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Lirahlu (37 KP) rated Dread Nation in Books

Mar 1, 2019  
Dread Nation
Dread Nation
Justina Ireland | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
7.6 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Amazing Alternative History Horror
In a post-Civil War America where neither side won because of the Zombie Apocalypse, Jane McKeene studies to become an Attendant – part body guard, part chaperone – as part of the Native and Negro Reeducation Act due to the breakdown of institutionalized slavery. While she excels at the fighting and weaponry, Jane continually fails her etiquette lessons despite being the daughter of a wealthy, white plantation owner. While other girls at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore County, Maryland desire an Attendant’s life with a wealthy family, Jane’s one goal is to return home to Rose Hill Plantation in Kentucky. Just weeks shy of graduation, Jane, her ex-beau Red Jack, and her light-skinned “frenemy” are sent West to a “Survivalist” pioneer town where blacks are still very much treated as slaves and forced to fight “shamblers” on the front lines with rusty, ineffective weapons. Though segregated with the rest of the blacks, Jane refuses to accept the town’s ingrained injustice – even when the price of resistance is death.
Dread Nation is a fantastic mashup of the alternate history and horror genres. Ireland’s characters are intricate and flawed, and therefore believable. Ireland does not shy away from the horrific history of slavery and racism in the United States and the characters and world she’s built around them are stronger for facing these issues head-on. An absolute must-read for anyone who is not shy about gore and loves a strong female character who can hold her own in a fight.
  
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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People in Books

Apr 2, 2019  
The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People
The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People
Amy Stross | 2016 | Home & Garden
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is stuffed full of useful information! It focuses on growing food in your yard when you don't have much time to spend on the yard, so there's a lot of permaculture techniques and gardens that are largely hands-off once you get them set up, which is exactly what I want. With the chronic fatigue, I often don't have the energy to get outside and work on a garden, and Maryland summers exhaust me simply by stepping outside. I really want to garden and grow food, but I need easy ways to do that.

The Suburban Micro-Farm delved into planting hedgerows, which is something we've been thinking of, rain gardens (which we probably should do, we have a couple places in the yard that do not drain well), and tree guilds, which are plantings that go under trees to work together in little micro-environments. One of the tree guilds Stross specifically talks about is a Black Walnut tree guild, which I was excited to see because we have a huge, beautiful mature Black Walnut that I've been trying to figure out how to plant around. Black Walnuts produce juglone, a chemical that kills a lot of plants, so you have to be very mindful of what you plant near them.

This is an excellent reference book for suburban gardens, and she has lots of extra resources on her site, The Tenth Acre Farm. I will be exploring those as well!

You can read all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2412 KP) rated Final Fondue in Books

Nov 15, 2020  
Final Fondue
Final Fondue
Maya Corrigan | 2016 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fatal Festival
The town of Bayport, Maryland is holding a festival to celebrate their tri-centennial. Val Deniston is participating with a booth featuring food from her café, while her grandfather is hoping to win one of the contests with his chocolate fondue. And Val has talked Grandfather into renting out some rooms in the house they share to visitors in town for the weekend. These particular guests are there to start work on planning a wedding to take place in the area the next spring. When one of them turns up dead in the backyard, Val begins to question if the killer got their intended victim, or if someone else was the target. Can she figure out what happened?

This book has a solid mystery with great clues sprinkled throughout. Even so, I only began to piece it together about the time that Val started figuring it out. Val’s former life in New York City pops up in a big way in this book, and, while I enjoyed the way this cozy trope played out in this book, I did feel it slowed things down a little. The more I read this series, the more I’ve come to love the characters, especially Val’s grandfather, who is a lot of fun. The suspects are distinct and kept me guessing. At the back of the book are six recipes, including a couple of chocolate fondue recipes, all of which have five or fewer ingredients. This is another fun entry in a tasty series.
  
    Siraj Wahhaj

    Siraj Wahhaj

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    Siraj Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn. His mother was a nurse and his...