Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review Bonanza: Eventide, The Man He Never Was, and Motherland

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Eventide by Therese Bohman

cover125668-mediumEventide is a well-written novel about an intelligent, independent art professor named Karolina Andersson. Reflecting on her past and how she feels displaced in the present, it is an elegantly written novel bursting with art, sex, and the complexity of relationships. Therese Bohman demonstrates superb insight into Karolina’s choices that lead her to moments of regret, acceptance, happiness, and clarity. I very much enjoyed this novel.

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

The Man He Never Was by James L. Rubart

cover120714-mediumThe Man He Never Was is a fledgling attempt at a reimagining of the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A man with anger issues wakes up one day to find he has been missing for months. All his anger gone, his family has moved on and he is on a quest for answers and redemption. It starts out ok and then quickly becomes bizarre, and not in an interesting way. Not on my list of books to recommend.

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Motherland by G.D Abson

cover127741-mediumMotherland is a procedural crime novel set in modern-day St. Petersburg. Well written and fast-paced, it is a mystery that illustrates how corruption, bribery, and bigotry run rampant in this Russian town. Captain Natalya Ivanova must navigate through all this to find a missing girl. The author is adept at making the reader truly feel all the frustration and strict obstacles the detective faces. A great read, and hopefully this isn’t the only book starring Natalya.

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: The English Wife by Lauren Willig

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cover117794-mediumThe summary and promo for The English Wife interested me. The story itself did not. It is a novel occurring at different times, at two different places, with two interwoven stories. It is a murder mystery set from 1894 to 1899, during The Gilded Age. Like The Gilded Age, this book was shiny on the surface but rather lacking underneath. The story moved along at a leisurely pace. Each person was somehow not fully formed yet had an intricate background. The characters are very unlikable, barring a reporter named James Burke. The main character Janie was, we presume, intent on finding out who killed her brother. She simpered and quoted Shakespeare most of the time. Janie was easily and often offended by most actions from every character and was a wisp of a heroine. There were long chapters describing homes, art, plays, and what everyone was wearing.  The anti-climactic ending was the most exciting moment of the book, but you have to work to get there. If you want to read about how important one’s reputation was during that era, it’s spot on. If you want to read a book about intrigue and a murder most foul, this is not the book for you. 

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Book Review: Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown

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Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos is a smartly written introduction to one of the world’s most celebrated artists. It begins in childhood, where we learn about Frida’s life in the famous La Casa Azul. Frida had a menagerie of animals; a parrot, two monkeys, three dogs, two turkeys, an eagle, a fawn, and a black cat. Frida lived most of her life at La Casa Azul with her family, pets, and eventual husband Diego Rivera. The story tells much about Frida, like when she contracted polio at age six. Though it is never called polio in the book, it does mention that one of her legs was shorter than the other. It also mentions the accident that happened when she was 18 that highly impacted her life. It spares the detail that it was a bus accident.

What this book does best is tell the story of how she persevered through illness and pain to become an amazing artist. We learn that Frida’s mother made her a special easel and hung a mirror over her bed so she could paint. Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos is about how Frida’s animals inspired her paintings. It explains how they often accompanied her in self-portraits. While reading, you get to enjoy a lush, lovely illustrated book with bright colors and beautiful pictures. With the young in mind, the author created a great resource for simplifying a complicated life. I recommend this book for anyone wanting to introduce children to the unforgettable legacy of Frida Kahlo and her work.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own. 

 

Book Review: Sweet Revenge: Passive-Aggressive Desserts for Your Exes & Enemies by Heather Kim

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This is going to be a two-part review. I want to start by saying that I like this cookbook. It’s bright, it’s fun, it has interesting ingredients. The names of the recipes are great. “Kiss My Molasses” “You’re A Piece of Sheetcake” “TBH, You’re A Total D-Bagel” 
 
I laughed when I read, “In a big ‘ol mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and you’ve expelled all your pent-up rage.”  
 
