We've reviewed dozens of books from this publisher without any problems.. Unfortunately, this is another that showed only the cover and no other text or images in the eVersion--so we can't review it.

There is nothing wrong with this book per say. It just didn’t float for this reader. The story starts out about how different the girls are, but that even though they are different they are still friends and alike in many ways. But then bedtime comes, and one girl is scared of the monsters that lurk everywhere. If the author shortened the story to just the bedtime battle, I would like the book much better. But with the build up in the beginning, the princess girl and the tomboy girl, it’s like the author is pointing out that the princess girl isn’t afraid while the tomboy is. And that the princess can save not only themselves but the others as well. I am sure that is not the author's attention, but why go through showing how different they are? Why not start just as the sleepover starts?

One’s a blonde princess, the other a brunette tomboy, but they’re BFFs, and together they fight off trolls and work on faster ways of communication, amongst other things. But there’s still time for tea parties and sleepovers, though the latter is interrupted throughout the night by monsters. After a variety of ways to get rid of them, they finally hit on a solution.
It’s never clear if this is some fairy-tale kingdom or just the imaginations of two creative girls, but I guess it doesn’t matter. They’re really different, but they’re best friends. Period.

*thank you to Netgalley and Xist Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars.

Ok so I'm in 2 minds about this book. There are 2 things I rather liked and 2 things I wasn't so keen on. The two good points of this book was the illustrations. They are colourful, detailed just enough and just simply done beautifully. The other positive is the idea of the story. 2 friends, both different yet best friends. They have a sleep over together and discover fun ways to keep their fears of the dark away.

Now, the 2 things I have an issue with is the fact that this book tells small children that there actually might be monsters hiding in dark places. Now not everyone will pick this up, but I also don't think I will be the only one to notice it. If you have a sensitive child, they are more likely to notice this. It probably won't be an issue, but, it could be and that does bother me a bit. Also I had a book kind of similar to this called "The Snoring Monster" (it was a little golden book) and in it there were about 4 different times the kid thought he saw a monster in the room. I remember thinking that was enough times and if it was more often I would have lost interest. This book has 6. I think it was just a tad too much.

Overall, I did decide to bump this up to 3 stars because as I said earlier, the illustrations are very good and the story was not bad, just had a couple issues. There will be people who love this Im sure.

Since I did something like this with my Granddaughter when she had a bad dream (not spray but special rock) I love what the author has done with the use of the spray. I also like that she had 2 girls Alice who was into sports, comfy clothes and Adele who was into frills and glitter. The girls got along very well and shared their different activities together like true friends should. The girls have their first sleepover and they keep imagining monsters in different spots. They try nightlights, stuffed animals and more and nothing helps. Then Alice has a magical spray that will keep the monsters away. I found this story good in really relaying 2 messages (1 on friendship and 2 on imagination and believing). Illustrations were very good and the girls were very cute.

The Bedtime Battle by M.R. Nelson was a fun book about two girls very different in ever way except that they were the best of friends. When on girl asked the other girl to a sleep over they become scared of what lurks in the dark. They help each other through the night and show each other ways of facing fears when they are not together. I thought the illustrations were cute but I did have a hard time keeping the girls apart and I was a little confused by the ending. My daughter, 7, enjoyed it and has mentioned it a few times since reading and that is the intended audience so I say well done.

Erm, yes. Let's just say I've seen better books about children who struggle to fall asleep. This one features two contrasting girls on a sleep-over, and has inventive names they give the adults in their lives, and an ingenious use of something that looks like water (and probably is), but as this all happens over one night won't really help. All the efforts the girls make to get the other to nod off amount to overkill.

A very cute, but ultimately unsatisfying narrative. I found myself more attracted to the artwork than the actual content of the story.