Orchid Modern: Living and Designing with the World’s Most Elegant Houseplants by Marc Hachadourian

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review If you live near a florist or in a warm climate, chance are you've brought home an orchid. The flowers last a long time - and bring a sophisticated touch of the jungle to any corner. In my tropical home, I repurposed thick guava branches from a 40-yr-old tree as orchid stands. But if you love orchids and live in outside the tropics, you need this book.

Hachadourian offers many arrangements for the modern home - stunning combinations of natural and found objects, care and cultivation, and how and where to display your creations. The step-by-step instructions and stunning photos will delight you.

For a special occasion, you may want to take this book to your florist - I guarantee you'll get more than you bargained for in return. Highly recommended for lovers of flowers.

Stubborn Hope by Janet Creps

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review

I picked up Stubborn Hope and couldn't put it down. Most of us had hopes and dreams when we're young - and some of those came true. We thought we'll be outstanding, that we'd contribute great things to the world. As the years go by, we began to realize that life is not what we thought it would be.

Janet weaves stories from the Bible between her own. She offers a glimpse of an utterly relatable life of longing, of wanting things to go well. Her transparency, humor, and honesty carry us through failures and endings, bittersweet downturns, and downright disappointments. You'll smile at the kindness of friends. You'll identify with doing the hard work of life. And you'll agree with how hard it is to leave the outcomes to God.

If my description makes you think the book is depressing, believe me that it's not. I felt joy bubbling up again and again. Creps explores what it means to be anchored in a relationship with the Living God. The hopefulness of an ongoing friendship with God - despite any present reality - will make your heart sing. No matter what your life is like today, I recommend this book. 

And you'll want to share it with a girlfriend or women's group when you're done!

The Happiness Diary by Barbara Ann Kipfer

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
A colorful journal for all the random thoughts that make us happy - good questions, cute graphics, lots of space to write your hopes down. You can doodle, color, or use words.

A visual dream journal and memory book in one. I recommend it.

Working with Color (Urban Sketching) by Shari Blaukopf

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review
What a good manual - I'll consider taking it along on my next trip, along with my little Winsor Newton travel watercolor set. It's better than most novels that pass the time on long flights, that's for sure. I enjoyed the layouts and explanations - if you're looking to ramp up your sketching practice, this book is for you.

I really like this press' format - the illustrations are lively, the text clear - and the subject matter is interesting and timely for me.

Me We Do Be by Randall Bell

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review

This book was a shocker in a few ways: the clarity of writing and appeal of the stories. Best was:
*The logical premise - that there are several factors of success.
*The encouragement and inspiration with practical steps toward a life we want to live. (I really enjoyed the incremental "can-do-this-today" approach.)
* The holistic internal and external factors we choose to put in place - physical, spiritual, mental, and otherwise - are covered with stories of people every American would know.

I'd recommend it for anyone who needs motivation or coaching on moving forward toward a better life or better work.

Fun at Work by Greg Winteregg

★★★☐☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
A thorough, old-fashioned "Here's how it's done book, "Fun at Work" helps executives put together a job without missing pieces. Through his stories, illustrations, and lists. Winteregg shows how companies are led and managed.

I didn't find much new information here - more a review and summary of a lifetime of business experience, like something my dad would say. Winteregg's target is building a long-term dynasty, not the nimbleness of millennial startups. Therefore his book will appeal most to executives in traditional, longterm companies driven by profit and investor returns.