Dash Fan Book Reviews

Butterflies  by Julianna Photopoulos  Thank you to Amber Books Ltd & Netgalley   for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷 Book Information Butterflies and moths hold an enduring fascination for their unusual life cycle, as they change from one creature into another.  Butterflies  is an outstanding collection of photographs showcasing nature’s most beautiful and often elusive butterflies and moths – members of the Lepidoptera order – in the variety of their natural habitats. With 17,500 species of butterfly and 160,000 species of moth in the world today, they can be found on every continent apart from Antarctica, and in every nation. Arranged in chapters covering some of the most beautiful and interesting types of butterfly and moth, their habitats, their transition from egg to caterpillar and from chrysalid to adult, as well as their behaviour, the book reveals little-known facts about their life cycle, a...

The Official Peaky Blinders Cookbook 50 Recipes Selected by The Shelby Company Ltd by  Rob Morris Thank you to  Quarto Publishing & Netgalley  for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼🌷 Book Information Have you ever wanted to eat like the Peaky Blinders? With this first official cookbook, you can now take a unique culinary journey into the world of the Shelby's. Filled with  50 delicious and evocative recipes,  the book takes inspiration from the iconic locations the infamous gang inhabits, from the bar at  The Garrison,  to the glamour of the  Eden Club  and the extravagance of  Arrow House. The recipes in this book transport you into the rich and murky world Tommy Shelby and his associates lived in, evoking the  warm and hearty meals  which would have kept the gang going day and night. From  filling family fare , to snacks, sandwiches and bar food, as ...

Country Kitchen Cookbook (A Collection of Traditional American  Home-Cooked Recipes) by Jennifer Boudinot Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for my copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃 Book Information Celebrate country cooking with over 100 quintessentially American recipes. Apple pie, hamburgers, fried chicken. Some foods just take us back home. They evoke the feel of summer evenings on the lawn playing baseball, winter gatherings around a roaring fire, spring picnics, and fall football games on campus. For most of us,  good times and good food naturally go together , keeping families close and memories strong. The culinary melting pot that is American country cooking accommodates the great variety of tastes and cultures to be found here, creating a range of specialties that can be called favorites either regionally or across the country. This wonderful cookbook gathers together recipes that h...

Marilyn Monroe by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara   Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for my copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃👻🧛‍♀️🎃 Book Information In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the true story of Marilyn Monroe, the iconic movie star. Little Norma Jeane grew up between foster homes, an orphanage, and a family friend’s house—where she was forbidden to watch movies. Through her difficult childhood and teen years, she dreamed of becoming an actress. One day, a photographer spotted her and gave her a modelling contract, and from this day she was “Marilyn Monroe.” Though much-admired, she suffered from pre-performance anxiety, which was a challenge for her in her career. Her films grossed over $200 million but she was known to have said: “I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.” This inspiring book fea...

Our Wonderful World Activity Book  by Ben Handicott Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley  for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information In this interactive companion to Our Wonderful World, you'll find trivia quizzes, search-and-find challenges, spot-the-difference games and so much more – with over 50 stickers! Geography, history and culture spill from the pages in this luxuriously illustrated activity book. Bite-size information and awesome facts about the regions accompany each activity, with stickers to get creative with at the back of the book. Spanning the world from Chile to China and New Zealand to the Netherlands, take on super-fun activities and puzzles as you discover more about the most awesome places on Earth. This activity-packed round-the-world trip includes: *Search-and-find challenges * Spot-the-difference games * Code-breaker challenges * Word searches * Matching games ...

The World's Most Pointless Animals  Or are they? by Philip Bunting Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley  for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information   The World’s Most Pointless Animals is a witty, quirky, colorfully-illustrated book featuring fascinating facts about some very silly animals…who we find are perhaps not so pointless after all. From familiar animals like giraffes (who don’t have any vocal cords) through to those that surely should not even exist, such as the pink fairy armadillo (absurdly huge front claws, super tough protective shell in baby pink, particularly susceptible to stress), our planet is full of some pretty weird and wonderful animals. For example: Koalas spend up to 18 hours a day asleep! Pandas are born bright pink, deaf, and blind. Dumbo octopuses flap their big fin-like ears to move around. A Narwhal’s tusk grows through its upper lip—ouch! With hil...

