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winecellarlibrary's Reviews (657)
The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Herbs: The Art and Science to Grow Your Own Herbs
Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Jason Ingram, Holly Farrell
First, I would like to thank NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for providing me with a free PDF ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have recently been motivated to start my own herb garden since I now cook all meals at home for my family. I was excited to be chosen to review this book and eagerly jumped in, looking for herbs I was familiar with. This book provides a fantastic review of several herbs and how to grow and harvest them, and also discusses their various uses. Different types of herb gardens are presented, as well as herbs for different seasons, climates, other variables. Unfortunately, after the first day, the PDF stopped working in Adobe Digital Editions and I was not able to finish the book in its entirety, but from what I viewed, I would absolutely purchase a copy to reference once I start my garden.
I have recently been motivated to start my own herb garden since I now cook all meals at home for my family. I was excited to be chosen to review this book and eagerly jumped in, looking for herbs I was familiar with. This book provides a fantastic review of several herbs and how to grow and harvest them, and also discusses their various uses. Different types of herb gardens are presented, as well as herbs for different seasons, climates, other variables. Unfortunately, after the first day, the PDF stopped working in Adobe Digital Editions and I was not able to finish the book in its entirety, but from what I viewed, I would absolutely purchase a copy to reference once I start my garden.
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First, I would like to thank She Writes Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free Kindle ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Reading the synopsis, I imagined that this book would be edgy and push the limits of matrimonial morality. I imagined overwhelming lust and emotion, edge-of-your-seat passion and discord, and controversial sexual freedom pushing back against the patriarchal and traditional nuclear family. Instead, I was dealt immeasurable boredom and exhaustive accounts of Alex’s passive aggression. Her inability to handle confrontations in an adult manner was off-putting. Despite the fact that she indulges in the foursquare tryst, for example, Alex spitefully buries her husband’s adored swingers’ manifesto in the neighbor’s garbage can. Alex is completely incapable of accepting responsibility for ANYTHING and blames Donny for EVERYTHING, even though she is equally culpable for the events that occur. She is also entirely indecisive. She pushes away anyone who would show her attention and although she recognizes the impact of her behavior on her children, she fails to act in a constructive manner to repair what she has damaged. The plot was predictable, and the characters were devoid of depth, so the only thing redeeming this book is its beautiful writing style. If you read this book for no other reason, read it for the writing style. I felt as though there was no true climax, no real conflict, no finite resolution. The ending leaves you questioning what Alex decides and there is nothing worse than a vague conclusion.
#netgalley #split-level
Reading the synopsis, I imagined that this book would be edgy and push the limits of matrimonial morality. I imagined overwhelming lust and emotion, edge-of-your-seat passion and discord, and controversial sexual freedom pushing back against the patriarchal and traditional nuclear family. Instead, I was dealt immeasurable boredom and exhaustive accounts of Alex’s passive aggression. Her inability to handle confrontations in an adult manner was off-putting. Despite the fact that she indulges in the foursquare tryst, for example, Alex spitefully buries her husband’s adored swingers’ manifesto in the neighbor’s garbage can. Alex is completely incapable of accepting responsibility for ANYTHING and blames Donny for EVERYTHING, even though she is equally culpable for the events that occur. She is also entirely indecisive. She pushes away anyone who would show her attention and although she recognizes the impact of her behavior on her children, she fails to act in a constructive manner to repair what she has damaged. The plot was predictable, and the characters were devoid of depth, so the only thing redeeming this book is its beautiful writing style. If you read this book for no other reason, read it for the writing style. I felt as though there was no true climax, no real conflict, no finite resolution. The ending leaves you questioning what Alex decides and there is nothing worse than a vague conclusion.
#netgalley #split-level
First, I would like to thank NetGalley, Amazon First Reads, and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a free copy of a Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A tale of time travel in Ireland, “What the Wind Knows” had me rushing through my last read in order to start reading this book. The premise is intriguing; Anne, a wildly successful author, is transported in time from pre-9/11 2001 back to 1921 Ireland. Caught in a challenging situation in which she is believed to be her doppelganger great-great-grandmother, Anne assumes motherhood of her 6-year-old grandfather while receiving medical care under the humble and caring Dr. Thomas Smith.
However.
I was immediately bored upon starting this book. I pushed through, hoping that once the time travel event occurred that the storyline would pick up. Unfortunately, the book just got increasingly more tiresome. I can usually finish a book in one to two sittings, but this book took me three weeks to complete. It did not hold my attention. Marketed as historical fiction, it turns out that this novel is actually literary fiction, so the plot is minimal and the discussion of the political situation in Ireland in 1921 is prominent. This book reads more like a history book than a work of fiction at times. And when we do read from Anne’s point of view, it is accompanying her on shopping trips (I don’t even like clothes shopping for myself so I was miserable reading about Anne trying on various 1920s fashion at the department store).
