Book Review - Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James + Idea - Dinner Theme

Photo Credit - Amazon

Eleven-year-old Tilly Pages find comfort in book and stories since her mother disappeared. She lives at her grandparents' bookstore, Pages & Co and loves the company of books. However, her world is turned upside down when her favorite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, start to appear in the bookstore. Tilly's adventures become very real when she finds out she can follow characters into their books and bookwander to any story she chooses. 

As Tilly tries to understand her ability, she discovers a few secrets about her family. Tilly realizes that it is up to her to solve the mystery behind her mother's disappearance. However, she might soon realize that danger is lurking beyond the next page. Will Tilly be able to find out what happened to her mother?

This book was an absolute joy to read. I love how it celebrated both readers and books/authors. My favorite part was when one of the characters said: "make sure your story is worth telling". I thought that was an inspirational and perfect quote for children who are still trying to decide how to make their mark in the world. However, the beginning portion of the novel was a bit slow. Overall,  the book was a cute and fun read.

Topic - Dinner Theme - Tea Time!

I think my favorite character to invite to tea time will have to be Tilly, Alice, and Anne because it will more fun to invite more than fewer people to a gathering.  I think the evening would be perfect with an array of sugary treats, scones,  and tea sandwiches served with Tilly's favorite hot chocolate!

 The stories and the memories that will unfold...

  **Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

Schedule

Week One

September 16 –Because.my.mother.read – Creative Instagram Picture

September 17 – Wishful Endings – Moodboard

September 18 – Dad Suggests – Reflection Piece

September 19 – Novel Novice – Top 5 Fictional Characters I’d Like to Meet/Hang out with

Week Two

September 23 – Vicariously & Voraciously – Dream Cast

September 24 – The Bumble Girl – Review + Creative Instagram Picture

September 25 – Brandi O Donnell – Top Five Favorite Quotes

September 26 – Imaginary Book Stack – Bookstagrammers Interview: What character they would most want to meet, where, etc + Creative Instagram Picture

Week Three

September 30 – Two Points of Interest – Review + Favorite Character + Dinner Theme

October 1 – AEB Book Reviews – Review

BOOK DESCRIPTION

An enchanting story about the magic of books and the power of imagination from debut author Anna James. Perfect for fans of Inkheart, The Land of Stories, and Story Thieves. Soon to be a major television series!

     Since her mother's disappearance, eleven-year-old Tilly Pages has found comfort in the stories at Pages & Co., her grandparents' bookshop. But when her favorite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, start showing up at the shop,Tilly's adventures become very real. Not only can she follow Anne and Alice into their books, she discovers she can bookwander into any story she chooses. Tilly's new ability leads her to fun and exciting adventures, but danger may be lurking on the very next page...

     When new secrets are uncovered, it's up to Tilly to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago. From debut author Anna James comes a charming and exciting adventure about a bookish young heroine, a mysterious librarian, and a magical bookshop that will delight book lovers everywhere.

AUTHOR BIO

Anna James is a writer and journalist. She was a school librarian before joining The Bookseller as their Book News Editor. She now writes for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and chairs events at bookshops and literary festivals across the UK. She lives in north London, in a flat full of books. Visit Anna online at anna-james.com. Follow her on Twitter @acaseforbooks.

Book Review - Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre by Glynnis Fawkes + Giveaway

Photo Credit - Amazon

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a well known classic and beloved by people of all ages. It is known as a literary masterpiece. This graphic novel shows how Jane Eyre was born out of Charlotte's personal hardship and tragedy. The work was originally published under Currer Bell. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte tried to show characters who were often ignored in popular literature at the time.

Fans of Charlotte Bronte will love this graphic novel. I found the book shows an interesting point of view of Charlotte's life. It was interesting to see how she was struggling to find a job that she could support herself with. Overall, it would the perfect book for any Charlotte Bronte fan.

  **Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

CHARLOTTE BRONTE BEFORE JANE EYRE ASSETS

About the Book:

Title: CHARLOTTE BRONTE BEFORE JANE EYRE

Author: Glynnis Fawkes

Pub. Date: September 24, 2018

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 112

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Amazon Paperback, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!--I have as much soul as you,--and full as much heart!

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is a beloved classic, celebrated today by readers of all ages and revered as a masterwork of literary prowess. But what of the famous writer herself?

