The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle - A Great Christmas Read

I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books for review.

This has been a great year for me for books.  I've had several that I thought were the "I can't put it down" variety.  The 13th Gift is in that category for me.

Mrs. Smith jumps  without preamble into her story.  Her husband had recently died. She and her children were trying to get through each day with the huge emptiness his death left.  The family, except for the youngest child, just wanted Christmas to pass without them.  The kindness of anonymous "True Friends" who left a simple gift on their doorstep each of the 12 days of Christmas pulled them together and helped them begin to heal and find joy in their lives again.

This story was beautiful. It touched my Grinchy stone heart and managed to wrench tears from me a few times.  It's certainly one I will recommend to our patrons.

To buy on Amazon.com

A Must-Have for a Well-Stocked Bar

I received a free copy of The Essential Bar Book from Blogging for Books by Jennifer Fiedler for review.  I am not a sophisticated drinker - cheap wine and cocktail mixes have been the only things in my repertoire so far.  My husband and I are preparing to turn our front room (currently the "dog room") into a more usable space: a bar!  Of course, I will need to know what I need to stock it. This is a perfect book for beginners like me.

The definitions and recipes are arranged alphabetically, making it easy to flip through and find what you're looking for.  The small size will make it easy to tuck into a drawer or on a shelf of a bar area.

This little book has a little bit of everything - dictionary, history of recipes (which is pretty fascinating), recipes themselves.  What I love most about this book (and there is a lot that I love) are the stories behind each cocktail.  Who thinks about where their Flame of Love originated?  The story goes it was created for Dean Martin who was bored with regular martinis.  Other things I love about this book is the compact size and that each recipe gives you the proper glassware to serve the cocktail in (something I would not even think about).  I can't even say I wish there were photos included because that would have ruined the perfect size of this book.

ISBN: 978-1-60774-635-9

To Purchase on Amazon: