Review of Rogue Most Wanted by Janna MacGregor

Overall a nice addition to the vegan kitchen, I'm always looking for more instant pot cookbooks.

Recipes are marked with gluten free, soy free, oil free, nut free for easy avoidance of desired ingredients. I love that oil free is included, as I try to avoid oil when I can, but don't see it in cookbooks often.

It gives a brief rundown of your instant pot and the settings you can use. I even learned some tips even though I've been using my instant pot for over 2 years! It also covers some good accessories to have.

Pictures to me are huge in a cookbook. I want to know what the food looks like and the pictures are usually what will encourage me to try a recipe. Personally found this cookbook lacking a bit on the pictures. Other people probably don't care about this, but if you do:
Breakfast has 4 pictures of 14 recipes
Entrees, soups and stews has 8 pictures of 39 recipes
Salads and sides has 5 pictures of 22 recipes
Snacks and appetizers has 4 pictures of 12 recipes
Desserts has 4 pictures of 10 recipes
Staples has 0 pictures of 6 recipes (Things like almond milk, cashew cream, broth, bbq sauce, and almond ricotta)
That's only 25 pictures for over 100 recipes and that makes me sad. Loved the pictures that we in there though!

The thing I'm the most excited about is instant pot granola. I never thought that was possible and just love the idea. The book has a great variety of yummy breakfast options. With fall coming up, a nice warm breakfast being made while I can do other things in the morning is a huge plus!

As for the rest, I love the idea of portobello burgers in the IP. We make them on the grill but this literally takes minutes. Amazing idea. I also love the sloppy joes. So many lentil sloppy joe recipes don't that that more original sloppy joe sauce (many I have seen call for cumin and chili powder, not bad but just different). This was more the original and I really like that! Also there's a tomato soup from real tomatoes that is quick and easy. I'm not big on recipes that will have me using the IP and the oven. If I'm going to use the instant pot, I want it just to be the instant pot, but again that's just a personal preference.

Overall a great book! Definitely will be adding some of these recipes into my rotation.

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is my first Megan Frampton! I have been meaning to try her forever, her story lines always sound enticing and I think her covers are beautiful. This is the first book of her new series, Hazards of Dukes.

I thought this story was so unique in that the hero is no longer a duke. He's been raised to be a duke, was told he was the duke, acted like the duke...until he discovers he is a nobody due to a violated law by his mother. He is plain Mr. de Silva. He's like a newborn entering the world of, well, having to buy things. Having to work. Having to make a bed. Having to figure out how to have a purpose in this life other than what he always thought he had.

The heroine, Miss Ivy, has also lost her social status. Ruined but with a younger sister to care for, she has started her own gaming house to support themselves. Now, this is probably just me and the books I have read fairly recently, but it seems like every girl and their sister owns a gambling house now. I've finished 3 of Suzanne Enoch's series that take place with the Tantalus club, there's Sarah MacLean's Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover, and I think some Tina Gabrielle have this too. It's a great plot device but it's not new to me, and honestly I got kind of bored with it.

The book is a little slow moving in the beginning. It establishes what's happening to Sebastian's life and the daily workings of Ivy's gambling house. They come together soon into the book and find they work together quite well. I enjoyed this book overall. There's no crazy plot going taking me away from the characters. It's about them growing and being together and coming to terms with their places in life. It's rather funny in some parts. Very sexy, but it's pretty much all in the second half. I did think the feels/tension were just not connecting the best with me, which is why I give 4 stars. It wasn't a book I couldn't tear myself away from. I will definitely be trying more of her work though.

Frampton does use the F word in this novel a handful of times. I think it's 5-6. Nothing overly vulgar but I know some people really dislike that, so I thought I'd point it out.

Spoiler

Lastly, there is a 2 month separation of Ivy and Sebastian at the end and I don't like it or understand it at all. It's not long page wise, so it was easier for me to get over, but that always drives me nuts. I wouldn't have lasted 2 months. I would have beaned him over the head if he waited that long without talking to me.

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is second in the series but reads perfectly fine as a standalone. Jewel has had her heart broken by an insincere relationship and she is determined to save the Earl of Winchcombe from her cousin's scheming to trap him in marriage.

This leads the two on a quick paced adventure together. It can be rather funny in spots and I especially enjoyed the discussions on dress color. It was surprisingly steamy, so I rather liked that aspect to it as well.

But. It was just one of those books that to me really loses the romance in all the craziness of the plot. There was SO MUCH going on in this book. And it also included a few instances of miscommunication, overhearing something/making assumptions and thus making an ass of yourself...I really dislike that in romance. I also prefer my romances to be more focused on the character development or the growing relationship. I don't mind a bit of plot obviously, or adventure...but this book had it all haha. I think this would work for many people though.

