⭐⭐.5

I really wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. It started off really well. I wasn't too lost even though I haven't read book one. However, around halfway through, I started to lose interest. The story felt like it was dragging, and I wasn't invested in the characters. It ended up being a struggle to even finish it. I have seen a few reviews that state book one was much better, so I may give that book a try in the future!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I loved being back with Veronica on her adventures but did not enjoy this book as much as the first
It is a heartwarming, fun read which leaves you feeling good but leaving a strong message that we need to look after our environment.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Uk and Hazel Prior for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

Loved joining Veronica on her further adventures! I preferred the first book though, I found Patrick a little whiny in this one.

Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once again this was a lovely, heartwarming read which delivers a very important message about the negative affect we humans are having on the world around us (I for one will be buying plastic free fruit and veg from now on!)

However there were a few unnecessary storylines that didn’t really go anywhere, and not enough of my favourite character Eileen!

I didn't love this one as much as the first - Away with the Penguins - but I still really enjoyed it.

It's an uplifting, heart-warming read that leaves you feeling good, and what more can you want from a book?

Also, side-note, but I absolutely love the front cover illustrations of these books!

Just as much fun as the first book about the penguins. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself with Veronica being her feisty self!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

This is the long awaited sequel to ‘Away with the Penguins’. We join Veronica on her adventures once again. There are plenty of familiar faces and some new ones that we will meet along the way.

This is a story about family, self-discovery, self-reflection, unlocking hidden secrets and penguins. I loved how the stories about the humans were mixed in with facts about the different types of penguins and the regular reminders about how we are causing damage to the penguins. As Veronica and Daisy remind us on a regular basis, we need to ‘think of the penguins’.

Every character Prior creates is blessed with the ability to charm the reader, even those hovering in the background. There are many similarities between both books, but I was happy to overlook these thanks to the wonderful characters who adorn the pages. I actually wanted more of the same and that’s exactly what the author delivers. Obviously, it helps that Veronica McCreedy is such a lovable, memorable character. Well written, informative, inspiring, heart-warming and funny as well as a touch quirky and melancholic I think overall this sequel is flippin penguin fabulous.

“The more I see of humans, the more I like penguins.”

This book also contains commentary on climate change, plastics and our responsibility to change our habits. Reading it certainly made me stop and think about my own part in this and left me with a desire to change some of my shopping habits. It was never preachy, instead it was expertly woven into the story so all you feel is the passion of the characters for this vital cause.

This book makes you feel so warm inside. I have no doubt this will be made into a movie in the future. Even more reasons to squeeze more penguin love into my life!

We once again meet Veronica McCreedy, who became an ambassador for penguins following her trip to the Antarctic and saving Pip the baby penguin.
In this book, Veronica is off to Australia and the Falklands to be part of a documentary about penguins. Her companion on this trip is Daisy, Patrick's friend's daughter, who has been treated for cancer and wishes to see the penguins as her “wish” trip.
It’s a heart warming and at times heart breaking story. Well worth a read though ,

#CallOfThePenguins by #HazelPrior is the sequel to #AwayWithThePenguins which I absolutely adored. I love the main character #VeronicaMcCreedy. Definitely should be read in order. I love how this story builds on the original and lets us get to know the other characters, I really enjoyed the new love interest... I learned some facts about #penguins and also the devastating effect of #plastic on the #environment. This is a feel good book – a literary hug.

Thank you #Netgalley and #randomhouse for gifting me the #ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

A warm hug in a book! Beautifully written, this swept me up and was absolutely enchanting. It’s never to late to follow your dreams. For fans of Eleanor oliohant.

I love Penguins so reading about this expedition was right up my street.

It reminded me of watching Blue planet and now the new Green planet narrated bt David Attenborough. Similar in its themes of how animals behave in their own habitat and the struggles they face with the lack of thought us as humans have with things like plastic and waste.

This book is absolutely cram packed with facts and information and has the added loveliness of some fiction too.

This is a book I will recommend to everyone I know. I've loved it.

Veronica McCreedy is back!
Having loved the the first book Away with the Penguins, I was excited to hear there was a sequel. It was great to catch up with Veronica and Co again. It's a lovely cosy, heart-warming read, just like the first book. I definitely recommend this Call of the Penguins.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this.

Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior a @netgalley read. Veronica McCreefy is nearly 90 and loves adventure and has a special connection to Penguins. Veronica also has a special connection with 9 year old Daisy whom after being seriously ill, loves adventure also. In this book we see these two charters have an adventure together. This is a sequel to Away with the Penguins, however I do think you can read this as a stand also book. To be brutally honest I found this book quite boring, it wasn’t the enjoyable book that I had anticipated and read about so was quite disappointed. There is an eclectic mix of characters and Mrs McCreedy comes across as eccentric and a woman of her time, always having her handbag with her and her lipstick on, glamours perhaps in an understated manor and very opinionated. Mrs McCreedy is perhaps the most likeable character in the book and probably the most endearing thing about the book and that’s trying to look for a positive when unfortunately I don’t have many positive things to say about this book. I found the book bland, it lacked heart and warmth for me even though it tackled some tough subject, but some of those tough subjects came in the form of rants or didn’t have strength or power behind them to lift off the pages and make the impact they probably should have. For me I felt it had to many characters and those characters each had there own stories and nothing seemed to blend together which perhaps other authors have achieved successfully. Around 75% of the way into the book I found myself enjoying it a little more however that was short lived and again I couldn’t wait for it to end. I do believe that this is one of those marmite books ‘you either love it or hate it’ and it really just wasn’t for me. Sadly I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone and even though I have the first book I’m not in a hurry to read it. 🐧☹️

Love this second book featuring 87 year old Veronica McCreedy, whose love of penguins leads to more adventures in far-away places. Hazel Prior has given us some wonderful characters, especially young Daisy, who is recuperating from recent chemotherapy treatments. We also get the opportunity to catch up with Veronica's nephew, Patrick, who is digging into the mystery of his late father, and the others from Locket Island. The book is certainly instructive about penguins, and really, what's not to love! A wonderful read!

Delightful and enthralling. It was an absolutely pleasure to be whisked back to the world of Penguins and the lives of Veronica, Patrick and Terry. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and this one in no way disappoints. Entertaining and so difficult to put down. A very successful sequel!

Thank you Netgalley

I adored Away with the Penguins so was so thrilled to be able to read an advanced copy of The Call of the Penguins.
Oh how lovely to be back in the company of Mrs McCreedy, Eileen, Patrick and Terry and co! This time the book still focuses on Veronica and the penguins but this time with the additions of nine year old Daisy who is recovering at Ballahays following treatment for cancer and Veronica’s potential love interest/friend Sir Robert Saddlebow. As before, the intrepid Mrs McCreedy is off overseas to meet with penguins though not to Antarctica this time to Australia of all places and the Falkland Isles helping Sir Robert make a television programme about penguins to educate the viewing public about their conservation.
There is also the usual family drama, relationship issues and we the reader learn a great deal about penguins and how to match our handbags to our outfits!!
I will gladly keep on reading these novels as long as Hazel Prior keeps writing them and I truly hope there is at least one more instalment before Veronica hangs up her sling backs.

So lovely to be back with Veronica Mcreedy and her love of penguins! This is a lovely heart-warming story with messages about friendships , the environment and very much a wintery read. Perfect escapism from current news . I also shed a few tears always a good sign for me !

The description of this book really drew me in. I could feel myself smiling as I read it.
The story does not disappoint. The journey that the book takes make you walk away with a bound in your step and smile in your heart. For anyone thats looking for a book that makes you feel just a little content, this is the one.

We are now a year on from meeting Veronica McCreedy, now at 87 there cannot be possibly anywhere else she can go in the world. But then if David Attenborough can do it, so can Veronica.

And when inspired by the delightful Daisy, who at nine has no fear and can only see the good in everything despite the problems she currently faces, Veronica and Daisy this time find themselves miles away from home and looking at penguins yet again.

So whilst we are taken to the Southern hemisphere and the penguins there with Daisy and Veronica and the promise of a television nature programme being filmed. We are also taken back to Locket Island, to the place Veronica first visited where she left behind her grandson Patrick and Pip the beautiful Adelie penguin that started this adventure off.

Life is not being easy for any of them, isolated in different parts of the world and with differing troubles Hazel Prior takes us on quite an emotional journey as there are reunions, discoveries and death. Amongst it all we get to meet Petra the Rockhopper and Tony the Macaroni who bring as much joy to the page as Pip did previously and all the characters do.

I thought the first book was original but it has been surpassed by this one and if I recommend anything, I would say read them both one after the other, for the sheer joy it will bring you and the uniqueness of Hazel Prior’s writing.