Spotlight Post: The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

✨Book Spotlight✨

Title: The Beautiful Ones 

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia 

Release Date: 4.27.21

Publisher: Tor

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a sweeping romance with a dash of magic.

They are the Beautiful Ones, Loisail’s most notable socialites, and this spring is Nina’s chance to join their ranks, courtesy of her well-connected cousin and his calculating wife. But the Grand Season has just begun, and already Nina’s debut has gone disastrously awry. She has always struggled to control her telekinesis—neighbors call her the Witch of Oldhouse—and the haphazard manifestations of her powers make her the subject of malicious gossip.

When entertainer Hector Auvray arrives to town, Nina is dazzled. A telekinetic like her, he has traveled the world performing his talents for admiring audiences. He sees Nina not as a witch, but ripe with potential to master her power under his tutelage. With Hector’s help, Nina’s talent blossoms, as does her love for him.

But great romances are for fairytales, and Hector is hiding a truth from Nina—and himself—that threatens to end their courtship before it truly begins. The Beautiful Ones is a charming tale of love and betrayal, and the struggle between conformity and passion, set in a world where scandal is a razor-sharp weapon.

Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes To Repeat by Molly Baz

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes To Repeat
Author: Molly Baz
Release Date: 4.20.21
Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers


Publishers Summary
If you seek out, celebrate, and obsess over good food but lack the skills and confidence necessary to make it at home, you’ve just won a ticket to a life filled with supreme deliciousness. Cook This Book is a new kind of foundational cookbook from Molly Baz, who’s here to teach you absolutely everything she knows and equip you with the tools to become a better, more efficient cook.

Molly breaks the essentials of cooking down to clear and uncomplicated recipes that deliver big flavor with little effort and a side of education, including dishes like Pastrami Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Onions and Dill, Chorizo and Chickpea Carbonara, and of course, her signature Cae Sal. But this is not your average cookbook. More than a collection of recipes, Cook This Book teaches you the invaluable superpower of improvisation though visually compelling lessons on such topics as the importance of salt and how to balance flavor, giving you all the tools necessary to make food taste great every time. Throughout, you’ll encounter dozens of QR codes, accessed through the camera app on your smartphone, that link to short technique-driven videos hosted by Molly to help illuminate some of the trickier skills.

As Molly says, “Cooking is really fun, I swear. You simply need to set yourself up for success to truly enjoy it.” Cook This Book will help you do just that, inspiring a new generation to find joy in the kitchen and take pride in putting a home-cooked meal on the table, all with the unbridled fun and spirit that only Molly could inspire.


My Review
This cookbook would be perfect for beginner to intermediate cooks and those comfortable using QR codes. The writing is geared toward a "younger" demographic (I'm 44) in terminology, abbreviations, and/or phrases. I'm especially interested in trying Baz's twist on a classic chicken and rice soup, Golden Get-Well Soup, which includes ginger, garlic, lime, and turmeric. 

World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: World Travel: An Irreverent Guide 
Author: Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever
Release Date: 4.20.21
Publisher: Ecco 

Publisher's Summary

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania’s utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman’s Empty Quarter—and many places beyond.

In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places—in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.

Supplementing Bourdain’s words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Chris; a guide to Chicago’s best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.

For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.

My Review

How do you even review this special book? I loved reading Anthony Bourdain's previous books and watching No Reservations and Parts Unknown, but this is not like those. Constructed from a single interview/conversation with Bourdain before his death about a potential upcoming project, Laurie Woolever created this collection of Bourdain's favorite ways to get around and places to eat in dozens of countries and cities. I'm still waiting a bit to resume travel but when I'm out and about again I will be referencing this book for ideas and suggestions. Until then, I loved flipping through the pages for some much needed mini mental vacations. 

The Barbizon by Paulina Bren

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free
Author: Paulina Bren
Release Date: 3.2.21
Publisher: Simon & Schuster


Publisher's Summary:
From award-winning author Paulina Bren comes the first history of New York’s most famous residential hotel—The Barbizon—and the remarkable women who lived there.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK’S LEGENDARY HOTEL FOR WOMEN

Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. They wanted what men already had—exclusive residential hotels with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms, and private dining.

Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in The Bell Jar, and, over the years, its almost 700 tiny rooms with matching floral curtains and bedspreads housed Titanic survivor Molly Brown; actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith, Phylicia Rashad, and Cybill Shepherd; writers Joan Didion, Diane Johnson, Gael Greene, and Meg Wolitzer; and many more. Mademoiselle magazine boarded its summer interns there, as did Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School its students and the Ford Modeling Agency its young models. Before the hotel’s residents were household names, they were young women arriving at the Barbizon with a suitcase and a dream.

Not everyone who passed through the Barbizon’s doors was destined for success—for some it was a story of dashed hopes—but until 1981, when men were finally let in, the Barbizon offered its residents a room of their own and a life without family obligations or expectations. It gave women a chance to remake themselves however they pleased; it was the hotel that set them free. No place had existed like it before or has since.

Beautifully written and impeccably researched, The Barbizon weaves together a tale that has, until now, never been told. It is both a vivid portrait of the lives of these young women who came to New York looking for something more, and an epic history of women’s ambition.

