I spy NonFiction

I saw these books and I figured to share them because I think they are important.
What do you think?

Discover the ten myths sabotaging your love life, and the practical, science-backed tools you can use to reveal your relationship’s hidden strengths and build a fulfilling, long-lasting bond.

Dr. Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. is a nationally recognized expert on the psychology of relationships. In his first book, he blends hot-off-the-press science, engaging writing, impactful examples, and fascinating stories to present an impressive range of refreshing and eye-opening set of insights. For instance, did you know that . . .

• To forecast your relationship’s future, you are the worst person to ask.
• Men are the real romantics in heterosexual relationships, not women.
• The amount of sex you should have to keep your relationship going strong is lower than you think.
• It’s okay to be selfish. Putting me before you, can help both of you.
• When it comes to closeness, you can have too much of a good thing.
• Struggles actually strengthen your relationship.
• In terms of partner support, what you’re not seeing is more important than what you notice.
• When your relationship doesn’t help you become a better person, ending it does.

A bold, fresh take on what it means to love and be loved, Stronger Than You Think will help you more confidently and accurately view yourself and your relationship—so that you can fully appreciate the love you have, or find the one you want and deserve.

he last five years saw a significant return of epidemic infectious disease, culminating in COVID-19. In our new post–COVID-19 world, how do we prevent future illnesses by expanding scientific and vaccine diplomacy and cooperation, especially to combat the problems that humans have brought on ourselves?

Modern diseases and viruses have been spurred anew by war and conflict as well as shifting poverty, urbanization, climate change, and a new troubling anti-science/anti-vaccination outlook. From such twenty-first-century forces, we have seen declines in previous global health gains, with sharp increases in vaccine-preventable and neglected diseases on the Arabian Peninsula, in Venezuela, in parts of Africa, and even on the Gulf Coast of the United States. In Preventing the Next Pandemic, international vaccine scientist and tropical disease and coronavirus expert Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, argues that we can―and must―rely on vaccine diplomacy to address this new world order in disease and global health. Detailing his years in the lab developing new vaccines, Hotez also recounts his travels around the world to shape vaccine partnerships with people in countries both rich and poor in an attempt to head off major health problems. Building on the legacy of Dr. Albert Sabin, who developed the oral polio vaccine with Soviet scientists at the height of the Cold War, he explains how he is still working to refresh and redirect vaccine diplomacy toward neglected and newly emerging diseases.

Hotez reveals how―during his Obama-era tenure as the US Science Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, which coincided with both the rise in these geopolitical forces and climate change―he witnessed tropical infectious diseases and established vaccine partnerships that may still combat them up close. He explores why, since 2015, we’ve seen the decline of global cooperation and cohesion, to the detriment of those programs that are meant to benefit the most vulnerable people in the world. Unfortunately, Hotez asserts, these negative global events kick off a never-ending loop. Problems in a country may lead to disease outbreaks, but those outbreaks can lead to further problems―such as the impact of coronavirus on China’s society and economy, which has been felt around the globe. Zeroing in on the sociopolitical and environmental factors that drive our most controversial and pressing global health concerns, Hotez proposes historically proven methods to soothe fraught international relations while preparing us for a safer, healthier future. He hammers home the importance of public engagement to communicate the urgency of embracing science during troubled times.

Just a few more fiction books

Okay I found my list that I was going to do an update a while back but you know life jumps at you.  So here are some more fiction books to check out.  Hope they grab your attention!  All the covers of these books caught my eye.

(Note: This is a teen book…the cover caught my eye)

Ramona fell for Sam the moment she met him. It was like she had known him forever. He’s one of the few constants in her life, and their friendship is just too important to risk for a kiss. Though she really wants to kiss him…

Sam loves Ramona, but he would never expect her to feel the same way-she’s too quirky and cool for someone like him. Still, they complement each other perfectly, both as best friends and as a band.

Then they meet Tom. Tom makes music too, and he’s the band’s missing piece. The three quickly become inseparable. Except Ramona’s falling in love with Tom. But she hasn’t fallen out of love with Sam either.  How can she be true to her feelings without breaking up the band?

Not so long ago, Lizzie Glass had a successful TV show, a cookbook deal, and a social diary crammed with parties and events. But fame doesn’t stay fresh for long. Her show fizzles, her magazine column is canceled, and Lizzie’s only option is a summer job as personal chef to the Silvesters, a wealthy and eccentric family.

