Books read May 31

Cookbooks: Healthy, Delicious, Recipes - Using AVOCADOS in your Diet! (Healthy meals, snacks, protein, cholesterol, low carbohydrates, fiber, salad
Starts out with breakfast and each recipe has servings, ingredient list, and directions how to put the dish together. There are no pictures and no nutritional information.
The recipes use the healthiest of ingredients.  I have made blueberry muffins using avocados and you'd never realize it as they are so good.
Another category is lunch and then dinner meals. Besides smootheies there is also a dessert section.

Better Get To Livin' by Sally Kilpatrick
Have read some of the author's works and have enjoyed the books. This one starts out with Presley and she's run out of a house with barely anything on as the paparazzi photos her.
Her agent tells her to lay low so she heads to her mothers in TN for the Christmas holiday seeason before she will head back to Hollywood to resume her career.  Alternating chapters from Declan who runs the local funeral home and his busy life attending to those in need.
Then the tornado hits and everything is turned upside down in all their lives. The ghosts are around more and she sees and talks to them to lead them on their way.
She finds work to do but it's not what she really wants to do...her mother is very ill, on oxygen and no place to go...there was only one choice to make...Declan has decisions to make also about the growth of his business, or does he want her in his life????
Other life and death emergencies occur and she is able to find out who her real father is=a bit late but better late than never. She knows she has the audition coming up but what to do after that-return to her family life or work for the movies? Like how all the mysteries are solved, didn't see it coming-who had killed them all!
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review

The Rules of Love & Grammar by Mary Simses
Have read other works by the author and loved the read.
Like how at the start of each chapter there's a note about a part of the language and then it's used in a sentence.
Book starts out with Grace and she's got 3 strikes: lost her job, her boyfriend and her apartment needs to be repaired for several weeks. She's back in CT with her parents and her mom is planning her father's 65th birthday party. She meets up with her long time girl friend, Cluny and they run into some of the guys they went to school with. Partying and spending too much money on clothes, that she doesn't really have.... to impress the director, Peter who she once dated.
She uncovers her dead sister's bike in the garage and wants to get it restored-it'd cost a fortune! She feels guilty that it's rusty.
Love hearing of the work her mother does as she discovers things in houses that she designed, technical bike things, and how to make a movie. Such treasures! Her father is the poet and everybody knows him in town.
She blames herself for her sister's death and for things said before she left the house. She feels she's living in her shoes...she needs to move on but then so much more goes wrong in her life.   Surprise ending!
Like hearing all about the town's 375th anniversary as our town has just celebrated for a whole year our anniversary. All the events are so New England. Will she be able to compete in the bike race, will she confess all to her parents...she has a lot of tough decisions to make.
This story is about pain, suffering, loss and moving forward to find love. Love how the cover really tells the story and what it signifies.
I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest review

Appetizer Recipes Under 15 Minutes: Top 40 Quick & Easy Appetizer Recipes That Everyone Will Love  Kindle
Listings of other works by the author are highlighted at the start. Starts out with secrets to how it will only take 15 minutes to get the appetizers ready.
Each recipe includes a colorful photo, ingredient list and how to make the item. Nutritional facts-including fats and that is broken down to the different ones.
Baked chips sound the healthiest as they are baked in the oven but this book has a few others we'll be trying.
A KEEPER    !

The things we keep by Sally Hepworth
Story interests me as it's about a 39 year old woman and she's got Alzheimer disease. Remember going through some things with my mother in law and now we have a male friend our age who is going through it. They've moved her to assisted living facility.
Hope it will shed more light on the disease and how to care for him as friends.
Anna a paramedic is now in a living assisted facility with a lot of older people who also have memory loss/Alzheimer. Her twin Jack visit and his son, Ethan comes with him-Anna was the one who forgot the stove was on and he ran in to put the fire out-he has scars now.
Things move slowly and she leaves her room to sit in the parlor and nobody talks...
Story also follows Eve who's just been hired as the new chef and a cleaning lady. She will have her young daughter there when she's not in school. She seems to fit in with the older residents. Her story is her husband had a ponzi fund and he got caught stealing money from others...
The residents are also discussed as they come into Anna's space. Some really good stories there.
Difficult at times to hear how she struggles and how others are coping with her being there.... Shocking events occur and others are stealing...
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

American Cooking in 3 Steps: Cook Easy And Healthy American Food at Home With Mouth Watering American Recipes Cookbook
This cookbook starts out with the index and then right on to the recipes. Each recipe has a colorful picture, ingredients and how to put it all together and make it. Special feature is it has all the nutritional facts and even broken down into those sections of nutritional information.
Dessert recipe don't seem to be too unhealthy and you should be able to substitute for healthier choices. Lots of recipes broken up by sections. Other books are available at the end from the author.

Out of Focus by Nancy Naigle
Won this is a contest that I had entered because it's about photography and I know I will enjoy it.
Starts out with Kasey and she's the photographer for the band-she's driven to be on location with them at his agent's house where she can get great angles on her subject, Colby, a rising musical star.
What is fun about this book so far is how she gets along with them, the playful bantering and they accept her as one of them. She has a husband and 3 year old at home and makes calls to them, no matter what, at certain times of the day.
She arrives home from a shoot and she's going to surprise them with dinner as they are not home yet. Next thing we hear is the policeman and he's telling her her husband died in a crash and there is no little boy at all, anywhere.
She and her best friends look for clues as to where her son could be along with help from business associates. So many clues from the pictures she received from the courier.
Cody and the tour also are able to help out in their own way by showing pictures of Jake and talking about his disappearance.
Like how she finds out about the gift the guys had left her and what it is.
Devastating at times but happy at other times, what a ride...recipes included at the end.

The Donut Cookbook: 40 Delicious, Mouth-Watering Donut Recipes That Your Family and Friends Will Love (Desserts Cookbook)
We currently can make and eat healthy cake donuts so always looking for other healthier types to eat.
Each recipe has servings, ingredients list and how to make them. Most are deep fried in oil.
No nutritional information and no pictures. Few are baked but they are not very healthy.
Fascinating to learn how other countries made their donuts.  Large section dedicated to fritters and other things that don't resemble a donut.
Bonus membership to the author's book club

World Famous Empanadas: Best Selling Empanada Recipes
Like the idea of this cookbook, so we can put in our own fillings for a meal or dessert.
Not too cool on the butter or shortening for the crust. 
No pictures, no nutritional information and no serving sizes.