"Camping Adventure" by Olivia Jarmusch

About this book:

  “Millie and the M&M's are lacing up their hiking boots and saddling up for an overnight camping adventure! The stakes are high as they face off against the oh-so-snooty Amy and Amanda in a survival badge competition!
    Badge by badge, challenge by challenge, the M&M's are determined to come out on top! However, as the competition heats up, Millie finds herself torn between racing for victory and disregarding Miss Belle's words of caution. Will Millie risk the safety of herself, her horses, and her teammates to secure the win?
    Join the M&M's in yet another unforgettable adventure at Chestnut Academy!”


Series: Book #3 in the “Chestnut Academy” series. Review of Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here! (Connected to the author’s other series, “The Tales of Tarsurella”, but does not have to be read first or together.)


Spiritual Content- Millie’s father tells her that “obeying and respecting the leaders God has placed in our lives isn’t to constrict and punish us, but rather to keep us safe.” and Millie tries to listen, but is too excited for the camping trip to focus on his words; A few mentions of praying; A couple mentions of God; A mention of thanking God; A mention of being Blessed; 
             *Note: A teasing mention of scary ghost stories.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘leaping lizards’ (exclamation), a ‘stupid’, and a ‘what in heaven’s name’; Some eye rolling, bickering, & harsh/mean words (mostly blaming); Millie & her friends get into a competition with two of the snooty mean girls at their school; Millie tries to be kind to Amanda, but thinks that people like Amanda are really difficult to get along with (including that she often brags about her expensive items and Millie trying to avoid her in general); One of Millie’s friends, McKayla, makes a couple snide comments about Amanda and also steamrolls over others’ ideas and opinions (Millie knows she means well but notes that another friend is different from her and can have her feeling hurt by McKayla’s words because McKayla is so opinionated; One adult tells the girls “no name calling” and wants them to keep a good sportsmanship); Millie and her friends are under strict orders to not leave their tents after dark, but Millie plans to go riding at night for a competition and thinks that “she’d only be gone a few minutes! Miss Belle never needed to know about it.” (*Spoiler* She and another girl do sneak out and Millie tries to ignore her concerns; Her friend ends up falling off of her horse, her horse steps on her ankle causing a broken ankle, & being in pain; It’s said that her friend or the horse could have been killed which adds to Millie’s guilt and she faces punishments from the school for disobeying and her friend says Millie is not to blame because it was her decision to join Millie *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of falling off of a horse, pain, injuries, (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of potential mountain lion attacks; A few mentions of a war & gunfire (in an imagination); A few mentions of boys vs girls rivalry (we see a tiny bit of this on-page); A couple mentions of stealing another’s ideas; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of (not) lying; A mention of Millie using her father’s credit card without permission (Book #2); 
             *Note: Millie’s father asks her friends to call him by his first name; Millie imagines herself in a war zone as a solider with gunfire and seeing a picture of her beloved family during a competition (she often thinks of herself as a captain leading her soldiers); One of Millie’s friends, McKayla, harshly judges Amanda for making vlogs and says “being an online vlogger is just about the most obnoxiously stuck-up thing a person could do!” and gets upset when others defends Amanda for vlogging; A few mentions of brand names (Twizzlers, Skittles, & M&M’s); A mention of someone being in a zombie-like state.
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Princess Millie of Tarsurella, age 10
                                P.O.V. of Millie 
                                                        136 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

Like the prior two books in this series, there’s a major lesson for Millie to learn in this book! Millie learns the importance of rules that may not be fully understood, should still be respected and obeyed. These are easy, quick reads for me, but I think some middle-grade readers would really enjoy them. With some attitudes and comments, it might be good for a parent to read along with their girl and have discussions, but there’s also enough said and learned that it could be an independent read for the girl as well.  

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Prank War" by Olivia Jarmusch

About this book:

  “Millie can’t wait to celebrate “Galentine’s Day” with her friends at Chestnut Academy! But when her father asks her to spend the day with her kid brother, Willie, Millie fears that she’ll break the most important club rule: No Boys Allowed!
    Meanwhile, the boys at Craven Hall have a surprise of their own up their sleeves. They challenge the young ladies of Chestnut Academy to go head-to-head in an exciting competition! But the invitation comes with a twist: they must attend the Craven Hall school dance!
    Will Millie and her friends defeat the boys? Or will they be forced to surrender in the middle of their prank war? Ride and laugh along with Millie and the M&M gang in a brand-new adventure!”


