Popular Fiction - Escape to Book Island!
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The Spirit of Love
Two loves. One soul. One choice.
Fenny’s got that boss glow. Not only did she just have the best sex of her life, but she’s finally about to direct the TV show she’s been a screenwriter on for ten years. Only one thing could floor her—finding out she’s been replaced by a hotshot director named Jude. Wait, no. Two things. Jude looks exactly like the guy who just turned her bones to jelly. Same dimples, same eyes, but he looks older and has a sadness Fenny wants to fix.
Last weekend, Fenny met Sam when he movie-style rescued her from a storm on Catalina Island. Here he is again, just … different. Can Sam and Jude be the same man? And if they are, will Fenny’s love be enough to put him back together?
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Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds
Mia Crawford is responsible to a fault. She has to be. Between her high-demand job and taking care of her grandmother and her cats, she has little time for anything else. What time she does have, she pours into reading. Mysteries, romances, thrillers...books filled with women who are far more impulsive than she would ever dream of being. Now, forced into taking a long-overdue vacation, she finds herself on a luxurious private island where she just might have a chance to reinvent herself--for a little while, anyway. She can explore the island. Flirt shamelessly with a cute bartender. Have a vacation fling. Live like a heroine in one of her favorite novels.
Or she can curl up with a good book on the beach. Turns out reinventing yourself is easier planned than done. But when gossipy notes written in the margins of an old book turn out to be clues to the disappearance of another guest, Mia finds herself diving headfirst into a dangerous adventure. With everyone at the resort hiding secrets of their own, she'll have to solve this real-life mystery before she becomes the next target.
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The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.
1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?
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Friends to Lovers
Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they'll be each other's plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives.
It's a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.
Now Joni is back at their families' shared summer home for her sister's wedding, and she's determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren--and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best?
But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she'll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.
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Death on Dickens Island
Delia Dickens has come home to Dickens Island, a small island in the Long Island Sound, after a twelve-year stint in Manhattan. She’s looking forward to helping her father revitalize the general store that the family owns as well as curating a small book nook. Most importantly, she wants to reunite with her fifteen-year-old son. But Dickens Island isn’t the peaceful town Delia remembers–and she might be in more danger here than she ever was in the big city.
Delia’s Aunt Reenie and Uncle Brad, both prominent community leaders, are at odds over the sale of a farm and its future use. This has created friction, not only in their marriage, but amongst the citizens of the town. When a young woman, new to the town council and friendly with Brad, is found murdered, everything escalates and reaches a new boiling point.
With Reenie and Brad both suspects in the case and at each other’s throats, the townspeople start to take sides. When the ghost of her grandmother visits her, Delia learns how past events have impacted the present, and it is up to her to expose the farm’s sordid secrets in order to catch a murderer and restore peace to her beloved island.
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Roomhate
Amelia hasn't seen her childhood best friend Justin since she broke his heart as a teenager, but when she arrives at the beach house her grandmother left to both of them, she finds Justin staying there too...and he hates her guts.
Sharing a summer house with a hot-as-hell roommate should be a dream come true, right? Not when it's Justin Banks, Amelia's former best friend and the only man she's ever loved...who now hates her.
When Amelia's grandmother died and left her half of her beach house on Aquidneck Island, there was a catch: the other half would go to the boy she helped raise. The same boy who turned into the teenager whose heart Amelia broke years ago. The same teenager who's now a man with a hard body and a hard-ass personality to match.
Amelia hasn't seen Justin in years, but neither one is willing to give up the house--which means they're living together, at least for the summer. The worst part? Justin didn't come alone.
But there's a very thin line between love and hate. And beneath Justin's sharp edges, the boy she knew is still there, and so is their connection. The problem is, now that Amelia can't have Justin, she's never wanted him more.
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Trouble Island
Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son.
Aurelia wants nothing more than to escape Trouble Island, but she is hiding a secret of her own. She is in fact not a maid, but a gangster’s wife in hiding, as she runs from the murder she committed five years ago. Her friend Rosita took her in under this guise, but it has become clear that Rosita wants to keep Aurelia right where she is.
Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them.
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Mustique Island
It's January 1972 but the sun is white hot when Willy May Michael's boat first kisses the dock of Mustique Island. Tucked into the southernmost curve of the Caribbean, Mustique is a private island that has become a haven for the wealthy and privileged. Its owner is the eccentric British playboy Colin Tennant, who is determined to turn this speck of white sand into a luxurious neo-colonial retreat for his rich friends and into a royal court in exile for the Queen's rebellious sister, Princess Margaret--one where Her Royal Highness can skinny dip, party, and entertain lovers away from the public eye.
Willy May, a former beauty queen from Texas--who is also no stranger to marital scandals--seeks out Mustique for its peaceful isolation. Determined to rebuild her life and her relationships with her two daughters, Hilly, a model, and Joanne, a musician, she constructs a fanciful white beach house across the island from Princess Margaret--and finds herself pulled into the island's inner circle of aristocrats, rock stars, and hangers-on.
When Willy May's daughters arrive, they discover that beneath its veneer of decadence, Mustique has a dark side, and like sand caught in the undertow, their mother-daughter story will shift and resettle in ways they never could have imagined.
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Murder on Sex Island
When a cast member goes missing from the hit reality show Sex Island, producers hire detective Luella van Horn to go undercover as a contestant and solve the case. What the producers don’t know is that the enigmatic Luella van Horn is actually a woman named Marie Jones, a divorced ex–social worker from Staten Island attempting to lead a double life as a private eye. The local press couldn’t get enough of Luella . . . until she horribly bungled her last case and a murderer went free.
Unable to resist the opportunity to be a part of her favorite trashy TV show, travel to a remote island, and embark on a journey for redemption, Marie-as-Luella takes the case. But the more she learns about Sex Island’s dark underbelly, the harder it gets to make it out alive. She encounters shady producers, sleazy directors, contestants willing to do whatever it takes to win the $100,000 grand prize—and the dead body of the show’s missing fan-favorite in her bathtub.
Will she find the killer? Will she find herself? Will she find . . . love?
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The Islanders
Anthony Puckett was a rising literary star. The son of an uber-famous thriller writer, Anthony’s debut novel spent two years on the bestseller list and won the adoration of critics. But something went very wrong with his second work. Now Anthony’s borrowing an old college’s friend’s crumbling beach house on Block Island in the hopes that solitude will help him get back to the person he used to be.
Joy Sousa owns and runs Block Island’s beloved whoopie pie café. She came to this quiet space eleven years ago, newly divorced and with a young daughter, and built a life for them here. To her customers and friends, Joy is a model of independence, hard-working and happy. And mostly she is. But this summer she’s thrown off balance. A food truck from a famous New York City brand is roving around the island, selling goodies—and threatening her business.
Lu Trusdale is spending the summer on her in-laws’ dime, living on Block Island with her two young sons while her surgeon husband commutes to the mainland hospital. When Lu’s second son was born, she and her husband made a deal: he’d work and she’d quit her corporate law job to stay home with the boys. But a few years ago, Lu quietly began working on a private project that has becoming increasingly demanding on her time. Torn between her work and home, she’s beginning to question that deal she made.
Over the twelve short weeks of summer, these three strangers will meet and grow close, will share secrets and bury lies. And as the promise of June turns into the chilly nights of August, the truth will come out, forcing each of them to decide what they value most, and what they are willing to give up to keep it.
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The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain
Sybil can't wait to go on an all-expenses paid vacation. Well, technically the expenses were paid - last year, when she was supposed to honeymoon in Hawaii with her then-fiancé, Jamie. But the wedding didn't go as planned (or at all), and now she's using those hotel vouchers to enjoy some mai tais, med spas, and me-time.
But she nearly plunges backwards into the infinity pool when she sees Jamie there, too. He's on a work trip representing his family's firm, alongside his gorgeous, tangerine bikini-clad "colleague."
