Book Review: Childish Spirits by Rob Keeley

This book was kindly sent to me to review. However, all opinions are my own and honest. This post also contains affiliate links.

Title: Childish Spirits
Author: Rob Keeley
Genre: Middle Grade Mystery
Buy links: Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.com

This book follows two children who move into an old house and spooky things begin to happen which leads to the children meeting spirits and trying to solve a mystery.

Our two main characters, Ellie and Charlie, or 'Chas' were introduced well from the beginning, with personality and their own individual characteristics which made me more invested in what was going to happen to them.

The build-up and foreshadowing were excellently implemented and it made me keen to read on and find out what exactly was going to happen and what the cause of the strange occurrences was.

I do feel like I would have liked more information about the family's background in the first few chapters so I could see where they had come from and why they had moved to this place.

The sense of foreboding increased chapter by chapter as we found out more about a spirit living in the house. It was quite dark in places, with mentions of child death.

I also found the children's relationship with their dad a bit strange with conversations between them not feeling fully realistic. 

One of the spirits was actually quite creepy and this added to the dark atmosphere of the book. I enjoyed seeing Ellie and Charlie questioning the situation and delving more into the mystery and I wanted to know what had happened.

If you are looking for a quick contemporary mystery with spirits and that also deals with family relationships, I would recommend checking this book out.

My rating: 3/5 stars

Thank you to my Ko-Fi members!~

Jill Horton- check out her book! Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk

Book Review: The Legend of Podkin One-Ear (The Five Realms #1) by Kieran Larwood

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Title: The Legend of Podkin One-Ear

Author: Kieran Larwood

Genre: Childrens Fantasy

Buy links: Book Depository - Waterstones - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.com

The Witcher, The Name of the Wind and Game of Thrones meets rabbits.

In this book, the world is populated by rabbits who live in warrens with one person leading as the 'chieftain'. However, their peace is interrupted by an impossible enemy. We follow Podkin and his brother and sister through a tough journey filled with grief, hardships and love. 

This book is marketed as a children's book but let me tell you, I cried multiple times. This book represents grief, fear and hope so well. There are multiple quotes that had me sobbing. 

The characters felt so realistic and well-developed. The plot was incredible and I couldn't tell where it was going or what would happen. I loved how the book had little interludes where the person telling the story was asked questions and we found out more about the world and the lore. 

The illustrations sneaked in throughout were beautifully done, full of character and added to the story so well.

This book was such a lovely quick read. There was so much action which catapulted me through the story. There were paragraphs of description where needed which fleshed out the scenes but not too much as to lose my interest. There was always something happening or a goal to get to.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a perfect fantasy book filled with emotion and I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series! I want everyone to read this book. If you like fantasy, read this!

My rating: 5/5 stars

Thank you to my Ko-Fi members!~

Jill Horton- check out her book! Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk

Chronic Illness Guest Post by Tylluan Penry

I have lived with chronic illness for years now, but still it is not my friend. We tolerate each other and that is all. People often claim that all we need to defeat Covid is a ‘strong immune system.’ I could weep for them, I really could, because my problem is just that, I have a very strong immune system, it is doing its best to kill me. And the best treatment on offer is to suppress it, using the sort of drugs used to prevent transplants from being rejected.

The most interesting theory I can come up with for this state of affairs, is that stress has a lot to answer for. Almost everyone in a similar situation to myself has cited stress as a possible cause for the immune system going into overdrive. I can’t prove it of course and at the moment health professionals aren’t interested in exploring this idea. I’ve even suggested they should bottle whatever is wrong with me as a sort of ‘cure-all’ but I don’t think they will take me up on that.

There were clues that something was amiss long ago, but the most devastating and unexpected symptom was losing my sight. I’d driven about 50 miles to Hay on Wye, and suddenly, in a bookshop, I thought it looked very dark. It turned out that a wide horizontal band of vision in my left eye had disappeared. Just like that. Over the next few days it got worse and worse. It eventually returned, but with some colours, especially blue and yellow, so bleached that they were meaningless. I’d had optic neuritis, and I had more bouts of it in the ensuing years, each leaving its own, dirty, frightening mark.

Book Review: Kodi by Jared Cullum

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Title: Kodi

Author: Jared Cullum

Genre: Graphic Novel

Buy links: Book Depository - Waterstones - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.com

Kodi is a graphic novel about a girl who finds a bear and it is a story of love and friendship and just how far will one being go to find their friend?

