June 2019 – Page 4 – Sincerely Karen Jo

bookreviewnew

Hello lovelies! Today, I’ll be sharing my review for this adorable Middle-Grade/Children’s fairy tale. I don’t read MG books very often and I’m really picky, but The Scarecrow and the Princess by Maggie Archer absolutely charmed me so I’m really happy I decided to take a chance on it. It’s really short… 67 pages and I finished it in less than hour, BUT it’s delightful and so entertaining that I was quite sad when it ended. Anyway, if you have an hour to spare and looking for an easy read and a fun, and entertaining story, then I highly recommend you check this out.

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scarecrowprincess

abouthebook2

Published: January 17th 2019 by Amazon Kindle

Genre(s): Children, Middle-Grade, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Humor

Format: Kindle Edition, 67 pages

Read FREE on KU or buy for $3.99 AMAZON

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mythoughts

Delightfully Magical, Enchanting, and Inspirational

4halfhearts

The Scarecrow and the Princess by Maggie Archer is a delightful, magical, and heartwarming fairy tale.

A witch with a vengeance cursed a young prince too handsome for his own good. He becomes a scarecrow, gets banished to an unknown orchard, and patiently waits to be real again. Meanwhile, a kindhearted princess with problems of her own has been seeking solace with the new resident scarecrow in the apple orchard. Will these two find what they’re looking for and have a happily ever after?

This book is whimsical and cute and just so much fun! Archer’s writing has its own irresistible charm and had me completely dazzled. I don’t read children’s books often, but this little gem is witty and so endearing that I found myself engrossed with the story until the very end. For a short book, I thought the plot is amazingly well-developed and moves quickly with plenty of funny, affecting, and adorably sweet moments that definitely warmed my heart. The characters are just superb and seem absolutely genuine, likable and charming. The scarecrow and the princess are such fantastic leads and even the side characters are quite lovely on their own ways. The ending wraps up the story beautifully leaving readers with a wonderful sense of joy!

With its swiftly moving plot, lovable characters, magical elements, and the perfect combination of humor and heart, this enchanting fairy tale will delight and keep readers engaged. But, what I really love is that The Scarescrow and the Princess is also wonderfully inspirational as the narrative encourages readers to always treat everyone with kindness, appreciate what they have and never take anything for granted.

While I think this book is fabulous for middle-grade children and younger, I would also recommend this to anyone at any age who loves fairy tales. This book charmed me, made me smile, had me laughing a few times, and overall have a fantastically fun time!

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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abouttheauthor

(Author Bio and Photo taken from her Amazon Author Page)

Maggie Archer (born in 1980 in Klerksdorp, South Africa) lives in Klerksdorp with her husband, young daughter and two chow chow dogs.

She is currently all about the children’s books 🙂 This is a category that has always held great appeal to her and now, finally, after years of procrastination, her first two books are seeing the light of day. It just seemed like such a waste for a wannabe children’s author to have a little kid of her own and no books out to be impressing said kid.
Is said kid impressed? That depends very much on the day, but the little one, at four years old, thinks she would be great at illustrating her mother’s books. An idea that will certainly be explored in the future.

For now, Maggie vacillates between mothering, wifeing (probably not a word, but whatever), housekeeping, gardening and writing. The most volatile of these are the mothering and the writing, each with crazy highs and lows but ultimately extremely rewarding.

authorlinks

GOODREADS – AMAZON

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Thanks for stopping by love! Hope you have a beautiful and fun rest of the day!!!

sincerelykjologo

arcreview2

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abouthebook2

Published: June 25th 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Genre(s): Humor, Fiction

Format: Paperback, 352 pages

AMAZON – BARNES AND NOBLE

synopsis

An unpredictable and entertaining tale of secrets, desires, and forgiveness spanning four generations of an American family.

In WASPy Larkspur, New Jersey, social expectations and decorum rule, and Marjorie and Dunsfield Thornden are the envy of their neighbors. Their daughters Claire and Cat set the small town’s social calendar by throwing tastefully lavish family parties year round. Because it’s 1977, underage debauchery is to be expected—and Cat and Claire’s children, Bizzy and Choo, are at its very center.

Underneath their well-maintained veneer, the Thorndens are quite dysfunctional, but have always had their entitlement to fall back on. And while some are finally ready to accept what they’re willing to give up for the life that they think they deserve, secrets that should’ve never been kept—especially not from each other—are bubbling unattractively to the surface.

So when a scandal threatens to unravel this tight-lipped family and their secrets, the Thorndens will have to decide how much they’ll let decorum rule social mores dictate their decisions and how far they’ll go to keep some secrets just that. Any choice they make could mean freedom from expectations but will change the course of their family’s legacy forever.

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mythoughts

Unique, and Quite interesting, but I felt Unmoved and Indifferent

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Twisted Family Values by V.C. Chickering was a very interesting read for me. I don’t entirely dislike the novel, but overall….it just wasn’t a thoroughly enjoyable story for me. Actually, I felt quite uneasy and uncomfortable at times.

The story follows the dysfunctional lives of the Thorndens which to me seem absurdly crazy and whacky. It just felt too weird and too unsettling for me. I really had a difficult time with the narrative and I had to put it down a few times. The writing is good and the plot is well-developed, but I just wasn’t into it and honestly didn’t care about the characters enough to feel any emotions. In the end, I felt that the book as a whole isn’t enjoyable enough for me.

With humor, secrets, scandals, and unexpected surprises, Twisted Family Values is unique, unpredictable and quite interesting, but the story and characters just felt too twisted for me. It was an interesting read and I’m sure there are other readers who’ll enjoy this book, but I personally felt unmoved and indifferent. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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abouttheauthor

V.C. CHICKERING has written for Comedy Central, MTV, Lifetime, TLC, Discovery, NickMom and Oxygen television networks as well as for BUST, Cosmo, and The Washington Post magazines. She’s written screenplays; has a local newspaper column entitled, Pith Monger; and a blog. She lives in New Jersey with her family where she also writes and performs witty, original songs for the alt-bluegrass/indi-jazz band, Tori Erstwhile & The Montys. She is the author of Nookietown and Twisted Family Values.

authorlinks

WEBSITE – GOODREADS – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM

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Thanks for stopping by loves. Hope you’re having a fantastic day!

sincerelykjologo