Masterpiece Marriage
Quilts of Love Series
by Gina Welborn
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: December 16, 2014
Pages: 229
Buy Link: Amazon
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/gwelborn

Review:

If you follow my blog on regular basis, then you probably noticed that I have reviewed several books from the the Quilts of Love Series from Abingdon Press. Each book in the series features a different story and characters that are written by a different authors. The newest installment is titled Masterpiece Marriage and it is written by Gina Welborn.

The book is set in 1891 and centers on a man named Zenus Dane, who's textile mill was recently flooded. Due to the fact that his normal income has come to a halt, the bank has been pressuring him to pay off his loan. With no other choice, he is determined to salvage the textiles, but he will need his aunt's help as he wants to use her hand-drawn quilt patterns.

To his surprise, Mary Varrs, an Englishwoman, hires Aunt Priscilla to illustrate her prized tomato plants. Of course this is a love story, so you can pretty much guess what happens next - Zenus and Mary meet and quickly start to develop feelings for each other.

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two
by Douglas Wolk
Illustrator: Ulises Farinas
Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors
Pub. Date: September 16, 2014
ASIN: 978-1631400803
Pages: 124
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

While I was well aware that Judge Dredd was a comic book series, I have never read a single issue that is until I read this one last year. However, I have seen both movies that have been made of the character.

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two finds Judge Dredd being taking out of his comfort zone when he is placed in a Judge exchange program. He ends up in California, where a camera crew is constantly following him around. You can say that he is kinda upset that he is forced to carry a non-lethal gun. Los Angeles is no more, so the setting takes place in Mega-City. There are several stores in this book, even a story involving a giant mutated shrimp. Yes, I said that correctly.

Doctor Who: Silhouette
by Justin Richards
Publisher: Broadway Books
Pub. Date: September 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0804140881
Pages: 256
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Despite being over fifty-years-old, the Doctor Who franchise is bigger than ever, but fans will have to wait until the ninth series (season) premieres later this year. The good news is that there are plenty of Doctor Who novelizations fans grab their hands on to keep them preoccupied until then.

Several new titles were released this past September, including Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards, which follows the 12th Doctor and his companion Clara along with their old pals - Madame Vastra, Strax, and Jenny. 

Set in Victorian London, Silhouette finds the Doctor and his companions investigating a murder and the strange occurrences at a Frost Fair on the River Thames. As a strange figure known as the Silhouette takes center stage, their journey will take them beyond the fair to the Carnival of Curiosities to unravel the mystery.

Beginning Waltz: A Step-By-Step Guide! Volume 2
Studio: DanceCrazy.com
Release Date: February 23, 2007
Retail: $39.95
ASIN: B000NDEWI0
Running Time: 53 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I hope everyone is having a great 2015 so far! A new year is a great time to learn something new, like dancing. Yes, I said dancing. If you have kept up with my blog last year, then you probably read several other dancing DVDs review posts. Due to my bad knee, I didn't want to try out any high intensity workouts, though I have now brought back a few kickboxing workouts into my routine, so I had tried out several dancing DVDs. Despite my two left feet, I have enjoyed learning how to dance.

Last month, I tried out the Beginning Waltz: A Step-By-Step Guide! Volume 2 from DanceCrazy. Even if you're not a dancer, there is a good chance that you heard about the dance called the Waltz or you have seen it in a movie with classic stars like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

This DVD runs at almost 53 minutes and features a male and a female instructors, who give a step-by-step guide on how to do the Waltz. At the end of the DVD the instructors put all the moves together for a full dance sequence.

The moves featured on this DVD are:

Click on the cover art to buy the book!

Last fall was definitely a little chaotic with me falling behind on a few reviews. I thought I had gotten caught up on everything, but lo and behold, I happened to come across two books I forgotten to read and review - Bound by Night and Chained by Night. Both books are part of The Moon Bound Clan Vampires series and are written by Larissa Ione. Therefore since the weekend was a cold and icy, I squeezed in time for some much needed reading.

Bound by Night (Pocket Books; 978-1476700175; 400 pages) is set in a world where vampires are slaves to humans that is until an uprising occurs, resulting in the death of many humans. Nicole Martin was just eight-years-old when her entire family was murdered in front of her. Barely surviving, Nicole devotes her live to finding a cure to vampirism, but her feelings kinda change when she starts to fall for a vampire from her past - Riker.

Riker is part of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan and seeks out to avenge his kind that were once enslaved by the Martin family by kidnapping Nicole, but his plans forrevenge change when he falls in love with her.

How To Survive Middle School and Monster Bots
by Ron Bates
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Pub. Date: September 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-0310736080
Pages: 224
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

At first glance this book may in fact look like the next entry in the "Middle School" series by James Patterson, but instead it is the second installment in the "A Howard Boward Book" series by author Ron Bates.

How To Survive Middle School and Monster Bots centers on a nerdy boy named Howard Boward, who is dreading winter as he has to dodge snowballs from some of his bullies from Dolley Madison Middle School. Plus, his best-friend, Winnie McKinney, is no longer speaking to him.

His life takes a turn for the good when he learns there is going to be a robot-building contest and everybody knows that Howard is a science genius, so of course he is going to enter the contest and try to beat his archenemy Gerald "G-Force" Forester. Unfortunately, Howard hits a few brick walls with his robot design and the only way to make it work is to use his "monster goo" formula, which has a few unwanted side effects.

Right from the first chapter something really bothered me about this book - the narration! Though the character is a kid, he sounds like an adult, similar to Charlie Brown, except for Howard is more self-centered and unlikeable, which explains why the character can't make friends. I understand why writers are creating books that deal with kids being bullied, but Howard is a horrible character with a bad ego.