Book Review: Nutella: 60 Classic Recipes: From Simple, Family Treats to Delicious Cakes & Desserts: Official Cookbook by Grégory Cohen

Nutella: 60 Classic Recipes: From Simple, Family Treats to Delicious Cakes & Desserts: Official Cookbook by Grégory Cohen is the Official Nutella® Cookbook.  The  hazelnut cocoa spread that is a staple of the breakfasts and snacks for some is taken to a new level here by Chef Grégory Cohen in 60 recipes. Discover a delicious array of cakes, pastries and desserts made with the classic store cupboard ingredient. Bakes include Nutella® mixed berry muffins, babka and orange cake, alongside delights such as Tarte Tatin, vanilla & praline éclairs and Yule log. With techniques and recipes to suit every level of expertise, this book will appeal to everyone with a shared love of the World-famous spread.

Nutella: 60 Classic Recipes gives readers exactly what the title promises. The recipes vary from things that I would be perfectly comfortable whipping up this weekend, some that I might pull out for my annual holiday treat trays, some I might pull out for special occasions, and some that I find a little to fussy and fancy for my kitchen. All that washes out to, there is something here for every fan of this ingredient. I found the instructions and information to be well organized and written, with photographs that were a great match. I like that imperial and metric measurement where included, so bakers of either preference can jump in without doing additional calculations. I do think that the recipes are geared a bit towards more experienced bakers, as some of the recipes could be challenging and more than a little intimidating to real beginners. However, I think some of these recipes might be doable for more novice bakers, but as someone that has spent a good amount of time baking some of these recipes are well beyond my comfort zone. 

Book Review: The Immortal (Rise of the Warlords) by Gena Showalter

The Immortal is the second book in the Rise of the Warlords series by Gena Showalter. I do recommend reading the series in order for an understanding of the world and larger story line. 

Halo Phaninon, assassin of gods, is as cold and merciless as a machine. For victory, he crosses any line. When tasked to kill twelve of mythology’s fiercest monsters in twenty-four hours, Halo eagerly accepts. Except, each morning he awakens to the same day, forced to relive new horrors. Only one other person retains their memory—the beauty who threatens his iron control. Ophelia the Flunk Out hates her disaster of a life. She’s the family disappointment, a harpy warrior without a kill and powerless—or is she? Nearly every night she’s doomed to repeat her own murder, but each morning she arises to spar with Halo, the ruthless warlord increasingly determined to save her and lure her to his bed. Halo’s insatiable desire for the stubborn Ophelia drives him wild, and he only craves more. If he remains in the time loop, they stay together. But if he escapes, they lose each other forever.

The Immortal started off good for me. I liked the introduction of Halo and Ophelia and the general set up of this story. I thought the individual issues that each of them have coming into the story were well handled and explored through the story. Similarly, the character and relationship development and growth was done well. I liked the creativity in using a time loop and Hercules's tasks, and the banter and several other aspects of the book really worked for me. However, I have to admit that there were several moments that I just got a little restless and eager to see things move forward quicker. Part of this is on me- like many others in these interesting times- I sometimes have trouble focusing on my reading. Was my trouble focusing on this read and staying engaged a pacing issue, a me issue, or as I suspect a combination of the two. It definitely might hit other readers differently, but for me it just did not meet the high expectations I have for this author. 

The Immortal is a good continuation of this story. 

Book Review: Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control by Jessica Walliser

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control by Jessica Walliser is updated with new research, insights, and voices in order to teach readers how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. After an introduction to the predator and prey cycle and its importance to both wild ecosystems and home gardens, you'll meet dozens of pest-munching beneficial insects (the predators) that feast on garden pests (their prey). From ladybugs and lacewings to parasitic wasps and syrphid flies, these good guys of the bug world keep the natural system of checks and balances in prime working order. They help limit pest damage and also serve a valuable role in the garden's food web. With a hearty population of beneficial insects present in your garden, you'll say goodbye to common garden pests like aphids, cabbage worms, bean beetles, leafhoppers, and hornworms, without reaching for a spray can. To encourage these good guys to stick around and do their important work, you'll learn how to create a welcoming habitat and fill your garden with the best plants to support them.