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls:  100 Real-Life  Tales of Black Girl Magic  by Lilly Workneh, Jestine Ware, Diana Odero,  Sonja Thomas, CaShawn Thompson Thank you to Rebel Girls and Netgalley for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information The latest installment in the  New York Times  bestselling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series, featuring 100 barrier-breaking Black women and girls who showcase the spirit of Black Girl Magic. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Real-Life Tales of Black Girl Magic  celebrates the lives and accomplishments of 100 barrier-breaking Black women and girls who showcase the spirit of Black Girl Magic. Edited by award-winning journalist Lilly Workneh, with a foreword by CaShawn Thompson, creator of the hashtag #BlackGirlsAreMagic, the book includes stories of real women from all walks of life written in fairy tale style. Arranged in alphabeti...

The Secret Ingredient Cookbook by Kelly Senyei  Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  and Netgalley  for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information 125 family-friendly recipes based on the author's popular Just a Taste food site, with each recipe featuring a totally unexpected ingredient Kelly Senyei, founder of the food site Just a Taste, has garnered millions of fans with a delicious hook--every one of her recipes has a secret ingredient, something totally unexpected that takes a dish from common to extraordinary. Some of the 125 tried-and-tested recipes are surprisingly simple, like her Vanilla Bean Drop Doughnuts made with Greek yogurt, or the Sweet and Tangy Baked Chicken Wings made with blackberry jam. Other recipes are nothing short of genius, such as the Kale Panzanella made with croissants, the Healthy White Chicken Chili made with hummus, or the Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas made with cocoa powder...

Free London  by Yolanda Zappaterra; Sarah Guy Thank you to Quarto  Publishing and Netgalley  for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.   🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information A small and nifty guide to the best free activities across London – covering everything from architectural gems and panoramic views, to green spaces, galleries and unique events. In a bustling and often expensive metropolis, being able to make the most out of what this city has to offer can sometimes be challenging.  Free London  takes in the full breadth of experiences on offer, including centuries-old traditions, the world’s best art, hidden green spaces and unexpected views of the city. See London from a new perspective and start planning your next day out – for free. Perfect for tourists, visitors and Londoners alike. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  My Review 4☆ A Fun and Informative Guide To Freebies in and around London! Free London is...

Creative Crochet Projects by Stephanie Pokorny Thank you to Fox Chapel Publishing and Netgalley for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily . 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information (via Amazon UK) Crochet with creativity! 12 fun crochet projects  with a charming, offbeat sense of style Create kids' toys , beanies, buntings, scarves, a beehive mobile, and more Step-by-step instructions , coordinating photography, and skill-building tutorials Beginner-friendly  introduction to common stitches and crochet basics Author Stephanie Pokorny  has a one-of-a-kind style that has both wide appeal and originality You've never seen a crochet book like this before! Whether you want to learn how to crochet or you're looking for fresh, new projects to try,  Creative Crochet Projects  is for you! Featuring a variety of 12 colorful, fun, and quirky crochet projects with a charming, offbeat sense of style, this project book starts off easy, slowly in...

The Encyclopedia of  Unbelievable Facts  by Jane Wilsher Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information Test your knowledge with 500 perplexing questions to bamboozle and delight trivia buffs both young and old with The Encyclopedia of Unbelievable Facts. How many kinds of germs live in your bellybutton? Which creature takes a three-year-long nap? If someone asked you to spare a zeptosecond, how long would that be? Has the Leaning Tower of Pisa ever been straight? And what exactly happens to an astronaut’s dirty laundry? The dazzling facts are accompanied by bright, whimsical illustrations and the questions are organized into 10 chapters: Human Body, Science and Technology, Animals, Natural World, Space, Mindbending Stuff, History, Customs and Culture, Our World, and Arts and Entertainment. Written in simple, easy-to-understand language by author Jane Wilsher,...

30 Day Kick Start Plan  by Joe Wicks Thank you to Pan Macmillan / Bluebird and Netgalley for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻⚘🦋🌻  Book Information Bringing motivation to the nation! Want to cook better, healthier food? Know what you should do, but don't know where to start? This 30-day plan from the nation's favourite PE teacher will help you create new habits, keep on track and feel brilliant inside and out. Food and fitness sensation Joe Wicks, aka the Body Coach, has helped millions of people to keep fit and cook healthy, simple recipes. He's back with his  30 Day Kick Start Plan  to make it easier than ever before to make healthy food, lose weight and get more active. Inside are one hundred delicious, sustaining recipes and six brand-new HIIT workouts to help you get in shape. Combined with weekly plans that can help you prep like a boss, this approach is easy to personalize according to your own day-to-day h...