Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To by Jenny Hart, Alexandra Grablewski

Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To by Jenny Hart, Alexandra Grablewski

My Rating: ★★★★★

I recently decided to learn how to embroider, so when I saw this book at my local library, I knew I had to pick it up. Jenny Hart offers a great beginners guide that covers everything from the type of fabric one might want to use to tips on how to finish up your projects. If you’re a cross stitcher like me, some of the information may overlap, but it’s all laid out in simple and easy to understand terms for those new to embroidery.

The only thing about starting a new craft with a book is that diagrams can be difficult to understand. I found that was not the case with this book as Jenny Hart supplies a variety of comprehensive stitch diagrams that are paired with written instructions. Of course, diagrams are not for everyone, but it’s easy to find how-to videos to pair with this book.

I found much of the information covered valuable and look forward to starting my first embroidery project when my fabric arrives. Unfortunately, because I picked up an ebook copy of this book, the patterns are not actually included since the physical copy comes with iron-on patterns. That’s fine with me since I picked this up learn what I need to know to start my first project, but if you want the iron-on patterns, make sure to buy the physical copy of this book.

The Banana Cookbook: 50 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Sam Brooks

The Banana Cookbook: 50 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Sam Brooks

My Rating: ★★★

I received a copy from Andrews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sam Brooks has put together a book full of easy recipes, including a variety of vegan and gluten free options, that center around delicious bananas. Ranging anywhere from a classic loaf of banana bread to ice-cream and delicious iced banana coffee, there are a variety of recipes that covers everyone’s interests.

If you are someone with a nut allergy like me, you’ll be happy to find that there are several nut free options throughout the book. However, quite a few of those options will require you to simply omit the nuts that are used to garnish the final product. There are some recipes that will be difficult to get around, such as peanut butter based recipes, as substituting peanut butter with cashew, almond, or sunflower seed butter will create a much drier final product than the author intended.

One of the things that I liked about this book is the mouthwatering pictures that accompany the recipes. It’s one thing to read a recipe and think about making it, but there’s something about seeing a picture that really entices you to check out the recipe and get you pumped about making it. This is why I was disappointed to discover that the book is full of stock images rather than photos taken of the products of these recipes. Some of the pictures can pass, but there are some that are clearly not what you’ll get when you make the recipe.

I also wish that there were savory recipes included in the book. For a book that views bananas as a “new” staple, it’s odd that savory options are so overlooked. Otherwise, I did enjoy the book and look forward to trying some of the recipes. I’m looking forward to giving the iced banana coffee a go since it combines two of my favorite things: coffee and bananas. I’ve also been looking for a new tried and true banana bread recipe, so I’m excited to bake the one included in the book and seeing how it turns out.

Death at High Tide (Island Sisters Mystery #1) by Hannah Dennison

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison

My Rating: ★

I received a copy from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Evie’s husband, Robert, suddenly passes away, her entire world is turned upside down. Not only did she just lose the love of her life, but also just found out that they were broke and she’s about to lose the house they shared. Then Evie finds out that she might own a hotel she’s never heard of while her sister, Margot, tries to help her sort out the puzzle that her life has become. Armed with her grief, some luggage, and her secretive yet outspoken sister, she takes a trip to Tregarrick Rock to check the place out. The only problem? Someone is murdered at the hotel and now they’re trapped.

When I saw that Hannah Dennison was releasing the first book in a new series, I was super excited because I love her Honeychurch Hall mysteries. Unfortunately for me, I had a hard time getting into this book. I don’t particularly care for Evie and I found many of the characters unlikable, especially Margot and Jago. The one character I did love was super interesting but wasn’t fully developed before they were gone.

My other complaint is that the murder mystery started way too late in the book. If I hadn’t already known that the mystery surrounded a murder from the summary, I would’ve thought that it was actually surrounding Robert’s secrets. However, I did like that Evie and Margot were terrible at investigating once the mystery started because it was very realistic.

I did like the setting of the book. Tregarrick Rock sounds absolutely beautiful even during the off season when the weather isn’t the best for visiting. While the hotel needs some work, it sounds like a beautiful place to stay. I’m not sure how practical it is from a business perspective since going to and from the hotel depends on the tide, but I loved how it was described.

Sadly, this book turned out not to be up my alley. I might pick up the next book in the series when it’s published just to see if the series just had a bit of a rocky start, but we’ll see.