The Adventures of Poppy and Bobo: The Pink Elephant Review

⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

   The Pink Elephant is the first in a new series of children's stories known as The Adventures of Poppy and Bobo. The series is by author John Evans and illustrator Nicola Anne. 

Blurb: Poppy and Bobo make a new friend at the circus, the pink elephant. But their friend vanishes at the end of the show. Poppy and Bobo decide to investigate the disappearance of the pink elephant and discover that the circus is a far more magical place than they ever thought

  The story starts with Poppy, a little girl, telling her friend Bobo, a soft toy, about her visit to the circus. She tells him how she and the other children met a pink elephant but after the show, couldn't find him. Bobo, who to Poppy is real, suggests they go to the circus again to try and find the pink elephant. When they can't and Poppy cries, they are found by a clown who, when they ask why they can't find the pink elephant, tells them a secret. Every night, the pink elephant goes home to his family and comes back for the show the next day. Poppy meets the pink elephant again and is happy to know he hasn't gone for good. 

  The story is written in the first-person narrative from Poppy's point of view. It is written in a rhyming style as a poem The book itself is 32 pages long. Each pair of pages is a single picture of the scene happening in the story. On the first page of two is a verse of the story. It is essentially a poem telling the story of Poppy and Bobo's encounter with the pink elephant. It is simple but engaging. The story itself is easy to follow and the pictures are very colourful. It is aimed at children of pre-school age and meant to be read aloud. Slightly older children may enjoy it. 

  The writing style is reminiscent of Julia Donaldson (purely because of the rhyming) and the illustrations are clear and colourful. All in all, I found it a good children's book and am interested what adventures await Poppy and Bobo in the next installment.

This book is available to purchase from Amazon

John Evans- How to Rock and Write: The Unwilling Recruit

The Unwilling Recruit (without spoilers)

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  The Unwilling Recruit is the debut fiction novel by author John Evans. It is the first in a series known as the John Hunt novels. It follows John Hunt as he tries to make sense of a tragic event he never should have survived and the price that comes with it.

  The Unwilling Recruit is a supernatural thriller that blends science and superstition to give us a suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing right up to the final page. It also leaves you hungry for the next installment. (A Fool In The Ring is due to be released April 2019) Even some readers who would not read this genre usually have found it gripping from start to finish. Jon Land (USA Today Bestselling Author of THE RISING) calls the book “A must read for fans of John Farris, Robert R. McCammon and even the master himself, Stephen King”.

  When the story starts John is a journalist known for taking risks to get a story. While reporting in Syria, an explosion kills Andrew, his cameraman, and seriously injures John. Inexplicably alive but with a horrible disfigurement, John loses his job and struggles to handle the guilt he feels over Andrew's death coupled with the fact that said man, seems to be featuring in intense hallucinations….hallucinations that leave physical evidence behind.

  His sanity already hanging by a thread, Hunt takes a journey through a world he never knew existed including seductive women who are not what they seem, people who take part in some disturbing rituals and a dead cameraman. On that fateful day in Syria, one man died and one survived. John Hunt is searching for why he lived and what it means, forgetting that there are some questions, best left unanswered.

The Unwilling Recruit is available to purchase from

Amazon and Barnes & Noble 

John Evans

  John Evans is an author from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.

Having spent ten years working as an actor and filmmaker, John was forced to give up that career in 2012 in order to look after his mother after she suffered a debilitating stroke. John now works from home exploring new ways to bring out his creative nature. After writing two non-fiction books about life as a carer (Caring For Mum and A Caring Christmas) and a poetry book (My Crazy World) John turned to fiction and The Unwilling Recruit became the first in a long series of novels that John hopes will entertain readers for many years to come.

Grimm Teaser Review (TV Series)

Grimm TV Series Teaser Review

As this review is only a teaser there are no spoilers. 

Homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt is starting to see some strange things. Sometimes, he’ll look at someone and, just for a few seconds, he sees their face change to resemble some kind of animal or monster before going back to normal. At first, he thinks he’s going mad, but then his aunt arrives and informs him that he’s a descendant of hunters who find and kill supernatural beings who hide in the human world masquerading as humans. His powers have been activated and, with his aunt dying, he is the last surviving member of his family charged with killing these creatures, known as Wesen.

This is how the series begins and then we are taken on one hell of an adventure. As Nick learns about his family and improves his skills, not only does he have to deal with apparently having to hunt and kill monsters, he has to deal with hiding who and what he is from his family and friends, being hunted himself by some of these creatures and struggle with the morality of killing not only people who, by law, should be in prison, but also essentially innocent people who just happen to be Wesen.

As we go on this adventure with Nick, we see it all, action, romance, betrayal, secrets and six seasons of gripping TV drama. Of course, something like this is a hard secret to keep and when Nick, his partner Hank and his girlfriend Juliette fall foul of a Hexenbiest, can Nick really keep his secret a secret?