Kodi is an absolutely adorable book. The story is told in beautiful watercolour pictures and the emotions of the characters really bounce off the page. It felt like I was reading a script for a children's animated film, reminiscent of some Disney classics. I laughed and I felt sad. This book made me feel so many emotions. 

I loved the plot of the story, as well as the characters who felt well-developed and realistic. The story had multiple levels to it and I feel that the author did this really well.

The only issue I had with this book is that I wish that we had been given more insight into Katya's home life and family situation. It is hinted at within the book but we are never really told what has happened. 

I would highly recommend everyone to read this book! It's a short read but one that will leave your heart feeling warmed and your mind grateful that you read it.

My rating: 5/5 stars

Thank you to my Ko-Fi members!~

Jill Horton- check out her book! Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk

Book Spotlight: The Fast Little Fox (The Fast Little Fox & Friends book #1) by Jill Horton

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Title: The Fast Little Fox (The Fast Little Fox & Friends book #1)

Author: Jill Horton

Genre: Children's picture book

Available on: Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.com in paperback and on kindle (Also free on Kindle Unlimited!)

Add it on Goodreads

Synopsis:

Have you ever wanted to go on an adventure through the forest? Follow the fast little fox as he discovers more than he can imagine along the way! What will he learn? Can he make it home in time for supper? Read on to find out!

Editorial review:

"Jill Horton's picture book story, The Fast Little Fox, is a sweet, charming story about a little fox with a little too much energy. Yes, Freddy has a lot to learn, and this story leads young readers through Freddy's riotous romp of discovery. The language is simple to appeal to young readers and the illustrations are spectacular and certainly help move the story along. Beautifully told and presented." -- Readers' Favorite

Author bio

Learn more about the author here: https://www.jill-horton.com

Jill is currently working on book 2 in the series, so stay tuned for updates on her social media/website!

You can also find Jill on:

Pinterest

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

Ko-fi

Books on my Wish List: January 2022

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I love books. Reading allows me to escape from physical and mental symptoms and it makes me feel happy and relaxed. As people recommend me books, I am adding them to my wish list! I have set my Goodreads goal at 200 this year. I am eager to read as much as I can this year. I am getting books from Scribd and my library and using the books on my shelves too. But there are some books that I either can't get from Scribd or my library, or I would just really like a physical copy of. I am really preferring to read books physically, especially because I seem prone to migraines these days. I am listening to biology-based audiobooks though! So here are some of the books that are currently on my wish list:

The Afterlife of Holly Chase

The Secret Dragon

The Mapmakers

Monthly Book Club Buddy Reads Announcement

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Hi everyone! I recently opened the monthly membership option on my Ko-Fi. This is like Patreon but you can pay anything you want to support me and you get exclusive rewards. One of these is a monthly book club buddy read.

Why I opened Ko-Fi membership:

• I wanted to create a community where we can chat & have somewhere to go
• I wanted to have a place to talk about books as much as we like
• I currently can't do things I used to do & things are uncertain so this would give me something concrete

The rewards

• A shout-out at the end of every blog post, including your name and website or author page link (you can opt out, this excludes book spotlight posts)
• Access to an exclusive Discord server to chat about books, health, games, writing/content creation etc.
• Regular reading sprints by message on a dedicated Discord channel
• Vote/contribute to upcoming content e.g. helping me decide my next read, blog post or topic to write a poem on
• Sneak peaks into any upcoming plans
• Monthly book club: help choose our book and chat about it on Discord 
• An individual shout-out on Twitter once a week 
• A shout-out in a monthly supporters blog post which can include your links and work and this will be shared on social media
• Regular updates from me about books, life, health etc. 
• Direct message me to request blog posts and tweets and if possible, I will try to create them

About the book club:

We will vote on a book to read every month, this could be a middlegrade fantasy, YA fantasy, manga, graphic novel, non-fiction book or something else. If we choose a short book we can choose a secondary read too. 

There will be a channel on the Discord server where we can discuss the book as we read it!

Some of the books may come from my TBR but members can suggest books to read too!

Hopes:

I would love to have Ko-Fi members as a space where we can chat and hang out and just have our own fun and supportive community. 

If you're interested in joining, please check out my membership page.

Thank you:

I just want to take this moment to say thank you so much to everyone for all of your support this year, everything is appreciated and valued so thank you.

