Monty, Cookie and the spangles are back at the beach for the fifth book in this series of childrens books. 

When Cookie sees a splash in the water her newfoundland instinct to rescue takes over and she immediately heads out to help. When she returns the dogs get a huge surprise as they hear a desperate plea.

What follows is an adventure that could turn out to be their biggest and most difficult so far. 

This is a gentle introduction for children about the issues of plastic pollution in our oceans and even features Sir David Attenborough.

My Review

As some of you may know I am due to become a grandmother this year and I have been asked, more than once, if I’m busy knitting. No, no, no, I reply. Knitting is not part of my skill set, however, building a library for my grandchild is. Let’s hope he/she is a reader 😀

As is the way nowadays I made this comment online and in mere hours had been approached to take part in the blog tour for Monty and the Ocean Rescue: A Plastic Disaster. I was absolutely delighted to receive a paperback copy of this beautiful book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

As someone who has not looked at children’s books for many, many years my first thought was that if this is an indication of what is out there then I, I mean my grandchild, is in for plenty of treats. I thought the illustrations were excellent and I’m sure children will love all the different sea creatures as well as the main characters in this book.

I liked the overall story and the fact it rhymed but the thing I liked most was that I thought the whole theme was timely and just what is needed to help new generations be constantly educated about the dangers plastics pose to our planet and in particular to our seas.

The book has been dedicated to Sir David Attenborough which is a nice touch and there are details at the back of where to go online to find out more about how to reduce plastic waste as well as help protect our sea creatures.

Links to purchase

​Amazon UK

Amazon US

Signed and pawtagraphed copies are available worldwide via the website https://www.montydogge.com/bookstore

The book is also available via most online bookstores.

MT Sanders is a writer, blogger and author of the childrens book Monty and the Ocean Rescue.

An accidental career began after he took early retirement and began writing stories on social media about his five dogs. Life according to Monty Dogge soon attracted a huge following and led to invites to blog live from Crufts and other high-profile events.

In 2017 and 2018 Vuelio placed it in the top ten UK pet blogs and the still growing readership encouraged MT to write a book. I’m not a Pandacow was the debut children’s book released in 2017 and this has been quickly followed by four more to date.

MT and Monty spend the major part of their time touring schools across the country bringing the tales to life as children get to meet the star of the books.

The latest book is a real passion project for the author who is a huge supporter of conservation projects and a champion for animal welfare. It goes without saying that MT was delighted to receive a handwritten message of good luck from no other than Sir David Attenborough who features in the book.

Social media links

Life according to Monty Dogge and the Books of Monty Dogge on Facebook

@montydogge on Twitter

@monty_dogge on Instagram

I chose to read Let’s Be Legends as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. I received a copy from the author but this does not alter my review in any way.

I enjoyed reading this short story. Right from the beginning we know Kara Olecki is on trial over the death of her boyfriend. The storyline hops between the proceedings in the court and from two years previously when we get to see the build up of the relationship between Kara and Matt and what actually happened to land Kara in the court room.

We all have a side we show to the world and one we prefer to keep hidden but Kara takes this to another level having her Internal Kara and External Kara, and I’m not sure that helped her mental state because when things went bad Internal Kara took over, and was out of control.

I think what I liked most about the story was Kara’s voice. I don’t read a lot of young adult novels but I could completely ‘see’ Kara, and I enjoyed her life as a teenager venturing into her first romance and this was very well done.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Audio books are the biggest growing sector in the book world I keep hearing but having produced my own I’ve found the market to be somewhat sluggish, at least so far. However, copies do keep being listened to so I assume traction has to grow like everywhere else.

I distributed my audio book via Findaway Voices so it is wide on all the platforms. It was while I was checking where I could find it that I thought it would be a great idea to try a free months subscription and listen to any I could find that are already on my to-be-read list. Enter Baby Dear…

Everything about having, or not having, babies can be so complicated and often emotionally all-consuming and this is reflected in this story. Caro and Jeff are devastated when they are told Jeff is infertile. While Sharon, a career woman, is equally devastated to be pregnant but has a husband, Craig, who shows zero interest in becoming a father.

There is a lot of introspection in this book, as expected really given the subject matter as well as plenty of self-absorption with several characters obsessing about their own needs rather than supporting their partners, which so easily happens in real life too. Misunderstandings and confusion being caused along the way.

