book review

I am a huge fan of Whole 30, clean eating and nourishing foods. I completed my first Whole 30 challenge back in January of this year. After those 30 days, I felt amazing! I continued to eat *mostly* clean until I got pregnant and the sugar and carb cravings kicked  in. My hope is that on January 1, 2017 (give or take a month after baby girl is due) I go back to Whole 30. That is where Nourishing Meals will come in handy!

All 365 recipes in the book are free of the most common allergens: gluten, soy, eggs, and dairy, and refined sugar. There are options for vegans, vegetarians and meat lovers alike. And what I really appreciate is that there are steps on how to start including these foods in your diet and even information from pre-conception and pregnancy through each year of a child’s life!!! You really get a ton of information in this book, so it is more about a healthy family and lifestyle than just a cookbook.

The only negative thing I have to say about it is that I want more pictures!!! My favorite cookbooks are the ones that have a picture with every recipe, this one does not. But there is so much more that you get that just recipes, so I understand why it is set up the way that it is. And there are some pictures throughout the book to keep me excited.

A few of the recipes I am excited about:

Grain Free Chicken Nuggets

Slow-Cooked Beef Stew

Greek Salad with Chick Peas

Cranberry Orange Bread

Overnight Oatmeal Cinnamon Muffins

Roasted Squash and Corn Frittata

Frozen Banana Coconut Cream Pie

If you are just starting on a journey to a healthier lifestyle, or you are stuck in a rut on your current journey…I suggest picking up Nourishing Meals! With 365 recipes, you can try something new every day!

For more information about the book go here.

Check out the author bio here.

Follow Nourishing Meals on Twitter  or Facebook to find new recipes!

**I received a copy of Nourishing Meals from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Linking up with Steph and Jana for Show Us Your Books! Let’s take a look at my books lately.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

To be honest with you, I didn’t really know how I felt about this book while I was reading the first half of it. It sort of crept up on me and then I found myself needing to know what was going on and thinking about it when I wasn’t reading. It is sort of a not so straight forward love story with a little life lesson of not taking things for granted thrown in. And how powerful a wish could be. I really enjoyed the characters and the whole story and overall I really liked it more than I thought I would. Also….this is the same author as Practical Magic. I just loved that movie!!!

Bottom Line: Read it! If you are in the mood for something different this would fit the bill. I really did enjoy it.

Rating: 4/5

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

When you read the premise of the book, you know you are going to be in for a deep, frustrating ride based on the subject matter. Especially in the heat of all the racial issues going on in our country right now. This book flips between the views of Ruth Jefferson, Kennedy (her attorney) and Turk Bauer (white supremacist father.) I liked the flow of the book and some of the back story from past memories that the author shares.

No matter how far society has come on racial issues, we still have SO MUCH further to go and this book is a great reminder of why. While it took me longer to read this, I really enjoyed it and got to know each of the characters. You can tell that the author has done her research and I feel like she really nailed the emotions.

Bottom Line: If you are looking for a book that hits on a deep topic like race or something that makes you think, then this is certainly for you!

Rating: 4/5

**I received a copy of Small Great Things from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

See Me by Nicholas Sparks

Call me cliche or cheesy, but I just love me some Nicholas Sparks. I have read every single one of his books dating back from high school and I am always in the mood for more. For me his books are just consistent. You know what you are going to get and sometimes I need that. What I really liked about this book that differs from most of his others…is there is some action and mystery!

Bottom Line: I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a little action, mystery and love…then give this a go! I found myself not being able to wait to get back to it to see what was happening.

Rating: 5/5

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

You all know my love for Janet Evanovich!! This is the newest installment of the Stephanie Plum series and I basically LOL’d throughout the entire book. You get everything you expect in a Plum novel…hotness between Stephanie, Ranger and Morelli…crazy Grandma Mazur…Lula and all her hilarious remarks…and the rest of the wacky characters you expect to meet along the way. I felt like the ending of this one gave a hint that maybe Stephanie is finally deciding what to do with her life? Then again, Janet could go on writing these forever and I would never tire of them!

Apparently Turbo Twenty-Three comes out next month! YES!!!!

Bottom Line: If you are in love with this series like me, you will not be disappointed! If  you haven’t read this series yet….go back to book one and see what you think!

