I really enjoyed reading the intro to this book. I like how the author shares their experiences eating mostly vegetarian growing up, how they lost weight following whole foods nutrition and using pressure cookers/instant pot for quick and easy meals. I felt the personality in this book and I find cookbooks usually are harder to gauge that in an author. I was smiling during parts of the intro and left feeling like I knew the author a bit better. Some recipes also have so much personality. My favorite being ghee.

It has a very nice introduction to the instant pot. How to use it, what the basic functions and buttons do. This is nice for when your instant pot has been in a box collecting dust because you are scared of it like I was for the first year. It makes it seem friendly and approachable. It also has a very nice frequently asked questions section to tackle possible problems with pressure cooker recipes.

I love that the recipes include breakdowns of the times. Active cooking time, total time and what type of pressure release to do are easily seen at a glance. Also sub headings for vegan, gluten free, nut free, dairy free, egg free, 10 ingredients or less. A variety of cuisines and flavors, there should be something for everyone in this cookbook. The desserts look absolutely amazing and a bit different that I normally find/make so I'm excited for the new tastes.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a great book about farm animals lives. I liked the anecdotal stories regarding their differing personalities and desires for life. I have been reading more Dr. Gregor and MacDougall lately, so this was a nice change from all the factual studies with some real heartwarming and heartbreaking stories. It helps solidify my feelings about what is right for my ethics as far as my diet goes.

This series is about a group of girls that all went to the same finishing school due to misbehavior. They make an oath to remain single until they find true love. I haven't read book 1, and I definitely think it should be read prior to this one. I rather felt like I had jumped into the middle of a story by just starting book 2. Faith and Nicholas already are engaged and somewhat estranged due to Nicholas' anger over her spying on him trying to find if he's a worthwhile husband.

Nicholas is trying to come to terms with the fact that his fiance doesn't trust him and is allowing her to break off the engagement. Faith is hesitant to do so, however, and she only wanted to find out if he was a decent man. The book picks up with them still dancing around each other, trying to get to know each other better.

Give this book a try if you are in the mood for
A spy hero
Lighter steam – there are open door kisses and sex but it's very short and not very descriptive
Darker themes – on page scenes of torture, threats, talk of death
A bit of an arranged marriage – it was put together by Faith's mother, who also wrote letters to Nicholas, though he thought many were from Faith herself.
Full figured heroine – there's some talk about her curves and how she loves food

This book surprised me a bit. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't the level of violence that is here. And that's not a turn off for me, but I'm going to get pure violence I need gritty, mind blowing sex. That wasn't here. The sex is quite short, not as descriptive as I like. There's a lot of danger and plot points about the hero being a spy. That combined with walking into the story half started (or at least that's how I felt) left me feeling lackluster about this book. I think you will like it more if you read book 1 in the series first, so I definitely recommend that.

I will say a big kudos to the author for including some diverse characters in the story. I found Geb Arafa absolutely fascinating and may possibly read his story if it's coming up in the series.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc. All thoughts and opinions regarding this story are completely my own.

This is the final book of the Uptown Girls series. You can read this as a stand alone if you don't mind a few minor spoilers for the previous 2 books in the series. Best character build will be to read in order. I believe all the characters appear together in all 3 books. (This is the only one I've tried from this series, but talked with a friend as she read the first of the series)

Give this book a try if you are in the mood for
-Mixed classes – Jack was born in a brothel and is a self made man totally unwelcome in polite society, Justine is an uptown heiress
-Antiheroes – Jack is the leader of a number of criminal enterprises
-Lots of steam and f bombs ;)
-Strong themes of feminism
-Solid consent established
-A splash of enemies to lovers – in the beginning, there's some snarkiness and push back from the heroine
-A working heroine!
-Gilded age New York
-Scarred hero (not a huge part of the story)

Jack is our hero, and he's one of my favorite types. An antihero that grew up in the gutter and has more power now than anyone in town. He's drawn to Justine from the beginning. He's really rather charming. His emotions run deep, he can have a violent streak (never against the heroine), but usually he is not a brooding, grumpy character. Jack definitely is the reason I give this book 4 stars. I really enjoyed him. I love how he's so confident. He would do anything for Justine, and he helps her throughout the entire book. He's ruthless to his enemies and I love that too. What can I say, I love a man that has no problem protecting his territory and his woman.

