Book Review: Capital Gaines
Katie 
You can’t seem to go anywhere anymore without seeing something related to Chip and Joanna Gaines. I’ve watched their show Fixer Upper (quite) a few times and found Chip to be pretty funny, so I needed to give his book a read. He starts out by saying how he struggled with reading and writing so I am not sure how much of this he actually wrote – but the stories are certainly his because I am not sure anyone else would do some of the crazy things he does.
This book is also helpful to anyone who might want to be starting their own business – you can learn a lot from Chip’s mistakes and hopefully not have to make them yourself as well.
There’s some behind the scenes details too about his life with Jo, from when she was just his girlfriend and becoming his wife and mother to his children.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
The funny and talented Chip Gaines is well known to millions of people as a TV star, renovation expert, bestselling author, husband to Joanna, and father of four in Waco, Texas. But long before the world took notice, Chip was a serial entrepreneur who was always ready for the next challenge, even if it didn’t quite work out as planned. Whether it was buying a neighborhood laundromat or talking a bank into a loan for some equipment to start a lawn-mowing service, Chip always knew that the most important thing was to take that first step.
Now a #1 New York Times bestselling book, Capital Gaines offers readers a ringside seat as Chip relives some of his craziest antics and the lessons learned along the way. His mentors taught him to never give up and his family showed him what it meant to always have a positive attitude despite your circumstances. Throw in a natural daredevil personality and a willingness to do (or eat!) just about anything, and you have the life and daily activity of Chip Gaines.
Capital Gaines is the perfect book for anyone looking to succeed not only in business but more importantly in life.
My Mom has recently gotten me hooked on “Homicide Hunter” with Joe Kenda so when I saw he read a book I had to check it out. Of course my Mom says she will already know everything in the book because she has seen all the episodes, but as a more casual watcher I really liked to get the background on Joe and his family life and how trouble just seems to find him no matter where he goes. I found the book to be very interesting and really enjoyed learning more about Joe and finding out how some of these crime scenes and murders he solved has affected his life.
This book is absolutely adorable and shows super girl in parallel with a little super hero fan. The book goes through when it’s time to sleep, that you should be brave each day and courageous at night. Tomorrow a hero will be needed to soar. It is a really nice story to tell little girls that they need to sleep so that the next day they can kick ass. Share Stories. Say Goodnight. Snuggle Up. Breathe Easy. Stay Brave. Dream Big.
As a fan of mostly New York teams, I’m not totally sure I agree with the title of this book, but let’s just go along with it. The forward is written by none other than Pedro Martinez, so you can’t be mad at that. Each chapter focuses on a different Boston sports team. Throughout there are also some Top 5 lists – best games in history, best trades, which players would be on a mount rushmore for that team and then “the best of the rest”. And there’s even a chapter on Boston Olympians. The final chapter is an overall Mount Rushmore of Boston.
I am 99% certain that I picked this book because it looked like it had a Hogwarts letter on the front cover. However, I am glad that I ended up picking it out to read even if it was for a completely ridiculous reason. It had a couple things I am growing sick of in my romance novels being characters with ridiculous names – the lead in this one is “Chessie” which is apparently some sort of crazy nickname for Francesca. The other is that the guy ends up taking the girl to be dom/sub. It’s been over done and it’s not doing anything for me anymore. Fortunately if you pull these elements out of the book, the rest of the story that is left was still worth my while.
Python is something that a lot of my coworkers would talk about coding in but one that I had little experience in, unlike the people from massive IT companies like 
It’s no secret that one of my favorite foods is tater tots. (Or really potatoes in any form) so this book of 50 TOT-ally Awesome recipes was right up my ally as a way to mix things up a bit when it comes to Tots. The book starts with a few ways to cook your tots – pan fry, deep fry or bake and even how to make your own tots from scratch. If you’d like to try using something other than a potato, there’s also tips for broccoli or cauliflower, sweet potatoes or beets and zucchini or apple tots! Then comes the chapter on dips and sauces. Mmm. It’s a good thing I ate before reading this book or I’d have been starving by the time I hit page 20! Then it gets into all the different recipes – TOTS POUTINE! I am on a poutine kick lately (just got back from Canada so it makes sense) but I didn’t think that poutine could get any better – but I never thought about making it with Tots! mmm. mmm. mmm.
I’m a pretty big Harry Potter fan, though I don’t have too much in the way of collectibles and memorabilia from it, so I was curious to see what would be featured in this book. Of course, the first chapter features on what started it all – the books! The photos of signed copies and all the different versions was really cool to look at. Then it of course moves on to the movie posters. Although I think my favorite chapter was the one on the movie props – Did you know that the Ford Anglia that Harry and Ron “borrowed” is now owned by Rupert Grint’s father? There is a chapter devoted to gorgeous art based on the books and films as well. This was a lot of fun to check out and I don’t think I have anything featured in the book (except the books) but it was still fun to see what some of these items have sold for and what is out there!
Are You My Dad? Is the story of a penguin who hatches out of her egg but then doesn’t know where her Dad is, so she goes off to find him! Every animal she sees along the way she asks, “Are you my Dad?” All of the animals tell them how they are similar to her Dad, but not her Dad. Finally, she is reunited with her Dad and all is well.