Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Sharing Your Heart by Patsy Caldwell with stories by Amy Lyles Wilson - Review

"You Be Sweet (Sharing Your Heart One Down-Home Dessert At a Time)" by Patsy Caldwell is a traditional southern cookbook with an array of southern dessert recipes. First of all I would like to talk about the recipes in this book,which, as I expected, call for lots of butter and oil. That being said I wouldn't judge this book by how unhealthy the recipes are since it's kind of a given anyways. Nonetheless, I was very pleased with the recipes this book has to offer. It features an abundance of traditional recipes as well as some that I haven't heard of at all. Although I haven't tried any of the recipes, they seem simple and very easy to follow and I am very eager to give the white chocolate soup with brownies and the doughnut bread pudding with vanilla pudding a shot.
As far as the stories in the beginning of the chapters go, they're mediocre. Nothing that I would reread or anything. Although that might be due to the fact that to me, a cookbook is a resource for recipes and not a "novel" read. Another thing that I would like to point out is that the photographs in this book are beautiful and mouthwatering but there are very few of them. This might not concern  many people but I am a visual person so lack of pictures makes me hesitate to try a recipe in the first place.
Overall, this cookbook has a nice layout and features many original recipes that I would love to try.
*Booksneeze.com has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Redemption by Bryan Clay - Review

Redemption is Bryan Clay's biography of his young adult life. It focuses on his struggles as a teen, which were mainly caused by his parents' divorce, and his eventual journey to becoming an Olympic medalist. This book is a very inspiring read. It shows that anyone can achieve their dreams as long as they even have a goal in mind. According to his writing, Bryan Clay was a relatively rebellious teen and saw no future for himself. He basically thought that he was going to end up in jail or worse but his mother believed in him and made it her mission to give him a purpose. She did so by making him join the local track team and it ended up saving his life.
I really like reading biographies and this one was no exception. I thought it was a light read, which is a bonus for me, but it also contains a clear, strong message. I recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable read as well as some quick inspiration. The pictures in book are also a nice touch.
*Booksneeze.com has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.