Sesame Street Let’s Cook Together

With 40 Fun, Healthy Recipes

by DK

The cover of this book drew me right in. After all, how could a person resist Big Bird and Elmo in these food incarnations?

Kids and adults will enjoy this visit with the Sesame Street family in the kitchen. Note that children will need the help of an adult when they are ready to cook.

The book begins with a safety disclaimer that is not scary but is worth reading. There are additional introductory sections as well.

There are 40 healthy recipes in this book. They are grouped into categories titled Bright Breakfasts, Super Snacks, Yummy Lunches, Delicious Dinners and Healthy Treats. Just a few of the recipes are for Gonger’s Egg Surprise, Granola Cookie Bits, Grouch on Toast, Coconutty Chicken Bites and Mango Fro Yo-Yo. All have easy to follow directions and illustrations. I like that for each there are lists for ingredients and tools before the recipe. There are also sections called Helping Hand with extra tips.

The book concludes with a number of additional sections including a Guide for Grown Ups.

Here is a wonderful way to introduce a child to the fun and nutrition that can be found by preparing food at home. I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and DK-DK Children’s for this title. All opinions are my own.

Five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the Publisher

#AmeditationOnMurder #NetGalley

Anyone who has watched and enjoyed the Death in Paradise TV show will, I think, enjoy this novel. Favorite characters from the show are present in this book, including the fish out of water detective. That said, this book could certainly be enjoyed by those who have never watched the TV series.

This is a classic mystery with interesting characters as suspects, a good setting on a Caribbean Island, a fun plot and a classic denouement. The mystery is a locked room one.

Who killed a guru? Find out in this title. Note that there are several other books in the series.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for this title. All opinions are my own.

This title was published in 2018.

Also…

Thorogood is also the author of the Marlow Murder Club mysteries. These are also going to be made to a TV series.

#AnneofGreenGables #NetGalley

This edition of the beloved classic will be a gift to true lovers of the red headed young orphan. As the cover promises, in addition to the novel, this volume includes character’s letters and mementos, written and folded by hand. What a treat! I will need to purchase the book as these special additions are not in the e galley.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 10 September 2024

An e book bargain

#ACyclistsGuidetoCrimeCroissants #NetGalley

I was initially drawn to this one by the book’s title and the cover which I found very appealing. Happily, the story inside these pages also offered an enjoyable read with gorgeous locations, some good characters and an interesting plot.

Sadie was the kind of person who lived a predictable life as exemplified by her position as an actuary. Her life changes following the unexpected death of her best friend, Gemma (not too much of a spoiler as this happens very early in the book).

Sadie needs a change and purchases a bike tour company in France (now that sound pretty nice). However, of course, there are problems. These include vandalism and murder. No spoilers so hard to say much more except that this was a fun, cozy read. I hope that it is the start of a series.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 21 May 2024

The Botanic Garden

The world’s greatest botanical sanctuaries

by Ambra Edwards

Right now it is very hot and steamy where I live. What better way to escape the misery than to visit some gardens virtually. There are twenty-seven destinations in these pages and my local garden is even included.

Begin with the detailed and informative introduction and then travel to Oxford, Berlin, Singapore, Missouri, New York, Mauritius, Belize and more locales in these pages. Each entry is packed with information and illustrations.

I now feel even more strongly that whenever I travel, I will look for local gardens. This book will be enjoyed by all who love what nature provides.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

Five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Notes from Real People and the Bouquets They Inspired

by Kelsie Hayes

#SayItwithFlowers #NetGalley

This is a gorgeous collection of bouquets that will make readers want to call a florist! There are also the note cards that accompanied the flowers, letting readers see many heartfelt messages.

The concept of this title is simple but it really works!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 24 September 2024

A Novel

by Amy Neff

#TheDaysILovedYouMost #NetGalley

Take a deep breath as you begin this title. The story opens with a husband and wife telling their adult children that they plan to end their lives in exactly one year. They have their reasons although Jane, Violet and Thomas are in no way accepting when they hear this. The novel takes off from there.

In these pages readers get to know Joseph and Evelyn over the course of their lives, beginning when they were kids. They move together through the significant events in their lives, their children’s lives and those around them.

The story is told by different characters and in different time lines. This allows readers to experience past events as they were happening.

Will Evelyn and Joseph move ahead with their plans? Read this emotional title, get to know the characters, see what they decide and see what you think.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 30 July 2024

From the Publisher

Stephanie Barron has written in several genres. She is the author of the Nantucket based, Merry Folger mysteries which I read and enjoyed. She also wrote the Jane Austen mystery series and novels with JFK and Virginia Woolf as characters. In this book, That Churchill Woman is Jennie Jerome Churchill, the mother most famously of Winston, the wife of Randall and a lover of Charles Kinsky.

The novel moves back and forth in time allowing the reader to understand Jennie’s upbringing in the Gilded Age and her father’s influence on her life. The reader also learns about the traumas of Jennie’s early life, including the profound loss she faced, her father’s affairs, her move to Europe, etc.

Jennie glitters in British society. There are numerous appearances in the book of Bertie, the Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alix. Other American women who married into the British aristocracy are also characters in the novel.

The reader empathizes with Jennie, especially during a time when a young Winston is quite ill. Further, as Jennie learns the truth about her husband, (I don’t want to include spoilers), one truly feels for her.

I highly recommend this novel for those who like historical fiction, those who are Anglophiles and those interested in the family in which Winston grew up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this absorbing read.

#ThatChurchillWoman #NetGalley

Meg Shaffer’s previous novel, The Wishing Game, was one of my favorite books last year. So, I was incredibly excited to receive an e galley of The Lost Story.

In this title, the author develops an imaginative story that pays homage to CS Lewis. Just as Lewis did, Shaffer creates an alternate and magical world populated by unique characters and situations. As in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, characters lives will be transformed.

Two boys, Rafe and Jeremy, disappeared only to miraculously return six months later. How did their relationship and lives fare after this? What happens to them and a young woman named Emily fifteen years later? No more plot reveals as readers will want to have their own experience while reading this.

Good and evil, many kinds of love, and adventure await in this highly recommended title. BookPage has given it a well deserved star review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the Publisher

#Jackie #NetGalley

Is there a more iconic American woman than Jacqueline Kennedy? Much has been written about her and yet she still retains an air of mystery.

In this novel Dawn Tripp successfully imagines Jackie’s life with a carefully researched title. Readers follow Jackie over a period of many years. They will learn more about her life before Jack, her courtship and marriage to both him and to Onassis, her role as a mother, her career, her cancer diagnosis and much more in this well written narrative. Readers will witness both the tragedy and the inner strength that defined this most impressive woman.

Tripp has written a long (over 450 pages) and immersive novel. It is very easy to recommend this title to historical fiction readers and those who are intrigued by the myth of this woman.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 18 June 2024

From the Publisher

Other books that I have reviewed about Jacqueline Kennedy

Get to know them: Jackie and Maria by Gill Paul

Yes, that Jacqueline: Jacqueline in Paris