book review Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Book Review – A Frozen Heart

October 25, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I bought this book from Asda and I have to admit I was pretty excited to find it, especially for £3.75. This book had been on my Amazon wishlist for some time and I assumed it would be similar to the Twisted Tales by by Liz Braswell. I had read A Whole New World, picked up Once Upon a Dream and this seemed like it would be similar, despite being by a different author, Elizabeth Rudnick.

Sadly, I was quite disappointed. If you want to read the novelisation of the Frozen movie, then this book is for you. It’s the exact story that the Frozen movie provides you with, except in a written form – meaning more detail, more description, more dialogue etc. That said, any dialogue that appeared in the movie, appears in this book. Every quote your children (or you) know off by heart, will be in this book. At first its sort of lovely – an indepth look to Anna and Elsa’s life, even a bit more background on Hans which you don’t really get in the movie. However once the storyline gets going, the story is basically exactly like the animation and it loses something for me.

That said, the end still made me cry, just like it does when I watch it. The book is a beautiful rendition of the movie, but that is all it is. I was expecting something more, something different, something that tells us a different part of the story. But sadly it’s not that. If you want to read “Frozen”, then absolutely pick up this book. If you’re looking for something more, it’s probably best not to bother.

Book Review – Kingdom Keepers: Disney at Dawn by Ridley Pearson

June 25, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week Lily and I finished the second book in the Kingdom Keepers series. As you may remember, I reviewed book one, Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, only a few weeks ago. This book was quite different from the first – and in my opinion it was much better in lots of ways.

Again, reading it aloud to Lily, I did at times struggle with the structure of the writing. However I generally found it improved from the first book. Where the last book was set at night time – bedtime trips to Magic Kingdom in holographic form – this was set in a whole day time, a day time in fact where the kids couldn’t sleep (just in case) in Animal Kingdom. Now this is really the main reason I said it was better in lots of ways. I enjoyed the story more, the writing was good and I really enjoyed the plot as a whole. However (and I’m sorry, please don’t hate me) I wasn’t at all sold on Animal Kingdom when we visited Florida last year and it just didn’t really do anything for me on that front. I’m not fussed about animals either, plus I think many aspects are quite old and therefore not necessarily accurate, but yeah… Animal Kingdom is a bit blah for me.

So obviously I never like to spoil the plot on these things, but despite being set in Animal Kingdom AND being all about animals, the story was good. I liked the addition of Amanda and Jez to the gang, plus I enjoyed the way the kids are all much closer and better friends in this book. Unlike the first book, which tied off quite nicely, it was obviously that this book was “to be continued…”. While it had an element of tying off loose ends, it clearly left a storyline open for another book (which we have actually started now and it does pick up from the end of the last one).

All in all, I’m really enjoying these books. The next one is apparently set in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, so I’m interested to see how that plays out. Also the fact the books started off calling Hollywood Studios – MCM, I feel like these are becoming newer and more up to date.

Book Review – Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

June 7, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

A long time ago, in fact for Megan’s birthday in December last year, I picked up this book – Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark. It’s not a book that I knew much about, but I had spoken to Amy about them (who has read it and several in the series afterwards) and she thought it would be something Megs would like. However as Megan was so into reading at the time, she got loads of books for her birthday and this definitely wasn’t top of her list to read. Lily and I had been reading larger, more grown-up books at bedtime together, and so when we finished the Roald Dahl book we were reading, we made our way on to this.

First the positives. It really is a great book, especially if you love Disney. Set in Walt Disney World park (and Florida generally), the story centres around five kids who have been picked out to be DHI’s (Disney Interactive Hosts). They have been made into holograms who show park guests around the park – but this of course means the real kids are only allowed in the parks under certain circumstances, with permission and in disguise – so they don’t spoil the magic. None of the kids know each other, they just showed up for auditions, got picked out and then got videoed etc so their holograms could be made. ANYWAY, there’s trouble brewing in the park and it brings these five kids together. After dark, when they go to sleep, the kids somehow find themselves in the park – in their DHI form. They have to figure out what the Overtakers are doing and how to stop them and it’s really quite exciting. As someone who had visited Florida only recently when we started the books, it was so nice to have a way to remember the park – to be able to know the places that were referenced and even be scared by the thought that some of the rides might come to life and attack you!! Lily and I thoroughly enjoyed the book and of course moved on to the next one, which by that point I had bought for her, not Megan.

The negatives. There aren’t many to be honest but the major one as someone reading the book aloud, was definitely the language and grammar. If you were just reading the book yourself, then I’m sure you wouldn’t notice it as much but reading aloud definitely caused the odd confusion or complication. Large patches of speech didn’t have “said Finn”, “said Amanda” etc. which could get make following the conversation a little difficult. I found myself adding these as I read it, or re-wording the odd thing here and there, just so Lily would understand. On top of that, the first book in the series was written quite some time ago (2005 I think) and because of that certain changes have happened in the parks. The major one I noticed was the reference to MCM which of course is now Hollywood Studios, so again this is something I changed as I read.