I found Caro difficult to like, until much later on in the book when a moment of self-realisation makes her into a better person, although it was a shame she didn’t share her thoughts with Jeff. Sharon had, I thought, a character arc that probably many women would recognise, of being in a place she didn’t want to be but finding herself eventually welcoming the drastic changes in her life.

The person I liked the most though was Julie. She was at a different stage in her life, single and struggling in ways the other two weren’t. However she remained upbeat and supportive to all those around her and I loved the fact she found someone to call ‘family’ as well as a possible future with someone else – no spoilers here!

I listened to Baby Dear for free via Scribd here. I’m sure you can find it on many other audio platforms but I’ll put the links to Amazon below as it can be found on Audible via those.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I have had Flowers for the Dead waiting for me on my kindle for the longest time (it even has a different cover on there!) but I’ve booked my ticket to go and see Barbara Copperthwaite at The Deepings Literary Festival and, wanting to read it before that event, I bumped it up the to-be-read pile. Here is my review.

Laura is the sole survivor of a car crash that wiped out her entire family. Adam the only child of a horrifically abusive mother and uninvolved father. He was however loved by his gran who read him fairy stories and taught him all about the language of flowers.

Despite several false starts in his love life when Adam spots Laura he falls desperately in love with her knowing her to be ‘the one’ and in so many ways he is the perfect boyfriend. He cooks, cleans and looks after her. Making sure she has money in her purse and food in the fridge. Unfortunately, Laura is completely unaware he even exists and as she starts to release herself from the grief that has enveloped her she thinks she’s going mad when she notices the things Adam has done for her. The police don’t take her concerns seriously. Why should they when her flat hasn’t even been broken into?

I enjoyed reading this book. The characterisations are excellent. Laura’s grief and attempts to move on with her life, Adam’s obsessional existence and gradual unravelling and Mike, the policeman’s, struggles to come to terms with being widowed and a single father to his little girl are all completely believable. And then there is all the flower stuff which I found to be fascinating.

The creepiest part for me was Adam’s intrusion into Laura’s flat, the fact he was there while she slept and planted cameras to watch her when he was away is the stuff of nightmares. Shudder. Though I did enjoy his reaction when Laura started to turn the tables on him and he thought she was being flirtatious.

I also enjoyed the way it was written in that we saw the present day story but also the background to Adam’s life so we could see the escalation in his behaviour. I’m sure all those who enjoy psychological thrillers would love this.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I chose to read More Glimpses as a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team and received a copy of the book from the author. This does not alter my review in any way.

More Glimpses is Hugh W Robert’s second collection of short stories and what a varied assortment they are. Some are long, some short and they are in a variety of genres covering drama, fantasy, horror, science fiction, action/adventure, comedy, murder/mystery, paranormal and rom com – seriously, something for everyone.

There were moving longer length pieces like The Whistle to mini-sagas such as the grisly Honeymoon.

My favourites were; the beautiful Floral Hall, The Right Choice (just how extreme can gameshows get!), I loved the horrifying ending in the time travelling tale, Fast Forward and the dangers of being nosy in The Door.

This collection is well work further investigation if you are a lover of short stories.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I’ve decided I was put off poetry at school because, after giving it a wide berth for many years, I now occasionally indulge and find I enjoy it after all. Either that or I’m finally maturing…

One Hundred and Seven Poems About Everything and Nothing by Emily Halfpenny has been one such indulgence. This is a collection of poems of day to day life, love, grief, and all those emotions in between as well as the general ups and downs we all have to deal with. There are long and short pieces, some funny, others not so much, but whatever your tastes there is plenty to enjoy in this book. And as is always the case with poetry you can dip in and out of it.

I started making a list of favourites; What a Difference, Zing, I didn’t know, What’s your fave, Golf, Grandad, I want to Munch, but as you can see the list was becoming longer and longer, which rather missed the point so I stopped, however it does give you an idea as to how enjoyable this book was to read.

So much is written by tortured poets about the darker aspects of life so it was refreshing to read these poems which are, mostly, uplifting and fun and therefore, I believe, written from a happy place. Lovely.

Amazon UK

Amazon US