Originally published under the pseudonym of Currer Bell, Jane Eyre was born out of a magnificent, vivid imagination, a deep cultivation of skill, and immense personal hardship and tragedy. Charlotte, like her sisters Emily and Anne, was passionate about her work. She sought to cast an empathetic lens on characters often ignored by popular literature of the time, questioning societal assumptions with a sharp intellect and changing forever the landscape of western literature.

With an introduction by Alison Bechdel, Charlotte Brontë before Jane Eyre presents a stunning examination of a woman who battled against the odds to make her voice heard.

About Glynnis:

I'm an cartoonist and illustrator living in Burlington, VT.

My most recent book is Charlotte Bronte Before Jane Eyre, Center for Cartoon Studies Presents series, will be published in September 2019 by Disney/Hyperion. Also in September, Secret Acres will publish Persephone’s Garden, a collection of autobiographical comics that have appeared in the New Yorker and other places.

I began working on excavations as illustrator in 1998 and have worked on sites in Greece, Crete, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Syria, and Lebanon.  I continue to work in Greece every year.   My illustrations have been published in several books and many articles.  

Many of my personal comics reflect a career in archaeology and family life.  Greek Diary is about working on a dig and traveling with children.  My drawings about my children were published regularly on Muthamagazine.com  and were nominated for an Ignatz Award at the Small Press Expo in 2016.

Another project, Alle Ego, is about my first trip to Greece and how it launched my work in the direction of archaeology.  A draft of this book won the MoCCA Arts Festival Award in NY in 2016.  I drew most of it during a residency at La Maison des Auteurs in Angouleme, and I plan to return to work on this book in the future.

I’m currently working on a middle grade adventure set after the eruption of Thera in Late Bronze Age Greece.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest |  Tumblr | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive finished copies of CHARLOTTE BRONTE BEFORE JANE EYRE, US Only.

Rafflecopter link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2974/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/2/2019- Odd and Bookish- Excerpt

9/3/2019- Country Road Reviews- Excerpt

9/4/2019- dwantstoread- Review

9/5/2019- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt

9/6/2019- Lifestyle Of Me- Review

Week Two:

9/9/2019- Christen Krumm, Writer, Reader, Serious Coffee Drinker- Review

9/10/2019- Careful of Books- Review

9/11/2019- Character Madness and Musings- Excerpt

9/12/2019- Fictitiouswonderland- Review

9/13/2019- Fyrekatz Blog- Review

Week Three:

9/16/2019- Little Red Reads- Excerpt

9/17/2019- Book-Keeping- Review

9/18/2019- Life of a Simple Reader- Excerpt

9/19/2019- Kati's Bookaholic Rambling Reviews- Excerpt

9/20/2019- Inspired by Savannah- Review

Week Four:

9/23/2019- History from a Woman’s Perspective- Review

9/24/2019- Wishful Endings- Excerpt

9/25/2019- Just Another Reader- Review

9/26/2019- Jade Writes Books- Review

9/27/2019- Rants and Raves of a Bibliophile- Review

Week Five:

9/30/2019- two points of interest- Review

Book Review - City of Beasts by Corrie Wang + Giveaway

Photo Credit - Amazon

Seventeen years ago, the fees separated themselves from the beasts. The divisions of the genders have allowed them to keep the world peaceful.  Glori Rhodes is like most fees her age. She likes her neighborhood, can bench press her body weight and knows twenty-seven beast counterattack moves. Like many other fees, she never questioned why the genders are separated or the laws that govern them. However, when her mother secretly gives birth to a baby beast, Glori can't help but grow attached to the child.

When her brother, Twofer was snatched during a raid with the beast, Glori is willing to stop at nothing to save him. Glori and her best friend, Su, decide to infiltrate the City of Beasts to get her brother back. Glori thought it would be a simple grab and go mission but, quickly discovers that she is in for an adventure of a lifetime. Will Glori and Su be able to save her brother?

At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from the novel but, it turned out to be an interesting read. I like how it showed how things could have turned out if genders lived segregated lives. My favorite character was Twofer and how the bonds of love and family can change what society dictates to us. Overall, I thought the novel was enjoyable to read but, was predictable.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

About the Book:

Title: CITY OF BEASTS 

Author: Corrie Wang

Pub. Date: September 17, 2018

Publisher: Freeform

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 384

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle,  B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

"If you see a beast, and you have the shot, don't hesitate. Kill it."

For seventeen years, fees have lived separate from beasts. The division of the sexes has kept their world peaceful. Glori Rhodes is like most other fees her age. She adores her neighborhood's abandoned Costco, can bench her body weight, and she knew twenty-seven beast counter attack moves by the time she was seven. She has never questioned the separation of the sexes or the rules that keep her post-nuclear hometown safe. But when her mother secretly gives birth to a baby beast, Glori grows to love the child and can't help wondering: What really is the difference between us and them?

