A COOKBOOK to KEEP YOUR MIND SHARP

SYNOPSIS

Depression, ADHD, memory loss, agitation: These may seem like inevitable byproducts of modern lives spent multitasking, not getting enough sleep, and operating on digital overload. But while much of the brain’s work still remains a mystery, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the food you eat directly affects how well your brain functions. Brain health also plays a significant role in staving off diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

In The Healthy Mind Cookbook, Rebecca Katz has harnessed the latest research on the brain to identify the foods that can improve the brain’s ability to control cognition, emotion, and physical function—all of which dictate memory and mood. She then translates the very best of brain science into the kitchen, using delicious nutrient-dense foods as a tool for promoting a healthy mind from childhood through the golden years.  

REVIEW

This is nothing like your mother's cookbook it is so much cooler. The uniqueness of the recipes are not only cooking with healthy foods but the use of a lot of herbs and spices and how they help you keep brain function top notch, increase your clarity and even reduce stress. Before you start to annihilate your clean kitchen by diving straight into the recipes the author wrote some very important and in-depth chapters regarding how to use ingredients properly, reducing recipe reading anxiety, developing your culinary mind and so much more. Such as FASS which acts like a culinary compass informing you the cook how to build taste and flavor in healthy foods. One of my favorite parts of the book is the Culinary Pharmacy which explains the connection between foods and the brain informing you of what brain healthy nutrients such as vitamins and nutrients in over eighty foods and spices.

The Healthy Mind Cookbook has recipes for any occasion. Soups, desserts, frittata, make your own dressing, bison, tonics and elixirs, this is an understated example of what is in store for you. Therefore, such a sizable selection of all ranges of food will never leave you in a pickle for what to cook. Last but not least the recipes are supplemented with witty insights from the author to sweeten up your mood. Such as, from the recipe Not Your Grampa’s Borscht:

“If you don’t want to look like a crime suspect, you may want to wear kitchen gloves while cutting up your beets”   

As the senior chef-in-residence and nutritional educator at one of the country's leading cancer wellness centers, REBECCA KATZ, MS, is the culinary link bringing together physicians and patients with a common goal: eating well to maximize cancer treatments, minimize side effects, and improve outcomes. She is the founder of the Inner Cook, a Bay Area culinary practice that specializes in meeting the specific nutritional and appetite needs of cancer patients, and a senior chef at Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Marin County, California. Katz has been a guest chef and lecturer at top academic medical centers throughout the country, including the annual Food As Medicine conference. 

http://www.rebeccakatz.com/

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

The Revelation of Beatrice Darby

SYNOPSIS

How much courage does it take to be yourself? In a decade when good girls conform to strict family and social expectations, Beatrice Darby is about to find out. After a harmless admiration for her older boss, sophisticated Abby Gill, blossoms into a full-blown crush, Beatrice is startled to discover why she’s never felt like other girls.

She soon learns the necessity of “passing,” the shame of secret “sin,” and the pressure to meet family expectations, all while suffering the angst of unrequited love and the disastrous end to her friendship with college roommate and future sister-in-law, Gwen Ridgeway. When Abby reappears years later, can Beatrice go against all she’s ever known to be happy? Will she have to choose between honesty and her family?

REVIEW

It is rare for me not to find some aspect of a book that I do not have an issue with so can you imagine how stunning a read this must be that I loved every single part of it. The story takes place in the late 1950’s and 60’s and the author reflected this era remarkably well from society's beliefs regarding women and gays down to the style of language used back then. Character development is outstanding for all the characters, even the minor ones. This book takes place around the main character Beatrice Darby, who is intelligent, resolute, and does not feel ashamed for being a lesbian. Even with her family, they could love her as who she is or not be a part of her life at all. Beatrice worked hard to have the life she wanted therefore not giving into the standards of that time or her mother pushing nonstop for her to wed due to the importance of her being true to herself. Through all of this, the author found ways to inject a great amount of humor.

While reading The Revelation of Beatrice Darby, I felt like I was actually living in that era through someone else’s eyes. As a lesbian in today's world, I am still not an equal, but it is not as dire as it was back then. Sadly, this read tells perfectly what the role of the woman during that time was to be and that was to get married, have children and keep your husband happy. Even if a woman got the opportunity to go to college it was to meet a man. This book will make you cry, it will make you laugh, and jump for joy while people fight for what is right. This is Jean Copeland's first book. I am waiting impatiently for her next.  

“Your father was a no-account who had me squeezing nickels

till Jefferson farted”

              ~Beatrice imitating her mother                     

Thank you Netgalley for letting me give an honest review

BOOKS~Drug of Choice

                    “Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose.                         I am the happy Victim of books."

