great scientist.

I never really connected with Ann’s character although the story did grow on me over time. I found the writing to be very matter of fact and mostly a series of “I did this”, “I went there” and “That happened”. Ann’s continual references to believing she was cursed each time something went wrong irritated me after a while. Perhaps it just wasn’t my type of humour but there was only one part that I found smirk worthy and based on the blurb I’d expected ‘hilarity’.

I still don’t know how Ann qualifies as the “World’s Worst Dinosaur Hunter” as she seemed pretty great at it, so much so that even though she is uneducated, unqualified and a girl (shock, horror!) she is the first to discover several dinosaur species.

I did like the ‘Get Real’ facts scattered throughout the book, my favourite of which involved William Buckland who “attempted to eat his way through the entire animal kingdom, and is known to have served his guests mice on toast and roasted hedgehog.” Ew!!

The sections at the end of the book where I learned about Mary Anning’s life and some other notable dinosaur hunters were interesting. Also included are a timeline and glossary.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press, an imprint of North Star Editions, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Meet Ann – a smart but unlucky teenager keeping a diary of her life as she hunts for dinosaur bones. When she gets an opportunity to search for fossils in the American West, Ann is determined to turn her luck around and show the world her discoveries.

The hilarious Long-Lost Secret Diary series put readers inside the heads of unlucky people in unfortunate situations. The accessible, irreverent stories will keep young readers laughing as they learn the importance of not being afraid to learn from one’s mistakes. Get Real fact boxes featured throughout, as well as a glossary and additional back matter, provide historical context and background.

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Hector’s Favourite Place – Jo Rooks

Hector’s favourite place is the same as mine – home. Both of our homes have books in them so why would we want to leave?! Well, actually Hector is a worrier and that’s why he’s most comfortable at home. He likes to hear about his friends’ news and wants to do fun things with them but there’s always a ‘what if’ that stands in the way of him venturing into the great outdoors.

Hector knew deep down that his worries were stopping him from going and enjoying himself. He realized he had to be brave.

Hector learns that once he’s outside of his comfort zone most of the things he was worried about didn’t happen after all and those that did weren’t as bad as he thought they’d be. Hector becomes more confident, knowing he can have fun with his friends, and looks forward to spending more time with them. I’m looking forward to spending more time with my books, but that’s not the point.

The illustrations are cute and by using animals rather than people to tell the story I was more engaged. I love books that help kids gain confidence and hope this story helps some worriers to be brave like Hector.

At the end of the story there are ‘Notes to Parents, Caregivers, and Professionals’. This was a highlight for me as it includes practical tools for adults who are in a position to make a positive impact on anxious children. Information is provided under the following headings:

  • Address the worry (if you can)
  • Model and practice
  • Try something new
  • Resist reassurance seeking
  • Praise effort and bravery, and
  • Seek support.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Magination Press, an imprint of the American Psychological Association, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Hector loves his home! It’s comfy, snuggly, and safe. But sometimes Hector relies on the safety of his home too much – he’s invited to play outside with his friends, but he worries about the potential problems he might encounter. Soon Hector realizes that his worries are keeping him from enjoying himself, so he needs to learn to be brave and try new things. Includes a “Note to Parents and Caregivers” about encouraging kids to step outside their comfort zones.

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Dino Riders #5: How to Track a Pterodactyl – Will Dare

Illustrations – Mariano Epelbaum

It’s the wild west with dinosaurs! What’s not to love?!

I enjoyed reading this book so much that I’ve just finished it for the second time. With adventure, action, humour, potential danger, friends and foes, and a childhood hero in the mix, this was always going to be a fun read. Once you add the dinosaurs and cowboys you’ve got yourself a book that I imagine would pique the interest of even the most reluctant of readers.

Summer is almost over and Josh is meeting his friends Sam and Abi at the annual Trihorn County Funfair for some fun before they go camping. The trio are watching when a group of pterodactyls arrive and carry Josh’s hero and “the fastest, meanest, and bravest dino rider the Lost Plains had ever seen”, Terrordactyl Bill, away. It’s up to Josh, Sam and Abi to save T-Bill! They’re joined by Josh’s nemesis, Amos, and Amos’ sidekick, Arthur. I loved that everyone, even the kids, ride on the backs of dinosaurs and especially liked Josh’s triceratops, Charge.

The accompanying illustrations by Mariano Epelbaum are a mix of greyscale images in the same style as the front cover image, which are amazing, and diagrams on ruled paper that are intended to look as though a kid has drawn them, complete with short descriptions and arrows pointing out the important bits. I really enjoyed the main illustrations although found that the details didn’t always match the details of the story.

As soon as I discovered this book I knew I had to read it. Marketed as a new chapter book series I assumed it was the first in the series and didn’t bother to check prior to beginning to read. I’ve since learned it’s the fifth book in the series and the sixth is scheduled to be released before the end of the year. While I had no trouble following along without having already read the earlier books I loved this one so much that I now want to read the entire series.

New Favourite Phrase:

“Holy dino dung!”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Welcome to The Lost Plains!

