Brave Chef Brianna by Sam Sykes: Book Review

Brave Chef Brianna by Sam Sykes Book Cover

4 Stars. I grabbed this on a whim as I was prowling through my library’s shelves last week. Who can resist a bright and cheerful cover that also portrays monsters? Not me. This was really cute and contained important messages about friendship; overcoming self-doubt; and living for your own ideals of happiness, not those dictated […]

Continue Reading

True or False by Cindy L. Otis: Book Review

True or False by Cindy L. Otis Book Cover

4 Stars. In this information age, we find ourselves bombarded with facts or “facts,” as the case may be. A fringe group believing a kooky conspiracy theory may seem fairly harmless but when large swathes of the population believe anything they read that reinforces their own beliefs, we have a huge problem. Consider these sobering statistics […]

Continue Reading

A Deadly Education by Noami Novik: Book Review

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik Book Cover

3 Stars. I’m going against popular opinion a bit in my review of this book. Don’t get me wrong; every review I’ve seen is glowing and I don’t exactly disagree. But I don’t fully agree either. First off, I do love this world. It’s interesting and full of magic and enclaves of magicians (Wizards? I’ve already forgotten what they […]

Continue Reading

Ten Things I’m Thankful For

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share “ten things I’m thankful for” in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. I’m not going to lie. I’ve got a bad case of covid restriction fatigue at the moment. I just want to be able to explore when and where I want […]

Continue Reading

New to My TBR: Nonfiction November

Nonfiction November 2020 Button

For our final prompt in Nonfiction November, Katie at Doing Dewey asks which book are new to my TBR. It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! Well, first of all, thanks […]

Continue Reading

Weekly Update for November 22, 2020

Welcome to my weekly update for November 22, 2020! We’ve been cautiously exploring the San Diego area now for a few weeks. San Diego County was returned to the most restrictive coronavirus tier last weekend so our options are a bit limited. Luckily, my husband’s cousin and his wife are nearby so we’ve been spending […]

Continue Reading

Hiking Oregon’s History by William L. Sullivan: Book Review

Hiking Oregon's History by William L. Sullivan Book Cover

4 stars. I know this book probably won’t have much appeal to a broad audience but it was so engaging, I felt that I needed to review it. When my husband and I first arrived in Oregon in April of 2020 for his work assignment at a hospital outside Portland, my aunt put me in touch with one of her friends who owns a summer home on […]

Continue Reading

Out of the Silence by Eduardo Strauch: Book Review

Out of the Silence by Eduardo Strauch Urioste Book Cover

3 Stars. I didn’t know much about this event other than the bare minimum prior to reading this book: a plane crashed in South America in the ’70s; the passengers survived by cannibalism; and the movie Alive, which I haven’t seen, is based on it. So I expected to get more of a straightforward recounting of the facts. What I got […]

Continue Reading

Ask the Expert: Nonfiction November

Nonfiction November 2020 Button

For this week’s Nonfiction November prompt, Rennie at What’s Nonfiction invites us to Be the Expert, Ask the Expert, or Become the Expert. Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put […]

Continue Reading