Book Review

Moon Reads: The Wizard and Me: More Misadventures of Bubbles the Guinea Pig

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The Wizard and Me: More Misadventures of Bubbles the Guinea Pig by Simon Farnaby and Claire Powell

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: World Book Day buy

So I have a soft post for book switch magic and I had my eye on the original book from which this one is based, however I will say that as much as the artwork is adorable, this was not the book for me.

Why was it not? There is a lot of poop and that kind of humour that I just didn’t get behind, it isn’t my thing and I get why it is done but I don’t agree with it and prefer not to read about it. The guinea pig also has a particular type of being which is annoying and meant to be a bit of rubbing the wrong way and being too amazing to deserve to be treated that way etc when they are not, also a point lost there.

However, I did see how this book was focused on you know pet ownership and kids may be getting a guinea pig from a pet shop and potential adventures and misadventures that could happen which I thought was fun and cute and well done for the book. So it was not all bad, just unfortunately it didn’t amaze me or make it one I would like to keep

But if your little one enjoyed the main book, this is fun add on or if they are into this kind of humour then do take it, it is a quick read and good on pet ownership!

Book Review

Moon reads: Welcome to Grimwood

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Welcome to Grimwood by Nadia Shireen

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought for World Book Day

Look, if I was going to buy one book for World Book Day, it’d be this one because it has foxes on the cover. I have not read the original book of Grimwood, so this was my introduction to this world.

As such I really liked that it comes with a little character introduction with funny commentary, which helped set the mood of what was to come in the little tales around the campfire. And I liked that a lot.

The short little book is all about a special festival in Grimwood where people do fun activities and at the end tell stories around a campfire. So we go through the characters and they each tell stories, some are true, some are almost certainly not even if they claim they are but it is funny to read and see where they exaggerate or make it up or in some cases where the story ends up being quite short. I loved the variety of stories and that their stories very much tell you a lot about who the character is overall. Interesting to see that the way one tells a story will change the story or how a story told can tell you a lot about the teller.

A hilarious little book with cute illustrations, and lots of laughing moments and silly moments. Good introduction to pique your interest for the book of Grimwood.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Frozen Fantasies Book Box club

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Subscription box: Book Box Club

Theme/Month: Frozen Fantasies, November 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 12 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Book Box Club subscription, you can do it on their website.

Book Box Club is a young adult subscription box, the unique thing is the Clubhouse where you can chat to the author a month (or so) after the box was shipped and ask questions and just chat around. It also includes several goodies and usually, the choice of book is one that is unique and not in other book boxes so very few chances of duplicate books and a lot of new reads discovery power.

Entering the cold winter months and we get a very on point box, starting from the bottom right and going clockwise:

  • Theme card, it matches the book and the theme well.
  • A pin set to match the book with the title and ballerina.
  • Midnight in Everwood, a magical tale set in winter by M. A. Kuzniar
  • Promotional bookmark.
  • Sleeping mask with a winter theme, this is very silky soft and even has a slight part to cover the gaps around your nose which I thought was clever.
  • Dark Materials tea towel, not a big fan of the series but I do like tea towels and the artwork.
  • A little room spray to smell of winter and it is gorgeous
  • And finally a witchy hot chocolate that is decadent and delicious and to be fair who doesn’t like a hot chocolate mug in winter?

Overall a cosy feeling box that makes you want to hibernate at home with a book, hot chocolate on the side and a fire roaring in the background keeping you warm while it snows outside and you just feel safe and can escape into a fantasy world!

Writing

Moon Writes: drowning in you

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Dip my toes into this current,
the one that flows from you,
whispering sweet nothings
and promising to never budge.

You insist it’s a big forever
in an ocean full of lies,
but now i know better
and i won’t consider you my lifesaver.

Treacherous waters up to my waist,
they reach and try to convince me
that i want to go for a swim
and join in this little whim.

