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Posted in Gardening & Growing

Easy Container Gardening in Any Climate

Posted on by BookReviews

The Ultimate Guide to Grow Your Own Organic Herbs and Vegetables, Create a Sustainable Environment, Maximize Yields, and Utilize Any Size Space

Grow a luscious garden in any climate, even if you’re limited on space or have never planted a seed before!

Are you an urban dweller yearning for a touch of green in your life? Do you dream of savoring fresh, organic herbs and vegetables, but feel held back by space constraints or lack of gardening experience? Or perhaps you’re a health-conscious individual committed to sustainable living and beautifying your surroundings?

You’re not alone—many others share these aspirations and struggles.

Most city residents believe gardening requires a large outdoor space. Many beginners fear their attempts might be futile. And, unfortunately, some even think container gardening is too intricate or costly to pull off.

Thankfully, these are all misconceptions.

With the right guidance, anyone can master the art of container gardening, regardless of their living situation or prior knowledge. Even if you’ve failed before or think you lack a green thumb, this book will guide you every step of the way.
Here’s just a glimpse of the insights and secrets you’ll uncover inside:

  • Detailed step-by-step guides for starting a container garden, ensuring your success from the get-go
  • How to maximize limited space with innovative vertical gardening techniques
  • The best container choices that blend functionality with style for any size space
  • Secrets to choosing the perfect plants for containers, including a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers
  • Proven watering schedules to avoid over or under-watering your plants
  • How to grow perennial plants in containers and tips for overwintering them
  • Top soil mixtures for container gardening that ensure robust plant growth
  • Organic pest control methods to keep your garden healthy and chemical-free
  • Guide to edible and multifunctional flowers that add both beauty and utility to your garden
  • Strategies for maximizing yields in small spaces with succession planting techniques
  • Tips for creating a mobile container garden that can be moved indoors during winter
  • Common container gardening mistakes to avoid so you can enjoy thriving plants
  • Repurposing recycled containers and how to prep them for gardening
  • Ensuring your garden remains truly organic with proper planning and care
  • Ideas for visually stunning and productive container gardens
  • Seasonal plant rotation tips to keep your garden producing year-round

And much, much more!

If you’re worried this guide might not work for you, consider this: Even if you’ve struggled with maintaining plants or think gardening requires a natural talent, the simplified, step-by-step format of this book is designed with YOU in mind. It breaks down the process into actionable, achievable steps and offers robust advice that’s easy to apply.

Plus, with tips on both indoor and outdoor container gardening, this guide has solutions tailored for every living situation. Whether your light source is limited or you need portable solutions, you’ll find practical and aesthetically pleasing ideas right here.

#VegetableGardening, #GrowYourOwnFood, #KitchenGarden, #HomegrownVegetables, #GardenHarvest, #SeedStarting, #RaisedBedGardening, #OrganicVegetables, #GardenPlanning, #BackyardGarden, #GardenToTable, #FreshFromTheGarden, #FoodGardening, #GardenTips, #VegetableGardenBooks, #GardeningBooks, , #BookBlog, #ReadingCommunity, #Bookstagram,

Posted in #non-fiction

Famous Last Words

Posted on by BookReviews

Confessions, Humour and Bravery of the Departing

One last thing before I go . . . True stories of doomed figures from British history—and what they announced to the world as the Grim Reaper drew near.
 
Nothing focuses the mind more starkly than impending death. In this book, you can mount the scaffold and share in the final utterings of the condemned, and join the stricken in their deathbeds as their deeply entrenched secrets are finally unshackled.
 
Famous Last Words collects a fascinating selection of destinies, culminating in their often flamboyant, always captivating comments just before they shuffled off this mortal coil. Revealed inside are tales of sangfroid bravery, astonishing ironies, and overdue confessions often betraying grave miscarriages of justice. Writer and poet Sir Walter Raleigh had some typically forthright and goading words for his executioner as the hesitant axeman displayed fear and reluctance to perform his stately duties. The final words of convicted murderer Ernest Brown may have been a candid confession to another killing he had committed deep in the Northumberland Moors some two years previously. And what of Britain’s first actor to have had a knighthood bestowed upon him? Discover the staggering irony that saw his final words on stage prophetically turn out to be his last in life . . .


Kirsty
4 out of 5 stars
Fantastic example of micro-history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2022
Format: Kindle
Verified Purchase
From medieval beheadings, Victorian hangings, deathbed confessions and even heartbreaking suicide notes, Wood has created a thoroughly dark and entertaining book looking at various individuals who left a mark on history as they departed from the world.