Grimm on IMDB

Aunt Marie's Book of Lore Review (With spoilers)

⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore Review

WARNING This review does contain spoilers for both the book and the TV Series. If you wish to read the review without spoilers, please visit the previous blog post.

Blurb: As his Aunt Marie was dying, Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt discovered he was descended from a long line of Grimms. As well as inheriting Grimm abilities from his aunt, she also handed him a collection of useful notes and artefacts, which his family had accumulated down the centuries. Among then was the Book of Lore.

A collection of observations about wesen species, this book records specific Grimm encounters with them, from Volcanalis on the slopes of Vesuvius, Italy, in 79 A.D. to Hexenbiest and Klaustreick in Portland, USA, in 2012. With details of how to identify, fight and - for the more dangerous and powerful - kill them, the information contained here may well mean the difference between life and death for Grimms and Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen alike.

To really appreciate this book you have to have watched Grimm. Marie is the aunt of Nick Burkhardt, a Portland detective who finds out he is what is known as a Grimm. As the name suggests, it is to do with the Grimm brothers. Nick is destined to kill what, to most of the world, are fairy-tale creatures.

  The Book of Lore is a record of what these creatures are, how they look, what they are called and how to kill them. It is a record centuries-old, written by Grimms to pass to their children. As a Grimm, Nick also records his own experiences in the book.

  Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore as it is presented, is how it appears towards the end of the series, after Juliette has burned Aunt Marie’s trailer. As such, it is incomplete. At the front of the book, essentially the contents, is an alphabetical list of the creatures, called Wesen, although some of them are crossed out. From 58 Wesen, only 31 are recorded in the book.

  Fans will definitely enjoy it; the way it has been done is very good. There are photos of many Wesen from the series, translations of the foreign text and details about the characters in the show that were revealed to be Wesen. Along with the drawings and photos of Wesen and the tools used to kill them is part of a police report about Adalind (the Hexenbiest) including her photo, her fingerprints and her signature. As this book is incomplete, it has no entries made by Kelly Burkhardt (Nick and Adalind’s son) any mention of Diana (Adalind and Renard’s daughter) or the relationship that develops between Nick and Adalind.

Sadly, the chapters on Fuchsbau (Rosalee) and Zauberbiest (Sean Renard) are two that have been destroyed. The chapter on Blutbad (Monroe) has survived and includes a photo of Monroe’s driver's license.

The book itself does show signs of having been in a fire; some pages appear singed and others have holes. The book itself is undamaged but a lot of the pages look as though they are photographs of the original ones post-fire damage. Some pages also appear damaged by stains such as blood and what I assume is spilled potion.  The front cover of the book features photos of Nick, Monroe, Hank, Juliette, Rosalee and Renard (all in human form).

 All in all, this is a great book, but only for fans of the show. To other people, I think some aspects would be confusing. There is only one thing I dislike about it. The entry on the creature known as a Hexenbiest (A female witch) has almost nothing. There is a reference to the main Hexenbiest which is encountered in the show and a drawing of a Hexenbiest but all the text, apart from a few notes by Nick, is not about a Hexenbiest. The text is a fairy-tale by the Grimm Brothers. I don’t why or if it has relevance I’ve missed but that’s the only issue I have.

 For Grimm fans, it’s great for others; it’s probably not worth it.

Aunt Marie's Book of Lore Review (without spoilers)

⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore 

 To really appreciate this book you have to have watched Grimm. Marie is the aunt of Nick Burkhardt, a Portland detective who finds out he is what is known as a Grimm. As the name suggests, it is to do with the Grimm brothers. Nick is destined to kill what, to most of the world, are fairy-tale creatures.

  The Book of Lore is a record of what these creatures are, how they look, what they are called and how to kill them. It is a record centuries-old, written by Grimms to pass to their children. As a Grimm, Nick also records his own experiences in the book.

  Aunt Marie’s Book of Lore as it is presented, is how it appears towards the end of the series, without giving anything away, it is incomplete. At the front of the book, essentially the contents, is an alphabetical list of the creatures, called Wesen, although some of them are crossed out. From 58 Wesen, only 31 are recorded in the book.

  Fans will definitely enjoy it; the way it has been done is very good. There are photos from the series, translations of the foreign text and details that, if I spoke about on here, would make this a review with spoilers.

  All in all, this is a great book, but only for fans of the show. To other people, I think some aspects would be confusing. There is only one thing I dislike about it. The entry on the creature known as a Hexenbiest (A female witch) has almost nothing. There is a reference to the main Hexenbiest which is encountered in the show and a drawing of a Hexenbiest but all the text about it is not about the Hexenbiest. The text is a fairy-tale by the Grimm Brothers. I don’t why or if it has relevance I’ve missed but that’s the only issue I have.

 For Grimm fans, it’s great for others; it’s probably not worth it.