Rating: 4/5

Martha Stewart’s Vegetables by Martha Stewart

I was excited to look through this book. The photos are just gorgeous and really got me excited to add some more veggies back in to my diet. I liked the way that this book was laid out and there are certainly some recipes that I am excited to try! There are some very basic recipes in here, and then some that are a little more involved. I liked the mix. I will say that if you have other Martha recipe books, you might see a few repeats. I was ok with that because I like that all the veggie and side recipes are in one place for me.

You can get more information on the book here.

Read the author bio here.

Bottom Line: If you are looking for great vegetable recipes for side dishes or you are vegetarian…I would say this would make a great book to have in your arsenal or gift to a friend!

Rating: 4/5

**I received a copy of Martha Stewart’s Vegetables from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

I will say that I was expecting some life changing information in this book based on the title and other reviews I have read and it sort of fell flat for me. I really loved the idea of only keeping things that spark joy but to be honest…I hold a screwdriver in my hand and I think ughhh this is so not joy. But it is a necessity and something I need for time to time. So that whole theory is crap. But I do see it working on things like clothing or dust collectors around the house.

Her idea of talking to your items or thanking them for their service to you is pretty ridiculous. I laughed out loud when she said something about not balling your socks because they needed rest in your drawer. Socks aren’t a person. And her idea of using shoe boxes to organize everything? I don’t want a bunch of shoe boxes sitting around my house that don’t have the shoes in the picture on my box! And taking your items out of your purse every evening just to need to put it all back in the morning when you leave is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of in my life. It was all sort of hokey for me.

One thing that I liked that really stood out was when she was talking about having a few clothing items that you don’t wear out but you save them from lounge wear instead. But then never wear them as that either. I totally do that! So I will say this book is making me go through my closet one more time to do a final purge of the things I haven’t been able to let go. And I guess that is really all I could ask for from this book.

Bottom Line: If you truly need inspiration to get your life and house in order and don’t know where to start or how to organize, I think this would be a great read. If you have a grasp on organizing even a little bit, you probably don’t need to read this book. I honestly skipped parts because my head hurt from rolling my eyes.

Rating: 2/5

Currently Reading:

The Happiness Project by Gretch Rubin

Read anything good lately?

Let’s start with saying that The Curated Closet is a pretty book! I chose it because I am trying to be more intentional with only choosing pieces that I love and that work with other items in my closet. I want to be able to chose any random item in my closet and it be a piece that I love. I am looking for more high quality pieces that will last many wears, over trendy pieces that will only take me through one season. This book walks you through how to chose your style based on your lifestyle and tastes. There are even color palettes to help you mix and match if that isn’t your thing.

A curated closet is different than a capsule wardrobe. There is a chapter on capsule wardrobes if that is your jam. For me, I just don’t think I can do it, but I do find it fascinating! A curated closet is simply a closet full of clothes that are tailored for your style and life.

I felt like the author was speaking to me specifically in several parts of the book. I used to have the more is more approach when it came to clothes and basically ended up only wearing about 20% of the items that I had. There is an exercise in this book where you take pictures of your outfits for two weeks and break down things like what color did you wear most, what was your favorite and least favorite, is there a fit you wear most often, do you want your clothes to be noticed, etc. It really makes you think more intentionally about the pieces that you chose and what your true style is.

This book covers finding your own personal style, how to detox your closet, how to build your wardrobe based on what type of clothes you need for your lifestyle, outfit formulas, how to shop and make the most of your budget, and how to chose items with the correct fit and quality.

My favorite section covered how to create a mood board and what to do with the mood board. I always see outfits on pinterest and blogs that I love but I never really thought what specifically about these looks that I like. If you look at my board as a whole, I start to see themes with either color palettes or the fit of something. I realized that I should be writing a list down of items that I want to try on and see how they work for me.

One thing I wish this book did offer was maybe more pictures. Though, I can understand why that would have been hard to do. I think this book would be a great addition for the fashionista in your life….or the person who could use some help in the wardrobe department! It certainly has given me great advice for how to get my wardrobe perfect after baby!

Add this book to your TBR!

I received a copy of The Curated Closet from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.