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The Personal Shopper (Annie Valentine Book 1) (affiliate link)
There’s just one accessory Annie Valentine can’t find…the perfect man!
Meet Annie Valentine: stylish, savvy, multi-tasker extraordinaire. As a personal shopper in a swanky London store, Annie can be relied on to solve everyone’s problems . . . except her own.
Because as a busy single mum to two kids, Annie’s realised there’s a gap in her life as well as her wardrobe. But with her heart still hurting from losing the love of her life, Annie’s discovered that finding the perfect partner is turning out to be so much trickier than finding the perfect pair of shoes!
Can she source a genuine classic? A lifelong investment? Or will Annie realise that her perfect man is already sitting on the front row of her life…
Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin Book 1) (affiliate link)
Lucy is a human lie detector. Her little rescue dog Paco is a ghost whisperer. Together, they solve crime in this laugh-out-loud cozy mystery series!
Lucy McGuffin makes the best muffins in Whispering Bay, but her secret talent as a human lie detector hasn’t always been as sweet. When she stumbles upon a dead body and her priest brother becomes a suspect, Lucy must use her skills to clear his name.
Enter the town’s new hot-shot deputy, Travis Fontaine. Travis doesn’t want an amateur like Lucy sniffing around his turf, so he offers her a deal. He’ll stay out of her kitchen, if she stays away from his crime scene.
But Lucy isn’t about to let her brother’s fate rest in the hands of an arrogant cop. With her best friend Will and her furry sidekick Paco, they’re gonna dig up the truth, no matter how deep it’s buried.
Involuntary Turnover (Kat Voyzey Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
HR director Kat Voyzey has a talent for getting things done. Tamping down office drama? Soothing egotastic executives? Dodging calls from her bully of a boss? It’s all in a day’s work.
But when Kat’s coworker is shot dead on Halloween night, questions fly through the hospital like a hail of bullets. Is there a killer roaming the halls of the hospital? Who will they strike next? And who on Earth would want to hurt sweet Anna Vasquez?
Frustrated by a weak police response, Kat rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. Someone needs to get the bottom of this mystery, and she’ll be super careful. After all, how dangerous could a murder investigation be?
The Ruth Valley Missing (Jameson Quinn Book 1) (affiliate link)
Scene of the Grind (Killer Coffee Book 1) (affiliate link)
Welcome to the Bean Hive Coffeehouse where the gossip is as hot as the coffee!
Roxanne Bloom quit her job as a lawyer, divorced her cheating husband, and moved to the quaint town of Honey Springs, Kentucky where she’d spent many of her teenage summers visiting her eccentric and fun-loving Aunt Maxi. Roxy follows her dream and opens The Bean Hive, Honey Springs first coffee house on the town’s newly revitalized boardwalk. that opens just in time for Honey Springs annual Honey Festival. Roxy’s life couldn’t be better.
Business was booming, she’s reconnected with special people from her past, including her first teenage love, and visits The Crooked Cat book store, which is still her favorite shop in Honey Springs. One problem, Aunt Maxi and Alexis Roarke, owner of Crooked Cat, aren’t on the best of terms.
Thrown Away – Book One – “In a Fallen World” (affiliate link)
Long after the world has died, one man goes on a journey to save a single soul and ends up changing the lives of countless others. For Jack Avery, living among the ruins of the outer zone and scavenging to survive is not the worst of nightmares. Something haunts him far more than any hunter patrol. In one short moment, two years before, something happened that changed him. This story is about his journey through the apocalypse, but also through his own regrets and doubts.
Are there second chances?
Can Jack find the answer to his torment among the shattered ruins of the past?
Chrysalis (Star Trek: Voyager) (affiliate link)
When the sensors of the U.S.S. Voyager detect abundant plant life on an unexplored planet, Captain Janeway leads an Away Team in search of fresh food supplies. They find lavish gardens inhabited by an enigmatic alien race that holds the gardens sacred. The fragrent blossoms are beautiful, enticing — and far more dangerous than they appear. One by one, the Away Team begins to fall into deep comas from which they cannot be revived.
