"Castle In The Mist" by Robert J. McCarty

Castle In The Mist by Robert J. McCarty is the second book in his “Planet Of The Dogs” series.  Stone City has been at peace and prospered for a year since the dogs came to show them a better way of getting along but that is all about to change when Bik, the leader of Stone City finds his children have been kidnapped by two traitors who took them to mean Prince Ukko, leader of the Black Hawk Tribes who holds them prisoners.  Once again, the dogs from the Planet of the Dogs devise a plan to rescue the children before Bik leads Stone City into a war. 

I liked how the dogs were once again successful in winning over the mean leaders.  The dogs are clever, brave, helpful, loyal and loving.  I recommend this series for children ages 6-12 and to dog lovers of all ages.  It is a quick read but one that I enjoyed.  Of the three books in this series (the other two are Planet of the Dogs and Snow Valley Heroes--A Christmas Tale) I liked this the least just because Prince Ukko were very mean wanting to capture and destroy all the dogs!  At least he changed his attitude in the end!

To read a sample chapter, order a book or for more information visit www.planetofthedogs.net and the blog at http://barkingplanet.typepad.com.  We received a complimentary copy of this whole series from Barking Planet Productions to review this book and will include it in a November giveaway. 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Teaser Tuesday: 3 Books About The Brain, Dogs and Cats

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following:          

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser. 

Karen's:

Research shows that 87% of illnesses can be attributed to our thought life, and approximately 13% to diet, genetics and environment.  Studies conclusively link more chronic diseases (also known as lifestyle diseases) to an epidemic of toxic emotions in our culture.

from p. 4 of Who Switched Off My Brain?  controlling toxic thoughts and emotions by Dr. Caroline Leaf

The all stood there listening, until with anger in his voice, Prince Ukko gave Narro an order.  "Send out a fast warrior group to capture or kill those dog creatures.  They are evil and must be destroyed."

from p. 4 of Castle In The Mist--Planet of the Dogs Vol. 2 by Richard J. McCarty.

Gerard's:

Dewey stared up at the toy, then looked down.  He can't do it, Yvonne thought.  Then Dewey turned and sprang--like a rocket, as Yvonne remembered it, just like a rocket--and grabbed the oy our of her hand.

From p. 31 of Dewey's Nine Lives--The legacy of the small-town library cat who inspired millions by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter.

If you like Stephen King, be sure to see our Spooktacular Giveaway!

"Buzz: A Year Of Paying Attention" by Katherine Ellison

Buzz by Katherine Ellison is a true story of Katherine who takes a year off from her job to pay attention and be with her son, Buzz, who has Attention Disorder Deficit (ADD).  Katherine finds out she has ADD too.  She tries to help both Buzz and herself. 

I think this is a great book for parents going through this because there are lots of tips and resources in it.  It's a good story too!  I'm rooting for you, Buzz!
(Gerard's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Entrecard Gets You More Traffic And Gives 5,000 Credits!

Since I started this blog, I have visited many other book blogs through blog hops and noticed there are a LOT who do not have Entrecards.  You are missing out on a great way to increase your blog traffic and we encourage you to join!  Of course, it would be nice for me to be able to make a drop when I visit your blog to build up my credits.  It costs nothing and the amount of time you spend using it is totally up to you.

Entrecard is like a huge blog directory but so much more.  Blogs that have an Entrecard (a blog ad with the word "DROP" on or next to it) are members of Entrecard.  It is like a business card but for blogs.  It is completely free with the option of paying to advertise if you wish.  It is a great way to kick-start traffic to your blog as well as revisit your favorite blogs and develop friendships with other Entrecard members.  When you visit a blog with an Entrecard on it, you just click on the word "DROP" and it lets the blogger know you visited their blog.  You get a credit for visiting and these credits all add up which you can then use for advertising your blog on other blogs.  Now and then Entrecard has promotional contests like this.  The deal is for members to post pros and cons of Entrecard and they get 5,000 credits--they say everyone wins!

Here is what I like about Entrecard--the Pros:

The blogs are grouped by lots of different categories.  You can easily find blogs related to yours or topics in which you are interested.

It provides an easy way to send messages to other members and write recommendations for their blogs if you wish, thus making it very easy to "meet" other bloggers and develop friendships.

I like to easily see who visited my blog.

Of course I like getting new traffic from this too.

Cons:
The down side is like anything, it takes time but if you want to get more traffic, anything you do takes time.

For me, since I have three blogs registered in Entrecard, my drops are divided so it takes me longer to build them up to advertise each blog.


I like Entrecard, have stuck with it for almost three years now and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an easy way to increase traffic to you blog.  I hope you give it a try!

"The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

The Five Love Languages is a practical book for improving one's marriage. It points out that different things are more meaningful than others when it comes to expressing love. Loving acts can fall into the following five basic categories: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, physical touch. Once you determine what your mate's primary love language is, you can work at keeping them feeling loved more effectively. It's also good to determine your own primary love language and let your mate know. Several things I plan to implement after reading this book are:

(1) Focus on encouraging, complimenting and using kinds words every day when speaking to my husband.
(2) Have a sharing time each day where we each share three things that happened to us that day and how we feel about them.
(3) Make a list of things we want to do together and do at least two per month.
(4) Plan a new event with strong memory potential and do it this year.
(5) Play "fill your tank" game. Ask spouse three times a week how full his love tank is on range of 0-10 and ask what I can do to fill it up today.
(Karen's review 3/9/10)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?