Chocolate, Waters, Roanoke, Homemade life, Hide or Seek

Chocolate by Donna Hay is a lovely book with gorgeous photography. I made a few of the recipes; the Chocolate Panna Cotta wasn't unmoldable, but it tasted great and the others turned out fine.

Though waters roar by Lynn Austin is a novel about women fighting for what they believe in, such as ending slavery, the temperance movement and women suffrage. The story was interesting, but a bit disjointed as it is being remembered by a descendant of the main characters who is in jail and trying to explain why at the same time.

Roanoke : the lost colony by Angela Elwell Hunt is an interesting and plausible novel about the colonists who disappeared from Roanoke. The main character, Jocelyn, has a difficult marriage with a Puritan minister who causes many of the problems in the story.

A homemade life : stories and recipes from my kitchen table by Molly Wizenberg is by the writer of the blog, Orangette. Each chapter is an anecdote from her life with a recipe at the end to go along with it. Interesting and some really great recipes (especially the braised cabbage), but an awful lot of personal details from a young writer.

The new Hide or Seek by James C. Dobson is about building self-confidence in children. I thought it was good and got my husband to read a chapter. He wants to read more, but it's overdue at the library.

Gift tags

Download these vintage-style Christmas gift tags as my gift to you,
print them out on card stock, then cut them out, punch a hole in a
corner and tie them to your gifts!

Mountain Top

Mountain Top by Robert Whitlow. I thought this was a good story. It's about a former lawyer who is now a minister and his defense of an eccentric older man who is accused of robbing a church. His involvement lands him in a lot of trouble but he learn a few things along the way.

Christmas Books

All of these books had many full-colour photos.

The complete Christmas book : the all-you-need guide to a memorable Christmas, with recipes, crafts and decorating ideas by the editors of Canadian Living magazine. This book has mostly recipes, with crafts and decorating ideas here and there throughout the book. I have six bookmarks in it, so this is definitely a favourite.

Decorating for Christmas by Kasey Rogers is not a book I would recommend. The crafts and decorations weren't very nice and the photography was terrible.

Country Christmas : decorating the home for the festive season by Caroline Atkins was a nice book, but I didn't like it as much as some of the others I read.

Beautiful Christmas : 250 best ideas for a memorable holiday by Carol Field Dahlstrom. This one is really nice with lots of beautiful, easy crafts and decorating ideas as well as delicious-looking recipes.

Christmas, make it sparkle : 225 simple crafts, food & decorating ideas for your holiday home, also by Carol Field Dahlstrom has many lovely crafts and recipes too. (I think I borrowed too many Christmas books from the library; I'll never get to try everything I liked in these books.)

Finding Faith, Last Resort, Essentially Lilly, and A Perilous Proposal

Finding Faith by Denise Hunter is about a woman reporter who is trying to land her dream job and is majorly messing up her marriage in the process. I read it quite a while ago so I don't really remember much.

Last Resort by Hannah Alexander is about a family that owns a lumber mill and a lot of valuable land. A 12-year-old girl in the family is abducted and found the next day in a cave on the property. She has a feeling that her abductor was a family member, so everyone becomes suspicious of the others until eventually, with lots of searching, the long-hidden secrets come out. I liked this book.

Essentially Lilly : a guide to colorful holidays by Lilly Pulitzer contains mostly recipes and Lilly's family history of what happened on past memorable holidays. I found several recipes to try that look yummy, but the stories weren't to my taste.

A Perilous Proposal by Michael Phillips is about people in the American South around the time of the civil war. When I started reading it, I realized that I had read it before and remembered most of it, so I sent it back to the library. It was interesting but the story kind of goes on and on like a lot of this author's books do.

Christmas, Ultimate Handcrafted Christmas, Christmas Gifts, European Christmas

Donna Hay Christmas: simple recipes, menu planners is a lovely book.
The photography is awesome and the recipes are easy.

The Ultimate Handcrafted Christmas: 200 decorations, gifs, cards and treats to make for a perfect Christmas by Alan D. Gear and Barry L. Freestone has lots of easy and not-too-difficult craft patterns and instructions. And they aren't tacky stuff. (This is not the right cover photo, but kind of looks like it.)

Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen by Jean Paré has a lot of cookie,
fudge and sauce recipes as well as instructions for making dry mixes
and gifts in a jar and some crafts and wrapping ideas.

Rick Steves' European Christmas is an informative book on traditions and history. Lots of photos, but not the relaxing read I was hoping for.

Between Heaven and Ground Zero, Hideaway, Safe Haven, Intervention

Between Heaven and Ground Zero: One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11 by Leslie Haskin was the moving account of a woman who escaped from the 36th floor of Tower One and her ordeal and healing afterward. It was certainly interesting and I learned things I hadn't known before, but sometimes the writing seemed to jump from one topic to another without warning and there were scripture quotations that didn't seem to fit with the context. I had considered buying this book, but I'm glad I just borrowed it from the library.

Hideaway and Safe Haven by Hannah Alexander were nice light reading. They are medical romance novels set in a small lakeside town. Written by a husband and wife team.

Intervention by Terri Blackstock is about an 18-year-old drug addict who is on her way to rehab when the woman accompanying her is murdered. The girl is abducted and the police and her mother are frantically trying to find her. I enjoyed this book.