Julie Appleton

I purchased the boxed set of paraphrased Shakespeare by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross, for my granddaughter, and thought I might read one. Now I am reading the entire set, they are delightfully written and illustrated, and manage to keep all the details of each story. Haven't read Shakespeare since high school, and then we only did work on 2 tales. Wish I had found these years ago. Well done Matthews and Ross, thank you, my grandkids are going to love them too.

I love historical romances, and knew almost nothing about the settling of New Zealand, so this book opens up a whole new world. A slow beginning grows into the can't-put-it-down category incorporating jealousy, violence and war all wrapped up in a romantic package with the historical background of the early settling of beautiful NZ as a bonus. A great read.