The part of me that enjoyed reading the cookbook is warring with the part of me that attempted to make two recipes. Part two of the review: Neither one worked. I wouldn’t call myself a “master” baker but I am proficient in the kitchen. I know my way around some good homemade bread, cakes, and cookies. I was up for the challenge this book presented. I made “You’re A Total Monster aka Cap’n Crunch Monster Cookies” and “You’re The Devil Food Cake.” 
 
“You’re A Total Monster aka” Cap’N Crunch Monster Cookies” have 19 ingredients. I had part of the list at home. The things I needed  I bought from Walmart:

Corn Syrup $4.46
Mini M&M’s $2.88
Mini Chocolate Chips $1.98
Butter $3.05 (calls for one cup)
Heavy cream $4.14
Graham crackers $3.00
Milk Powder $2.98
Nacho Cheese Dorito’s $3.98
Cap’n Crunch $2.98

 
I already had: sugar, brown sugar, 1 egg, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, baking
soda, salt, old-fashioned oats, and cornmeal. 
 
I spent 29.45 on the ingredients, and I bought store brand as much as possible to save on cost. 
 
So what went wrong? The ratio of wet to dry ingredients is way off. I had a huge bowl of oats and flour and the rest, and I had to mix it with scant wet ingredients of butter/egg/sugar/corn syrup/one tablespoon of cream. I realized after I purchased the milk powder it only called for one tablespoon. (What was the purpose…I still muse) What I ended up with was a dry, crumbly dough that did not want to stick together. At all. I baked the first batch for 18 minutes as recommended and they were dark and hard as rocks. I put more in and shortened the time to 16 minutes and out popped dark hard cookies. The third batch, 14 minutes, super hard cookies. Last batch, 12 minutes, after they cooled they were as hard as the 18-minute cookies. And I don’t mean crisp, I mean bang on the table and they don’t break, hard to bite into cookies. And all you could taste was the chocolate chips. The flavors of cereal and Doritos were missing. Even after a day, you ended up with a mouthful of dry cornmeal and chocolate chips.

 
The idea of this recipe is super fun. Cap’n Crunch, Doritos, M&M’s, oh my! But the result was not great. But forging on I said, eh, I’m going to make this cake, it sounds and looks amazing! “You’re The Devil Food Cake With Chocolate Frosting & Brownie-Streusel Crunch” 
 
This recipe is in three parts: cake, frosting, streusel. I had most of the ingredients for this recipe but still had to buy:

Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips $1.98
2 packs butter $6.10 (24 Tablespoons for the whole recipe)
Dark Chocolate Chips $2.73
Brownie Mix $.99
Cocoa Powder $3.18

 
I had: coffee, flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, milk, (the heavy cream from the cookies) more sugar, and oil. 
 
I spent 14.98 on the ingredients for this cake, and I bought store brand as much as possible to save on cost. 
 
So what went wrong? Everything, everything went wrong. The mix overflowed in this unexpectedly wild cake-explosion, the middles never cooked, the icing never set. I threw in the towel and didn’t make the brownie-streusel so I have no opinion on that. It took me a long time to assemble this cake, or I should say: the attempt to make this cake took up a huge chunk of Christmas cookie baking time with my family. Once again, the ratios seemed off as I was mixing and pouring (and praying). The icing was pure liquid, it looked like a ganache. The picture shows an iced cake and mentions nothing of ganache. What went wrong? I asked as I shook my sticky fist at the sky. I stuck the icing in the fridge after it cooled and it hardened into a delicious, soft chocolate. One could use it to dip fruit, but not as icing on a cake. I had no cake to ice.

 
When I was buying the goods for the two recipes I also picked up:
Cake Flour $3.98
Cool Ranch Dorito’s $3.98
(to use with other recipes in the book)
 
I was (and maybe still will) going to make a couple more recipes. In total, I spent $52.39 on recipes that bombed so hard.

That’s the problem with this cookbook. It’s so cool, it looks like my teen and I would have the time of our lives whipping up these crazy cakes and cookies. The pictures in the book are great. The author is fun and engaging, there are “helpful tips” scattered throughout it. But I spent a ton of money trying to make TWO of the recipes in the book. I wanted this cookbook to be amazing, but the recipes need to be revised, they are not usable. Revenge is almost sweet.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own