A wild west frontier where dinosaurs never went extinct.

Josh Sanders wants to be the next great dinosaur cowboy! Ropin’ raptors and ridin’ bucking brontosauruses just like his hero Terrordactyl Bill.

Too bad he’s stuck working on his family’s Iguanodon ranch, riding his ancient dino, Plodder. The closest Josh has ever been to a T-Rex is reading about them in his Dino Cowboy Handbook.

To prove he has what it takes, Josh is determined to win the annual Settlement Race. But he’s gonna need one fast dino to stand a chance. With the help of his friends Sam and Abi, Josh will need to tame a wild Triceratops!

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Kathy Ryan #2: Behind the Door – Mary SanGiovanni

There is a Door in the middle of the woods. It’s been there as long as anyone can remember but no one knows who or what “them behind the Door” are. You can use the Door one time and one time only. You need to word your letter carefully, seal it with wax and your blood, and slip it under the door alone at night. You can ask it to do anything at all and three days later you get what you want, “more or less”.

“You don’t always get it how you want it. And there’s no way to take it back, sugar, because rule number one is that you absolutely, under no circumstances ever, open that Door. Once you deliver your letter, it is out of your hands.”

Would you use it? Would you ask it to remove a burden or give you something you’ve always wanted? I asked myself these questions and decided that although there are definitely experiences I wish I’d never had or things that are out of my reach that I’ve always wanted, the risk of using the Door would outweigh any potential benefits for me. In weighing this up though, I know I’m only doing so hypothetically. Who knows what I would do if the Door was right in front of me.

Due to the power of the Door and the amount of people who have used it there were a lot of potential triggers in the content, including suicide, family violence, sexual assault and paedophilia. What probably shouldn’t have surprised me but did was my reaction to certain characters. Once the Door was opened (it had to happen) and all hell started breaking loose I found the way I felt about the characters depended upon the details of the burden they had described in their letter.

I was concerned for the safety of some characters. I was anticipating with unbridled glee the potential comeuppance of others. I hoped for the redemption of some and the extended torture of others. I worked out the connection between a couple of characters early on and had looked forward to being a spectator as the dots were joined; although this wasn’t resolved the way I had hoped I’m not disappointed.

My favourite character was Cicely, Kari’s friend, who I found to be compassionate, wise and down to earth. She was the only character I ended up with a mental picture of and for some still unknown reason she wound up looking and sounding like author Toni Morrison in my head.

Kathy Ryan, a consultant to law enforcement agencies who specialises in the occult and supernatural, is called in to try to contain what was unleashed on this town when the Door was opened. The marketing for Behind the Door told me this was the first in a new series but once I started reading I discovered it’s actually the second, so Kathy’s character joins the story without a great deal of background information.

In Behind the Door you learn more about each of the townsfolk than you do about Kathy and I expect that the scar that’s mentioned several times and her less than perfect family that’s alluded to are explained in the preceding book, Chilled. Yes, I bought that book immediately after finishing this one and am already looking forward to reading it as well as the forthcoming Inside the Asylum.

I really had fun reading this book. There was enough information given about the characters (with the exception of Kathy) for me to become invested in their lives. The consequences of the Door being opened were interesting, with some gore and creepiness, but nothing that turned my stomach or made me want to look away. I enjoyed watching the chaos unfold and loved that I was able to suspend my disbelief as I got swept along for the ride.

There were a few question marks that remained for me after finishing this book, such as why Cecily never appeared to tell Kathy the words her husband had spoken to her, which seemed vitally important at the time. I also wondered about what seemed to me to be an inconsistency; whether the Door could be photographed or not. Kathy uses photos of the Door to help her solve the case yet makes a point of noting that it wasn’t odd that there are no photos of the Door in the Heritage Centre as “Often, such interdimensional oddities negatively affected digital and film media.”

My main niggles with this book were the ending and the limited information provided about “them behind the door”. While there were assumptions made and theories shared about their motivation I really wanted to know more. I also wanted information in the epilogue about how the events affected the individual townsfolk long term rather than how long Kathy stayed in the town after the events. I wanted to know how the resolution affected Cecily in particular as the ramifications for her could have been catastrophic. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll find out what happens to Cecily later in the series.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Lyrical Underground, an imprint of Kensington Books, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Some doors should never be opened …

In the rural town of Zarepath, deep in the woods on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, stands the Door. No one knows where it came from, and no one knows where it leads. For generations, folks have come to the Door seeking solace or forgiveness. They deliver a handwritten letter asking for some emotional burden to be lifted, sealed with a mixture of wax and their own blood, and slide it beneath the Door. Three days later, their wish is answeredfor better or worse.

Kari is a single mother, grieving over the suicide of her teenage daughter. She made a terrible mistake, asking the powers beyond the Door to erase the memories of her lost child. And when she opened the Door to retrieve her letter, she unleashed every sin, secret, and spirit ever trapped on the other side.

Now, it falls to occultist Kathy Ryan to seal the door before Zarepath becomes hell on earth …

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