How did i let them rise so quick?
why did you let your dam run free?
couldn’t you’ve waited until
i had my footing and was ready?

But you had to run and rush
let the waves of your feelings crash
against my lips and skin
trying to find your way in.

I’m drowning,
drowning in you.

Try to rise to the surface,
take a deep breath,
just to feel like myself again,
to remember i wasn’t ready for this.

Why, oh, why
couldn’t you wait,
and avoid this tragedy,
the death of us in your sea?

Shall i release the storm,
or still try to rise above?
i wonder if there’s a happy ending
to this catastrophe.

Will i be able to be me,
if i try to surf through it all
and learn to ride a hurricane,
navigating back to safety.

Washed ashore in the aftermath,
can’t help but wonder
if this was never meant to be,
for i was drowning in your sea.

A poem I wrote about someone who isn’t in my life anymore because I was definitely drowning in who they were and losing myself. But some parts of this poem feel a little too on point to life right now. Funny how words can mean many things…

Book Review

Moon Reads: Fox & Rabbit

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Fox & Rabbit and Fox & Rabbit Make Believe by Beth Ferry and Gergely Dudas

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Series: Fox & Rabbit, first two volumes

Read before: No

Ownership: Found the first in Forbidden Planet, could not resist, read it ordered the second one and third.

This was an impulse buy because it had a fox and a rabbit on the cover and they are the main characters, plus they are relatively small books and easy to read. What can I say? In the same line of comics like Jelly & Narwhal, we have Fox and Rabbit who are best friends and have adventures together.

The very first one has a few episodes of stories of them having adventures and it also introduces us to other friends like the robin who is always thinking about food. I really loved the robin. Or the turtle that is always late and asking what they have missed. But overall the adventures are wholesome and sweet, and they just were a nice pause and lovely to read.

The second book picks up a little after the first and is all about using your imagination and having adventures in a variety of ways which was adorable, a bit more “fast” paced than the first book but still good.

As much as they are simple books and easy to read, they are good at touching on confidence, friendship and how to navigate certain situations, so it was lovely to read, plus I accidentally shared this with my best friend and there was a chapter that was perfect for our friendship so it felt particularly fated to be a good book.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Last Witch

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The Last Witch by McCreery, Glass and Nesterenko

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Saw it in Forbidden Planet last month, couldn’t resist it, bought it.

Ok, so apparently this was initially released in smaller episodes, but now it is a full book and honestly, it is a very interesting story of a young girl who goes on a dare to a tower where a witch lives, but I mean, it’s all a tale, right? right?

It gets even better, or should I say worse, when her little brother joins in and lo and behold the witch was not a story, so there is danger. Turns out this sets a chain reaction kinda thing that turns into a quest to become a witcha nd defeat a big enemy that is trying hard to destroy the world, and so we follow our main character around the “world” and on her quest to learn, master her powers, and save as many people as she can.

The reason it is not a five fox is that it has some continuity problems that kept me scratching my head or absolute blanks in the story where I genuinely had no clue where it had gone. But the story is good and the artwork interesting, it does start quite slow and then suddenly everything is happening. That was also a downside. We get so many pages of slow world-building and her friendship with townpeople, but once she is on her quest you barely get some pages of some parts of the action and this upset me, because I get you don’t need a blow by blow breakdown but there is just not enough to understand fully what is going and it was just a bit like “hey, you could put more details since we had a lot of prologue”.

But it is still a fun story, so if you need a witchy graphic novel with old story kinda legend vibes, then this is a good choice.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Death and Fortune Illumicrate

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Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Death and Fortune, November 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

I have had this book in my preorders so knowing there was a box dedicated to Death and Fortune was something right up my alley. Starting on the bottom right corner and going clockwise:

  • Theme leaflet with details of the contents and the photo challenge.
  • A book cover, more of the kind you slip the edges of the book in and wrap around rather than a book bag.
  • The second collectible teacup, I adore these and need a better place to display them but also, they are definitely getting used. Gorgeous, gorgeous!
  • The main book, Little Thieves, gorgeous edition.
  • Print
  • A golden filigree fancy bookmark with a wonderful card background that also doubles as a second bookmark.
  • An illumicrate pen
  • Monthly collectible pin
  • And a book tin.

