Bee Reviews: Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees

Format: Kindle edition

Published: 14 May 2020

Genres: Historical fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

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World War II has just ended, and Britain has established the Control Commission for Germany, which oversees their zone of occupation. The Control Commission hires British civilians to work in Germany, rebuild the shattered nation and prosecute war crimes. Somewhat aimless, bored with her job as a provincial schoolteacher, and unwilling to live with her stuffy genteel parents any longer, twentysomething Edith Graham applies for a job with the Commission—but is instead recruited by the OSS. To them, Edith is perfect spy material…single, ordinary-looking, with a college degree in German. And there’s another thing—the OSS knows that Edith’s brother went to Oxford with one of their most hunted war criminals, Count Kurt von Stabenow, who Edith remembers all too well from before the war.

Intrigued by the challenge, Edith heads to Germany armed with a convincing cover story: she’s an unassuming schoolteacher sent to help resurrect German primary schools. To send information back to her OSS handlers in London, Edith has crafted the perfect alter ego, cookbook author Stella Snelling, who writes a popular magazine cookery column that embeds crucial intelligence within the recipes she collects. But occupied Germany is awash with other spies, collaborators, and opportunists, and as she’s pulled into their world, Edith soon discovers that no one is what they seem to be. The closer she gets to uncovering von Stabenow’s whereabouts—and the network of German civilians who still support him—the greater the danger. 

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a fan of Celia Rees since I was a tween, and this novel, her first adult book, has not disappointed. This novel follows Edith and Dori, a pair of very cool spies, as they bring to justice Nazis who are on the brink of getting away with their atrocities.

I love historical fiction, but I’ve never read something like this before. The attention to detail makes this novel somewhat historically accurate. It goes into Nazi Germany, touches on Israel/Palestine, explores some fantastic war heroes, and more. It’s hard not to get immersed in this novel.

Edith and Dori make wonderful protagonists, although this novel is littered with complex characters and it’s difficult to know who to trust. The twists and turns make this novel every bit gripping as a post-WWII spy novel should be.

My only critique of this novel had to be the ending. It was wildly unsatisfying, felt rushed, and I’m still not over the injustice. It almost lost a star because of the ending, but I guess the point is perhaps that you really can’t have it all.

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

Format: Kindle edition, 288 pages

Published: 12 March 2019 by Ebury Digital

Genres: Non-fiction, self-help

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

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The gap between what it’s really like to be a woman and what people expect women to be is a primary cause of burnout, because we exhaust ourselves trying to close the space between the two. How can you ‘love your body’ when everything around you tells you you’re inadequate? How do you ‘lean in’ at work when you’re already giving 110% and aren’t recognized for it? How can you live happily and healthily in a world that is constantly telling you you’re too fat, too needy, too noisy and too selfish? Sisters Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., the bestselling author of Come as You Are, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, are here to help end the cycle of overwhelm and exhaustion, and confront the obstacles that stand between women and well-being. With insights from the latest science, prescriptive advice, and helpful worksheets and exercises, Burnout reveals:

* what you can do to complete the biological stress cycle – and return your body to a state of relaxation.
* how to manage the ‘monitor’ in your brain that regulates the emotion of frustration.
* how the Bikini Industrial Complex makes it difficult for women to love their bodies – and how to fight back.
* why rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are key to recovering from and preventing burnout.

Eye-opening, compassionate and optimistic, Burnout will completely transform the way we think about and manage stress, empowering women to thrive under pressure and enjoy meaningful yet balanced lives. All women will find something transformative in these pages – and be empowered to create positive and lasting change.

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Review

So, this book definitely does not warrant its worst reviews. I read this book and I loved it. Some common criticisms is that the narration is annoying (slightly, but not hugely). People also loathed the feminist perspective — to which I say, why do you hate yourselves?

This book is fundamentally for people who identify as women, and the issues that we face that are ingrained in us. It’s also more broadly about listening to your body, understanding when you’re stressed, and what you can do about this before it gets too bad, as it did for the main person being spoken about in the book.

I loved this book because even I, a person who frequents the self-help section in bookstores for my own leisure, took away a few things from this book. It’s written in a relatable style, and the authors break down relatively complex scientific concepts and put them forward in a way that anyone can understand them.

This book is both anecdotal and practical. So it contains a lot of stories, but also ways that you can practically change your life to avoid the burnout cycle. I would definitely recommend it to all women in my life.

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: The Fear-Fighter Manual: Lessons From a Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Format: Kindle edition

Published: 2 March 2021 by Quercus

Genres: Non-fiction, self-help

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

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Luvvie Ajayi Jones is known for her trademark wit, warmth, and perpetual truth-telling. But even she’s been challenged by the enemy of progress known as fear. She was once afraid to call herself a writer, and nearly skipped out on doing a TED talk that changed her life because of imposter syndrome. As she shares in The Fear-Fighter Manual: Lessons from a Professional Troublemaker, she’s not alone.

We’re all afraid. We’re afraid of asking for what we want because we’re afraid of hearing “no”. We’re afraid of being different, of being too much or not enough. We’re afraid of leaving behind the known for the unknown. But in order to do the things that will truly, meaningfully change our lives, we have to become professional troublemakers: people who are committed to not letting fear talk them out of the things they need to do or say to live free.

