Saturday, June 27, 2015

#Review: Life Outside The Box by Marilyn R. Wilson @oliobymarilyn #inspiration #biographies #fashion


Summary:
Real Stories about Real People to Entertain, Inspire and Challenge You.

Get inspired to step out of your box and into a world full of potential. From the corporate world, to the arts, to working with the disenfranchised – the message is clear. There is no such thing as a normal way to live your life and no one right solution to any problem. Selected from amongst over 100 interviews, the stories shared here open a window on the journeys of seven women and three men who have charted their own path, including Ruthie Davis – top U.S. luxury shoe designer and the winner of the 2014 AAFA Footwear Designer of the Year award – and Geir Ness whose perfume is a staple in Nordstrom, Disney World and on Disney Cruise Lines. Enjoy a glimpse behind the scenes into the unique ways these individuals chose to deal with life's challenges and how they define success in their careers.

My review:
This book went in depth about the people that were picked exclusively for this book. I enjoyed reading the detailed accounts of humble beginnings to where they got today. The old adage about working hard, keeping true to self, and keep striving for the goal ahead, all played a part in each person that was written about.

I especially liked reading about Geir Ness, the perfume designer because he came  from nothing and originally had no intention of making his own scent but he needed to survive. I was impressed with his tenacity to continue on even when things said otherwise. I also like his personal touch wherever he went.

This book was great and an eye opener to move ahead with your dreams and do not let anyone tell you that you cannot do it. This was a well written book and well thought out to highlight each individual well.

I give this book 4 stars.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for my open and honest opinion. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Author's Bio:


Marilyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for interviewing. It all began in 2006 when the she answered a Craigslist ad from a NY magazine asking for story submissions. Two were accepted. The first live interview was life changing and Wilson has never looked back. With over 150 interviews now behind her, the love of interviewing is still as strong as ever. Whether through a random encounter on the New York subway or via a “one-on-one” interview with an internationally recognized artist, the goal is the same—to share the unique journeys of inspiring individuals.

In 2007, this goal led the author to co-launch a successful, innovative magazine focused on professionals working in the fashion industry, paired with photography and illustrations by local artists. Now on staff at Raine Magazine (NY/Miami/LA), as well as freelancing for other publications, Wilson has taken her passion to a new audience with the release of her first book.

Connect with Marilyn:  Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Book Blast Spotlight & #Giveaway for $25 Amazon or Paypal... Luna's Lost Ball by R.A. Milnes II

Luna's Lost Ball by R.A. Milnes II   

Disclosure: I was asked to spotlight this book on behalf of the author. I have not read the book as of yet but look forward to it. I am not responsible for the contents of this book blast nor the giveaway. 

About the Book

Title: Luna's Lost Ball (Shiloh and Friends | Author: R.A. Milnes II | Publication Date: April 30, 2015 | Publisher: Independent | Pages: 36 | Recommended Ages: 3 to 8 Summary: Luna is a Labrador retriever and she has lost her most favorite ball. Follow Shiloh and her friends in a tale of friendship, teamwork, sharing, and reward as they help Luna find her lost ball.

Amazon * Goodreads

 

The Buzz About the Book

"Wonderful book for small children! My twins are 4 years old and loved the story and colorful backgrounds! We are anxiously waiting the next in the collection!" ~ Marianne H., Amazon
 

About the Author: R.A. Milnes II

R.A. Milnes I am a business professional working in the healthcare industry. Luna's Lost Ball began as a gift to my niece and nephew. I have such love for them that I wanted to give them something that they can hold on to. The beauty of this work is that I am able to incorporate my dogs, Shiloh and Luna, into telling a story of friendship, teamwork, sharing, and reward. I hope that you enjoy this story and it brings your family joy each time you read it. My goal is to continue to write more stories under the Shiloh and Friends brand.

Website | Goodreads

 

* $25 Book Blast Giveaway *

Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal cash (winner’s choice) Giveaway ends: July 2, 11:59 pm, 2015 Open: Internationally How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. A winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored by the author, R.A. Milnes II and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com.


  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

#Giveaway: Michael Phillip Cash's $100 Paypal & Darracia Series


Michael Phillip Cash's award winning trilogy, the Darracia series is now all in one legendary book.  I have read the whole series but look forward to reading it again as one whole book. Look! You can get it now get it on Amazon.


