Happy-go-lucky Narwhal and no-nonsense Jelly find their inner superheroes in three new under-the-sea adventures. In the first story, Narwhal reveals his superhero alter-ego and enlists Jelly to help him figure out what his superpower is. Next, Narwhal uses his superpower to help a friend find his way back home. In the third story, Jelly is feeling blue and Narwhal comes to the rescue. Ben Clanton showcases the joys of friendship and the power of believing in yourself and others through this irresistible duo.
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And we’re now on the sequel! Superpowers for everyone!
And yes, that is basically the theme of this book (and waffles, and friendship). Narwhal is a superhero, but what is his superpower? I love that Jelly’s power is to “jolt” others. Makes sense given that Jelly is a jellyfish. And there’s even more superheroes.
Super Narwhal is as cute and loving as can be. And there are a few puns to be had in the book (so yes, adults and children can enjoy, and then enjoy a re-read as you grow up). It made me laugh a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Same advice as with the first Narwhal and Jelly book, go buy it, you need it (but now you also need the first one! so go get both and maybe the next ones that aren’t out yet?)
Narwhal is a happy-go-lucky narwhal. Jelly is a no-nonsense jellyfish. The two might not have a lot in common, but they do they love waffles, parties and adventures. Join Narwhal and Jelly as they discover the whole wide ocean together. A wonderfully silly, full-colour, early graphic novel series featuring three short stories and a super fun ocean fact page – and joke page too! The perfect first book for young readers, just moving on from picture books, discovering the joys of friendship, working together and the power of imagination.
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I found this book thanks to Stephanie Burgis, the author behind The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart book series. She tweeted something about it and it spiked my interest so I ordered this one and the sequel, plus preordered the next two. (Yeah I trust her judgement, this had to be good).
Thankfully it did not disappoint at all. My only qualm is that it is too short. Narwhal is so cute, loving and he makes me laugh so much, and Jelly is such a great contrast friend but not like a super grumpy one, just a different one.
This tiny book made me laugh, want waffles and just fall in love with it. It is highly recommended for children and adults alike, the art is “simple” in lines but still very good and it keeps you in this lovely undersea world.
My advice, go buy them all! Everyone needs this book in their home (and the similar book would be A Polar Bear falls in love.
This is going to be my second to last Litjoy. I am trying to keep costs down and it is hard to choose which boxes to keep. Since I’ve been skipping the last few months of Litjoy, I decided it was a good idea to not renew. And this box confirmed it, as I am just not excited about it.
Contents of the box from top left (book) and going clockwise:
The Tiger at Midnight. I knew this was the book and want to read it.
A book sleeve with a Throne of Glass quote. I am terribly bored of SJM quotes however I like the sleeve because it feels perfect for a tablet.
A set of Snake Handle Makeup brushes, makes me think of Slytherin. I don’t really do makeup and alreayd have a set of brushes so this is a cool item that sadly I have no use for.
A collectible bracelet Percy Jackson themed. It’s neat, they have sent bracelets of this type before. I like them, do not wear them at all.
Aladdin magnetic bookmarks. Super cute, but my issue with magnetic bookmarks is that they break quickly.
A fearless rune sticker, assuming it is from Shadowhunters (yes the leaflet says so). It’s kinda meh because it is just a rune sticker, doesn’t mean much to me and it is huge so hard to mix with other laptop stickers. Space is a prime thing.
The theem card, I do love the artwork for it.
The collectible cards, Infernal Devices trio.
As you can see it wasn’t a bad box, but it just wasn’t for me. The only things I am keeping is the book and the sleeve. Which isn’t worth the price of it for me (considering it costs the shipping to UK). And they’re moving furhter away from themed fully on the book, which is the main reason I loved this. It used to be very thoughtfully curated to match the book but this feels more like a hey thrwo nice stuff in.
I just discovered this over on A Reading Brit and had to do it. Gaming is a huge part of me (as is reading) so this was a perfect tag to try out.
Aloy fights off a Corruptor, drawn by me
1. What is your all-time favourite video game?
I don’t like favourite questions. I can’t pick one. My favourite video game for “it is a work of art” is defnitely Child of Light. My favourite “I spent my childhood on this” is Jazz Jack Rabbit 2, Duke Nukem 2 and Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? (yes, I have aged myself, haven’t I? I played all of them on Windows PCs…). My favourite “comfort game (think comfort blanket but game)” is Bioshock series and Alice Madness Returns.
