*WARNING this review may contain spoilers*

And Jake Makes Three written by Sue Whitaker is a tale involving adventure, mystery and even danger. This book takes you on a journey from start to finish.
Follow Sam, Jess and Jake the dog on their first of many adventures they have at Talltrees.
Jess and Sam are travelling down from the hustle and bustle of London to spend 3 weeks with their Gran at her quiet, countryside cottage, Talltrees.
All seems normal until Sam spots something unusual coming from the nearby woodland, with adventure in his heart he tells Jess and then the adventure begins.

I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush I got when reading this book, although it is a Children’s book I actually really enjoyed reading it as an adult. The way Sue writes the book makes it easy for Children to understand and also keeps adults engrossed in it.

You never know what is going to happen in this tale, I was worried that it would be similar to other Children’s books where you can easily tell what the ending will be but I was pleasantly surprised when my guesses were incorrect, every page I turned I was more and more intrigued as to what was actually going to happen.

And Jake Makes Three is filled with danger, but not the kind you would expect. When I hear that books are based around danger or scary adventures it would put me off even thinking about buying it for any of the Children in my family as I fear it would keep them up at night but this danger isn’t like that.

It certainly isn’t a ‘boring’ danger, in fact it’s completely the opposite of boring. I liked the style of danger that Sue Whitaker has brought into this book. It had me sitting on the edge of my seat but making me want to read more and more.

My inner adventurous child came out and I ended up putting myself into Jess’ shoes, imagining if that was me and my younger sibling, what would I have done? Would I have been so brave? Would I handle it differently? It really got my imagination going so I can only imagine what a child would be thinking and how exciting their thoughts would be.

This book is definitely a page turner and as a short read it’s a nice easy choice for Children, ensuring they won’t get intimidated by a huge novel.
Encouraging Children to read is a very important thing, especially with the technology in 2017 it’s hard to get a Child to read a book at all. And Jake Makes Three is an easy option to take a while out of their day and let their imagination run wild.

When I was younger I always had my head in a book, I just wish that the ‘And Jake Makes Three’ series was around then, it would of been one of my favourites.

I would highly recommend And Jake Makes Three for Children age 7+, early readers and even adults! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

We had the chance to interview the author of the newly released  Children's book ' The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan ' to get to know what the behind the scenes was like when she was writing.

This book is a hilariously charming and loved by all ages. Have a giggle as you join the Roper twins on their journey against nan and the 'big' bath.

You can find The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan here, we are inviting reviews on Amazon, please leave your review here.



What inspired you to write about the bath time battles you faced with your grandchildren?

I think it was the sheer determination of my granddaughters to have their own way. We literally could not get them near the bathroom, let alone the bath for months, without major tantrums.
It became apparent that other parents and carers go through this battle with their young charges too.
So the main inspiration was to provide great bedtime reading (as bath-time usually precedes bedtime), which the adult could relate too, while giving them hope that the battle will end and peace will one day be restored.



How long did it take you to write the book? Did you set yourself a time limit to finish the
book by?

The book was written very quickly and just flowed. There was no writer’s block, planning or
research required because I had personally lived through the situation. There was no time limit set.
In the final page of the book Nan is sitting watching the twins peacefully playing in the bath. There was a similar scene in my own bathroom on the day I won bath-time battles. As soon as granddaughters were in bed and asleep I sat down on my laptop and the story just flowed out.



Where is your favourite place to write? Do you have a specific place or anywhere you fancy
at the time?

​My favourite place to write is in my conservatory. It is great to be able to look out at the garden, hear birds singing. I live in an area where there are a lot of fellow Creative’s and musicians so in the summer there is also often the sound of live music from my neighbours’ gardens. This can often set the right mood for book and song writing, which I am known to do too.



What do your grandchildren think of the book? Have they read it? If so, did they enjoy it?

As we know the twins are very clever twins, (anyone who has read the book will see what I did there LOL). However they are not reading yet or I would enrol them for Child Genius (snorts with laughter!). They love the pictures and having the book read to them though. As far as they are concerned the characters are not Jade, Courtney and Nan. They are Destiny, Briony and Mummy-Nanny!!



Have you got any plans to write more children's books? Maybe to continue with ‘The Roper
Twins’?

I am being asked to write more Roper Twin books so a series, if I can find the time, is likely.
However apart from The Roper Twins I have no plans to write other children’s books. However I have plans to write more books for an older reading audience so watch this space.