When her brother, at the age of five, is snatched in a vicious raid, Glori and her best friend, Su, do the unthinkable - covertly infiltrate the City of Beasts to get him back. What's meant to be a smash-and-grab job quickly becomes the adventure of a lifetime as the fees team up with a fast-talking, T-shirt cannon wielding beast named Sway, and Glori starts to see that there's more to males, and her own history, than she's been taught. Glori, Sway, and a motley cohort of friends will go to the ends of the earth to find her little brother. And maybe save their divided world while they're at it.

About Corrie: 

Corrie Wang is passionate about libraries, recycling, and eating all the food, everywhere. Corrie grew up in Buffalo but spent her formative years in Brooklyn, where one of her last paying gigs was managing a three-story nightclub on the Lower East Side. 

Writing to fix things that make her angry and explore things that frighten her, Corrie’s novels are about girls unapologetically conquering scenarios they should have little control over. Tired of seeing women and girls lose in this culture - spoiler - they never do in her stories.

Her debut novel, The Takedown was chosen as one of the best books of 2017 by the New York Public Library and a 2018 YALSA selection for Best Fiction for Young Adults. City of Beasts is her second novel.

Seeing, as Corrie wrote an entire novel about the freakiness and perils of socializing too much on the internets her existence there is haphazard at best. Now, more than ever, she feels it is time for everyone to look up. (Also stand up, step up, and eat up.

Woot!) That being said, you may follow her poor photography skillz on INSTAGRAM. 

AND P.S. Wang rhymes with 'song' y'all.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

BLOGGERS WHO HAVE POSTS BEFORE SEPTEMBER 16^TH, PLEASE POST THIS PRE-ORDER CAMPAIGN INFO!

CITY OF BEASTS PRE-ORDER CAMPAIGN

Please submit proof of purchase to CORRIEWANGBOOKS [at] GMAIL [dot] COM. All formats apply (physical & e-book). Open to the United States only. Last day to submit is MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 at 11:59 PM.

PRE-ORDERS FROM BLUE BICYCLE BOOKS

http://bluebicyclebooks.bigcartel.com/product/corrie-wang-city-of-beasts

Each signed pre-order copy of City of Beats will come with:

• 1 set of 5 Battle Cards featuring different mercenaries
• A special paperclip necklace made by Mouse which makes you a part of the City of Beast family
• Entry to win 1 of 3 raffle prizes
• 1^st prize is a Jackrabbit Filly t-shirt/patch/ $10 gift card
• 2^nd prize $10 gift card to Jackrabbit Filly and t-shirt
• 3^rd prize $10 gift card to Jackrabbit Filly

ANY PREORDERS FROM AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE

Pre-order City of Beasts at your local indie and you will receive:

• A signed bookplate
• A set of 5 Battle Cards featuring different mercenaries
• A special paperclip necklace made by Mouse, making you part of the City of Beast family

PRE-ORDERS FROM ANYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD!

ANY PREORDERS FROM AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE

Pre-order City of Beasts anywhere else books are sold you will receive:

• A signed bookplate
• 1 of 5 Battle Cards at random

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive finished copies of CITY OF BEASTS, US Only.

Rafflecopter link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2975/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/2/2019- Country Road Reviews- Excerpt

9/3/2019- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt

9/4/2019- Character Madness and Musings- Excerpt

9/5/2019- Shelf-Rated- Review

9/6/2019- BookHounds YA- Review

Week Two:

9/9/2019- Lifestyle of Me- Review

9/10/2019- Daily Waffle - Excerpt

9/11/2019- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

9/12/2019- Life of a Simple Reader- Excerpt

9/13/2019- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

Week Three:

9/16/2019- Jena Brown Writes- Review

9/17/2019- Kati's Bookaholic Rambling Reviews- Excerpt

9/18/2019- Wishful Endings- Excerpt

9/19/2019- Book-Keeping- Review

9/20/2019- Jade Writes Books- Review

Week Four:

9/23/2019- Eli to the nth- Review

9/24/2019- two points of interest- Review

9/25/2019- The Layaway Dragon- Review

9/26/2019- Smada's Book Smack- Review

9/27/2019- PopTheButterfly Reads- Review

Week Five:

9/30/2019- lori's house of reviews- Review