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Net Galley
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Lovely and unusual assortment of Mandalas
Mandala Wonders | Color Art for Everyone – Leisure Arts (6765)
By: Leisure Arts
Rating: 5 of 5
This is an adult coloring book filled mandala-type designs. The designs are all supplied by GMC Designs/Shutterstock, Inc. I don’t know if that means there are various designers within those companies or not, but there isn’t a specific artist mentioned.
There are 24 different designs. Usually, when I have a color book of mandalas, there is a single, circular image on the page. On these, in most cases, the image is more of a montage of overlaying itself and filling the page. It is very pretty and should be a lot of fun to color.
The paper weight is nice and heavy very much a feeling of premium grade paper. The designs are printed on one side of the page (with the back side blank.) The pages are all micro-perforated so removing them from the book will be easy. The print quality of the design is excellent. There are parts of the designs which are rather intricate.
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Great Botanical designs for the flower enthusiast
Botanical Wonders | Color Art for Everyone – Leisure Arts (6764)
By: Leisure Arts
Rating: 5 of 5
Floral designs abound in this new book book by Leisure Arts. The pages are filled with stylized flowers and even include a few birds and garden bugs. The designs are all supplied by GMC Designs/Shutterstock, Inc. I don’t know if that means there are various designers within those companies or not, but there isn’t a specific artist mentioned.
There are 24 different designs. I am home gardener who grows both flowers and vegetables, so this book is one that is very appealing to me. There are orchids, fuchsias, poppies, sunflowers, and many others, including what look like some gorgeous fantasy flowers.
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Good start for a new series by Elly Griffiths
The Zig Zag Girl (Magic Men Mystery)
By: Elly Griffiths
Rating: 5 of 5
I have enjoyed reading Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway mystery series and was happy to pick up her first book in a new series, “The Zig Zag Girl”. As it turns out, the two series really could not be more different from one another.
“The Zig Zag Girl” is set in 1950, post-WWII Brighton, England. The main characters in the story are a group of men who comprised The Magic Men, a group working with the British government to fool and thwart a possible German invasion of the northern coast.
Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
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50 designs in a mid-century influenced modern abstract coloring book
The Super Awesome Coloring Book: 50 Super Awesome Designs for the Modern Coloring Enthusiast
By: Mark Cesarik
Rating: 5 of 5
This coloring book is a large variety of designs. Many show a heavy influence from the mid-century modern period and others are intricate and stylized abstracts which should be really fun to color with a wide variety of media and colors. I am especially drawn to the mid-century as I lived in a California 1950’s home for many years which was definitely in a similar style.
In this book, I believe that we are seeing a sampling of artist Mark Cesarik’s style rather than a specific subject matter. Because of that, the designs vary widely from page to page. Thankfully, the very cool coverart work is included in the book. That is always a huge plus for me. There is also a design which includes a montage of modern chairs that has my fingers itching to start coloring.
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Fun Christmas mandalas with my favorite holiday motifs
Creative Haven Christmas Mandalas Coloring Book (Creative Haven Coloring Books)
By: Marty Noble
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a fun set of Christmas mandala designs that will give me hours of coloring fun. The book is a reprint of an earlier book by Dover. Apparently, the reprint was done to provide the colorist with a single-sided version of the book so we can color each and every page without fear of ink leaching through and damaging the design on the backside of the page. The designs are by artist Marty Noble who is an artist whose work I really enjoy and whose books I am always eager to color.
Some of the designs are have intricate parts and for those, I will probably have to use my magnifying lamp. For the vast majority of this book, I don’t think my magnifier will be necessary. I use a true color bulb in my lamp which helps me immensely while I am making color choices for my use.
While the designs are all based on mandalas, the subject of each is very different there are Santas, angels, snowmen, candles, poinsettias, Christmas trees and much, much more.
