Book Review: Archetype

Archetype (Archetype #1)
M.D. Waters

Release Date: February 6, 2014

Book Description:
Introducing a breathtakingly inventive futuristic suspense novel about one woman who rebels against everything she is told to believe.

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .
The first novel in a two-part series, Archetype heralds the arrival of a truly memorable character—and the talented author who created her.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
Digital copy provided by Penguin’s First to Read Program. This review is my honest opinion.

ar•che•type noun \ˈär-ki-ˌtīp\
: a perfect example of something

Sometimes the hardest books to review are the ones that you’ve enjoyed the most and this stunning debut novel by M.D. Waters is just that kind of a book. Archetype tells the story of Emma, when she wakes up in a hospital with no memories to guide her on and an uncanny voice inside her head warning not to trust her current reality.

Book Review: Friends Without Benefits

Friends Without Benefits (Knitting in the City #2)
Penny Reid

Release Date: September 29, 2013

Book Description:
Friends Without Benefits can be read as a standalone, is a full length 120k word novel, and is book#2 in the Knitting in the City Series.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she's unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
You guys! This was such a sweet romance, full of antics and sincerity, insecurities, imperfections, smart and witty dialogue, and some very lovable characters. I have to admit I didn’t read the first in Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series but fortunately Friends Without Benefits can be enjoyed as a standalone [I love it when authors do that!] nonetheless you can be sure I’ll be reading other books by the author very soon. 

Penny Reid delivers a sexy, laugh-out-loud funny romcom that will cheer you up and make you wish that you were part of this knitting group. Heck, even being absolutely incapable of the simplest mending job let alone knitting I still would want to be part of this group and friends with these fabulous ladies. They were smart, honest, supportive, pushy at all the right moments, and absolutely hilarious. I laughed, I almost cried, and I definitely awed, because humor and love are always a winning combination in my opinion and they are perfectly in balance here.

Book Review: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Deb Perelman

Release Date: October 30, 2012

Book Description:
The long-awaited cookbook by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen—home cook, mom, photographer, and celebrated food blogger.

Deb Perelman loves to cook. It’s as simple as that. She isn’t a chef or a restaurant owner—she’s never even waitressed. Cooking in her tiny Manhattan kitchen was, at least at first, for special occasions—and, too often, an unnecessarily daunting venture. Deb found herself overwhelmed by the number of recipes available to her. Have you ever searched for the perfect birthday cake on Google? You’ll get more than three million results. How do you choose? Where do you start? What if you pick a recipe that’s downright bad?

So Deb founded her award-winning blog, smittenkitchen.com, on the premise that cooking should be a pleasure, and that the results of your labor can—and should be—delicious...every time. Deb is a firm believer that there are no bad cooks, just bad recipes. She has dedicated herself to finding the best of the best and adapting them for the everyday cook—the ones with little time to spare, little money to burn on unpronounceable ingredients, and little help in the kitchen. And now, with the same warmth, candor, and can-do spirit her blog is known for, Deb presents her first cookbook—more than 100 new recipes, plus a few favorites from her site, all gorgeously illustrated with hundreds of Deb’s beautiful color photographs.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is all about approachable, uncompromised home cooking: stepped-up comfort foods, stewy dishes for windy winter afternoons, an apple cake that will answer all questions: “What should my new signature dessert be?” “What is always welcome at a potluck?” “What did Deb consume almost single-handedly a week after having a baby?” These are the recipes you bookmark and use so often they become your own; recipes you slip to a friend who wants to impress her new in-laws; and recipes with simple ingredients that yield amazing results in a minimum amount of time. Deb tells you how to host a brunch and still sleep in—plus what to make for it!—and the essential items you need for your own kitchen. From salads and slaws that make perfect side dishes (or a full meal) to savory tarts and pizzas; from Mushroom Bourguignon to Pancetta, White Bean and Swiss Chard Pot Pies; from Buttered Popcorn Cookies to Chocolate Hazelnut Layer Cake, Deb knows just the thing for a Tuesday night, or your most special occasion.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is comfort food refined and perfected, and is on the level of its own genius. It is by far one of my favorite cookbooks and certainly one that I keep referring to all the time. And this review has been long overdue.

Let me tell you why I think everyone should check out The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by the fabulous, award-winning, food blogger Deb Perelman whose blog I’ve been following quite religiously for a few years now. Her recipes are creative, inspiring, scrumptious, and yet absolutely approachable. I simply get lost every time I open this cookbook because I keep turning the pages, unable to decide what I want to make first – everything looks and is delicious. All of Deb’s recipes both from the cookbook and her blog [which you should check out here] that made it to my family’s table turned out wonderfully, and several made a few reappearances since. Clearly I can’t help but gush about how awesome this cookbook is and my opinion might be absolutely biased [but that’s why you wanted it, right?] but trust that I’m not the only one expressing my love for this cookbook.   

Book Review: Clean Sweep

Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1)
Ilona Andrews

Release Date: December 2, 2013

Book Description:
On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, "normal" is a bit of a stretch for Dina.

And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night....Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
Light hearted and refreshing Clean Sweep is a delightful and highly entertaining read. And I’ll be sure to add other books by the writing duo known as Ilona Andrews to my growing to-read list.

All in all, Clean Sweep is a trip! Unexpected, humorous, sarcastic and fast paced; this urban fantasy, gory details aside, had me giggling late at night. I couldn’t help but love the heroine – Dina the Innkeeper. She was feisty, determined, and self-sufficient [just the way I like my heroines to be]. Add to that a couple of impetuous alpha males, one werewolf, the other vampire; and you know there’s bound to be plenty of fun exchanges between these three [and if your thoughts immediately jump to Twilight, rest assured that these novels have very little in common]. Truly, even the ever annoying love triangle works charmingly well here, creating the needed tension between the heroine and her two would-be suitors and comrades-in-arms, as well as offering plenty of comic relief. The dialog alone was one of the bigger highlights for me; still there are plenty of other enjoyable aspects as well.

Recipe: Mushroom Julienne

Hi guys! Today I’d like to share this great hot appetizer with you. If you are a lover of mushrooms like me then I’m sure you’d like this dish as well. It is a Russian recipe and popular among many of the Eastern European countries, it is quite similar to a gratin and has little to do with the julienne technique of cutting vegetables as the name might suggest, but it is delicious nonetheless. I have fond memories of mushroom juliennes which were traditionally served at intermissions in theater’s cafeteria, along the caviar toasts and other fancy snacks and desserts [the indulgence of which I often found as an exciting part of the theater-going experience while growing up]. So give this dish a try! Quick, rich and creamy, served in small individual dishes, called cocottes, it’s bound to impress.

“Russian” Mushroom Julienne
Servings 2 – 4