Why I Hate Green Beans Book Review

Title: Why I Hate Green Beans

Author: Lincee Ray

Genre: Christian, Nonfiction, Humorous, Memoir, Short Stories

Plot: Lincee Ray's blog, I Hate Green Beans, has been around for awhile now and keeps readers entertained with her unique sense of humor and outlook on life paired with how familiar and comfortable her writing style makes us feel. So now that's she's tackled blogging, she's now venturing into the book world to bring us more of herself in this shot story tell-all memoir.

From jobs in Disney world to the oil rigs of Texas and traveling around to foreign locations where she unwillingly samples exotic and weird foods, to the quiet hometown she was raised in, Lincee shows us her life and walks us through how she survived college to her first job to her divorce and beyond. She's like us and has struggled with many of the same problems we have and still does but she's choosing to triumph over those issues and look on the positive side of things. Plus the Bachelor is still going strong so there's that to look forward to every week.

Likes/Dislikes: This was a really fun book to read. It's broken down into short stories per chapter so it's easy to read in chunks or bits depending on how busy the day is, and right away we learn why she hates green beans instead of waiting till the end to find out which is always nice. I highly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone. Plus, now I gotta find me a single auntie like her to help babysit all my energetic kids.

Rating: PG-13 and up, mainly for reading level and content {divorce, eating odd foods, nothing at all graphic, just will be boring to younger readers).

Date Review Written: February 19th, 2018

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Revell publishers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

God Bless You And Goodnight Book Review

Title: God Bless You And Goodnight

Author: Hannah C. Hall

Genre: Children, Christian, Bedtime Story, Animals, Picture Book

Plot: The sun is going down and it's time for babies of every shape, color and size to have a midnight snack, get all snuggled up in their pajamas and get tucked into bed lovingly by their parents so they can recharge for another exciting day tomorrow.

There's a fox family snuggled in the hay, a raccoon mama rocks her babies to sleep, a baby penguin gets all dressed up for bed and many others will delight little readers as they graduate from the classic board book to the picture book edition with this lovely story.

Likes/Dislikes: This book is for the growing readers who loved the board book edition but feel they are too old for it now. Enter the picture book edition with it's glossy grown-up pages for them to eagerly turn themselves as they encounter new and familiar faces across each page. My girls, 4 yrs. and 19 mos. old, both enjoyed this book (not having yet encountered the board book edition). They were delighted by the story and really enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from their collection pop up. The 4 yr. old was particularly taken by the adorable baby penguin while the younger one wanted to turn the pages herself. Very cute book.

Rating: G-all ages, (more so 4+), highly recommended.

Date Review Written: February 17th, 2018

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Booklook Bloggers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinion expressed in the above review is my own.

The Saturday Night Supper Club Book Review

Title: The Saturday Night Supper Club

Author: Carla Laureano

Genre: Christian, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Food,

Plot: Rachel Bishop has finally made it. After years of hard work and effort, she's now co-owner and head chef of her very own brand new and thriving restaurant in Denver, Colorado. She has her own hand-picked personally trained team - including one of her best friends, Melody, who is a talented pastry chef. But in the span of 24 hours, her world is crashing down around her after a New York journalist writes a piece indirectly about her that destroys her reputation on social media. Bought out by her partners, Rachel is left hanging with no clear direction or idea of how to pick herself up now.

But with the help of Melody and Ana, she at least uncurls from the couch and goes out into society where she meets the notorious journalist who destroyed her career and finds... someone she wasn't expecting. Alex Kanin has always used his wit and bitter sense of humor to get his point across but he never intended to take down Rachel's career. In his mind, he was defending her right to dominate in a man's world. In an effort to get her career back on track, he and Rachel come up with the Saturday Night Supper Club to woo potential financial backers for a new restaurant. But neither ever expected to consider romance a possibility.

Likes/Dislikes: This was a surprisingly really good book. I don't usually go for straight up romances and Christian ones can be kinda sappy but this one was nice. It had a good pace, great characters and the romance was just right. My only complaints are really just nit-picking like in the first chapter, they wouldn't have gotten the restaurant all cleaned and closed up so fast cause that poor dishwasher would've been there till 1am cleaning all the pots, pans and dishes. After they started dating, Alex was all over Rachel in a nice respectful way but very reminiscent of when my husband and I were dating - which was fine but not what I usually want in my fictional heroes. I started to skim those touchy-feely bits. And there wasn't enough food descriptions! Like, what did the girls eat when they went out to breakfast? Shouldn't Rachel be dreaming in food and making up recipes as she goes about her day? And why didn't the author include a recipe or two at the back of the book?! I don't like scallops but now I want to make the scallop salad! And the absolute worst part is that I have to wait a year before I can read the next book. So not cool.

Rating: PG-13 and up, mainly for reading level {content is squeaky clean}. Highly recommended.

Date Review Written: February 7th, 2018

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Tyndale Publishers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.