Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Saturday, December 25, 2021

[Review] - The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans


If my memory serves me correctly, I was 17 years old when I stumbled upon The Christmas Box Collection, an omnibus paperback featuring The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and The Letter by Richard Paul Evans. It was my first venture in the sentimental holiday romance genre, and I've been a fan of Evans's stories ever since.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Review - The Noel Letters by Richard Paul Evans


There's nothing better to get you into the Christmas spirit than reading a holiday-themed novel. For me, I'm referring to the recently released The Noel Letters by New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans. It's the fourth entry in his standalone Noel Collection series.

The novel centers on Noel Post, a New York publishing house editor who returns to her childhood home in Salt Lake City to visit her dying father. Unfortunately, by the time she arrives, her father has already passed away. On top of grieving about the nearly two decades of estrangement from her father, she's still struggling to get over her recent divorce. Plus, she's almost sure her editing job is long gone due to her negative attitude.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Review - On St. Nick's Trail by M.K. Scott


* Goodreads * Amazon *



 


Old Saint Nick is missing, sparking shenanigans in the town of Santa Claus.

Private Eye Nala Bonne and her trusty crime-fighting rescue dog Max spend their days surfing social media for telltale signs of disability fraud and philandering husbands, but when a lucrative opportunity to investigate something entirely different, Nala readily agrees to take the case. The task: find a missing Santa impersonator.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Review - 'Tis The Season Murder by Leslie Meier


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.


'Tis The Seasons Murder
by Leslie Meier


Just in time for the holiday season is 'Tis The Season Murder (Kensington Books; $12.95; 410 pages) by New York Times bestselling author Leslie Meier, featuring two Lucy Stone Holiday Mysteries — New Year's Eve Murder and Christmas Carol Murder.

New Year's Eve Murder

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker’s Cove has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter are ready to ring in the new year in style. Elizabeth has won mother/daughter winter makeovers in Manhattan from Jolie magazine! But the all-expenses-paid trip is bound to have some hidden costs—and one of them is murder. Soon it will be up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square . . .

Christmas Carol Murder

Lucy Stone is excited about acting in the town’s production of A Christmas Carol. But a real-life Scrooge has everyone feeling frosty. While Tinker’s Cove has fallen on hard times, Downeast Mortgage owners Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner are raking in profits from misfortune. So when Marlowe is murdered, the suspects are many. But Scribner claims Marlowe’s ghost has come to warn him of his own impending demise—and he’s soon receiving death threats. Now Lucy will have to solve the case faster than she can say “Bah! Humbug!”. . .


Where To Purchase?




Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Review - Noel Street by Richard Paul Evans


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.


Noel Street
by Richard Paul Evans


#1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans is back with his newest holiday romance — Noel Street (Gallery Books; $21.99; 290 pages).


"The year is 1975. Elle Sheen—a single mother who is supporting herself and her six-year-old, African-American son, Dylan, as a waitress at the Noel Street Diner—isn’t sure what to make of William Smith when his appearance creates a stir in the small town of Mistletoe, Utah. As their lives unexpectedly entwine, Elle learns that William, a recently returned Vietnam POW, is not only fighting demons from his past, but may also have the answer to her own secret pain—a revelation that culminates in a remarkable act of love and forgiveness."



Where To Purchase?




Saturday, November 30, 2019

DVD Review - Angela's Christmas


*This is a sponsored post with affiliate links. All opinions are 100% mine.


Angela's Christmas


Netflix's animated holiday special "Angela's Christmas" is now available to own on DVD & Digital HD from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Angela's Christmas is based on the children's book "Angela and the Baby Jesus" by Frank McCourt (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Angela's Ashes"). Directed by Brian Gleeson, the 30-minute story features the talented voices of Oscar nominee Ruth Negga (2016, Best Actress - Loving), Lucy O'Connell (Song of the Sea), and Brian Gleeson. The animated Christmas tale features the original song "Angela's Song" performed by the late singer Dolores O'Riordan (lead singer of The Crannberries).

