Cool Kids by Arlene Freeman: Review & Giveaway with iRead Book Tours

 Join Us for This Tour:  November 22nd to December 10th

 

Book Details:

Book Title:  Cool Kids by Arlene Freeman
Category:  Children's Fiction (Ages 3-7), 38 pages
Genre:  Chldren's Picture Book
Publisher:  Mascot Publishing
Release date:   October 2021
Content Rating:  G.  Suitable for all ages.

 

Book Description:
​​
​Like most kids, Michael and his friends are so excited for their first day at a new school. They have a lot of questions about what to expect, but most of all, they wonder if they’ll get to join the football team. That would be the perfect way to start the year! However, Michael soon finds out that it’s not as easy as he thinks. The team is filled with bullies, and to join, he has to become one of them. In order to be cool enough to get a spot on the football team, Michael has to start changing his behavior—for the worse! Suddenly, terrible things start happening to him. Finally, he begins to wonder: Was it all worth it?

Buy the Book
Mascot 
Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

 

MY THOUGHTS.....

Michael Goodly is both excited and nervous, because he's about to start fourth grade in a new school. He wants to fit in and play football, but it looks like being mean and hurting people may be the only way to be accepted by some of the other players. Is acting tough and hateful the only way that Michael will be allowed to play football with these guys?

Acceptance and fitting in are very important to young people and bullying is an issue that many of them face today. Author Arlene Freeman assures children that they don't have to act tough or mean to be considered cool. In fact, Michael learns that being nice and helping others is the perfect way to gain friends and become one of the 'cool kids'!

Cool Kids is filled with bright, colorful pictures that immediately capture a child's attention, but keeping younger children interested may be hard, because of its length. I believe that Cool Kids is better suited for children in elementary school, and I consider it a valuable resource for both home and school.

I received a copy of this book from the author via iRead Book Tours. There was no obligation for a favorable review. These are my own thoughts.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Meet the Author:

Freeman’s first career was a third-grade schoolteacher in the Passaic School System. Teaching children is her true passion, and she incorporated this passion in her community involvement. Her second career as a real estate broker and appraiser enabled her to open her own real estate company, Prime Realty, with a partner. After thirty-five years, they sold to Coldwell Banker. She loves dogs, playing piano, telling stories, singing, dancing, and sharing wonderful examples of life’s lessons with her grandchildren. Arlene lives in Woodland Park, New Jersey. She has two sons, Dr. Ted Freeman of Long Branch, New Jersey, and Dr. Eric Freeman of Westfield, New Jersey, as well as three grandchildren: Michael, Max, and Quinn. This is her first book and maybe her third career.

Connect with the Author:  Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

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Tour Schedule:

Nov 22 – Cover Lover Book Review – book review / giveaway
Nov 22 - Gina Rae Mitchell – book review / author interview / giveaway
Nov 23 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 23 - Splashes of Joy – book review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 23 - A Mama's Corner of the World – book review / giveaway
Nov 23 – Bound 4 Escape – book review / giveaway
Nov 24 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book review / giveaway
Nov 26 – Older & Smarter? – book review / giveaway
Nov 29 –Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
Nov 30 – Pick a Good Book – book review / author interview / giveaway
Dec 1 – icefairy's Treasure Chest – book review / giveaway
Dec 2 – She Just Loves Books – book review / giveaway
Dec 2 - Kam's Place – book review
Dec 3 – Sefina Hawke's Books – book spotlight
Dec 6 – I'm Into Books – book review / giveaway
Dec 6 - Reading is My Passion – book review / giveaway
Dec 6 - Writer with Wanderlust – book review / guest post / giveaway
Dec 7 – Lisa's Reading – book review / giveaway
Dec 8 – @twilight_reader – book review
Dec 9 – The Phantom Paragrapher – book review
Dec 10 – The Page Ladies – book review

Enter the Giveaway:

 COOL KIDS Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

View all my reviews

 

Behind Love's Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels: Review & Giveaway with Celebrate Lit

 

About the Book

Behind Love's Wall

Author: Carrie Fancett Pagels

Genre: FICTION/ Christian/Romance

Release date: November 1, 2021

Two successful women, a hundred-and-twenty-years apart, build walls to protect their hearts. Modern-day Willa, a successful interior decorator, is chosen to consult for the Grand Hotel’s possible redesign. She discovers a journal detailing the struggles of a young woman, Lily—which reveals dark secrets. The renowned singer wasn’t who she pretended to be. As Willa reaches out to Lily’s descendant, a charismatic and prominent landscape artist, she lets down her guard. Should she share the journal with him, or once again erect a wall as she struggles to redesign both the Grand and her life?

 

Click here to get your copy!

MY THOUGHTS.....

What a book! Questions, secrets, and two unforgettable couples add to the appeal of Behind Love's Wall, a distinctive dual timeline story that spans 125 years! In 1895, Lily has a secret that she must hide, even from the man who has captured her heart, and present day Willa has a question needing to be answered. Is it possible that Willa's discovery of Lily's journal may lead her to the answer she's searching for? Will this century-old journal help Willa to reconcile the present and determine her future?

