Review: Mr Lemoncello's Library Olympics - Book #2 Mr Lemoncello's Graphic Novels - Chris Grabenstein and Illustrated by Douglas Holgate - October 2025 I have to be honest with you, lovely readers, some books arrive at just the right moment and wrap around your heart like a warm hug from an old friend. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics: The Graphic Novel was exactly that for me. Growing up, the library wasn't just a place I visited ,it was my place. Every Saturday without fail, I'd be there, tucked into a corner with a stack of books taller than my good sense. And for years and years after that, it became my workplace too, five days a week right up until April 2021. The library was simply woven into the fabric of who I am. Sadly, due to some difficult and toxic circumstances in that workplace, I had to say goodbye to the physical library experience, something I never in a million years imagined I would do. Walking through those doors started to bring up feelings I...

Review: Super Pancake and the Terrible Toast - Megan Wagner Lloyd and Illustrated by Abhi Alwar - November 2025 There's something wonderfully absurd about a pancake superhero, and Megan Wagner Lloyd's Super Pancake and The Terrible Toast leans into that absurdity with pure joy. Thanks to RandomHouse Kids Graphics for sending this ARC my way , it was exactly the kind of light-hearted escape I needed. This  installment finds our syrupy hero, Peggy Pancake, juggling the classic superhero dilemma: saving the world while maintaining personal relationships. After her previous adventure babysitting mini muffins and battling a Mini Mega Laser of Doom, Peggy now faces an even more challenging nemesis - The Terrible Toast, who's brewing up a mind control scheme beneath the Syrup Sea. But what really struck me about this graphic novel is how it balances the high-stakes action with genuine emotional weight. Peggy's strained relationship with her brother Patrick feels real, even in...

Review: (in)visible - Talie D. Hawkins - 1 January 2015 As a reader, one of the things I love to do is discover books that are hidden gems and share them with others, these are the books that aren't popular in bookstores and are ones that not many readers would have heard of. (in)visible by Talie D Hawkins was one of those books that gave me Matilda vibes at the end. For years, after her brother Noah died Megan managed to stay invisible as her parents had disconnected from each other, and she kept her head down and went about school with the goal in mind, that as soon as she graduated she could get out of this small town and the memories it holds and not look back. That changed though when one night just before graduation, Megan is approached by someone from her past - he is the boy she thought she would love forever but after her brother Noah died they went their separate ways. If that wasn't enough, she has also captured the attention of Jake who has been her classmate since ...

Review: Love will Turn You Around - Mary Munson - March 2023 This was a very cute picture book and one about shapes which I also enjoyed. Our friend "the heart" doesn't feel quite right, he feels not himself today. He doesn't quite know what's wrong, but with his friends - the other shapes, they will work together to help our Heart feel his best again. During the book, we read as Heart meets other shapes who try to get Heart to be just like them from a Triangle to a square to a circle to more complicated shapes like stars and rhombi aka multiple rhombus. Of course, we all know which way a heart is supposed to be and he's in an upside-down mood today. Can the other shapes, get Mr. Heart to turn his frown upside down into a smile and become the shape he is supposed to be? Love will Turn You Around by Mary Munson is not only a great children's picture book to teach shapes and colours but also talks about feelings and emotions and what Love makes you feel. ...

Review: It's Not You, It's Me - Gabrielle Williams - September 2021 I was busy scrolling through the Libby App as I am now part of Auckland Libraries with their digital membership and it was amazing. With the number of books that you can get and the variety of awesome titles, I was in book heaven. This cover drew me in as I have a thing for typewriters or as they call this one Brother Orange. Other than that, I had no idea what the book was about and went into it blind. I also loved the tagline as the Lindsey Lohan Freaky Friday movie is a favorite of mine and Pretty Little Liars is one of my all-time favorite YA series. The book starts with Holly who is celebrating her 40th birthday in Australia on 29 February 2020 and her best friend Eliza gives her the typewriter. The next thing she knows she wakes up and the date is 29 February 1980 and she is in LA and to make matters worse, she is in the body of a 16-year-old girl named Trinity. The two can only communicate through the t...

Review: Love at First Spite - Anna E. Collins - January 2022 In the mood for a bit of revenge and romance? After being in an accident myself yesterday as I fell over face-first on the concrete, I needed a bit of a light-hearted romance to take my mind off things as I was in pain. I may look like a right mess, but at least I had a good read to help lift my spirits. Love at First Spite started with a bit of fun as our main character we learn Danielle was due to get married but her fiancé Sam cheated on her. So, to give her ex-fiancé and the wedding the middle finger, she decides to put her dress to use and destroy it with paintball splatters along with her cousin Mia. Their adventures finish off at a bar with Mia meets Matt - the bartender and Dani run into Wyatt - an architect from work in the bathroom. One thing leads to another for Mia and Matt and through connections - Dani gets a new place to live with Matt's older Aunty Iris. I liked the character of Iris as she was down-to-e...