Books I’ve Read In Less Than 1 Hour – Mini Reviews #3

It’s time for another round of mini reviews! I’ve had a couple of fast reads during the last weeks – it’s random and eclectic, but I think it’s fun! Here are those that are already published. (Some of my reads are only due in the spring, so those reviews will come later. I only included here those that are available around this time.) There’s poetry, there’s humor and there’re cookies, too! 😉 Grab a coffee and let’s see!

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‘Dump Cake Magic’ by Anne Schaeffer

(Goodreads/Amazon)

In the festive holiday season, looking forward to Christmas, I was in the mood for browsing for some easily made, quick desserts to make. I have to admit that after all, we’ve been travelling around family so much that I didn’t get to actually make any of these cookies/sweets. I longingly went through this book, though.

First of all: I liked this book, but I have to tell I’m a tiny bit disappointed in it, too. I expected some quick recipes that one can make from scratch at home, even if there’s only a couple of things left on the shelves. It’s not completely like that. The recipes do seem to be easy to follow, but in most of the cases it’s actually the recipe that’s quick, and not making the cookie. Those can take almost an hour to bake! And they require a mix (of course) that you either buy in the stores (which is to me is not at all the same as making it…) or you have to make and store (freeze) them, so that when you decide to bake something, you can be fast and you have a dessert in no time.

Well, that’s something I could figure out on my own. Not ‘magic’.

For most of the cakes, you also need some/many ingredients beyond the couple basic ones that you probably always have in your house.

I think it’s a very good book for beginners in the kitchen. To those who are more experienced it might be a bit of a disappointment. (I’m far from an experienced housewife, but most of the things written here I could’ve figure out on my own.) I still think this book can be very usable for ideas! You know when you’d like something sweet, but not in the creative mood. You can just flap this book and see what there’s home and what you could make of it. I think I will use this book for that!

I rated this book 3 stars, according to NetGalley’s rating, as in maybe I recommend it.

I got this book from Fox Chapel Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do… But You Could’ve Done Better’ by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell

(Goodreads/Amazon)

I feel like my feelings about this book are balanced out to middle. A bit indifferent. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t funny at all, but I haven’t laughed out loud once. The little stories kept my attention, though, so I wouldn’t say it wasn’t worth reading it. They were okay. Anti-climatic at some times, right out mad at others – they did seem like things that happen occasionally to all of us. I could write a couple of stories like them and I’m sure most of us could. For the little time I was reading this book, it kept my interest and I found the illustrations cute. They are not brilliant or hilarious, though. I think it will be forgettable, but it was a nice one time read.

I gave it 3 stars out of 5, according to NetGalley’s rating, as in maybe I recommend it. I’m sure some people might like it more than I did and some will not like it as much. Try it to figure out which one is you! 😉

I got this book from Animal Media Group and NetGalley, in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

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‘View from the Middle of the Road V: New Observations’ by R. Xavier Clark, Silvana Marconi, Lucinda Clark

(Goodreads/Amazon)

This book is a very short collection of a couple of poems and two short stories.

I found the poems excellently written, yet for some reason they didn’t suck me in. It’s probably a me problem and not the poetry, though. I loved the topics and the perspectives they gave, and I can’t really say anything bad about the wording, either. Objectively they are very good, I can see that, I simply tend to enjoy the kind of poetry more that sound like music to my ears. Does that make sense…? I’m not sure. Anyways, though these were not exactly my kind of poems, I enjoyed their content and meaning, and I can honestly say they are very well-written.

The first short story (written by R. Xavier Clark) was my favorite thing in this collection. It was sweet and had a bit of humor, too. I enjoyed reading it and I would like to read more of this.

The second short story was good, too, but I didn’t really feel like it was a short story. It was an excerpt from a book the author (Silvana Marconi) has written, and while it made her book sound very interesting, it didn’t really make any sense without getting the whole story. It was more like an advertisement for the book – if it’s supposed to be that, it works, though, because I’d be happy to read that book.

I give this book 3 stars, with adding that it’s simply given to this book, and that it made me want to read more of these authors/poet, so it’s absolutely a rating of this particular book – having read more from them, I’d probably rate their work higher.

I got a physical copy of this collection from P. R. A. Publishing through LibraryThing, in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

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That’s all for today! Watch out for the next post of my mini reviews coming soon! 😉

Hugs 🙂