This is another book I grabbed immediately from netgalley because of my love for one of my newest hobbies, vegetable gardening (free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review).

This book starts from the beginning with explaining the different zones, the difference in climates within each zone (though I find it interesting that her last frost dates for our area is off by two weeks minimum) and how that will affect your garden.

There's everything from the sun, to the soil, how to start plants from seeds, different types of fertilizer, mulching, composting, watering, etc., to planning your garden plot (this was the section I found the most interesting, as we are doubling the size of our garden next year & I'm completely replotting the whole garden layout). The book then goes month by month on what you should be doing for your garden.

All in all, this is a great little resource book, but I think more ideally suited to raw beginners. I've only had a garden for two years, and I really didn't see any new information, which was disappointing to me. I also would have liked to have seen pretty photos, something this book is severely lacking (and why I give the book only 4 stars).

This is a collection of short stories about cats and their owners, from all walks of life - the magical and special bond that make up cat people.

When I'm asked to describe myself, I always say first that I am a crocheter and a big reader, and the next thing I say is that I'm a crazy cat person - I'd have a 100 if I could, and not just our Wedge-head (his real name is Wedgie, called that because he was found badly nourished and injured and wedged up into a tree).

There's a touching story starring a cat named Zorro - we had a beloved Zorro of our own, whom we lost several years ago after a long fight with kidney disease.

This is the type of book that is so hard for me to read, because I bawl through the whole thing, and it takes me forever because I have to keep stop reading because I'm a wreck and I have to go find where Wedgie is hiding and cuddle him close.

So let us begin, shall we?

Now, I want to start off by saying... I've never knit a Christmas stocking before. I know, I know.... though I've knit plenty of socks, I've never knit stockings, and I don't hang any up by the chimney with care, either... I have a store bought stocking for hubby, my parents & I and that's it. But maybe with this book... just maybe... that will change?

We start with the usual how to section, including how to knit, purl, increases and decreases, turn a heel (short rows) and the importance of a gauge swatch. I've complained before about how knitting & crocheting books always include a how to section & it bugs the heck out of me, I find it a complete waste of space. If you are buying a book of knitting patterns then you already know how to knit... if you want to learn how to knit, you are going to buy a how to book, or take a class, or ask a friend, or go onto youtube

The patterns are laid out very clearly, and each part of the stocking is spelled out for you, casting on, knit the leg, turning the heel, finishing, etc and the photos are what you'd expect: clear, pretty, well lit. Patterns are all charted.

So, the patterns! Some of my favorites from the book include:

Winter Wonderland - a cute fair isle stocking, space to customize a (short) name, with little 3 dimensional snowmen to add on

Mix and Match Stockings - just what the title says, it's a great mix of fair isle patterns, you can also add a name to it.

Stars Brocade - if I were to knit my MIL a stocking, this would be it, though instead of the photographed white I'd use a Victorian burgandy

Mini Socks - great for an advent calendar

there's also an assortment of ornaments/package tags as well.



I received a copy of this book free through netgalley.

Dead Dreams is about two young girls, Brie, who wants to become independent and is living on her own for the first time, and Sarah, an independently wealthy secretive know-it-all.

The book is supposed to be a psychological thriller for YA, but reads more like chick-lit with the light, casual, conversational feel of the book, with some mystery thrown in. There's lots of twists and turns that will keep you reading - the part that I enjoyed, along with the good writing.

But Brie is so, so stupid and unbelievably immature. She's always whining about her mother, who is just there to watch over her & to protect her and to make sure she's safe. And clearly Brie needs watching over, because she starts off by making a bad decision and just keeps on making bigger and badder mistakes. She knows she's making bad decisions and just goes ahead and makes them anyway - trying to prove her independence and maturity, perhaps? But all she's doing is proving what a sniveling child she really is. Can you tell I'm NOT a Brie fan?

So, if I dislike Brie so much, why am I rating this book 4 stars? Well, because of the character of Sarah. She's so secretive and mysterious and sure, is beyond manipulative, but that's exactly why I like her - it's like hate watching certain tv shows. You know it's awful, but you can't help watching and yelling at the TV screen anyway. That's exactly how I felt about Sarah.

The book ends with another twist, and leaves you feeling very confused - so confused in fact, I honestly wanted to give the book 3 stars for this reason. Yes, you want a cliffhanger at the end of any book in a series, but this feels like Right ended the book literally in the middle of the book, not written in such a way that opens up the next part to the story.

This book is the 3rd one in a series, the first two of which I didn't read - something that drives me crazy. But in this case, the book was well written and was OK to read without the first two books in the series.

Katie has to chose between two men she's loved all of her life, and the book follows her decision from there. I love reading Amish romance stories - even though in general, I can't stand to read romance books! Because the Amish life is so simple, honest, and clean, and the romance stories aren't romance stories so much as love stories - yes, there is a difference between the two.