Overall it was a fantastic book and as I said, Lily and I have already moved on to the second book in the series (and she has the next few after that as well). We love our villains so it was a little hard not to champion the bad guys at points, but all in all we liked Finn and his friends enough to want them to succeed. Having gone on to the next book already before writing this, I feel like the second book does improve with language in some aspects, (though the conversation points are still the same and the parts where they use VMK and usernames is a bit complicated) but more importantly the characters seem better developed and more likeable too. If you’re looking for more enjoyable reads like this, there are plenty of romantic novels to read that offer engaging characters and gripping plots.

If you love a Disney book and especially want to read about Magic Kingdom (and the second one is Animal Kingdom) then give them a read. There are about seven or eight in the series I think and then there are spin-off books too.

Book Review – Six Lies by Ben Adams

June 4, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I was sent this book to review quite some time ago and to be honest it took me a pretty long time to read it. Not because I didn’t like it, or it wasn’t interesting, but it just wasn’t particularly grabbing so it didn’t make me long to get back to it. That and I was pretty busy and I went through a period of just not reading very much at all.

Ben Adams writes in a nice comfortable style and it definitely makes easy reading. The book is about a man Dave whose wife has left him and he wants her back, plus his mum dies – only for him to find out she wasn’t his biological mum. It’s a very “real life” story, but not in a gritty way just an “every day” way. Dave is a normal bloke who likes to hang out with his mates at the pub, play in his band and go to work. The book tracks Dave’s life over the span of a few months, through the every day pickles he gets himself into and also through the voyage of discovery that is his true parenthood.

While it isn’t a bad book (in fact I quite enjoyed it), there isn’t an awful lot to say about it either. It’s not a chicklit by any means, but its not an adventure, or thriller or crime or whatever. It’s just sort of a fiction life story. That said, Ben Adams made for a pretty good read and if he did anything else I would definitely be tempted to read it.

Book Review – A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

May 26, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I have SO many book reviews to write now as I’ve been lucky enough to catch up on loads of reading recently. I also have my Paris 3 Day diary to write over the next few days. However I really wanted to share this particular book review quickly, as A Whole New World (A Twisted Tales) is very topical right now!

This book had been on my Amazon wishlist for quite some time, in hardback, along with Once Upon a Dream (by the same author). However it seems to have gone somewhat viral over the last few weeks, as the paperback appeared both on Amazon and more specifically in Morrisons, for only £3.50! I was lucky enough that Chris bought it for me and I managed to get to read it immediately, due to a very long car ride to Paris this weekend just gone!

If truth be told, I started the book in the bath on Thursday night, but only the first few chapters. I then started to read it on the journey from London to Maidstone, then from Folkestone to Calais (over the tunnel) and Calais to Paris. I did in fact complete the book in this time. I have to admit I really enjoyed it, despite seeing on Goodreads that many people didn’t like it.

First of all, I want to start by saying, Disney own the rights to this book so be prepared for it to be VERY Disney. The book starts with an introduction to Aladdin, his life and of course Agrabah. It mimics the original animated movie almost exactly, but in words and with more description, than you perhaps get in the movie itself. For me, I liked this. I love Disney, I love the movie and I had no objection to the first quarter of the book being pretty much exactly the movie. However the point of the book is that it’s a twisted tale and without ruining it for anyone – the change occurs in the Cave of Wonders, whereby Jafar gets the lamp and Aladdin gets trapped, thus changing the storyline.

I don’t want to get into spoilers as that’s something I always avoid in my book reviews, but I’m sure you all know that if Jafar got his hands on the lamp from the beginning, it can only mean bad things! At this point, I think the book really stepped into it’s own. “A Whole New World” is not just a spin on the Disney movie, it is a story and book in it’s own right. The author is actually very clever in my opinion, to take characters and a world invented by someone else and somehow make it their own. While others have called it a rip-off or a fan-fiction, I disagree. I think it’s well thought out and really quite good. The theme is far more dark and mature than a regular Disney movie or book and I liked that. This is not a book to be read to kids, its something much more adult orientated and while it still has a happy ending, its a more realistic one than a typical “They all lived happily ever after”.

If you’re looking for something Disney, but perhaps a little more unique, I recommend you give this a go. You need to go into it open-minded though, no expectations and just let your mind fall into the new world and it’s new story, instead of drawing comparisons! Let me know what you think if you give it a read.