Special Features include:
  • The Making of Angela's Christmas
  • La Navidad de Angela - Spanish Version
  • Scene Selection
  • Trailer




Where to Purchase?








Monday, November 26, 2018

Holiday Gift Guide: Ellie Claire Art Journals





Coming up with an unique gift for the holidays for a family member or friend can be a bit of challenge. This is one of the reasons why I started an annual Holiday Gift Guide on this blog, so I can help other people pick out the perfect gift for their loved ones.

I am recommending "journals" as a Christmas gifts. Journals can be either cheap or expensive, all depending on what type you are buying.

Today, I am highlighting three beautiful Ellie Claire Art Journals from Worthy Publishing Group - Illuminate Your Story Journal ($18.99; Amazon, B&N), The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal ($15.99; Amazon, B&N), and Faith & Lettering Journal ($15.99, Amazon, B&N).


Illuminate Your Story Journal is a lot more than just your average journal. It's a step-by-step guide to teach you how to draw illuminated letters, like the ones that once adorned the pages of books and Bibles. The first few pages gives you an introduction and a brief history lesson about the world of illuminating. Then you are given instructions on how to use the journal. In six steps, you'll learn how to illuminate each letter in the alphabet. Plus, you'll learn how to draw a flourish shape with leaves. There is a two-page journal entry after each letter, where you can put your new illumining skills to use.


The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal is a coloring book journal. There are forty illustrations to color in the 160 page journal that are recreations of the ones found in ancient manuscripts. It also features fully-colored illustrations from the archives of the Museum of the Bible.



Faith & Lettering Journal features a step-by-step guide to teach you the basis of hand-lettering. The
journal has a short introduction by the author Krystal Whitten. There are several exercises through throughout the journal that will help you learn to hand-letter beautiful letters, saying, and phrases. There are also Pro Tips which will show how to draw banners, leaves, flowers, arrows, bibles, etc.. Lastly, there are many lined pages where you can put your hand-lettering skills to the test.



Final Thoughts


The Ellie Claire Art Journals are high-quality journals with sturdy hardcovers. My favorite out the three is Illuminate Your Story Journal, only because of the "History of Illuminated Letters" section at the very beginning of the journal. I've always been fascinated about illuminated letters and now I can learn how to create these marvelous letters.

Faith & Lettering Journal and The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal are both gorgeous journals in their own rights. Faith & Lettering Journal has easy to follow tracing and drawing instructions for making letters and phrases. The Illustrated Word features very detailed illustrations to color. The actual journal pages are beautiful.

Overall, if you're looking a great gift this holiday season, I recommend getting the Ellie Claire Art Journals.




*Note : I received a complimentary copy of each journal for review purposes. 
All opinions are my own.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Holiday Gift Guide: Garfield 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar






Giving someone a simple calendar for Christmas might feel like a shallow gift at first, but there are so many different kinds of calendars out there, you can easily personalize it. There are calendars featuring sports, movies, television series, cartoon characters, superheros, animals, landscapes, and just about anything your heart can imagined.

Andrews McMeel Publishing releases a huge variety of wall and desk calendars each and every year, including the Garfield 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar ($14.99 USD; $18.99 CAD; $24.99 AUD; $26.99 NZD; €11.99 UK).

Created by Jim Davis, Garfield has been entertaining millions of fans since the fat cat first debuted in 1978. It's now the world's most syndicated comic strip and has spawned an slew of merchandise. From 1982 to 1991, the character starred in 12 animated specials. A popular Saturday morning cartoon series, Garfield & Friends, aired from 1988 to 1994. Two CGI/live-action films and three direct-to-video movies have been released, as well as a short-lived CGI animated series, The Garfield Show.


