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The HellandBack Kids #1
Be Careful What You Wish For
The Hellandbacks live the normal life of American teenagers until their parents send them to spend part of the summer with their great-grandmother in Scotland. Not only does their formidable Great-grandmother make an unforgettable impression on them, but so does her home—a one hundred-year-old hospital!
Great-grandmother quickly sizes up the four teens and shows them to their rooms. Each room seems far-out, but suits the teen perfectly.
Eleven-year-old Chris, who takes nothing seriously (except the big dog that chases him after school every day), gets to sleep on the table in a fully functional operating room. Petite, fourteen-year-old Trisha will sleep in a cozy coffin in the hospital chapel, which comes complete with a wedding dress to fulfill her dreams of marriage.
Things get really interesting when twelve-year-old Brittany learns she will be sleeping in an isolation room for patients with contagious diseases, complete with a depressing mural of a plague. Ambitious fifteen-year-old Jon ends up on a Murphy bed in the administrative office.
The strange rooms only hint at the events that overtake the four siblings during their first night in Scotland. Each teen falls asleep that night, only to wake in the midst of an individual adventure. Isolated at first, they soon learn that they must find a way to work together to survive their trials.
Drawn into different worlds and times, the teens face frostbite, the Bubonic Plague, the cut-throat business world, and a true lady-killer. Their allies range from entirely unexpected creatures with dubious taste in food to raccoons, rats, personal assistants, eccentric professors and small boys with hidden talents.
Odd gifts, hints and nudges from Great-grandmother help them along the way. In the end, though, only the siblings can save each other. Their adventures overlap, and they join together to defeat the architect of all their woes, the Grim Reaper himself.
When the teens return safely to Great-grandmother’s hospital home, she smiles knowingly and puts them on the plane back home, transformed. During their visit, Chris found confidence and learned the value of focus and practice. Trisha learned that she needs to be a strong person herself, not just someone’s wife. Brittany learned the limits of science and the value of friends, while Jon learned that money cannot buy health, happiness or friends.
When they return home, the siblings bicker much less. Their pleasantly surprised parents decide to enjoy it while it lasts!
Great-grandmother quickly sizes up the four teens and shows them to their rooms. Each room seems far-out, but suits the teen perfectly.
Eleven-year-old Chris, who takes nothing seriously (except the big dog that chases him after school every day), gets to sleep on the table in a fully functional operating room. Petite, fourteen-year-old Trisha will sleep in a cozy coffin in the hospital chapel, which comes complete with a wedding dress to fulfill her dreams of marriage.
Things get really interesting when twelve-year-old Brittany learns she will be sleeping in an isolation room for patients with contagious diseases, complete with a depressing mural of a plague. Ambitious fifteen-year-old Jon ends up on a Murphy bed in the administrative office.
The strange rooms only hint at the events that overtake the four siblings during their first night in Scotland. Each teen falls asleep that night, only to wake in the midst of an individual adventure. Isolated at first, they soon learn that they must find a way to work together to survive their trials.
Drawn into different worlds and times, the teens face frostbite, the Bubonic Plague, the cut-throat business world, and a true lady-killer. Their allies range from entirely unexpected creatures with dubious taste in food to raccoons, rats, personal assistants, eccentric professors and small boys with hidden talents.
Odd gifts, hints and nudges from Great-grandmother help them along the way. In the end, though, only the siblings can save each other. Their adventures overlap, and they join together to defeat the architect of all their woes, the Grim Reaper himself.
When the teens return safely to Great-grandmother’s hospital home, she smiles knowingly and puts them on the plane back home, transformed. During their visit, Chris found confidence and learned the value of focus and practice. Trisha learned that she needs to be a strong person herself, not just someone’s wife. Brittany learned the limits of science and the value of friends, while Jon learned that money cannot buy health, happiness or friends.
When they return home, the siblings bicker much less. Their pleasantly surprised parents decide to enjoy it while it lasts!
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
1 person is currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
L.L. Helland
3 books11 followersI live in San Antonio, Texas with my husband and two grown sons'. Our eldest son-Jon graduated from MIT Cambridge 2007, and our youngest son-Chris is a Senior at TCU Fort Worth. My twin sister also lives in San Antonio, and my niece-Trisha lives in California with Hugh Hefner, and on Aug. 15th of 2012 had a prophylactic double mastectomy-she cares the BRAC2 gene for breast cancer. I'm a Registered Nurse by education, and a writer by passion. I started off writing Historical/Romance/Fiction and then made a huge jump to juvenile/fiction from the suggestion of my twin sister. I have two books, The Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For is for middle grade readers, and has received several awards: The Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Mom's Choice Award, The Royal Dragonfly Award, The National Indie Excellence Award and just recently Gold in Readers Favorite. The four main characters in The Hellandback Kids are based off of Jon, Chris, Trisha and Brittany who along with Trisha graduated from Texas A&M. Brittany then went into the work force for several years and then back to college at Notre Dame for business school.
