Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets by Cathy Hopkins

Advantages: Great characters, good story, you can read it over and over and not get bored of it, easy to read
Disadvantages: -

...Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets Cathy Hopkins The book was published in 2002 by Piccadilly Press Ltd. A bit about the author Cathy Hopkins was born in Manchester but grew up in Kenya from the ages five to eleven. She started writing teenage fiction in the year 2000. (To find out more visit www.cathyhopkins.com) When/ Why did I buy the book? I bought the book a good few years ago, I'd say about five, when I was about ten years old. I actually bought the book from a car boot sale, I think it was about 10p!! Which is an absolute bargain as the book is fantastic and I still read it now. I'm not really sure why I bought it, it obviously must have just caught my eye through all the usual junk you find at a car boot sale. They say don't judge a book by its cover, well everyone does don't they. I think I judged...

Ruby.xo 28.06.2009 (23.07.2009) · Read review
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Review of Mates Dates and Sleepover Secrets - Cathy Hopkins

Damaged - Cathy Glass

Advantages: Insight into what some foster carers have to endure
Disadvantages: Sad story made even more moving because it is true

...This book had me gripped from the start. It is a true story about a foster carer called Cathy Glass and her experience with a very troubled 8 year old girl named Jodie. Cathy has been a foster carer for over 20 years and looked after more than 50 children. What struck me about this book was the sheer frankness of Cathy. It is a heartwrenching story that goes into quite a lot of detail. Jodie had been through numerous carers before she was taken in by Cathy. Cathy knew this and was made aware in a crisis meeting that Jodie would be taken into a residential care home which would of meant she didn't get the one-on-one care that she so badly needed. The antics Jodie gets up to are disturbing to say the least, from wiping her own excrement on herself to cutting her own wrists, extreme aggression and sexual behaviour. Multiple...

victorialush 29.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Damaged by Cathy Glass - Heartbreaking

Advantages: Gives a true insight into the damage emotional and physical child abuse causes
Disadvantages: The truth hurts and this book can be upsetting at parts.

...Well I originally had this bought for me as a present from my husband out of the blue as he knows I like to read "those kind of books". I was taken in by the beautiful looking little girl on the front and started reading it straight away. I could not help but become engrossed in the story straight away, the first conversation that takes place in the book gives an insight into the termoil and upset that would be brought to Cathy's family and left me eager to turn the pages and discover what happens next. The book itself is written beautifully, the story holds no punches and is honest and admirable to the last. It shows that the society we live in has a long way to go in protecting the most vunerable children in our "developed" country. I will not go into detail about the opinions this book provokes or the story detail...

Sarah_2002_84 13.09.2007 (12.09.2007) · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

Hidden by Cathy Glass

Advantages: a fantastic insight into a small childs life
Disadvantages: none that i can think of

...From the author of Number One bestseller 'Damaged' comes the poignant and shocking memoir of Cathy's recent relationship with Tayo, a young boy she fosters whose good behaviour and polite manners hide a terrible past. From start to finish this book had me gripped and I really couldn't put it down. It is really hard to believe that even now in the 21st century children are still being subjected to horrific abuse and neglect when they should be enjoying their childhood. However thanks to people like Cathy Glass these children can be provided with a little bit of stabiity and an idea of what a childhood should be like. It is just a shame that there are not more people like her in this world because if there were this world would be a better place. I highly recommend this book for it is not only a story if a child who suffers...

kellys_eye 21.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Hidden - Cathy Glass

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Making babies should be fun!

Advantages: excellent read
Disadvantages: none

...Just lately I seem to be stumbling across a number of wonderful Irish writers and I've just discovered another one - Sinead Moriarty! I have just read The Baby Trail which I believe was her first book and is also the first in a series about a young couple - Emma and James Hamilton - and their quest to have a baby. I found it was a brilliant read from cover to cover and it was the sort of book that I really did not want to put down. The subject matter is really quite sensitive as anyone who is trying for a baby will soon tell you. The book follows Emma's total obsession with wanting to have a baby - all the highs and lows although there are significantly more lows than highs! Emma starts off quite optimistically, like most people, expecting to get pregnant within a few months. She and her husband do 'it' at the most likely time...

kingfisher111 21.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Baby Trail - Sinead Moriarty

The Baby Trail - Sinead Moriarty

Advantages: An enjoyalbe book with lots of laughs and a sense of humour
Disadvantages: language can be a little strong

......

pepper6474 25.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Baby Trail - Sinead Moriarty

Arthur and Cathy

Advantages: see opinion
Disadvantages: see opinion

...CheekyGranny challenged me to write an opinion about my grand parents in no less than 300 words each............. Now this is a tricky one for me as my family closet is full of skeletons! I only knew my fathers, father and his stepmother, Arthur and Cathy, who in actual fact brought me up, as my mother died when I was a baby. So I called my Grandma??Mother. There was a lot of sadness in my early childhood but my Granddad was lovely made me laugh! His name was Arthur and he was a painter and decorator like his father and his father before him. He worked with his brothers and my father in the family business in the east end of Glasgow. The woman I called mother was his third wife, Cathy, his first two wives had died, so he brought my father and my two aunties up on his own. I think his sisters helped him but when he married...

Maglette 17.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Everything that starts with A ...

Catch that egg!

Advantages: True to life and funny
Disadvantages: None

...hysterical but in actual fact normal women do some quite hilarious thing when trying to concieve and it doesn't need to be blown up. My partner told me he was afraid to sit down in the house nowadays as I pee on anything that stays still long enough! (ok its not that bad only twice a day lol) There are plenty of giggles in this book which are even funnier if you have seen yourself do it all too! *Sinead Moriarty* Sinead grew up in Dublin, her mother was also an author of childrens books. She has now written five books, the trilogy, then 'In my Sisters Shoes' and finally 'Whose Life is it Anyway?' The Baby Trail has been translated in 20 languages. I'd certainly recommend this book to women trying for a baby and maybe for men to read to know that their wife isn't the only one going potty! This book isn't too heavy but it will make you...

chantelly 11.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Baby Trail - Sinead Moriarty