Series: Book #2 in the “Chestnut Academy” series. Review of Book #1 Here! (Connected to the author’s other series, “The Tales of Tarsurella”, but does not have to be read first or together.)


Spiritual Content- A Scripture is indirectly mentioned (about turning the other cheek); A mention of God giving someone a sibling to help the other grow in love and patience; A mention of using your time to glorify God; A mention of the good Lord saving someone (in a war-like setting); A mention of things that have no eternal value; A mention of a nunnery; 
             *Note: A mention of Joan of Arc; A mention of Santa Claus.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘buzz off’, a ‘for crying out loud’, a ‘good heavens’, a ‘jeesh’, a ‘oh my peppers’, a ‘oh snap’, a ‘pickles’, a ‘stupid’ and two ‘oh my heavens’s (most are exclaimed); Some eye rolling, sarcasm, & sass; Prank wars (including taunting notes, silly-string, water balloons, trashing a bedroom, destroying & stealing others’ items), Sneaking out (which Millie’s friends know that that’s not allowed but do it anyway), & Trying not to get caught by the adults (Millie and McKayla are all for the pranks and getting back at the boys because they’re confident that their plans will work, but Misti and Mimi are concerned about getting into trouble and the punishments; When something personal is destroyed via a prank, Millie becomes incredibly upset; *Spoiler* Towards the end, when her father finds out, he’s disappointed in her and has her removed from the competition; Millie and her brother make-up at the end *End of Spoiler*); At the beginning, Millie’s father tries to talk to her about spending time with her brother and talks about not being selfish and practicing self-control, but Millie thinks it’s not selfishness, that her friends need her for their party; There’s a snooty girl who makes mean comments & brags about herself (Millie and her friends try to avoid her because it’s hard to hold their tongues when she’s around and it’s a waste of energy; There are some confrontations between them and bickering happens; Millie and one of her friends are more prone to reacting and gets very upset at their taunts); Mentions of mean/snooty mean girls (bullies) & their comments/teasing; A few mentions of wars & a massacre (figuratively); A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of manure; A mention of a burp; 
             *Note: There’s boy-girl arguments and banter between Millie’s friends and her brother’s friends (taunting/mocking, smack-talking, and implying they are better than the other) along with pranks (boys vs girls rivalry); Millie and her friends want to cream the boys in a competition and they sneak out (without permission) to spy on the boys to gather information (this ends in another prank involving silly-string and a vow to get them back); Millie’s headmistresses tells her and her friends that doing things you don’t want to do is a good test to be able to do it with a good attitude and see the best in others; *Spoiler* Millie buys her and her friends expensive items (dresses, accessories, stuffed animals, and a very expensive saddle) with the debit card her father gave her for emergencies and necessities only; Millie feels good about helping her friends, but has a feeling that she should have asked for her father’s permission; This causes a friend to be very mad at Millie, but they later make-up after Millie apologizes; Towards the end, when her father finds out, he’s disappointed in her and has her work at the school to pay off the bill *End of Spoiler*; A few mentions of brand names (Twizzlers); A couple mentions of fictional characters (Narnia).
 
 
Sexual Content- A teacher tells the girls from her school and the boys from the other school that if they are to be respectable citizens, they must have a “proper understanding of interacting with the opposite gender” and makes them dance with each other; Mentions of boys, boy crazy girls, & a boyfriend (Millie’s older sister has a boyfriend and Millie’s friends talk about that being a waste of her “horse-loving potential” and not being girls who are crazy about boys; Millie says “there’s no danger of that ever happening with us” and it’s true that all four girls’ thoughts are only on their horses and pranking the boys); Mentions of there being a “No Boys Allowed Galentine’s Party”; Mentions of a school dance (Millie’s friends aren’t happy about being with boys and say so, but some of the other girls are excited and call them immature); A mention of a girl calling a boy handsome; 
             *Note: A boy comments on his muscles to show off. 
 
-Princess Millie of Tarsurella, age 10
                                P.O.V. of Millie
                                                        133 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

{ Please note the content about the mean girl and the boys vs girls rivalry as that may be a deal breaker for some families. }

After reading the first book in this series a couple of months ago, I was definitely interested in this next book. Millie learned at the end of the first book about telling the truth about her identity was the best way for her to honor her family and also be kind to her new friends—which comes to play in this book for sure, but there’s also new lessons to learn as well. 

