Robert Munsch is a Canadian author and a favourite of our family so the chance to get to read a copy of one of his beautiful books that focuses on Canada’s most northern peoples through Netgalley was not something we wanted to miss out on! A Promise is a Promise is an amazing combination of beautiful imagery and stroytelling that is not to be missed. Based on an Inuit legend meant to keep the children away from dangerous ice conditions the Quallupilluit is a beautifully scary creature that comes to take children who come near the ice cracks in the sea along away. Promising never to take one who is with their parents children are taught to never venture out alone. That is until Allashua misbehaves and makes a promise as… A Promise is a Promise! 

I have to admit we are biased… we have not read a Robert Munsch book that I we haven’t loved. A Promise is a Promise did not disappoint. The illustrations are amazing and the story beautiful. The lesson is learned but at the same time the legend it brought to kids who have no background in Inuit culture without loosing all of the context. The next time we cover the Inuit people we are going to have to read this one again. 

Sadly my Kindle app version did not have the illustrations but when I loaded it up on my Kindle Fire it was fine, but with small print. I would suggest purchasing a paper copy of this book. But enough from the adult point of view… here is what my kids have to say, and as usual beware of spoilers! 

Trinity: I learned you should always do what my mommy and daddy say. The book was pretty nice. I liked the dancing best. 

Emanuel: You always should listen to your mom and dad. My favourite part was the singing of Quallupilluit. 

Gavin: I liked the characters because I liked their pointy blue hair – it looks like feathers (the Qallupilluit). I thought the cracks were cool. I would love to read this again. 

Zander: It was a pretty good book. I want to know why the kid didn’t listen. My favourite part was when they tricked the Qallupilluit with candy, dancing and bread. I would read this again, probably. 

Be sure to check Robert Munsch’s page for a list of all his amazing books HERE. 

A Promise is a Promise

And back I go to dish out another super quick and quirky read! Seriously I am loving these Flirts! Sometimes you just want that light giggle with a terrific conclusion and with Lisa Scott you really do get that… 2/2 so far! I may just have to splurge and get myself one of the collections! Anyway onto the story.

I love the little blurb that is at the end of my Kindle version… “Can a plain Jane find love when her best friend is a curvy blond man magnet?” And from that point we take off running! Jane is best friends with Miranda who loves clubbing and men and notches on her bedpost that span the world. At one such man hunt (for an Auzzie or someone who owns a yacht) Jane, who sits back and thins out the men for Miranda is the queen of one liners and stories to send the less interesting candidates away meets Brady the bartender. At the end of the evening a bet is made between the two and there the story goes off and running.

I don’t want to share too much more as it IS a short story… but I giggled, I loved the characters and I adored the ending! So if you want a nice, quick enjoyable read The Hot Girl’s Friend is PERFECT!

The Hot Girl’s Friend

Now if you have NOT read A Charming Crime, the first in Tonya Kappes Magical Cures Mysteries series… STOP and go straight to my review HERE. To date there are three stories in this series with A Charming Cure being the 2nd and A Charming Potion the 3rd (a Mini Mystery). I have purchased all 3 off Amazon for my Kindle and am really looking forward to delving into the 3rd in the series next.

Now I did notice a few more spelling and punctuation errors in this second book but NOT enough to really disturb my escape into the world of June Heal and Whispering Falls. I was happy to see that while Oscar, the bestfriend/police officer was more in the background for the most part in this book, Mr. Prince Charming the fairy god cat was right there with June throughout her adventures.

Many of the characters from the previous novel are included in this book but for the most part the mystery was focused at a special Intuition school. Run by June’s Aunt Helena (who was unknown or at least forgotten by June at this point) her “only 4 days” quickly becomes an exercise in confusion, frustration and surprisingly attempted murder!

As in the previous book June combines intuition with charms, sleuthing and an incessant wish to know more about her past and her family.

A Charming Cure