On the planet Darracia, an ever-widening social gap between its inhabitants is causing turmoil that is fracturing a once peaceful world. Struggling with his identity, nineteen year old Prince V'sair must harness the power of the elusive Fireblade, the secret to a warrior's heart, in order to overcome his uncle Staf Nuen's lust for supremacy. 

Would you like to win a copy of the whole epic trilogy and a cool $100 Paypal? Well, you can! Just enter in the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win. Good luck!

Where to find Michael Phillip Cash:




Disclosure: This giveaway has been arranged by Away We Go Media on behalf of Michael Phillip Cash. Naila Moon of Reading Authors was asked to promote this giveaway and was compensated for this post. I am not responsible for prize shipment.


This giveaway will run from June 18 at 12 AM CST-July 3, 2015 at 12 AM CST. The giveaway is open to US Only. 
Winner must have an active Paypal account and will only be paid in US dollars.
Winner must be 18+ to enter. Winner will be drawn at random by Rafflecopter.com and all entries will be verified. Winner will be notified via email and must respond within 48 hours or forfeit the prize. Please allow up to 4 weeks for the prize to be distributed.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Review:Bubble (Adventures of Bubbles Volume 1) by Ben Woodard/Illustrated by Fran Riddell #Kidsbooks, #review



Summary:
Bubbles is causing a stink. And the other frogs are not happy. They tell him to stop bubbling the water or he'll have to leave Frog Pond. But he can't help it. He's been bubbling since he was a little tadpole. Will Bubbles have to leave Frog Pond? Where will he go? And what happens when danger comes? Find out in this bubbleriffic picture book about friendship and self-respect.

My review:
This was an interesting book from the get-go. As you might imagine, the little frog named Bubbles has a reputation and is appropriately named. In truth, that is about it. I found the book to be a bit incomplete for me. 

I did not find the frogs to be so kind until he was needed and even then they shoved him out on to his own lily pad. What kind of friendship is that or acceptance of one's friend? It seems the message was lost. He did at least accept himself for who he was and  did not seem to care what others thought. That is a saving grace for this book.  

I was not overly fond of the illustrations either but they were not bad either. They were actually just simple and not overly colorful. After all, we are talking about frogs in a frog pond.

However, having said all of that, young kids will think this book is hilarious but only from the standpoint of the writing itself, not the story line. Every time the little frog "bubbles", he makes a sound in the book. I do not know a kid yet (or adults) that think that is not funny. 

This book is targeted for 3-7 years of age. I am not sure the younger kids would like it but the 5-7 might. Honestly, if this maybe was a board book with the sounds the frogs made, it would be great...or even Bubble?

All in all, I am still giving it a 3 star review if for nothing else, just for it being about..."bubbles"!

Disclosure:I was given a copy of this book for my open and honest opinion. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the author:



Amazon
Goodreads

Monday, June 15, 2015

Kid Lit Blog Hop Number 61 #KidLitHop

Kid Lit Blog Hop

Welcome to the 62nd Kid Lit Blog Hop where we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children's books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!

This week, we are excited to be including a Facebook Linky Party to be held in conjunction with the Kid Lit Blog Hop. These linky parties are designed to give you the opportunity to connect with and grow your network of fellow kid lit bloggers, authors, and parents through your various social media platforms.

  *** Please note that we will only be hosting 1 Kid Lit Blog Hop during the months of July and August. These will take place on the 3rd Wednesday of each month (July 15 and August 19).  

***This week I am featuring the final book in the Aoleon series by Brent LeVasseur that I have been reading and reviewing. It was a great series for middle grade kids. Go HERE for that! 

I hope you are having a nice Summer. Please come by on occasion as I always have new books reviewed and sometimes giveaways too. See you next time! Happy Hopping! ~Naila Moon***

Hostesses:

Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Julie Grasso, Author/ Blogger

Cheryl Carpinello, Author / Blogger

Stacking Books

BeachBoundBooks

Pragmatic Mom

Reading Authors

The Logonauts

A Book Long Enough

Spark and Pook

Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!