Book Review – John Green novels

February 24, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

So maybe you’re thinking, “that title is a bit random” and honestly you’d be right! I realised the other day that I haven’t done a book review in a while and the truth is – the last few books I’ve read either a) haven’t been worth blogging about or b) I haven’t actually made it to the end of! Once upon a time, I would never have left a book unfinished, but somewhere over the years I’ve decided that life is too short for bad books (and movies, tv series etc) and if you’re just not enjoying it – GIVE UP!

I first discovered John Green, with “The Fault in Our Stars“. As with most things, I was late to the party and I really only read it because I knew the movie was coming out and I wanted to see that – but I like to read the book first, before seeing the movie – as I definitely can’t do it the other way around. I really loved TFIOS and I even loved the movie adaptation. I really don’t have anything bad to say about either and I was sure I was in love with John Green as an author.

Next came Paper Towns. This was partly because I enjoyed TFIOS and partly because it was again another movie that was going to be released. I ordered and read it within a few days and truth is, I could put the book down once I started. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was because I was really enjoying it, or because I just wanted to know what happens. I think that truth is, I just wanted to know what happened, because I haven’t watched the movie since, or really thought about the book at all. However in the haste of the moment, I ordered more John Green books, figuring I would probably enjoy them my other two experiences were pretty good.

At the time, I’d posted on Instagram about loving TFIOS, about reading Paper Towns and about ordering another three books. I had various comments – my best friend telling me she only liked Looking for Alaska, someone saying Paper Towns was one of their favourites and someone else commenting that they enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

I started with Looking for Alaska. I enjoyed it somewhat, for the most part I think, but after the change in pace midway through the book (I won’t spoil why, but the chapters are basically a countdown to this point), I struggled with the story and wasn’t really sold on the rest of the book. After that came An Abundance of Katherines and the truth is I really didn’t like this book. I didn’t like the characters and the book is predictable. To be honest if you make it about a third of the way through the book, you can pretty much guess how it turns out. I’m yet to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson, but sadly I’m not in a hurry to do so either.

So I started off with The Fault in Our Stars, thinking I had found a new favourite author – 5 out of 5 stars! By Paper Towns I was maybe down to 3-4 stars, Looking for Alaska was a definite 3 and An Abundance of Katherines was maybe a 2? Now obviously I appreciate that everyone is different – as you can see from the comments I received on Instagram, everyone likes different books – but in my experience, I’m sad to say that John Green is a bit of a one hit wonder for me.

Book Review: Cooking for Geeks

January 11, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I was recently sent a really interesting looking cooking book called Cooking for Geeks and I was asked to review it. If you’ve ever fancied yourself as a Heston Blumenthal or some sort of mad scientist chef, this is the book for you!

This cookbook is its second edition and it is packed full of all sorts of weird and wonderful science. It answers questions you didn’t even know you have, provides information you never realised you wanted to know and gives you great ideas for the science behind inventing recipes yourself. Including everything from why we cook certain things at the temperature we do, what happens if you overclock a cooker and loads and loads of actual recipes, this cookbook is definitely aimed at the curious, inventive and hardcore chefs.

You can find lab work – like Making Ice Cream with Salt and Water

Information on Whipped Cream, including how to make it and even putting it to use in chocolate mousse

And loads more!

If you’re looking for an interesting gift to give, then definitely consider this. It’s both an interesting read and also a thought provoking one. The book is available from a variety of places, including Amazon. RRP is £26.50

Page to Screen – Before I Go To Sleep

January 5, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

A few years ago I read a book called “Before I Go to Sleep” by S. J. Watson. I’d treated myself to a Kindle and I got this book really cheap, so it was one of the first I read on my kindle. I loved it so much that I recommended it to everyone, but sadly having it on kindle meant I wasn’t able to lend it to anyone! Anyway over the years my mum has read it and my best friend is currently reading it – my mum loved it but sadly I don’t think Nat has really give it a chance yet (being in the middle of 4 books at a time!).

Anyway, when it was announced that 2014 would see a movie adaptation of this book, I was pretty excited. I’m not a huge Nicole Kidman fan though so when she was cast as the lead, I couldn’t really see it. Needless to say I didn’t manage to get to the cinema to see the movie and actually even when it came out on dvd I was waiting for Nat to watch it with me. However after waiting indefinitely I decided to just watch it tonight – I have it on Amazon Prime and it popped up as a suggestion so I was like “… sure, what the hell!”.

The main actors in the movie are Nicole Kidman as Christine, Colin Firth as “Ben”/Mike and Mark Strong as Dr. Nasch. While I wouldn’t personally have cast any of these people in the roles, they were all fantastic and Colin Firth as a bad guy was especially shocking!

