Mama Bear Reviews

I received a Harry Potter mug from my husband for my birthday last month. I have been using it everyday and it has become one of my favorite products. The mug is from Stylish Sloth Designs on Etsy. This store is seriously cute! They have shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and more with a variety of designs mostly from Disney movies. This mug is the 15 oz. size which I highly recommend because we all need a giant serving of coffee to survive the day. Here is the link to this mug and don't forget to check out the rest of the store for a lot of wonderful products!

I just finished the perfect book to get you amped up for summer travels or to be able to travel around the world without leaving your home. The New York Times: Footsteps From Ferrante's Naples to Hammett's San Francisco, Literary Pilgrimages Around the World. This book is a collection of stories that were printed in the travel section of The New York Times. All of the authors do a wonderful job of describing their surroundings and comparing them to how they might have been seen by those that had famously ventured there in the past or had used these places for inspiration. The book is broken down into three sections: The United States, Europe and Beyond. I really enjoyed the stories in this collection. Even though they are all by different authors, I felt that they flowed very well together. I also like that they do not have to be read together. A person could pick up the book and scroll through the index to decide which destination they would like to read about. I receive

The book that I just finished, I had actually picked up a couple of months ago and struggled to get into. I however picked it up yesterday and couldn't put it down. The book is Songs about a Girl by Chris Russell . This story is about a girl named Charlie who has an interest in photography and is contacted by a member of a boy band to take pictures backstage of the band. Charlie is reluctant because she does not believe she is good enough and does not have the same obsession towards the band as that of her best friend. She does however give it a chance and finds herself enjoying the band and getting closer to the members. She also finds out that she might have a bit more of a connection with one of the members than either of them truly know. This is the first book in a trilogy and it of course ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. However, we do not have to suffer long because the next story, Songs About Us, comes out on July 13th according to Goodreads . And a twitter account was c

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Love the Wine You're With by Kim Gruenenfelder from St. Martin's Press. This book releases next month on June 13th. This is great timing because this is a perfect book to pick up for a light read on vacation. This story is about three friends that are all struggling with various aspects of their lives. They are all having problems with their careers and love lives. The women visit a wine bar one night and make the decision to open one themselves. They all jump right in to this new venture and in the process all find out a bit about themselves and what they want out of life. The book skips between the view point of the three women and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. This was a fun, light read and I hope you enjoy it. You can find out more about the book and the author here .

When I am unsure of what to grab off my reading pile, I tend to go for a historical romance. I was so excited to receive a copy of The Bad Luck Bride by Janna MacGregor from St. Martin's Press. This is the first book in a new series called The Cavensham Heiresses. Lady Claire along with the rest of the ton, believe that she has a curse on her that is preventing her from becoming married. Alexander is determined to settle a vendetta for his sisters death. Part of his plan includes marrying Claire. The couple go through quite a few misunderstandings. They definitely have a lot of communication issues and a few too many secrets. Both of them have some demons that are haunting them, but together they are able to work past these issues and come together. I really enjoyed the characters in this story and like how it was set up for the next story in the series. You can find out more about this here .

I have always loved cookbooks! Seriously, I love to thumb through cookbooks even if I have no intention of cooking. There is something soothing to me about combing through the different recipes. I received an absolutely gorgeous cookbook titled, "The Book of Greens: A Cook' Compendium," by Jenn Louis with Kathleen Squires. The photography in this book is gorgeous. As the title suggests this is a cookbook about all different types of greens. They are very conveniently organized in alphabetical order and with beautiful pictures of the different greens. This is great because honestly, I had not heard of some of these greens before. Celtuce? Thanks to this book I not only know what it looks like but know how to choose it, how to clean it, how it should be stored and some of the different methods to use it in cooking as well as some recipe ideas. Not only are the pictures drool worthy, but the recipes sounds amazing as well. One that I need to try soon is the lettuce an

I was so excited for A Court of Wings and Ruin  by Sarah J. Maas to release this past week. I have loved this whole series and this book was a spectacular ending to the trilogy. Though this was the end of the trilogy, this is not the end of our time in this world as the author has more books planned for this realm. Yay!! This book starts a few weeks after the end of the second book. Feyre is now High Lady of the night court but is back in the spring court planning her revenge against Tamlin for what he has done to her and her family. I love how strong Feyre is in this book. She still faces a lot of demons but recognizes her power and uses that to her advantage to plot and scheme to save her land and people. As always, there are a lot of twists and turns in this book. The ending brought a lot of things together but also left a lot open that I hope will be covered in future books. I recommend all of the books by Sarah J. Maas . She does a wonderful job of developing stories and creat

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith is a fun young adult read. The story is about three best friends. Alice decides to buy a lottery ticket for Teddy on his 18th birthday. It turns out that she picked the lucky numbers and Teddy is now the winner of millions of dollars. This story is really about the friendship between these friends and how big life changes can really test relationships. Teddy and Alice have both had struggles in their lives and they both have stuff that they need to overcome. I really enjoyed this book. I love the concept of random acts of kindness and how it came to be a part of this story. I also really enjoyed the relationships between the friends and thought it captured the feelings of being a teenager very well. You can find out more about the author and the book here and here . I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.