Reviews

Raven & Friends

April 29, 2026 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product Raven & Friends through Harbour Publishing. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and it is so much appreciated.

Oh, I can hardly wait to tell you what I have for you today. Harbour Publishing is providing TWO copies of this fantastic colouring book for you today. Two winners!! Details will follow.

But first let me give you a quick rundown. Raven & Friends is a Roy Henry Vickers Colouring book for kids. BUT don’t let the “KIDS” label fool you. ANYONE can enjoy colouring this book. Thick pages, that are animal focused, with perorated edges, that aren’t just in landscape mode. These are images that if you colour them in carefully you can frame and display on your walls for all to see. Or do what a friend of mine does, colour them in, write on the back, and send them off as friendly snail mail. 🙂 Make a friend smile!

The Basic Details for Raven & Friends

Raven & Friends is a A Roy Henry Vickers Colouring book for kids. Put out by Harbour Publishing you get 64 pages, single sided, animal prints to fill out. Printed on a thick paper that won’t bleed through, suitable for colouring with markers or colouring pencils. The book itself is 12 x 0.27 x 9 inches. You’ll find images of foxes, whales, birds, bears, insects and more. A whole plethora of wildlife to suit your fancy. Not only that, you’ll get some lessons in artistry as well!

Now just who is Roy Henry Vickers? He is world renown for his work as a printmaker, painter, carver, designer, author, and sought-after keynote speaker. A man of mixed heritage with a mom of mixed European descent and a father from Haida, Heiltsuk, and Tsimshian ancestry. You can see samples of his work on his website and perhaps gain some ideas for colouring!

Digging Deeper

Learn to do art with Mr. Vickers! Three pages of instructions to guide you through some of his basic forms. Practice what you learn and maybe you can make your own art too! I love how Vickers emphasizes how much he (and other artists) need to practice their art so they can do it well.

The designs are simple enough to appeal to younger children, and yet interesting enough to appeal to all ages. There is complexity in the simpleness of this native art form. In the weaving together of different simple shapes to form a more complex whole.

I thoroughly appreciate that not every spot on the page is filled with something to colour in. This leaves room to add your own design, or colour more simply, or use pages are part of a nature journal. Just what do you know about foxes, orcas, or eagles? Add in the details of when you’ve seen a raven, butterfly, or chased a rascally squirrel. Colouring books are meant to have fun with you know!! 🙂

Imagination Flows

While most of the pictures are presented in landscape layout, some are not giving further height to images. You can just imaging having a campfire while the aurora borealis flows in the night sky can’t you?

As a Canadian these images make me feel right at home. All these animals and experiences can be found in Canada, though some might mean taking a trip depending on where you live in this vast land.

As a former homeschooling parent I very much appreciate how this colouring book can be used in a wide variety of ways with a curriculum.

giving children something to do as they listen to a story being read
being an addition to nature study, being added to a nature journal, or a guide to the animals around us.
as a start (or end) to a unit study about Canadian animals
a way to learn about and/or practice first nations art
a rabbit trail into learning about natural dyes and learning to create art with them
(and so much more). How would you incorporate this lovely book into your learning?

Some Companion books you might appreciate alongside Raven & Friends would be:

The giveaway is simple. Like, comment and share! Share my blog post, share my social media (facebook, facebook business, or instagram). Comment on blog post something that intrigues you or who the book would be for. Only caveat is this: you need to live in Canada! Coast to Coast

The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illeniel

February 25, 2026 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Do you remember I took a break from listening to the Book of the Ancestors? I needed a story a little less intense to follow. Michael G. Manning’s books proved to be just the ticket. The Blacksmith’s son and The Line of Illeniel are the first two of a five book series of the Mageborn. Action, adventure, some romance, and a skill development through problem-solving. Add in horses, medieval style warfare and living and you have a nice little world of magic to play with.

mage born series - The blacksmiths son and line of illeniel

The Basics: The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illeniel

Okay, so I listened to these books as a break from a more intense series, The Red Sister. These two books are a much easier listen and are written by Michael G. Manning.

The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illenel are the first two in a five book series called Mageborn. The Blacksmith’s Son introduces us to Mordecai. A young man raised as the son of a blacksmith but growing skills in mage craft. He has questions that need answering.

The Line of Illeniel takes us further into the life of Mordecai, one that will end up setting up strife between him and the king. Skills development, some answers found, and tragedy happens.

Michael G. Manning grew up in Texas reading fantasy and sci books while engaging in free-spirited activities. This was his lot in life while delving into the world of pharmaceuticals and networking. Eventually he started writing books, and thus The Blacksmith’s Son was born.

These fantasy books are developed in a middle ages framework where sword and sorcery are part of living. One must defend themselves and others with honour. But plenty exist that don’t hold to an honour code at all. And therein lies the angst of The Mageborn. Each books runs 250-300 pages. And are available on Kindle, paperback, and audio. I read using Kindle Unlimited.

mage born series - The blacksmiths son and son of illeniel

Looking Deeper

An easy read with predictable plot in many ways. You know that he’s going to learn he’s a mage and that his folks cared about him. Just as you know he’ll develop those gifts, develop some friendships, build a love life, and more. Mystery will be part of his life. Enemies will need to be faced, and hopefully defeated.

The story is fun to be honest. Listening as I went about my daily chores, it was good to not have to pay close attention and know things will go okay. I did admittedly play back a couple of times as I lost something pivotal when cats would demand my attention.

I did get a bit annoyed that this 16 year old boy was able to defeat a pretty bad bad guy fairly easily. Many of the stressful events that happened seemed to be resolved fairly easily with just some cleverness on his part. So many pieces fit too neatly into place in lots of ways.

Yet, sometimes bad things happened and people were hurt. His love interest felt juvenile in many ways due to lack of clear communication or protectiveness from both ends.

In the end, I wanted a light read with the odd twist and turn, and Michael G. Manning delivered. Both The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illeniel proved to be a fun listen. A read that intrigues me enough that I’ll get the rest of the books in the series. Ultimately I want to know how the story of Mordecai turns out.

The Red Sister

February 18, 2026 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

I listened to The Red Sister a couple of weeks ago. It’s the first of a three part series where we follow Nona and her life learning with the nuns. These aren’t your typical quiet nuns, but ones that learn to follow the path. For some that’s a life of battle, and for others a life of meditation, and yet different for the rest. I want to continue listening to the series, but it’s a fairly intense storyline so I’m listening to something a little less intense first. Let me tell you about it eh?

The Basic Details for The Red Sister

Title: The Red Sister
Author: Mark Lawrence
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 480 pages
Intended Audience: adult
Genre: adult fiction, fantasy, action and adventure, epic fantasy, fantasy action and Adventure,
Available formats: Paperback, kindle, audio, hardcover
Format Used: audio

About book and author

Red Sister brings us into the world of Nona. A girl given by her parents to a child-taker. Who, through a series events ends up with the sisters. An eight year child accused of murder. At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers. Children take 10 years to become a Red Sister, learning the ways of the Path, trained in the use of the blade and fist. Here she will learn that it’s not until you are broken that you find your sharpest edge.

Mark Lawrence was born in the USA but grew up in the United Kingdom. He came back in to the USA to work on a variety of research projects including the ‘Star Wars’ missile defence programme. Returning to the United Kingdom he lives with his family of four children. He never had ambitions to be an author but here he is years later with several books under his belt. Learn more here.

So What Did I think?

I’d not heard of Mark Lawrence before I started Red Sister. His ice world created in this story is just wow. Like just very interesting. And trying to understand how the old blood works its way into the lives of the current inhabitants of this world. Primitive hard lifestyles that you catch glimpses of never used to be this way. But the ice changes everything and makes life harder.

Nona’s story slowly unfolds.

I can’t say it’s an easy story to listen to. It’s very intense and Nona is a very angry child. So many things happen to her and so many people want to see her destroyed. Her focus…. protect her friends! She’ll do anything she can to help them. A fierce weapon is who she was created to be.