Millie really must learn about self-control when there’s a mean girl and her comments plus a prank war happening between her and her friends & her brother and his friends. Things get messy quick! 

Because of this book having a mean girl about the same (if not a touch more) than the first book and there also being a boys vs girls rivalry and pranks, some families may want to read together to discuss different parts and add their own thoughts on Millie’s actions. 

 

 

See y’all on Monday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

"Undercover Princess" by Olivia Jarmusch

About this book:

  “Ten-year-old Princess Millie is thousands of miles away from her Royal Family in Europe, attending a fancy horse school for girls in Kentucky! Upon her arrival at Chestnut Academy, Millie overhears her classmates stating what a “Royal pain” it would be to go to school with a Princess. Millie desperately wants the girls to like her, so she chooses to keep her royal identity hidden. But will a bottle of purple hair-dye be enough to keep her secret? What will happen when everyone finds out who she truly is? 
   Join Millie in this horse-lovers dream, as she makes new friends in the saddle, trains for an exciting competition with Starlight the mare, and learns the value of being her true self!”


Series: Book #1 in the “Chestnut Academy” series. Connected to the author’s other series, “The Tales of Tarsurella”, but does not have to be read first or together. 


Spiritual Content- Millie’s father tells her to not lose sight of who she is when at the school and that it doesn’t matter what others think of her, adding that she’s a Princess of God and His royal daughter as well; A few mentions of God; 
             *Note: Mentions of horses having miracle-working, magical powers (of getting another girl to talk to Millie when upset with her; *Spoiler* when it happens and they talk it out, Millie says it was the power of forgiveness, not the horses *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of pixie dust, fairy wings, & a fairy godmother; A few mentions of being lucky.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘oh my stars’, a ‘stinkin’’, a ‘stupid’, two ‘duh’s, and three ‘freakshow/freak’ (said by a mean girl towards Millie); A bit of eye rolling & sass; Falling off of a horse & pain (no major injuries, up to semi-detailed); A girl is scared of horses & nearly falls off of one when riding (which is a scary situation for her and those watching, up to semi-detailed); Millie has first day of school jitters; Millie overhears another student at her school say that the Royal Family of Tarsurella is snooty and stuck up (she’s never met them, but has read all the gossip magazines) and thinks it will be a “royal pain”  to have an “annoying princess” at their school; Millie is desperate for the other girls to like her and dyes her hair for them not to recognize her as the princess (she notes the bottle says to use it with adult supervision, but because her dad is busy and would probably say no, she does it herself and wonders what she’s done when she sees the color; Another girls says her dad would not let her do that to her hair and Millie thinks “Welp. Neither would mine”); Millie is excited to become the “new and improved Millie” who doesn’t get lost in the crowd of all of her siblings and not having to follow in her older sisters’ footsteps (she doesn’t share much about herself to her roommates because of her being a princess and gets tripped up when trying to make conversation); Millie tries to lie to her teacher (it just fell out of her mouth), but the teacher sees through it; *Spoiler* When it’s revealed that Millie is a princess, one of her roommates is very upset that she didn’t share that information and vows to never talking to her again; They talk through things and say they want to be true friends a bit later *End of Spoiler*; A couple snooty girls & their rude comments and taunts to other girls (Millie is uncomfortable with the strife, thinking “Why was everyone acting so competitive? Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?” and tries to reassure the others about having fun and not fretting about things they can’t control; One of Millie’s roommates puts them back in their place a couple of times, but not rudely; Millie falls for a couple of their taunts and talks back, which ends with them taunting her harder and her in tears; *Spoiler* Towards the end, Millie stands up for her roommate that a mean girl is picking on and says that bullying is something she’ll never do *End of Spoiler*); McKayla wants to knock a mean girl off of “her high horse of pride”, but knows that’s wrong; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of bullies & bullying; Mentions of manure; A few mentions of hatred; A few mentions of jealousy (an adult says that “building long-lasting, beautiful friendships is far more rewarding than any old trophy could ever be” and encourages the girls to not fall prey to jealousy, comparison, and competition); A couple mentions of a thief & robbing a place; A mention of gossip magazines; 
             *Note: Millie is sad to say goodbye to her father (when dropping her off at the boarding school) and tries not to cry; Mentions of Amelia Earhart (Millie looks up to her); Mentions of brand names (Twizzlers, M&Ms, & Jell-O); A couple mentions of children’s TV show (Barney); A mention of the book/movie ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’; A mention of a comment being an outrage and compared to if the person said that “boys were cooler than girls”; A mention of a rule for a club being “no boys allowed”.
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Princess Millie of Tarsurella, age 10
                                P.O.V. of Millie 
                                             158 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I’ve been excited for this new Christian middle-grade series since I first heard about it and this first book was so much fun! I’m not a big horse girl, but I can see those who are especially liking this story. 

