Moufflet by Kelly Jaggers

 
Moufflet by Kelly Jaggers

My Rating: ★★★★

If you’re looking to up your baking game, this book with 100+ muffin recipes may be up your alley! Inside, you’ll find a variety of muffin recipes ranging from the sweet and tasty muffins we all know and love to savory delights. In fact, you can even find tasty muffins that count as a meal and interesting sounding spicy muffins. There’s quite the variety of recipes, so you’re sure to find a recipe that’s going to change up your baking game!

While many of the recipes sound delicious, the book is lacking in pictures. I think that’s okay for me because reading the recipes is enough to make me decide which ones I want to try, but I know many people prefer to have pictures accompany most of the recipes in any cookbook. There’s also some recipes that will be hard to substitute ingredients for a similar flavor. If you’re allergic to oats like I am, you may want to skip the section that has several delicious sounding recipes where oats are a major flavor component. I wasn’t always allergic to oats and I have yet to find something that successfully substitutes that flavor.

That said, many of the recipes sound absolutely delicious. I’m particularly excited about the savory and muffins that can count as a meal. Plus, many of the muffin spreads sound truly wonderful and I can’t wait to try them.

Sweet Drawing by Olga Ortiz

 
Sweet Drawing by Olga Ortiz

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re looking for a good starting place for learning to draw, this may be the book for you! Inside, you will find 100+ simple and absolutely adorable things to draw. Whether you’re new to drawing or looking to enhance your drawings and doodles, this is an excellent book. It’s also simple enough for younger artists to work with!

One of the things I like about this book is that it’s very encouraging whether you’re not the best at drawing or have some skills under your belt. The pressure one puts on oneself is real, and this book lifts some of that pressure! I also love the materials and techniques section. I never thought about doing sketches with colored pencils before, so I’m going to have to try that!

The sketching tips and tutorials are absolutely wonderful. I remember drawing classes in college and how drawing tips, tricks, and new techniques were often a secret like a good hand of cards being held very close to one’s chest during a poker game. You won’t find that attitude here, and the tutorials are very well laid out and easy to understand. It’s why I think it’ll be great for older elementary school kids who are into drawing. It’s simple enough that it won’t overwhelm them, but there are excellent tips that can help kids learn new techniques and continue to form their artistic styles. It’s also excellent for adults because who doesn’t like to learn new things about drawing, no matter the age? Sometimes we just want to learn something new and this is a great book for that.

Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life by Emma Steinkellner

 
Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life by Emma Steinkellner

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Random House Children's, Labyrinth Road through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up in Gumbling is not the fairytale it may appear to be to outsiders. However, Nell Starkeeper and her friends love their home and can’t imagine ever leaving. Everything is about to change now that some strangers claiming to be directly related to the last king of Gumbling have arrived. They want to put everyone out of business, evict many people who call Gumbling home, and turn it into a big fancy resort and theme park. Nell and her friends must put their heads together and find a way to save Gumbling or watch everything they’ve ever known be destroyed by two money hungry strangers.

I’m a big fan of Emma Steinkellner work, so I was extremely excited when I learned they had a new book coming out. We follow Nell, a 12-year-old artist, right as she’s about to start her seventh grade apprenticeship. What began as excitement turns to absolute disappointment when she’s matched with Mrs. Birdneck down in the dungeons working on the town archives instead of her idol, Wiz Bravo, a well-known artist. At least she has her best friend, Myra… until they reach their first big friendship hurdle!

This book is absolutely wonderful. I love that it teaches its target readers anything from figuring out friendship woes to dealing with people and classes they don’t like or don’t care about. Nell is bored by the archives and dislikes Mrs. Birdneck as much as Mrs. Birdneck dislikes her, but learns to accept her fate. She even learns how to connect with both Mrs. Birdneck and the archives she thought she hated! I really like that we also learned some of Mrs. Birdneck’s backstory, which really puts things into perspective for Nell and readers.

Speaking of friendships, Nell’s group of friends are such cool characters. Myra and Gil are her core friends, but she experiences her first big friendship hiccup with Myra when they find themselves at odds with each other. I love that we’re shown the two of them dealing with their problems in a healthy manner as well as seeing how friendships don’t always require one to be connected at the hip. We also see Nell make friends with characters she previously disliked or was jealous of, and we learn there’s more to meet the eye, which is another important lesson for readers.

Gumbling is such a vibrant world and the artwork really brings it to life. The story is presented as Mell’s journal that combines her art with her journal entries. It’s such a fun way to bring the story to life, but it’s also fast paced enough to keep its target audience (middle graders) entertained. I think this is an absolutely wonderful story and I look forward to seeing what Steinkellner publishes next.

Kawaii Drawing by Becky Castaneda

 
Kawaii Drawing by Becky Castaneda

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you like to draw and love kawaii art, then this may be the book for you! Inside, you will find 100+ drawing tutorials covering a range of super cute types of drawings. Whether you’re looking to up your game on drawing cats and mermaids or some new tips on making your drawings a little more complex, this is the right book to go with.