You’ll find unexpected help, betrayal, bad people, good people, an interesting series of teachers (some good and some well… you know), unexpected kindness, and danger. Danger seems to seep in around the edges everywhere. It’s like no place is actually safe. That’s part of lure of The Red Sister, the way it draws you in and you expect to see Nona handle the danger, and to do so with ferocity.

Definitely worth reading (or listening to). I have to admit, I did take a break between listening to The Red Sister and starting (so yes, spoiler alert, Nona does survive for the second book) The Grey Sister. I’ll get my review of that to you later on! 🙂

The Personal Librarian

January 14, 2026 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

I listened to The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a bit back. I still think on it. I’d suggest you give it a read (or listen) if you have a chance to. Let me tell you why.

You’ll find romance, deception, books, and female determination. A strong matriarch, children divided about loyalties, and solid look into real life history. Come discover more about Belle da Costa Greene, personal librarian to J.P. Morgan.

image shows a pile of books text the personal librarian the story of bella da costa greene

The Basic Details for The Personal Librarian

Title: The Personal Librarian
Author: Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Narrator: Robin Miles (audio)
Publisher: Berkeley
Pages: 368 pages
Intended Audience: adult
Genre: adult fiction, historical fiction, racism, black & African-American women’s fiction, women’s fiction, American history, biographical,
Available formats: Paperback, kindle, audio, hardcover
Format Used: audio

About the Book and Author

Belle da Costa Greene lived in a time where black women were relegated to jobs such as maids and washer women. BUT she had lighter skin and a momma determined not to let people know she had African-American blood. This gave her children more freedom in the jobs they could hold. Enter in the story of Portuguese blood to help explain their darker colouring. Family fractures happen.

This story speaks to the hardship of hiding heritage, to the status of women, and the difficulties she faced. Learn more about how J.P. Morgan conducted himself, the work of a personal librarian, and catch glimpses into her personal life.

the authors

Marie Benedict is a lawyer who loves to discover stories about women in history and telling their stories. She loves to dig into history and discover the nuances about these women and bring their stories into the light of day. Victoria Christopher Murray has an MBA in Marketing, grew up in New York, and discovered her love for writing in 1997. She has since received numerous awards for her work. Some of her awards are for work as an African-American author.

Looking Deeper

I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Bella da Costa Greene. She was a remarkable lady who learned how to function well as a woman in a man’s world. She did so with style and finesse.

Even though I admire all the work she did, and how determined she was to make her way, I didn’t like all the choices she made. It’s not necessary to like everything about a person and still like who they are overall though eh? 🙂

I loved that she was able to meet the various expectations of her family, both the immediate and the more estranged. This was a relief to her as well, albeit at times an added pressure to do well. I have a hard time imaging that one person could be so pivotal in helping their whole family do better. I wanted at times to shake a finger at her adults siblings (and their spouses) and tell them to do better themselves. That they shouldn’t expect one person to make it all more bearable.

I liked the story in and of itself and was happy to to have listened to it. For those who want to learn about a remarkable woman of history, listen to this story (or go read it). 🙂 You’ll see hard life decisions being made, see the joys of procurement of rare items, and satisfaction of learning the business end of life. Being able to scoop your rivals… fantastic! 🙂

Author’s Remarks

I did wish that I didn’t listen to the author’s remarks. Like many author’s remarks I expected to hear how the story was changed. This was accurate, but then they went to on to say why they wrote it and brought racism into the picture and tied it into life today. I would rather NOT have heard that part. It changed the story from one that I enjoyed into “one I should have used to learn hard life lessons.”

That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to learn more about a woman from history. Being, in essence, forced to consider deeper issues changed the whole impact of the life shown to me. It was a spoiler, not a help. A help to me is “this is the true story, this is how I revamped it to make it read better”. Or these things happened, but I changed the order, etc.

Final Thoughts

So go read The Personal Librarian. Skip the author’s remarks. Enjoy the story and let the history of the day seep into your beingness. Learn, but mostly just enjoy her story.

The Making of Us

January 7, 2026 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

So there I was the other day chatting with a friend of mine. I mentioned that I had recently finished reading a book called The Making of Us and briefly told her about it. She asked if I was going to review it so I said “sure, I can do that.” Her response “Good, cause I want to know more.” So here we are, me reviewing a book I read just for fun.