Even though there were mean girls, it was handled well and quickly for the size of the book. It was also really nice to see good adults represented in this story and Millie learn the meaning of being true to herself. The pacing was quick and I’m excited to read the rest of the series as they release!

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

"The Rebellion" by Livy Jarmusch

About this book:

  “Vanessa Bennett lands her dream job working at the Palace in Tarsurella. She struggles to balance everything on her plate: life in a new country, stressful deadlines, crabby co-workers, college classes at the local University, and blossoming feelings of romantic adoration toward her boss–King Addison. Keeping up with her To-Do list, while trying to earn respect in Addison’s male-dominated administration, presents its challenges. Nevertheless, she can’t help but fight a reoccurring thought and the excitement rising with it: is Addison interested in her?
  Addison is adjusting to his new role as King. Rumors of a rebellious uprising among the youth in Tarsurella intensifies, as acts of violence and protest break out across the city. Addison is determined to uncover the hidden instigator who fearlessly blogs democracy-driven ideals with a secretive pen name. Will Addison discover and expose the fiery rebellion leader? Or will his efforts fail to stop the rebellious thoughts spreading like wildfire, causing a heartbreaking rift in his divided nation?”


Series: Books #2 in the “The Tales of Tarsurella” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, & talked about; Many Prayers; Many talks about God, prayers/praying, & faiths; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Many mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of Christians & their faiths; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, memorizing, & those and events in the Bible; A few mentions of church services, youth groups, & pastors; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of Thanking God; A couple mentions of sins;

             *Note: A mention of cavemen.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blah, blah’, a ‘duh’, a ‘gah’, an ‘oh my word’, a ‘suck it up’, two ‘gosh’s, two ‘idiot’s, and eleven ‘stupid’s; Some sarcasm & eye rolling; Attacks & Guns are aimed (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of terrorists, criminals, horror, being tortured, being held hostage, injuries, & deaths (from Book #1, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of suicides, prevention, & bullies (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of mafias, threats, & murderous threats; Mentions of fires, burning a country’s flag, & carrying weapons into a school; Mentions of guns aimed, broken glass, injuries, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a kidnapping (of an adult); Mentions of jail/prison; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of Asher remembering wanting to take his life; A few mentions of people freezing to death; A few mentions of cheating; A few mentions of wine; A couple mentions of a (possible) murder; A couple mentions of cigars & smoking; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of graffiti; A mention of taxidermy;

             *Note: Mentions of Disney & a movie; A few mentions of social media; A couple mentions of celebrities (Joanne Gaines and Justin Bieber); A couple mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of brand names; A mention of Starbucks; A mention of Hallmark movies; A mention of aliens; A mention of feeling like a zombie.

Sexual Content- A few Touches & Embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing, Nearness, & Butterflies (x6); a form of ‘hunk’; Mentions of dating/courting, boyfriends, & girlfriends; A few mentions of an almost kiss; A few mentions of flirting & sparks; A few mentions of crushes; A few mentions of blushes; Love, falling in love, & the emotions (x2);

             *Note: A couple mentions of a mother who passed away in childbirth.

-(Prince) Addison

- Hanson Fletcher

-(Princess) Bridget

-(Princess) Chasity

-Vanessa Bennet

-(Princess) Hope

-(Prince) Asher

-Jane Akerly
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others
                                                        346 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Royalty books are typically so fun and it was neat to read this one in the month of the royal wedding coming soon.

Like in the first book, I did feel overwhelmed a bit again being (in this case) re-introduction to so many characters—and I definitely still can’t name off the royal family in age order—but I was able to follow along. While some discussions between the teenagers in this story do feel a little too eloquent, it’s still a fun read with lessons. Also like in the first book, everyone is matched up a little too quickly. There were a few twists that made it better, though, in my opinion, and will add to the third book.

Overall, it was a fun read and I do plan on reading the next book when it releases. :)

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.