Review: I Love My Hair: A Coloring Book of Braids, Coils, and Doodle Dos by Andrea Pippins

Hello, book-nerds! 

I'm starting something new on my blog and that is reviewing coloring books! I've had a lot of requests to review them lately ever since "adult" coloring book popped onto the scene. I don't know about you but I absolutely love to color, even as a kid. It's always been such a fun and relaxing activity. 

Today I will be reviewing, I love my Hair by Andrea Pippins.

Hope you enjoy my first ever coloring book review. :)

I Love My Hair: A Coloring Book of Braids, Coils, and Doodle Dos

by Andrea Pippins

Paperback, 84 pages

Published November 10th 2015 by Schwartz & Wade

For fans of Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest comes a hip, gorgeous doodle coloring book about all things hair. Unlike other adult coloring books, which depict nature scenes and cityscapes, this title celebrates strong, confident women with a passion for style, design, and fashion.

Revel in the mesmerizing patterns and intricate details of Andrea Pippins’s delicate pen-and-ink illustrations, ready for you to color, complete, and embellish. Lose yourself in page after page of bold hairstyles and accessories, from rows of braids, to Mohawks, to sweeping updos, to cascades of ribbons and beads. Be transported to another world as you ink in Medusa’s slithering coiffure, Cleopatra’s elaborate headdress, and Marie Antoinette’s towering bouffant.

Perfect for experienced color-inners and newcomers alike. Coloring enthusiasts of all ages will love this empowering and stylish book. So go ahead—let your hair down, grab some pens or pencils, and add some color to your life.

Purchase at: Amazon / B&N / Publisher / Indiebound

Let me first talk about the overall designs featured in the book. 

After receiving the book I went through it page by page checking out what types of things I would be coloring and I must say I was blown away by how remarkably gorgeous the art work truly is. There was so much detail and time that went into designing these pages. I can't begin to image how much work goes into designing one of these for others to enjoy coloring in. Author and Illustrator Andrea Pippins did such a beautiful job capturing the essence of beauty through the use of hair in all cultures and points in time, like the one above of Marie Antoinette. 

Take a look at this page with butterflies and flowers as hair. I used Prismacolor colored pencils to make use of shading and to add some contrast to make it stand out. The curves (lines) were easy to color in and heavy enough to be able to standout around the color. Just those few butterflies I colored took about 20 minutes because of the attention to detail.

I love how unique this page is too. She looks like she is peeking out beneath her hair, but also blending into herself. Almost like she's hiding a secret only her hair butterflies know.

The page below I colored with my best friend, Courtney. I colored the left side and she colored the right. This one was taking a lonngggg time to color. There are so many small spaces to color in that it took a while to each one. While although we did not finish, it looks stunning so far. Don't you think? Once again the usage of flowers is added to give it a special touch. 

Throughout the book, there is also a lot of words and sayings about hair and self-image. All of which are positive for young girls and adults, saying not only to love your hair you were born with but to love yourself. 

I used markers on this page. I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome the colors came out. Even more so I was happy to see the colors did not bleed through the pages. The book has nice and thick paper used with is great for coloring with markers, which can normally run through page onto the other side.

Here is one I finished coloring. Yes, it's a mermaid. Her hair is luxuriously full of sea-life and seashells. I used colored pencils again for this page. I went with purple and blue for the base colors of her hair. Some light shading was scattered throughout. The attention to detail is outstanding. There's so much going on on this page but it all ties together beautifully to create this mysterious mermaid who rules the seas.

 

A closer look

I love my hair coloring book is full of richly designed art work but easy to color with your tool of choice. I preferred the colored pencils because I can shade with them but markers work perfectly too for a nice bright pop of color. I highly recommend this coloring book to everyone who enjoys coloring or for those who haven't colored since they were kids. It's a definite time killer and a great way to express your creativity. All of the pages are exquisitely illustrated with such detail right down to the smallest of curls to the largest of hair brushes. 

I had so much fun coloring in I Love My Hair and I think you will too! 