One of the things I like about this book is that there are some excellent tips on figuring out what materials you want to buy if you’re new to drawing. I’m a big fan of checking out video reviews on different types of markers I want to check out, and the author has some great tips on saving yourself some money. Between checking out reviews and making sure you’re looking at the right types of materials for the medium you plan on starting with or expanding on, there are some excellent tips here!

As for the drawing tutorials, they are really cute and fun. I really like their tips on simple ways of adding movement to your drawings. Plus, their tips on creating the illusion of depth are wonderful! I took a few drawing classes in college and I really like how they present depth in a simple and non-overwhelming way. They weren’t joking about how depth can be a struggle for artists at any experience level, so I like how they simplified it and encouraged readers to experiment with it. It can be a little stressful when figuring it out, but when you look at it as an experiment to see how you want to make it happen and how you like to create depth, it takes a lot of the stress off one’s shoulders!

All in all, this is an excellent and fun drawing book that I think will be great for people of all ages, but maybe not kids younger than third grade level because of some of the more complex tutorials.

¡¡Manu!! by Kelly Fernandez

¡¡Manu!! by Kelly Fernandez

My Rating: ★★★★★

Manu has grown up at a magical school for girls that is run by nuns and is excited to see all her classmates return every school year. She’s most excited to see her best friend, Josefina, return. However, Manu has always gotten into a lot of trouble. According to rumors, she’s a demon! When Manu’s latest prank goes over extremely badly, Josefina accidentally curses her to lose her magic! Now Manu is serious about tempting fate by performing a dangerous spell so she’ll stop having to use a smelly potion to keep her magic flowing. Unfortunately, it turns out that dangerous magic is dangerous for a reason, and Manu is struggling with the consequences!

This graphic novel following Manu and Josefina is absolutely adorable. While Manu is always causing trouble because she’d rather have fun than follow the rules, Josefina is always quick to forgive her best friend. However, Manu is about to go on a steep learning curve when her best friend accidentally curses her! I absolutely loved this story from start to finish and enjoyed how the author worked to bring parts of their culture and the stories they grew up with into the story and artwork.

One of the things I loved about this book is that we see the power of friendship as its own form of magic. No matter what they go through, Manu and Josefina are best friends and are willing to fight to save each other. We also see how Manu has always been treated differently by her peers as well as by the Sisters, so I really felt for her when she finally learns about her past. I also love that one of the lessons for young readers is to not judge a book by its cover, so to speak, and to come to your own conclusions rather than letting other people’s opinions become your opinion.

All in all, this is an absolutely wonderful book with beautiful artwork that really enhances the storytelling. I’m looking forward to seeing what the author comes out with in the future!

Every Gift a Curse (All Our Hidden Gifts #3) by Caroline O'Donoghue

Every Gift a Curse by Caroline O'Donoghue

My Rating: ★★★★

Now that Maeve and her friends sealed the well to protect it and the magic it holds from the Children of Brigid, they’re dealing with the aftermath. Two people died in the process and it looks extremely suspicious that Maeve just happened to inherit the school and the land it sits on. Maeve is feeling more lonely than ever, especially now that even her parents are afraid of her. As Maeve and her friends wait for the Housekeeper to appear again, they watch the cracks in their relationships get bigger just when they need each other the most.

While I’m sad that the series is now over, I am happy to see it come to an end while it’s still on top. That said, I tried to read it as slowly as possible because I wasn’t ready to end. The only problem is that it was so good that I also didn’t want to put the book down, so reading it slowly was truly a struggle.

One of the things I love so much about this book is that it’s ultimately a story about friendship. We watch Maeve and her friends go through so many different experiences and see them grappling with new traumas. Through it all, they always have each other even when they are fighting, experiencing jealousy, and sometimes not even speaking. We watch them fracture and come back together stronger than before. Then you throw some paranormal elements in and a cult, and you’ve got an excellent book with every single thing these characters go through sitting straight under a magnifying glass.

Without spoiling anything, there were things I saw coming and a few wild twists. I particularly love how Maeve and her friends come back together all the way throughout the end. I was expecting the ending, but I was also expecting a little more before the final chapter ended. However, I’m very satisfied with the ending. If anything, it’s probably the best way things could’ve gone! Though, I do have a few questions, but they’re all things left for us to come to our own conclusions on and I really like that.

I was also really excited to see how the Housekeeper began and how everything made sense going all the way back to the first book. There are a few things that weren’t quite wrapped up that are leftover from the second book, but I think I’m okay with those few things and how they impacted one or two of the characters seem to have been forgotten between the ending of one book and the beginning of another. I think I can forgive those few loose ends because, overall, the entire series is excellent and there’s very few things that stick out as odd. I’m excited to see what O'Donoghue comes up with in the future because this entire series is truly top tier.

