Healthy Speedy Suppers by Katriona MacGregor

by Carol3 Comments
I work and there are days when I get home at 5:05 and we need to have eaten and be out the door for art class by 5:50. I need speedy suppers, which is why I was so excited to see this book. It sounds perfect- healthy, quick, real ingredients, but overall I was disappointed. First, I didn't need the first section. I'm actually a little tired of having cookbooks tell me what essentials to stock my shelves: give me the recipes, I can figure out what I actually want to keep in my cupboards and what pans I need. I liked the variety of recipes and that most used common ingredients, even if she didn't call them what I do, like courgettes=zucchini. There were several my daughter was never going to try, but I'll run into that with just about any cookbook. I also thought the use of photos was good. It's full of pictures of the recipes, but the cover doesn't...
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Arena by Holly Jennings

by Carol3 Comments
If you're here for the A to Z Challenge, scroll down to the next post. Thanks! Arena is totally outside of my usual reading zone. It's YA and science fiction- neither of which I read. I'm not even much of a video game player, but something about the description grabbed my attention, maybe the hint of  "dark secrets" or just the quote in the blurb: She’s died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier... Whatever the reason, I picked it up, and wow, am I glad I did. It's not a perfect book, but I really enjoyed it. The Rage tournament is a virtual gaming event, kinda of like capture the flag, expect each team has a tower they're defending. It's televised each week and is really violent and graphic. The gamers are truly athletes, they have to train in real life to be able to do all the figthing in the virtual world. They are celebrities, catered to but also tied to their...
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Ivy in Bloom by Vanita Oelschlager, illustrated by Kristin Blackwood

by Carol2 Comments
Ah, I understand how Ivy Van Allsberg feels. Winter wears long for me, too. I look forward to spring, "when the world is mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful." And March, especially, with it's glimpses of better weather, followed by snow, can get long. Ivy in Bloom is really cute. The author takes excerpts of classic poetry and weaves them into Ivy's world as winter turns to Spring.  It's a short story and the illustrations fit the flow perfectly. In the winter, the colors are dark and gray, but as spring comes, out come the yellows and bright greens and purples and pinks. All the pictures are cute, but the spring ones are especially happy and bright. As the blurb states, at the end each piece of poetry is identified by author and work. This makes a good introduction to poetry for younger children and can lead older siblings or parents to read the originals. It's one I would have enjoyed reading to Amber...
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Thursday’s Tale: Magic Words

by Carol2 Comments
I love books that expose kids to other cultures, to other ways of looking at this world. Magic Words is a good introduction to the Inuit people. It's a gorgeous book. I read the eBook, but wish I had the paperback. The illustrations are richly colored and imaginative and invoke the feeling of the Inuit culture. According to the book, the illustrations began as ink drawings that were retraced and softened with 6B extra soft charcoal pencil. You know, before Amber started drawing I think I was pretty sure all pencils were #2 and the directions on standardized tests to use a #2 were silly. Anyway, the finished drawings were scanned and colored digitally. They are vibrant and just gorgeous. The poem talks of a past time when people could become animals and animals could become people and they all spoke the same language. And the words they were powerful and could have unintended consequences - a good reminder to be mindful...
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Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier

by Carol2 Comments
Candy Corn Murder is the first Lucy Stone I've read, even though it's #22 in the series. The cover is just too cute to pass up. That being said, maybe if I had read earlier ones in the series, I would have enjoyed this one more. The author spent a lot of time introducing the characters and getting us involved in the town life. As this was my first time in Tinker's Cove I appreciated it, but I feel like if you had read the others, you might be thinking "get a move on." Of course, I can't tell which are recurring characters and which are new to the series, so maybe it was all necessary. The murder itself and the solution was interesting, as was the reason a certain somebody was against the Halloween festival. I liked seeing Lucy hunt down the clues and put it altogether, but it was a bit rushed. My main problem, though, was I didn't really like...
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The Visitant by Megan Chance

by Carol5 Comments
I don't usually read ghost stories, but this seemed like a perfect fit for RIP X and I do love Venice as a setting. To me, The Visitant had three parts: the setting, the ghost story, and the romance. The story is set in Venice but most of it takes place in the Basilio palazzo. It's the perfect setting: a crumbling old mansion, too cold and grey, in a city that, while romantic, is also decaying. The servants are hostile to Elena and the aunt is just flat out odd. There is a lot of time establishing the atmosphere. Elena is hoping to see Venice but seems trapped in this house. the setting is probably my favorite part of the story. The ghost story was not scary enough to keep me up at night, but progressed well. The ghost was clearly angry, and, unlike Elena, the reader knows it's a ghost from the beginning - the title tells us. It doesn't take...
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