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden is a valuable resource for gardeners that would prefer to avoid using chemicals on their lawn, garden, or landscape in general. I like that the author includes personal experience as well as the science and benefits of this approach.I like that interviews with entomologists and detailed information on the lives of  some of the specific insects and plants talked about are included. I found the tips on creating a space that encourages beneficial insects to call home to be valuable and interesting. Information on companion planting, and how various plants and insects interact was thoroughly explained and I definitely learned a great deal from this book. I found the content to be well organized, which makes it good for reading straight through of focusing on a specific topic of interest when you need it. I thought it could be a valuable resource for new and experienced gardeners. The information is accessible, but still provides a great depth of information. I also liked that there is a usable index and recommended resources included at the end of the book. This always makes me happy. Perhaps, with this newfound knowledge, I can manage to solve the issues I have with a particular corner of my yard. 

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden would be a valuable addition to a gardener's personal library as well as in public libraries. 

Book Review: Crazy for Cookies, Brownies, and Bars: Super-Fast, Made-from-Scratch Sweets, Treats, and Desserts by Dorothy Kern

Crazy for Cookies, Brownies, and Bars: Super-Fast, Made-from-Scratch Sweets, Treats, and Desserts by Dorothy Kern offers readers tested-to-perfection recipes are easy to make and full of creative new flavor ideas. In these pages, she serves up more than 85 recipes, each with its own color photo. Detailed instructions will demonstrate how to make cookies in batches big or small and offer expert tips on how to store them so they stay fresh for a long time. What’s more, she guides you in taking your cookie skills in new directions, into the delectable world of brownies (lots of different kinds of brownies!), blondies, shortbreads, shortcakes, cookie cakes, and more. Her book includes recipes that range from traditional favorites to all-new concepts: Seriously the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Trail Mix Oatmeal Cookies, Raspberry Almond Spirals, Nana’s Drop Sugar Cookies, Orange Dream Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies, Brown Butter Pecan Blondies, Apple Shortbread Bars, Caramel Crunch Bars, Bacon and Caramel Brownies, Vanilla Lovers’ White Chocolate Brownies, Fruit Tart Cookie Cups, Birthday Cookie Cake, and more. 

Crazy for Cookies, Brownies, and Bars is a great collection of recipes. I found the instructions, tips and ticks, and the recipes to be well written and easy to understand and follow. I like that the recipes include empirical and weight measurements, so everyone can follow recipes without extra math. I also thought to substitution and customization suggestions were well chosen and helpful to those bakers  less comfortable with making those changes on their own. I think the recipes chosen are well balanced, with both basic and much more challenging.  I know I saw more than one recipe that I have never seen before, and some ideas that I want to play with next time I get to baking. I know some of those stuffed cookies are on my agenda.I got to smile at the fact that she even included cookies for our furry friends. I am not sure that my bookshelves can stand another cookbook- especially another one focused on baking- but I just might be willing to try. If you have the shelf space for a good cookie and brownie cookbook, I think this would be a great addition. It should definitely be added to public libraries so those without the ability to bring another book home to stay can still enjoy this. 

Early Book Review: Science Art and Drawing Games for Kids: 35+ Fun Art Projects to Build Amazing Science Skills by Karyn Tripp

Science Art and Drawing Games for Kids: 35+ Fun Art Projects to Build Amazing Science Skills by Karyn Tripp is currently scheduled for release on February 8 2022. This book guides children ages 8 and up through hands-on activities that explore an engaging variety of art and craft techniques and science concepts.  Make special light-up greeting cards, and use magnets to create abstract paintings and solve mazes. Craft tiny terrariums, create plantable seed paper, and make your own paints using natural materials. Create exploding paintballs, grow a garden of crystal flowers, and learn to make plastic out of milk. Combine shaving cream and food coloring to make marbled paper, use the sun to print on paper and fabric, and make an awesome kaleidoscope from scratch.

