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Book Picks and Pics is your expert source for book reviews, photography tips, travel scenes, and creative inspiration.
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JC Raulston Arboretum
If you’ve followed my photography for more than a few days, you know flowers are one of my favorite photo subjects. The bold colors and joyful shapes are endlessly inspiring to me as a landscape photographer.
Raulston Arboretum is one of my tried and true places to go for a quick flower photography session.
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
★★★☆☆ Boundaries are a critical component of a happy, healthy life. With this in mind, I sought this book out to see if there were areas where my boundaries needed a tune-up.
I was not expecting the book to rely so heavily on the Bible and Christianity.
Saxapahaw, North Carolina
With a limited travel budget and an abundance of curiosity, my family of three is always in search of new day trip locations. Our most recent quest for adventure led us to explore Saxapahaw, N.C., a small, historic mill town about an hour’s drive from Raleigh.
Photo Tips
Creativity When Everything Isn’t Coming Up Roses
It’s unavoidable – some days or weeks are harder than others. Despite our best efforts, things just don’t turn out the way we want. I recently had a week that
Finding Inspiration in the Sameness
Have you found yourself looking around for new ideas and coming up empty? It can be hard as an artist, creative, or business person to find creative ideas, especially when
Indie Reviews
Frances and the Navajo: The Mystery of the Vanishing Bullets by Jon Jones
★★★☆☆ The Mystery of the Vanishing Bullets is an old-fashioned, cozy mystery. Frances is a young, cash-strapped woman who acts bravely to help an older
The Brotherhood by J.E. Clarkson
★★★★★ The Brotherhood is the third installment in Clarkson’s crime detective series headlined by Kate Monroe. In book three, Monroe is helping to lead the Barnsworth murder squad while Detective Inspector Halifax is on medical leave.
The Girl in the Window by Renee Pawlish
★★★☆☆Trapped in an unfulfilling life, Amber watches from the window as her neighbor’s good-looking husband, Caleb, leaves for work every morning. He knows she is watching and the two share knowing waves and glances. It’s the most exciting thing happening in Amber’s life aside from refusing to sign the divorce papers served by her abrasive estranged husband.
Dystopian Reviews
Embryo Zero by Trevor Wynyard
★★★★☆ The second book in the dystopian fiction Streetlighters Trilogy, Embryo Zero again features brothers Matthew and Kevin Turner, along with a few new characters and familiar faces from the first book.
The brothers are estranged as Matt takes Kevin’s place at university, and finds himself propelled into national hero status. Meanwhile, his younger brother makes a risky move in an attempt to have a different future for himself and his family.
Heir of Blood and Secrets by Linda Xia
★★★☆☆
This dystopian YA murder mystery is told from the perspective of Scylla Delevan, a 16-year-old daughter of a magistrate in Devovea. Despite their difficult relationship, when Scylla’s father is accused of murder, she goes on a quest to prove his innocence. Her loyalties are challenged and she uncovers a number of secrets along the way.
Branches by Adam Peter Johnson
★★★★☆
I was drawn to this book because the description compared it to Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, which is one of my all-time favorite books. There are definitely some similarities between the two multiverse novels, but Branches is different enough that it still felt fresh and interesting.
Travel Scene
JC Raulston Arboretum
If you’ve followed my photography for more than a few days, you know flowers are one of my favorite photo subjects. The bold colors and joyful shapes are endlessly inspiring
Saxapahaw, North Carolina
With a limited travel budget and an abundance of curiosity, my family of three is always in search of new day trip locations. Our most recent quest for adventure led
Science Fiction Reviews
The Day After Never by Nathan Van Coops
★★★☆☆ The Day After Never is book three in Nathan Van Coops’ time-traveling series. I loved In Times Like These, the first book in the series and, while I didn’t like The Chronothon (Book 2) quite as much, its Amazing Race-style plot and pacing held my attention.
Embryo Zero by Trevor Wynyard
★★★★☆ The second book in the dystopian fiction Streetlighters Trilogy, Embryo Zero again features brothers Matthew and Kevin Turner, along with a few new characters and familiar faces from the first book.
The brothers are estranged as Matt takes Kevin’s place at university, and finds himself propelled into national hero status. Meanwhile, his younger brother makes a risky move in an attempt to have a different future for himself and his family.
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
★★★★☆
Since I reading and loving Dark Matter, I have been a Blake Crouch fan. I love how his sci-fi stories stretch my mind with their scientific theories while pulling on my emotions with an enduring love story.
Upgrade has elements of this winning formula, which is present in both Dark Matter and Recursion. However, Upgrade is much more technical, especially at the beginning than I remember either of his two previous hits being.
Mental Health Reviews
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
★★★☆☆ Boundaries are a critical component of a happy, healthy life. With this in mind, I sought this book out to see if there were areas where my boundaries needed a tune-up.
I was not expecting the book to rely so heavily on the Bible and Christianity.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
★★★★☆ In Essentialism, Greg McKeown explains why we should all be relentlessly prioritizing and only spending time on the essentials. He encourages constantly checking in with yourself and asking, “Is this the very most important thing I could be doing with my time?” If the answer is no, it gets removed from the schedule.
Not Nice by Aziz Gazipura
★★★★☆ There is such a thing as being too nice. And, according to the author of Not Nice, if you’re someone who is plagued with too much niceness, it is causing you misery in the form of mental anguish and physical pain. In fact, he goes as far as to say your niceness is making the world a worse place for you and for others.