Kindle:
Hardcover:
Paperback:
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5
If you've read any of my other recent-ish book reviews, you'll already know that I start 'em all off in the same way - by saying that this (and every) book starts off with the full 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.
"Hilarious and heart-warming" eh?
Challenge accepted.
It takes a truly incredible book to even *start* to raise a genuine smile from me, so lets see if this genuinely tickles my funny-bone or if it's another one that has been mis-sold to me ;-)
I'm reading it on my Kindle and it's supposed to be illustrated but my past experiences of illustrations on my Kindle Paperwhite is either that they are too tiny to make out what they are supposed to be or they are cut off half-way through the illustration which annoys me and would frustrate the (usually child) reader so they would throw their Kindle across the room and never pick it up again. The first page seems promising though, so hopefully the publishers have been able to continue that throughout.
There are lots of spaces missing between words which makes it incredibly hard to read - I'm hoping that it's because I'm reading an ARC copy of it and that it's all fixed and tickety-boo by publication day.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! The first illustration is perfect - it's silly, shows what the previous page described, I'm even starting to crack the outer shell of my funny-bone - could this be the first book in a very long time to make me smile, grin or even chuckle to myself? I can't remember the last book that genuinely did that, but at 1% of the way through this book I'm already starting to feel hopeful!
Another sign of a great book is that I let hot drinks go stone cold because I'm so lost in the world of the book characters. I've just made myself a hot drink... how hot will it be by the time I take my next mouthful of it?
Noooo! At only 3%, the first star is coming off 'cos of the use of those famous internet brands potentially without permission! I always hate it when a 5 star book unfortunately becomes a 4 star book because of potential trademark infringement, but I've done it with other books, so my sense of fair play is insisting that the star comes off this book too :-(
Chapter two was gooood! I'm really getting to know Adam and liking where his idea had come from - that takes guts but 'I believe in you Adam! You can do this!'
Oh dear... chapters three and four have made me feel even worse for poor old Adam than I did before.... my heart is breaking for the poor chap!
My hot drink is telling me that this is a great book 'cos of the barely-above-stone-cold temperature of it now.
This is a truly fantastic book and I'll be recommending it widely if it carries on like this!
Just finished chapter 6 and I'm debating with myself about whether I should feel sorry or amazed that he's already achieved his goal, but I'm only 19% of the way through so there's a loooong way to go yet, but I'm grinning, almost chuckling already which hasn't happened in too long so this book is already worth every penny you pay for it IMNSHO already!
What a truly fantastic book... it's got me buried deep into it and I don't know where the last couple of hours have gone but this is definitely a must-read by not just children but by adults too. It's a light, funny read and you will (if you're anything like me) find yourself rapidly deeply caring about Callum, Mum and especially Adam.
I hope Callum is OK - it's my bed-time and I'm pretty confidently predicting that I'll be dreaming about this book tonight lol
I'm still loving this book today too...
...it's all coming to a head and I hope Adam wins after what he's just discovered!
Wowsers! What an incredible book! I've just finished reading the ARC of this book and there's an "acknowledgments" section so I'm hoping beyond hope that there will be an acknowledgement to all those brands used throughout the book. If there *is* then it's a very solid 5 stars, but the version I've got hasn't got it in so I'm not gonna adjust the starage until I know for sure.
This is definitely a must-read book, just don't expect hot drinks to stay hot 'cos you'll be so absorbed in what you're reading that the time will just slip by. Same with iced drinks... the ice will melt between sips of that too. Basically buy this book and settle in for an awesome read.
