After the death of her husband, Poppy McAllister returns to Cape May, New Jersey to take care of her elderly, purple-haired Aunt Ginny and also help her operate a bed and breakfast.  Keeping watchful eyes on Aunt Ginny and her wild and crazy antics; overseeing the remodeling of the bed and breakfast with all its blunders; the unexpected visit from her meddling mother-in-law; being wooed by two men for her heart, Poppy has become a sensation baking Paleo sweet delicacies.

Aunt Ginny’s night time medication has a startling side effect which causes her to sleepwalk and break into the homes of her neighbors, help herself to a midnight snack and take a trophy from her nocturnal escapades.  When Poppy and Aunt Ginny think all is well in the neighborhood, Aunt Ginny has been accused and arrested for the murder of one of Cape May’s humanitarians.

I have never snickered and laughed out loud so much while reading a book.  I enjoyed every page in this cozy mystery. Aunt Ginny’s shenanigans are hilarious and never-ending.  Her humor jumps off the pages. She reminds me of the “Golden Girls” Sophia with purple hair. What I enjoyed about Poppy’s character is that she’s a 40-something protagonist who has real daily struggles of living a healthy lifestyle and a dry sense of humor.  The mother-in-law’s character was entertaining, although I felt annoyed with her at times.

The author did an excellent job developing several plots and strategically connecting them.  It was easy to follow and the story flowed smoothly. The events happened in a timely manner without a rushed conclusion.  The romance wasn’t over the top and I hope in the next installment, we find out who will be Poppy’s love interest.

Midnight Snacks Are Murder by Libby Klein is the second installment of the Poppy McAllister series.  This lively story will have you doubled over with laughter. Also, at the end of the story are Paleo recipes which look very appetizing.  I look forward to baking a few of them.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Consciousness towards diet has increased effectively with time among every age group. This is due to several reasons like increasing amount of diseases and deficiencies in the human bodies which is most of the times a cause of improper diet. The diet does not consist of the proper calculations of the vitamins, minerals, proteins and calories in the right ratio. The quality of grains, cereals and other substitutes has deteriorated with time.

Hence, people are more conscious about their diet and most of the times prefer reliable options for completing their diets with the right and high-quality supplements so that the body does not go deficient of any vital substituent. In Singapore, one such reliable option is Nutrition Evolution. The firm provides with various products that are completely reliable, tested and verified. They source healthy food from all around the globe for their customers. They have a blend of products ranging from Australian superfood spices to a huge variety of protein bars.

The firm provides a huge range of plant-based and vegan food. The vegan food is basically known for many health benefits. It is not just being used by the vegetarians today but it is also considered to add a nutritional value to many food items. It is thus in huge demand. One good example of vegan food is the raw fusion bar which provides an excellent source of protein. There are many other vegan food items available except these bars too.

One of the trending healthy breakfast option among the youngsters, ladies and diet conscious people today is Paleo Granolas. This is a considered healthy as it consists of rolled oats, honey, nuts, brown sugar, puffed rice, raisins and dates all of which are considered healthy ingredients. All that matters is that the granolas are to be bought from a reliable source that provides organic and healthy ones.

Plant protein bars are the most sought-after product among the gym loving crowd or the people who go to work out in the morning and have a basic urge of protein supplement. But the protein bars cannot be bought from any corner shop, although they are always available at all of them. The choice of the right protein bars make your workout effective or make it void. Nutrition Evolution provides one of the most reliable and healthy bars, the results of which have been reviewed all over Singapore.

Published by: Nourish (24th May 2016)

ISBN: 9781848997332

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 4*

Description:

It is now widely recognised that gut health is critical to our overall health and that many major health concerns can be linked to an irritated or unhealthy gut. In fact, an unhealthy gut contributes to a wide range of chronic health disorders such as autoimmune conditions, allergies, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and mood swings. What's worse, gut health issues affect a huge proportion of people and are often on-going and difficult to resolve.

But it does not have to be this way. In this revolutionary 30-day programme, Christine Bailey shows you how, instead of treating the symptoms as they arise, you can tackle the root causes with five simple steps: Remove, Replace, Repopulate, Repair and Rebalance. This programme will help you to remove the underlying factors wreaking damage to your gut, restore digestive health, quench inflammation, heal the gut for good – and achieve true, long-lasting health.  

Review:

I was really interested in reading this book and finding out more about how the health of your gut relates to your overall health and wellbeing, and how choosing to follow the Gut Health Diet Plan for 30 days could result in an improvement of symptoms of many different chronic health conditions such as depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. As I have irritable bowel syndrome, plus both the aforementioned conditions and regularly experience symptoms in varying amounts despite taking prescribed medication, I was keen to try the programme for myself, to see if it brought about any changes for me personally.

I was especially interested in the first stage of the programme, the removal of certain groups from the diet, such as pulses and sugar, and the second stage, where probiotics are introduced. As I follow a vegan, gluten-free diet, I eat a reasonable amount of pulses and beans and I would be concerned about getting enough protein if I stopped eating them. I have taken probiotics previously but can't say I noticed any difference.

I then noticed that during the repair stage, it is suggested that a cup of bone broth is taken daily and that this ingredient forms the basis of many of the recipes. So, I'm unfortunately unable to follow this diet as indicated, but I'll definitely be trying some of the recipes that suit my preferred way of eating.

I do think that this plan would be a great choice for anyone who has any of the autoimmune diseases that Christine mentions, or any digestive issues that don't seem to respond to other changes. The method makes sense to me, and Christine successfully reduced her own symptoms by following this plan, so it obviously works for some. 

The book is laid out in a straightforward way, in easy to understand language and is full of useful information, together with delicious sounding recipes that look easy to follow. I'm looking forward to making the raw herb cashew cheese and vegan nut cream.

Dinosaurs! I may have mentioned before that I have a soft spot for everything involving dinosaurs and that I'm unable to resist requesting dinosaur books from Netgalley. This was one of those books.

I was unfamiliar with this series, but a comic featuring dinosaurs (and more importantly not featuring humans) sounded awesome. In addition the dinosaurs behave in a way that dinosaurs might have behaved, not some kind of anthropomorphic kind of dinosaur. While this was a great idea, in execution it lacked for me.

Because basically every story in the collection was the same. The species of dinosaur differed, but almost without exception it features stories where in the end the hunter gets hunted by some thing bigger (which in some cases gets hunted by something even bigger). It just got repetitive really quick. The art didn't wow me either. I think there are quite some people who have nostalgic feelings about this comic, and they will probably enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!