Overall the box was lovely, I could have done with more death in it but still really enjoyed the items, and love the collectible tea cups and the book edition was stunning and very well done, so happy with the contents.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Doves in the Dining Room

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Doves in the Dining Room by Laura Laakso

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: Not the finished version, and not complete.

Ownership: Preordered a copy because I cannot resist anything from Laura

Series: The Wilde Investigations

Am I reviewing the short story or just sharing a picture of Finn or maybe both?

What I do have to say is that if you want a murder mystery that is all wrapped up with a bow and feels like you are playing Clue but even more brilliant, alongside a good main character that has EDS, Ehler-Danlos Syndrom, is bisexual and a bad ass, then this book is for you. And if you have read any of the books in this series, this is a book with a lot of Wishearth in it and totally worth it.

When Yannia gets invited to a wedding and suddenly gruesome accidents start happening that seem like someone is trying to boycott, she comes to the rescue and to the investigation of it. But the question is who did it and why?

I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, it is very self contained in that ti all happens at the wedding venue in a very small set of suspects and it slowly becomes more and more interesting, alongside a good cast and a lot of good times next to a fire, because otherwise it wouldn’t be the same story.

If you need something to fill the gap between Roots of Corruption and The Wildest Hunger which is coming out in October, then this is a good gem to do so, it will leave you hungry for more but also happy to have read it and enjoying a good mystery.

Book Review

MoonReads: Garlic & the Vampire

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Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Ordered on my own

This was an adorable little graphic novel. The premise is that a witch has enchanted her vegetable switch personality and they are sentient and her children, so we have Garlic who wants to be brave and a few others. Everything is as normal until they see smoke coming out of the castle and the legends of a vampire being there crop up into the gossip thread running through the town and among the vegetables and fruits the witch has.

So Garlic ends up being volunteered to help fight the vampire or at least confront it because you know, everyone knows that vampires don’t like garlic. Or so is the overall logic.

The story basically covers how garlic goes on her little adventure. And honestly, this was a very enjoyable sweet book. The artwork gives it a magical but like old school matter of fact feel while the plot makes it even better. Each of the vegetables has an interesting personality and the overall town and witch and vegetable interaction are brilliant.

To say if garlic actually finds a vampire and what happens would be to spoil the story but I honestly loved the idea of it and the execution of it. But I can definitely say it is an underrated read and worth exploring as a graphic novel for all ages.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Spectacular! Spectacular! Book Box Club

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Subscription box: Book Box Club

Theme/Month: Spectacular! Spectacular!, September 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 12 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Book Box Club subscription, you can do it on their website.

Book Box Club is a young adult subscription box, the unique thing is the Clubhouse where you can chat to the author a month (or so) after the box was shipped and ask questions and just chat around. It also includes several goodies and usually, the choice of book is one that is unique and not in other book boxes so very few chances of duplicate books and a lot of new reads discovery power.

Do I have any sense of time? No why do you ask? Oh yes, I did unbox October before September but no, I do not know what time is anymore. So let us just dive into this box instead, starting from the book on the left and going clockwise:

  • The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell
  • Not Here to be Liked pin, which is a good book
  • Starlit skies candle, smells divine.
  • Night Circus admission ticket necklace.
  • A self assemble shelf bunting which I should put up at some point!
  • A gorgeous botanical bookmark
  • Promotional postcard for a book
  • Birthday Cake popcorn which lasted long enough to take a picture and that was it!
  • The theme card for the month

This had a celebration theme being an anniversary box and that was delightful for me. Overall the box was good, maybe not my favourite but very lovely regardless. And that popcorn was surprisingly nice!