Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Synopsis:

milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

Rating:★★★★

Review:

This is beautifully written, emotionally captivating, and I loved how raw and real she was in her poetry. Don't get me wrong I loved the collection as a whole but The Hurting and The Loving were my two favorite chapters of this book. Also, the drawings were really perfect for the poems they were attached to.

I only gave this book 4 stars because of a personal preference. When I read poetry, I like to read full or mid page poems and there were a lot of 3 liners or page fillers. But these page fillers were done so well and filled with such emotion that I could turn a semi-blind eye to it.

I have no other words to describe how amazing this collection of poetry is just read it! 

**Just be aware there is sexual content in this book and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.**  

The World's Greatest Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops by Ryan K. Sager

Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old chef Zoey Kate's Fried Banana Fondue is delectable, her Maple Cinnamon Crab Fajitas are divine, and her Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops are to die for. Zoey is the best cook in town and she wants everyone to know it. She's on a mission to start her own restaurant, but quickly learns that the restaurant industry is competitive . . . and dangerous. There are people who see Zoey as a threat, and they'll use any means necessary to make sure that she fails. Featuring a precocious, larger-than-life character, lots of humor, fast-paced action and mouth-watering foods, this cooking story is sure to appeal to young foodies and fans of shows like MasterChef Junior and Rachael vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off.

Rating:★★★

Review:

*I received this book from Netgalley and Disney Hyperion in exchange for my honest review.* I liked this story, I thought it was very cute, but it wasn't for me for multiple reasons. This book is very dramatic, over the top, and very unrealistic, which isn't 100% bad seeing that this is middle grade and looking at what the synopsis of the book is.

I loved that this instantly started off with laughs. Zoey is just one of those characters that's so innocent it's funny. Her and Dallin's friendship is really cute, thankfully not in a romantic way, but in a brother and sister type of way. Her parents are more like roommates/friends than actual parents. They're almost absent in her life to the point where they can't even take the time to give their own child a ride somewhere so, she has to walk and it cracks your heart a little to see her let down.

The naiveness of the all of the characters was overly suffocating. Just the fact that Zoey didn't think everything through about her business; for example, taxes; and her "parents" still allowed her, a 12 year old, open up a restaurant without explaining not even one thing to her, was overly suffocating and dismissive. And it's very hard to remember that Zoey is only 12 years old while reading this because she's doing things that as adults is nearly impossible to do. 

I really enjoyed the climax of the story. I loved all the action leading up to the big bang and the plot twist was done pretty well. But I didn't care for the wrap up of this book, it was very basic and put a neat little bow on the story. Which I guess is okay since it's middle grade but even as a younger reader I didn't like every book I read to end in a "goody-goody-happily-ever-after-cliche-kind-of-way" but that's my personal preference. 

If I was reading this as the intended audience I probably would have had a blast and would have really loved this because I wouldn't have been thinking about the fact she's only 12 years old doing all of this. With that being said I still thought it was really cute, funny, and an entertaining story. I  think kids that have an interest in food/Culinary Arts and have larger than life personalities will get a big kick out of this and I do recommend this, for the intended audience, but it's just not one of my personal favorite middle grade novel.