30 Beautiful and Elegant Swirling designs – printed one side of the page

Lovely Swirls: Coloring Book for Adults

By: Stefania Miro

Rating: 5 of 5

I purchased this book with the older cover. It recently changed to a new one but the interior is the same. I’ve included covers of both the older and the newer cover. The older one is the one with a woman’s face with swirling lines about it.

I own several coloring books by artist Stefania Miro so when I saw that she had a new “swirl” design book, I was very happy to purchase it. The 30 designs (31 if you include the title page which duplicates another design in the book) are of animals, birds, and flowers (and even a mermaid) with mostly swirling vines surrounding them. I don’t believe I saw a straight line anywhere in the coloring book.

The designs are detailed but not what I call intricate (i.e., with tiny spots to color.) Some of the designs are easily colored while others will take more time to complete.

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An engrossing and emotional start to a new series

The Broken Road: A Novel (The Broken Road Series)

By: Richard Paul Evans

Rating: 5 of 5

This begins as the story of a man, Charles James, who starts out from humble beginnings and ends up making millions. He has had an abusive childhood and, thankfully, seems to have spared the curse of becoming abusive in his turn. Charles, for all that he seems to have everything, has come to realize that he is really empty and has nothing of true value.

The “author” of the book has traveled Route 66 looking for inspiration for his next novel. At the end of the journey, when he realizes that he has not found what he was looking and expecting to find, he comes across a dusty and dirty hiker who looks vaguely familiar. When he realizes who the hiker is (Charles), they agree that the author will possibly be given the rights to tell the hiker’s story. This book is the first in those tales. As the story is told by way of a look backward through the pages of Charles’ journal, it is more autobiographical than biographical in nature.

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39 cute Valentine’s Day heart designs – designs printed on one side of the page

For Valentine, with Love

By: Tanya Bogema (Stolova)

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book of heart designs. The designs range from patterns to hearts which contain entire little scenes. There are a couple that make me think of this artist’s Nice Little Town series.

While many of the designs have simple to complicated abstract patterns and florals, there are some really cute ones that are more complicated. I especially like the steampunk heart and the fairy castle heart, too.

There are a variety of hearts, some with more detail than others. While a few have smaller and more intricate areas to color, I would categorize as medium as far as how difficult it is to color. Since the hearts are generally centered on the page (think of mandalas) with lots of white space around, there is plenty of room to add your own special touches if you wish.

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71 Design Pages of Snow White illustrations plus a large removable poster

Snow White Coloring Book

By: Fabiana Attanasio

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a book based on the story of Snow White. It is part of a series of story book coloring books by Fabiana Attanasio. The first five pages of the book tell the story briefly and also have a couple of coloring elements scattered throughout. The next 71 pages line drawings based on this story. In addition to these great coloring pages, there is a huge removable poster at the end of the book.

All of the characters are present I would hope for are present, Snow White, the Evil Queen (both as herself and as the old witch), the Seven Dwarfs, the Huntsman and Prince Charming. Snow White and Prince Charming are drawn as younger individuals rather than as adults in this coloring book.

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31 Mehndi inspired Mandalas with black backgrounds – printed one side of the page

Mehndi Mandalas Adult Coloring Book: Black Background

By: Stefania Miro

Rating: 5 of 5

I found this to be a fun coloring book of mandalas. The designs have a bit of detail but not so much to be overwhelming. I like coloring mandalas but some have such intricate spots to color, I have problems with both my eyes and getting the nibs of my pens/pencils into the spots to color. This is not that type of coloring book.

While the coloring book is Mehndi in nature, I find a lot of floral inspiration in it as well. I enjoy it no matter the inspiration and will enjoy coloring in it.

I like the black background as it can hide the times I color outside the lines if I am using markers. I’ve found that is not as true with pencils as the color can show up slightly on the background.

