My Thoughts

The Twelve Days of Elfin is a charming little book that’s on a big mission – to bring parents and children together this Christmas by sharing quality time reading, baking and crafting.

I love the idea and the structure of this book which you can read over twelve nights during December. It follows Ruben and his new best friend Elfin who encourages him to get well and truly into the spirit of Christmas. Each section is followed by a simple recipe, or instructions on how to make whatever Elfin and Ruben have that day. What a great idea!

The only small criticism I have is that it felt a little bit amateurish to me, with regards to the storytelling and the illustrations, but saying that, I think it just added to the simple charm of it.

Twelve Days of Elfin is a lovely little book will without doubt bring parents and children even closer at Christmastime, encouraging wholesome family interaction and festive cheer.

Meet the Author

Tweelve Days - Melanie Chambers Author Pic

Melanie Chambers was born in Bristol, and had a troubled childhood. She was only diagnosed with dyslexia a few years ago on a British Sign Language course.

Melanie has been inspired by her own children to write books for that age group, due to their limitless imaginations. With her younger daughter also being an arts and crafts fan, and with Christmas being a favourite holiday it made sense to combine them into a her first book – The Twelve Days of Elfin.

You can follow Melanie on:

Thanks to Rachel at Authoright for arranging this tour. If you’d like me to promote your book, please get in touch via the email on my contacts page 🙂

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Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next.

Hi Everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying your December. I’m sorry I’ve not been interacting much of late, I’m finding it a bit hard to get back into the swing of things after having November off and I’m trying not to force myself to do it, you know!? I’m sure the motivation will come back eventually, but at the moment I’m just enjoying reading lots and spending time with friends.

I only have a week and a half left at work THIS YEAR (squeeeeeal), so I’m looking forward to having some time off, and hopefully I’ll feel like catching up on reviews and things then. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading…

Now

polarbearex

The Polar Bear’s Explorer Club ~ Alex Bell

I’ve barely started this so not much to report so far. I’m very excited about it though!

Join Stella Starflake Pearl and her three fellow explorers as they trek across the snowy Icelands and come face-to-face with frost fairies, snow queens, outlaw hideouts, unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs and carnivorous cabbages . . .

When Stella and three other junior explorers get separated from their expedition can they cross the frozen wilderness and live to tell the tale?

Then

Carnivalesque ~ Neil Jordan

Norse Mythology ~ Neil Gaiman

I enjoyed both of these, but the Neil Jordan book slightly less so.

Next???

I still might give Little Women a go, and I also have Artemis by Andy Weir. But Renegades (see below) also arrived and ahhh need to read nowww!

New on the Shelves

There’s too many to mention since the last time I did this feature (which was back in September!) so I’ll just share what arrived this week, and do a separate post for the others at some point.

I’m so excited about this new Marissa Meyer book. I hope it’s better than Heartless was. Eeeeek.

renegades

Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone…except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

What have you been reading this week? Let me know in the comments or leave your link.