The Christmas Prayer by Wanda E. Brunstetter

The Christmas Prayer is the new acclaimed novel by Wanda E. Brunstetter, published at the beginning of September by Barbour.
The most beloved writer of Amish fiction this time will present to her readers the perfect novel for Christmas; perfect for thinking that the festivity will realize all their dreams, including the most impossible ones.
Independence, Missouri, 1850. Cynthia Cooper and her mother are leaving for California in company of other people. Cynthia, orphan of her dad who left both of them penniless, is constricted to marry, once arrived in California, Walter, a man she doesn't love at all for character. The girl keeps a diary for all the time she will spend in this, as she says: "2000-mile journey west."
The girl, understands during the trip that no, Walter is not the proper man for her, for too many reasons, and she prays that her destiny could change, also thinking that that one isn't the best solution for her. Of course she doesn't want to upset her mother and she is ready to marrying Walter for making her happy.
Of course she doesn't want to upset her mother. Walter would mean the solution of their financial problems.
The day of Christmas all her problems will be sorted out and Cynthia will realize her project of happiness with someone else close to her with which she discovers in the while, more affinities.

Highly recommended.

I thank NetGalley and Barbour Press for this ebook.

Anna Maria Polidori

31 days of Gratitude: Create the Life you Desire by Shilamida

31 days of Gratitude: Create the Life you Desire by Shilamida is one of the most exciting self-help books that you can find around and I highly suggest you to buying it, if you need to develop some aspects of your existence, and if you search for...more gratitude.
Gratitude to give, gratitude to receive.
It's a great self-help book, but also a workbook and journal, you mustn't never forget this: the author doesn't want your passivity, while you are reading it, but enthusiastically wants to stimulate you to write down what you feel, going deep in the profundity of your soul for searching the good that there is in yourself. The gratitude you feel.
Writing down your gratitude will be a first step for understand yourself if discomforted by some situations that you are living; if you are discouraged.
Shilamida will be in grade not just to add that spark in your life that you deserve so badly, but also to propose you of discovering by yourself why you should be grateful in this life.
Shilamida examines all the possible areas of your existence where maybe there are problems, shadows, worries offering answers, suggesting of being positive, thinking positive, because there won't be abundance if you complain; there won't be success if you don't believe in yourself, there won't be harmony if you don't live in peace.
Gratitude is important because it is the first step for let you appreciate life, people close to you and your life itself.

Highly recommended.

I thank NetGalley for this ebook.

Anna Maria Polidori

Radical Self-Love A guide to Loving Yourself and Living your Dreams by Gala Darling

Radical Self-Love A guide to Loving Yourself and Living your Dreams by Gala Darling is a book published by Hay House and it is tremendously stimulating if you search for self-improvement and if, after a difficult moment you need to re-charge your batteries and you don't know where to start with. Confusion, sadness, not sufficient self-esteem can let you think that your life is not so important.

Why don't you re-start by...Yourself starting to love yourself...Radically?

Please, pick up this book and read it.

It's a wonderful, energetic blanket for your soul with tips, advice for falling in love again first of all with yourself, because if you love yourself also other people will love you. If you don't appreciate yourself, it is difficult that other ones will fall in love for you in every sense.
Radical-Self Love is plenty of drawings, and positive vibes for every kind of woman.
Divided in three sections:  Loving Yourself, Loving Others and Daily Magic, you will be helped in every sector of your existence to re-connect yourself with your true self and with...other people and life.

You will receive wagons of tips for avoid that toxic friends sometimes you could be surround by attracted by your sufferance and negative vibes. Other people who brought negativity in your life and put you down.
The author will help you to discover how to make new and positive friends if you forgot it after a long moment of sufferance, but also how to interact with family in a new and more positive way.
Taking care of yourself is fundamental if you want to live a satisfying life plenty of success.
The author invites of writing-down what you want to become in this life, your expectations, your successes and ask of treating yourself with great respect and appreciation.

Love yourself for later being a radiant human being for all that people close and distant of your life!

Highly recommended to all women of this world!

I thank NetGalley and Hay House for the digital copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori

The Snow Globe by Judith Kinghorn

This book, The Snow Globe  by Judith Kinghorn wants to be a romantic novel about relationship, broken relationship, friendship, love during the Christmas Time, dreams, represented by a Christmas Snow Globe, in general the syntheses of perfection and of an imagine unchangeable although time goes by, and changes.

What could represent a Christmas Snow Globe metaphorically?

A Christmas Snow Globe could represents our most beautiful moments, instants of pure and great happiness. A protective, little space where there is warm and love and joy and everyone is safe because in that tiny little space nothing can goes wrong.
A protective magical place although in miniature.