I did note that the copy I received from the publisher had an issue with the background not being fully printed in black (the unbound edge of the last few pages had approximately a quarter inch of white showing on the unbound edge. The copy I purchased did not have the issue (which was as well as I bought it as a gift for a family member.) With this kind of issue, a quick call to Amazon usually results in a rapid replacement copy being ordered.

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Good story but the book blurb is somewhat lacking as a good description

A Little Bit of Grace

By: Phoebe Fox

Rating: 4 of 5

I’ve read all of Phoebe Fox’s books in her Break-up Doctor series. I was expecting something similar with this new book, “A Little bit of Grace”. It was actually quite different from her previous books but nonetheless, an enjoyable story.

I found the writing to be excellent as usual from Ms. Fox. I also enjoyed the flow of the story and her sensitivity in working through a variety of difficult issues.

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One of the funniest murder mysteries I’ve read in ages

Macdeath (An Ivy Meadows Mystery Book 1)

By: Cindy Brown

Rating: 5 of 5

Author Cindy Brown who has several books in this series that I have read. I originally read this book just after reading the second book in this series but have only since decided to publish my review. This book, “Macdeath” is Cindy Brown’s debut novel. Whether it is a debut book or one written by a long standing novelist, it is outstanding. The plot is fun and different, the characters memorable (for both their good and bad traits) and the mystery was a great whodunnit – pointing you this way and that before being solved.

Ivy Meadows (aka Olive Zeigwart) is an actress – well, she has just been cast as a witch in Macbeth. So what if it took literal somersaults and cartwheels to get the part. This version of Macbeth is being set in a circus. All seems going well when one of her cast mates ends up dying on opening night. While everyone, police included, are figuring the death was natural causes, Ivy is not so sure. She starts investigating and ends up well over her head in clues and false starts.

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Wonderful book for helping me identify the giants in my life

Goliath Must Fall: Winning the Battle Against Your Giants

By: Louie Giglio

Rating: 5 of 5

There was something about the title of this book, “Goliath Must Fall” that grabbed my attention as a book I must read. I questioned the word “must”, after all, Goliath did fall, but why “must” he?

I began the book with my own opinion of who my Goliath was and what needed to be done to make him fall. After Louie’s explanation of who and what are giants are made of, I realized that I was wrong.

The Goliath that I thought was my own turned out to be a symptom of many other giants that have been holding sway in my life. Fear, anger, control and even comfort have their hold on me. It took reading this book, with Louie’s examples of situations for me to be able to see my giants with new eyes. His explanation that David was Jesus and me also showed me who had slain my giants at the cross, that my thoughts and actions were what were still propping them up and that it was past time for me to finally let them fall.

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30 Unusual and Interesting Fairies designs – printed on one side of the page

Fairies in Bloom: A Fairy & Flower Coloring Book!

By: Kimbery Van Rossum

Rating: 5 of 5

This is an unusual coloring book of fairy designs. The fairies are quite lovely but what is unusual is the use of heavy bold lines and the many dots that make up the shading on each of the designs. It gives the illustration the look of pointillism which is quite different from other books that I have. The results is not only unusual and interest but also quite beautiful as well.

The designs are detailed and some of the designs have intricate and small areas to color. I do suggest the use of a liquid blender with these designs as the heavy black lines and the dots have a tendency (due to the thin quality of CreateSpace books) to smear with a pencil blending stick.

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Adorable Little Golden Book about a unicorn with Joey Chou illustrations

I’m a Unicorn

By: Author: Mallory C. Loehr/Illustrator: Joey Chou

Rating: 5 of 5

I have been picking up various Little Golden Books for my grandchildren. I’ve been impressed with the wide range of books available compared to the number of titles I had for my kids.

I’m also a fan of artist Joey Chou and have a number of his other children’s books, so I was very pleased to find this new book by Mallory C. Loehr with his illustrations.

I picked this book up for my granddaughter who is just two years old. While she is used to board books, I wanted something to transition her to paper books. This was the perfect book for that purpose.

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