ISBN: 978-0060785918; Pages: 128

As promised in my first Thursday ReReads post, I'm featuring Rotten School: The Great Smelling Bee by R.L. Stine this week. It's the second installment in the children book series that was published by Parachute Press in 2005. I grew up reading Mr. Stine's Goosebumps and Fear Street series. If I remember correctly, I received the first two or three books in this series as a Christmas present in 2005 (or 2006).

The Great Smelling Bee continues the misadventures of Bernie Bridges, who's basically the craziest kid at the private school called Rotten School. He lives in the third floor of the Rotten House with his very own room. His best buddies Feenman and Crench live in the same house as well as Belzer, a kid with a very big nose that will do anything Bernie tells him to do.

Out of nowhere, Bernie receives a huge crate from his parents. Could it be a computer, a TV or even a car? No not even close. Actually, inside the crate is his Bernie's pets, his rude parrot Lippy and his very smelly dog Gassy. And I really mean smelly; the dog literally clears out the room as nobody can stand his smell.

It seems Bernie's parents are going on a trip for awhile and can't take care of his pets anymore, so Lippy and Gassy are now his responsibility. However, there's a slight problem - no pets are allowed in Rotten School!

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 @ Silver's Reviews!

Have you made any improvements on your blog since your started your blog? Did you change the format? Did you change your header? Did you add or remove items from your side bar?

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: 

  When I first started this blog, I just used a free layout that I found on the internet. Since then I've changed the the layout two more times (including the headers, sidebars, colors, etc.), but this time I had everything made by a blog designer. 

Pub. June 2015; Pages: 128

I'm sure we all have many books on our bookshelves that we would love to reread, but we just never have to time to get to them. Well, that's how I felt every time I glance at my bookshelves. For my New Year's Resolution, I've decided to attempt to reread those books, and to keep me on track, I've started a new weekly post called Thursday ReReads.

There are many titles that I wanted to reread, but after a long debate with myself, I decided to start with the Rotten School series. It's written by one of my favorite authors, R.L. Stine, and it lasted for 16 books.

The first book in the series is titled "The Big Blueberry Bark-off!" and was originally published in 2005 by Parachute Press. The book (and the entire series) is set at the private school called Rotten School, and centers on Bernie Bridge (Big B), a kid that has a million schemes up his sleeves throughout the school. He's kind of like the younger version of Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris.

Bernie lives in the Rotten House with his best friends Fennman & Crench, their dorm mother Mrs. Heinie and a few other students (Belzer, Beast, etc.). His newest scheme is selling T-shirts that are made out of rope to the third-graders.

His archenemy is Sherman Oaks, a rich kid that lives in the Nyce House. Sherman is always trying to showoff his wealth, which in this book, includes his new watch with a gold band (worth $500) that has forty-two different functions (plays DVDs, pops popcorn, etc.). Bernie want's to outshine Sherman, and impress his love, April-May-June, who doesn't actually have the same feelings for him, by being her dancing partner at upcoming dance class.

Retail: $15.99; Pages: 400

Yes, I'm well aware that Christmas is officially over; though some of you might be wondering why I'm reviewing a Christmas title. To tell you the truth, I signed up to review Amish Christmas at North Star the week before Christmas, but it didn't dawn on me that Blogging for Books wouldn't be shipping it until after holidays. The book arrived in my mailbox right before the 1st of the year, which should explain everything.

Published by WaterBrook Press, Amish Christmas at North Star features four romantic novellas by five wonderful authors -  Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark, Amanda Flower, and Kate Ganshert.

The first story is titled, Guiding Star, and is written by Katie Ganshert. It's centers on Noelle (Elle) McAllister, a young woman living in Iowa who gets some shocking news when the Englischer Chase Wellington steps into her life. He has been investigating a twenty-five-year-old mystery involving the disappearance of an Amish baby, and he believes that Elle is that baby.


Mourning Star is written by Amanda Flower and centers on Eden Hochstetler, who is just your typical Amish girl who happens to work at her parent's candy store. Her job is pretty much boring, well, that is until one of their best customers (Issac) is found dead, and Eden suspects foul play is at hand.

