June Wrap up - Book Haul & What to Expect Next Month

Welcome, welcome my dear readers.

Welcome to the blog.

The end of the schoolyear... This year, it's hard for me. In 6th Grade we say goodbye to the kids, that's when they head to High School. But this class is special to me. I was their teacher in 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th Grade. Half of their time in Primary School was with me as their teacher. In a week, we'll have the final evening of the schoolyear, when we get together with the kids from my classroom, their parents and all the teachers. The kids will play a musical and after that we will take the time to say our goodbyes.

That's also the start of my Summer holiday! I'm looking forward to it. I'm tired and ready to re-charge for the next schoolyear to come. The Summer break is 5 weeks for teachers and 6 for the kids in The Netherlands.

I've planned some fun things already, because we're out of lockdown in Europe. So I've planned a trip with a friend and some lovely lunch and dinner meetings with friends.

I'm looking forward to sleeping in and reading books. If all goes according to play, I'm heading to Italy for a camping trip with my boyfriend.

So, yeah! Looking forward to it!

Thanks for sticking with my blog and for reading!

Have a great month with loads of good books.

🌴

Two Short Stories #25

Today I will be highlighting two short stories.

One of them is a short story about a pack of bears and the other book is a picture book about loads of bad dad jokes.

Let's dive right in.

ABC Book Challenge Letter G

Today I'm going to continue the ABC Book Challenge. I'm on my way to the end of the alphabet! 

I've seen this Challenge on various blogs in all kinds of different ways. I hope you'll like the way I'm approaching this!

Feel free to join in.

Let's dive right in!

Review: Mother May I

Author: Joshilyn Jackson

Started reading: May 12th 2021

Finished the book: June 9th 2021

Pages: 324 / 12:51:47

Genres: Thriller, Mystery

Published: April 6th 2021

Source: Storytel

Goodreads score: 3.90

My score:

Synopsis

Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat was warned by her single mother that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected her mother’s fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Having married into a family with wealth, power, and connections, Bree now has all a woman could ever dream of: a loving lawyer husband, two talented teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world.

Until the day she awakens and sees a witch peering into her bedroom window—an old gray-haired woman dressed all in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. It must be a play of the early morning light or the remnant of a waking dream, Bree tells herself, shaking off the bad feeling that overcomes her.

Later that day though, she spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daugh­ters’ private school . . . just minutes before Bree’s infant son, asleep in his car seat only a few feet away, vanishes. It happened so quickly—Bree looked away only for a second. There is a note left in his place, warning her that she is being is being watched; if she wants her baby back, she must not call the police or deviate in any way from the instructions that will follow.

Sunday Post #31

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead.

Review: Out of My Mind

Author: Sharon M. Draper

Started reading: May 29th 2021

Finished the book: June 6th 2021

Pages: 295

Genres: YA, Realistic Fiction

Published: March 9th 2010

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.37

My score:

Synopsis

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk.

She can't walk. She can't write. Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever.

At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.

ABC Book Challenge Letter F

Today I'm going to continue the ABC Book Challenge. I'm on my way to the end of the alphabet! 

I've seen this Challenge on various blogs in all kinds of different ways. I hope you'll like the way I'm approaching this!

Feel free to join in.

Let's dive right in!

Giveaway: Bookish Goodies (Part #2)

Yaaay! Finally, time for another Giveaway! It's almost Summer over here, so I decided to make someone happy with some goodies, like I get happy from the sun!

It's so much fun to hosts Giveaways.

This time, I have an amazing goodie-box for one of you, collected from all the bookboxes I've ordered over the years.

One of you is going to win the goodie box. Check below for more information!

Review: Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon #1)

Author: Dan Brown

Started reading: April 26th 2021

Finished the book: May 28th 2021

Pages: 620

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Published: May 2000

Source: Received as a gift

Goodreads score: 3.91

My score:

Synopsis

When a world renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man's chest. His baffling conclusion: it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years - reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic church.

In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair - a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican.

But with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invisible enemy...

Review: The Brothers Three (The Blackwood Saga #1)

Author: Layton Green

Started reading: May 8th 2021

Finished the book: May 16th 2021

Pages: 330

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Published: March 14th 2017

Source: Digital copy from the author

Goodreads score: 3.96

My score:

Synopsis

All Will Blackwood ever wanted was a little adventure. A fantasy addict and apprentice contractor in New Orleans, struggling to make ends meet, he has long wished for an escape from the real world.

Late one night, he and his brothers receive a surprise inheritance: a staff with a mysterious stone on top, a pair of rogue's bracers, and a sword that Will can barely lift. A man with strange powers shows up to take the sword, and the three brothers barely escape with their lives. Searching for an explanation, it is not until a magical key whisks them across time and space, into a terrifying version of New Orleans ruled by wizards, that Will accepts the truth about his family's past.

It seems Will Blackwood has found his adventure. But this isn't one of his fantasy novels, or a gaming campaign with friends. In his father's world, magic and monsters are real. Choices are life and death. And they have no idea how to get home . . .