The Realities of Pre-Diagnosis Chronic Symptoms

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Hi everyone. So I have felt reluctant to write a post going into too much detail about my symptoms and my life right now but I feel like chronic symptoms are something that a lot of people don't really know much about and I want to bring more visibility to this and help those who may be in a similar boat to me, feel less alone. 

For a long time I have been dealing with fatigue and dizziness. I would wake up still tired, not feeling refreshed or rested at all. I would struggle with work and when I came home I would just be too tired to do anything. I've also been dealing with costochondritis for years which is inflammation that causes pain in the ribs and chest area.

This year, I began having pain in different areas of my body that would be intense and last a long time and then re-occur. It got to a point where my body just couldn't function anymore. 

For months, I have been dealing with pain, aches and stiffness all over my body, fatigue, migraines, headaches and dizziness that has been so debilitating that I am unable to do things that I used to do. 

My symptoms fluctuate within the day and from day to day so I will have periods where the fatigue is more prevalent or a migraine or body pain. 

I'm on medication to help with the symptoms but it doesn't take them away or make them a lot better. It just means that I have less times of being in agonising pain where I want to cry but can't because I'm in so much pain.

I'm waiting to see a specialist so that I can get a diagnosis and effective treatment.

The future feels so unknown to me right now because I don't know how much better I will get and what I will or won't be able to manage, which isn't great when you already have anxiety. But each day I am trying not to let my anxiety take over my day and to try to have a positive mindset. To focus on what I can do and not what I can't. To celebrate allowing myself to rest without feeling bad about it. Because I literally can't do things like I used to do. There are limitations. Depending on how I feel, I can do small tasks but the more I do, the worse I seem to feel later on. 

I'm getting better at pacing, a technique that some people with chronic illness use where you rest between activities and don't give yourself too much to do. It's hard because I want to be able to do a lot of things but I just can't. Activities I can do can make my symptoms worse, especially when it involves something physical. Similarly, I have a lot of times where I feel like I can't think. 

Living with chronic symptoms isn't easy. Especially when society conditions you to be a working, productive person and doesn't include those who simply cannot. I pushed my body for so long that it just couldn't anymore. 

If you deal with chronic symptoms, please feel free to DM me on Twitter. If you would be interested in writing a guest post for my blog please email me at lucyisreading@gmail.com.

I hope this post helps.

Lucy~

Support me via Ko-Fi- here you can join my Ko-Fi exclusive book club, request content, join our Discord server and more!

My 2022 Goals

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Hi everyone! I love setting goals and planning things. Here are most of my goals for the following year. In 2022 I am going to put my physical and mental health first, look after myself and do more of what makes me happy.

• Read lots of middle grade & children's fantasy
• Listen to non-fiction audiobooks (particularly biology)
• Do mindfulness colouring books
• Complete at least one jigsaw puzzle (bookish themed)
• Learn and revise all of French on Duolingo
• Play games more 
• Get a diagnosis for my chronic symptoms (this is more of a strong hope)

Wish me luck with these! Do you have any goals for 2022?

Support me via Ko-Fi- here you can join my Ko-Fi exclusive book club, request content, join our Discord server and more!

Join my little community on Ko-Fi!

Hi everyone, this is just a quick post to say that I have set up a monthly membership option on my Ko-Fi page. You can choose to support me from £2 a month up. You will get:

-A shout-out at the end of every blog post, including your name and website or author page link (you can opt out, this excludes book spotlight posts)

-Access to an exclusive Discord server to chat about books, health, games, writing/content creation etc.

-Regular reading sprints by message on a dedicated Discord channel

-Vote/contribute to upcoming content e.g. helping me decide my next read, blog post or topic to write a poem on

-Sneak peaks into any upcoming plans

-Monthly book club: help choose our book and chat about it on Discord

-An individual shout-out on Twitter once a week

-A shout-out in a monthly supporters blog post which can include your links and work and this will be shared on social media

-Regular updates from me about books, life, health etc.

-Direct message me to request blog posts and tweets and if possible, I will try to create them

If you'd like to support me in this way, thank you so so much, I have no words but it is really appreciated and it will really help me. I hope that anyone who joins this little community will have a lot of fun and feel like it is a safe space to chat and hang out. If you'd like to join, check out my membership page here. Thank you for all of your support in any way- comments, sharing posts, retweets, kind words. Everything means so much to me.