Redwine Hill was just released this past summer and has received: The Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Gold in Readers Favorite.
Redwine Hill was just released this past summer and has received: The Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Gold in Readers Favorite.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 16, 2012
Book Title: "The Hellandback Kids”
Author: L.L. Helland
Published By: Self-Published
Age Recommended: 8+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5
Review: Upon receipt of this book from the author I immediately noted that it had received several Children’s book awards; The Mom’s Choice Award, Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Indie Excellence Award, and First and Second place in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards and well-deserved too!
This book is creative, exciting, adventurous and a lot of fun. You meet a host of wonderful and amazing characters and some of the most adorable and intelligent children you could ever hope to meet. When the Hellandback kids go to visit their great-grandmother in Scotland they end up having the grandest adventure of a lifetime, one that is filled with valuable life lessons and people they will never forget.
This book is a must-read! I have now decided I need a Bundlebob of my very own and don’t be surprised if you do too!
Author: L.L. Helland
Published By: Self-Published
Age Recommended: 8+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5
Review: Upon receipt of this book from the author I immediately noted that it had received several Children’s book awards; The Mom’s Choice Award, Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Indie Excellence Award, and First and Second place in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards and well-deserved too!
This book is creative, exciting, adventurous and a lot of fun. You meet a host of wonderful and amazing characters and some of the most adorable and intelligent children you could ever hope to meet. When the Hellandback kids go to visit their great-grandmother in Scotland they end up having the grandest adventure of a lifetime, one that is filled with valuable life lessons and people they will never forget.
This book is a must-read! I have now decided I need a Bundlebob of my very own and don’t be surprised if you do too!
June 8, 2012
A story that begins with arguing siblings, shadowy monsters and gobs of ooky earwax is bound to have appeal for the middle school set. Meet Jon, Trish, Chris and Brittany (ages 15-11) who live in Boston but are spending the summer with Mam their great grandmother, in Scotland. The kids are expecting stultifying boredom since they've been told to leave their electronics at home. And to think, Mam doesn't even have a TV! Each child has a distinct personality-Studious Jon, romantic dancer Trish, sporty and popular Chris in his "wild pineapple boxers." and my favorite: scientific Brittany. Their Mam's unusual home, a converted hospital, turns out to have all kinds of mysterious and magical inhabitants, and the Hellandback kids have a variety of adventures. My favorite (go figure) was Brittany's time travel that plops her into the middle of the Black Plague. The author has crammed a lot of action (along with humor and a bit of romance)into her first novel, so bear with the many story lines and watch out for the Bundlebobs and their chewed off toenails. Maggie Knapp
If anyone likes magical, fantasy with mystical adventures this is the book for you. I'm not a rich person nor poor, but to get my novel into the hands of MG/YA is an extreme hardship. I don't have a clue on what I'm doing, but I keep trying. I don't know if I should write another book and make it a series. I'll let other's decide that for me. Even if you don't read my novel the pictures I've posted on Amazon are cute. Especially if you click on 'See all 5 customer images' The picture from a University of Texas Austin art student painted the image where Chris is holding a lacrosse stick with a tiny Bundlebob. Trisha is also in the picture and Godfrey is up in the corner.
Thank you for any comments. Have a wonderful life
October 1, 2011
I won this from goodreads first reads!!!!
I loved this book. It was amazing! I thought that it was well written and very intersting.
This book is about four children who go and visit thier Great Grandmama in Scotland. When they first get there they have to tell thier grandma what they want to do with thier futures. Then the grandma put them in a room representing what they wanted to do.
Through the rest of the book they each go on a sperate adventure to learn a life lesson. A couple of times thier paths intertwine and they help eachother out.
Over all this was a really good story and I really liked it!
I loved this book. It was amazing! I thought that it was well written and very intersting.
This book is about four children who go and visit thier Great Grandmama in Scotland. When they first get there they have to tell thier grandma what they want to do with thier futures. Then the grandma put them in a room representing what they wanted to do.
Through the rest of the book they each go on a sperate adventure to learn a life lesson. A couple of times thier paths intertwine and they help eachother out.
Over all this was a really good story and I really liked it!
October 1, 2011
I won this book on Goodreads. It's a story about four children who travel to Scottland to visit their Grandmama. All four are swept away to magical worlds that are intended to teach them life lessons.
