Book Reviews

4.8

Published by Clarkson Potter in March 2022, Half Baked Harvest Every Day is the #1 New York Times bestselling cookbook from Tieghan Gerard — the blogger and author behind the Half Baked Harvest brand — collecting more than 120 all-new recipes built around wholesome decadence, minimally processed ingredients, and smart twists on comforting everyday favorites. Publishers Weekly awarded the collection a starred review, and it has earned a devoted following among Gerard's millions of blog readers and cookbook fans. This review assesses the book's content, organisation, and published reception — not a kitchen test.

1984 by George Orwell

4.7

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four — published in 1949 and widely considered one of the most consequential novels of the 20th century — is a dystopian speculative fiction work whose central concepts have entered the cultural mainstream in a way achieved by very few books, making it essential reading for anyone interested in the literature of political power and surveillance.

The Group Therapy Card Deck: CBT, DBT, ACT by Judith Belmont

Judith Belmont's The Group Therapy Card Deck: CBT, DBT, ACT and Positive Psychology Tips and Tools, published by PESI Publishing in September 2020, is a 99-card professional resource designed to support mental health practitioners running group therapy sessions. Organized across five color-coded sections covering CBT, DBT, ACT, Positive Psychology, and team-building, it positions itself as a ready-to-use facilitation tool that brings evidence-based frameworks directly into the group room. This review covers the deck's content and structure as described by its publisher and available sources, not hands-on clinical use.

Mrs. Brown's Kitchen: Measure with Your Heart by Heather Brown

Heather Brown's debut cookbook translates her million-follower TikTok cooking account into a print collection of home-cooked recipes, hacks, and shortcuts — a warm first-time effort from a self-taught Newfoundlander with a genuine passion for accessible, comfort-driven cooking.

Great Thinkers: Simple tools from sixty great thinkers to improve by The School of Life

Great Thinkers: Simple Tools from Sixty Great Thinkers to Improve Your Life Today is a wide-ranging illustrated reference book that distils the intellectual canon of The School of Life — drawing on philosophy, political theory, sociology, psychotherapy, art, architecture, and literature — into accessible profiles designed to help readers navigate the dilemmas, joys, and griefs of everyday life.

The Testaments (TV Tie-in): A Novel by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, the Booker Prize-winning sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, returns to the theocratic republic of Gilead fifteen years on, delivering a thriller-paced narrative through three distinct female voices — Aunt Lydia, Agnes Jemima, and Daisy — whose converging stories expose the regime's internal rot. Now a Hulu Original series, this media tie-in edition from Vintage keeps one of contemporary fiction's most celebrated sequels firmly in the spotlight.

Jun 23, 2026

Stop Letting Everything Affect You: How to Stop Taking Things Personally, Control Your by Hayes Mercer

4.5

Hayes Mercer's independently published self-help guide targets readers who find themselves routinely derailed by criticism, rejection, social silence, and everyday unpredictability — and promises a practical, tactical framework for interrupting emotional overreactions rather than simply urging readers to "think positive."

Jun 26, 2026

Kentucky Bucket List Adventure Guide: Explore 100 Offbeat Destinations You Must Visit! by Paul Mckee

4.4

Paul Mckee's Kentucky Bucket List Adventure Guide is a travel reference guide published by Bridge Press (October 2021) that catalogs more than 100 offbeat destinations across Kentucky, pairing each entry with practical logistics—driving instructions, GPS coordinates, best visit times, weather notes, and estimated expenses—to help readers plan real trips rather than simply daydream about them. This review is based on the book's documented contents and available published information, not hands-on use in the field.

Jun 26, 2026

Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris

4.4

Kate Harris's debut travelogue Lands of Lost Borders is a richly layered account of a nearly yearlong bicycle journey along the ancient Silk Road, winner of the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize, and praised by travel writer Pico Iyer as "a modern classic." Published by Dey Street Books, it fuses adventure narrative, natural history, and meditation on borders — geographic, political, and personal — into a work that stands as one of the more ambitious debut memoirs of its era.

Jun 25, 2026

The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends by Rachel Friedman

4.4

Rachel Friedman's memoir chronicles how a self-described "good girl" — a college graduate with no post-graduation plan and a lifelong habit of playing it safe — impulsively bought a ticket to Ireland and ended up on a two-year, three-continent journey that reshaped her understanding of herself and the world. Published by Bantam in 2011, the book traces her arc from Galway to Sydney to South America alongside her free-spirited Australian friend Carly, delivering an honest account of what it costs — and yields — to abandon the perfect plan.

Jun 23, 2026

Batgirl of Burnside: DC Compact Comics Edition by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher

Batgirl of Burnside: DC Compact Comics Edition collects the celebrated run by writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher with art by Babs Tarr and Irene Koh, following Barbara Gordon as she trades the grim streets of Gotham for the vibrant, youthful energy of the Burnside neighborhood — a creative reinvention that reshaped how DC told Batgirl's story.

WordPress Web Application Development - Second Edition by Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake

Published by Packt Publishing in May 2015, this second edition of WordPress Web Application Development is a practical, scenario-driven technical guide aimed squarely at WordPress developers and designers who want to build modular, scalable web applications efficiently. Ratnayake draws on his background as a freelance developer and plugin creator to walk readers through leveraging WordPress's core features — while honestly confronting the platform's limitations — to deliver applications on tight timelines and limited budgets. The book's premise-driven, real-world approach makes it a useful desk reference for practitioners already comfortable with basic web development, though its 2015 publication date means readers must weigh its coverage against the pace of WordPress's ongoing evolution.