The level of research that has clearly gone into this book is compelling with the narrative gripping and never falters.


A fantastic example of micro-history, each chapter details a specific individual making it perfect to devour in one sitting or to steal away with in bite-size reads.


While the welcome addition of well known figures such as the tragic Lady Jane Grey and the adventurous Sir Walter Raleigh are included, I feel one of the strengths in this book lies with the diligent recording of more obscure figures who were just as (if not more!) fascinating than their better known counterparts.


The stand out distinction for Wood's writing however, was his dark humour which was very effective with certain cases for example Thomas David Cunnington. While suicide is of course a tragic event, Cunnington was in total control of his being worrying at one point "I'm getting to think gas will run out" as he chronicled his surprisingly upbeat suicide letter. He was also very adamant not to have to see his suicide letter recipients if his attempt failed. Perhaps a very selected humour, but one I felt was distinctly British in nature.
Posted in #BookTours

The Ice Queen’s Shoes

Posted on by BookReviews

The Ice Queen’s Shoes
R.S. Kellogg
(Breadcove Bay)
Publication date: August 7th 2021
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

When missing your train could change everything…

Freshly graduated from Borealis University and reeling from a failed apprenticeship, Della only wants to get home. But a minor injury changes her route in magical ways and opens unexpected possibilities.

If you love atmospheric fantasy, subtle magic, and stories where a single moment can change a life, discover The Ice Queen’s Shoes today.

Bookfunnel

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The Ice Queen’s Shoes is a FREE prequel story setting up the novel the Sea Queen’s Key, which will be releasing on Kickstarter soon. Follow the campaign at the link below to be notified when it goes live!

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EXCERPT:

“It is my holiday,” the man sitting across from Della on the train said. “A short one. Two days. So, I suppose it’s going a little bit differently than how I’d envisioned.”

Della watched him carefully. Who had a holiday that lasted only two days? And, for that matter, what kind of a person had a holiday now? Her university had reached the end of its term, but most of the city wouldn’t go on holiday for another three weeks, and then the whole city basically would take a month off.

The old man must have read something in her questioning expression. “I’ve been working on a project,” he said. He looked a bit stressed as he said it, but there was also something a bit impish about him—Della liked him despite her natural distrust of strangers. He seemed avuncular, and she could tell by the unique worn smooth brown cloth of his clothing that he was one of the North Men, rarely sighted in the city of Breadcove Bay.

She was a little flattered by the focus of his attention.

It was going to take some time to get to where she was going, so she may as well spend the time in interesting conversation.

“Tell me about your project,” she said.

He grinned. It was all the encouragement he needed.

“Me and my men have been tracking something across the northern plains,” he said, with the flair of a natural storyteller. “And a week ago, it just got a little bit more interesting. But three days ago, the trail went cold, fast. So, me and the men, we decided a break was in order. We’d each take a two-day vacation, and start at it fresh again.”

“If you’re tracking something,” Della interjected, “Wouldn’t taking a break mean you’d risk the trail going cold?”

The man shook his head.

He looked smug, Della thought. Smug with the air of a man who has supreme confidence in his craft.

“It’s not a beast I’m tracking,” he said. “Not that kind of a being at all. The way tracking of this nature goes, first the trail goes cold, then, we take a break, and if we’re lucky, as we soften our approach to it, the perfect information will naturally show up.”

Curiosity piqued, Della tilted her head. “Naturally show up when you are nowhere near the trail of your prey? I ask you, what on earth are you tracking?”

She’d heard, of course, the legends: that North Men tracked animals, found lost humans, located lost camps and lost objects, and sometimes . . . rumor had it . . . tracked supernatural beings.

She wondered whether she’d happened upon a North Man in the middle of a fairy tale, feeling a bit like an explorer who has stumbled into a strange new environment, where the people might do something completely unexpected at any moment.

Staring at him as though she were watching a polar bear in the governor’s private animal enclosure, where she had been a guest at the winter party one year, she waited as he seemed to debate within himself whether to share with her any part of his tracking tale—and if so, how much.

“I’m tracking a lady,” he finally said, and Della roared with laughter.

The man jolted, clearly knocked off kilter by Della’s hearty response.

She didn’t have a delicate laugh. It was more like the way a man would laugh when he had bested everyone at a game of cards. And it would come out of nowhere.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, folding her arms. She didn’t care a twig how people responded to her laugh. They could take her or leave her.

Just as she could take or leave anyone who came across her path.

And at the moment, this was a person who was entertaining her.