My Review:

The Barbizon offered women a place of safety and solace, located with all of New York outside their front door. They arrived in the city with a suitcase of dreams, full of ambition, and seeking new opportunities. Ah, to have felt the freedom and independence these women felt. Full of detailed information about many of the guests listed in the summary above, I was especially interested in Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion, and author Paulina Bren didn't disappoint. The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free is a wonderful look into a specific time and place in women's history. 

First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: First, Become Ashes
Author: K.M. Szpara
Release Date: 4.6.21
Publisher: Tordotcom

Publisher's Summary

The Fellowship raised Lark to kill monsters.
His partner betrayed them to the Feds.
But Lark knows his magic is real, and he'll do anything to complete his quest.

K. M. Szpara follows Docile, one of the most anticipated science fiction novels of 2020, with First, Become Ashes, a fantastic standalone adventure that blends pain and pleasure and will make readers question what is real, and what is magical.

Lark spent the first twenty-four years, nine months, and three days of his life training for a righteous quest: to rid the world of monsters. Alongside his partner Kane, he wore the cage and endured the scourge in order to develop his innate magic. He never thought that when Kane left, he'd next see him in the company of FBI agents and a SWAT team. He never dreamed that the leader of the Fellowship of the Anointed would be brought up on charges of abuse and assault.

He never expected the government would tell him that the monsters aren't real--that there is no magic, and all the pain was for nothing.

Lark isn't ready to give up. He is determined to fulfill his quest, to defeat the monsters he was promised. Along the way he will grapple with the past, confront love, and discover his long-buried truth.


My Review
Don't let this beautiful and serene book cover fool you. Despite the numerous and extreme trigger warnings, I somehow assumed this would be a story that merely featured those topics as details of a more in depth story of a cult. No, this novel has S&M, rape, and self-harm (all in extreme detail) in the story forefront a majority of the time. I'm far from a prude and I definitely don't kink-shame, but reading this was like trying to find a storyline in a porn video. The marketing is way off here. 

DNF @ 50% (and from other reviews I've read--thank goodness I stopped when I did)

The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes by Sam Sifton

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Title: The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes 
Author: by Sam Sifton
Release Date: 3.16.21
Publisher: Penguin Random House



Publisher's Summary
The debut cookbook from the popular New York Times website and mobile app NYT Cooking, featuring 100 vividly photographed no-recipe recipes to make weeknight cooking more inspired and delicious—featuring a convenient flexibound format.

You don’t need a recipe. Really, you don’t.

Sam Sifton, founding editor of New York Times Cooking, makes improvisational cooking easier than you think. In this handy book of ideas, Sifton delivers more than one hundred no-recipe recipes—each gloriously photographed—to make with the ingredients you have on hand or could pick up on a quick trip to the store. You’ll see how to make these meals as big or as small as you like, substituting ingredients as you go.

Fried Egg Quesadillas. Pizza without a Crust. Weeknight Fried Rice. Pasta with Garbanzos. Roasted Shrimp Tacos. Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Croutons. Oven S’Mores. Welcome home to freestyle, relaxed cooking that is absolutely yours.

My Review 

I was curious what this collection would entail and the cover gave nothing away! When I opened to the pages inside I was asking myself "what exactly ARE no-recipe recipes"? I think the best way to describe this collection is when you have a bunch of odds and ends in your pantry and fridge but you need some inspiration for how to make them into a meal without too much fuss. I also liked that there were some otherwise basic cooking tips incorporated into the recipes because sometimes I make things complicated that don't need to be (frying an egg, for example.) I think this cookbook would appeal to everyone and especially those who are cooking for one. When I'm making a meal that's just for me, I don't want a frozen dinner or something elaborate, but I want something tasty and relatively simple to make. This collection is perfect for those times. 

I made the sausage and pepper sandwiches for my husband. He was in heaven.  

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Drowning Kind
Author: Jennifer McMahon 
Release Date: 4.6.21
Publisher: Gallery / Scout Press 

Publisher's Summary
Be careful what you wish for.

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

My Review

When one of my bookish BFFs (👋🏻 Tamara @rockstar1023 said she needed "someone" to read a book so she could discuss the ending...I set off to investigate. I read the book's description and I was intrigued. Dual timelines and a gothic setting? Yes please! This book broke a major reading funk for me as I tore through the pages. I was fascinated with the atmosphere and breadcrumbs of secrets that the author provided. As for that ending? Now I'm ready to discuss it with fellow readers!

Finding Freedom by Erin French

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch
Author: Erin French
Release Date: 4.6.21
Publisher: Celadon

My Review
I want to give this chef's memoir (with blurbs from Ina Garten, Joanna Gaines, Martha Stewart, and Stephanie Danler) a rave review, but I just can't. The cover is gorgeous and there are several great descriptions of food and working in kitchens, but the author's passive stance was frustrating to the point of infuriating. French's relationship with her father is painfully sad and she faces struggles (young mother, failed relationships, drug and alcohol abuse) but I don't find those to be very unique struggles. She has overcome adversity and I applaud her success, but I do not recommend this book unless you are specifically interested in reading a memoir about Erin French.