Author Carrie Fancett Pagels once again returns to the beautiful setting of Mackinac Island to share these two fascinating stories and she features the famous Grand Hotel as a supporting character in both of them. Mental illness is a recurring theme, and Pagels's knowledge as a psychologist allows her to highlight the advancements that have occurred during the last century that help us to better understand this disease. Ample doses of faith, forgiveness, and unconditional love, along with intrigue and mystery, certainly add to its interest, but the 'icing on the cake' for this novel are the two heartwarming romances. I recommend Behind Love's Wall to all who enjoy historical Christian romance and dual timeline plots.

I received a complimentary copy of this book but was under no obligation to post a positive review. These are my own thoughts.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars 

About the Author

ECPA-bestselling author Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D., is the award-winning author of over a dozen Christian historical romances. Twenty-five years as a psychologist didn’t “cure” her overactive imagination! A self-professed “history geek,” she resides with her family in the Historic Triangle of Virginia but grew up as a “Yooper” in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Carrie loves to read, bake, bead, and travel – but not all at the same time! You can connect with her at www.CarrieFancettPagels.com.

 

More from Carrie

Why I Wrote This Novel

 

I got a chance to write another novel set on Mackinac Island!!!

 

I’m the author of over twenty published stories. I have many books, both novel and novella length, set at the Straits of Mackinac including Maggie Award winner and Romantic Times Top Pick My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island. In the summer, I go up to the area and I’m blessed to sign books at the Island Bookstore—sometimes hundreds of books which is such an amazing thing I can’t tell you! Now that MHBoMI is out of print, Barbour has been helping by doing limited print runs for while I am up there.

 

My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island was originally part of a full series that I pitched but it didn’t get picked up for all three stories. MHBoMI got picked up as part of the My Heart Belongs series that Barbour put out a few years ago. The second book in my original Brides of Mackinac series was heroine Sadie’s story, which was published as a novella “His Anchor” in First Love Forever collection.  So I had two of my book babies delivered out into the world and Lily’s story sat there for a while.

 

In the Covid summer of 2020, I arrived in my home state of Michigan and over dinner with a close friend I learned that the folks at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island were having legal trouble with their previous long-time designed Carlton Varney suing them. I’d been disappointed that the Mussers, who’d owned the Grand for generations, had sold the hotel but this new development really bugged me.  While I was in the Upper Peninsula, I finished an Indy book, Dogwood Plantation, which only figures since I often write my Michigan stories while I am in Virginia and vice versa! I knew the only other book I wanted to work on was to complete my Brides of Mackinac trilogy (not exactly since they aren’t all in one series!) with Lily’s story. I also had a manuscript about 70% done that was my very first contemporary Women’s Fiction novel. When my agent encouraged me to submit a Mackinac Island story set at the Grand Hotel to Barbour’s Doors to the Past series, I knew immediately that the only story for historical I wanted to write was Lily’s. That meant that I needed, for this dual-timeline series, a contemporary story. That wasn’t just a chance sharing at dinner—I believe the info about the lawsuit was meant to be passed on to me one of those God-incidences. My modern-day heroine then became an established resort designer who had a trunkful of issues just like Lily did.

 

Was I ever glad that I had finally written my first contemporary Women’s Fiction (Butterfly Cottage) because that skill set came in very handy in writing the modern-day 2020 story of Willa in Behind Love’s Wall! This was the most difficult novel to write that I have done so far as I write in character and going back and forth between the 1895 and 2020 timelines could be draining. I tried to write each character and setting on separate days but that couldn’t always be managed.

 

I pray that this story will touch readers’ hearts. I pray that someone, like the young waitress I meant on Mackinac Island who had been spiritually moved by My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island (she read her grandmother’s copy after her grandma passed away!), will read this book and feel that connection to our Maker. That’s what Christian Fiction is all about!

Blog Stops

Life of Literature, November 18

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 18

The Meanderings of a Bookworm, November 19

Cats in the Cradle Blog, November 19

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 19

Inklings and notions, November 20

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 20

For Him and My Family, November 21

Mary Hake, November 21

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, November 22

Texas Book-aholic, November 22

For the Love of Literature, November 22

deb’s Book Review, November 23

Betti Mace, November 23

Genesis 5020, November 23

Older & Smarter?, November 24

Remembrancy, November 24

Blossoms and Blessings, November 25

Stephanie’s life of determination, November 25

Connect in Fiction, November 25

Rebecca Tews, November 26

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 26

Through the fire blogs, November 27

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, November 27

Pause for Tales, November 27

Bigreadersite, November 28

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, November 28

Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 28

Connie’s History Classroom, November 29

Bizwings Blog, November 29

Labor Not in Vain, November 29

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, November 30

To Everything There Is A Season, November 30

Jeanette’s Thoughts, December 1

Encouraging Words from the Tea Queen, December 1

Where Faith and Books Meet, December 1

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/137e9/behind-love-s-wall-celebration-tour-giveaway

View all my reviews