Review: Santa’s Christmas Countdown, by Kath Jewitt and Sebastien Braun

Information about the Book

Title: Santa’s Christmas Countdown
Author: Kath Jewitt
Illustrator: Sebastien Braun
Publisher: Townhouse Publishing Ltd
Release Date: 1st October 2022
Genre: Board Book (Touch & Feel)

Summary

Santa is getting ready for Christmas Eve, but he’s lost his list of jobs to do! This large format board book tells a fun rhyming tale of Santa who is getting ready to deliver presents around the world. Toddlers will love the large touch and feels, especially his curly beard and velvet hat.

Illustrator Socials

Website: https://www.sebastienbraun.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/braunsebastien
Instagram: http://instagram.com/braunsebastien

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Promo Post: Intuitive Eating by Lucia Bartoli

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clink Street Publishing (28 July 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 136 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1915229553
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915229557

Feel, listen and give yourself permission. Learning how to be guided by your intuition when it comes to eating allows you to fully enjoy food once again. No more diets and no more guilt. Learn how your taught behaviors have a profound effect on how you eat and feel about your body, and learn how to reprogram these behaviors to healthy and empowering ones. With over 40 plant-based recipes inside, this book also includes useful daily meditation exercises, mindful prayers and stunning affirmations. “The reason why I decided to go down the path of Intuitive Eating was because I wanted to change my whole relationship with food. Food, for me anyway, is one of the most enjoyable and natural pleasures on this planet and didn’t want to spend the rest of my life having a bad relationship with such a natural and essential part of life. I wanted to be able to eat foods that I love and enjoy every moment of it, without feeling bad about it afterwards.”

TBR Pile Review: August Kitko and the Mechas from Space, by Alex White

When an army of giant robot AIs threatens to devastate Earth, a virtuoso pianist becomes humanity’s last hope in this bold, lightning-paced, technicolor new space opera series from the author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe.

Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rockstar Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards–ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine. 

But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens–the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus’s swan song becomes humanity’s encore, as he is chosen to join a small group of traitorous Vanguards and their pilots dedicated to saving humanity. 

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Audiobook review: Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse

Narrated by Christian Barillas, Nicole Lewis, Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Cora Gee 

Return to The Meridian with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse’s sequel to the most critically hailed epic fantasy of 2020 Black Sun—finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda, and Locus awards.

There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart. —Teek saying

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?

As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.

And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?

Welcome back to the fantasy series of the decade in Fevered Star—book two of Between Earth and Sky

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Extract Post: The Crew, by Sadir S. Samir

Blurb 

Kings of the Wyld meets Deadpool in this action-packed fantasy adventure set in an Arab-inspired landscape.

Varcade fled to the deserts of Harrah to escape his past as an Educator, a member of an order of zealot warrior-monks that aims to shape the world according to their sacred Teachings by force. Varcade makes his living as a reckless sword-for-hire, caring only about himself, until his self-centered lifestyle is turned on its head when he is contracted to recruit a misfit team of unruly assassins and take out the mighty Bone Lord of Akrab.

But the Bone Lord is aware of the plot and sends her band of Dusters to stop them; individuals who have gained bizarre and lethal magical powers by snorting the pulverised bones of dead gods. Hunted by Educators and Dusters in a city-state where an escalating conflict between the human and demon population threatens to boil over in a civil war, will Varcade and his ragtag crew save Akrab from the cruel Bone Lord, or will they make things even worse?

The Crew is a rampaging romp of an adventure, as thrilling and hilarious as it is fantastically unique. I loved it.” Dyrk Ashton, author of The Paternus Trilogy

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG1CBSRY

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62672715-the-crew?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XFllluZSRG&rank=1


The Crew Excerpt 1

Before the killing began, Varcade wanted to enjoy a glass of iced milk sweetened with honey. He licked his lips, drumming his fingers on the counter as the bartender poured the drink in a clay cup, then set it before Varcade. “There. Happy now?”

Varcade flipped a copper coin to the woman. “You bet,” he said with a smile before downing it in one swig. He exhaled and wiped the milk from his upper lip. “Alright, with that out of the way, it’s time for me to kill a guy. I’m looking for someone by the name of—”

“You what?” the bartender interrupted. “Kill a man? Here?”

“Yup.” Varcade nodded. “That’s the job I’ve been paid for. Why else would I be somewhere like this? No offence, but we’re in the middle of the desert. You couldn’t have chosen a livelier place for your tavern?”

“Are you bloody stupid?” the woman said. “You can’t come to my establishment and tell me you’re gonna kill someone. I’m trying to make a living here.”

“You do you, and I’ll do me. How ‘bout that?” Varcade turned away from the bartender and leapt on the nearest table, knocking over their drinks and food to the dismay of the patrons sitting around it. Now he had everyone’s attention. Behind him, he heard the bartender shouting something about guards.

“I’m looking for a guy calling himself Frying Pan Pete,” Varcade said. “I’ve been told he likes coming here. Just point me in the right direction and I’ll be gone before you know it.”

The man seated by the table tugged on Varcade’s leg. “You really don’t wanna be messin’ with Frying Pan Pete, man,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

Review: Belly Woman, by Benjamin Black

May 2014. Sierra Leone is ranked the country with the highest death rate of pregnant women in the world. The same month, Ebola crosses in from neighbouring Guinea. Arriving a few weeks later, Dr Benjamin Black finds himself at the centre of an exponential Ebola outbreak.


From impossible decisions on the maternity ward to moral dilemmas at the Ebola Treatment Centres. One mistake, one error of judgment, could spell disaster.

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