"A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

Oh. My. Gosh. Words cannot describe how thoroughly I enjoyed the book. It was creepily poetic and the illustrations were amazing. They really helped make the entire story. I started to read a chapter last night, and the next thing I know, BAM covers closed I finished the whole damn thing. It was that good!

The story follows Conor, a 13 year old boy living in England trying to deal with his mom's increasingly worse cancer symptoms and the nightmares it inspires. One night however, he realizes that he really is being visited by a monster. The monster (beautifully illustrated in the book, I might add) doesn't necessarily want to hurt Conor, but does he want to help him either?

This book hits on everyone of your emotions, I laughed, got scared, and bawled like a baby at the end. This book has it all. It's about discovery, coping, believing, and learning to set the truth free. Ahh, I can't get over how good it was!!!

 Please, please give this book a chance. Definitely, one of the best books I've read this year!!

Check out some of the illustrations below! (courtesy of Google, I do not own the copyright to them)

Never to Old to Enjoy a Kid's Book

"God Gave Us Love" by Lisa Tawn Bergren is an adorable children's book featuring the Bear family. While Little Cub is fishing with Grandpa Bear, some otters come to play by them and start to scare off the fish. When Little Bear starts to get frustrated, Grandpa Bear gets Little Cub to understand that God loves us all even when we are being mischievous and that it is our duty to try and love others as unconditionally as God loves us. Little Cub discovers what it means to love all people and creatures even if he doesn't necessarily "like" them. Great illustrations and it is a sturdy board book. This would make a great addition to any young reader's library.

“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”

Bloom Where You're Planted

I am proud to say that I FINALLY found a Christian romance that I liked, and even scarier, I related to! "Wildflowers From Winter" is the first novel by newcomer Katie Ganshert and boy did she come out blazing. I read this book from start to finish last night because it was impossible to put down, I had to find out how it ended! The novel follows Bethany, a seemingly successful architect in Chicago, as she makes the journey back to her home town, Peaks (more like village really), to deal with her grandfather's failing health and her ex-best friend's tragedy. She successfully avoided returning to Peaks for ten years but now that she's back her old fears start creeping up again. When she is forced to stay longer than expected she once again grows close to her old best friend, Robin, who is recently widowed and pregnant and starts to taking a liking to the young man, Evan, that has been working her father's farm for the past five years. As her new found friends start to get over their troubles, Bethany wonders if she will ever be able to as well. She can't accept God the way they can, not after what she's been through. I highly recommend you read this book to see how it ends. Bethany is a wonderful multi-faceted character that I easily identified with and the struggles that she and her family faced were all to real. This book restored my faith in Christian romance (haha, get it, my faith!, sorry bad joke) and I can't wait to read her sequel for this. Best book I've read in a while!!

“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”