Books read Sep 18

Christmas by the Sea: A Surf's Up Novella by Beth Wiseman
Have not read any books by this author and know I will seek them out for the future as I really enjoyed the read.
Seems to lifelike to me as the Galveston area just went through a cat 5 hurricane and left devastation to many for many months.
Book starts out with Parker and he's late leaving the island after evacuation is announced. He gets caught up and his leg is trapped under the rising water. He prays to God that he gets to see his son again and he hopes his deceased wife will be his guardian angel.
Book also follows Alexandria who's just leaving the area  and notices the man and leaves her car, calls 911 for help and attempts to help him. Her father is not doing well and she knows it won't be long til he passes away.
She gets to him but is not able to free him and he tells her to go and don't look back as the last attempt for him to breathe has come and gone. EMT's do arrive in time but she's not able to accompany him to the hospital. Love that she stayed with him til he was free and she kept his mind off his troubles by talking about his family.
He also keeps her mind off things as she describes the Christmas holiday and eating fish tacos with her dad along the beach.
Story is so much like real life it is scary. She knows she will never see him again and him her as they don't even know each others last names.
Can't wait to read more from this author. Other books and excerpts are included at the end along with author bio information.
Received this review copy via Amazon from Story Cartel and this is my honest review.

Your Simple Guide to Making Afghan Crochets: Learn How to Make Afghan Crochet in 1 Day! by Angelina Dylon
This book starts out with an introduction about what the book offers. Has categories for afghan crochet.
Has several colorful photos of the work with detailed instructions on how to make what is shown. Some important things are yarn selection and crochet hook size as that will help determine the size of what you want to make.
Tells you about some different methods and goes into detail but it could be a lot clearer with pictures or diagrams.
Tells you how to hold the afghan hook the correct way-there is no correct way in my opinion, whatever works for you.
Some tricks and tips are included.  Patterns are rather hidden in words and not written out in standard pattern format. Good read but no where near being a great resource book.

French Food: Top 30 Healthy, Easy, Tasty And Popular French Appetizer And Dessert Meals by Sadia Saeed
Starts out with offer of free ebook. Table of contents and introduction about cooking in France. Book is broken up into different categories: appetizers and dessert recipes.
Each recipe includes a title, small color photo, list of ingredients and directions on how to make. There is no nutritional information and you probably have to follow the directions and not substitute for ingredients as the end product will not come out right.
Have plans to make the French crepes as I enjoy the flavor but would give 97% of them away as they would not be too healthy for us.
Author bio is included at the end along with her other works highlighted.

Can We Keep Them? The Ocean by Carla Faraldo
What I liked about this colorful children's book are the sea creatures shown and highlighted.
Book starts out with a mother and father and bring their daughter to the beach. She finds many sea creatures and wants to take them all home but the parents explain they need to stay at their own homes.
Didn't care for some print that was hard to read because of the background color and that I was not able to increase the font size on my tablet.
Has a good ending, sweet dreams.

The moon is down by John Steinbeck
Had no idea what this book was even about, had just seen who it was by and knew I wanted to read it.
I'm often asked who I'd want to have dinner with and I would always pick John Steinbeck. Have read many of this other works and have enjoyed them.
This one is about wartime in Denmark and how the residents are treated, they band together, some are traitors. Didn't even know the country had coal mines and liked how the kids found the explosives in the snow.
His books make you think about things a bit more deeply.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

Instant Pot Cookbook: 500 Instant Pot Recipes to Cook at Home by Heather Perkins
Introduction starts out with why the instant pot should be your number one appliance for every meal.
Found a few recipes to try in our pressure cooker.
Each recipe starts out with a title, prep and cook times, servings. List of ingredients and you should be able to use low sodium and low fat products for a healthier choice for your dietary needs.
Directions and some nutritional information: calories, fat  NOT broken up into good and bad, fiber, carbs, protein and sugar. NO sodium levels mentions.
There are no pictures. Some items also want other accessories for the pot to be implemented.
Lots of choices in the different categories available.

Instant Pot Cookbook: 500 Instant Pot Recipes to Cook Healthy Meals by Ben Bailey
Some of the recipes were probably transferred from a different type of pressure cooker because there are problems with translation.
Also some of the ingredients are from foreign counries. Some recipes require you put the dish in the oven after to brown things so it's a bit time consuming.
Each recipe includes a title, prep and cook time and servings. List of ingredients could be healthier by using low sodium and low fat products. Directions are clear and I like having the right button selection in the recipe.
Some nutritional information: calories, fat=NOT broken up into good and bad, fiber, carbs and protein, NO sodium. There are also no pictures.
There are many categories to choose from in the table of contents. Free gift is available. Introduction is about how this unit can replace up to 6 other appliances in your kitchen and they are right about that. Love cleaning section but it doesn't tell you how much vinegar to use.
Some recipes want other accessories to be put in the instant pot before you can cook them-muffin tins, etc.
I would try a few recipes out of the 500 using lower fat, sodium products but nothing really stood out for me.

The Halloween Cookbook: Over 80 Ghoulish recipes for appetizers, meals, drinks, and desserts by Susan Evans
This book struck me as being funny because the foods you are making are regular meals but because of the Halloween names they are off the wall, making them funny.
Free bonus available. Categories are appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks.
Short intro from the author. Measurement conversion chart.
Each recipe has a title, servings, prep and total time along with ingredient list and you might be able to substitute for a healthier choice due to your dietary needs.
Directions are included but there are no pictures. There is no nutritional information.
This would be a big seller if pictures were included with the recipes.