If the author had held back the exhausting historical discussion, this could have been an AMAZING story. The uneasy chemistry that Dr. Smith and Anne have with each other, as well as the looping time element (Anne does not disrupt the time continuum but finds that her presence in 1921 is actually crucial to the life she knows in 2001), were well-constructed and beautiful ideas. The end of the book was lovely. As I felt after reading “Game of Thrones”, I just wish I could remove 75% of the filler content and re-read the tale with just the juicy bits included.
I believe this book could easily make a great movie because visualizing the situation would be a much better medium than reading an author’s meticulous description of each and every historical detail. I understand that the author incorporated much of her own family history into this tale and that she spent a great deal of time researching for it, but her inclusion of so much of that research detracts from the brilliance of the story.
#netgalley #whatthewindknows
A tale of time travel in Ireland, “What the Wind Knows” had me rushing through my last read in order to start reading this book. The premise is intriguing; Anne, a wildly successful author, is transported in time from pre-9/11 2001 back to 1921 Ireland. Caught in a challenging situation in which she is believed to be her doppelganger great-great-grandmother, Anne assumes motherhood of her 6-year-old grandfather while receiving medical care under the humble and caring Dr. Thomas Smith.
However.
I was immediately bored upon starting this book. I pushed through, hoping that once the time travel event occurred that the storyline would pick up. Unfortunately, the book just got increasingly more tiresome. I can usually finish a book in one to two sittings, but this book took me three weeks to complete. It did not hold my attention. Marketed as historical fiction, it turns out that this novel is actually literary fiction, so the plot is minimal and the discussion of the political situation in Ireland in 1921 is prominent. This book reads more like a history book than a work of fiction at times. And when we do read from Anne’s point of view, it is accompanying her on shopping trips (I don’t even like clothes shopping for myself so I was miserable reading about Anne trying on various 1920s fashion at the department store).
If the author had held back the exhausting historical discussion, this could have been an AMAZING story. The uneasy chemistry that Dr. Smith and Anne have with each other, as well as the looping time element (Anne does not disrupt the time continuum but finds that her presence in 1921 is actually crucial to the life she knows in 2001), were well-constructed and beautiful ideas. The end of the book was lovely. As I felt after reading “Game of Thrones”, I just wish I could remove 75% of the filler content and re-read the tale with just the juicy bits included.
I believe this book could easily make a great movie because visualizing the situation would be a much better medium than reading an author’s meticulous description of each and every historical detail. I understand that the author incorporated much of her own family history into this tale and that she spent a great deal of time researching for it, but her inclusion of so much of that research detracts from the brilliance of the story.
#netgalley #whatthewindknows
First, I would like to thank ParkRow publishing for inviting me to read a free Kindle ARC edition of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The entirety of the novel is contained in a single, tumultuous weekend. Thursday night, when no one is supposed to occupy the Sheffield’s Hamptons mansion, tragedy strikes, and the witnesses of this event struggle with their morals and their desire for financial security in considering whether or not to report the accident. Guests begin to arrive Friday morning for the Memorial Day weekend party, completely unaware of the whirlwind of events that occurred on the property and the evidence that is loosely buried there.
The characters of the novel were well-written. Corey, rather immature in his hobby of breaking into houses and pranking the occupants, is a well-intentioned teenager with a heart of gold. Gina, his mother, is a fall-down drunk attempting to escape an abusive husband and take charge of her sobriety. Mr. Sheffield, attempting to conceal the events of the night before, never wavers in his resolve to do the right thing by his family and employees.
The plot started off slowly, following Corey on his escapades Thursday evening. He spends the entire night lurking, watching. Despite the short time window of the novel, the plot seems to drag as the reader experiences the days through three points of view. I would not classify this novel as a thriller so much as a psychological novel. The characters make decisions that are believable, and they struggle immensely with their vices. I just would have liked to have seen more character development in the other prominent characters such as Mrs. Sheffield and Angelique. Overall, The East End is a good book, but is not a stand-out novel.
#netgalley #theeastend
The entirety of the novel is contained in a single, tumultuous weekend. Thursday night, when no one is supposed to occupy the Sheffield’s Hamptons mansion, tragedy strikes, and the witnesses of this event struggle with their morals and their desire for financial security in considering whether or not to report the accident. Guests begin to arrive Friday morning for the Memorial Day weekend party, completely unaware of the whirlwind of events that occurred on the property and the evidence that is loosely buried there.
The characters of the novel were well-written. Corey, rather immature in his hobby of breaking into houses and pranking the occupants, is a well-intentioned teenager with a heart of gold. Gina, his mother, is a fall-down drunk attempting to escape an abusive husband and take charge of her sobriety. Mr. Sheffield, attempting to conceal the events of the night before, never wavers in his resolve to do the right thing by his family and employees.
The plot started off slowly, following Corey on his escapades Thursday evening. He spends the entire night lurking, watching. Despite the short time window of the novel, the plot seems to drag as the reader experiences the days through three points of view. I would not classify this novel as a thriller so much as a psychological novel. The characters make decisions that are believable, and they struggle immensely with their vices. I just would have liked to have seen more character development in the other prominent characters such as Mrs. Sheffield and Angelique. Overall, The East End is a good book, but is not a stand-out novel.
#netgalley #theeastend