The movie is very true to the book and since I loved the book, I absolutely adored the movie. I’m sure the plot isn’t for everyone but the basic jist is a lady called Christine suffers from a severe form of amnesia, after a horrific incident several years before. Each morning she wakes up believing she is in her 20’s, when actually she is in her 40’s and has forgotten everything that has happened in between. Every morning is a clean slate and she has to start learning about herself all over again, along with her husband Ben and with the help of Dr. Nasch. Bit by bit she manages to remember parts of her past, and while for the most part she still continues to forget it each day, with the help of a video diary (just a regular diary in the book), learning each day becomes a quicker process. The book/movie is definitely a thriller, so expect a dark twist. The whole movie is done quite slow and creepy though so I think if you haven’t read the book you wouldn’t always be entirely sure where it was going.

This book/movie adaptation has now shot in as one of my all time favourites, along with Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent. I will still continue to recommend the book to everyone and now also the movie too!

Book Review – Nathalia Buttface by Nigel Smith

October 21, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

…and the most embarrassing five minutes of fame!

I was sent this book for review but I want to make it clear that this book isn’t aimed at adults, it’s aimed at kids – specifically girls. As such, while I did read it, my daughter Megan (who is 10) also read it.

The most embarrassing dad in the world is back in this hilarious series for girls from TV and radio-comedy writing talent, Nigel Smith.

When Dad posts an embarrassing video of Nat online as a joke, she’s furious. Things are set to get much worse, however, when the video goes viral and she finds herself centre of the nation’s attention for all the wrong reasons – even the prime minister is imitating her!

But when a local care home for abandoned pets is threatened with closure, Dad convinces Nat to use her new-found celebrity to raise money for it – with him acting as her agent, of course! Cue: a disastrous appearance hair-modelling job, a not-so-glamorous campaign for a local optician and a call to turn on the town’s rubbish autumn illuminations (the one with the miserable face off The X-Factor cancelled at the last minute). And as if Nat didn’t have enough to deal with, school isn’t exactly easy when you’re a minor celebrity…

Its important to note that this book is actually third in the series of Nathalia Buttface books. However they are completely standalone and you do not need to have read the previous books to enjoy or understand this one. If I were to review this from an adult point of view, I would say that its very girlie and quite often annoying. To be honest, Nathalia herself is annoying and her parents, friends, school life etc. are very much like the tv I used to watch as a kid. HOWEVER as a kid, this is exactly what you want to read and my ten year old daughter genuinely enjoyed this book. In fact, the first two are on her Christmas List now and the fourth is released in January which I’m sure some Christmas money will be spent on.

What I will say for the book, is that it has a pretty good storyline and plot. It is a little predictable, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nathalia is annoying (I think she’s meant to be), her friends ground her (somewhat) and ultimately despite the rocky road she takes to get there, the book has a nice outcome and actually a pretty good moral to the story. Nathalia’s parents are very much your average parents, especially from a kids point of view and the plot features many modern references like the concept of the internet, YouTube etc. All round if you have young girls, I think they would enjoy it as a book. The language is simple and yet fun – a lighthearted read that’s perfect for your young ladies.

Book Review – Mister Cleghorn’s Seal by Judith Kerr

September 18, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

You may well have heard of Judith Kerr before and if you have, the chances are it’s because of the childrens book “The Tiger that Came to Tea” or the Mog books. However I was offered her latest book “Mister Cleghorn’s Seal” to review and since it’s aimed at 7+ years, I figured it would be perfect as my girls are 7 and 10.

Lily and I read the book together as a bed time story, over 3-4 nights. It’s not a big book and it isn’t broken into chapters, but it’s more than you’d want to read in one sitting, unless you were sitting down for maybe 30 minutes or so.

An exquisite new story to delight readers young and old, from a much-loved writer and illustrator.

What do you do if you find an abandoned seal pup on a rock in the middle of the sea? Well, take it home with you to your flat, of course.

At least that’s what Mr Albert Cleghorn thought, though perhaps he hadn’t considered all the complications…

This is the story of what then happened to Mr Cleghorn and Charlie the seal in their determination to find a home for Charlie and, incidentally, happiness for them both.

Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Mister Cleghorn’s Seal is a classic in the making from the inimitable Judith Kerr.

Lily and I both enjoyed the book – a story about Mister Cleghorn, who now retired, is lost for something to do and takes a vacation by visiting his brother. While there he find a seal and decides to take it home with him. The story is cute and endearing, it’s also well written and enjoyable. However, I’m not entirely convinced that the target audience is 7+. Lily did enjoy the book, but it wasn’t really on par with a lot of the other books we’ve been reading recently – James and the Giant Peach, Matilda etc. It was probably the right reading level for her – as in, she could have read it herself – but the storyline probably wouldn’t have been something she would have picked.

As a massive fan of stories like Catch a Star, Lost and Found, Room on the Broom, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and even The Tiger that Came to Tea, I didn’t find this book in the same league. It’s a good story and I enjoyed reading it, but I think it’s still a young child’s book when being read to a child, and unfortunately not the right topic to attract 7+ years.