Their beach house is a lavish, beautifully decorated palace on the Jersey Shore, and Lizzie gets to work catering to Kathryn and Jim Silvester’s fashionably restrictive diets. But it’s their  twenty-something daughter who presents Lizzie with her biggest challenge—professionally and personally. A self-proclaimed “wellness warrior,” Zoe Silvester has a hugely popular website and app that promotes healthy living and organic, unprocessed foods. Yet Lizzie soon realizes that The Clean Life site has a dirty little secret. In fact, Zoe’s entire online persona is based on a dangerous hoax that runs deep and will damage lives. Exposing Zoe won’t just jeopardize Lizzie’s job and a promising new relationship—it may expose the cracks in her own past.

Maggie Hope has come a long way since serving as a typist for Winston Churchill. Now she’s working undercover for the Special Operations Executive in the elegant but eerily silent city of Paris, where SS officers prowl the streets in their Mercedes and the Ritz is draped with swastika banners. Walking among the enemy is tense and terrifying, and even though she’s disguised in chic Chanel, Maggie can’t help longing for home.

But her missions come first. Maggie’s half sister, Elise, has disappeared after being saved from a concentration camp, and Maggie is desperate to find her—that is, if Elise even wants to be found. Equally urgent, Churchill is planning the Allied invasion of France, and SOE agent Erica Calvert has been captured, the whereabouts of her vital research regarding Normandy unknown. Maggie must risk her life to penetrate powerful circles and employ all her talents for deception and spycraft to root out a traitor, find her sister, and locate the reports crucial to planning D-Day in a deadly game of wits with the Nazi intelligence elite.

Which one captures your attention and will make you want to go read?

Music of the Heart by Katie Ashley

Music of the Heart (Runaway Train #1)

Author: Katie Ashley
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 368
Published: April 5, 2013
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent

Overview:
For Abby Renard, the plan was supposed to be simple—join her brothers’ band on the last leg of their summer tour and decide if she’s finally ready for the limelight by becoming its fourth member. Of course, she never imagined stumbling onto the wrong tour bus at Rock Nation would accidentally land her in the bed of Jake Slater, the notorious womanizing lead singer of Runaway Train. When he mistakes her for one of his groupie’s, Abby quickly lets him know she sure as hell isn’t in his bed on purpose.

Jake Slater never imagined the angel who fell into his bed would resist his charms by promptly kneeing him in the balls. Of course, the fact she seems like a prissy choir girl makes her anything but his type. So he is more than surprised when after betting Abby she wouldn’t last a week on their tour bus, she is more than willing to prove him wrong. But as Jake’s personal life begins to implode around him, he finds an unlikely ally in Abby. He’s never met a woman he can talk to, joke with, or most importantly make music with.

As the week starts comes to a close, neither Abby nor Jake is ready to let go. Can a sweetheart Country songstress and a bad boy of Rock N Roll actually have a future together?

My Take:
Story: A

Cover: A

Characters: Abby: A ~ Jake: A

This book was sweet, fun and an emotional roller coaster! I loved the whole thing about it. Music has its way with everyone. Everyone plays a different tune and sometimes those tunes can combine together. That’s how I see Abby and Jake.

Sassy, standing up for herself, sweet, and not afraid of a challenge is what makes Abby such a great character. I love this character the moment she steps on Rock Nation bus! It was amazing to see how she handled herself against all the guys that were on the bus.

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Dressmaker Review

Disclaimer: I checked this book out from the library to read to give it an honest opinion!




The Dressmaker

Author: Kate Alcott
Hardcover
306 Pages
February 21, 2012
Publisher: Doubleday

Overview
Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic’s doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.

On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic.

My Take
Sorry but this book is not a young adult book! It is geared more towards regular fiction! I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. Every time I’m out shopping I see this book and was so tempted to buy it. I ended up checking it out from my library instead. I’m also a sucker for Titanic stories.

Anyways I liked the book and story quite a bit. The characters in this book are strong. All of them have their strong and weak points. For instance the main character Tess is set off for her own dreams and tries to go after them no matter what. She does not want to clean floors and be a personal servant. She wants to create her own clothes and be successful in that. I admired her for taking this path. She’s the type of gal that has her head on her shoulders at time but it takes her a while to see that not everyone is good. Tess is also a believable character in this book compared to some others!

Tess ends up with Lady Duff Gordon on the ship of Titanic as it goes okay. Tess really is not really maid material and wishes to be a dressmaker. She goes on an adventure with Lady Duff through the good and bad. She gets to see how the ship with the different classes. While on Titanic, she meets two different men which are interesting to see. She goes through quite a bit and at the end I think she made the right choice.

