Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #238 featuring **The Girl and the Witch's Garden** by Erin Bowman **PLUS** Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and I must say I've had a most enjoyable time at BBHQ this week, even though it's been a little rainy, moderately windy interspersed with some sunny spells.

I did even poke my nose out of the patio doors, but decided that really in all honesty, it wasn't warm enough for my old bones outside, so I've been enjoying the warms of the woodburner from various locations around the sitting room! MOL

And something that really tickled me this week was Fudge and his catnip carrot, he really does go off on some tangents. I actually suggested that he should create a fudgy, carroty cake, what do mew think?  

Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. ______________ is like nailing jello to a wall.

2. I could use a break from ________________-.

3. I’d like to thank _________ for _________.

4. Just in case _________, I _________.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. Trying to reason with some inhabitants of earth is like nailing jello to a wall.

2. I could use a break from lots of things, probably tthe hardest thing for me is switching off my brain, it's always coming up with new story ideas, things to make, stuff to sew etc..., so in essence I could use a break from that endless swell of creative ideas, so I had chance to just focus on one thing at a time.

3. I’d like to thank you all most sincerely for sticking with The B Team and I for all these years. I know we've not been very good at commenting in recent times but know that we adore your blogs, your comments and your friendship. 

4. Just in case in case of emergency, I suggest hitting the nearest panic button or heading directly without pause to the BBHQ bunker in Mewton-Clawson.

Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

This week's top book pick is...

Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

The Girl and the Witch's Garden

by

Erin Bowman

  Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

Mallory Estate is the last place twelve-year-old Piper Peavey wants to spend her summer vacation. The grounds are always cold, the garden out back is dead, a mysterious group of children call the property home, and there's a rumor that Melena M. Mallory--the owner of the estate and Piper's wealthy grandmother--is a witch.

But when Piper's father falls ill, Mallory Estate is exactly where she finds herself.

This is a modern take on The Secret Garden with a magical twist and elements, our heroine Piper Peavey has her summer vacation turned upside down when she is forced to spend it with her estranged mother, who I must say is rather unpleasant and most unmotherly in all resepcts. Not a nice lady at all.

The plot is well crafted and the descriptive writing is very well done, giving a real sense of place. I do enjoy books where mew can see it in your minds eye in glorious technicolour as the words fly off the page, and this one fills that brief completely.

Piper has a lot to contend with for a twelve year old; her father is on his last round of chemo, she's in a place where she's not wanted, yet there's a chance that in the magical garden at Mallory Estate, hidden in a place that mere mortals cannot see, is the possibility of an elixir which could potentially save her fathers life. 

 The kitty in the book, is a rather astute white Persian called Wolf, who appears to have neferious intentions, I won't say anymore as mew know I don't like to spoilerize things. 

This is a highly enjoyable read, and if mew like a magical genre with some gritty real world dilemmas, then this will tick all the boxes, and in my opinion is suitable for all ages.

And the bonus is, if mew have an Audible subscription, mew can listen to this for fee.

Age: 8 - 12 years

Audio book: 5 hours 53 minutes

Paperback: 288 pages

My Ratings Scale

Ratings of:

The Girl and the Witch's Garden

Overall Enjoyment

Other Fun Blog Hops to Join in Today

          Brian's Home   Catblogosphere    Feline Friday   Nature Friday    Flashback Friday   Friendship Friday       

I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did.

It's time for me to say BFN or bye-for-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't forget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 

Follow me at angry_amber_badtemperedkitty

& @BionicBasil® on Instacat

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Love To Read? Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #182 featuring **The Time-Travelling Cat and the Great Victorian Stink** by Julia Jarman PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and what a week it's been. We've had back to back storms in the U.K. for the last couple of weeks, and it's been quite cold.

So I decided the best place to be was snuggled on the sofa with the P.A., I don't know about mew but I love snuggling with my meowmy, even at my age.

Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. My biggest pet peeve at Christmastime is ________________________.

2. _________________ is on my list to Santa.

3. My Christmas to-do list still includes _________.

4. A random piece of Christmas trivia that I know is _________.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. My biggest pet peeve at Christmastime is how some peeps are so ungrateful for the presents they've received. It doesn't matter what the gift is, or how much it cost, what matters is the thought. There are many, many peeps and children who have nothing and receive nothing, it's a sad time of year for a lot of families and peeps all over the world. 

2.  Peace, goodwill, good health and many blessings to all is on my list to Santa. We don't buy presents, we donate to charities and food banks instead and try to spread a little joy where it's needed most.

3. My Christmas to-do list still includes putting up all the BBHQ decorations, but that doesn't happen until the third week of December.

4. A random piece of Christmas trivia that I know is-----. Sorry, I can't think of any random festive trivia to share! LOL

Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

This week's top book pick is...

Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

The Time-Travelling Cat 

and the Great Victorian Stink

by 

Julia Jarman

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

Topher's amazing cat, Ka, has time-travelled again and left him yet another mysterious clue. Following his nose, Topher finds himself in Victorian London where disease is rife and the Thames is clogged with stinking sewage!

There he discovers a plot to kill Joseph Bazalgette, the man who is trying to save the city. Determined to foil this foul plan, Topher must first escape from an arch-criminal and his den of thieves.

I didn't realise that I'd reviewed the furst book in this series a few years ago, and it was only as I snuggled down in front of the fire and began reading this one that it dawned on me, yes I had a mental sunrise at 5pm in the afternoon, as I recognised the characters.

Anyhoo this is the 6th book in The Time Travelling Cat series, so I'm now going to have to catch up on books 2 to 5, and I just checked and Audible has them, so I'll treat myself for Catmas once I locate Parsley's credit card.

