Review: 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More

100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More by Sarah Kieffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a Kindle edition of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.

I read through this book using the Kindle for PC app. Some of the pictures came over too small to see, but reading the recipes themselves was easy to follow. I also looked through the book using the Kindle app on my Fire and it does look much better than the PC app.

The recipes looked amazing and I am looking forward to trying the Cinnamon Roll Blondie Bars this fall/winter. I think I will end up getting a paper copy of the book as it will be easier to read and use over the Kindle version.

View all my reviews

Review: Let's Bake!: A Pusheen Cookbook

Let's Bake!: A Pusheen Cookbook by Susanne Ng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a hardcover copy through a Goodreads Giveaway.

There are a lot of difficult level recipes in this book. These are probably going to take a lot of practice as I do not bake too often. I am really looking forward to trying the mint ice cream recipe, though! Difficulty ranges from easy - difficult and just about everything in between.

There are guiding pictures for most steps of each recipe. I have never heard of some of the ingredients until today, so it will definitely be an interesting journey with this book.

The finished products are extremely detailed oriented, but they look really cute.

View all my reviews

Review: The Deep

The Deep by Alma Katsu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway. The edition was a paperback ARC, but I also purchased the Kindle edition as the edition received came months after the book came out.

I am not really sure where to begin with this one. The premise seemed promising, but the execution was a little bit of a let down. At the same time the story was still intriguing that I kept turning the pages.

I found the weaving of the characters (both real and fictional) great. I loved imagining some of these event actually taking place on the Titanic (or whether they actually did or not). Unfortunately, some of the real characters' lives were re-imagined and I felt disconnected from what we know is true. It was hard to suspend disbelief at times.

The book is broken up between 1912 (Titanic) and 1916 (Britannic) in alternating parts. At the beginning of each part you feel the suspense to keep turning pages, but by the end of each part it feels like the plot just stalls. It makes the pace of the book unbalanced. One minute it is a page turner and the next you are wondering when the next part will begin.

This was my first book by the author, so I am going to give another try.

View all my reviews

Review: How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You

How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My friends and I have a running joke about our cats plotting to kill us. I mentioned this book in passing and decided it was finally time to read it. Some of the comics were funny, but others not so much.

There were two comics that I really did not care much for: The Bobs and The Raging Homosexual. I just didn't find them all that funny.

This book did, however, make the case for having cats and not kids. This will be my go to for that!

View all my reviews

Review: Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

And things start to make sense now! This book is really a history/timeline of what makes Donald Trump tick. With most such stories it begins during childhood and how he was raised.

I wish the author had used more of her psychology knowledge to explain some of the workings in the family dynamic, but in all fairness she does acknowledge in the Prologue that to really assess Donald's (and by extension the family) state of mind he would have to undergo a battery of testing.

Overall I did enjoy the book and it was a fast read.

View all my reviews

Review: Tidelands

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway. The book I received through the giveaway was a hardcover review copy, but I purchased a Kindle version of this book for reasons I will explain in a moment.

This is the first time I am reading a book by this author. I have seen some movies and TV shows based on her books, but have not yet read them. I feel so far behind in that series that when I saw the opportunity to start a new series with this author from the beginning I was really excited.

The Kindle story: When I bought my first Kindle in 2009, I quickly learned that I was reading books much faster and retaining more information using the Kindle. As the years passed, I have also found that keeping my Kindle with me is a great way to pass time during lunch breaks at work and for unexpected long waits (doctor's office, waiting for a plane/train, etc).

When I won this book, it was around the time COVID-19 started to take hold. During quarantine I started reading far less than I have in previous years as I hadn't been taking lunch breaks so I could take advantage of not having people coming into the office. I was able to get a lot caught up. My reading progress is already slower than usual because of this.

I ended up buying a the Kindle version of this book for two reasons. First, I don't like to bring paper copies of books with me to work (or anywhere really). Now that I am taking breaks again, I wanted to get back into reading during my down time at work, so now my book is mobile and less bulky. I am not obsessing over whether I am about to ruin it (I'm pretty sure it had to do with my CDO tendencies; only CDO people will understand this.). Second, this book was an insanely slow read. With my book progress already slow, reading the paper copy is worse. I felt I needed the Kindle version to help me pick up the pace, but also give me more freedom with where I could read it (not just on my Kindle while at work, but on my desktop at home while I am working on other things).

Reading on the Kindle did improve the pace of the book, but only slightly. I was somewhat motivated to get through this book sooner rather than later after reading the synopsis of the second book of the series. It sounds like it will be better than the first.

Overall the story itself was okay, but not a page turner. It picked up in the last few pages, which does make me want to pick up the next book. I liked Alys at first, but by the end of the book I was loathing her.

Note to readers: on page 289 there is, I believe, an error. "' Whose baby?' Alinor turned and looked up at her mother." I am pretty sure this should be Alys speaking. I thought maybe it was just the Kindle version of the book, so I checked the review copy. The same error is in both places. Not sure if anyone else has picked up on this, but I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I was following.

View all my reviews

Review: Tsarina

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC Kindle edition of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let's get the trigger warnings out of the way: this book gets rather graphic when it comes to sex (including rape and incest) and violence (including torture). Personally, I can tolerate this (mostly), but sensitive readers will have trouble with this one.

This book is a historical fiction that follows Catherine I from her lowly beginnings as Marta the serf to her becoming Catherine I, Tsarina of all the Russias. While, I did enjoy this book, there were times where it started to drag on an on about celebration after celebration and Peter the Great's insistence that everyone drink until he says so. The repetition started getting to me after a while.

I enjoyed the way the book was structured. You can almost see a movie while you are reading. The book opens with the death of Tsar Peter in 1725. The rest of the story is told almost through memory or flashbacks of sorts. Occasionally you are brought back to 1725 as the book progresses.

View all my reviews