Monthly Archives: February 2025

Grumpfort

by Stephen | Leave a comment

Jamie Hammond, Usborne, (288p) ISBN: 9781835400951. Middle Grade, read 28/02/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Grumpfort

Grumpfort

A great fun adventure for 7 and above readers.

A forest full of monsters and a village under siege which has always needed Wardens to protect them.

Into this comes Mo (Monday the Fifteenth). Wardens are meant to be fearless, skilled in weapons, and unrelenting… Mo is none of these, he is timid, and bookish but really doesn’t want to disappoint the village and live up to the legacy of the Wardens.

To this end Mo hatches a cunning plan, he will go into The Forest (not allowed!!!) and capture a monster (ill advised) to bring back to the village so as to prove his worth.

A fun adventure about outsiders and acceptance, finding friends, and growing up and realising that what everyone else wants for you might not be what you want for yourself or even what’s best for you.

I received this from Usborne in exchange for an honest review.

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Another Couple of Picture Books

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A couple of picture books

A couple of picture books

It’s been a while but I’m starting to enjoy reading children’s books again, I know they aren’t aimed at me and that was the reason I walked away for a while as I was being to critical and not just enjoying the stories for what they were.

I’ve read a few middle grade books recently that I’ve really enjoyed and thought I could dive back into picture flats once more for the innocence, fun, and hopefully rhyming along with the fun/gorgeous/inspiring illustrations.

Aliens Love Underpants, Claire Freedman and Ben Cort, Simon and Schuster, (32p) ISBN: 9781529517804. Children’s, read 27/02/25, Picture Book ★★★★☆

Being reissued this year, this picture book is full of fun illustrations and silly rhymes, all about underpants loving aliens.

This is the first in the hilarious series about various underpants loving entities and it all started 18 years ago!

These books do their best to explain the real reason why underpants can go missing and get all knotted up!

The Biggest Breakfast, Richard Jones, Simon & Schuster, (32p) ISBN: 9781398523036. Children’s, read 27/02/25, Picture Book ★★★★☆

Published on 13/03/25, this is a beautifully illustrated tale of an ever growing breakfast group, and how sometimes even the nicest things can be overwhelming.

and when this happens it is nice that others can pick up and help.

All the animals are so gently and beautifully illustrated, especially the kind-eyed wolves!

A lovely little read.

I received this from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

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Faithbreaker

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Hannah Kaner, HarperCollins, (416p) ISBN: 9780008521561. Fantasy, NetGalley read 26/02/25, Electronic Format ★★★★★

Faithbreaker

Faithbreaker

I’ve been waiting for this for so long and asked for it as soon as I saw it on NetGalley!

This is the conclusion of The Fallen Gods trilogy and we continue with the adventures of Kissen, Elo, Inara, and Skediceth, though this time they are racing to stop the bloody and fiery advance of Hseth and her army of zealots.

Bloody hell this was tense! I had to put it down a couple of times and read something lighter as I hadn’t realised how much I’d invested in all the characters and really didn’t want them to be Martined…

This part of the trilogy really digs into the characters and exposes a lot of what really makes them tick and winds new characters and themes into this emotional web making a great finale to the trilogy.

Not a story to speed through as the tension does just keep ramping up to the finale, with each twist and turn leading you to expect one thing then another, culminating in a fierce battle to decide the worlds fate.

A cracking story of love and power and what people and gods are willing to sacrifice for both, and the ending!

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Spicy Mushroom and Lentil Sauce

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Spicy Mushroom and Lentil Sauce

Spicy Mushroom and Lentil Sauce

Was asked a few times on Bluesky for tonight’s recipe, this is a rough recipe as I usually make it up as I go along but this should get you something like the dish I made.

I know it looks a bit murky in this photo but it is brighter in real life and tastes wonderful and rich.

  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 4 fat cloves of garlic, minced
  • black pepper
  • generous pinch of salt
  • 1/3 teaspoon urfa chilli
  • 1 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 300g closed cup mushrooms, diced small
  • 200g cooked puy lentils
  • 500g tomato passata
  • 2 teaspoons good mixed dried herbs

Gently fry the onions with a good grind of black pepper and pinch of salt until the onions are starting to go translucent, then add the minced garlic.

Cook for another couple of minutes then add the chilli and paprika and cook off for a minute or so.

Add the mushrooms and cook until softish, add the lentils, passata, dried herbs, and Worcestershire sauce.

If sauce is too thick add a little bit of water then cook over a low heat for about 30 minutes.

Serve with a good pasta, perfect for a long pasta like spaghetti.

Bottom Ko-Fi

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The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family

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Lorien Lawrence, Abrams, (288p) ISBN: 9781419768835. Middle Grade, NetGalley read 19/02/25, Electronic Format ★★★★☆

The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family

The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family

or how the ‘Boo Crew’ came to be…

Lorien has written a fun spooky series prior to this book, called Fright Watch well worth seeking out if you can.

Gabby and Trent have the ‘gift’ and are living out their mother’s life who hasn’t got the gift as it jumped a generation from her parent down to the ‘Ghost Twins’.

Mum is so dogged in trying to live up to the legacy of her parents that she forgets that the twins may have their own needs and life.

To try and boost their dwindling social media engagement, mum decides that they will go to the very last haunting that her parents did, and seemingly failed at.

Shall we just say, ooops!

This is a wonderfully spooky adventure with some real peril that goes along at a cracking pace. Rats, possession, spiders, demons, marionettes, it has it all!

A great story about family, disappointment, legacy, trying to live up to others expectations, and ghosts of course.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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I Know What UFO Did Last Summer

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Kevin Garone, Temor Press, (208p) ISBN: 9798991328401. Middle Grade, NetGalley read 16/02/25, Electronic Format ★★★★☆

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer

I’ve been starting to get back into reading more books aimed at children recently, and this popped up on NetGalley and looked as though it could be fun.

Marv (Gold Leader) is convinced that an alien invasion is an ‘inevitable’ thing due to reading a returnees book called “How to Survive and Alien Invasion: Your Guidebook to an Inevitable Future” by Byleth X. Dongo.

When Marv and Jace see strange lights in the wood at night Marv is convinced that this is it, this is the alien invasion he’s been preparing for.

Along with Jace (Baller One) and a possible Daughter Of An Alien, Nora (Space Cadet) they have to find out what’s going on and foil this invasion.

As you may guess things quickly spiral out of control and get more and more complicated, especially with the slugs, and with Marv’s insistence that everything and everyone involved is either and alien or is assisting them.

A fun adventure that does have dark parts in it, guns and death, but it looks like this story is the start of a new series that could go many different directions.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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