Let your imagination take you into a world of hairbow and clips, pigtails and perms, words of love and motivation, and of course HAIR!! 

Totally EPIC! One of the best coloring books I have colored in.

Blog Tour - Book Review: Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk + Giveaway: win a SIGNED copy!

Hello everyone! 

Welcome to the blog tour for Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk! I am so excited to be able to share my review for this amazing book! You guys are going to absolutely love ARROWS! Be sure to enter the giveaway below to win a signed copy of the book. 

Enjoy the review! 

Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk 
Publisher: Delacorte Press 
Release Date: January 26th 2016 
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, Mythology, Retellings, Romance

A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV's Teen Mom.

People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter what he says or does or how he hurts her, she can’t stay angry with him . . . and can’t stop loving him. But there’s a reason why Karma is helpless to break things off: she’s been shot with a love arrow. 
Aaryn, son of Cupid, was supposed to shoot both Karma and Danny but found out too late that the other arrow in his pack was useless. And with that, Karma’s life changed forever. One pregnancy confirmed. One ballet scholarship lost. And dream after dream tossed to the wind.

A clueless Karma doesn’t know that her toxic relationship is Aaryn’s fault . . . but he’s going to get a chance to make things right. He’s here to convince Danny to man up and be there for Karma. But what if this god from Mount Olympus finds himself falling in love with a beautiful dancer from Wisconsin who can never love him in return?

This fast-paced debut novel explores the internal & external conflicts of a girl who finds herself inexplicably drawn to a boy who seemingly doesn't reciprocate her  feelings, touching on the issues of love, sex and responsibility, with a heroine struggling to control her destiny--perfect for fans of Katie McGarry's novels and MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. 

Want to read an excerpt of Arrows? Click here!

Arrows combines three of my favorite types of genres in YA fiction, Mythology, retellings, and romance. This fun and unique take on the classic Cupid story set in present-day, was not only magical but EPIC in every way. A breath of fresh air, author Melissa Gorzelanczyk writes from the heart and gives her readers a story they  won't soon forget! 

Son of the legendary Cupid, Aaryn is in-training to be a "cupid" just like his Dad. Love is never easy to find and Aaryn is destined to help lonely souls on earth find their true love with just a prick of an arrow. Aaryn is about to graduate but need to find one last couple to bring together but notices too late that there is only one arrow left in his bag. In a hurry, he decides to only shoot a girl named Karma with his last arrow, leaving the Danny untouched. Thus hoping it will be enough to spout true love between the two.

Now a full-fledged Cupid, Aaryn tried to forget about that night and move on to helping others in need, but the past is about to catch up with him. Cupid, Aaryn Dad finally learns the truth and forces his son to return to earth as a human to right the wrong he made a year ago. He learns that Karma had gotten pregnant and now has a baby named Nell. Her dreams of being a professional ballet dancer are now on pause but would have been a real if not for being a teen Mom. While Karma is hopelessly in love with Danny, Danny is far from settling down with a family and marriage. It's Aaryn job to help Danny fall in love and marry Karma, to set his wrong right and return to being a God. 

As Aaryn tries to pick up the pieces of his mistake, he begins to have feelings for Karma. Feelings he knows he should never have for a human and ones that could get him into a lot of trouble. 

Will Aaryn be able to bring Danny and Karma together or will love find its own way, to someone else's heart? Find out by reading ARROWS! 

{ Warning: slight spoilers below }

Appropriately the word I use to describe my feeling for this book is:

LOVE

I loved this retelling of Cupid. 

I loved Aaryn. I loved Karma. I loved hated Danny.

I loved the setting. I loved Nell. (she is such a cutie)

I loved how broken Karma was and how I could feel her sadness through the authors words. I loved how much Aaryn cared so deeply for Karma, more than Danny ever would or could. 

I loved seeing the slow burn of romance bloom between Karma and Aaryn. And I loved more than anything, that in the end true LOVE conquers all, no arrows needed.