Fuller does a lovely job writing about the characters and the interpersonal relationships. You can't help but feel for Johnny with all of his mistakes - they just make him more human.

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I received this book to read and review through the book sneeze program and was not paid for my honest review.

First, I want to say I am not a quilter, but I am a fiber artist and teacher and have long, long been obsessed with quilts. I own a ton of quilt books for their inspiration and even own a fabric stash & a sewing machine, though I can barely sew. I want to be a quilter, but the fiber life has a mind of its own.

The book starts with the basics, explaining how to make a simple quilt (6 parts) and defines what modern quilting is, and what different people feel about quilting and modern quilting in particular. There's a lot of writing from lots of different quilters from all walks of life, talking about how they make quilts and why and how they got started. You'll reconigize some of the names included in the book if you have any interest in quilting at all.

The book also has gorgeous, inspiring photography on each and every page.

I enjoyed the improv section the most, which makes sense because I love freeform the most in my fiber journey.

Being a vegetable garden and an apartment dweller, I was definitely hooked on the idea of Bokashi Composting - something I had definitely never heard of before - and is what Adam's book is all about, bringing Bokashi composting to the US and to people who might benefit from a different type of composting. He specifically mentions apartment dwellers, which is why I asked for this book to review (from netgalley). I've been wanting to try composting, but not having a yard of my own makes this problematic.

Adam begins the book by explaining how he wanted to write a book about Bokashi Composting, and how there's little information about it out there. He doesn't dismiss other types of composting and explains that each of the various methods all have their places. He then gets into the terms used with bokashi composting and the benefits of using this method over other methods - for example, you can compost meat, dairy, eggs and bread with this method & you can't with others. This section is interesting but gets repetitive - after all, you already have the book in your hands so why is the author trying to sell us on the method as much as he is? (it just feels like a sales pitch to me).

The next two sections are on the history and science of Bokashi Composting - another couple of sections that starts off interesting, but just got into too much detail for me and as I sat there reading, I kept wondering if this information was mere filler to make the book long enough for publishing. (these two sections are why I give the book 4 stars instead of 5)

Finally, in chapter 4 we get to the good stuff - how to make bokashi bran, the heart of the composting method (which is actually a process of fermenting). Now that we got into how to do the actual composting - I discover I can't use this method in my tiny 400 sq ft apartment - there's just no way I have the room (especially when we get to the part about how I have to spread the bran around on a large tarp to dry. I have NO floor space, period).

The end result is that this made for fascinating reading, and it was definitely interesting to learn about a new method of composting - but isn't going to work for my household, either.

A sustainable diet in this book doesn't mean diet to lose weight, so much as growing food and keeping food, from your garden, to eat year round, in a way that is good for the environment and you - a sustainable diet that feeds you and feeds the world you live in. This book is definitely not written for small scale gardeners or, I think, even mid-size gardeners, as a lot of her garden plans are 700 square feet. We just doubled the size of our garden from 16 by 16 feet to 16 by 32 feet. There's information about eating only from your garden, what vegetables will give you the most calories in the least amount of garden space, and things like taking care of bees for the honey so you have a natural sweetener to use in your cooking.

The book does a very through job and Conner is clearly very experienced and knowledgeable about gardens.

Having not read the 2nd book in the series, I did feel as if I was missing part of the story, something I hate when reading. but I knew that coming into the book.

Thomas, the main character, is now a wanted man, and is struggling finding out who he can trust and believe in. The book is well written and well paced. There's a lot of good verses evil in the book, but can be read more as an adventure novel then necessarily as a Christian book.

I did like this one more than the first book in the series.

I love England, I love British history & I love, love reading about the Tudors. I also love reading alternate history books, though I seldom actually get to read one.

Well this book fits the bill completely - it begins to answer the what if a lot of Tudor buffs wonder about - what if Anne Boleyn had a male child that lived to adulthood?

The book focuses on 4 young individuals - Will, Anne's son, his friend Dominic, Will's older sister Elizabeth (aka the future Queen Elizabeth), and their childhood friend and servant, Minuette (told primarily through her point of view). It is not meant to be historical fiction, but alternative history, with some mystery & romance thrown in for good measure.

The book does a great job with recreating a new reality for us, though I struggled greatly with Minuette being Will & Elizabeth's equal. Yes, it's entirely possible for Dominic to be a friend and adviser, but for Minuette to also be treated as an equal (a girl) leaves me a little flustered at the unlikeness of it all.

The other big reason why I only gave this book 4 stars, has to do with the extreme abrumpt ending. Reading the back cover of the book / the blurbs, leaves you with the feeling that there is going to be a decision made about the love triangle by the end of the book, which does not happen.

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borrowed from library