Keto Slow Cooker & One-Pot Meals, by Martina Slajerova

Format: e-ARC, 208 pages

Publisher: Fair Winds Press

Published: 1 December 2017

ISBN: 9781592337804

Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine

Back cover blurb: Slow cooker and one pot meals are the ultimate convenience food. Just fix and forget, then enjoy a nourishing meal when everyone gets home.

Unfortunately, most slow cooker and one-pot recipes depend on processed, high-carbohydrate ingredients like noodles, potatoes, and other high-glycemic ingredients which aren’t allowed on the ketogenic diet.

Keto Slow Cooker & One-Pot Meals lets you enjoy your slow cooker while maintaining your ketogenic diet, too!

Filled with 100 keto recipes for everything from satisfying soups, to quick skillet meals, and savory stews, you’ll always be able to get a healthy ketogenic meal on the table with no fuss!

My review: I was drawn to this title after hearing about the amazing weight loss of a couple of my friends who follow this diet. However, I was underwhelmed by the book and didn’t find any recipe I really felt like I wanted to try. Probably it’s just me.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 2/5

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Candy Is Magic: Real Ingredients, Modern Recipes, by Jami Curl

Format: e-ARC, 288 pages

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 14 March, 2017

ISBN: 9780399578397

Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine

Back cover blurb: This game-changing candy cookbook from the owner of Quin, a popular Portland-based candy company, offers more than 200 achievable recipes using real, natural ingredients for everything from flavor-packed fruit lollipops to light-as-air marshmallows.

Jami Curl, candy-maker extraordinaire and owner of the candy company Quin has been called the “new Willy Wonka” by Bon Appetit. Her debut book, This is Candy, includes the recipes that have made Quin a favorite with local and national media, foodies, chefs, and bloggers. But This is Candy is not just a candy book. Instead, Jami’s approach to candy forms the foundation for a world of other confections–from bacon glazed with maple and black pepper caramel to a clever Chocolate Magic Dust that can be turned into chocolate pudding, chocolate sauce, and even a chocolate lollipop. Packed with more than 200 recipes for totally original confections like Whole Roasted Strawberry Lollipops, Bergamot Caramels, Fig & Coffee Gumdrops, and Pinot Noir cotton candy, as well as serious tips and advice for making amazing candy at home.

My review: I never thought I would be bored by a book about sweets but, sadly, I was. This wasn’t the cookbook I was expecting. Instead, the first quarter is a comprehensive technical explanation of the methodology and equipment needed for candy making, and then there are a series of recipes for infusions and flavoured sugars before we get to any real recipes. Even then, these all seem to be very similar variations on a theme, covering lollipops, marshmallow, gum drops and caramels. The same flavours are repeated for each type of sweet. I really would have liked a bit more variation and something a bit more “out there.”

Maybe there weren’t enough photos. I found the hand drawings a bit amateurish. The rabbit cake was certainly underwhelming. I know I didn’t need several pages devoted to making cinnamon sugar or how to put together cocoa powder and sugar to make a hot chocolate mix.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

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Orphan Black: Helsinki, by Graeme Manson, John Fawcett, Heli Kennedy and Denton J. Tipton

Format: e-ARC, 120 pages

Publisher: IDW Publishing

To Be Published: July 12, 2016

ISBN: 9781631405839

Genre: Comics & Graphic

Back cover blurb: Helsinki. Spoken in hushed tones, the word means almost certain death for the clones of Project Leda. Learn the dark secrets of this codename in this special event miniseries by co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson.

My review: This left me very confused. I’m a big fan of Orphan Black but not usually a graphic novel reader, so maybe it’s just me. My ARC copy began abruptly with no cover or forward material, so I felt lost from the beginning, unsure if what I was reading was really the start of the story. It is set in 2001 when the clones are 17, so they don’t look all that much like Tatiana Maslany, or even like each other, in a lot of the frames. This added to my confusion, along with the fact these are all new clones not seen on the TV series to date.

I only felt comfortable about halfway through when some familiar names appeared – Rachel, Ferdinand, Dr Leekie and Katja – but there didn’t seem to be much of a plot and I certainly don’t feel like Helsinki was sufficiently explained. Contributing to that was the fact my ARC ended at 82 pages rather than 120 as GoodReads lists the book to be – the “Fiery Finale” section was missing so I cannot comment about whether anything was resolved. A graphic novel is a great idea for this series, but I’m sad to say I’m left a little cold by its execution.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 2/5

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