Buy Link: Amazon

I almost forgot about this week's Thursday ReRead, until I noticed that I had left the book Rotten School: Shake, Rattle, & Hurl! was on my desk. After that, I made a cup of coffee, grabbed the book and started reading it this afternoon.

Once again, Bernie Bridges is the main character, a fourth-grader living who attends the private school, Rotten School. He thinks that he's the coolest kid at the school, even though in reality he's the rottenest of the students.

The school is going to hold a talent contest, which the winners will win tickets to The Plopps concert. The Plopps are Bernie's favorite singers, so he has to find a way to win the contest. Plus, he plans on inviting the prettiest girl at the school, April-May-June, as his date.

Unfortunately, the Nyce House Band is also going to enter the contest, which one of the band members is Bernie's archenemy, Sherman Oaks. Despite Bernie's dislike for the band, the Nyce House Band are actually good. To make matters worse, Bernie isn't musically inclined.

Buy Link: Amazon

The Berenstain Bears is one of the most popular and the longest-running picture book series on the market today. The first book was released in 1962 and was written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Sadly, both authors has passed away, but their son, Mike, has taken over the franchise; adding Christian themes to the most recent releases.

The newest book, titled The Berenstain Bears' Easter Sunday, was released last month to bookstores. Like the title suggests, the story is set on Easter Sunday morning, where the Bear family (Papa, Mama, Brother, Sister and Honey) are getting ready to attend church. This is when the cubs asks why everyone has to wear bright colors that day. Mama answers, "Bright colors are for happy, joyous occasions."

The cubs enjoy Easter Sunday's sermon at church, where Preacher Brown tells the story of Jesus. Afterward, the cubs participate in an Easter hunt. No, they're not hunting for colored eggs, but instead they are hunting for gift boxes, which has a Noah's ark figure inside each one.  The cubs end up learning that Easter is so much more than just colored eggs and chocolate bunnies.

When did you become interested in storytelling?

At a fairly early age. Lying is a way of telling stories, right? I also wrote poems when I was little, then articles for the school paper in my teens. It was my nana who gave me the final nudge to write down my stories after I left college.

What was your first book/story published? 

Divide and Conquer was my first. It was published amid delays and close to the publication date of my second book, Guarded, so Divide and Conquer never got the attention I owed it. Such a shame, because it’s quirky and unusual, with a good deal of humor and romance.

What inspired you to write Divide and Conquer?

Frustration. I was fed up with the usual couplings of man and man in the traditional buddy cop movies and of man and woman in paranormal fantasy. So I wanted to write about the lives of two inherently different women who come together for a common purpose. Each follows her own romance interest without sacrificing her friendship with the other, but their bond is at the heart of the story.

What character in Divide and Conquer is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

HBO has become more popular than ever thanks to the awarding-winning series Game of Thrones, True Detectives and Veep. Now with the long-awaiting Deadwood reunion movie finally moving forward (the script has been green-lit), I'm sure it will bring in even more viewers.

Of course technology has changed since Deadwood ended 10 years ago as you access your favorite shows (True Blood) & movies with a HBO GO subscription on any device (tablet, cell phone, laptop, etc.). Sadly, this service is not available in some areas, such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, etc, as you can only have access if you are living in the fifty states of the United States of America.

The good new is that there are a few ways around this problem!

HBO GO can detect if a user isn't located in the United States by the user's unique IP Address. If you use the Smart DNS Proxy Service, you can bypass any regional restrictions, so you can be able to watch your favorite HBO programming in HD anywhere around the world.

Retail: $14.98; Buy Link: Amazon

Kicking off a brand-new season on Nickelodeon last Saturday was Saban's Power Rangers Dino Super Charge. Fans (young & old) can also be entertained by the recent DVD release from LionsGate, titled Power Rangers Dino Charge: Unleashed, featuring four action-packed episodes from the twenty-second season.

Power Rangers Dino Charge debuted last February. Just like previous seasons, the series borrows Zords footage, props and costumes from the Japanese Super Sentai series (Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger). 

"Powers From the Past" begins with an
intergalactic bounty hunter Sledge, in his spaceship prison, arriving on Earth in the pursuit of a alien named Keeper, who is the possession of ten Energems that Sledge is desperate to have in his clutches. Keeper outsmarts him by bonding each Energem to a dinosaur. Fast-forward sixty-five million year, where we are introduced to Tyler Navarro (played by Brennan Mejia), a young man searching for his missing father. After bumping into the evil creature Iceage, he must team up with a wannabe archaeologist Shelby Watkins (played by Camille Hyde) to save the day as the new Red and Pink Rangers.

"Past, Present and Fusion" starts out with Iceage still not defeated. Tyler and Shelby must team with Riley Griffin - the Green Ranger (played by Michael Taber), Chase Randall - the Black Ranger (played by James Davies), and Koda - the Blue Ranger (played by Yoshi Sudarso) to destroy Sledges newest evil plan to retrieve the Energerms.

"A Fool's Hour" Sledge unleashes his monsters on Earth and the Power Rangers must use their new Zords to save the day.

I love reading all books, but I'm not the biggest fan of non-fiction titles. Typically, when I receive a press release about a non-fiction book, I just automatically delete it. However, that wasn't the case when I heard about Bronner: A Journey To Understand by Sherri Burgess as I noticed that I had the same last name as the author. After reading the synopsis, I thought I would give the book a try.

Usually, I write a few paragraphs describing the plot of a book, but I'm finding it hard to do this for this title. Bronner: A Journey To Understand is a spiritual journey of healing and the power of faith. The author uses her own personal pain and suffering when she lost her two-and-half-year-old son, Bonner, in 2008 to teach others that faith in the Lord can help you get through the toughest ordeal, even the death of a child.

Final Thoughts

Blog Tour ; Buy Link

Well, technically I was supposed to have this review posted yesterday, but sadly a few things came up on Friday (as well as Saturday), so I didn't have time to write the review until today.

I always keep an eye out when new titles by my favorite authors are released, so I was thrilled when I heard that A Son's Vow (A Charmed Life, book one) by Shelly Shepard Gray was being released. The author writes many romances that are set in the Amish and Mennonite world.

A Son's Vow centers on Darla Kurtz, a young woman who is dealing with a lot of drama in her life. Three months ago, her father was the cause of a fire that killed five men at the Charm's Lumber Mill. Ever since then, the Amish Community have practically shunned their entire family; leaving her bother to lash out at everyone.

Lukas Kinsinger has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Besides from taking care of his three siblings, he is also in charge of his family's lumber mill. His stress levels has been skyrocketed ever since the fire and his friendship with Darla is on the rocks. After learning of what the Kurtz family is going through, Lukas makes it his mission to try to help as much as he can, and hopefully grow his friendship with Darla into something even more meaningful.