*I was provided with the books reviewed in this post in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.
I try to give gifts as books a lot, especially for children. I think that giving books as gifts sends children the message that books ARE gifts, and I like knowing that my gift might encourage them to read a book that they wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. As an adult, I enjoy getting books as gifts too because it lets me discover books that I hadn’t heard of.
I was sent an assortment of books to check out and use as gifts this year that I think will make great gifts this year.
DJ: The Dog Who Rescued Me by David Toussaint caught my attention because it’s about a pug, and I have two pugs. It’s only 47 pages long and there is a picture on each page spread so it’s definitely not a long book but it’s a cute one. It’s about a man battling depression and how he adopts, falls in love with and becomes best friends with a pug. It’s a sweet, heartwarming story that any pug lover (or even general dog lover) would find sweet.
St. Peter’s Choice: A Novel by Dean Hartwell is a novel that I thought would be a good gift for the “free thinkers” or non-believers on my list. Instead of being your typical scientific book that breaks down religion in a scientific and logical way, it’s more of a story. It takes place on judgement day and it’s a few “free thinkers” talking to a saint because they feel the saint uses logic and reasoning to arrive at scientific answers, where as they were unsatisfied by the answers given by God. I was a bit surprised that the book takes place on judgement day because my understand would be that non-believers don’t think that a judgement day will happen, and wouldn’t believe that there is a God to ask questions to, etc. If you have a free thinker on your list who is interested in stories related to religion and free thinking this is probably a good book for them.
The Photo Traveler by Arthur J Gonzalez is a book for the Young Adult crowd. I plan to give this to my 16 year old niece as a present and I’m excited about it because I know she’ll enjoy it. I know they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but lets face it – we all do a little bit. This cover really grabbed my attention and made me curious to find out more. It’s about a 17 year old whose parents passed away when he was only four. He was put into the foster care system and eventually adopted by an alcoholic and abusive father. To escape, he uses photography. Eventually he learns that his biological parents are not dead after all, they are living in DC. He decides to travel 3000 miles to find his biological grandparents and he discovers that he and the other members of his family are Photo Travelers – people who can travel through time and space with images. There is a cult out to try and steal the Photo Traveling abilities from his family. I love how this book incorporates history (as they travel through time to different eras), emotion, coming-of-age and sci-fi all in one. I think this book will appeal to a wide range of teens and would make a great Christmas gift.
Win it: The Photo Traveler prize package below – includes a book, pen, bookmark and shirt! To enter, fill out the GT form below by 11:59pm EST on 12/13. Giveaway is open to the US.
Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
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