Lalaloopsy: Friends Are Sew Special!
Studio: Nickelodeon
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Retail: $16.99
ASIN: B00GLPYVS0
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review:

Arriving on DVD today from Nickelodeon is the animated adventures series Lalaloopsy: Friends are Sew Special!, featuring four 22-minute episodes. As an added bonus, each DVD comes with a Sew Cute Lacing Kit.

The cute rag dolls first originated under in the name Bitty Buttons in 2010, shortly before changing the name to Lalaloopsy. After the toys became successful, a video game was released, quickly followed by several animated specials in the 2012 and early 2013. Then of course the animated series launched in March 2013.

Now you can take a trip to Lalaloopsy Land anytime you want to with this week's release of Lalaloopsy: Friends are Sew Special!

The four episodes on the single disc are:

Many of my readers already know that I like reading books with a historical setting, but I'm not very found of the WWII era of fiction novels. That being said, I only signed up to review Shadowed By Grace by Cara C. Putman because I liked the cover of the book. Though the author's name does sound familiar, I don't believe I have read any of her books before.

Before there were cell phones, laptop, computers and the internet, journalists and photographers had to put themselves in the actual war to get the firsthand scoop and photographs to send back to the US. Shadowed By Grace centers on on a American photographer, Rachel Justice, who takes a newspaper assignment, which takes her on the front lines of WWII.

During WWII, many of Italy's famous paintings and artifacts were either destroyed, stolen or hidden. A special group of soldiers called the Monument Men were assigned to find these lost treasures. Scott Lindstrom is one of these soldiers, but he has an extra task at hand there, he is assigned to escort Rachel Justice, as his teams advances north.

Many dangers await them on their journey, as Rachel continues her assignments and hopes she will find her long-lost father.

Escape Plan
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Retail: $29.95
ASIN: B00H1RMWYW
Running Time: 115 minutes
Rating: R

Review:

Before Expendables 3 hits theaters this summer, action-fans can sink their teeth in tomorrows Blu-ray and DVD release of last year's prison-action film, Escape Plan, starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Special features on the DVD include Audio Commentary with Director Mikael Hafstorm and Co-Writer Miles Chapman and "Executing the Plan: The Making of Escape Plan" Featurette.

Sylvester Stallone stars as ex-prosecutor, Ray Breslin, who co-owns a major security firm, in which his team helps him get inside prisons, which, as an inmate, he surveys all of the security cameras, the prison guard's routines and maps out a route to escape. Doing this is the only way his company can help the prisons keep the inmates from escaping.

Sylvester Stallone ("Ray Breslin") stars in Summit Entertainment's, a LIONSGATE company, ESCAPE PLAN. Photo: Steve Dietl

Ray, along with his business partner Lester Clark (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) are offered a multimillion dollar contract by a CIA operative to the test the security of a top-secret prison. The assignment sounds too good to be true and Ray soon finds out that he has been tricked by someone close to him.

Arnold Schwarzenegger ("Emil Rottmayer") stars in Summit Entertainment's, a LIONSGATE company, ESCAPE PLAN. Photo: Alan Markfield

A Miracle of Hope
The Amish Wonders Series
By Ruth Reid
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: December 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-1401688295
Pages:  352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/sABNg
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/rreid

Review:

Most of my blog readers know that I love reading Amish fiction, but there are so many authors in the genre, it is hard to keep up with all the new titles every month, so typically I only read the authors I have either previously read or have at least heard of. Author Ruth Reid wrote the Heaven on Earth series, which is an Amish supernatural book series (no vampires, werewolves - just angels). I enjoyed reading the three books in that series, so I quickly agreed to read A Miracle of Hope, book one in the Amish Wonders series, by the author.

The plot of A Miracle of Hope follows a similar clichéd plot found in many Christian novels (Love Comes Softly comes to mind), in which a man (mostly likely a widower and has at least one young child, which happens to be case in this tale) and a woman (most likely pregnant, which happens to be the case for this story) have an arranged marriage.

The mother-to-be is Lindie Wyse who ties-the-knot with widower Josiah Plank, who happens to be the father of a deaf eight-year-old daughter, Hannah. Like I said above, the marriage was arranged. Lindie was shunned by her community and her brother arranged a marriage for her to his best-friend, Josiah.

Josiah loved his late-wife dearly and doesn't believe he can fall in love again, let alone get remarried, but his daughter needs a mother figure, therefore, he agreed to marry Lindie. Of course, Lindie, agreed to the marriage, as she didn't have much a choice or anywhere else to go. Life throws the newly wedded couple several ups and downs, all of which only strengths their relationship and opens their hearts to possibly loving each other as a family.

Pages:  218
Genre: Historical fiction
Goodreads

Shaking Behind The Microphone
Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking
By Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pub. Date: November 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490941219
Pages: 156

Review:

I don't read very many non-fiction titles, mostly because I'm too busy reading the fiction books stacked up on my desk, but when I saw Shaking Behind The Microphone: Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking was available to review, I became interesting in reading it.

As many of readers know, I do suffer from anxiety, which isn't quite as bad now, but it was pretty bad during my childhood. Of course with anxiety, there was noway I could speak in public settings. It was bad enough when I had to give an oral book report during class, but speaking in front of strangers wasn't ever going to happen. I did my best to avoid crowded situations, but there were a few times during a class event in high school where I had to speak in public and lets just say it didn't turn out very well.

The author, Jill Ammon Vanderwood, had the fear of speaking in public too, but she found ways to overcome this. She wrote the book to help everyone with the same problem be able to speak in public.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

 

When you receive new books in the mail, do the older ones get moved to the bottom of your list or do go strictly "by the book" and keep your list with older books first and then the new ones?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

It all really depends if there is a book tour, if so then I'll read the books in order of the date I'm suppose to post the review for the tour. If the book isn't associated with a tour, then I go by the "first come, first gets read" method.