If I could give ARROWS more than 5 stars I would, in a heartbeat. 

 I give mad props to author Melissa Gorzelanczyk for writing such a heartbreakingly beautiful retelling of Cupid. I immensely enjoyed reading this novel. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those who adore mythology, retellings, and romance in YA fiction. You're going to LOVE to love this book!

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!!

Melissa Gorzelanczyk is a former magazine editor and columnist who believes love is everything. She is a proud member of the SCBWI, The Sweet Sixteens and the Class of 2k16. Her young adult novel ARROWS is available now from Delacorte Press, a division of Penguin Random House. She is represented by agent Carrie Howland of Donadio & Olson. She lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with her husband and family. 

 Win (1) signed hardcover of ARROWS by Melissa Gorzelanczyk + a bookmark 
(US Only)

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Book Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller

Title: Nightmares!
Author: Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller
Hardcover, 355 pages
Published: September 9th 2014 
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Genre: MG > Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Source: via publisher (hardcover)

"Coraline meets Monsters, Inc. in this delightfully entertaining offering from actor [Jason] Segel and co-author [Kirsten] Miller."— Publishers Weekly 

The hilariously frightening, middle-grade novel Nightmares! is a Texas Bluebonnet nominee and the first book in a trilogy about a boy named Charlie and a group of kids who must face their fears to save their town. 

Sleeping has never been so scary. And now waking up is even worse!

Charlie Laird has several problems. 

1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.

2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is NOT a place you want to find yourself after dark.

3.He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap. 

What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed.

And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository | Kobo | Indiebound

Before I begin I want to say that one of the main authors of this book is actor, Jason Segel. If you don't know who he is, he played Marshall in How I meet your mother and has been in a ton of other movies, such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets and Knocked Up! I've never actaully read any books that have been written by an actor so I jumped at the offer. Wouldn't you? I was excited to read it simply because of that aspect alone and ended up totally loving this book! But of course, I already knew that...

The story takes place in the small town of Cypress Creek where 12-year-old Charlie Laird, his Father, and his annoying little brother, Jack lives. They live in a purple mansion on DeChant Hill with their new step-mother Charlotte. Ever since moving into the mansion, Charlie has been having horrible nightmares. They sometimes seem so real that he does not want to go back to sleep in fear of another nightmare. Ever since Charlie moved into his step-mother's home he has felt uneasy and just not right. Unhappy in more ways the one, Charlie begins to see odd things happening around the house and his nightmares are getting so bad now he doesn't sleep at all. In these nightmares, he often sees an evil witch who looks an awfully like his new step-mom. Exhausted and angry, Charlie begins picking fights with Jack and sometimes wishes he would just disapear. These dreams that plague him are becoming more and more real, until one night Charlie awakens to see the evil-charlotte-looking witch coming into the real world and steal Jack away....to the place of which all of Charlie's nightmares roam. 

Now Charlie must enter the Neverworld and fight his way to find his little brother and bring him home before it's too late! Facing his fears may be the only way to succeed but when you're living in your own nightmare nothing is ever that simple.

Will Charlie be able to save his brother from the witch before time runs out? Well...you'll have to read the book to find out. 

For a middle-grade book, it totally rocked! I mean I was so surprised but how much I truly enjoyed this story. Charlie was such a fun and interesting character. He would do anything to get his brother back, and I mean anything. All of the people, creatures, and monsters he meet along the way were so outstanding and I love how each of them played such a huge part in helping Charlie throughout the book. The world building was beautifully done, with such a spooky ambiance throughout. The story itself was so much fun to read and the experience of being there alongside Charlie while he faced his fears to save Jack was epic! I can't say enough great things about this book. I knew going into it that the plot sounded like something I would like but I never expected to love it as much as I did. 

Another fun thing that really made this book even better than it already is, are the illustrations that go along with the story, like the ones below. 

These beautifully draw images add so much to the book and really make the story come alive. I am so excited and looking forward to reading what happens next, especially since there was a cliffhanger at the end.

