The Bree McCready Series by Hazel Allan: December 2010

BREE MCCREADY AND THE HALF HEART LOCKET

"It starts when a clue inscribed on a Half-Heart Locket leads Bree and her best friends Sandy and Honey to an ancient, magical book. With it they can freeze time, fly and shrink to the size of ants.

But they soon discover the book has a long history of destruction and death. And it's being sought by the monstrous Thalofedril, who will stop at nothing to get it. Using its incredible powers, he could turn the world into a wasteland.

Bree, Sandy and Honey go on the run-hurtling off city rooftops, down neck-breaking ravines, and through night-black underground tunnels-to keep the book out of his lethal hands. Little do they know that the greatest danger of all lies ahead, in the heart of his deadly lair...

Can Bree find the courage to face this terrifying evil, and to confront the secrets of her tragic past?"

Punchy and exciting, this is a thrilling page-turner from a dazzling new talent.

BREE MCCREADY AND THE FLAME OF IRENUS

"Eight months after her death-defying escape from Castle Zarcalat, Bree McCready thinks she’s seen the last of the half-heart locket and the dangerous magical book that goes with it... until Honey’s kid sister Mimi disappears.

Suddenly, the locket and the book plunge Bree, Sandy and Honey into a world divided by the mysterious Flame of Irenus. Burning in a secret part of the castle, some think the Flame is the source of peace and light. Others say it brings bloodshed and must be extinguished.

Faced with a bone-crunching race against time to rescue Mimi and find the hidden chamber, Bree must rely on her friends more than ever. But a new boy at school has caught her eye and brought unexpected jealousy... She saved the world once before. Saving her friendships might not be as easy"

The explosive sequel to Bree McCready and the Half-Heart Locket is packed with action, secrets and heartbreak.

BREE MCCREADY AND THE REALM OF THE LOST

"Who would have guessed it? A shy swat, a psycho rebel and a lanky nerd try to save the world...for a third time!

Strange things start to happen at the Halloween funfair, and fourteen year old Bree McCready immediately suspects they have something to do with the half-heart locket.

Sensing trouble, Bree, and her friends Sandy and Honey, seek out the magical book, despite knowing it will take them on yet another terrifying adventure. They embark on an epic journey, which takes them to the Realm of the Lost - a place where normal rules do not apply.

Armed only with The Book and a map, the trio negotiate unknown territory, discovering strange creatures, deadly traps and new friends...only to end up in the darkest place imaginable.

Friendships and loyalties are tested to the extreme as Bree, Sandy and Honey try to fulfil their promise to keep The Book safe from the clutches of evil. Will they finally be able to put their demons to rest?

The third book in the Bree McCready series is another action-packed page-turner, full of surprises, and the darkest of revelations.

"A terrific story that had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved it!" D.A Nelson, author of the award-winning DarkIsle

"Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket was a superb fantasy adventure but I think Flame of Irenus may be even better" Our Book Reviews Online

"..a good balance of adventure, puzzles, friendship and humour. The action simply doesn't stop so it's very hard to put the book down at the end of a chapter" The Bookbag

"Good friends, actions and thrills, oh my! Bree had all of it" The Book Owl

"5 stars! A marvelous read. Snappier and more action packed than Harry Potter" Our Book Reviews Online

"This tale will have children eagerly flipping the pages to see what comes next and how the story ends" The Supermom

Friday, 24 December 2010

Wishing you a very merry Christmas. May 2011 be filled with laughter, fun and friendship... (and another Bree McCready adventure!)

Thanks for all your support over the last year.
Hazel x

Thursday, 9 December 2010

Mrs Matlow's Christmas Cookies

Mrs Matlow's Christmas Cookies can be found in Chapter One of
Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket by Hazel Allan

"Mrs Matlow had to shout into the microphone to be heard.
'There will now be a break for cookies and egg nog!'
She indicated a rickety old table disguised with a festive tablecloth, piled high with homemade Christmas cookies and mince pies..."

COOKIE DOUGH
1lb/450g plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
8oz/225g butter or margarine
7oz/200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
A few drops of vanilla essence

Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C (Gas Mark 4)
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the caster sugar.
Beat the eggs together with the vanilla essence and mix them into the flour mixture to form a firm dough (Go on! Get your hands messy!)
Roll out the dough (around a quarter of an inch thick) on a lightly floured surface.
Using Christmas cutters make shapes out of the dough and place them onto a well greased baking tin *
Bake for 12 minutes until they’re golden and the kitchen smells yummy.
Cool the cookies on a wire rack (if you can resist their lure!) and prepare the icing.

ICING
6oz/175g icing sugar (sifted)
Half an ounce/15g softened butter
20ml/4 teaspoons of boiling water

Be patient! The icing will only slide off if the cookies aren’t completely cool.

Mix together the icing ingredients and coat each biscuit smoothly. You can add food colouring if you like and use things like chocolate buttons, dolly mixtures, glace cherries and vermicelli to decorate. Enjoy!

* Note: If you fancy making decorations for your Christmas tree this is the stage where you should use a tiny cutter or a clean pencil to make a hole in the dough. It might look huge at the moment but during the baking process the hole will shrink. When the cookie is complete you can thread Christmas ribbon through the hole and loop it over a branch. Santa won't be able to resist!

Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket is set at Christmas time so it really is a super Christmas read!

Meet the characters...

Bree McCready
Bree McCready is an ordinary girl who ends up doing some extraordinary things! Bree is very clever and wise for her age. She is unflappable, sensible and level-headed - a good person to have around in a crisis, which is not a bad thing considering some of the scrapes the trio get into during their adventures!
Despite all these fantastic traits Bree doesn’t really like herself very much. Her dad died just before she was born so she feels like a part of her is missing. She doesn’t really feel like she fits in at school - a bit of a “square peg in a round hole”. This isn’t helped by the fact that she’s often picked on by the school bully, Alice Renshaw.
In chapter one of the first book Bree wins a prize - one half of a heart locket with a cryptic message on it. This clue leads Bree, Sandy and Honey to a magical book which has seven wishes but they're more like instructions than the wishes you get when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake.

Sandy Greenfield
Sandy lives in flat 7B on the Rockell Estate with his Gran, Annie Hooten. He has jet black hair and thick-rimmed glasses which are too big for him. On the cover of 'Half Heart Locket' Sandy has taken his glasses off so he can blow his nose. This is because Sandy is allergic to just about everything! This gets him into trouble on more than one occasion.
Sandy has a huge appetite and loves food but is still quite thin. He is quite a serious young boy and tends to see the negative side of things. However, he has a kind and honest heart and is fiercely protective towards his friends. Sandy is a rather timid and anxious boy, yet he shows remarkable loyalty and bravery throughout the books, saving the day on more than one occasion.

Honey Pizazz
I love writing about Honey because she is sassy and fun and basically doesn’t take any nonsense! She says the things that everyone else is thinking but doesn’t have the courage to say!
Honey lives on the outskirts of Rockwell in Freesia House with her mum (Saffron), her dad (Mort) and her little sister (Mimi). Baby Neil comes along in book 3. She loves horses.
Honey is unconventional, a born leader who is unconcerned about fitting in with the norm. We can see that if we look closely at her fingernails on the cover of 'Half Heart Locket'.
We can also see that she likes to chew bubble-gum!
Honey is extremely pretty but what makes her really special is that she doesn’t know she is pretty and quite frankly she doesn’t care! Her external beauty is complimented by her caring and honest heart. She is very loyal and protective.
Honey owns a well worn satchel which she takes everywhere with her and the contents of this bag are just everyday items but they come in very handy at various stages throughout the story.