Noe and Cindy write

Saturday

Goodreads review: Georgiana Darcy's Diary

Cindy's review:

Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued (Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, #1)

Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued by Anna Elliott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this was a pretty good book. One thing I liked about it was the diary style which came across better than many I've taken a look at. To me it seemed like one at least; some "diaries" are written more like a novel (you know, the person would never be able to be that detailed in their diary).

I also liked her bringing in Anne de Bourgh and seeing Georgiana try to befriend her. But I didn't care for the way either Lady Catherine or Caroline Bingley were depicted. And I didn't like Georgiana being coupled with the guy she had her with in the end, but not because I had another choice from the other guys in the book. Wish she could have come up with someone else.

I think the idea of Pride & Prejudice continuing stories (or any other great book, for that matter) is so interesting. We always want to hear more about the characters we love. But I really hate some of the books that have taken these characters and slurred them into sex-crazed fools. I don't read those, that's why I'm so thankful that places like Amazon have "look inside" features so we can really get a feel for how an author writes. I do have my favorite P&P variation on my book list, and about this diary by Anna Elliott, I agree with another review that said it's an easy read and keeps you interested enough to want to find out what will happen.

Note: Goodreads rating is as follows:

did not like it

it was okay

liked it

really liked it

it was amazing

~~~~~
Someone mentioned to me that authors are not allowed to do reviews on Amazon, but here's what I found:
Customer Reviews Guidelines Frequently Asked Questions from Authors
2. Are authors allowed to review other authors’ books?
Yes. Authors are welcome to submit Customer Reviews, unless the reviewing author has a personal relationship with the author of the book being reviewed, or was involved in the book’s creation process (i.e. as a co-author, editor, illustrator, etc.). If so, that author isn't eligible to write a Customer Review for that book. Please review our Customer Review Guidelines for more information.

And this About Customer Reviews policy:
Authors and artists can add a unique perspective and we very much welcome their customer reviews. [Underlining mine] While we encourage reviewers to share their enthusiasm and experience, there can be a fine line between that and the use of customer reviews as product promotion. We don't allow anyone to write customer reviews as a form of promotion and if we find evidence that a customer was paid for a review, we'll remove it. If you have a direct or indirect financial interest in a product, or perceived to have a close personal relationship with its author or artist, we'll likely remove your review. We don't allow authors to submit customer reviews on their own books even when they disclose their identity. [Underlining and italics mine]

Sarah's Summer part 4

Episode 4

We're continuing our Sarah's World summer series, finishing up "Sarah and Pcee" this week. For links to the other parts of this series, look to the right sidebar under Sarah's World posts.

Sarah and Pcee
A whole week went by ...

and Pcee was still sleeping in her special shell. Sarah missed holding her and watching her eat. A few days later, though, something different started happening. Pcee’s shell wasn’t green anymore. It was turning clear, and Sarah got excited. She was hoping she would soon see her friend again.

Then Pcee started trying to get out of her shell, just like a baby chick breaks out of its egg. When she did come out of her shell, Sarah could not believe her eyes! It didn’t even look like Pcee at all.
She called for her mother to come. “Look, Mom, Pcee has changed! She doesn't look like a caterpillar anymore. She’s a butterfly! I always thought Pcee was pretty, but now she is beautiful. I can’t keep her in this aquarium any more. She needs to be outside so she can fly.”

Sarah took the top off the aquarium, and right away Pcee flew out and began flittering around the room. Then she went to the window and opened it. “You need to fly out the window, Pcee, so you can see how pretty things are outside. I think you’ll like the flowers all around the house.”

Pcee flew to the window and landed on the ledge. Sarah said, “Go ahead, Pcee, go outside. You’ll like it.” Instead of flying out the window, though, she turned around to look at Sarah and flew over to her. As she held out her hand, Pcee landed on it, fluttering her wings.

This was Pcee’s way of saying, “Thank you, you’ve been so good to me.” Then she flew out the window to go see all the pretty flowers Sarah had talked about.