I picked up The Snow Globe because it is a historical romantic novel and it starts in 1926 the year my dad was born.

I loved the dreaming characterization of Eden Hall the big house where family Forbes lives in.
Everything started when Agatha  Christie the famous writers of so many crime books, the most important one Murder on the Orient Express (new movie with Johnny Depp, don't forget it!), disappear without leaving any trace.

The protagonists have all their own expectations and dreams for the arrival of Christmas just few days distant, that 1926. It was common a saying in family Forbes: ask for a lot of wishes so that some of them would come true.

But...Something during that Christmas won't go well, but completely wrong and the existence of the Forbes will change forever.

Daisy is the littlest daughter of Howard and she loves her dad so badly. She is just 18 years old and she doesn't know what to do.
Her family means a lot to her, she is sad, but everyone seem to have the best recipe for trying to go on and re-start the existence from the beginning.
Her mom, her dad, her sisters.
She meets Stephen during the search for the disappearance of Agatha Christie.

She was just 11 years when she firstly knew Stephen, the son of one of their helpers, and they immediately established a great friendship. The kind of friendship you won't never forget for all your life because it will mark your existence.
Now Daisy is in crisis and she finds in this old friend, with which she feels a great connection, some help and love.

All her past is turned upside down; people she trusted a lot "deluded" her putting her in confusion let's use this euphemism.

Daisy understands that Stephen is the right person for her, although there are in this case other serious problems because of their different social classes and background. We are in the 1920s when these thematic still felt a lot.

In this confusion other facts, Stephen for example will go away from her, will convince later Daisy of being realistic, accepting to marry someone else without love, but the girl is not convinced because her heart is still pulsing for Stephen.
Can a girl marry someone without regretting the person she loved the most?

Adorable romantic novel, perfect for these cold days and plenty of optimistic solutions, reconciliations and happy ends in the best tradition of the Christmas Season!


I thank NetGalley and Caneto for this wonderful eBook!

Anna Maria Polidori

Goat Castle A True Story of Murder, Race and Gothic South by Karen L.Cox

I admit that from the beginning to the end you are captured by Goat Castle A True Story of Murder, Race and Gothic South by Karen L.Cox published by North Carolina University Press.

First of all it has been written with great love, accuracy and passion. It pays a lot.
The author says that it was just for case that she "met" one day this story along her way, but she immediately understood that this one would have been her next book.
Second because the tale is vivid, characters centered very well, and it seems to stay there, it seems that this murder took place just last night and not in 1932, 85 years ago.
Third because of the location: the profound South of the USA, with all its magic, mystery.
Fourth: it's written with great participation.

You must know that Natchez, Mississippi tried to stimulate tourism thanks to  big mansions of planters at the beginning of 1900s and tourism intrigued by this spot of the world.
No one would have thought that the criminal case we will treat in a few seconds would have brought extra-publicity thanks also at the people involved in this story.

Protagonists are in fact not common.
They were all very rich people once and introduced in the best local and international society.
In 1932 when the facts took place, not anymore young, they lived weird, eccentric existences and all the glamour, richness, joy, happiness only a distant memory of the past.

Jennie Miller lived at Glenwood at the times of the facts baptized by  media and for decades Goat Castle because goats as you will see will play their role in this crime-story.

When young her reputation was beautiful because she was part of that great wealthy society able to make the difference, then with the time and when various facts signed her life everything changed and when she decided of buying this last house where she would have found her end, she became a secluded person.

The story of their friends Octavia and Richard, you will see is  fascinating and interesting as well.
After a close friendship when young now they where Jennie's closest neighbors.

It was a night like another one in Natchez. Duncan would have stopped by at the house of Jennie as he did all nights that Aug 4 1932, but when Duncan once arrived at Goat Castle, found the crime-scene and a missing Jennie, later discovered by the police men outside. Killed.

At first Richard and Octavia were the first ones to be suspected and they ended up in jail, but maybe the story will be different and more complicated as you will see.

What I can add is that of course we are in the the profound South of the USA and racism will play a big role as well.

Unbelievable but true, some of these protagonists, because the author will also let us know what happened to them in their life after jail, will take advantage from this crime for a long long time creating a sort of business with this story.

I thank NetGalley and North Carolina University Press for this stunning ebook!


Anna Maria Polidori

Acid Trip Travels in the World of Vinegar with recipes from Leading Chefs, Insights from Top Producers, and step-by-step Instructions on How to Make your Own by Michael Harlan Turkell

Passions are passions in particular in culinary sector. You can fall in love for pasta, pizza, appetizers, veggies, meat, desserts, chocolate. Sometimes you can fall in love for...vinegar.
It's what happened to Michael Harlan Turkell. As he tells in the book everything started because of a bottle of wine not anymore so....good.