Science Art and Drawing Games for Kids is a well organized and easy to follow book of projects. I like that the projects are divided into five different science concepts, so that projects on a particular subject are together. I thought the instructions were concise and easy to follow and that the accompanying images were well chosen and did a good job of illustrating those instructions. I was glad to see that the majority of supplies were things likely to be already in the home, with a few exceptions. I think this would be a great addition to home, school, and public library collections.  

Book Review: Who Lives near a Glacier? Alaska Animals in the Wild by Susi Gregg Fowler, Jim Fowler

Who Lives near a Glacier? Alaska Animals in the Wild is a children's book written by Susi Gregg Fowler and illustrated by Jim Fowler. Whether towering high above the water's surface, or spreading out as a massive ice field in an open plain, glaciers slowly shape the environments and ecosystems that they move through. And while the size, scale, and temperatures may seem extreme, there is a vibrant community of wildlife living in and around these massive flows of ice. Through poems paired with information about each animal, Who Lives near a Glacier? celebrates the creatures that thrive alongside the shifting landscape. From enormous whales swimming alongside ice walls rising out of the ocean, to the tiniest of ice worms that make their homes inside glaciers, readers will learn about a variety of local wildlife.

Who Lives near a Glacier? is a combination of rhyming poetry, nature paintings, and factoids. The illustrations are done like paintings, and pair nicely with the poetry and chosen facts. I thought they were well done, but I think I might have preferred actually photographs to the artwork when possible.  This is not to say they were not quality, but comes down to my personal preference. I was impressed with the wildlife chosen for inclusion, especially that plants were included.  Too often the less flashy plants and animals are ignored in favor of better known, cuter, or dramatic creatures. Here we get a look at a variety of far more expected and common animals. I like that the information of glacier formation is included as well. 

Who Lives near a Glacier? is a book that will appeal to interested readers, and could be useful in discussions about nature, climate, and Alaska with young readers.  

Audiobook Review: Between Bloode and Stone (Between the Shadows) by Marie Harte, Narrated by Ellis Evans

Between Bloode and Stone is the first book in the Between the Shadows series by Marie Harte. The audiobook is narrated by Ellis Evans. Cursed long ago to check their growing power, vampires can only coexist in small groups. Yet despite their many conflicts, those Of the Bloode possess similar traits. All vampires, no matter from where they come, are male. They can go unnoticed by humans unless they wish otherwise, and they can’t survive sunlight. Mormo, servant of the goddess Hecate, has created a small new bloode clan at her behest. The six vampires he commands are rough, ill-disciplined, and mean, and they fail to follow orders on a daily basis. But they’re needed. Something big and bad is coming. Hecate, goddess of death, magic, and gateways, has a duty to guard the borders of the mortal world. She knows that without a strong force to contain the threat, chaos will come, destroying everything in its wake. Her secret weapons are those Of the Bloode. Though they refuse to worship anything but themselves, she loves their wild ways. In order to battle gods and monsters and survive, they’ll need ferocity, inner strength, and something to fight for.

Between Bloode and Stone is an interesting urban fantasy and series starter. First off, I think Ellis Evans did a great job narrating. I enjoyed the tone variations and inflections they used, and simply enjoyed listening. I also enjoyed the characters and world building. There was a great deal of ground to cover in the world building, and I suspect more important pieces have yet to be revealed about all the varied supernatural creatures living there in future books. I thought the development of the characters, and their relationships with each other, was very well paced and engaging. I liked that I did get different points of view, and that those view changes were clear as I listened. Getting insight to the minds of more than just the romantic leads was great, and gave me a better understanding of the bigger picture and how important certain things might be later in the series. It also made me more invested in the world and secondary characters. There were moments where the amount of world building seemed too much, but sometimes that happens at the beginning of any series to get a full understanding of the moving parts. I was not put off by this and think that I will continue on with this series, only partly because I want to see more of the vampires and see hoe the teasers in the epilogue play out.  

Between Bloode and Stone is a good start to a series, and I am interested to see where the story goes from here. 

