Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Penwizard Why I Love My Mum book review

Posted by on at 2:00 AM | 0 comments

We were recently given the chance to review a "Why I Love My Mum" book from Penwizard, featuring the ultra-cute Tatty Teddy.


It takes literally seconds to personalise because you only need to do a quick message for the front page and choose between Mum, Mom, Mama, Mummy, Nan, Nanny, Gran, Granny, Grandma or Grandmother within the book. I wanted the book to be from all three of the Madhouse Mini Testers which posed a slight problem as you are only allowed 12 characters, which seemed very short to me. I got around it by using the message part to put "Loads of love from Sophie, Juliette & Pierre xxx"


It's quite a small book - smaller than I expected, to be honest. It measures 15 x 17cm which is a bit bigger than a CD case.


It's very cute though, both in terms of the texts and the drawings. It's bound to melt the heart of any mother or grandmother as a special gift from her children or grandchildren.


It's the perfect stocking filler for Christmas. It's quite expensive for a 24 page paperback book but the awww-factor makes it worth it. Hopefully they'll add a male version next to keep the dads and grandads happy too !

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £9.99

for more information : http://www.penwizard.co.uk/personalised-books/me-to-you.htm

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Penwizard Peppa Pig Personalised Storybook review


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Book review : Red Sparrow - Jason Matthews

Posted by on at 4:00 AM | 0 comments

Red Sparrow plunges us into the high-risk, action-packed world of international espionage. The first character to come to most people's minds when thinking of spies would probably be James Bond, and Nate Nash, heroic American spy meeting with his Russian moles while avoiding baddies trying to intercept him on the street, does fit in with the dapper, attractive 007-type of figure. He even has the cool spy-gadgets to help him !

Then in comes Dominika, who is diametrically opposed to Nate, a wolf in sheep's clothing, like a souped-up Bond girl who would be more than a match for her unsuspecting male counterpart. She is cunning and calculating, has Russian family heritage entrenched in the underworld of high level espionage and also a rather handy hidden secret weapon : the ability to see the colour of people's auras, detecting their motives and personalities.

I had a hard time getting into the feel of the book to begin with, because it seemed to be going in too many different directions at once. The high octane car chase reminiscent of a Hollywood movie; the budding love story between the two opposing spies; the harrowing account of the torture and murder prevalent in the Russian authorities; the sordid, voyeuristic account of Sparrow School, or "whore school" as Dominika scathingly calls it, where Russian spies learn to become manipulative seductresses using sex as a weapon, and which left me wondering for a moment if my husband was trying to tell me something and had sneakily replaced my usual bedtime reading with a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey ! I ultimately decided that this constant change of tone and atmosphere was actually quite representative of the chameleon-like spies, but it still wrong-footed me in the early chapters.

Another thing that I absolutely loved as a foodie but which seemed totally and strangely out of place was the recipes suggested at the end of each chapter. This just seemed a very strange addition to an espionage thriller (although I must admit, I will be trying some of them out !).

I wasn't surprised to learn that the novel was written by a real-life ex-CIA operative who gives an authentic and eye-opening glimpse into their world of secrets and danger.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £12.99

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (4 Jun 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1471112586
  • ISBN-13: 978-1471112584



Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Book review : Hangman – Faye Kellerman

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Book review : Hangman – Faye Kellerman

Posted by on at 12:23 PM | 0 comments

LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker, his wife Rina and their grown-up kids come across as the perfect family. Family values are very important to this close-knit Jewish-American family and the banter between them is heart-warming.

This just goes to highlight even more the dysfunctional family that they are thrown up against. Old family friend Teresa calls in Peter as a personal favour to offer moral support and protection when she meets up with her violent estranged husband. Shortly afterwards, she goes missing. Has she been murdered? Kidnapped? Is she on the run from her ex? Did she go into hiding? While Peter looks for answers, he and Rina end up taking in Gabe, Teresa's teenaged son who has been left home alone.

Meanwhile, bodies start showing up. Are they linked to Teresa or is there a serial killer on the loose too? The novel focuses more on police procedure than the violent crimes themselves, making it a great choice for crime fiction lovers of a squeamish disposition !

The back of the book labels this as a Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus thriller which I suppose means that it's part of a series. It works absolutely fine as a standalone novel, but I did like the happily wed pair and would like to read other books from the collection to find out more about them and their background.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £7.99

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Harper (17 Feb 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007295685
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007295685




Disclosure : This was another fab find in the swaps library at our hotel in Morocco !

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Book review : Chris Carter - One By One

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Giveaway #324 : Win 3 copies of Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Contraptions Manual - closing date 14/10

Posted by on at 12:59 PM | 0 comments

Wallace and Gromit’s famous ‘Bed Launcher’ has come out on top in a recent survey to find Britain ’s most loved cracking contraption.

With over 25 per cent of the overall vote, the wonderfully wacky and highly technical invention beat the likes of Techno Trousers, Rocket and Bun Vac 6000 to the top spot.

Merlin Crossingham, the Creative Director of Wallace & Gromit said: “Wallace would be incredibly pleased with the result. It is the perfect contraption for those early morning starts, especially if you’re not keen on getting out of bed or don’t have time for a hearty breakfast. With the help of his trusted sidekick Gromit, the whole process is over in seconds, meaning Wallace can get on with a busy day of inventing.”



Carried out by Aardman Animations, the online survey was launched to coincide with the release of Haynes’ most recent title, Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Contraptions Manual, which combines both previous volumes in one handy tome.

Answering questions like how the Techno Trousers work, what’s inside the Rocket and how Wallace rebuilt Preston the Cyber Dog, this is a book no Wallace & Gromit fan should be without.

From the Austin A35 Van and the Bun Vac 6000 to the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic and the Turbo Diner, this is the complete technical guide to the inventions of Wallace & Gromit.

See what’s inside each contraption and find out exactly how it works with fantastic cutaway drawings by Graham Bleathman, photographs and full technical descriptions.


Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Contraptions Manual, by Derek Smith and Graham Bleathman (published by Haynes) available from www.haynes.co.uk priced £16.99.

Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Contraptions Manual
Published by Haynes
Published on 3rd October 2013
Written by Derek Smith and Graham Bleathman, Illustrator
ISBN: 9780857334114
RRP: £16.99



The publishers have kindly offered to send a copy of the book to 3 lucky Madhouse Family Reviews readers. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

UK only. Closing date : 14/10/13

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners.


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