"February 21, 2019"
The Garfield 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar measures 6.2 x 1.6 x 5.2 inches and features 365 days of Garfield comic strips, which were original published in newspapers in 2015. Each daily comic is colorized with a "Garfield" log on the very top of the page and an image of Odie hugging Garfield in the lower right corner.

There's a "Daily Extra" on the back every page, featuring fun facts, world play of the day, jokes, quotes, trivia, puzzles, and other games.


All major holidays are listed on specific dates. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown the previous day.

The paper used to make the calendar came from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved sources. 

"March 22, 2019"

Final Thoughts

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Mickey Mouse: Merry & Scary DVD Review

Disney; 43 minutes; TV-G; Amazon
Now available on DVD from Disney Home Entertainment is Mickey Mouse: Merry & Scary, featuring the new television special "The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!" and last year's "Duck The Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special." There are no special features, but the DVD does contain five bonus shorts.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are trying their best to scare Mickey's nephews (Morty and Ferdie) and Donald's nephews (Huey, Dewey and Louie) in "The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!" by telling them the kids a very scary story. The problem is that no matter what story they come up with, the nephews are just not scared.

Like all other ducks, Donald always travels to the south for the winter, which means he always misses Christmas. Well, this year he decides not to migrate in "Duck The Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special," so he can spend the holidays with his pals Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie. Mickey tries his best to give Donald the greatest Christmas, but Donald quickly learns why Ducks migrate to the south for the winter.

The bonus shorts are:

"Ghoul Friend" - Mickey tries to out run a zombie.
"The Boiler Room" - Mickey battles an evil furnace.
"Black And White" - Mickey tries to chase down his runaway shadow.
"Entombed" - Mickey and Minnie must deal with a "mummy" issue.
"Split Decision" - Professor Von Drake's newest experiment goes wrong, which results in splitting Donald's anger into a unstoppable creature.




Final Thoughts 
 

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Christmas Mugs & Sweets



Shopkins Hot Cocoa Mug Set
Believe it or not, there are only 21 days till Christmas Day, so if you haven't finished your gift shopping yet, then you better get to cracking at it.

Almost all of my shopping is finished, and most of the gifts are already wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.

I know not everyone has their gift shopping finished ahead of time, so I've been posting a Holiday Gift Guide on this blog since Nov. 25th. However, I'm taking a one day break today from the event. Instead I've teamed up with Oriental Trading to bring you a neat little post that I have titled "Christmas Mugs & Sweets."

Oriental Trading is a party, school, and craft supplies company. Their website has a neat Christmas Store section featuring a variety of toys and games, Christmas party decorations and supplies, crafts, treats, candies, and gobs of other things.

Now finding the perfect gift for a loved isn't the easiest thing in the world to do as some people are just hard to buy for. If you happened to fall in this situation this year, then I would recommend the Shopkins Hot Cocoa Mug Set. Retailed at $9.98, the set includes two ceramic mugs with a Shopkins characters printed on them and two 0.71oz packages of Nestle Mini Marshmallows Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix.


The Shopkins mugs are really cute with a colorful design that will easily appeal to children and even some adults. Nestle is one of the best brands of cocoas, so pretty much everyone will like the two hot chocolate packet.

DIY Travel Mugs
Now if you want to get really creative this year, you can always craft your own coffee tumbler set to give your family and friends. You can purchase DIY Travel Mugs (holds up to 16 ounces each) on the Oriental Trading website for $15.99 for a set of six. There is also directions on the website on how to decorate the mugs with Washi tape.

Now I've taken this idea, but I've changed a few things about it.

Along with the DIY Travel Mugs, the supplies I needed were the Jingle Bell Gift Tags ($6.49 for 24), the Red Washi Tape Set ($4.99 for three rolls), the Green Washi Tape Set ($4.99 for three rolls), and the Five Pounds of Holiday Chocolate Candy (currently out of stock), which can be purchased on the Oriental Trading website.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Fall Reads: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year



Abingdon Press; 188 pages; $16.99; Buy Link; Blog Tour

The holiday is sneaking up quickly upon us this year. Thanksgiving (or now known as Black Thursday) is just over a week away, and there is no better time than the present to start your Christmas shopping.