2. What is your current favourite video game?
Still difficult to choose. “I am too tired to do anything but don’t want to sleep yet” is Let’s Go Eevee. Mindless open world wandering is Skyrim and Dragon Age. I love Dishonored series and adore Prey (the Bethesda new one, not the old one). I also love Fire Emblem series as a comfort game.
3. What is your favourite video game genre?
Semi open world first person shooters (?). Think Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4 and 76 (but not Multiplayer I suck at multiplayer) Or Bioshock series, or Horizon Zero Dawn, or Prey or anything Bethesda brings out. Strategy RPG (Fire Emblem only, Final Fantasy drives me nuts somehow despite being initially very similar). and a little of JRPG (Child of Light)
4. How long have you been playing video games?
Very young. My dad was computer crazy (at a time you could build a PC from a weekly magazine…) and he would let us play games. I remember playing Chip’s Challenge. And Mine sweeper and Pinball…
5. What’s the first game you ever played?
Apparently I replied early to this question. Probably Chip’s, or Carmen San Diego.
6. What game have you clocked the most hours into?
Bioshock series and Fallout series.
7. What’s your longest gaming session?
Not sure. I used to game longer during a difficult time in my life, most of the day. But now I play less and divide hours more.
8. Who is your favourite game developer?
Bethesda, specifically Arkane. And I loved Ken Levine and American McGee as game masterminds
9. Who is your favourite hero character from a game?
Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. She’s such a personality. I also have a soft spot for Link who keeps getting called Zelda 😛
10. Who is your favourite villain?
The Typhon. (Prey)
11. Who is your most hated character of any game?
I am not entirely sure. I really hated Fontaine from Bioshock series. But do you mean playable character or Ai character? Those are harder to choose which one I hate… I love/hate any Assasin’s Creed main character (but the first two were the worst) because they would easily fall down and commit suicide or break cover with a tiny movement from the controller. It drove me mad.
12. What gaming systems do you own?
PC (custom). PS4, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite, DS and 3DS, Switch, Wii (old one). I also play on my phone.
13. What was your first game system?
Not counting PC. The first I played was Atari, then Nintendo 64. First owned was Nintendo DS Lite. (I always had friends/neighbours who had a console and we would play at theirs, until I got older).
14. What’s your favourite gaming system and why?
I love PC as it usually has all games I want and I can just plug a controller or play with keyboard-mouse, and enjoy PS4 a lot (it is my main gaming console at the moment). Recently the Switch has been winning me over with how portable and versatile it is.
15. Do you prefer to play male characters or female characters?
If given the choice I usually choose female. But if the game has a male character only I don’t mind. For example, Dishonored only lets you play Corvo (male), but Dishonored 2 let’s you play him or Emily (female). I have played both, and prefer Emily mostly because she has new powers that differ over Corvo’s.
16. Do you follow walkthroughs, or do you play through on your own?
I try to play on my own, but if I have spent ages trying to figure something out and I just can’t crack it, then I will look that part up. I like walkthroughs mostly for the “trophies” part (I am a sucker for trophies/achievements, I will replay games until I get as many as I can without being too frustrated by it).
17. Have you ever been to a gaming convention?
No. I would love to attend E3 but it is too far.
18. What game are you most excited to come out in the future?
CONTROL.
19. What’s your best memory of a video game?
One of my favourite things is that I went off videogames for a little bit and my little sister found American McGee’s Alice (the first Alice game he did) and she convinced me to play. I was SO bad at it. But she would coach me through it. And when Alice Madness Returns came out I was in the US so I bought it for her. In my head it was her game. I moved away and ended up playing it and beating it before her, which was a shock to me, but a fun memory because it felt like beating the master.
20. What’s your worst memory of a video game?
I do not want to remember those. But funny worst are the glitches that happen in some games 😛
21. Which video game character do you see yourself as, or if
you had to be represented by a video game character, who would it be?
I would probably be a female Morgan (Prey). I would love to say I am an Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn), but I am more Elisabeth Sobeck (don’t google if you intend to play this game, it is a spoiler to find out who she is) than Aloy.
Moonstruck Volume 2: Some Enchanted Evening by Grace Ellis and Shae Beagle
Werewolf barista Julie and her supernatural friends try to unwind at a party, but a conniving fraternity of fairy bros has other plans for our heroes. With one of their friends trapped in the frat house and the winter solstice (a notable night of magical mischief) looming ever-closer, it’s up to the amorous werewolves and gregarious centaur to save the day.
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I read the first volume for Moonstruck a while ago, and enjoyed it so much that I preordered the second volume. (And somehow didn’t review it here, oh shame on me!)
