Review: 175 Best Babycakes Cupcake Maker Recipes: Easy Recipes for Bite-Size Cupcakes, Cheesecakes, Mini Pies and More!

175 Best Babycakes Cupcake Maker Recipes: Easy Recipes for Bite-Size Cupcakes, Cheesecakes, Mini Pies and More! by Kathy Moore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Is it wrong to love a cookbook for a product you will never own? Because I do.

Turns out that Babycakes is a mini cupcake maker that makes a whopping 8 cupcakes a time. But not 8 cupcakes, exactly...it's actually eight MINI cupcakes. I can't even wrap my mind around that. Why would someone even make something that pointless??

But the book. Oh my goodness, the book! I love it. Creative recipes, easy to make foods and easily adapted to regular cooking. I've enjoyed several recipes already and my kids thought the vanilla wafer s'mores were an excellent after school snack today. I'd requested this through my library, not realizing that it was a brand-specific book. I'm so unhappy about returning it, however, that I've added it to my Amazon wish list!



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Review: The Line

The Line by Teri Hall

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Is there a category for children's dystopia? Versus young adult? If so, that's the place for this book.

It moves slowly and has very little activity. Even worse, it has no ending. I wonder if the book wasn't done yet and the publishers decided to split it into two books and get the first one out. The entire book is simply a set up for the second book. It's a really, really long prologue. If I were 9 and this was a chapter book I could count towards my language arts grade, it would likely be exciting and suspenseful...but the book doesn't appear to be marketed to this young of a demographic.

It was an okay read but I won't look for book 2.



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Review: His Robot Girlfriend

His Robot Girlfriend by Wesley Allison

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Meh. So this guy is lonely and buys a robot. His plan is to have it cook, clean and have sex with him. Like generations of humanity but this is in the near future.

He designs her to have a model's beauty, a cheerleader's body and the personality of a mug. "She" makes herself into exactly what he wants in a robot.

Honestly, I kept reading anyways. Not sure why but I didn't give up until he detailed the thousands and thousands of dollars spent on mini dresses, thongs and 5 inch heels. Page after dreadful page. And how a robot that can do everything can't manage to understand a budget is beyond me.

I think I made it through 60% of the book before I quit reading. At that point, he was irritated that strip clubs discriminated against robots. And, imagine this...so did casinos. *roll eyes* I have read too many decent robot stories and I kept thinking it would get better...but it didn't.



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Review: Gifts From the Heart

Gifts From the Heart by Authors of Instructables

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



These Instructables booklets are nothing more than web links and featured products but I enjoy most of them. There's typically 10-15 items, all with step by step instructions and plenty of pictures. This one was Valentine's Day focused (which makes it odd that I stumbled across it in September...) but I found two projects for my daughter and I to make together and the season won't matter! My favorites are the solid perfume and the fabric postcard.



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Review: Chuck It!

Chuck It! by Chuck Nechtem

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Not so much a book as a long article but it was cute at times. It's the anti-bucket list and details all of the things that the author doesn't want to do before he dies. Some odd, some clever, some funny. I had a few minutes to waste and it passed the time and made me smile a few times.



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Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm a sucker for any book that takes place at a boarding school. Throw in someone that utters words like "trousers" and "brilliant" and I can't help but love it.

This isn't just chick lit, but teen chick lit. While people probably expect these teen stories to be less 'feel good' than adult books, they aren't. It's the innocence and exuberance of youth mixed with lessons learned through love and friendship that make these stories so good.

And did I mention that people are wearing trousers? :)



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Review: Witch Craft: Wicked Accessories, Spellbinding Jewelry, Creepy-Cute Toys, and More!

Witch Craft: Wicked Accessories, Spellbinding Jewelry, Creepy-Cute Toys, and More! by Margaret McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Excellent book! My 7 year old daughter is into wizards, vampires and other things you would find in a Halloween book. She wants to make almost everything in this book...and I'm tempted to sign us up for a knitting class just because the projects all look like so much fun! We'll be making lots of things from this book! I'm going to look for more from Margaret McGuire - hopefully we can find other themes and extend our crafting fun!



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Review: The Reversal

The Reversal by Michael Connelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Disclaimer - this review is for the audio version of this book. For a reason that only Goodreads knows, it is impossible to actually add the audio cd version to my books.

Michael Connelly is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. In the past, I have avoided lawyer-focused books but a friend convinced me to read Lincoln Lawyer. I enjoyed it so much I decided to read more. This is my second Mickey Haller book and it was great! I'll start on a third soon!

In The Reversal, Haller switches sides and works as a prosecutor aside his ex-wife, Maggie McPherson. As much as I liked his approach as a defense attorney, I prefer him as a prosecutor. I don't know that I would want him to change, of course, because the politics of the DA's office would bore me to tears but the role of special prosecutor solved that problem for me.



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