Tag: books
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My August Reads!
Another month with travel which meant fewer books read. But I did a lot of writing: 17 essays and/or book reviews! Onward to September! No travel, so I hope to read a lot more!
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Book Review: Just One Gift by Linda Sue Park
I was browsing new titles on NetGalley recently and saw a title listed that immediately caught my attention. The book was Just One Gift (HarperCollins/Clarion Books, April 2026) by Linda Sue Park. I didn’t know Linda Sue Park at all until late summer 2017 when I found out that I would be teaching one section…
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Book Review: Food Around the World by Ellen Lawrence
I love to travel and I love to eat, so this new title jumped out for me in the listings of new books on NetGalley! Thank you NetGalley, Ruby Tuesday Books, and Ellen Lawrence for the opportunity to read this new book! First of all, the photography in this book is great. The scenes are…
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Book Review — Revenge, Served Royal: A Mystery (Lady Petra Inquires #3) by Celeste Connally
First of all, I am a devoted fan of the Great British Bake Off show and have watched each season many times. I love a good cooking show, and I’ve watched the cooking shows made by previous winners of the GBBO, like Nadiya Hussain, the 2015 winner. I also love all things British, all things…
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Book Review: Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
It would be hard to find someone on this planet who has not heard of the famous NBA superstar Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Even without knowing his basketball stats, Nike made MJ a household name and his Air Jordans the envy of every kid with a basketball and a dream. However, there are things about Michael…
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Book Review: Sugar and Spite, An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton with R. W. Green
Mystery is by far my favorite genre, and within that genre I tend to gravitate toward cozy mysteries. Add to that a Scottish author and, well, I’m all in. Everyone has a guilty pleasure when it comes to their reading life, and for me, the Agatha Raisin mystery series falls squarely in that court. With…
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Book Review: The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce was recently published on July 8, 2025 by The Dial Press, an imprint of Random House. I was offered this ARC by the publisher because of my interest in and book reviews of several other books published by Random House, such as Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, one of…
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Book Review: The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell
NetGalley is a digital platform that provides book people with FREE advance reading copies (ARCs) of books yet to be released in exchange for a review written and posted on their site, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on your own social media. Sometimes you are offered a book, but more often you request a book that…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 