The Basic Details for The Making of Us

Title: The Making of Us
Author: Lisa Jewell
Narrator: Helen Duff (audio)
Publisher: Atria Books (print/ebook)/Dreamscape Media (audio)
Pages: 416 pages
Intended Audience: adult
Genre: infertility, coming of age, contemporary women’s fiction, family, friendship, mystery, adult fiction,
Available formats: Paperback, kindle, audio
Format Used: audio

About The Book and Author

Lisa Jewell is a prolific author having written 19 novels. She has been a NY Time bestselling author. Many of her books are thrillers.

The Making of Us focuses in on three individuals. Lydia, Dean and Robyn. Although they don’t know each other, they share a secret. Through the discovery of that secret a new family is created. Infertility is a hard situation and people find different ways to deal with it. This drama draws you into their lives and we see three individuals develop into better people.

Digging a bit Deeper

It’s so odd. I have NEVER been a women’s fiction type of reader. I’ve read some but I tend to get annoyed with the drama and/or the romantic stuff that happens. It’s like I’m either thinking “hurry up and grow up will you” or “romantic love isn’t all sunshine and roses, get real.”. So for me to mostly enjoy a women’s fiction book I’m still finding a bit odd. My tastes are changing just a bit. I still adore fantasy, science fiction, and a good mystery the best. BUT… women’s fiction is definitely finding it’s place in my library.

The Making of us did contain some “hurry up and grow up” elements. I got a tad bit frustrated with how Dean handled things, but in the end he started to get there. Lydia and Robyn both learned and grew, able to put some the difficulties of their lives behind them. They found ways to start onto new paths.

The character development was okay. I felt like I had a pretty good grip on who Lydia and Dean were with Robyn kinda coming in around the edges.

Infertility created issues in three families and how they each handled it was quite different. Ms Jewell could have delved into that a bit deeper but chose not to. It made for a harder secret for some of the characters than others.

So What Did I Think?

Would I recommend that others read this novel? I think so. It’s wasn’t the most “I got to finish this book today” good. But I did want to know how things would turn out in the end. Would they meet the man who helped out their moms? What would they think of him? What would he think of them? How would they effect each others lives? Some of these questions weren’t answered due to how the story flowed.

In some ways this was very disappointing. To not have that closure in how their secret had closure, it was all just about how it affected them each personally. I wanted to know more about how it would affect them as a group as well. Did they all stay in contact? Would they build a new “found family” unit? It kinda felt like too little too late fatalism. On Goodreads I scored it as a three.

The story, The Making of Us, wasn’t bad it just didn’t feel like it went far enough for me.

The Inquisitive Raven

December 31, 2025 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product The Inquisitive Raven through Douglas & McIntyre. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and it is so much appreciated.

The Inquisitive Raven introduces us to Rueben. He’s a smart raven who wants to know everything about everything. A lover of his community and a teacher of what he has learned, he loves to help as much as he loves to learn. But he is sometimes laughed at, and this bothers Rueben. Whatever shall he do?

the inquisitive raven by robert wagamese, a review

The Basic Details

Title: The Inquisitive Raven
Author: Richard Wagamese
Illustrator: Bridget George
Series: The Richard Wagamese Storybook Collection
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Pages: 32
Intended Audience: children, 6-8 years,
Genre: indigenous, Canada, children’s Canada books, children’s growth, creation, indigenous stories
Available formats: Hardcover
Received: hardcover
Reviewed for: Douglas & McIntyre

Book and Author

Richard Wagamese also wrote The Animal People Choose a Leader which I also reviewed. A member of the Obijway people, he was a gifted storyteller. Despite being abandoned by his parents and being ill-treated in the foster care system, Richard learned to read. His life was not an easy-one, he was married, divorced, fathered children, and lived his life. He lived out his calling of being a storyteller with several published works.

In The Inquisitive Raven we learn about Rueben. He’s such a smart, inquisitive bird, sticking his beak into everything. He wanted to know as much about his world as he could, and he shared his knowledge with his community. One day he noticed an eagle soaring high above and watched how the other animals respected the eagle. He also wanted to be respected, and so we get to read of his experiences.

