I'm a full-time mummy

This is my 4th ebook I get to review, a gourmet cookie book by Gourmet Magazine called: "THE GOURMET COOKIE BOOK".

Author: Gourmet Magazine
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780547328164
Hardcover, Paper over boards ; 176 pages
Dimension: 8.50 x 8.50 inches

Description from the product page:
"For this stunning collection, the editors of Gourmet delved deep into their archives and selected the most delicious cookie for each year of the magazine’s sixty-eight-year existence. After marathon testing sessions and winnowing from thousands of recipes—many sent in by readers—they chose an amazing array, from the almond-scented French-style Cajun Macaroons, from the magazine’s beginnings in 1941, through Mocha Toffee Bars (1971), to the contemporary Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies. The enticing assortment includes:

* Cookies of every type and description, from the homey (Aunt Sis’s Strawberry Tart Cookies) to the exotic (Grand Marnier-Glazed Pain d’Epice Cookies), including balls, bars, refrigerator cookies, drop cookies, even deep-fried cookie confections.

* Cookies from around the world: from Dutch Jan Hagels to Irish oatmeal sandwich cookies filled with cream and Irish whiskey, to Scandinavian Rosettes.

* Dozens of Christmas cookies: Old-Fashioned Christmas Butter Cookies, star-shaped Moravian White Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Bar Cookies.

Printed exactly as they originally appeared in the magazine, with abundant tips and recipe notes from Gourmet’s test kitchen, and with headnotes describing their cultural context, the recipes present a fascinating bite-by-bite history of how our appetites evolved. "

Cookies! Who would want to turn down the opportunity to review a cookie book? What more a compilation of the finest and best cookie recipes from 1941 to 2009?

I love the way how each recipe has a brief note at the bottom which explains in clearer terms on measurements and steps taken - especially for recipes that goes way long ago (where people normally goes by a cup of this and a pinch of that or when oven is hot). Each recipe came with the pictures of the cookies, which makes you drool even more and wanted to attempt to make each and every one of it!

I think this book is a good choice for cookie lovers and those who are interested in dabbling with cookie making (like me...) I personally note down a couple of recipes which I'll attempt when I get braver with my cookie adventure.

You can purchase The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009 book from Amazon.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a galley proof of the book via my association with netGalley as a reviewer in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

As part of the BookSneeze Blogger Reviewer program, I'm always on the look out for good children's books, particularly good Christian books for children. When I received the early invitation to review the latest books from Max Lucado, I'm immediately jump at the chance and monitored the time when the opportunity is available. I requested this book along with 1 other (still waiting for it sigh...) and here is my review of the latest book from Max Lucado entitled "ONE HAND, TWO HANDS"

Author: Max Lucado
Illustrator: Gaby Hansen
Publisher:  Thomas Nelson (September 14, 2010)
ISBN: 978-1400316496
Jacketed Hardcover: 32 pages
Dimension: 10.1 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches

Excerpts taken from Booksneeze page:

"A delightful way to show little ones how their hands are a blessing from God that they can use to do help others. Written in rhyming text and illustrated with the charming art of Gaby Hansen, this simple message of God’s blessing of hands not only entertains . . . as it teaches what wonderful things our hands can do from scratching, latching, and petting a pup to washing dishes with mommy and putting toys in a box . . . but it also conveys the important message: We can use God’s gift of hands to show our love for Him by helping others. The book ends tenderly with a prayer of thanks to God for hands and asks Him to use them again:

One hand, two hands,
Five fingers, ten.
God, thanks, for my hands.
Please, use them again."

Firstly, I've almost given up hope on receiving this book.It has over a month already and just when I totally forgot about this book, it arrived and got me all excited and brings back my hope and faith in the delivery & custom services in Malaysia. I can clearly see the stamp on the parcel that the book has been shipped out on 5th September and was only approved for release by the Malaysian Custom on 4th October.

Anyway, that aside, my first impression of the book: They should do away with the French flap (or the jacketed cover for the book). I've never been the fan for flaps like this and I find it a waste of paper and annoying that I have to either tape it up or totally removed it away to prevent tearing from my 19 months old toddler.

I like the way they show us how we can make use of our hands, and the fact they incorporate how our little ones can help out with the cleaning, washing and all.  I would have preferred if they show both little boys and girls in the illustrations instead of only the little girl as the main character. That way, both little boys and girls can relate themselves with the story.

I do however find it a joy to see Ben showing me things he do on daily bases when he saw the similar actions from the book, like washing and cleaning up and combing hair. I'm not a fan of soft and blurry illustrations like this though I do enjoys the pastel and light toned colors used in the illustrations. Overall, I give this book a 7 out of 10.

You can get the One Hand, Two Hands from Amazon or from Max Lucado's website store itself.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book by Book Sneeze in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

This is my 3rd ebook I get to review, a children bible book by Phil A. Smouse called: "My Everyday Promise Bible".

Author: Phil A. Smouse
Publisher:  Barbour Books
ISBN: 978-1602604759
Paperback: 384 pages
Dimension: 7 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches

Product description from the Amazon page:
"How can parents teach their kids about God’s faithfulness? Give them My Everyday Promise Bible, from the creator of Jesus Wants All of Me! This brand-new book for kids ages 3 to 5 is packed with age-appropriate Bible promises, devotional thoughts, and fun, colorful illustrations. It features 365 daily readings on a promise of scripture, carefully written so that kids can understand. Author and illustrator Phil A. Smouse has created an engaging way to introduce youngsters to the unchanging goodness of God."

Excerpts from one of the editorial review:
"The Everyday Promise Book is a full year of daily devotionals for children.  Each day contains a Bible verse which is paraphrased by the author so that the child can fully understand God''s promises for that day.  Along with the Bible verse is a short paragraph of instruction and uplifting direction.  Everyday Promise Book is perfect for reading to a small child or for a young reader to read aloud. Both will find a perfect devotional for the day. The devotions cover a variety of subjects from salvation to behaviors, and the art work in the book is beautiful, colorful and soft.  The text is spaced well and readable."

I'm attracted to the cute cover page!

When I saw the page with a note to the parents, I smiled... There's a verse there (Read: Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)) which reminded me why I opted to review this book. I wanted us to have a closer relationship to God and hoping that this book can help.

I love the idea of a book with daily verses which we can flip through and read. Each pages is dedicated for each day in the calendar, with the daily verse and a very cute illustrations and a brief paragraph to accompany the verse.

I also love the index sections! It's categorized into sections such as "Anger", "Courage" and so on, followed by the days which is related to it, making it easy to look for the verses.

If you are planning to get a Christian gift book for a child, you should consider this book! I think this book is a good choice as it is written in simple and easy to understand words and even for Ben who is still young to be reading, at least I can show him the cute illustrations and make up my own version of story for each verses.

You can purchase My Everyday Promise Bible book from Amazon.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a galley proof  of the book via my association with netGalley as a reviewer in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"