With humor and honesty, and guided by the influence of her professional troublemaking Nigerian grandmother, Funmilayo Faloyin, Luvvie walks us through what we must get right within ourselves before we can do the things that scare us; how to use our voice for a greater good; and how to put movement to the voice we’ve been silencing–because truth-telling is a muscle.

The point is not to be fearless, but to know we are afraid and charge forward regardless. It is to recognize that the things we must do are more significant than our fears. This book is about how to live boldly in spite of all the reasons we have to cower. Let’s go!

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Review

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

I will preface this review by saying I’m not familiar with Luvvie’s work. I haven’t read her debut novel, nor have I seen her TED talk. From this novel, she sounds like an immensely powerful, outstanding woman, and she aims to teach the reader about how they can be powerful too.

My issue with this book is I wasn’t sure most of the time if it’s self-help or memoir. It seemed to flit between the two. If it was a memoir, I would certainly give this book at least four stars. However, it’s marketed as self-help, and aside from mantras which the reader should by all means internalise, there is little actually to help. It’s like a TED talk but in words. For me, personally, if I need a shot of confidence, I’m more likely to watch a TED talk rather than pick up a book.

I have given it three stars because it certainly provides an insight into the life of an African American trying to make it in a white male dominated world, so hats off to Luvvie for providing this insight through her raw, undiluted honesty. In terms of self-help though, there wasn’t a lot here I felt I could take away.

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha#1)

Format: Kindle edition

Published: 5 June 2021

Genres: Fantasy, young adult

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book a few years back having obtained a copy from the publishers, but it’s only recently I realised I never reviewed it. (Sorry, publishers!)

So, here’s my review…

I decided to pick up this book because my friends always rave about Leigh Bardugo; I’ve heard many great things about her novels, from the Six of Crows series to the Shadow and Bone series. I don’t delve into YA or Fantasy as much as I used to back in the day, but I found this book a refreshing welcome back. I enjoyed everything from the way the story was told, to the characters, to the world that was built. I found it quite a simple book, easy to follow. For someone with the attention span of a nat, this is fabulous. For others with a much larger attention span who may be used to following complicated plotlines, this book might be somewhat lacking.

I told myself I would read the rest of the series but I haven’t accomplished this yet — watch this space for when I do though! The reviews will be posted here, much more timely.

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.

Bee Reviews: The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

Format: Kindle edition, 521 pages

Published: 14 November 2017 by HarperVoyager

Genres: Fantasy, historical fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Goodreads | Wordery

Among the bustling markets of eighteenth century Cairo, the city’s outcasts eke out a living swindling rich Ottoman nobles and foreign invaders alike.

But alongside this new world the old stories linger. Tales of djinn and spirits. Of cities hidden among the swirling sands of the desert, full of enchantment, desire and riches. Where magic pours down every street, hanging in the air like dust.

Many wish their lives could be filled with such wonder, but not Nahri. She knows the trades she uses to get by are just tricks and sleights of hand: there’s nothing magical about them. She only wishes to one day leave Cairo, but as the saying goes…

Be careful what you wish for.

A copy of this novel was given in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my god. I obtained this ARC in 2018 and I regret not reading it sooner. This book is everything! Based on Middle-Eastern myths and beliefs, Chakraborty has without a doubt given the world a showstopping fantasy novel.

So this book follows Nahri, an orphan, as she basically tries to look out for her own in the world. She’s never had anyone show her how to be or tell her who she is, so she’s a mystery unto herself. She’s not the most common protagonist, but she is still highly lovable, in part I think because it’s easy to be sympathetic towards her cause.

Nahri ends up meeting people who, for better or for worse, give her some insight into her past and change the world she lives in. Very exciting for Nahri. Not so fortunate for the rest of Daevabad who have happened across her path.

I loved this book for the fantasy and magical elements – it is so nice and different from the bogstandard fantasy novel about vampires and werewolves. I also loved this book because of the diverse range or characters, and the drama. It’s hard knowing who to trust, and there are twists and turns around every corners. And I both loved and hated that what I wanted to happen wouldn’t happen, so in that sense Chakraborty has done some A+ novel writing.

When I opened this book, I was almost set on not liking it. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because it’s been on my TBR for so long. But now I can’t wait until I read the rest of the series to find out what’s happened next. I absolutely LOVED this novel, and would highly recommend it to lovers of fantasy and/or historical fiction.

Have you read The City of Brass? Do you have any thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments!

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Looking for a mystery novel with a side of epic romance? The Songbird’s Secrets is out now on Amazon.

Beatrice is attempting to set up her career as a singer-songwriter, but with juggling university, friendships, fame, and a blossoming love, life turns out harder than she expected it to be. Grappling with adoring fans and the trials of a new love will be the least of Beatrice’s worries when one day she suddenly disappears, and it’s up to her husband to put together the pieces of where she may be, only to discover that perhaps he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did…

Flitting between past and present, The Songbird’s Secrets is a story about how we may not necessarily know those closest to us, told through a tale woven with love, laughter, mystery and drama.