There were definitely some good story ideas in the book, but since all four kids had a different world they were in and the author continued to switch back and forth between them every chapter, it was a bit hard to follow. I also wish the book would have ended with a stronger ending. It seems the last few sentences were hinting at a second book, but I think it could've been done in a more mysterious way if that was the intention.
Children who would like to read about magical things could definitely find this a good read, but I don't believe it relates well to a larger audience.
There were definitely some good story ideas in the book, but since all four kids had a different world they were in and the author continued to switch back and forth between them every chapter, it was a bit hard to follow. I also wish the book would have ended with a stronger ending. It seems the last few sentences were hinting at a second book, but I think it could've been done in a more mysterious way if that was the intention.
Children who would like to read about magical things could definitely find this a good read, but I don't believe it relates well to a larger audience.
September 2, 2012
My main issue with this book was that it felt like a short-handed outline of a story rather than a final product. The root idea is pretty good but the dialog is very choppy and unnatural and the scenes shift quickly and contain only very high-level details. The book I got is showered with various award stickers on the cover and I can only imagine that it won these awards because at its core, it is teaching young children life lessons. That is the primary plot of the story after all. Each child must learn a life lesson in order to avoid the troubles their grandmother has foreseen. However, even though there are some good lessons and interesting characters, it still seemed scattered and frantic story-telling.
*I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.*
*I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.*
July 22, 2012
This book had a great plot. The beginning was a bit slow, but once you get into it, it's an interesting story. The reunion of the siblings is all done very well, although I was a bit unsure of exactly how the world-traveling occurred.
I really enjoyed the grandfather character. He was funny and well-written.
The writing itself was a bit rough around the edges, and could have used a bit more editing. For example, I would have preferred the foreshadowing to have been a bit more subtle, and there were some typos.
I really enjoyed the grandfather character. He was funny and well-written.
The writing itself was a bit rough around the edges, and could have used a bit more editing. For example, I would have preferred the foreshadowing to have been a bit more subtle, and there were some typos.
July 26, 2016
One of my favorite parts in this book is that they have the same characteristics as teenagers. Every other story I have read is all about the perfect family sometimes divorce in very rare cases, and perfect kids with perfect visions . Not this book it is a regular teenager with hormones and bad attitude being sneaky etc. Reminds me of myself when I was a teenager. It's different yet in a good way. So good for grades 5-8. It also has a lesson to read this book. I actually fell in love with this book & when out and got it sighed by L.L. Helland. She is a great person and a great author.
September 20, 2011
This book was a free book I received from a goodreads.com giveaway
This book is one of the best young adult books I’ve read in a while. If you are looking for a book that’s fun not only for children but adults too. This is a great book to read. I love the adventures that each child had to go on and each life lesson that they learned. I won’t go in much detail because that would ruin the plot of the book.
This book is one of the best young adult books I’ve read in a while. If you are looking for a book that’s fun not only for children but adults too. This is a great book to read. I love the adventures that each child had to go on and each life lesson that they learned. I won’t go in much detail because that would ruin the plot of the book.
October 11, 2011
I received this book in a giveaway and I am so glad that I won it! Both my nephew and I really enjoyed it. I read an edited version to him weekly.
This book reminds me a bit of Alice in wonderland. It is about 4 siblings who spent time in Scotland with their grandma and discovered another world. The beginning was a bit slow but it moves very quickly once the characters and the plot has been set. There is a lot of Action for kids and humour for adult.
Overall, a terrific book!
This book reminds me a bit of Alice in wonderland. It is about 4 siblings who spent time in Scotland with their grandma and discovered another world. The beginning was a bit slow but it moves very quickly once the characters and the plot has been set. There is a lot of Action for kids and humour for adult.
Overall, a terrific book!
September 25, 2011
I won this book from Goodreads. I enjoyed the book very much, I would have like the story to have been longer on Brittany and Trisha, I felt thoes two parts of the book were the page turners. After reading this book I can see Helland writing a second book on this family. I would recommend this book, and will share it with my friend Shana. Thanks for a great book.......Peggy
September 14, 2011
This book was quite creative, if a little confusing at times! Great, imaginative way to learn new life lessons, and I wish it was available to me!
Helland takes you into this creative world and you don't want to come back to reality!
Helland takes you into this creative world and you don't want to come back to reality!
September 21, 2011
This book is great! If you like the Harry Potter series you will love these books too! It never gets boring, there is always something going on in this book. I highly recommend this book for kids and adults of all ages!
September 22, 2011
Received this as a free giveaway. I enjoyed reading this book it was very imaginative and I liked the characters. It was a little like the Narnia Chronicles meets Alice in Wonderland.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews