Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links; if you make a purchase through them, I will receive a small commission. I received the book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

We’re going through changes here in the Savings in Seconds house.  It’s with extreme pleasure and terrible sadness that I celebrate my kids’ birthdays this week.  Why sadness, you ask?  Because my kids are growing up too fast!!  I’m heartbroken about my daughter’s double-digit age; before we know it, she’ll be driving.  My son starts kindergarten next year.  It’s just going by like a whirlwind and I want time to slow down a little bit!  I remember like yesterday the first time we bought her a super-cute Gymboree outfit for the first time.  My husband thought I’d lost my mind, running around the store finding the matchy-matchy shoes and sweater to go with the dress (that cost more than the entire outfit I was wearing.)  Now that she’s older, she has her own style.  [Read more…]

Aside from the Twilight saga, reading about supernatural beings never really interested me. After that series it seemed like the book market was flooded with books about vampires or some other type of mythical creatures. For a while, many of the books I read were about aliens. Recently it seems that the characters tend to be angels. I’ve read no fewer than four angel books in the past month or so, and the trend disturbs me a bit. Until now, I hadn’t really considered angels to be bad beings. The term “fallen angel” made me think of Lucifer, but I didn’t stop to think about his counterparts. Thinking about fallen angels makes me a bit ill. The Girl With Broken Wings series I started this week threatened to be much like the others, but to my relief it was more of a sci-fi book.

[Read more…]

Don’t let the simplicity of the book title or cover of Gold take you by surprise.    The storyline of Gold was completely unexpected for me!   The beginning of the book is typical enough…..in fact, the main “mystery” appears in the very first page.  I thought I knew what would happen, but I was completely off base.  The main character, John Neale, is a small town lawyer who is unsure about his career path.  The events in the book help to feature him as a strong, kind person.  I really enjoyed seeing the transformation of his character. [Read more…]

End of the World Giveaway Hop
December 14th to 21st
Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
& My Life With Books

12/21/12
The Mayan Calendar Ends!
Does it mean the end of the World?
Probably not but just in case…

Which books would you save if the world was coming to an end?  We’d always need a good cookbook to recreate the delicious meals we used to make.   If someone on your Christmas list is a cook who has a hard time seeing the recipes, the Easy See Easy Cook Recipe Favorites cookbook is a good gift option.  The recipes are printed in large print for the vision-impaired.  This is also a good option for children who aren’t accustomed to reading the very small print that is typical of many cookbooks.  The recipes are easy to follow.  Tips and suggestions for variations accompany the recipes.  The stories that precede each recipe are charming; the cookbook is written in a conversational tone as if we are right in the kitchen with author Sherry Pope.   Hand-drawn illustrations also fill the cookbook.  These were drawn by the author’s neighbor (I would have preferred to see photos of the recipes instead.)   Most of the recipes are the kind that grandma used to make….. a quiche created out of the week’s leftovers, a guide to making no-bake cookies, and the like.   This isn’t a gourmet cookbook!  Since I’m not a gourmet cook, that is fine by me.

For more information about the Easy See Easy Cook recipe collection, check out the website at Big Eyed Cooks.  Don’t forget to “like” the page on Facebook, too.  Savings in Seconds readers can enjoy the special holiday pricing of $24 per cookbook, which includes shipping.   One lucky winner will win a copy of the cookbook—open to readers in the US (ages 18+).  Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.  Good luck!