Review: Honey, I'm Homemade Edited by May Berenbaum

            This title I first heard about in May during the Book Expo in NYC, the publisher handed out little postcards with info, a recipe, a little honey drop candy attached. I enjoyed the presentation of this marketing ploy immensely. Then I found out about netGalley and found the same title was available there as well a few months later. Yay!
            Now granted, the first part of this book is a treatise on the historical production and use of honey through the ages to present day but it was well written and not stuffy in nature, thus an enjoyable seventeen page read. Then the sweet part began, first a chapter on cooking with Honey, sort of the do's and don'ts section.
           After that each chapter is devoted to a different type of baked goods with honey as a major ingredient, such as cookies, breads, pies. Interestingly, there is a section on No-Bake recipes which would be very handy for the hot summer months and some boiled and fried options as well for those who can handle the more complicated recipes. I tend to avoid hot oil myself but a friend of mine has the knack so I will be sharing a recipe with her to try it out. I actually got this book to review back in August but I took the extra time to actually try out some of the recipes, otherwise what is the point? No regrets!
This review refers to the netGalley edition.

Review: The Promise by Brenda Joyce

           The Promise book is the 6th in Brenda's series about the Regency Era de Warrene Dynasty so if you have not read the previous books you will be curious about characters mentioned. This installment follows the rocky relationship of Alexi de Warrene and Elysse O'Neill, who as children adored each other and as adults suffered from constant misunderstandings about each other. Complicated by the fact that Alexi is the not the type to stay and work through the hard times, he would rather sail off and hopefully everything will be fixed when he gets back years later.
           Elysse loves Alexi but to maintain her position in society she has to put on a grand production of nonchalance and make them think she is happy with her life, and lovers who are only provide platonic company on her social outings. Alexi takes this at face value and is furious which leads him to stay and confront his wife for once rather than sailing off to China.
         The beginning of the story is short pieces of time spaced over years and leaves much of the relationship between Elysse and Alexi up the imagination of the reader, but rocky and difficult is a given. However, Alexi does manage to always keep his promise to Elysse, that he would always rescue her from danger even if it meant leaving her forever, not if she has anything to say about it of course.
This review refers to the netGalley edition.