Review: Coffeehouse Knits: Knitting Patterns and Essays with Robust Flavor

Coffeehouse Knits: Knitting Patterns and Essays with Robust Flavor by Kerry Bogert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, F & W Media, and Kerry Bogert for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Coffeehouse knits blends together two of my favourite things - coffee and knitting. Apparently I’m not the only one! Enough knitters love their brews whether it is tea or coffee, so much so, that they have dedicated a whole book to the idea. More often than not when we knit we usually have a hot drink sitting beside us. The meditative quality of knitting lends itself to sipping something while you do it. Another popular activity of late is these “Stitch & Bitch” nights where knitters will meet up, usually at a coffeehouse and spend a few hours with like minded people knitting and sharing. It is a place where you can show off what you are working on, get advice if you are stuck and talk about whatever is going on in your life. It is usually a drop in type group and new members are welcome with open arms.

This book is beautiful. Not only do they have delicious names like “House Blend Cardigan” and “Breakfast Brioche Shawl”, the yarns used are yummy. Some of the patterns designs echo things like the swirl in the foam of of a frothy cappuccino or the speckles pattern that remain in your cup from tea leaves. I am in love with so many of the patterns and find them stylish and wearable. There is a range of difficulty so whether you are a new knitter or an experienced one, you will find enough to keep you interested. There is a small index of special techniques that are explained.

What makes this unique is that interspersed between the patterns are a selection of essays that muse of the experience of knitting. From knitting groups, to spending a night at home curled up the “how” of how we experience knitting is as important as the what of what we are knitting.

I can hardly wait until this book is out, in my hands, and I am knitting on of the patterns.

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Review: Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Hachette Books, and Stephanie Land for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.


Stephanie Land has written a raw, honest, in-your-face book about what it is like to be poor, a single mother and working at what is considered to be menial labour. I found this read difficult and uncomfortable and I think that is what she wants you to feel. As I started to read, I was sympathetic, feeling for her plight in life. She made difficult choices and was left without a lot of options. She writes in the afterwards that she was lucky because she saw a different way of life as a child. She knew there was more out there. She notes that for people who are born into poverty, without the ability to experience anything different, and faced with minimal options, it is very difficult to imagine a better life for yourself. I don’t think we realize, if we are lucky enough to be middle class, how many opportunities we have, expectations, support, etc. so that if we want to, we can make a good life for us and for our children. But as the books went on and on and on and I got to about 50% of the way through I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore. It said, in the beginning of the book, that this has a happy ending. I wanted to get to that part already. I couldn’t hear anymore about how tired she was, how her kid was sick, and then I stopped and thought wow! I can’t handle reading about it and she had to live it! How did she pull herself out of it, I’ll never know that kind of strength. I hope I don’t have to have that kind of strength. It does have a happy ending and it really makes you think about so many issues.

Land tells you, in no uncertain terms, what it is like to work as a maid. I am fortunate enough to have someone to help clean our house, it is something we scrimp and save to be able to afford, since I am not able to do it anymore. I had to take a good look in the mirror and think if I had ever treated or spoke to our helpers, the way some people had spoken to Land. I use a service, similar to the one Land worked for, and I am not sure if they are making a decent living wage or not. I know they do 2 sometimes 3 houses in a day and I really hadn’t considered their physical pain that they must feel, doing their job, day after day. I know that I don’t look down on their line of work because I am not above scrubbing a toilet myself. When Land describes cleaning those bathrooms, I think I threw up in my mouth a little. Uch!! I certainly hope that no one has felt like that in my home.

What struck me the most was the loneliness. I think I was prepared to hear about the fatigue, the pain, the worrying about her child, the kid being sick and not being able to go to daycare. I had some of the same worries, but I was not alone. I didn’t have to deal with an abusive ex, an absentee family, and I had friends. I didn’t have the shame of poverty that she felt and how that would make a person isolate themselves. To just crave some human contact. I worry about money, but I haven’t had to go hungry. I can’t imagine going through a government process of trying to get help, the amount of forms, dealing with that kind of prejudice, and still getting up every day, going to work, making a home for your child, playing with them, putting them to bed and doing it all over again, day after day. How about trying to get a decent place to live and having landlords not want to rent to you because you are on assistance. It honestly felt like being pounded on the head with a shovel, pushing you into the ground and the more you try and dig your way out, the more you get pounded. Having one little crisis and it devastates you.

I learned a lot of lessons. Some I knew, but they bore repeating. First, to be grateful for what you have. Land found so many things to be grateful for. The second was she realized that people with big houses and lots of stuff weren’t any happier than she was. Stop wanting stuff. That isn’t what will make you happy. Stop looking at what other people have and being envious. The most important thing that struck me, and I think this is why she was able to make a better future is that she counted on herself. If she needed comfort or love, she had to rely only on herself to get that. She used mantras of telling herself she was loved, she was enough. Really, in life, we only have ourselves. I realized that when I got sick. I had family and friends and support, but when the chips were down, I only had myself to dig out of whatever hole I was in. You are your biggest asset and you are enough. Whatever upheaval was going on in her daughters life, Land decide that she would be the constant. She would be reliable, show up when she said she would, be on time, be there no matter what. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy and that’s what she shows us. She had panic attacks, her child would have tantrums and nothing was easy. But in all that upheaval, she found beauty, joy, and love. We can all take that lesson home.

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Review: Summoned to Thirteenth Grave

Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Darynda Jones, and St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

The last in the Charley Davidson series. People are losing their minds! There is an epic event that only Charley and Reyes can solve. With their loyal posse of friends, both worldly and otherworldly, they are on the case. You can expect the usual snappy one liners, steamy scenes, and a wrap up of any story lines tied up with a bow. You know what you are getting and Jones does not disappoint.