In the Stars is written by Cindy Woodsmall and centers on Kore Detweiler, a heartbroken man who plans on avoiding North Star at all costs. It seems that Savilla Beiler had ripped out his heart and stomped on it, so he doesn't want to go back home. Then the unexpected happens and Kore must return to North Star.

Rated R; 97 minutes

Now available on DVD & Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is action-flick Hitman: Agent 47 (ASIN: B016XOX3J6). Directed by Aleksander Bach, the film stars Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware and Zachary Quinto. Special Features on the Blu-ray includes: deleted scenes, The Hit Counter, Re-Imagining HITMAN, Ultimate Action: Staging The Fights, Hitman: Agent 47 Comic, Making of the Comic, Promotional Featurettes, Gallery, Poster Gallery and Theatrical Trailers.

Based on the popular video game franchise, Hitman: Agent 47 is the second film adaption (the 2007 flick starred Timothy Olyphant in the title role); though the new version is considered a reboot and completely ignores the original.

Hitman: Agent 47 is set in a world where there was a secret cloning program designed to create the perfect killing machine. These assassins are enhanced with the ability to kill without remorse. The scientist, Dr. Piotr Litvenko (played by Ciarán Hinds) who was in charge of the program disappeared without a trace.  For decades, his daughter Katia (played by Hannah Ware) has been searching for his whereabouts. Out of nowhere, she receives a warning from a man calling himself John Smith (played by Zachary Quinto) that Agent 47 (played by Rupert Friend) is coming to kill her.

Unfortunately, for Kaia, John Smith turns out to be Brian, a member of the Syndicate International, who will stop at nothing to track down her father. Kaia actually has similar clone abilities, leaving her a new target for the Syndicate. Her only hope of survival is to team up with Agent 47.

Pub. Date: Nov. 17, 2015; 432 pages

I escorted her to the windows and if I’d been forced to critique my stride I’d have to say I looked like an extra on The Walking Dead. I was definitely taking time finding my cool gear. But eventually I began to calm down and by the time we’d waited in line and it was our turn to order I was feeling pretty good about myself. Why not? I’d just met Aja and already I was taking her to lunch. Not bad for a few minutes’ work. I’d decided to pay for whatever she ordered to show what a gentleman I was. (excerpt from Chapter 1)

Some of my readers might recall me talking about my love for "Point Horror" books from the late '80s and early '90s. Besides from R.L. Stine, my other favorite author from that era was Christopher Pike, the bestselling author of the Thirst series (The Last Vampire 1-9).

Mr. Pike's newest novel, Strange Girl (ISBN: 978-1481450584), was released to paperback last November (published by Simon Pulse). I wasn't aware about the book until I heard about the book blog tour for it, and of course I eagerly signed up to review it.

Strange Girl centers on Fred Allen, a seventeen-year-old wannabe rock-star. Despite his good looks, he isn't exactly popular with the girls his age; though he did have one girlfriend, Nicole Greer, but she broke his heart. The only other girl in his life is best friend, Shelly Wilson, who plays the keyboard in their band (Half Life) as well as serving as their manager. While he's well aware that Shelly has had a crush on him for years, she is nothing but a friend to him.

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 Alyssa @ The Duchess of Fiction!

What is your most anticipated books of the year?

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: 

End of the Watch

Book 3 in The Bill Hodges Trilogy

by Stephen King

Release Date: June 7, 2016

If you're planning on doing your fitness training at home with a workout DVD/Blu-ray program, then you need to double check that you have the correct exercise equipment for it.

Many of the 90-minute programs recommend some sort of push up bar. You might be wondering why you can't just use your hands for the Push Ups? Well, there are so many reps in these programs that your best off using a Push Up bar so you won't injure your wrist.

Yes, these are the same Push Ups that we always dreaded during JH gym class, but there's no reason why we should hate this simple exercise as adults. Push Ups can easily help you tone muscles in your arms, back and chest, as well as strengthen your core.

A few days ago, I received the Go Sport-it Fitness Push Up Bars to test out and review. It retails for $24.99, but can currently be purchased on Amazon for $19.99.

I'll be starting Beachbody's Master's Hammer and Chisel on January 4th, so I was already looking into getting a new pair of Push Up bars right before I was sent the Go Sport-it Fitness Push Up Bars, which I received at a discounted price in exchange for unbiased thoughts.