Looking deeper into The Inquisitive Raven

Oh, the artwork in The Inquisitive Raven helps to bring the story to life. It has a very indigenous feel to it. You can see the beauty in his coat, and the intelligence in his eyes. He seems like a very likable chap not wanting to miss an iota of life.

Some pages are full colour images and others only have an image on part of the page. Lots of white space to allow for ease of reading.

Large font makes it easy to read to a group of children. Wouldn’t it be fun to read with a group and stopping once in a while to ask questions? Thinking about the story you are listening to and building anticipation. What will Rueben learn through all of this? Can we learn together you think?

You’ll find that it’s a beautiful hardcover tome. It done up so nicely with a slightly rough texture making it very easy to handle/hold. The Douglas and McIntyre of have done a wonderful job of presenting Wagamese’s story. Rueben learned so much in this story, won’t you come and see the learning?

You will love this story and the artwork. It gives a good touch to First Nations language and history. Learn with Rueben. Accept what you have and who you are!

Starship in the Stone

December 17, 2025 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table they become part of so much fantasy literature. Starship in the Stone is a 10 book series that takes the story of Arthur and revamps it. There is much about the series that I liked and some things that occasionally irked me. But since I finished the entire series there was more that I liked than not! If you like science fiction and adventure, where good guys do all they can to defeat the bad guys, this is the story for you!

The Basic Details for The Starship in the Stone

Series Title: The Starship in the Stone

Author: M.R. Forbes
Publisher: Independently published
Pages: averaging 350 pages
Intended Audience: high-school, young adult, adult,
Genre: science fiction, space opera, space fleet, space marine,
Available formats: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, Audio
Read: Kindle

About the author and Series

M. R. Forbes has written a fair number of science fiction books. He loves to read sci-fi books and has a love for the genre in every format he can find. His goal is to entertain and surprise his audience. You can learn more about his works at his website.

The Starship in the Stone takes an unlikely hero, a bike messenger trying to escape a messy situation and lands him in a world unheard of. It’s an twist on the Legend of Arthur. You’ll find Merlin, a version of the Round Table. Enemies that were once friends. Enemies that become friends, and heroes in unlikely spaces. In many ways it’s a coming of age tale.

So What Did I think?

I enjoyed this series. Normally science fiction books aren’t my thing, but the story drew me in. An unlikely hero, a determined advisor, and an emergency situation, led to growth unimagined.

There was a struggle with Merlin always calling Thomas “my boy”. Like use his name! Seriously. His name is Thomas, call him that! He’s a man, not a child. And yes, Merlin is like an ancient being and in some ways I can conceive of him using the “my boy” moniker but it got a bit tiresome.

I did like how not everything turned out perfectly. People died, loved and cared for people. Ones that I wanted to see make it to the end of the story. Not all of them made it, which made the tale much more realistic and moving.

not always plausible

There were parts that seemed not quite plausible. Would it really be possible for one starship to take on massive amounts of other starships and miraculously being able to avoid weapons fire? But that’s the nature of a story right? Especially a story about a long-dead leader, embodied in a stone, with a high tech ship. Add to the mix an immortalized wizard transferred into technology (a computer) and you are bound to have things that seem a bit far-fetched. All that said, I read through all the books eagerly! 🙂

I wanted to know how Thomas was going to win the fight. I wanted to know if Lancelot could be saved and if Morgana could be stopped. Would Thomas and his lady friend become more than just friends? Could the round table be completed?

Did I get the answers to all my questions? NOPE. But I did get many of them answered, and mostly to the good. Bad things happen, good things happen, and in the end… good prevails. It’s just the way a good adventure story is supposed to!

Starship in the Stone, an excellent space marine opera worth reading!

Reviews

Raven & Friends

The Basic Details for Raven & Friends

Digging Deeper

Imagination Flows

The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illeniel

The Basics: The Blacksmith’s Son and The Line of Illeniel

Looking Deeper

The Red Sister

The Basic Details for The Red Sister

About book and author

So What Did I think?

The Personal Librarian

The Basic Details for The Personal Librarian