A Tree, A Book, and A Breeze

The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts Maja Safstrom Ten Speed Press      I love the cover of this hardcover book! It's quirky and fun, and looks very good on my bookshelf. The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts is a small book of black-and-white drawings of various animals with facts scattered about them. Some animals have more facts that others, but they're all very interesting. (although I could have done without the animal excrement-related ones. Eww.) Some of the drawings were cute, although I think the best ones were used on the cover; some of the drawings were a little underwhelming. Still, it's an enjoyable book and I was following my mother around the house telling her random animal facts as I was reading it.      My favorite fact is probably that a group of owls is called a parliament. I received this book for free from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for my honest review.

The Reluctant Duchess Roseanna M. White Bethany House Lady Rowena Kinnaird may be the heiress to a Highland earldom, but she has never felt good enough—not for her father, not for the man she thought she’d marry, not for God. But after a shocking attack, she’s willing to be forever an outcast if it means escaping Loch Morar and the men who have jeopardized her life. Brice Myerston, the Duke of Nottingham, has suddenly found himself in possession of a rare treasure his enemies are prepared to kill for. While Brice has never been one to shy away from manor-born ladies, the last thing he needs is the distraction of his neighbor, Lady Rowena, who finds herself in a desperate situation. But when the moody Earl of Lochabar tries to trap Brice into marrying Rowena, Brice finds he’s not as opposed to the idea as he expected to be. Rowena wanted to escape the Highlands, but she’s reluctant to resort to marrying a notorious flirt just to gain his English home. And when she learns tha

Tasting Rome Katie Parla & Kristina Gill Clarkson Potter      A gorgeous hardcover cookbook, Tasting Rome had me within its first few pages. Filled with mouth-watering dishes, beautiful photographs, and write-ups about Rome both past and present, I fell in love with this book at first glance.(just the picture of a gelato stand was making my mouth water.)      A closer look at the recipes has me a little more mixed. I love Italian food, but I am an American, and some of the dishes are a little outside my comfort zone. Still, there are more than enough other recipes to make up for it. However, because several of the dishes are unfamiliar to me, I do wish that the book had a picture of every recipe so I knew a little more of what I was getting into.      Still, overall I think this book is a keeper, and it will probably end up being one of the more used cookbooks on my shelf. I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Calling Rachelle Dekker Tyndale Remko Brant had never been so sure of anything as escaping the Authority City with Carrington Hale. But bravado comes easy when you have nothing to lose. Now a husband, father, and the tactical leader of the Seers, Remko has never had so much at risk. As he and his team execute increasingly dangerous rescue missions inside the city, they face growing peril from a new enemy. Recently appointed Authority President Damien Gold claims to be guiding a city shaken by rebellion into a peaceful, harmonious future. But appearances can be deceiving. In order to achieve his dangerous ambitions, Gold knows he must do more than catch the rebels--he must destroy the hope their message represents . . . from the inside out.With dissension in his own camp--and the City Watch soldiers closing in--Remko feels control slipping through his fingers. To protect those he loves, he must conquer his fears and defeat Gold . . . before one of them becomes his undoi

A Fool and His Monet Sandra Orchard Revell Serena Jones has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art--one that's surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about the art thief who murdered her grandfather. She's joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the secret hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother's pleas to do something safer--like get married--Serena's learning how to go undercover to catch thieves and black market traders. When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Jones leaps into action. The clues point in different directions, and her boss orders her to cease investigating her most promising suspect. But determined to solve the case and perhaps discover another clue in her grandfather's murder, she pushes ahead, regardless of the danger.        I really enjoyed this book! I love art, so the whole idea of the series is really appealing to me. Sometimes it did move a little slowly, and

A Daring Sacrifice Jody Hedlund Zondervan In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise.      I've thought long and hard about this review, because I think this is a book that I shouldn't have selected to review. I read the previous book in this series ( An Uncertain Choice ) and didn't overly care for it, which is probably a good indicator that I wouldn't like the second book in the series, either. But A Daring Sacrifice had a synopsis about a reverse Robin Hood, and well...I kind of have a weakness for Robin Hood sto

Playing the Part Jen Turano Bethany House Publishers Lucetta Plum is an actress on the rise in New York City, but is forced to abandon her starring role when a fan's interest turns threatening. Lucinda's widowed friend, Abigail Hart, is delighted at the opportunity to meddle in Lucetta's life and promptly whisks her away to her grandson's estate to hide out. Bram Haverstein may appear to simply be a somewhat eccentric gentleman of means, but a mysterious career and a secret fascination with a certain actress mean there's much more to him than society knows. Lucetta, who has no interest in Abigail's matchmaking machinations, has the best intentions of remaining cordial but coolly distant to Bram. But when she can't ignore the strange and mysterious things going on in his house, it'll take more than good intentions to keep her from trying to discover who Bram is behind the part he plays.      This book, like nearly all of those I've read