“You’re tracking a woman?” she asked him. “Did she wander out into the north and get lost? Or are you trying to find a romance?”

She snorted and shook her head.

He looked wounded but still doggedly eager to pursue the conversation.

“I’m tracking a Sky Woman,” he said, and Della leaned forward intently, her smile instantly gone.

A Sky Woman.

That would be more akin to a goddess.

“Why are you tracking a Sky Woman?” she asked him.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s complicated,” he said. “But it’s part of the job of my family, and my men, to keep the balance between the Sky people of the north and the boundaries of the city. We have to make sure that neither side encroaches on the side of the other.”

She sighed. “That sounds like a big project.”

He nodded.

“How do you even begin to do something like that?” Della asked.


Author Bio:

R.S. Kellogg writes the Everyday Goddess Stories, the Mermaid Magic Tales, and fiction in the story realms of Breadcove Bay and Agratica, among other places.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook


GIVEAWAY!

The Ice Queen’s Shoes Blitz

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Posted in #non-fiction

The Best Smart Quotes Book

Posted on by BookReviews

Wisdom That Can Change Your Life (Quotes For Every Occasion Book 12)

Upgrade your thinking—one brilliant line at a time

Discover the right words for every moment. The Best Smart Quotes Book gathers 1,100+ razor-sharp lines of wisdom—from Plato to Bob Dylan—curated to spark insight, lift your day, and sharpen your thinking.

  • Makes the perfect thinking gift
  • Find timeless ideas distilled to a single unforgettable line
  • Each quote is chosen for clarity, bite, and staying power.
    • For the curious mind
Ed
4 out of 5 stars
A book of wonderful sayings
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2020
Format: Kindle
Verified Purchase
To keep in context, this is a book of

Sayings by wonderful people,

Wonderful sayings by some people.

Sayings that make you wonder

Sayings that you wonder what they mean

And if you read several pages at one sitting, you will have a wonderful headache.
Posted in #BookTours

Mack’s Horrible Hellacious Ghost Town

Posted on by BookReviews

Mack’s Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town
AJ Sherwood
(Wylder Tales, )
Publication date: June 12th 2026
Genres: Adult, LGBTQ+, Romance

Apprentices, and two ghost towns, and almost-demons oh…no.

Mack doesn’t mind the apprentice part of this job; in fact, finding Gwyn is delightful, though he hates she grew up in such a haunted town with parents who don’t believe she’s a Medium.

Mack really hates the old mining ghost town is locked down with weird energy and none of the ghosts can see them, which makes passing them difficult.

Mack especially hates that in Black Rock there’s an almost-demon ghost inciting other ghosts to cause a mob, how is that allowed to be a thing?!

Who you gonna call for help when you’re the experts? Mack wants to know for a friend. (Him. He’s the friend.)

Tags:
Mack has found hell on earth, this was not on his bucket list, Accidental apprentice acquisition, Lachlan is back!, ghost gangs, chaos magician, Seiji is a new bonk bro, wedding, almost demons lurking, too much water and limestone for a medium’s peace of mind, uncharted haunted mines make Lachlan’s day, Eli is her usual scary self, Mack goes Wild West, Brandon can see ghosts here, that’s not a good thing, Brandon gets to have an apprentice too and can’t be happier, ghost pranks, Mack has picked too many battles, he’s putting some back, Ghost-hunting squad–assemble!

Tropes: MM Romance, Multicultural Romance, Ghost Town, Ghost Medium, Age Gap, Apprentices, Wedding, HEA

This is the fifth and final book in the series following a plot crossover with the Jon’s Mysteries Series. While it would be best to read the books listed in the below order, you can read Mack’s Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town without having read “Book 4” with minimal confusion. To read in series order, Book 1 – Brandon’s Very Merry Haunted Christmas, Book 2 – Mack’s Perfectly Ghastly Homecoming, Book 3 – Mack’s Rousing Ghoulish Highland Adventure, Book 4 – Jon & Mack’s Terrifying Tree Troubles, and Book 5 – This title.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:


Author Bio:

AJ Sherwood believes in happily ever afters, magic, dragons, good men, and dark chocolate. She often dreams at night of delectable men doing sexy things with each other. In between writing multiple books (often at the same time) she pets her cats, plays with her dogs, and attempts insane things like aerial yoga.

She currently resides in Michigan with aforementioned dogs and cats. Being in snow country gives her the excuse to stay inside and watch bl dramas, which suit her perfectly.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Instagram / TikTok


GIVEAWAY!

Mack’s Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town Blitz

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