Street Vegan by Adam Sobel

From the publisher:
What's the secret behind the Snail's takeover of New York City streets? In all kinds of weather, vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike queue up for addictive vegan cuisine from truck owner Adam Sobel. Now Adam brings his food straight to your kitchen, along with stories of the challenges of working on a food truck while still finding ways to infuse food with imagination, love, and a pinch of perspective. Street Vegan brings the energy and passion of the Cinnamon Snail's creative cooking from truck to table.
_____________________________

This delicious book is filled with a variety of vegan foods to try.  There are breakfast items, beverages to try, soups & sandwiches, vegetables and side dishes, and of course desserts!  This book is a good place to come if you want to try cooking more than just one type of vegan food.

There were some really nice features about this cookbook.  One was that in the beginning Adam Sobel gives a list of what the basics you will need to make the recipes in this book.  There are also descriptions by it  to help you have a better idea if you have never heard of them before.  I also liked how there were pictures for almost every other recipe in this book.  For me, that really makes a cookbook because I want to envision what I will be making, especially if I am unfamiliar with a recipe.

The only down-side to the book is that a lot the recipes called for alcohol in them.  I felt like there were too many and if the person buying this book didn't drink them they would have to either go and buy those drink specifically for the recipes or not be able to cook those and that would take a lot away from the cookbook.

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Everyday Grace by Jessica Thompson

From the publisher:
It's hard, sometimes, to get over that thing your husband said weeks ago; or to resolve that tension with your colleague at work; or to fix a lifelong friendship that's taken a bad turn. The biggest problem with relationships is they always seem to involve sinners--including ourselves. So how can we form strong, resilient bonds with people who, like us, are bound to mess up? 

Thankfully, it's not all on us. Through stories and biblical teaching, Jessica Thompson helps us move beyond trying to "fix" the people we interact with, and shows us a better way. Though our relationships may be marred by tension and frustration, because we are welcomed and known by Christ, they don't have to stay that way.

__________________

I picked this book because I want to have grace in my relationships.  It is so easy to have expectations of others and forget about grace.  This book was hard for me because I felt myself struggling with the ideas of grace.  But what a powerful book this is.  

It seemed that each chapter that I read took me deeper in my understanding of God's love and grace to me and then how that could and should and would overflow into my earthly relationships.  Jessica Thompson does a subtle and beautiful job at not giving you a list of things to do better but really introducing you (maybe for the first or millionth time) to the God who loves you so deeply.  

This book is not a "quick fix" book, but rather a seep you soul into God and His Word book.  This will have you humbly bowing at His feet in love and then seeing how that affects your earthly relationships.

I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson

From the publisher:

Swan Lake meets Robin Hood when the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant by day becomes the region's most notorious poacher by night, and falls in love with the gamekeeper.

Jorgen is the gamekeeper for the wealthy margrave, and he is in pursuit of the poacher who has been killing and stealing the margrave's game. When he meets the lovely and refined Odette at the festival and shares a connection during a dance, he has no idea that at night she is the one who has been poaching the margrave's game.

Odette is caught up in a ring of black market sellers of poached animals. She thinks the game is going to feed the poor, who are all but starving, both in the city and just outside its walls. However, most of the animals are being sold by the greedy leader of the ring-her stepfather. When Odette discovers what he is doing, she threatens to expose him, putting herself in great danger.

The gamekeeper finds her poaching one night and shoots her, wounding her. When he realizes who she is, he hides her to keep her from being executed by the margrave and also to protect her from her stepfather. Jorgen and Odette will band together to stop the black market poaching ring . . . as they fall in love. But what will the margrave do when he discovers his gamekeeper is protecting a notorious poacher?

_______________

Having never read Melanie Dickerson's work before I was excited to read her novel.  I love fairy tales and was curious how her YA retelling would go.  I was pleased with what I read and would easily recommend this to YA readers.  Melanie Dickerson weaves in old fairy tales with a new twist and plot.  