As I said in my previous review, these are kids books but don't let that stop mew from reading them. This is an action-packed adventure full of historic mewsings, some of which aren't so nice, though it is quite thrilling and the pace is full throttle for the most time, although mew know I don't do spoilers.

I enjoyed this one more than the furst, but that's because I was already familiar (pardon the pun) with the characters.

This series would make a great gift, but also what I like is they can be read as stand-alone books.

A top paw read and a great addition to the Mewton-Clawson Library, and I'll get the others in the series and let mew know my thoughts on those in 2022, so there's something to look forward to already.

• Publisher: ‎Andersen Press
• Paperback: ‎160 pages

My Ratings Scale

Ratings of:

The Time-Travelling Cat  and the Great Victorian Stink

Overall Enjoyment

Other Fun Blog Hops to Join in Today

         Catblogosphere        Feline Friday        Nature Friday        Flashback Friday     Friendship Friday       

I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did if mew decide to read it.

It's time for me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 

Follow me at angry_amber_badtemperedkitty

& @BionicBasil® on Instacat

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Feline Fiction on Fridays #131 at Amber's Library featuring **The Beast of Buckingham Palace** by David Walliams PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins and VE75 Celebrations

Welcome To

With Amber ~ The Best Library Kitty in the entire Mewton~Clawson Parish.

Supurr salutations pawesome furiends

*waves paw*

Hello gorgeous library guests and welcome to my private library.

As mew can see I was not best purrleased yesterday; as some-purrdy not mentioning any names Smooch grassed me up to Parsley about using his purrsonal funds to buy more books and Parsley was not a happy camper, but anyhoo as mew can see I'm vehemently denying any fiscal misappropriation, and Smooch I'll be having a word with mew on the down-low dude, mew have been warned!

So dearest library visitors today is a special day at it's the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII aka VE75, so today at BBHQ we're having a little pawty and mew're all invited.

Here's the 6ft by 4ft banner we got the P.A. to make...

... we didn't manage to get a decent photo of it when it was hanging in the showroom window **big sigh** as it was so sunny yesterday and the reflection off the glass made it impossible, so this is a picture prior to sewing it together.  Anyhoo it looked epic in the showroom and the P.A. hung the huge poppies in the other windows with bunting and put red, white and blue balloons across the entire front the of the forecourt and the Union Jack flag was put on the flag post.

Then we decorated at BBHQ, and in the window where the bear hunt teddies have been hanging out, we made a really fun display with the mini flags and have the Woodland Furiends Crew flying the flags, which looks really fun, here's the pic from inside...

From left to right:

Montgomery Mole, Scarlett Squirrel, Burtram Badger, Loxton the Fox, Miss Owlie Owl and Prickles the Hedgepig. I had to lend the P.A. some of my books to sit them on, which is ok as I'm charging her rent, an extortionate amount - well I'm a librarian and I need new books, they don't come for free! MOL

So we hope mew have a great celebration and if mew're in the vicinity stop by, or stop by our Instagram page and say hi there.

This week we're also joining in Friday Fill-ins with 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. I just finished _______________________________.

2. I am hoping to start ______________________________.

3. _________ is my idea of success.

4. When I can’t sleep, I _________.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. I just finished planting my mums veg garden.

2. I am hoping to start putting all The B Team blog adventures into novels this year.

3. Loving what you do is my idea of success.

4. When I can’t sleep, I get up and read something really boring.

And now I think it's time to share this weeks book.

This week I'm sharing...

Amber's Library Copy

The Beast of Buckingham Palace

by

David Walliams

Here's A Small Snippet of the Book Blurb:      

It is 2120 and London is in ruins.

The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace but when strange goings-on breaches its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters.

>^.^<

This is my furst David Walliams novel and what a lovely surprise - well done Melvyn mew really picked a winner! 

Fudge upon hearing how good this book tried to usurp it right from under my furry nose while I was pondering my review in the catservatory - can mew believe that? Just look at the blatantness of it...



... I put him right back in his place and revoked his library card for the foreseeable future!

Anyhoo, this is such a fun kids book; its got bad guys, evil plots, beasties and those who thought they had no power or courage finding bucket loads of it when needed. There's oodles of excitement and adventure, friendship, loyalty and obviously some hairy moments too.

It's not complicated and is a rather an easy read, the hardback is full of fun illustrations which are of a somewhat similar style to Roald Dahl's classic books, so if mew're a fan of Dahl, try this.

A great pressie for ages 7 and up, this is a fun kids story and sure to purrlease even the fussiest of readers.  A purrfect lockdown read!

*    *    *

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Age Range: 7 - 12 years
• Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren' sBooks 

The Amber Biblio Rating System Fur Offurall Enjoyment:

Ratings of:

The Beast of Buckingham Palace

Offurall Enjoyment

I do hope mew enjoy this book if mew decide to give it a try... 

...and if mew've read it already, what did mew think?

*    *    *

Sadly it's time fur me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just fur mew. And don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time

Keep calm and read on.

Purrs

Amber xox

And don't furget while we're all on lockdown, we The B Team have got your six and can entertain mew fur weeks; there are oodles of colouring pages to download and not furgetting the colouring books too. There's a page full of crafting projects to keep your mittens making stuff! 

There are some epically exciting adventure stories too, so read our thrilling tales episode by epic episode.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Capt'n Basil & His Motley Crew 

Fast, Furry and Dangerous

The Clockwurk Labyrinth 

We've got some new BrainTraining posts, just to keep your little grey cells in tip-top condition. And we'll be adding extra jigsaw puzzles to the puzzle page.

If mew want to see more of what's been happening at BBHQ since the lockdown began, check out our Instagram feed where mew can see our daily diary and exclusive videos that we don't put here on the blog.

Follow me at angry_amber_badtemperedkitty

& @BionicBasil® on Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com