Book Review: Extinctions: Twilight of the Species by Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu, Alexandre Franc

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a nonfiction graphic novel written by Jean-Baptiste De Panafieu, with art by Alexandre Franc. Two journalists travel to an island in the Arctic Circle where scientists are searching for fossils of extinct animals. Like all journalists, they have a lot of questions: how is it possible for an entire species to completely disappear? Word has it that we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, but what exactly does that mean? How did the first five happen? What is the scientific definition of an extinction? Alexandre Franc adeptly illustrates the narrative by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu, a specialist in natural sciences and doctor of biological oceanology. Panafieu, who has already authored a number of popular science books, gives a clear explanation of what mass extinctions are, cleverly comparing past extinctions with the one we are witnessing now. The two authors present us with a clear, intelligent, and lighthearted perspective on a fascinating phenomenon.

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a very well organized and informative read. There is a great deal of information here, and there are times that it can be overwhelming and others that might trigger a bunch of side research sending you down internet rabbit holes. I thought the artwork, maps, and text were all well balanced and worked together nicely to tell the whole story and the importance it holds. This is not a light read, and can fell very science heavy to those that are not expecting it. Because of that, and the less than cheery subject matter, it is not a quick or light read. However, it was the information and factual aspects of the book I liked the most. The part that I was less than happy about was the fictional aspects, which I assume were included to make this a more engaging and personal read. I was not a fan of the main character from the onset, and the inclusion of a romantic subplot just did not work for me. I loved the science and facts, and I could see that a great deal of research and work went into creating this, but I felt like the personalities of the fictional aspect did more harm than good here. 

Extinctions: Twilight of the Species is a good resource to see the realities of climate change and extinctions in more detail and to better understand the topics. 

Book Review: Blood and Fire (Alpha and Omega) by Kim Mullican

Blood and Fire is the first book in the Alpha and Omega series by Kim Mullican. I am Maia Delacroix and I hunt people and relics. My life does not lack excitement or danger. I have it in spades. Then the Mageri surprised me with an orphan...yes, an orphan. I can’t even keep a house plant alive, let alone a kid. It turns out I’m her only living relative, and even though we’ve never met, I’m her only hope. Great. Can I feed her after midnight? What does she eat? I have no idea what I’m doing. They tell me this little witchling will need care for a few years until she comes of age. The bizarre fire leaking out of Elaina’s hands is a pretty good indicator that she is no witch. Then the coven comes—they want her back. Necromancers show up, turning my vampire friends into enemies. If that isn’t bad enough, I have a demon problem now too. Join me, and see if we can make it out alive!

Blood and Fire is a book grabbed my attention from the beginning. I liked the character building from the start, and the development of personalities and history that were reveal throughout the book was entertaining and well paced. There was a great deal of information about the different kinds of magical people, and how they interact, that needed to be included for the story and set up for future adventure to work. At no point did it feel like an information dump because of how well it was woven into the story. I thought the emotional reactions through the book were realistic for the situation, and I enjoyed seeing Maia and her unusual collection of friends and antiquates play their parts in this book. I look forward to continuing this series and will be on the lookout for more from this author.

Blood and Fire is a solid start to a new series, with quality world and character building. I am eager for more.

Book Review: Fowl by Shaun McMahon

Fowl by Shaun McMahon is a children's chapter book. Bert loves playing football. He dreams of being a professional footballer for his local side West Farthing F.C. There is just one problem. Bert is a chicken. Bert lives on Manor Side Farm where the other chickens make fun of him for being different – a chicken should not play football, they say – but despite this, it is still Bert’s dream. After a chance visit to the farm by Gerald Fox, the manager of West Farthing F.C., Bert is talent spotted and offered a try out. Gerald wants Bert to be their secret weapon in an upcoming game. 

Fowl is a short chapter book that will appeal to young readers that enjoy doing something unexpected, like a chicken playing football (soccer to Americans). I thought the story had a good balance of adventure and Bert trying to do what he loved. The action was well done, and Bert's loyal character made him a solid character for young readers to relate to and root for. There are lessons about being yourself, support of/for friends and family, and friendship. I have to admit that looking at the cover and reading the description I expecting some illustrations, and I was a little sad to find none. I think the book could have benefited from some, even simple black and white sketches at chapter beginnings or high action moments would have added a great deal to the whole.