Since there he decided to learn much more about vinegar and the immense world of vinegar, that it is pretty diversified and rich of flavors.
In the latest book published by ABRAMS this Aug 8th: Acid Trip Travels in the World of Vinegar with recipes from Leading Chefs, Insights from Top Producers, and step-by-step Instructions on How to Make your Own you will learn everything about vinegar, production and importance of this aliment in a daily base.


This trip has been long and the author and his wife visited many countries, for understanding much better what vinegar means for a country.
From France to Italy discovering in this second case the Aceto Balsamico a specialty in past from Modena known only in recent years in all the italian territory, and then Japan, Austria, North America meeting the most important producers of vinegar like also Chefs in grade to suggest the best recipes created with vinegar. In every section-country the best recipes you can ask for for stimulate your appetite and desire of eating a real treasure for the palate.

Not only Mr Turkell tasted these different sort of vinegar and recipes in many wonderful countries, but for the joy of all of us he returned home from all these different places and flavors, plenty of recipes to share with readers in this cookbook for creating with vinegar the best recipe for every occasion and taste.

And...If you want to try to produce your own vinegar, all the instructions for living this adventure in first person!

Beautiful pictures as always! I know that you will fall in love for this new temptation by ABRAMS.

I thank NetGalley and ABRAMS for this eBook.



Anna Maria Polidori

The California Garden Tour by Donald Olson

The California Garden Tour by Donald Olson will be published soon by Timber Press a specialized American publishing house about gardens, plants and flowers. This one is an interesting book about the most iconic, important gardens of this superb and diversified State of the West American Coast that it is: California. 

A dream for many thanks in general at the good weather,California offers spectacular views, thanks to the extension of this State, but also wonderful landscapes, beautiful corners.
We will also find different kind of weather and so diversified  plants, and flowers.

The book is divided in sections: Northern California, East Bay, Sonoma & Vicinity, Central and North Coast, Southern California starting with Los Angeles & Vicinity, Pasadena & Vicinity, South Coast, Santa Barbara & Vicinity, Palm Springs & Vicinity, San Diego & Vicinity.

In each section you will find the various private mansions, parks or universities gardens of the area where you live in or where maybe you are in vacation in at the moment and a visit in some of these places don't appear to be bad considering that it is summer-time.
From the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden with its carnivorous plants, to the Getty Center and Getty Villa in which they incorporated diversified genre of plants including beautiful superb succulents but also romantic flowers, passing through The Secret Garden of Monterey located in the heart of the old part of the city,  to the beautiful Californian vineyards seen in all their beauty thanks to the chapter dedicated at the Ferrary-Carano vineyards and winery,  Alcatraz won't disappoint you as well. You can't believe it, but they created a stunning and remarkable garden in the island and considering the weather, plants and flowers are pretty interesting.

I thank NetGalley and Timber Press for this ebook.

Anna Maria Polidori

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland

Lost For Words by Stephanie Butland a book that will be published by Bonnier Zaffre this next April 20th has been  love at first...word!

This book is dense, cured, spectacularly interesting, a great literary work according to my point of view and surely dedicated to all the book lovers and bookworms of this world.

It was interesting to read The Lost Words also because of the informations about second-hand books market. I didn't know of a lot of it although I buy a lot of second-hand books.

Every book suggestion of Loveday here and there spectacularly important, rich and precious, and most of them...My favorite books! for sure.

When I opened the file for giving a look at this book I couldn't interrupt my reading anymore because captured by the narration and first words of Loveday.

Her words started to resonate in my mind and I felt the urgency of discovering much more of her life-story.

The narration is conducted in first person by Loveday, "interrupted" just for few pages close to the end for giving space to another central character of the book.

Loveday is the 25 years old protagonist of the tale, an acculturated shop girl of the second-hand-book owned by Archie and called The Lost Words.

The interior dialogue of Loveday will let you show the profound soul of this girl, her dreams, her fears, her expectations and her brutal skepticism of a happy life and the reason why one day she ended up to work in The Lost Words her favorite place in the world. Although young she has an important and sad past behind her but also a responsible life because she knows what it meant sufferance once.

Loveday after all doesn't want to avoid human contacts, just she thinks that with books is more easy.

More easy to communicate, more easy to find a connection than not with other human beings. And she is scared. Scared to commit the errors of a past she would want to remove although bittersweet and in the first time surely beautiful.
Scared to become like her parents.

