Thank you to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I enjoyed this book more. 27 Essential Principles of Story held a lot of promise: “a bold new approach to teaching the art of great storytelling” where the author “unlocks the secrets of what makes a story work”. Unfortunately, for me this book was simply a mediocre reiteration of principles I’ve already learned and I found it rather boring: it reads like a textbook when it could have read like a story and further explored the point it was trying to make.

While I did find some tidbits of information that I will add to my own craft knowledge, this book did not revolutionize my writing process in the way that other writing craft books have. I often found the author’s tone to be willfully ignorant, as if he was the first one to discover that stories have definable points (despite the quantity of literature that’s already been written on this same subject and the author’s refusal to acknowledge this work).

Perhaps the author was trying to impart a sense of wonder at these discoveries for his reader, but for me it missed the mark. This subject isn’t new: one of the first that comes to mind is Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. While I can’t say The Hero’s Journey is one of my favorite writing craft resources, I do recommend Jeff Gerke’s Plot Versus Character and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (an adaptation of Blake Snyder’s screenwriting book Save the Cat!). Both of these books discuss the same topics as 27 Essential Principles of Story, but I personally found them much more informative, accessible, and useful.

Perhaps the information in this book is new to some (and if so, you have a wonderful journey of discovery ahead of you), so this book might be best for fiction writers who haven’t read many creative writing books or for those who have hit a road block in their writing quality and are not sure where they might start to improve it.

In all, 27 Essential Principles of Story is not the most effective book on writing craft I’ve ever read, but it does have some useful examples for writers who are just starting out with writing craft research. This book will still be added to my writing advice shelf on Goodreads, and ultimately I hope it finds the readers it needs.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

This is a very well done cookbook, and it’s clear that a lot of thought went into creating it. First of all, the cookbook itself is very beautiful and would be a good addition to any coffee table or bookshelf. In some aspects, it seems that it was designed to be displayed over being practical, but it is still functional.

I do really appreciate the design that went into this cookbook - each recipe is easy to read and is accompanied by a full-page color photo. For me, it’s really difficult to want to try a new recipe without a photo to help entice me. Along with the photos, each recipe includes number of servings, both the French and English name, description, ingredients, directions, and cooking time.

The recipes I have tried I have enjoyed, and I have several more on my list that I can’t wait to get to. However, some of the recipes Rachel chose to include (Fig & Chicken Liver Salad and Mussels with White Wine) I don’t intend to make, either because they did not sound like I would enjoy them or because I’ve tried them before and did not like them. But, other recipes (like gougères) looked absolutely divine and I did enjoy reading through each recipe. The cookbook is divided into six sections, but Rachel also includes reference pages on French basics, chef’s notes, and her favorite foodie places in Paris.

Finally, I did enjoy the extra photos and snippets Rachel included of both French cuisine and her life in Paris, but I would have rather have had more photos of the dishes instead of photos of Rachel.

An accessible cookbook with lots of substitute information and relatively few ‘exotic’ ingredients for those who have never baked vegan (or specialty diet) dishes. Recipes range from scrumptious desserts (like cheesecake and brownies) to savory staples (such as muffins and quiches), but vegan essentials (such as vegan cream cheese and homemade baking pan grease) are also covered.

My favorite parts were the why behind the reasoning and the tips and tricks for troubleshooting your own bakes if they don’t turn out the way you were intending. However, this cookbook lost a star because of its lack of pictures. Pictures are a necessity for me in cookbooks, and each of the recipes could have benefited from one.