                                          ~Karl Lagerfield

Whatever is Lovely ~ Adult Coloring Book

SYNOPSIS:

We live in such a busy, hectic world—but what waits for you inside this cover is a way to quiet the noise, express creativity, and spend some sweet time with God. Each page features an original design from one of a dozen different artists, beautifully illustrating a contemplative quote from an inspirational writer, a beloved hymn, or Scripture. 

REVIEW:

Lately, adult coloring books have been all the rage even for me as you might have noticed all the reviews that I have posted on them. I find them a nice way to relax and be creative, especially if like me and were not born with any other creative skills. This coloring book unlike a lot of others has both easy coloring with larger pictures to color that are not so intense and harder coloring pictures that are compact and elaborate. Each page contains a positive quote that will lift your spirits. This is a religious adult coloring book, but that is basically reflected in the quotes, not the pictures. I recommend this adult coloring book to all who like to color. If you are religious or not.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Coming Home Series Blitz & Giveaway of $25 Starbucks gift card + signed print copies of all 3 books

Return, Revenge, Reunion by Meli Raine
(Coming Home Series)
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense

MY HEART WANTS A KIND OF JUSTICE THE LAW CAN’T GIVE

On a dark, rainy night I drove my overstuffed junker car back to a town I never expected to see again.

And when I needed a rescue by the side of the road, a six-foot tall piece of hot, unfinished business named Mark was what the universe sent me.

Three years earlier I’d fled town (and Mark) to follow my wrongly-convicted father to his federal prison, working crappy jobs to stay afloat and visit him every second I could. But now Dad’s dead and I’m mysteriously offered the best job of my life at the college where his life blew up when he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

Someone wants me here. Desperately.
I’m hoping it’s Mark.
Because if it’s not, I’m in more danger than I ever imagined.
And if it is?
Mark may be the most dangerous choice of all.

Everything I know about my life is a lie. The more I dig into my father’s death the more I find myself in peril.

Mark turns out to be a liar, someone I thought I could trust. He’s not what he seems, and worst of all, a part of me can’t let go.

My boss might be an international drug lord disguised as a dean at one of the top five universities in the country.

Like anyone’s going to believe me if I try to out him?

But I can’t help myself. I should learn to keep my mouth shut.
Someone’s decided to do that for me.

Make me quiet once—
And for all.

                                                        

You can think you’ve had everything stolen from you. 

That there’s nothing left to lose.

You would be wrong.

My best friend’s been kidnapped. I was just captured. 

What I thought was a massive drug operation run by a 

man who killed my father turns out to be ten times more horrific.

I’m trapped. My best friend may be dead.

And Mark has no idea where to find me.

Some secrets should remain buried, my captors tell me.

And it looks like I will be, too.

Buried alive.

LINKS:

AMAZON Book 1 (FREE)

AMAZON Book 2 (.99)

AMAZON Book 3 ($2.99)

Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meli Raine writes romantic suspense with hot bikers, intense undercover DEA agents, bad boys turned good, and Special Ops heroes -- and the women who love them. 

Meli rode her first motorcycle when she was five years old, but she played in the ocean long before that. She lives in New England with her family. 

Becoming Nicole

SYNOPSIS:

When Wayne and Kelly Maines adopted identical twin boys, they thought their lives were complete. But it wasn’t long before they noticed a marked difference between Jonas and his brother, Wyatt. Jonas preferred sports and trucks and many of the things little boys were “supposed” to like; but Wyatt liked princess dolls and dress-up and playing Little Mermaid. By the time the twins were toddlers, confusion over Wyatt’s insistence that he was female began to tear the family apart. In the years that followed, the Maineses came to question their long-held views on gender and identity, to accept and embrace Wyatt’s transition to Nicole, and to undergo an emotionally wrenching transformation of their own that would change all their lives forever.

REVIEW:

I loved this book. It is very enlightening and would be so helpful to the people that are full of hatred toward transgender people to help them realize how fluid gender is. Being Transgender as the book explains so well has nothing to do with a person's sexuality. There are actual medical reasons for a person that is transgender to be that way. It is written in the voice of the father but by someone outside the family so it does not have as much of an intimate feel as it should. The sacrifices this family had to endure were monumental to make Nicole be whole and happy. It is worth the read for EVERYONE! 

"But the lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height...The lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the lord looks at the heart"

                                             ~1 Samuel 16:7 (from the book)

Helpful Links:

http://www.glaad.org/

transyouthequality.org

pflag.org

lambdalegal.org

Not Very Little

Paperback, 80 pages

ISBN: 1101905751

Published October 27th 2015 by Potter Style

                                          

REVIEW:

This is not one of the most favorable coloring books I have had. It does not contain any intricate pictures actually the drawings are quite sloppy. Therefore, if you do not like the highly detailed adult coloring books this would be a good one for you. It also would work for older children, but there are alcohol beverages on one page. My overall opinion is that if you want to relax by coloring and you like the more detailed coloring books with nice drawings this one is probably not for you.

 "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."