They had me at the Newpals (a Neopets alternative in this universe). I loved Neopets, and it was part of my tweens/teens so much, I still go visit my pets (I have a rare Lutari for example, that I worked hard to catch on Lutari day). And basically, there is a small plot line about Newpals, and it made me all soft and reminded me of so many happy times.
But the story in general is about a party they end up with adn complications, plus there is a lot of figuring out how things work and relationships should work between the characters (not just romantic relationships, by the way). But this is all explored in a really cute, funny way. I adore the characters and how unique and special each one is, plus despite not reading the previous volume to 2catch up” or “refresh” I still thoroughly enjoyed this and it jolted my memory without having “recaps”.
There’s some new developments about characters that make it amusing, and there’s the whole take on frat parties but with fairies. Yes, you read that right! It was just a blast to read, a cuddly funny but also very real story (yes, I know it is all in a magical world, but that doesn’t take anything from it).
The pin for buying more than 20 boxes from Book Box Club
I haven’t done a lot of commissions or design work recently (my full time job has kept me very busy, but I cannot complain, I enjoy it a lot). But when the girls contacted me about designing a pin for them, I said yes (I didn’t know what they wanted or anything except a pin, but I said yes).
This isn’t my first work for Book Box Club. I have desgined items for the before. But this is my first enamel pin design and it was very interesting to work on it.
First design
I went overboard with my design. Of course. My take was, to celebrate Book Box Club and the fact you’ve been supporting them, I might as well do a “fun” take on some of the books we have had from them. Can you name them all?
My over the board pin had to be simplified, so I took the fun writings away. (It was then modified a bit more to fit the final one).
Then there was the backing card. I have a Book Box Club shelf on one of my bookcases, so I went with that because I wanted to make a backing card that was complimentary to the pin.
Of course some changes had to be made, as the “texture” was getting lost and it was too dark, but once again, can you name all the books in it?
The theme for this box sounded great and I was looking forward to it, but you all should know by now I have a soft spot for Book Box Club because they have the Clubhouse meeting with the authors and they were the very first ones to do something that connected author and readers.
The whole box seems very in tune with the theme, but let’s go round, starting from the theme card on the top right:
Theme card, very much in tune with the rest of the box and setting the theme.
A sampler of The Furies. I’ve heard interesting things for it.
Another sampler, for The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods.
A Mother of Dragons metal bookmark (the picture doesn’t do it justice)
A chocolate lip balm (it smells like I should eat it instead of just apply it to my lips).
Underneath we have a tote bag with a Mulan in it (I like the art a lot and that the tote bag is a blue).
If you have bought more than 20 boxes, you get this snazzy pin designed by yours truly (aka me)
A listpad to be more like Hermione. I love that it isn’t stuck with being a specific year or week, but more of a fill as and when you feel like it.
The Clubhouse invite.
A promo bookmark.
The Hand, the Eye and the Heart. This book has caused some conversations on Twitter, but I am interested in reading it.
A gorgeous marble watercolour biscuit that is gluten free. It didn’t last long after the picture.
The box was very on topic which I loved, and the items are gorgeous so I was happy with it.
Laura was dying. There was no cure for her illness. So her family decided to grasp a desperate last hope – Laura was frozen until she could be cured.
But what happens when you wake up one day and the world has moved on forty years? Your best friend is middle-aged, your parents presumed dead. Could you find a new place to belong? Could you build a new life – while solving the mystery of what happened to the old one?
Dark secrets lurk in the future of the girl from the past…
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This caught my eye. Cryogenics isn’t a new topic, or at least not to me. It has been one of those things you hear about then the nosie about it quietens, then someone else does it, then again quiet…
Anyway, the premise sounded interesting, and I read it quite quickly. We have two POV in this book, which took me by surprise when we get to the second POV. We have Laura and we have Shem.
And as much as Laura is the main character I want to talk a little about Shem first. To begin with, we just get dropped into Shem’s chapters without any introduction on him (as in, the premise and previous chapters do not tell you anything that would make him meaningful to you in that first Shem chapter). And he’s a “homeless” boy trying to keep himself alive in a world that doesn’t like homeless people. He is experiencing this as Laura is learning that she’s been revived and the rest of the stuff. His chapters weren’t that interesting to me, and pretty much I knew Shem’s “secret plot twist” before the end of his first chapter. So by the end of that chapter I was pretty much over his chapters (and for the rest of the book, Shem chapters just didn’t grab me).