Following her to the window, Sarah looked out and said, “Bye, Pcee, we’ll see each other when I go outside to play!”

And whenever Sarah did go outside, Pcee would come to see her. The two of them would play and have lots of fun among the flowers where they first met.

Come back next week for more ~

Goodreads review: Funny Face at the Window

Noe's review:

Funny Face at the Window by Sara Asheron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We got this book years ago for our little boy and I probably read the book to him every day for months. He couldn't even really talk very well, he'd just excitedly ask me to read "funny face at window" over and over again, and I loved it. One of the cool things about this book is that it's about a monkey that acts like a monkey -- he doesn't talk, he's just silly & funny. Our son loved it so much, and there's nothing more enjoyable for a parent than to read a book to their child and watch them laugh and laugh.

I think the book is out of print, and if so, that's a real shame because many, many little kids would love it.

View all my reviews

Note: Goodreads rating is as follows:

did not like it

it was okay

liked it

really liked it

it was amazing

Friday

Sarah's Summer part 3

Episode 3

We're continuing our Sarah's World summer series with another "Sarah and Pcee" chapter. For links to the other parts of this series, look to the right sidebar under Sarah's World posts.

Sarah and Pcee

The next morning ...

Sarah found that Pcee had eaten all the leaves and was growing. She went back to the bush where she had found her and picked more leaves. When she dropped them in, Pcee started eating. “You are really hungry for being so small,” Sarah said. She watched her eat one leaf after another till she stopped and was still.

“So, are you finally full and need to take a nap?” Sarah asked. But Pcee was not going to take a nap. Before Sarah’s eyes, Pcee seemed to walk right out of her skin, leaving behind her old skin. Then she crawled to the nearest leaf and started eating again!

Sarah ran to get her mother, and pulling her by the hand, she told her what had happened. “See her old skin right there?” she asked. They sat watching together as Pcee continued to eat and eat and eat.

“All she does is eat,” said Sarah. “I thought she was eating so much she was going to pop, and then she walked out of her skin. So I guess Pcee did pop -- she popped right out of her skin!”
Now that Pcee was bigger, Sarah wanted to know what it would feel like to have her crawl around on her hand, so she picked her and the leaf she was on up. It did feel funny to have Pcee’s little feet moving all over her hand. Sarah giggled, because her little feet tickled as she moved. She thought she could even hear Pcee chewing! Then she said “You might be a boy, because only boys could eat this much!” That made Sarah laugh and laugh.

Over the next two days, Pcee did not stop eating, and she also walked out of her skin again. She really liked crawling onto Sarah’s hand and eating the leaves as she held them. Sometimes when she was holding her, Pcee would stop eating just to look up at Sarah. She would pet her and Pcee liked that a lot.

Sarah was very happy with her new friend, and every night before she got ready for bed, she would tap on the aquarium and say, “Goodnight, Pcee.”

Two days had gone by ...

and Pcee was very big now and had walked out of her skin once again. Sarah picked her up to give her another leaf, but this time she didn’t want to eat. So she just petted her and said, “It took a long time for you to get full.” Now Pcee looked like she wanted to rest, so Sarah put her back in her home.

The bridge stick was in the middle of the aquarium, and right away Pcee crawled up on it. When she got about halfway, she moved to the bottom side of the stick and hung upside down! Then she curled up so her body looked like the letter J. Sarah was watching her and said, “That’s a funny way to go to sleep, Pcee. It doesn’t look very comfortable.” But since Pcee was going to sleep, Sarah thought she would take a nap too.

When she woke up from her nap, Sarah thought Pcee would probably be awake too, but she wasn’t. She was still hanging upside down in the shape of a J. That night when it was time for Sarah to go to bed, she was surprised to see that Pcee was still sleeping.

“It looks like you are going to sleep as much as you ate!” Sarah said. So at night she did not tap on the aquarium to say goodnight, because she didn’t want to wake Pcee up.

In the morning Sarah went over to see if Pcee was awake, but she still wasn't. Something did start happening, though. It looked like Pcee was coming out of her skin again. This time her new skin was a different color. She was a bright green!

Sarah said, “Pcee, you have such pretty new skin.” But it wasn’t just new skin. It became like a shell for her to keep sleeping in. Sarah told her, “Pcee, you really are going to sleep as much as you ate. And now you have your own special bed."