Unwilling to spread the affliction to Voyager, the Away Team is trapped on the planet until a cure can be found, but their investigation is perceived as desecration by the devout worshippers of the gardens. Pursued by a fanactical mob, slowly succumbing to the insidious effect of the blossoms, Janeway faces either a violent death — or an endless sleep.
In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady (affiliate link)
The biggest secret in London is about to be . . . revealed.
Every gentleman is wondering: Who is the beauty in the scandalous nude portrait hanging in one of London’s most fashionable clubs? Is it true that she’s a member of the ton? Who would be so daring? So reckless?
Julian Delane, Earl of Parkhurst, has a good idea. So good, in fact, that he’s willing to make a wager on it. If only the bet were all that’s at stake . . .
Determined to clear the family name from a scandal that claimed his father’s life, Julian believes the ravishing model will lead him to answers. Rebecca Leland—spirited, adventurous, with a bit of a wild streak—is just as determined to evade his questions. But when Julian finally corners his quarry, he may find Rebecca well worth the pursuit.
Organized by country or region of the world, Vegan Without Borders includes family-style comfort foods, global ethnic favorites, and creative new dishes inspired by the classics, all developed to satisfy a variety of mealtime desires. Robin also notes which recipes are gluten free, soy free, low in oil, or especially quick and easy.
Recipes include:
Polenta Rustica with Kale and Bean Ragout
Potato Gratin Dauphinoise
Baked Eggplant Fries with Tzatziki Sauce
Chickpea Nuggets with Buffalo Barbecue Ranch Sauce
Blue Ribbon Chocolate Cake
Mojito Sweet Potatoes
Melon Paletas
Za’atar Roasted Cauliflower
Lemongrass Coconut Rice
Red-Cooked Tempeh
Sizzling Saigon Crepes
Bangkok Street Cart Noodles
Beautiful Bread: Create & Bake Artful Masterpieces for Any Occasion (affiliate link)
In this accessible, step-by-step guide, professional baker Theresa Culletto shows you how to transform artisan breads into show-stopping creations by shaping, twisting, painting, and embellishing them into edible masterpieces.
Base recipes include challah, cracker, focaccia, lean, pita/naan, pretzel, pumpernickel, and savory and sweet buttermilk doughs. Have fun making bread stalks, edible baskets, leaf branches, quilted buns and bread bowls, savory or sweet confetti bread, sunburst breads, and even a van Dough focaccia garden.
Then take your baking out of this world by learning how to make whole wheat and multigrain variations, natural food dyes, and even decorative frames for your carbo-licious creations. For beginners, Culletto offers a comprehensive overview of bread baking 101, including terminology, necessary equipment, how to work with starters, and more, and little fingers can help by placing decorations.
Balanced Raw: Combine Raw and Cooked Foods for Optimal Health, Weight Loss, and Vitality (affiliate link)
The most nutritious and delicious path to shed pounds, gain energy, and live robustly.
A growing number of health practitioners—as well as restaurants and celebrities such as Sting, Madonna, and Beyonce—are espousing raw food or “living food” diets as a way to stave off disease, boost energy, and lose weight. However, one-hundred percent raw diets are difficult to sustain and have come under fire recently for not being nutritionally optimal. Balanced Raw eschews the all-or-nothing approach of other books and contains a four-phase, thirty-day plan for making the raw food lifestyle livable for life. Start your balanced raw lifestyle today!
A British Infantryman recounts his harrowing experiences on the Western Front of the Great War, from the Battle of Somme to Arras and beyond.
At the age of seventeen, full of idealism and patriotism, John Tucker enlisted in the London Kensington Regiment. Deployed to France in August 1915, he survived three years of bitter trench warfare, was seriously wounded, and returned home to Blighty a few months before Armistice Day.
During those years, Tucker took part in the Battle of the Somme, the battles of Arras and Cambrai, and the Third Battle of Ypres. While his patriotism remained unflinching, his idealism gave way to the grim realities of day to day survival in the trenches. As he began to understand what constitutes courage, he grew from boyhood to manhood.
In Johnny Get Your Gun, Tucker contrasts the beauties of the French countryside with the ugliness of widespread death and destruction, and paints a picture of French country life hardly less squalid than the soldiers’ own lot. But above all, he makes the reader realize what it was like to fight in the war to end all wars.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2