Book Review & Giveaway | BookElves Anthology Vol. 1

Seven stories, seven situations threatening the festivities. Will the holidays be a disaster? Will families be left out in the cold? Will there be tears before bedtime, or will there be happy endings all round? The MG BookElves group brings you its first anthology of tales to enjoy during the holiday season:

• Reliable Clooney Dockins delivered his town’s mail on time for thirty-two years, until that strange and impossible Christmas Eve when he woke up late. M.G.King (Fizz & Peppers at the Bottom of the World, Librarian on the Roof)
• Max the Tonkinese cat finds Santa Claus on the roof and is whisked away to retrieve a very special message from another time and place. Wendy Leighton-Porter (The Shadows from the Past series)
• Shirley Link is an amateur sleuth who lives in a town that could use all the sleuths it can get! What is it about Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts that makes it such a hotspot for dastardly deeds? Even on Christmas Day? Ben Zackheim (Shirley Link Detective Series, The Camelot Kids)
• Champ may be a rescue dog, but he’s the best person around to stop the dognappers and save heartbreak at Christmas. Fiona Ingram (The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, Champ: My Story of Survival)
• When the railroad gets snowed under, the two-bit town of Skunk Corners has to play host to a load of mighty difficult strangers. Can Big Al and the Ninja Librarian keep the season of goodwill from breaking into a riot? Rebecca M. Douglass (The Ninja Librarian, Halitor the Hero)
• Far away on the west coast of a western Scottish island, Dylan and Dougall face yuletide in Castle Haunn with no heat, light or food. Can Dylan get the message through to the mainland for help, or is there something nasty waiting for him in the hills? Jemima Pett (The Princelings of the East series)
• It’s Christmas holiday and Lily is stuck in a remote mountain village. With school out for a month and no internet connection, at first she wonders how she will fill the time. In this sweet romance, Lily discovers there’s more to gift-giving than just the giving. S. Smith (The Seed Savers series)

Each tale weaves its own seasonal magic. Each magician has already warmed the hearts of thousands of young readers with their stories. Enjoy these frantic races to meet the Christmas deadline while you curl up in your favourite reading spot this winter.

Details: 40,000 words (approx); 157 pages (approx, ebook)/ 184 pages (paperback) ; grade 4 +; ages 8 to 108.

My review

I can only review 85% of this book, since I wrote the other 15%, although Rebecca Douglass says she’ll vouch for my section!

It’s the first time I’ve been involved in an anthology, and its a lot of fun.  You may remember last year that twelve BookElves hosted a mammoth giveaway through December – this year seven have contributed stories, and what good stories they are, too!

It’s an eclectic mix, tales of a village in turmoil on Christmas Eve, an extra adventure for Max from the Shadows from the Past series, a new Shirley Link adventure, a new Champ adventure, a new tale of the Ninja Librarian, a spin-off from the Princelings of the East, and some heart-warming detail from the Seed Savers series.  What I particularly liked was that there was no real need to read any of the series by the authors in question – all the stories stand alone and feature the things that can threaten the simple pleasure of the festive season.  And without being soppy, that is what they do; celebrate the season in the best possible way.

I’d like to give it five stars, but as lead author, I think I should keep quiet.  I’m really proud to be part of this group, though.  Thank you, my really talented friends, for putting this together!

Buy the ebook, or pre-order it up to November 25th – it’s only 99c!

Amazon  * Smashwords  * B&N * Apple  *Kobo

or buy the paperback (and get the kindle ebook free – US only)

The paperback is also available direct from Createspace.

The Giveaway

There is a Goodreads giveaway, with the link on the button below, but you have to be a GoodReads member to enter. Two copies of the paperback are available, worldwide.  But it’s also part of my Getting to Know You giveaway as an ebook, so enter there too!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

BookElves Anthology, Volume 1

by Jemima Pett

Giveaway ends January 01, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win