Now back to Laura. Laura’s story was what kept me reading this book. She wakes up in this future world, 40 years later. And her body is readjusting. She has to remember her memories in an “empty” mind. (I liked the take that you just don’t wake up knowing everything as if you had gone to sleep, but that due to being frozen and revived, you “reset” your brain a little and have to work for the memories to crop up).
The process of “adjusting” to the year 2028 (which isn’t that far away for us) was interesting and then her process trying to figure out who she is, where she belongs and what place Miss Lilly has in her life was wonderful. Plus the “secret” was quite interesting and it had layers to it (some of them quite predictable, maybe not to the exact detail but something along those lines and a few I did get quite close to the exact details… I read a lot, do science and play videogames, so no surprise there).
I didn’t know what to think of Laura at first, I was intrigued because as a reader you know exactly as much as she does (and maybe even a little more, but not enough) so you discover the world with and through her. That was one of my favourite parts of this story. There is also the focus on beauty and staying young, which was also interesting to read and consider to what point we are to get in the search for that perfect wrinkle free anti aging magic.
All in all the book was interesting, and the story was also quite good. My biggest issue was Shem and his whole plot line. I could’ve done without a POV from him or maybe just a lot less of his POV because there are some intersting bits in his chapters, but they contribute more to worldbuilding and to setting up plot than to helping Shem specifically. Not that this means it should be that way, just that I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more that way. (But I am learning, after reading Shadowscent that I can do without the whole one chapter POV1 the next POV2 as it tends to feel forced, I prefer the POV chapters to work with the story rather than having to stick to one and one, very few stories can pull this well).
Would I recommend this? Yes! I like that is is a take on Sleeping Beauty and not a retelling. Plus it actually ponders on the concept and cost of beauty. It was a quick read and I was pleased when I finished it.
It all starts as an accident, when Ash unexpectedly crashes with his time travelling space ship in Seattle the year of 1913, on just the same day as Dorothy escapes from her own arranged marriage. Without Ash’s knowledge (or approval) she sneaks on board the shuttle, and soon after lands in Ash’s and his best friend Zora’s workshop, which is located in New Seattle year 2077. Unwillingly, but also excitedly, Dorothy becomes a part of the team that are looking for the lost Professor who can hopefully save them all, before the Black Circus, the escalating earhtquakes, or some tricky paradox kills off the entire Earth’s populations.
Rating: 🐖🐖🐖🐖
This is yet another book that I got from BookBox Club, that I was initially felt sceptical towards and probably never had picked out myself, but ended up very much enjoying. I was fearing this to be a mix of all the genres from my Big NoNo-list: historical fiction, space adventures and great life saving quests. But even though Stolen Time contains a good portion of the latter, it’s still dystopian in a very down to earth-kind of way that makes like it. There’s a bit too much action, and the book is a bit too predictable, but it’s still so thrilling that I’m really happy it’s just the first in a series.
Without spoiling anything, I also dare to say that the intrigue, on both the characters, the quests and the societal level, have much potential to develop and grow deeper in the coming sequels. But until that, this is just an exciting dream team adventure that I’ll recommend to anyone that enjoys a bit of time travelling paradoxes.
Tulip The Dog that Ate Nightmares by Quek Sue Yian, Khairul Azmir Shoib (Illustrator)
The Dog that Ate Nightmares is based on Sue Yian’s pug, the real Tulip, the story has been given a whole new world on paper with the art of Khairul Azmir Shoib aka Meme.
Rating:
This was an Eastercon buy. I was browsing this lovely publisher’s place (it had a lot of Indian and various Asian books) and saw this. It has a brave dog, and it is a pug, so I had to buy it for a friend.
And of course, I ended up reading it, because it is short and an illustrated book. It has a very Tim Burton style of artwork/illustrations, and some look almost like a collage from magazines. It does capture very well the whole “dog that eats nightmares” feel and reminds me a tiny bit of Coraline.
The story talks about how this little dog is always hungry, but Tulip has a secret, she eats nightmares! The book takes you through the characters and why the little girl loves Tulip and what makes her so special (Tulip).
I enjoyed the hopeful idea that dogs eat our nightmares and that their company makes us feel safer. There is a good side to owning a dog and their company is good theraphy so that this book is not just imagination. I don’t know if my own dog eats nightmares (I don’t think so, as I still have nightmares), but I do sleep better when she’s around and I can feel her warmth against myself.
Considering this isn’t your uusal children’s book I found it very intriguing and I am glad I bought it.