I give a solid 3 ½.

This was my first book by this author.

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

****Spoilers Ahead*******
The reason I didn't love this book was it had all of this going on, and it would have been wonderful with just a bit less, or a moment to catch my breath haha.

Spoiler

There's a secret plot by the family to get the Earl compromised into marriage

The heroine's father is arrested in America

There is a horrible, conniving Uncle lying and trying to steal the heroine's fortune

The Earl's sanity is being challenged by other lords and they want to put him in an insane asylum because he's scarred and scary.

The Earl has a terrible scar that makes everyone scream and throw milk pails at him.

The hero and heroine create a fake marriage to further each of their goals

They adopt a lady that lives in the forest as their maid.

There's a former fiance from America that of course comes to England and harasses them.

Someone is demanding the deed to the Earl's property has been gambled away two years ago by his dead father and they are taking over his property.

There's a missing diamond that's legendary and the royal family wants it back.

I feel like I just read 16 books. And I stopped taking notes on all this at 60%.

This is the second book of Enoch's newest series. I haven't read the first, and this was fine as a standalone. I can tell you will have a better feel for all the characters be reading in order, though. The siblings were in this book, and I'm assuming at least Aden was in the prior book. The first book of the series is It's Getting Scot in Here). This book provided a bit more insight into how Coll's personality was and I'm assuming the next book will be about him (or at least that he will have a book at some point. I'm very excited for his story. He's a huge, brawny highlander and I'm half in love with him already.)

Miranda is the perfect society lady. She has polish. She knows society rules. She has a wonderfully pleasant and engaging personality. Except when it comes to the burly Aden MacTaggert, whom she snubs upon meeting. I really enjoyed Miranda. She was one of those heroines that I just truly liked. I want to be her friend. Shes not helpless, she's smart, but she's limited by her position and strength. And Aden fills in those gaps so wonderfully. She's not someone who is meek or has no backbone. I thought the ways she needed Aden were so touching and more real feeling for the time. Don't get me wrong, I love an independent heroine and one that can save herself and others, but this just felt different. Maybe I was in the mood for a big, hairy highlander to come in and save the day. Miranda pulls her weight for sure and they work together. She's not just a damsel in distress.

Aden has been drug to London to find a bride. His family history was probably explained better in the first book. You know his mom left his father 17 years ago and now has an agreement to get all the brothers leg shackled before their sister. Niall has already found his love. Aden is open to the idea of marriage, but doesn't seem to meet anyone that inspires any strong feelings.

I thought this book would be an enemies to lovers because of their brief animosity the first, but it turned into a lovely getting to know you, becoming friends, and falling in love. Miranda has a serious problem she must solve and she enlists Aden to help her. They become partners against a villain. This villain felt a bit different than the usual villain. The drive behind what he wanted was different. And boy did he inspire strong feelings of dislike in me. You were rooting for his disappearance. He is in the book a decent amount, but I found it didn't take away from Aden and Miranda's relationship. It bonded them stronger together, in fact, because you couldn't help compare the two and it made your heart melt all the more with Aden's actions.

Heart melting is how I felt about this book. There were so many just adorable, cute, funny, sweet moments in this book. I'm pretty sure as I finished, I oozed into a pile with hearts floating above me. Aden is more of a beta hero, and betas are usually not my thing. But I loved Aden. He's just so sweet and caring and he just falls in love with Miranda so sweetly. He doesn't have some deep, dark, and lame secret why he can't marry. He hasn't sworn off women/marriage. He has these real feelings that are new to him, and he embraces. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about his love for Miranda. I loved how he loved her and I loved how he spoke about his feelings first.

This book is my favorite Suzanne Enoch. This is my 6th novel by her. I plan on getting my hands on the first in this series soon and I will definitely be checking out Coll's story when it comes out!

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Verity has had to take care of herself for way too long. Born a bastard with a younger sibling to care for, she has held tenaciously onto her career as a reporter for The Londoner. However, all that is jeopardy only because of her sex. She needs not only a story, but the story that will keep her job, the story all of London wants to hear. Who is the lost Earl?

Taken from his home as a young child, Malcolm has blocked all of his memories of growing up. All he knows is the bowels of London. Having done anything to survive the dirty streets, alone, he has made a name for himself in the sewers. He has no interest in finding out his true past, or being forced back into the peerage.

