Movie Monday: Movie Review- The Secret Life of Pets

Source

The Secret Life of Pets
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment
Released: July 8, 2016

Rating:  
  

  


Review:  I have been seeing previews for this movie forever. I even made my husband watch the first one that I saw forever ago. I love pets and I love the idea that when pet parents are away they play and get into all kinds of interesting trouble. And we come home and are none the wiser.

Having both a cat and a dog I really enjoyed watching all the pets get along and the cat was very cat-like and the dogs all very dog-like, but even knowing some of their quirks were so funny and entertaining in cartoon form.

I went to see the movie with a friend of mine and we had a blast, we loved this movie. It was laugh-out-loud funny but also had a lot of intense moments. I think that parents will enjoy this movie just as much as kids will. There are enough 'adult' jokes sprinkled throughout but subtle enough too. The movie was action- packed from the very beginning all the way through the end and did not disappoint. 

Building the Book Pile #197

Welcome to Building the Book Pile!  A Weekly meme inspired by Stacking the Shelves

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 

This past week was not a fun one... I have been hinting at some big life changing news for the past few weeks (some of you may have caught on), I was waiting for the 'right time' to make a big announcement. Apparently the universe had other plans - so no exciting news...no news...so back to the books I guess.

While trying not to think about everything I did get some reading done this week. I will have some reviews up for you :) and another Movie Monday review too.

Lets see what else - I have been knitting again, even though it is warm out. I might try to sell some scarves this fall/winter, and I have been paining a bit more lately too... if you are board and want to see I will be putting things up on my instagram, I also post more snippets of my everyday life if anyone is interested :/ @gorelenore86

 I  hope that all of YOU had a wonderful week!
 

  Giveaways on Cover2CoverBlog!

None right now, more coming soon   

Coming up on the Blog... 

Movie Monday: Review of The Secret Life of Pets

Recent Reads: BatDad: A Parody by Blake Wilson (Adult)
Waiting on Wednesday 
Early Reader Review: The Toad by Elise Gravel (Youth)
Recent Reads: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Harry Potter #8) by JK Rowling (YA/ Adult)

      

     Books Received this Week

    

BatdDad: A Parody by Blake Wilson from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Harry Potter #8) by JK Rowling - Bought :)  
The Toad (Disgusting Critters Series) by Elise Gravel from Librarything Early Reviewers Program and Tundra Books for review.
 

Have you missed anything lately?

Week of July 31 - August 6

Movie Monday: Review of Pixar's Finding Dory - 3 stars

Early Reader Review: The Jolley-Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon by Jonny Duddle (MG) - 4 stars
Waiting on Wednesday: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (YA)
August 2016 TBR Pile


  

Comment and leave me a link to your Round-up/ STS/ Weekly...anything, post and I will happily stop by and say hello!

 Happy Reading!

August 2016 TBR Pile

So in 2015 I wanted to hold myself more accountable for my ridiculous TBR pile and I started doing a Monthly TBR post .... only it didn't last very long, I think I only posted for the first 2 months of the year :/

Now that we are in 2016, I really want to try again, so here is my Monthly TBR...

  

August is ARC August with Read.Sleep.Repeat so I am trying to read mostly ARCs this month. Here is my line up. I am still trying to keep a bit of variety in formats but a little bit of a change from previous month, I am listing more books but only plan on really reading 4 and if I go into more that is great. I wanted to give myself option for August.

 

          

Some Notes: 

 Dancing in the Rain releases September 6th (Paperback ARC)

I need to Finish reading The Lost Twin (ebook ARC)

Harry Potter is a new book but I want to read it ASAP! (Hardback)

BatDad is a review copy but has been out for a few months (Hardback) 

The Underdogs (ebook ARC) from May 

State of Grace has been an ARC on my self for over a year - so even though it is release I still need to read the ARC :/ (Paperback ARC)

          

Waiting on Wednesday: Nevernight by Jay Kristof

 

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (The Nevernight Chronicle #1)
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date:  August 9, 2016

Goodreads Synopsis:  

The first in a new fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author.

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

Why I Am Waiting:
Jay Kristoff is an awesome author! I am still reading the Lotus War series but I loved the first book and I have heard such wonderful things about this book/series. And I love books about assassins :) and this cover - WOW!

Early Reader Review: The Jolley-Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon by Jonny Duddle

Source: From Templar and Librarything Early Reviewers Program in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Jolley-Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon by Jonny Duddle
Series: The Jolley-Rogers #1
Publisher:  Templar
Publication Date:  August 2, 2016

 

Format:  Paperback ARC

Rating:
 


 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Ahoy, me hearties! Matilda and the Pirates Next Door return in a series of illustrated stories for young readers.

Every full moon, a mysterious ship is seen off the coast of Dull-on-Sea. Then, the next day, gold and jewelry are missing from homes, shops, and museums all over town. Matilda needs the Jolley-Rogers' help to investigate. Can Matilda and Jim Lad retrieve the stolen booty from the mysterious ship before the moon fades? Or will they end up stuck on board with a crew of ghostly pirates forever? 

Review: 
This book was so much fun. I think young readers are going to love it. 

After receiving this book for review and reading the first few chapters, I realized that these characters seemed to know each other and there was not much back story there. I came to find that this series is the first in the middle grade series following a picture book that was also about these characters. I love that this author/ artist brought the characters to an older audience, maybe even ones that loved the picture books.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I liked that there was both a boy and girl character, I liked the pirates and the spookiness of the ghost ship, and I loved the overall plot. It was very well done. This book is even capped off with a wonderful pirate lingo vocab list in the back- which actually even helped me as an adult.

The characters were smart, creative, and strong and I really feel that  young readers will get a kick out of this book, not to mention - the illustrations are spectacular! I really enjoyed this one.


 

Move Monday: Review of Pixar's Finding Dory

Source

Finding Dory
Disney and Pixar
Released: June 17, 2016
  
Rating: 

  


Review:  I was very excited to go see Finding Dory. Finding Nemo was my younger sisters favorite movie for years and we watched it all the time and it was funny and actually a good movie even for me when I was a teen.

Finding Dory's release had me very excited. Nemo had jokes for adult and kids and I expected all that creativity in Finding Dory. I think that when this new movie was created the producers geared it toward the original Nemo audience - for us to reminisce and revisit our childhoods. 

Source: USAtoday/ Pixar

The movie was ok but it wasn't as wowing as Nemo was when I used to watch it. I love Dory but I think that Nemo's adventure was much greater. Don't get me wrong, I did tear up in the end but I cry over everything. Overall though the movie wasn't what I expected. 

I loved a few things though - I loved Gerald the sea lion he was hilarious and made me laugh for days. I also loved the Loon Becky that uses Geralds bucket to help Marlin and Nemo find Dory - she is adorable and so helpful. These two were the showstoppers, they made that movie.

I enjoyed Finding Dory and the nostalgia but it wasn't my favorite Pixar movie.