The Baker and the Bard: A Cozy Fantasy Adventure by Fern Haught

 
The Baker and the Bard: A Cozy Fantasy Adventure by Fern Haught

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Juniper and Hadley have been living their best lives in Larkspur. Juniper is a baking apprentice who dreams of running their own bakery one day and is extremely close friends with Hadley, their local bard. Hadley hopes to stumble onto an adventure one day because they dream of being one of the best bards there is, and they think they need a little adventure to make that happen! What the duo don’t know is that they’re about to embark on their very first adventure together, and it all begins when someone makes a peculiar order at the bakery.

This book is absolutely cute and heartwarming from the very first page. Between the stunning artwork and the lovely and easy going story, there really isn’t anything to not love! We follow Juniper and Hadley shortly before their very first adventure. Along the way, we see them learn more about each other and themselves as well as surrounding towns and even the fey. There is some solid LGBTQ+ representation here beginning with Juniper and Hadley themselves, so if you hope to imagine yourself fitting in the story, it’ll be easy to fit yourself in as you read.

While one of the plots is left open, it doesn’t stick out as anything strange. I’m going to choose to believe that adventure and new friendships added to Hadley’s skill as a bard because for all I know, it did add to their bard life. That said, I love how soft and sweet this entire story is. It’s the first publication from Fern Haught and I’m now looking forward to their future publications. I think their future books will be excellent because this one gave a complete, soft, and sweet story filled with adventure and magic. Reading this was like a hug in the form in a book and I think we all need a little more of that!

The Ultimate Cooking for One Cookbook: 175 Super Easy Recipes Made Just for You by Joanie Zisk

 
The Ultimate Cooking for One Cookbook: 175 Super Easy Recipes Made Just for You by Joanie Zisk
My Rating: ★★★★

I read a different cooking for one book not long ago and decided to check out the other books out there. In this book, you will find 175 simple recipes that are perfect for when you’re only cooking for one person. It’s extremely easy to adjust most of the recipes for allergies. However, if you’re allergic to oats like I am, you’ll have to skip the overnight oats recipes all together.

The book is organized by the type of dish one will be cooking, such as breakfast, side dishes, chicken or seafood, vegetarian, or dessert. There are quite a few delicious sounding recipes under each section. However, the book is lacking in photos of the dishes, so if you’re someone who wants to see pictures before each dish, keep that in mind when considering picking up this book.

Overall, the dishes look and sound delicious. One of the things I like about this book is that there’s an occasional tip offered at the end of each recipe that can help you improve your cooking technique, avoid waste, etc. There are also tips on how to avoid food waste in the opening in the book, and the author encourages making the weekends the days one tries to use up any leftover veggies and such from the week. I’m looking forward to making some of the dishes found in the book as well as checking out more cooking for one books in the future.

Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus #5) by Katee Robert

 
Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert
My Rating: ★★★

Aphrodite is devoted to keeping Olympus safe no matter what the cost. When a new Hephaestus comes into the picture at the cost of her cousin’s life, she willingly throws her long-time relationship with Adonis out the window. Marrying for love was never on the horizon, but marrying the enemy by choice turns out to be harder than Aphrodite imagined it would be. As she clashes with her new husband, it turns out he’s not as bad as she thought. In fact… she might be developing feelings. Is she destined for a broken heart, or is this unusual arrangement destined to be?

I was extremely excited to finally start this book. A messy marriage between Aphrodite and Hephaestus after the events of the last book? Sign me up! Unfortunately, I didn’t think it was messy at all. If anything, it was a pretty good fictional interpretation of four people accidentally stumbling into a poly relationship with one other. Sure, it could’ve been intentional as well as happening in better circumstances, but it turned out to be a healthy relationship between the four from the start. Plus, the political plots were what I expected after the last book. Either I have high expectations for mess and don’t realize it or it wasn’t messy at all.

Either way, it was a pretty good book. We follow Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Adonis, and Pandora through their rotating perspectives. I actually favored Adonis and Pandora’s chapters over Hephaestus and Aphrodite, but their chapters weren’t bad. It just really bugged me that they constantly referred to each other as “husband” and “wife” majority of the time rather than using names or leaving a name out all together. It was getting real old after a while and I wished they would at least give each other nicknames or something instead of being like, “Over there, husband.” Otherwise, I favored Adonis and Pandora because they’re the softer and more level headed characters. Aphrodite and Hephaestus are pretty stubborn and bold characters who are pretty much in your face all the time, which is always fun to read, but it just made it easy to have a preference with the four perspectives.

That said, this turned out to not be among my favorite books. I just think that the books following more than two characters on the regular just aren’t that strong enough compared to the others. I do like that there was a lot of improvement since the throuple and that each of the four characters have a really distinct voice. The poly relationship is one of my favorite aspects of the book and I hope to see more poly relationships appear in Katee’s books. I just kept getting taken out of the story every Aphrodite and Hephaestus called the other husband or wife. I also was expecting the book to be pretty messy and didn’t think it was at all. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good book and I’m really interested in seeing where the series goes from here.