I recommend Nightmares to all of my readers, young and old. 

Props to Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller, you both did an amazing job writing this book. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!!

Review: November 9 by Colleen Hoover

Title: November 9
Author: Colleen Hoover
Paperback, 320 pages
Published: November 10th 201
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: NA - Contemporary - Romance

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo

  I f*cking hate being a fan of Colleen Hoover sometimes! I know full well what I'm going into; I know full well that the book would be brutal. But every time she releases a new book, I'm there buying it. UGH!

--------------------- REVIEW ---------------------

“When you find love, you take it. You grab it with both hands and you do everything in your power not to let it go. You can’t just walk away from it and expect it to linger until you’re ready for it.”

  Fallon met Ben for the first time on November 9, the anniversary of the fire that destroyed her acting career. Their attraction is instant but Fallon was scheduled to move across the country that day, so they made a plan to meet every year for the next 5 years on November 9. This book follows their story through the 5 November 9's, told in Ben's and Fallon's point of views.

 

“You’ll never be able to find yourself if you’re lost in someone else.”

  To be honest, there were just so many things about this book that I hate that I was so surprised how much I loved this one! I mean, this whole book happened in a span of less than a week, for Christ's sakes, and there were so many things that happened already! There was insta-love, but it didn't really feel like insta-love to me. There was so much lying going around,their relationship was so dysfunctional and confusing, and Fallon is a bit whiny and a masochist. 

 

“You can’t leave yet. I’m not finished falling in love with you.”

  I have no idea how CoHo made this all work out because I wasn't even thinking how annoying any of those were while reading the book. In fact, CoHo made Fallon and Ben's love story feel like the perfect love story. Can you see how powerful and wonderful this woman is with words? AMAZING! And all the bookworm talks? They were just perfect! Not only did this book make me fall in love, it also made me laugh out loud.

 

“If we’re going to kiss, it has to be book-worthy.”

  Just like any other novel written by Colleen Hoover, this book was amazing and heart-wrenching. I can't believe I loved this book, but at the end of the day, I did. I will always be a Colleen Hoover fan, and I would always buy her books even without reading the synopsis.

“She “loved me” in quotations She kissed me in bold I TRIED TO KEEP HER in all caps She left with an ellipsis . . .”

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!

This was a reread and I would reread it again!

Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: J.K. Rowling
Paperback, 435 pages
Published: May 1st 2004
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: MG - Fantasy

Harry Potter is lucky to reach the age of thirteen, since he has already survived the murderous attacks of the feared Dark Lord on more than one occasion. But his hopes for a quiet term concentrating on Quidditch are dashed when a maniacal mass-murderer escapes from Azkaban, pursued by the soul-sucking Dementors who guard the prison. It's assumed that Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry to be. But is it a coincidence that he can feel eyes watching him in the dark, and should he be taking Professor Trelawney's ghoulish predictions seriously? 

Purchase at: Amazon | B&N | TBD | Kobo

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is by far the best of the first three books. This book is the most exciting, and all the revelations that came about in this book made it a lot better. I rated this book 5 stars when I first read it, and I am once again giving it the 5 stars that it deserves.

I first read this series back when I was still in 6th grade - a time when I didn't know anything about writing reviews yet. Now that I'm a blogger, I worried that I might like this less because it's for MG or because the pattern of things is kind of repetitive. But after reading this book, I found myself loving it as much as I did the first time I read it. The world of Hogwarts never ceases to amaze me, and it would be really wonderful to be able to read this book again for the first time at this age.

The appearance of Sirius' character definitely made me love this book more since he's one of my favorite characters in the book. As I said a while ago, the revelations made this book more exciting and better. I love how this book brought about many emotions for me around the part where Sirius appeared and everything was revealed to Harry. Out of the three books, this is the only one that has managed to do that yet.

The Harry Potter series definitely is a must-read for adults, teenagers and kids alike.

Totally EPIC! One of the best books I have read. A MUST read!

This was a reread and I would reread it again!