Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown

Good and Cheap is a recipe book.  That may seem like an odd book to review, but I actually read it.  Granted, I skimmed many of the recipes, but I liked the whole concept and wanted to share.  Also, it's a little odd that I liked this cookbook so much because it's not vegan.  However, it's very light on meat and many of the recipes are vegan or easily made so.

The underlying message of Good and Cheap is "how to eat well on $4/day."  I have managed our food budget on less than that in the past, but have lately let our food budget expand quite a lot.  This book was a great reminder of things I can do to keep costs down without sacrificing taste or even convenience.  Also, it gave me some general ideas for keeping costs down while feeding a family of 6 big eaters for a while.

So, I do suggest giving this book a look.  I got it from the library, but it's worth pointing out that for every copy of Good and Cheap purchased, a free copy is given to a family in need.

The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler

I mostly read The Queen's Poisoner on Friday when we had a sort of down day.  Daniel, our previous exchange student, didn't come until Friday night.  We ended up with time for people to take care of business needs (emails, school related stuff, picking up an item or two for back to school and the like).  Other than playing a lot of games with differing groups of people, I had a fair amount of reading time.  I got mostly done and then it took until late last night to actually finish.

I liked The Queen's Poisoner.  Owen is an 8 year old boy who is sent to the court of the king as a hostage for his parent's good behavior.  They are suspected of treason.  The whole story is from Owen's point of view.  He has a rough road to navigate.  He finds allies, makes mistakes and keeps on surviving.

I felt that some of the background was unnecessarily complicated, but I kind of let that wash over me.  I thought the writing was compelling.  I liked Owen and the girl who becomes his companion, Elysabeth Victoria Mortimer.  I enjoyed the intrigue.  I did recognize some flaws aside from the overly complicated background, such as the two eight years olds not understanding things I thought they probably would, but I liked it overall and was willing to overlook some of these little issues. 

Tell Me Three Things by by Julie Buxbaum

It's been busy, busy around my small place.  When I say small, I mean less than 700 square feet.  When I say busy, I mean 4 teens and 2 parents.  We've got Davan, and exchange student, a previous exchange student and Davan's college roommate all here for a week and a half.  So...yeah.  Anyway, between various adventures, games and lots of eating, I have managed to finish a couple of books, but not find time on the computer to write about them.  I'm squeezing in a few minutes while pancakes are cooking. So, this will be short.

I liked Tell Me Three Things.  I liked the writing.  I liked Jessie most of the time.  Jessie is a high school junior who's world has changed.  Her mom died a year and a half before, her dad sort of checked out in his own grief and then found someone new, moving them across the country to live with her and her teenage son.  Jessie has some issues and things to work out, but I appreciated the journey.

All that said, I handed it off to Davan next.  She didn't like it.  She said Jessie was too much of a teenager for her.  Which is funny because that is often a problem I have, but didn't with this one.

So, I thought it was pretty good.  Davan not so much.  Take from that what you will.

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

I picked up Six Impossible Things by chance at the library.  It was one of their Lucky Day books (meaning a book with high demand, but they keep a few copies aside for drop-ins).  It looked like the sort of book I like, so I gave it a go.  Because it was a Lucky Day, I can't renew it, so it jumped to the top of my reading list.  Even with that, I kept putting it aside for this book or that that was due sooner or the like.  So, I kind of read it in bits and pieces.  Perhaps that is part of why I thought it was only okay.

Dan Cereill is going through a difficult time in life.  His dad has come out as gay and left their family just as his business ventures took a dive.  Dan goes from an expensive private school to a public school.  He wants to remake himself and not be a nerd, but that's a failed venture.  He's smart and ends up not hiding it well.  He has a crush on the girl next door.  Next door to the new place, that is, which was left to his mom by a relative who didn't actually leave them any money.  So, there is a roof over their heads, but no money for basics like food and heat.  He and his mom work on adapting. 

As I said, I thought Six Impossible Things was okay.  I didn't fall in love with it or any particular character, but I did decide I wanted to finish, which, if you read here at all, you know that means it didn't suck.  I don't finish bad books.  I also often don't finish only okay books.  So, the fact that I finished this one says maybe it's a bit above okay.  Also, when I actually focused my attention on it and finished the second half over a couple of days, it did flow better for me.  That said, though, I'm not in a rush to go out and get more Fiona Woods books.

Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand

I can no longer remember who recommended Here's to Us to me.  It wasn't a personal recommendation, it was maybe a Booktuber.  At any rate, I think I should have paid more attention to the blurb on the back of the book that says, "Hilderbrand is the queen of summer...Rich people behaving badly."  I'm not a fan of rich people behaving badly.  And, thus, I was not a fan of Here's to Us.

Here's to Us is the story of celebrity chef Deacon Thorpe's family.  Prior to his death, he was married three times, having a child with each wife.  After his death, they all gather at their Nantucket summer cottage to say goodbye and deal with the fact that he died not only broke, but under.  Each wife and each child has their own story (although we only hear a bit tangentially about the youngest who is only 9 where the other two are adults). 

I did read the whole book.  I kind of wish I hadn't bothered.  It was okay, but it didn't ever develop into something I was interested in reading, which I held out some hope it would at the beginning.  By the time I was over half through, I felt invested and opted to finish in spite of being underwhelmed.  The writing was okay, but not so much my preferred style. 

All-in-all, this is, clearly, a popular writer and many people love her books, but they aren't for me.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You was not on my radar prior to the movie coming out and various book reviewers talking about it because of that.  I picked it up to see what the hype was all about.  I found it to be an enjoyable read.

Me Before You is the story of a woman who takes a job being a care taker for a quadriplegic who, prior to his accident, had been a very physical man with a high powdered job.  It doesn't start off in a promising fashion, but they eventually make friends (as you'd expect).  Rosie tries hard to convince Will there is something to live for still.

I thought Me Before You was very readable.  The only parts I didn't like in reading it were the few chapters from someone else's perspective.  I found them disruptive and unnecessary.  I didn't get as involved as I think a lot of readers did.  I didn't, for example, cry, which I've heard most people do.  I saw the end coming and was sad but also okay with it.

I don't know if I'll bother with the movie.  Most of the time, I don't enjoy the adaptation and I think I'll just let this one stay a book for me.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

I finally got around to reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  I kind of wish I hadn't.  I am a fan of the Harry Potter books.  I read or listened to the first four probably a good 10 times in part because the audio books became our go-to car entertainment for many years while Davan went through a serious Harry Potter phase and in part because I liked them so much myself.  I read the last three fewer times.  In fact, I only read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the once.  I also like many things Harry Potter.  For a while, I collected Harry Potter cards and made my family play with me.  I did not, however, like the movies.  At all.  I wanted to give up watching them after the third, but I did give up watching them after the fourth.  Many years later, Davan, Lena, Anthony and I watched the last several together after Davan and Lena watched the first three.  I still didn't like them, but I guess I'm glad I didn't like them from a more knowledgeable place.  I feel the same about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I'm not going to go over the plot line on this one.  Either you've read it or I don't want to spoil you.  I will say that I disliked most decisions that nearly everyone made and I felt they weren't very consistent with the characters I loved in the original books.  I felt that bringing some characters in was purely about touching the bases and not only didn't mean anything, but took away from the book.  It read, in my opinion, like fan fiction and not strictly cannon fan fiction at that.

The one thing I did like that happened very early on, so it's not very spoiler-y to say is when Albus decided to be friends with Scorpius.  I thought that was awesome and I felt it was a J.K. move.

If I could call myself a true Harry Potter fan without having read this book, I'd wish I hadn't.  However, because it exists, it felt necessary to read.