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Fast-paced Thriller set in Middle East turmoil
Dark Waters: A Raisa Jordan Thriller
By: Chris Goff
Rating: 5 of 5
“Dark Waters” is a debut thriller by Chris Goff, a mystery writer with five books published under the name Christine Goff. I have not read any of her mysteries but will certainly consider doing so based on how much I enjoyed reading “Dark Waters”.
The book is set in current day Israel and has its fair share of political shenanigans. To the author’s credit, she presents all sides of the issues that face turmoil-ridden Middle East without taking a stance as to who is right or wrong.
Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
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A cute collection of Kitties in lots of Yoga poses
Yoga Kitties: A Stress Relieving Adult Coloring Book
By: Blue Star Coloring
Rating: 5 of 5
Yoga Kitties by Dawn Lewis is filled with 30 adorable designs of kitties in yoga poses. The lines of the designs are darker and thicker than those of most other color books I have had in the past but it looks like it will make it easier to use really bold colors to enhance them.
The kitties are so cute as they attempt many different poses. The designs have a fairly high level of detail and the cats are portrayed in more of a human form, such as standing on two feet and having body shapes more consistent with a person than with a cat. One of my favorite designs in the book (and there are many) is Heron Pose which actually features a human and a cat. There is a high level of detail and something about the image (perhaps the swirls in the woman’s hair) reminds me of Gustav Klmit artwork.
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A great addition to one of my favorite action/thriller series
The Scam: A Fox and O’Hare Novel
By: Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Rating: 5 of 5
“The Scam” is the newest book in the Fox and O’Hare series by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg. I’ve read the previous books and really enjoyed them and this is the best one yet.
The characters in the story bring Elizabeth Peter’s Vicky Bliss mysteries to mind, except that Kate O’Hare is a tough and well trained FBI agent. The background for these books is that Kate has been on the trail of master criminal Nicholas Fox for years and finally brought him down. Almost immediately, Nick is back out and working with the FBI and especially Kate to bring down other criminals around the world.
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Beautiful India inspired designs
Vive Le Color! India (Adult Coloring Book): Color In; De-stress (72 Tear-out Pages)
By: Abrams Noterie
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a smaller format book of designs inspired by the art and the heritage of India. The book has 72 pages of designs and is in a nice compact form (only 7 x 7 inches.) The binding is at the top of the book, so it will be great for both right-handed and left-handed colorists. The binding is very pliable and it would be very simple to remove pages from the book. At the back of the book is a heavy cardboard which gives a good base to support the book if you are working with it in your hand instead of on a tabletop.
The designs are printed on the front side of each bright white medium weight page with the backside blank. The prints themselves range from some with heavy lines to some with very delicate lines. My children’s after-school care was provided by a gracious family from India. Their home was beautiful with many traditional Indian art designs and their clothing was gorgeous. The colors of the saris that they wore will be a huge inspiration to me as I color in this book. The designs are beautiful and have a variety of styles and some have very intricate parts to them. I will probably resort to my magnifying lamp from time to time with this book.
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Beautiful and Edgy Steampunk Fashion Designs
Creative Haven Steampunk Fashions Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: Marty Noble
Rating: 5 of 5
Steampunk is a genre of books that I have enjoyed for a number of years. The art that has arisen from the literature has been fun and edgy. I have the previous steampunk coloring book by Marty Noble and was really happy to see another one this time focusing on the fashions (though there are still plenty of elements I look for gears, clocks, etc.) The women in the pictures are gorgeous, as usual for Ms. Noble and the fashions outrageous, which is what I look for in steampunk.
The 31 fashion designs are based on those of the Victorian age but are updated with unusual, slightly racy, and spunky twists. These are all in line with what steampunk is about a what-if scenario that changes the way the world works and society would proceed. The designs are elegantly drawn, which is exactly what I have come to expect from Ms. Noble. I am always pleased with her designs and look forward to new ones as they become available. I am hoping that she will come out with another steampunk book that is more dedicated to the machinery of the genre. I would love to see robots and strange cars and flying machines as the focus instead of the background.
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