Now available from from Abingdon Press is the Christmas advent book "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" written by Ace Collins.

It's basically a 25 day countdown (Dec. 1st - 25th) till Christmas Day. Each chapter/day begins with a Bible scripture and a short essay or story inspired by the scripture. Then there is section featuring lyrics to a Gospel song. Lastly, there is either a recipe for holiday treats or instructions to craft a homemade gift.



Final Thoughts: This a cute (under 200 pages) devotional that is also a Christmas advent to read around Christmastime. The author has done an excellent job creating a simple, but beautiful little book. The devotional part of each day is written really well, and it never felt "preachy" in anyway. The very first devotional mentions my favorite Christmas movie, "It's A Wonderful Life." While I can't carry a tune, I did enjoy reading the about the different Gospel songs/lyrics. My favorite part of each day is the recipes and gift instructions.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year and I recommend it to others.



*I received complimentary copy from the publisher for my honest review and they are 100% my own opinions. I received no other compensation for this review and I am not required to give a positive review. I am also not associated with the publisher or author in any way.




Collins1



About the Author: Ace Collins defines himself as a storyteller. He has authored more than sixty books that have sold more than 2.5 million copies. His catalog includes novels, biographies, children's works as well as books on history, culture and faith. He has also been the featured speaker at the National Archives Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted a network television special and does college basketball play-by-play. Ace lives in Arkansas.


Learn more about the author at: acecollins.com


You can follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

DVD Review - Power Rangers Dino Charge: Hero


NOT RATED; 125 minutes; $14.98; Amazon

Now available on DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is Saban's Power Rangers Dino Charge: Hero, featuring four exciting episodes from the 2015 season. As an added bonus it features the Christmas Special "Race to Rescue Christmas."

Loosely based on the Japanese Super Sentai series Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Dino Charge debuted in early 2015 as the twenty-second season of the Power Rangers franchise. The main plot focused on a alien named Keeper scattering ten Energems across Earth 65 million years ago. Fast forward to the present day, where five new young adults, including a caveman, have been chosen by the energems to become the new Power Rangers to stop the alien bounty hunter Sledge and his evil minions from destroying Earth. Later during the season, an 800-year-old knight, Sir Ivan joins the team as the Gold Ranger.

The episodes on the single-disc "Hero" are the final episodes of the first Dino Charge season. The episodes are:

"World Famous! (In New Zealand)" - The Power Rangers heads to New Zealand to locate the purple energem before Sledge's latest monster finds it.


"Deep Down Under"  - Still in New Zealand, the Rangers are in a race against time to find the Plesio Zord before Sledge can get his hands on it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Fall Reads: A Royal Christmas to Remember


Zonderkidz; 32 pages; $14.99; Barnes & Noble
I don't pay too much attention to new children book titles with a princess theme, but I have a little cousin who I thought would enjoy the picture book "A Royal Christmas to Remember," which is the only reason why I had signed up to review the title.

Published by Zonderkidz, A Royal Christmas to Remember is the 7th book in the "Princess Parables" series written by Jenna Young & Jacqueline Johnson. This entry is illustrated by Omar Aranda.

On Christmas Eve, Princesses Joy, Grace, Faith, Charity, and Hope are more excited about Christmas than anyone else in the kingdom

The princesses have decorated the grand castle with Christmas decorations, which they have so many that they will have to build a large storehouse to store all them next year. Inside the caste is a magnificent tree surrounded by dozens of gifts, all for the princesses.

Awaken from their sleep that night, the princesses learn there is an evil band of marauders who are raiding their village. As their father, the king, heads out to defend the village, the princesses are put in danger. In the end, the princesses will learn that Christmas is more about giving than receiving.