I did enjoy Verity. I'm not going to lie though, I really don't like characters that are reporters. It's just this personal preference, and probably the stereotypes from movies/books of them invading privacy, being pushy, etc. Verity isn't like that, but it probably kept me from loving her as much as I should have. Shes a great character though. Very caring, gentle with her family and loved ones, but fights tooth and nail for what she believes in. I admired her ever so much in those beginning chapters where I was on the edge of my seat with what would happen. She was very brave.

Yet as the story goes on, I wanted her to be, well...more for Malcolm? Yes she talks to him, makes him feel safe enough to open up about his past, but I just felt like he needed more from her. More emotional attachment? She does quite a few things to him that I don't love and he falls more in love with her but I just didn't feel it as much as I should have.

Malcolm I just LOVED in the first half of the book. The first chapter sets up his kidnapping and it's just heartbreaking. Learning about his life in the sewers, what he's done to survive, witnessing him training his body to the breaking point so he can always be one step ahead of all the danger in his life...I drool for a hero like that. His situation was made all the more real to me because I recently finished the book Dirty Old London and had a much better imagining of what the underworld of London was like.

I was totally engaged the first 25% of the book. I didn't want to put it down. Which says even more for Miss Caldwell's writing because the characters weren't even together for much of it. Great character depth was built here with both of their backgrounds. Then the next 25% I was even more in love. Their scenes together were amazing. I was clearly seeing them, full bodied and detailed. But after that, something started losing me. It was like the characters started fading, losing their color. They were finally in closer proximity but the character growth seemed to stall for me. And I was waiting and waiting for that tension to come back and something to happen between them. And waiting. And waiting. 90% of the book waiting. And then when they finally have sex, it's after the heroine is injured and has a huge goose-egg on her head. Why is it always injured sex? Lol.

Still I enjoyed much of the book. This was my first Christi Caldwell and I will definitely try her again. This is the first book of the new series and is fine read as is. However, I've seen in many reviews that she has built a whole world of characters that appear throughout town. If you've read her prior books, I'm sure some characters will look familiar.

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Olivia gets taken to a house party hosted by the Duke of Keswick by her mother. She is there only to make her mother happy, as she longs for more adventure than the London society and boring gentleman are providing her. Upon her stay there however, she meets the most interesting groom while trying to go for a ride and this leads them down a road neither expected.

There is plenty to love in How to Capture a Duke by Tina Gabrielle. The hero has a disability, which made him unique to me, especially with reading about his experiences in the house of lords. He seems to be so caring for his staff and fights for the rights of other people. He knows what it's like to be bullied. However this leads me to my biggest complaint about this book. I felt like Tristan cared for everyone but Olivia. He bullied her. He made assumptions and unfair judgements. He refused to listen. It went against everything else that was implied with his character. It was like Jekyll and Hyde and Olivia was getting the short end of the stick.

I went through the gamut of emotions with this book. Adored the beginning. Really disliked it after that until the middle. I felt like it picked up again in the middle and was pretty engaging. You got to know the characters better and a few things happened that I loved, including how Tristan deals with his disability and Olivia helping him with something he's been worried about. However the hero reverts back to his unlikeable self again before the end of the book. Then it wrapped up nicely. I'm not sold on the villain of the story, it just seemed rather random, like a switch flipped that wasn't there before. Still, overall I would say it would be an enjoyable read for most. Includes some steam, some mystery, some angst. It felt very complete which can be hard with a shorter book.

I was able to receive an ARC copy complimentary from netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book is about how to have a healthy lifestyle. It discusses having a whole foods diet, talks about intermittent fasting, how much sleep to get, how exercise benefits a body, employing cold stress and basically being mindful about your mental health and wellness and decisions that affect that. I have been reading a lot of Dr. Gregor's books and will admit this writing style just did not have the pull that those have for me. I'm not sure if it was the way the research was presented or what. Not bad or dry necessarily, just not extremely engaging. They have the 6 daily 3's which sounds exactly like Dr. Gregor's daily dozen just not in as much detail. Basically highlighting a plant based diet and what the basis of that should consist of.

I was pretty impressed with the recipes. I liked that they had FLAVOR, there's been so many plant based cookbooks I've looked at that have hardly any herbs and spices in them and they are so bland. I love the pictures, of course I would have loved pictures for every recipe, but the pictures you do see are beautiful and appetizing. I felt like there were a variety of cuisines without have a ton of hard to find/unheard of ingredients.

I loved the recipe 'formulator's' that gave you a basic recipe and then ability to alter for a variety of meals. (Cream of soups being 1, bean burger being another - (ex. basic recipe then alterations to make bbq burger, thai burger, curry burger, etc) LOVED that.