 

Kid Lit Blog Hop & Linky Party Rules *Please Read*

1. LINKY PARTY: Add the link to your Facebook fan page in the Facebook Linky Party list below. Be sure to visit at least the two links directly before yours as well as your hosts' Facebook pages. Be sure to follow some folks with similar interests and like & share posts that catch your eye. If you do not have a Facebook profile, you are welcome to link up a different social media profile (Pinterest, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.). 2. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Link up any Kid Lit related post in the Kid Lit Blog Hop. This can be a link to a children’s book review, a discussion about children’s literature/literacy, or a post on a recently-read children’s book or one that you love from your childhood.
* Don't link directly to your blog, it must be a specific post.*
* For Authors, we prefer you to link to your blog if you have one. Please link unique posts each time ~ no repeats please. *
* Make sure you include an image relevant to the POST (e.g., book cover), not your blog button or photo of yourself.*
* Feel free to link more than one post.*
3. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Please visit AT LEAST the TWO LINKS from the Kid Lit Blog Hop directly ahead of your own and leave them some love in the form of a comment. We are trying to build a community of bloggers, readers, parents, authors, and others who are as passionate about children’s literature as we are so please CONNECT and follow any or all of the blogs that interest you! 4. If you like, grab the button above and put it somewhere on your blog, preferably the post you're linking up. If you'd prefer, you can just add a text link back to this Hop so that others can find it and check out all these great book links! 5. It would really help us get the word out about the Kid Lit Blog Hop if you would be so kind as to tweet, share, and spread the word about the Hop!

Happy Hopping!

 

FACEBOOK LINKY PARTY

(***Please do not link a blog post here - see below for the Kid Lit Blog Hop***)


KID LIT BLOG HOP

Friday, June 12, 2015

#Review: AolĂ©on The Martian Girl PART FIVE by Brent LeVasseur #martiangirl​ #sci-fi​ #kidsbooks #middlegrade, #Kidsbooks @aoleontmg




Book Title: AolĂ©on The Martian Girl: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Saga - Part 5: The Great Pyramid of Cydonia, 
Category:  Middle-Grade, 130 pages
Genre: Science-fiction and Fantasy
Content Rating: G

Summary: AolĂ©on, Gilbert, Bizwat, Helios, and Zoot make it to their final destination - Cydonia where AolĂ©on’s parents are being held captive. They infiltrate a secret underground base and are confronted by a small army of sentrybots. 

Bizwat lends AolĂ©on and Gilbert some of his advanced combat skills via a psionic brain dump. However, this may not be enough to save them from overwhelming hostile forces that will do anything to stop them. 

They finally meet Pax - the Martian who originally set them out on the mission to discover the truth about the Luminon and his plans to invade Earth. However Pax is not who he seems to be, and through a turn of events, they uncover the true power behind all that has been happening on Mars. 

Will they be able to rescue AolĂ©on’s parents and save Earth from invasion? 

My review:
This is the fifth book I have read from this author in his Aoleon series. You can read my first four reviews HEREHERE,HERE and HERE. This book picks right up where book for left off.

This is the final book in this series and I have to say, it did not disappoint. The author wrapped up everything in a nice huge bow but not before there was a lot of fighting. This was with lasers and all sorts of sci-fi-ish bombs. The photos in this book were once again, fantastic! I do not know how they are done but, wow!

One of the heroes looked like it was the end for him. How he overcame was interesting. The heroes won out in the long run as I would have expected. Earth was freed and the cows sent home. 

It was sad to see the conclusion of this series. I had come to know all of the characters in the book and the relationships they had with each other. I was disappointed that a better conclusion to the two main characters could not be arrived but yet, it was understood. I of course cannot give that away, as you my readers, will have to read the book.

This book was sweet and the whole series exciting. I truly believe that middle grade kids will love the series no matter what gender they are.  I look forward to seeing more from this author in the near future. Kudos for a job well done!

This book gets 5 stars.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for my open and honest opinion. The views expressed here are 100% my own. ~Naila Moon

Where to find the author:



Website  ~  Goodreads  ~  Facebook 
Purchase
 
 ​








Buy The Martian Girl Song!

Another World - Single

Featuring Ă‰lan Noelle

Download on iTunes