Loveday has a profound respect, gratitude for Archie the owner of The Lost Words Book Shop because once she hired her giving her the opportunity to work in a privileged place. A place where a book can cost few pennies but also much more and where culture is also synonymy of antique, precious, delicate.

Loveday won't miss to tell us in a sort of mental-time-travel and flashbacks, what happened in the past to her family, a normal one with some problems.

A secret she would want to reveal to all her dear ones but that, being pretty discreet she doesn't for not ruin any kind of relationship. Thinking that maybe she wouldn't be loved anymore if she would tell the truth, because sometimes people don't want truth but lies.

Scared by a possible relationship with a man because of her past, she is diffident.

Nathan a poet and a man able to understand her maybe  can changes her moody idea of love although it seems that Loveday is only grateful to him for his company.

But: if someone would tell to Nathan something of her past and he would change idea about her? asks at some point to herself a scared Loveday.

From the past in fact there are some worrying signals...

Arrivals of old books of her family, mostly classics, and then a cookbook with a postcard and more.

What is it going on?

And who can be the sender of all these books?

Who knows: maybe her past boyfriend, with a sick love for her. Rob...

Maybe it is just love.

I did appreciate and I cried for sure reading the words of Loveday, in the wonderful beautiful last poem dedicated to someone she loved immensely.

I found the book plenty of wonderful values: gratitude, solidity, difficulty sorted out thanks to love, real help, sometimes not visible but always there, love for reading and love for learning, love for life, love for new starts and new beginnings, forgiveness and understanding.

I highly suggest this book to all the book lovers of this world.

It is...Fascinating. Truly fascinating and spectacular.

And as it says Loveday at the end in a poem:

"A Bookshop is not
magic, but it can
slowly heal your
heart."

I thank NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for this book. 



Anna Maria Polidori

Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked--and Fried, Too! A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes by Raghavan Iyer

Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked--and Fried, Too! A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes by Raghavan Iyer published by  Workman Publishing Company last November is a great celebration of the most known tuber of this world: the potato. Loved by everyone I have always loved potatoes so badly as well!
Maybe I don't eat all the rest of veggies, I prefer the first, in general pasta and a good fruit for lunch but during dinner-time potatoes are a constant in our kitchen. Maybe it's because we plant them, maybe because potatoes are versatile dishes that can be as said properly by the title of this book smashed, mashed, boiled, and baked, fried sometimes. So cooked in so many ways that they can meet the favorable thumb up from everyone or most of us.

We also cook them in the fireplace and they're delicious. Different taste for sure. More profound and intense.

In this book written by Raghavan Iyer we will be introduce in the reign of potatoes so many kind! and different, very diversified recipes taken from different places in this world.

A great tribute at the potato-world and at the diversified ways in which it's seen, baked, cooked, "treated" in the world and at the different kind of tubers as well!
I loved the enthusiasm  with which this book has been written, a topic loved by the author so badly you will see!

I highly recommend it to all the potato lovers but in general this cookbook is indispensable in every kitchen of every American family.
It's colored, funny, plenty of great recipes some of them exotic, and also wonderful pictures. More than this: what can you ask?



Anna Maria Polidori

Making Love Potions by Stephanie L. Tourles

Making Love Potions - 64 All-Natural Recipes for Irresistible Herbal Aphrodisiacs - is a magical book that will be published on Nov 29th by Storey Publishing.

The book  is dedicated to all that people in love in search of a best relationship and intimacy with the partner.

Herbs once were our medicines and we know for sure that most of them have some aphrodisiac effects in our body, bettering our mood, relaxing our mind, giving more vitality.

As the author remarks, there is not a perfect aphrodisiac for our body. Each of us must discover the proper one and I am more than sure that thanks to this book you will find the best one for you and your companion.
All the recipes presented are great for the most diversified occasions.

The book starts to analyze the Hibiscus a sort of pink tea, but without coffein, then cranberry lemonade, cherry kissing cordial, chocolate vanilla cordial.

A special explanation will involve the cordials and their arrivals on the table with various recipes.

Scentual treasures is a chapter for the personal body hygiene and cure. Body powder, perfumes, oils, able to bring joy and happiness and stimulate love with appropriate recipes for him and for her.

Then it's the turn of the Aromatic Bath (salt etc) and then the so-called lubricants.

Love potions another interesting chapter with more than a touch of magic.

The book then will treat in special sections  the herb, fruits, plants spices discovered in this love-conspiracy-travel through these pages. The author will give  you informations, contraindications and all the necessary for every herb, fruit, spice, for trying to see if that kind of product is the best one for you or your partner.

Richly illustrated and colored I warmly suggest to you this book. It can be good also as a gift for someone special in your life in every moment of the year.

I thank NetGalley for this book!

Anna Maria Polidori