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Review: An Anonymous Girl

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving and advanced copy. Rating 2.5 stars

I loved “The Wife Between Us” and was ready for another no holds barred, twisted ride with Jessica, Subject 52, who signs up for a psychological study on morality and ethics. Do you think you’re in trouble when you lie your way into a study on ethics because you need the money? Dr. Shields takes a special interest in Jessica and lures her in with expensive gifts, high paycheques, and what is amounting to free therapy in exchange for following her instructions in what appears to be testing the mettle of a married man. Written in alternating POV between Jessica and Dr. Shields, this cat and mouse story tries to keep you off kilter as you see how Dr. Shields spins her web, always having an explanation for putting Jessica in situations that don’t feel right, in fact they make Jessica feel icky. But by this point Jessica has spilled her guts to this woman who knows all of her dark secrets and insecurities. Dr. Shields is not only beautiful, self assured, has impeccable taste and always seems to know the right thing to say to put Jessica’s fears to rest. She also knows whenever Jessica is not being completely honest. When Jessica finds out that the married man is Dr. Sheilds’ husband, Thomas, she knows something is not right. But when Thomas warns Jessica that Dr. Shields in dangerous, Jessica knows she is in trouble.

Hendricks and Pekkanen write really well together, but this was not as exciting a story as their first novel. There was some suspense, but nothing like the thrilling tickle when you don’t know who is lying and who is telling the truth and will the protagonist make it out alive! There isn’t any surprising twist that you can’t see coming. This one just leads you down the path until the end. You know who that bad guy is and you can guarantee the protagonist is going to survive and yes there is some information revealed but no wow factor. The seduction of Jessica is interesting enough to keep reading but I needed more. I want that “can’t-put-it-down” feeling, or at least some doubt as to whether the doctor or Thomas is the bad guy. A lot was left untapped with Jessica and the minor characters like Lydia, and Josh, to name a few where more could have been done to create tension. Just an okay read for me.

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Review: The Practice of Mindful Yoga: A Connected Path to Awareness

The Practice of Mindful Yoga: A Connected Path to Awareness by Hannah Moss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Leaping Hare Press, and Hannah Moss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Hannah Moss has been practicing yoga for 20 years. There was a period of six years where she was practicing Ashtanga yoga and noticed that after a while it became mechanical. It became a task, something she “should” do, it became rote and she was no longer listening to her body. Thankfully, she started to search around for different styles, teachers and finally found something that spoke to her. It was no longer about the perfect pose, but rather how she felt on the inside. This was when she discovered mindful yoga.

This book was not what I expected. I’m not sure that I had expectations, but whatever they were, Moss blew them out of the water. This is the most comprehensive, insightful, instructive approach to combining mindfulness and yoga that I have read. Moss not only explains in a down to earth, easy to understand, completely relatable way what mindfulness is and what yoga is, but what a mindful yoga practice should feel like. She breaks down the roots of yoga and what the different practices can be and how they tie into a mindful way of living. Moss also instructs you on the basics of meditation in a nurturing and supportive way. She then ties in how to use that breath from meditation to the breath control you use in yoga. In living a mindful life, she reminds us how to destress and focus on what is important. You learn how to be kind to others and how to be kind to yourself. Moss has an approach that is real and concrete so that you can easily apply these lessons to your daily life. It isn’t a bunch of buzz words or cliche sayings about how you should be. She gives you the real tools that you can use in steps that are achievable, always reminding us that it is the practice of doing that is important, not the end result. Also discussed are body scans and gratitude practices. She touches on so many important aspects of any yoga practice and the traps of what can happen when you are trying to be mindful. She discusses the important qualities to look for in a good teacher and how you need to be given permission to move in a way that is comfortable for you, connecting to how it feels, rather than trying to achieve some goal of how far you can reach. Letting go of the ego is a huge part in living a mindful life.

Moss really bring home the point of if it is not making you happy and living a better life, than why are you doing it? Having a holistic approach of connecting your mind, to your breath, to your body, is really the best way to achieve that. Taking that extra breath, thinking of others, becoming aware of what you are feeling can make all the difference in living a more fulfilled life. Her exercise on awakening your senses, or breathing are all geared to helping you achieve those ideals. Accepting the way things are, whether it is as simple as trying to touch your toes, or the bigger picture of where you are in your life right now, can lead to a happier, more content way to live. Practicing is the key. You never achieve completion, because we are human and this is a human practice. There are ups and downs. Some days are better than others. You step onto the mat because you want to, not because you should, or because it is the ‘right’ thing to do.

So much of this book spoke to me, either to reinforce what I have learned in the past, or to teach me something new. One part that was especially meaningful was when she talked about deep listening, loving speech and loving kindness. She also warns of the downfalls or traps that we can sometimes get into when trying hard to do it the right way. Jumping on a bandwagon, trying to achieve an ideal, or conforming to one way of doing things is not the way to do yoga mindfully. The last part of the book gives you several different sets of yoga sequences that you can adapt as part of your practice.

I cannot tell you how much I learned in this book. Moss combines not only theory, but practice as well. She is relatable, knowledgable and covers the material in an approachable manner. It is something that I will read over and over again because it has so much in it. I found it inspiring and it made me feel like I wanted to learn more, do more and recommit to doing things in a mindful way. I will be gifting this to everyone I know. Really, one of the best reads on this subject that I have read in a long time.

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