The sinking of the ship happens and emotions are thrown everywhere. I can only imagine the state of mind of everyone. Everyone is trying to survive and do what you have to do to make it. Some sacrifice and others do not. It’s part of nature to be that way I think. To those who survived would have to live with what they saw and did. Some may cope differently than others.

Once everyone arrives to New York you get a feel of what the time period was like. For women and lower class, it was not easy but there was hope. Fashion was also shown in this book and how things were done back then. I think it was grew tho see all these things so you can get a better feel of what it was like.

A few other characters are strong in this book is Pinky, who’s a writer. To be a writer in during the times of Titanic is challenging. She keep plugging away at each story she can get with determination! She then covers the trials of the Titanic as she meets Tess and a few others. She eventually becomes friends with Tess. Both of them bump heads at times but in the long run they know they meant well. I love the relationship Pinky has with Tess.

There is a love triangle that sprouts out in this book with Tess and two gentlemen. It’s rather interesting to see. Who does Tess choose? I was rooting for the one that she picked! You’ll have to read to find out who it was.

If you like historical fiction books, then go grab this one today. You won’t regret reading it. I know I don’t!

Story: B
Cover: A

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Flamethroat Review

Disclaimer: I given this book by the author read in an exchange for an honest opinion and review!

Flamethroat: Fire Mage Book 2


Author: Kate Bloomfield
Publisher: Amazon
Published Date: July 28, 2012
Edition: Kindle Ebook
Pages: 300


Overview:Avalon Redding has returned to Mortlock to find her home destroyed, and her family missing. They have been taken by ‘The Realm’ for harboring an illegal human, Avalon’s sister.

Desperate to find her family, Avalon travels across the country to the Headquarters of the Realm, with Healer Jack Greenwood, and animal companion Hawthorne.

Their friendship is tested when Jack is reunited with his estranged father, and falls under a strange beauty’s spell.

Will Jack abandon Avalon during her quest? And is Hawthorne really one-of-a-kind?


My Take: The sequel! I have been waiting for this! As I read the first book a while back, it captured my attention of the adventures that Avalon goes on. The story left me wanting to know more about what happens to Avalon. Behold..Flamethroat has arrived.

As the journey continues, Avalon heads home with Jack and Hawthorne to see her parents as she finds her home destroyed. Worry, sadness and anger fuels inside of Avalon seeing her home and family gone. She wondered what to do next. Eventually she and Jack are determined to start a mission to find her family and save her sister. Another venture begins for them.

While on their journey to the Realm, Jack and Avalon run into many more energetic situations and obstacles. There is always one thing after that keeps Jack and Avalon on their toes. Some will leave you gasping and some will leave you screaming no!

The one question I had while reading this sequel was whether or not Jack and Avalon will remain as friends or become something more in the romantic department? I love how Jack and Avalon interaction is amazing. They would not leave one another unless it was something serious. Their relationship does get tested when another beauty comes into the picture. Does Jack fall for the beauty or does he remain with Avalon? You need to read this book to find out.

Of course there are some heart breaking moments in this book! One of them is when Jack meets up with his father. Emotions poured out of Jack towards his father. At first Jack was not sure to give his father a second chance but Avalon tells Jack he should just listen and gave a hint that family is important. Jack slowly takes her advice. Eventually Jack and his father reconcile.

Another part is when Avalon meets up with her parents as it was awesome that she found them but then there’s the whole adventure of getting her sister back. The action in this process was amazing as her father was still protective of Avalon even though she knows how to take care of herself. I loved how her family, Jack, herself, Hawthorne and a few others band together to fight to get their loved ones back even though there was 50/50 chance that their loved ones would not be normal again. It had me on the edge of my seat to see what was going to happen! Were they going to get their loved ones back? Was Avalon sister going to be normal or not? Who was doing this to humans?

I was also glad to see Raevyn making an appearance in this book. She’s a wonderful friend to Jack and Avalon! She is such a great character.

This book had me reading on and on which was fantastic. I could not put it down. When I did put it down, I was thinking about this story and what would happen to Jack and Avalon in their journey. There were at times in the story that I was surprised and happy with the way things went down. The book left me wanting more. So go get this book today on Amazon. Be sure to read the first book first! You won’t regret this adventurous fun filled journey with Avalon!

By the way, I personally think the cover is stunning just like the first book was!

Rating:
Story: A
Cover: A

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