Desperate to save face in front of the ex who broke her heart at the altar, Sybil accidentally-on-purpose blurts out that she's vacationing with her boyfriend. But what starts as a harmless lie soon spirals into an ex-fiancé fiasco when Sebastian--the second of Sybil's three failed engagements--pops by, fresh off a photography gig. Seb's always up for a good time and happy to play along . . . sparking unexpected jealousy in Jamie.
From snorkeling snafus to stunning vistas to beach parties, Sybil does her best to juggle two ex-fiancés. But it's becoming clear that her past of broken promises must be reckoned with once and for all--including that first fiancé, Liam, the one she never talks about . . .
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Beach House Rules
When Charlotte Sitterly’s husband is arrested for a white-collar crime, she and her daughter Iris are locked out of their house by the FBI and—what’s potentially even worse—thrust into the spotlight of @JuniperShoresSocialite, the town’s snarky anonymous Instagram account. Desperate and cut off from her bank accounts, Charlotte moves to a former beachfront bed-and-breakfast that’s home to a community of single mothers and draws plenty of gossip in the small coastal North Carolina town.
Charlotte and Iris find solace and are surprised by how much fun they’re having with the other families despite their circumstances. But when the women discover a secret link between them, it changes everything they thought they knew about the unconventional family they’ve created and leaves them wondering whether their coming together was a coincidence at all. Will the skeletons in the closets help Charlotte and Iris reclaim their place in the Juniper shores community—or shatter the sisterhood forever.
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Across the Crying Sands
In 1888 Mary Edwards Gerritse is a witty and confident young woman who spends as much time as possible outdoors on the rugged Oregon coast where she and her husband, John, have settled. The two are a formidable pair who are working hard to prove their homesteading claim and build a family. But as Mary faces struggles of young motherhood and questions about her family of origin, she realizes that life is far from the adventure she imagined it would be.
After losing the baby she's carrying, grief threatens Mary, but she finds an unconventional way to bring joy back into her life - by taking over a treacherous postal route. As Mary becomes the first female mail carrier to traverse the cliff-hugging mountain trails and remote Crying Sands Beach, with its changing tides and sudden squalls, she recaptures the spark she lost and discovers that a life without risk is no life at all.
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Wild Dark Shore
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.
Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.
But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.
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Holiday Country
Ada always looks forward to her summers at the family villa with her mother and grandmother in a Turkish seaside town. It’s easy to leave life in California behind when the days are filled with boat rides, games at the beach, and long swims with friends. But no matter how much Ada feels she belongs in the country where her mother grew up, deep down, her connection to the culture seems as fleeting as the seasons. It’s certainly no help that her mother has lost her own sense of self, rootless and disoriented after so many years abroad.
When an old family friend mysteriously shows up in their town, Ada can’t help imagining a different future for her mother―one that promises a return to home, to love, to happiness. But while playing matchmaker, Ada has to come to terms with her own intensifying attraction to the newcomer. Does the future she’s fighting for belong to her mother—or to her alone?
Popular Nonfiction - New Year, New Interests
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Homegrown Handgathered
Growing your own food is good for you and the planet. Backed by scientific research, Indigenous knowledge, and the authors' years of firsthand experience, Homegrown Handgathered offers field-tested techniques for beginners and experts alike to thrive off the bounty of the land with confidence. This complete manual for organic food production will show you how to select a site, plan your garden, source and start seeds, manage pests and weeds, compost, preserve your harvests, and more.
Comprehensive growing guides for more than 15 essential crops-from beans, carrots, and corn to squashes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes-detail favored growing conditions, processing tips, key nutrients, and more. Each crop chapter also features easy-to-follow recipes from a range of cultures that will transform your harvest into delicious, nourishing meals. From Jalapeño Cornbread and Oyster Mushroom Grits to Venison Borscht and Walnut-Shiitake Burgers, gardening never tasted so good!
