I'm a full-time mummy

I just mentioned few days ago that I don't often received pitch email asking me to review iPad apps with the promo code given along as well and that when I do get emails like this, I feel obligated to redeem it and try it out and then share my feedback. And then I got this email asking me to review this app. I checked out the app in details as 'Stone Soup' sounds weird, I mean, stone soup?! Really?! Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: Stone Soup
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Jan 12, 2013
* Version: 1.0
* Size: 144 MB
* Language: English, Chinese
* Seller: Zhong Ming
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"One night, three rabbits arrived at a small village. They hoped that they could stay in the village for one night, but when they arrived in the village, they found that all of the windows were shut, and all of the lights were turned off. They thought that all of the people in the village were selfish and refused to accept others and could not be happy. Therefore, the three rabbits decided to cook stone soup in order to attract the attention of the villagers, who then joined the cooking voluntarily. With the proceeding of the plot, the readers can join the animal characters in the story and learn to be generous and ready to help others in order to have joy and happiness. The Stone Soup is not only inspiring to children but also worth reading and reflection by every adult. Caring about others can make you happy and your life will be more beautiful if you treat it with sincerity and honesty. "

* The animation on this story app is fantastic and cute!

* I love that we can also touch certain objects on the screen and I spent quite some time playing with this particular page below, was just amazed at the sun rising and setting and the shadows cast on the scenery is just amazing!

* I like the storyline where it tells how 3 rabbits got the villagers who are selfish and not friendly to turn the opposites at the end by cooking up a unique stone soup.

* One thing that got me annoyed in this story app is the loud music background. I think it will be much much better if the background music is lowered down quite a bit as it currently overshadows the narrator's voice.

* I took the opportunity in this app to teach my almost 4 years old boy how important it is to share what we have and to make friends.

You can purchase the "Stone Soup " app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

A year ago, I get to review "Koto Go Silence" and the developer has recently emailed me to request for my review on their latest Koto series. You know, my almost 4 years old boy still occasionally watch the Koto Go Silence app before his bedtime, so of course I am all for reviewing the latest story on Koto the awesome dog!

* Title: Koto Go West
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Dec 19, 2012
* Version: 1.0
* Size: 96.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Daniel Shneor
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

""Koto Go West" is a new beautifully animated storybook app that throws users into the adventurous world of Koto, as a tenacious sheriff dog in a Wild West town. Following the chases he embarks on, through tracking down mysterious noises, Koto encourages the reader's cognition between sound imagination and real life objects."

* Like the previous Koto book, my boy's eyes lit up when he sees Koto the dog again but this time in a different scene, the West! My boy sometimes like to pretend play with cowboy and guns and stuff, so to see Koto the dog as a cowboy dog is quite cute!

* The illustrations in this book is top notch and I love the vivid colors used, very attractive and eye catching.

* I like the storyline where it tells how Koto imagine weird things happening around whenever he hears some weird sounds around him.

* I also used the opportunity to teach Ben some new words, such as cowboy shoes, rattle snake, aborigines and so on.

* It was such a nice coincidence that I just went through a Youtube video with my boy on rattlesnakes and we saw a rattlesnake in the Koto book. My boy immediately called out rattlesnake when he saw it!

* The app comes automatically with the Read Out Loud feature but requires us to tap each pages to move through the story, so I used this opportunity to teach Ben to tap the text himself, so that he can learn that tapping the text will enable us to know what is going to happen next and I also want him to be more in-charge when we are going through this app.

You can purchase the "Koto Go West" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

I received an email pitch to review this book few days ago and although I still have tons of product reviews in queue, I decided to give this book a try. Read on below why I decided to review this book!

Title: Under The Shade of The Walnut Tree
Author: Ivan Radev
ASIN:  B00AIVD3KU
File Size:  177 KB
Dimension:  inches

Description from the product page:
"This is a romantic short story about two people who fall deeply for each other, without ever seeing one another. Separated by a lonely tree on the road, the two of them talk about the simple things in life without bothering with the limitations imposed by the time we live in. They debate about the important stuff - the stars, the flowers, each other - all the things that make life beautiful. There is nothing complicated - just one constant niceness. With just a speck of unbothered philosophy, heartwarming and filled with naive positivism, this dialogue-based tale is a nice little escape from reality for those wishing to get their daily dose of smiling."

The first time I read the description of this book "a romantic short story about two people who fall deeply for each other, without ever seeing one another" I thought 'Wow! How can 2 people fall in love with each other and yet never see each other before?

As I read the preview version on Amazon website, I got more intrigued with the book as I am a fan of dialogue type of books. Maybe because I find myself imagining I'm the character in the book as I read the dialogues and immerses myself in the storyline.

I like the concept of this book (though it may not be logical since the 2 characters never see each other and this book does not seem to be bothered much with factors like time, season, weather and so on) where the 2 characters just chatted about everything, the openness and honesty with each other and the way they complimented each other with sincerity.

In page 7: "You shouldn’t speak if you don’t want to. Silence is fine. It is easy to find people with whom you can talk, but it is much harder to find somebody who enjoys staying together in silence.” Wow! This sentence is so so touching! I don't know about you but I think this line pretty much sums up how a relationship should be as we grow old together with our spouse. Not necessary that we should talk and talk to fill the silence but just being there for each other and enjoying the moment.

A wonderful book to read that brings a smile to my face as it makes me reminisce the early days of being in love with my special someone aka my hubby!

You can get this book from Amazon.

Btw, if you blog or have an Amazon account, do check out this book review opportunity which I shared on my FB page.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"