Justine truly cares about the suffering in New York. Being a member of the Greene family, she has lived a privileged life and wants to use it to help others. Her real passion is helping the women and children of the city, with her focus being on child labor and husbands that abandon their wives. I did find these parts really interesting. Definitely makes you more thankful for the world we live in today (even though there are still issues with it). I will say Justine rather annoyed me in this book. I find I am not liking the enemies to lovers much anymore. It doesn't last long in the book, but Justine in the beginning is rather snarky and rude to Jack, and I have no idea why it attracted Jack all the more. I don't see what's attractive about it at all. Thankfully that didn't last long, but then I felt like she made quite a few decisions that had me irritated. I felt like she put herself in stupid situations and didn't take the danger of the city seriously. I also felt like she went through a complete 180 of her feelings regarding Jack and it seemed to happen repeatedly until the end of the story. But I felt surprised the first time because it really seemed to come out of nowhere.

The end of the book kind of took a dive for me as well. It seemed to have a bit excessive amount of overcoming the final hurdle. The back and forth of why they couldn't be together just went on a bit too long. Still, overall I enjoyed a LOT of this story. I give 3.5 rounded to 4.

Thanks netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions on the book are my own

Right away this cookbook felt different. I love the author's story of how he grew up and the things he ate. I like how it points out how we all eat, cook, and really that should be accessible for everyone.

This book is now a bunch of photos from a blog. It's recipes collected from the author's kitchen as well as his family and restaurants.

It includes city spotlights that discuss the vegan community around the country. There's also hero spotlights that lift up people working hard for the vegan movement.

The pictures are absolutely gorgeous. I always want more pictures, but these feel evenly spread out in the book and I didn't feel like I was missing a ton. The fonts and way the recipes are written I really visually enjoy too. I will say I wasn't a big fan of the cover. There's so many amazing pictures inside that I loved so much more then the cover photo.

Something else I love are all the recipes have a short description/story with them. I enjoy the ideas of how to personalize a dish, what to serve it with, or a memory to read of where the recipe came from. There's a nice variety of cuisines and recipes. Definitely something for everyone here. The ingredients aren't too hard to come by. It includes a bit of vegan processed foods like vegan sausages, cheese options, soy curls or vegan chicken, but I think most people can find those options now (I live in a small town in the middle of hunting and carnivore central, so I hope most people can find it).

Overall a fun, slightly different feeling, vegan collection of recipes.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc. All thoughts regarding the book are my own.

This book focuses on making treats that use the least amount of processing (coconut sugar and maple syrup over white and brown sugars), recipes are gluten free, dairy free (with dairy sub ideas if you prefer to keep dairy in your diet), and also nut free options. (And notes for egg free and vegan recipes, which I appreciate). This makes it great for a variety of allergies that many people unfortunately deal with. It gives a quick shopping/pantry list to be able to whip up a treat when wanted.

I am loving this cookbook. The pages are bright and inviting with many recipes having pictures, which I love. Muffins, sliced breads, energy balls, bars, cookies, pies and cheesecakes, drinks, ice creams, popsicles, and smoothies. You won't need any crazy equipment and should be able to make a plethora of these recipes without having to purchase anything extra.

The ingredients are very simple and easy to find. I couldn't think of anything you might struggle to find. Nuts and seeds, like nut butters, coconut, cashews, fruits, and maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar are your go to ingredients. These recipes will taste great but also provide the nutrition of whole foods with vitamins, minerals, and fiber you won't get from processed white flour grocery store treats.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc. All thoughts and opinions about the book are my own.

This cookbook opens with discussion on the bakeware used. It's something I never really think about, glass versus metal, cast iron versus aluminum. It breaks down the benefits and cons of each type, which I found interesting.

This book has personality, which is something I immensely appreciate in a cookbook. Advice for sticking noodles includes 'sighing loudly' as well as some legitimate tips to get them unstuck.

There's discussion on types of noodles, types of meat, types of cheese, types of sauces, advice for layering as well as covering it versus uncovering. And then it gets to the recipes.