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Quilting for Everyone
Learn how to quilt the fun and easy way with Amy Latta! Using pre-cut fabrics and other beginner-friendly tips, Amy breaks down the complexities of quilting so you can enjoy every part of the process to bring your unique, handmade quilts to life. Created especially for new quilters, each chapter teaches popular quilting techniques that build on each other as you go.
Take your first quilting steps with sashing, which is simply sewing around a central fabric block. Amy then teaches, step by step, how to make famous quilting designs such as Patchwork, Flying Geese, Pinwheels, and Stars. But the best part of all? While you learn these fun techniques, you’ll be stitching up cute quilts and accessories to gift and decorate your home! Some of the beautiful creations waiting inside include:
- Playful Pinwheels Quilt
- Pine Tree Pillow Cover
- Crossbody Cell Phone Bag
- Missouri Star Lap Quilt
- Easy Nine-Patch Tote Bag
- Embellished Denim Jacket -
Little Woodchucks
Are you a parent or an otherwise amply sized Woodchuck interested in making projects with, or for, your kids? Or are you an aspiring small Woodchuck ready to get into some quality mischief that involves a hammer, nails, and your very own pocketknife? Well, do we have a guide for you!
Offerman Woodshop is opening its avuncular doors to woodworkers of all ages in the form of twelve brand-new, family-friendly undertakings perfect for kids, from beginner offerings like a handmade box kite to more challenging structures like a garden planter.
All projects are achievable and fun and encourage eye contact, giggles, handshakes, and other old-fashioned familial engagements, while introducing young woodworkers-to-be to the satisfaction and good clean fun of hands-on crafting.
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How to Cross-Stitch
Cross-stitch goes hand-in-hand with self-care: one of the oldest forms of embroidery, it's easy to learn and features soothing, repetitive stitches that can reduce stress, enhance relaxation, and boost your mood. Experience the benefits of this calming craft with Make Time for Yourself magazine's beginner-friendly guide, which includes a fully illustrated basics section. Dive into simple and delightful projects, ranging from a pillow with a whimsical feather motif to stitched greeting cards. These pieces will brighten your home with their fresh, fun designs, including rainbow hearts, honeybees, animals, and an entire alphabet.
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The Cook's Book
More than just a collection of recipes, this volume is your ultimate kitchen companion. Filled with engaging lessons, techniques, and strategies - as well as delicious go-to recipes, food and wine pairings, and a beginner bar cart guide - this resource teaches you what you need to know to create and share great food each and every day.
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The New Art of Paper Flowers
Delve into the enchanting art of lifelike floral design with The New Art of Paper Flowers. Whether you're a novice looking to discover a new hobby or a seasoned crafter seeking inspiration, this all-inclusive handbook will equip you to cultivate lush, long-lasting blooms using colorful crepe paper. This volume includes 30 detailed flower tutorials with step-by-step instructions.
Journey through every stage of the artistic process—from choosing materials to mastering the intricate techniques that breathe life into your arrangements. With Nguyen's detailed guidance and striking photography, let your creativity flourish as you bring more handmade beauty into your life and home.
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The Knitting Companion
From casting on to casting off, The Knitting Companion is your indispensable guide to mastering the art of knitting. This comprehensive mini guide is packed with clear instructions and beautiful photographs, making it perfect for both beginners and experienced knitters.
This gorgeous little book contains tips, techniques and trusted advice on everything from reading a yarn label and choosing your needles to adapting a pattern and picking up stitches. Whether you are knitting your first project or your fiftieth, this comprehensive mini guide is a treasure trove of knowledge, perfect for dipping in and out of for quick reference.
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Watercolour Flowers for the Absolute Beginner
Expert artist and teacher Fiona Peart helps you take your first steps with watercolor, showing you step-by-step how to produce modern, lively, and colorful artworks using this exciting medium. Build the essential skills you need to paint a range of gorgeous flowers, then move on to find out how to add depth, soft backgrounds, light, and texture to your artwork. Includes 20+ outlines.
