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winecellarlibrary's Reviews (657)
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First, I would like to thank Netgalley and BenBella Publishing for providing me with a free PDF copy of this cookbook in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first cookbook in which I have found the opening chapters to be more valuable than the recipes. In most cookbooks, I admittedly flip through the pictures until I find something appetizing. This book is incredibly relevant to any woman on diet because it reinforces the fact that 1) carbs are not the enemy and 2) being healthy means a lot more than cutting carbs and counting calories; it means feeling good in YOUR body. Hey, if models can eat carbs, then so can I!
As for the recipes, they are very easy to follow. However, they are divided up by model. Each model has a general theme, but overall, there is a lack of continuity or flow. I believe this cookbook would have benefited its readers more by separating the recipes into categories rather than grouping each model's recipes together. Unless I were planning on following a particular model's recipes, as a reader, I really don't care who wrote the recipe. Recipe author highlights could still be incorporated throughout the book but would not necessarily need to precede the recipes. The final thing I would add is the nutrition facts for each recipe, either on the recipe page or in an appendix.
Overall, I was very impressed with this cookbook. I just wish I had it in hardcopy :)\
#netgalley #modelsdoeat
This is the first cookbook in which I have found the opening chapters to be more valuable than the recipes. In most cookbooks, I admittedly flip through the pictures until I find something appetizing. This book is incredibly relevant to any woman on diet because it reinforces the fact that 1) carbs are not the enemy and 2) being healthy means a lot more than cutting carbs and counting calories; it means feeling good in YOUR body. Hey, if models can eat carbs, then so can I!
As for the recipes, they are very easy to follow. However, they are divided up by model. Each model has a general theme, but overall, there is a lack of continuity or flow. I believe this cookbook would have benefited its readers more by separating the recipes into categories rather than grouping each model's recipes together. Unless I were planning on following a particular model's recipes, as a reader, I really don't care who wrote the recipe. Recipe author highlights could still be incorporated throughout the book but would not necessarily need to precede the recipes. The final thing I would add is the nutrition facts for each recipe, either on the recipe page or in an appendix.
Overall, I was very impressed with this cookbook. I just wish I had it in hardcopy :)\
#netgalley #modelsdoeat
I received a free print ARC of this novel from Goodreads Giveaways. Below is my honest review.
What an incredibly intriguing premise: a mother, fighting earnestly for her teenaged daughter's health despite a lack of diagnosis for her debilitating illness, Becky is accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. In essence, she is accused of inflicting these severe symptoms on her own daughter due to a psychological disease she harbors. Frustrated with never-ending hospital visits that lead to no hope of a diagnosis, even her husband Carl begins to believe she is culpable for her daughter's sickness.
The narrators alternate between Becky, her daughter Meghan, and Zach (a doctor). Zach's own young boy died of mitochondrial disease, so when he suspects Meghan may also have the disease, his coworkers suspect he is too emotionally invested to be impartial.
This book is a page-turner. Is Becky a desperate mother who will do anything to save her daughter, or is she a product of her upbringing? Are Meghan's symptoms real or psychosomatic? Does Zach hold the cure to Meghan's disease, or has he been blinded by his own grief?
Although I was able to predict the main element of the conclusion, the ending was still surprising. I struggled to decide whether this book was really worthy of five stars after reading the ending (as thriller writers are wont to do, the ending is overly climactic to the point of absurdity). However, as I have already been recommending this book to friends and family, and since I was impressed by the level of detail in the medical and legal discussion, I have decided to bestow a solid five-star rating.
What an incredibly intriguing premise: a mother, fighting earnestly for her teenaged daughter's health despite a lack of diagnosis for her debilitating illness, Becky is accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. In essence, she is accused of inflicting these severe symptoms on her own daughter due to a psychological disease she harbors. Frustrated with never-ending hospital visits that lead to no hope of a diagnosis, even her husband Carl begins to believe she is culpable for her daughter's sickness.
The narrators alternate between Becky, her daughter Meghan, and Zach (a doctor). Zach's own young boy died of mitochondrial disease, so when he suspects Meghan may also have the disease, his coworkers suspect he is too emotionally invested to be impartial.
This book is a page-turner. Is Becky a desperate mother who will do anything to save her daughter, or is she a product of her upbringing? Are Meghan's symptoms real or psychosomatic? Does Zach hold the cure to Meghan's disease, or has he been blinded by his own grief?
Although I was able to predict the main element of the conclusion, the ending was still surprising. I struggled to decide whether this book was really worthy of five stars after reading the ending (as thriller writers are wont to do, the ending is overly climactic to the point of absurdity). However, as I have already been recommending this book to friends and family, and since I was impressed by the level of detail in the medical and legal discussion, I have decided to bestow a solid five-star rating.
