Book Reviews

4.9

Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish is a New York Times bestselling children's picture book, originally published in 1992 by NordSüd Verlag and widely known for its signature holographic foil scales, that tells the story of a vain and beautiful fish who must learn to share in order to find friendship — a simple premise that has generated decades of sincere admiration and equally sincere critical debate.

Half Baked Harvest Cookbook: Recipes from My Barn in the Mountains by Tieghan Gerard

4.8

Tieghan Gerard's debut cookbook translates the beloved Half Baked Harvest blog into 125 recipes designed for maximum flavor with minimum fuss, anchored by her signature farm-to-table mountain aesthetic and accompanied by a striking photograph for every dish. This review assesses the book's content, organisation, and published reception from available sources — not a kitchen test.

Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game by Walker Deibel

4.7

Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game is a 2018 finance book by Walker Deibel, published by Lioncrest Publishing, that makes a structured, experience-backed case for acquiring an existing business rather than launching one from scratch — walking prospective buyers from initial opportunity-spotting through deal execution and ownership transition.

Apr 14, 2026

Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy: A Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard

4.7

Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy is Tieghan Gerard's fourth cookbook, published by Clarkson Potter in November 2024, and a New York Times bestseller. It delivers more than 120 comfort-food recipes designed for speed and big flavor — most completable in under forty-five minutes, many in a single pot or pan — making it a natural fit for home cooks who want soul-warming meals without a complex ingredient list. This review assesses the book's content, structure, and reception from published sources, not a kitchen test.

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford

4.6

India Hayford's debut novel places a ghost-talking, snake-handling young woman named Genevieve Charbonneau at the center of a 1967 Arkansas homecoming tangled with folk magic, found family, and long-buried trauma — a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selection that has drawn comparisons to Delia Owens and Barbara Kingsolver.

The Complete Book of Home Organization by Toni Hammersley

4.6

Toni Hammersley's The Complete Book of Home Organization (Weldon Owen, 2016) is a practical home-organization manual that walks readers through 30 distinct home spaces, pairing storage solutions and cleaning tips with space-saving strategies and a structured 15-week whole-home challenge — a thorough resource for anyone ready to tackle clutter systematically.

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

4.5

Fake Skating is a young adult romance novel by Lynn Painter, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on September 30, 2025, that pairs a fake-dating premise with a hockey-loving Minnesota setting, childhood-sweetheart tension, and themes of found family — earning a number one spot on the New York Times Young Adult Hardcover Best Seller list for fifteen of its first twenty-eight weeks on the chart.

Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake

4.4

First published in 1999 and reissued in a revised edition in 2011, Rupert Sheldrake's Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home is a wide-ranging scientific investigation into unexplained animal behavior — from dogs that anticipate their owners' returns at unexpected times, to cats that appear to know when the vet visit is imminent, to animals that forewarn of epileptic seizures and seismic events. Drawing on a vast collection of case histories and proposing his theory of morphic fields, Sheldrake challenges the limits of conventional biology and asks readers to reconsider what animals — and the invisible bonds between them and humans — are truly capable of.

Tell Me Everything: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

4.3

Tell Me Everything is a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah's Book Club pick, and a Women's Prize for Fiction shortlistee in which Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout reunites readers with Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess in autumn-drenched Crosby, Maine — weaving a murder investigation, a profound new friendship, and meditations on memory and meaning into what the publisher describes as Strout operating at the height of her powers.

Something in the Water: Reese's Book Club: A Novel by Catherine Steadman

4.0

Catherine Steadman's debut novel Something in the Water is the #1 New York Times bestseller and Reese's Book Club pick that launched her career, following newlyweds Erin and Mark whose dream honeymoon in Bora Bora is shattered by a dangerous underwater discovery — and the devastating choice it forces them to make. An ITW Thriller Award finalist named one of the best books of the year by both Glamour and Newsweek, it sold more than one million copies and was acquired by Fox 2000 Pictures for adaptation, marking it as one of the standout psychological thrillers of its era.

Liberation Psychology: 7 Steps To Self-Rejuvenation by Julius Spes

Julius Spes's Liberation Psychology: 7 Steps to Self-Rejuvenation is a concise self-help guide designed to help readers break free from the psychological and emotional weight of daily life through seven structured, actionable steps aimed at mental freedom and personal renewal.

Apr 14, 2026

The Simple Guide to Getting Active With Your Dog by Margaret H. Bonham

Published by TFH Publications in 2003, The Simple Guide to Getting Active With Your Dog is a practical how-to guide by Margaret H. "Maggie" Bonham — a Dog Writers Association Best Breed Book Award winner and experienced sled dog racer — designed to help dog owners improve the health and well-being of both themselves and their dogs while deepening the human-canine bond. Drawing on her hands-on background in training, working, and playing with dogs, Bonham delivers a concise, comprehensive survey of canine activities ranging from flyball and agility to freestyle, framing participation as accessible and rewarding for owners and dogs at all levels.