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The Self-Sufficiency Garden
Eat homegrown food all year round and save money on your weekly shop by following this simple plan for self-sufficiency!
Huw Richards and Sam Cooper have spent the past two years planning and trialing their very own self-sufficiency garden in a 10 x 12.5 m plot, and now they've worked out the perfect formula. In this volume, you will learn:
- Huw's self-sufficiency ethos, goals, and approaches
- How to create your garden and build all the growing spaces you will need, such as hot beds and polytunnels
- Month-by-month planting plans with guidance on key tasks throughout the year
- Useful kitchen tips, meal prep, storage, and preserving ideas along with base recipes so you can make the most of your crops -
Why We Read
We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.
Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes (Gone Girl, Their Eyes Were Watching God) to the ones she didn't (Tess of the d'Urbervilles), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the ways in which literature can transform us for the better.
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The Artist's Step-By-Step Guide to Drawing
This engaging and comprehensive drawing book is an excellent resource for artists, whether they are completely new to drawing or wish to build on their existing skills. Artist and author Vivienne Coleman takes away the mystery of how to produce an accomplished drawing, by revealing the exact process each image undergoes from start to finish. Each project is broken down into several steps, showing the technique applied at each stage and explaining how the reader can do the same.
Starting with an introduction to drawing materials and some basic techniques, the book then goes on to explore various types of subject matter in more detail. Each of the chapters focuses on an area of drawing, starting with slightly easier topics and progressing as the reader gains in confidence. Within each chapter the step-by-step projects also range from simpler to more complex, giving the reader a clear pathway to build on their skills.
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The Great British Baking Show 2024
The new Great British Baking Show book ties into the 2024 season of the UK's most popular cooking show. Indulge in the very best comfort bakes that you'll want to make time and again, with recipes from Paul, Prue, and the bakers.
This new book showcases 80 wonderful bakes inspired by the show's most popular signature themes - Cake, Biscuits, Bread, Pastry, Patisserie, Dessert, Chocolate and Free-Form - celebrating the very best in comfort bakes.
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Essential Knit Sweaters
Comfy pullover? Jacket cardigan? Weekend hoodie? Fitted turtleneck? Think of those sweaters you wear most often, the favorites you reach for again and again because they make you feel both confident and comfortable. Now imagine them hand knitted in soft, beautiful yarns in the colors of your choice.
Each of the designs in this book is a versatile type of sweater everyone should own--all knit in classic stitches and featuring added details to make them unique. Sizes range from XS to XXL. Knitting tutorials and detailed instructions make the patterns easy to follow, so grab your needles and some gorgeous yarn and start filling your wardrobe with sweaters you'll reach for again and again. With the 20 patterns in Essential Knit Sweaters, you will create the sweater collection of your dreams!
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Mini Plein Air Painting with Remington Robinson
The talented artist behind the popular Instagram and TikTok accounts @remingtonrobinsonart has gained a devoted following by showcasing his unique and portable painting setup. In Mini Plein Air Painting with Remington Robinson, he reveals his secrets and teaches you how to set up your own miniature plein air studio using mint tins. You’ll be amazed at how easily you can carry your art supplies, including a small canvas, brushes, and a mini bottle of mineral spirits, all in your pocket or bag. Whether you’re at home, on a plane, or exploring new destinations, you’ll have everything you need to immerse yourself in the art of plein air painting. With step-by-step lessons, insightful tips, and practical techniques, you’ll learn to harness the power of miniature art to capture the essence of your surroundings.
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PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking
Spinning off of Bodrug's wildly popular Scrappy Cooking social media series, the cookbook is packed with over 150+ whole-food, plant-based recipes that show the reader how to make the most of the food they have in their fridge and pantry with easy and approachable vegan recipes anyone can make.
Scrappy Cooking not only puts the focus on eating a diet that's more conscious for our environment (and our wallets) but our health as well. Every recipe in the book is vegan, almost entirely oil free, and focuses on whole, plant-based foods that are good for our bodies and the planet.