And recipes there are! Tons of ideas including meat, chicken, seafood, vegetarian and dessert. Some classics and some I have never even thought of (And I've done plenty of searching on pinterest for lasagnas haha)

Lots of great ideas here, most ingredients are going to be easy to find. While most lasagnas take a bit of work and prepping various layers, these work great for making ahead, freezing, and usually plenty for leftovers, which can be the benefits of putting in the work.

I definitely think there's something for everyone in this book. Oven, slow cooker, even instant pot options, keto friendly, vegetarian and classic recipe options. A great addition to any comfort lovers kitchen.

As for photos, I was a bit disappointed. With over 100 recipes, there's only 54 pictures which seems like a lot. But only about 30 of these are of the actual recipes. Many pictures are of a single ingredient, like a cabbage or a butternut squash or a mushroom. This makes me sad. I want to see what every recipe looks like if I can, though I know this isn't always possible.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc of this cookbook. It was my pleasure to read and review this book.

Finishing this book after, oh, a year or so. It just didn't hold my attention for some reason and I kept having to make myself pick it up and read more.

When this book was focused on the relationship, it was so good. I loved Duane and Jessica together. Their chemistry was amazing, the intimate scenes were steamy and a great mix of emotions and descriptive scenes. But, the moment they weren't together for me, it was painful.

I really liked Duane. He was so sweet and very still waters run deep. There's so much underneath his quiet exterior.

Jessica was a tad annoying, but I still found her kind of funny. I just didn't love her. I couldn't see myself being friends with her in real life.

As many contemporaries are, this is in first person, another thing I dislike. I'm trying to like it more because I would like to try more contemporary but it just drives me nuts. I don't like reading that *I* did things that I would never do. I feel more involved in the scenes, like a fly on the wall perspective or third person writing. Just a minor complaint and doesn't affect my star rating.

The conflicts in this book I wasn't in love with either. The blackmailing and drama from racing. So not my favorite but I would consider trying another by Penny Reid.

Marcus is the star of a popular show called Gods of the Gates. He is also popular in the fanfiction world with an anonymous poster name. April is also huge into the fanfiction, creating many of her own and dressing up as a character from the show. She finally posts her picture for everyone to see, giving a real face and body to the well known fanfiction creator. This results in plenty of support and fat shaming alike. Marcus comes to her rescue by publicly asking her out on a date.

This was a little hard for me to get into, because so much of the book is based around their fanfiction love. I wasn't a big fan of the flash backs and message shots that separated the chapters. But when Marcus and April were together, I enjoyed it. I really liked April, she had a friendly, strong, and positive attitude. I liked the way she handled life in general, but especially people that troll people with some extra chub. I thought the relationship was made super believable and I definitely felt they were truly falling in love. Both have real flaws and baggage they have to deal with. I also was happy the story was focused on the romance of the couple and not a bunch of other crazy nonsense.

I also loved that it's written in 3rd person. I really wish more contemporary was written in this style. I feel so much more involved with the characters with that style. I give 3.5 rounded to 4. This book left me feeling good, positive body vibes, self acceptance, and love in my heart.

Chloe Bocastle is seen kissing a gentleman and her brother Grayson, the patriarch of the family, sends her off to the country until the scandal cools off. This happens on the page time of book 1, where Grayson is the hero.

Upon her arrival to the country, she finds her neighbor, Dominic, has been viciously murdered in his bed. Why, then, is he hiding in all of her unmentionables in her room? He is trying to solve the mystery of why someone wants him dead by continuing the play dead.

The first 100 pages take place basically in Chloe's bedroom where she discovers Dominic. I find Hunter's dialogue funny and fast paced, as usual. I think her flow has improved a bit with this story too. Some tension between them is built up, but doesn't go far, since Dominic is wounded.
Dominic had quite the scandalous reputation and now that he's 'dead', people claim his ghost is seducing people during the night. The rumors are quite funny and silly. There's a scene that I loved, where is does descend on Chloe while she sleeps, pleasuring her and leaving behind a white rose.

There were quite a few funny parts in this book. But I thought the character depth was lacking a bit. I also felt like Chloe gave in too fast for Dominic. There was no thought of the future repercussions and they hardly knew each other. I get that happens in romance, but I just didn't feel the build up at this point. Yet, overall, an enjoyable and fun read. Heath, another Boscastle brother, comes in toward the end of the story to wrap up the ends up Chloe's scandalous situation and he is the hero of book 3, The Wedding Night of an English Rogue.