First, I would like to thank Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounds incredible: the first female military pilots fighting against all odds for the chance to demonstrate the strength of the female sex and establish themselves as respected pilots. I was so excited to read this book, but I was let down very early. I do not enjoy writing negative reviews, but it is very hard for me to find anything positive to say about this novel.
In the first chapter we meet the American pilot Lizzie. Her bravery is amazing at first. She is writing to the First Lady to ask for her support for female pilots to support the war effort by ferrying planes, releasing the men to be free for combat pilot roles. When she gets the chance to actually meet the First Lady and President Roosevelt, [a:Soraya M. Lane|4809447|Soraya M. Lane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550453390p2/4809447.jpg] writes, “Lizzie held herself together as first the president rose and then the man in uniform beside him.”
Stop. Stop right there.
This is where I realized that I was not going to like this book.
How exactly did the president rise? Did he miraculously overcome his paralysis from polio and stand up from his wheelchair? I realize that Ms. Lane is not an American writer, but for all the research she claims to have done on this subject, FDR’s paralysis seems a major oversight. I hope this is corrected in publishing because it will seriously damage the credibility of the author and the publishing company if this goes to print.
In addition to this factual error, there are three other major issues with this book. First, the excessive use of clichés! I could physically feel my eyes rolling each time I read one. Great writers are those who craft the phrases that turn into clichés; great writers do not regurgitate clichés.
Second, the overuse of deus ex machina. For those unfamiliar with this phrase, it refers to when an author gives the characters the easy way out, so to speak. Every time one of these girls is presented with a problem, she frets over it, but by the end of a chapter or two it is easily resolved without effort or conflict. There is only one true devastating event in this book. Everything else is resolved before it even becomes a real problem.
Third, every single character lacks depth. The worst of all of them is Lizzie. Each time she is accused of being cocky, she thinks about it and just casually decides she won’t be cocky anymore. This is not how cocky people think. This is not how anyone thinks.
A side note about Lizzie: she has far too much of a contemporary attitude to be a believable character.
This book could have been incredible if it was afforded the proper character and plot development it deserved. Of course the author was constricted as she was basing her characters on real people, but there is so much more that could have been done to make the characters believable.
Overall, this book was a very quick and easy read being that it is highly conversational. It would be a good book for the beach or for just before bed as it is not very complex.
#netgalley #thespitfiregirls
I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis sounds incredible: the first female military pilots fighting against all odds for the chance to demonstrate the strength of the female sex and establish themselves as respected pilots. I was so excited to read this book, but I was let down very early. I do not enjoy writing negative reviews, but it is very hard for me to find anything positive to say about this novel.
In the first chapter we meet the American pilot Lizzie. Her bravery is amazing at first. She is writing to the First Lady to ask for her support for female pilots to support the war effort by ferrying planes, releasing the men to be free for combat pilot roles. When she gets the chance to actually meet the First Lady and President Roosevelt, [a:Soraya M. Lane|4809447|Soraya M. Lane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550453390p2/4809447.jpg] writes, “Lizzie held herself together as first the president rose and then the man in uniform beside him.”
Stop. Stop right there.
This is where I realized that I was not going to like this book.
How exactly did the president rise? Did he miraculously overcome his paralysis from polio and stand up from his wheelchair? I realize that Ms. Lane is not an American writer, but for all the research she claims to have done on this subject, FDR’s paralysis seems a major oversight. I hope this is corrected in publishing because it will seriously damage the credibility of the author and the publishing company if this goes to print.
In addition to this factual error, there are three other major issues with this book. First, the excessive use of clichés! I could physically feel my eyes rolling each time I read one. Great writers are those who craft the phrases that turn into clichés; great writers do not regurgitate clichés.
Second, the overuse of deus ex machina. For those unfamiliar with this phrase, it refers to when an author gives the characters the easy way out, so to speak. Every time one of these girls is presented with a problem, she frets over it, but by the end of a chapter or two it is easily resolved without effort or conflict. There is only one true devastating event in this book. Everything else is resolved before it even becomes a real problem.
Third, every single character lacks depth. The worst of all of them is Lizzie. Each time she is accused of being cocky, she thinks about it and just casually decides she won’t be cocky anymore. This is not how cocky people think. This is not how anyone thinks.
A side note about Lizzie: she has far too much of a contemporary attitude to be a believable character.
This book could have been incredible if it was afforded the proper character and plot development it deserved. Of course the author was constricted as she was basing her characters on real people, but there is so much more that could have been done to make the characters believable.
Overall, this book was a very quick and easy read being that it is highly conversational. It would be a good book for the beach or for just before bed as it is not very complex.
#netgalley #thespitfiregirls