As a YA book you expect certain things to be not as intense as a regular book, yet you want it to still be paced well and interesting.  Melanie Dickerson does a great job with this.  She paces out Jorgan and Odette's story well and foreshadows events to come in the conversations of the characters.

The romance between Jorgen and Odette is appropriate for the age-group and I liked that even the kissing was seen as a promise for marriage, not just a make-out session.  Odette is a strong heroine.  She is not weak and fights for what she thinks is right, sacrificing.  This is a good model for girls.  Jorgen is also a strong character who is trying to do what is right in his loyalty and job.  This is another good example of how to live.

Melanie Dickerson has done a great job and I am excited to read more from her.

I received this book free from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.

Inspiralized by Ali Maffucci

From the publisher:
On her wildly popular blog, Inspiralized, Ali Maffucci is revolutionizing healthy eating. Whether you’re low-carb, gluten-free, Paleo, or raw, you don’t have to give up the foods you love. Inspiralized shows you how to transform more than 20 vegetables and fruits into delicious meals that look and taste just like your favorite indulgent originals. Zucchini turns into pesto spaghetti; jicama becomes shoestring fries; sweet potatoes lay the foundation for fried rice; plantains transform into “tortillas” for huevos rancheros.

Ali’s recipes for breakfast, snacks, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, salads, casseroles, rices, pastas, and even desserts are easy to follow, hard to mess up, healthful, and completely fresh and flavorful. Best of all, she tells you how to customize them for whatever vegetables you have on hand and whatever your personal goal may be—losing weight, following a healthier lifestyle, or simply making easy meals at home. 
_______________________

I have heard about this spiralized meal idea and I wanted to see what it was all about.  It was exciting to look through this recipe book and see all these idea for meals that you could eat that would be so healthy and yet sounded delicious.  

The book was careful to introduce how to use the spiralizer and it also included how to tell if the recipe was going to be difficult or easy to make.  

The variety of foods that were included in this were pretty amazing.  At first I was just thinking pastas, because of what I had seen, but there was so much more!  Muffins, waffles, pasta, soups, salads, rice, and on and on!  This has a lot to offer.  

Some recipes could be made without the spirlizer but it looked prettier with the spirlizer.  Overall, this book looks great.

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for my honest review.

From the Start by Melissa Tagg

From the publisher:
Kate Walker used to believe in true love and happily ever after. While her own love life may have left her brokenhearted, it hasn't kept her from churning out made-for-TV romance movie screenplays...until a major career slump and a longing to do something meaningful send her running back to her hometown of Maple Valley. 

Permanently sidelined by an injury, former NFL quarterback Colton Greene is temporarily hiding out in a friend's hometown to avoid the media and the reminders of all he's lost. Maple Valley seems like the perfect place to learn how to adjust to normal life. The only trouble is he's never really done normal before.

While Kate plays things safe and Colton is all about big risks and grand gestures, they both get what it's like to desperately need direction in life. An unexpected project gives them both a chance to jumpstart their new lives, but old wounds and new dreams are hard to ignore. Starting over wasn't part of the plan, but could it be the best thing that's ever happened to them?
____________________________

This is the first book in the Walker series, and I'm excited to read the rest of them.  This is the first time I've read one of Melisssa Tagg's books and I'm glad I've started with this series.  

However, there were a lot of characters in this book and it seemed a bit overwhelming at times.  Soon you get used to them, but I think this was to set up things for the coming books and make the other books link together.  It did make me eager for the next book in the series so I can know more about the other characters. Especially Logan.  

Kate and Colton both have history and Melissa Tagg does a good job and telling their back stories while progressing in the current story.  The back flashes are quick and yet essential to the story so they only add, and don't distract from it.  

I loved the "eleven more inches" idea, that God's plans are wider, bigger than it may first seem.  It made me want to know what more God has in store for me and other around me.  

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.