Italian Holidays: Funny and Yummy

 Italian Holidays: Funny and Yummy, Tony Martin, Independently Published, 2022

The author was the typical teenager: overweight, unhappy and living on chips and soda. He agrees, reluctantly, to spend a summer with his grandmother in very rural Italy.

He slowly begins to realize that he is gaining muscle and losing weight. It might have to do with the fresh vegetables and fish (right off the boat) that Grandma cooks every day. Being outside in the fresh air, whether its doing chores, or exploring the area with his new found friends, might also have something to do with it.

When he gets back to America, news that his parents are getting a divorce sends him into an emotional tailspin. He retreats back into the world of chips and soda. Samantha, a friend, suggests he re-create some of Grandma's recipes here in America. He does, and the weight disappears, again. Samantha gives the recipes to her mother, who totally changes her life. She goes from old and tired, to young and vibrant. The recipes get passed to Mom's friends, with similar results.

There are many healthy recipes in this book, along with a list of foods to eat and foods to avoid, but this is more than Another Book of Healthy Recipes. Most such books say "You can do it!" This book says "I did it, and so can you!" It is very much worth reading.

Quality DNA

Quality DNA, Beth Martin, Beth Martin Books, 2017

Set in the near future, America's answer to climate change is to impose a strict one-child policy. Sterilization is mandatory, for men and women, after the birth of their first child.

Annette becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a sexy stranger. Everyone's DNA is listed in the Genome Database. It gives Annette the name of a man who she never met, who died several years previously (frozen sperm does not last for several years). Irene is an investigator with the Seattle Social Department. More such anomalies cross her desk. This is not just a "glitch" in the system; something is very wrong. Just to make things more complicated, Jamie, Irene's wife, really wants to have a child (much more than does Irene). Finding a suitable sperm donor is easier said than done.

Focus shifts to a very off-the-grid group called the Alliance for Quality DNA, or AQD. It is almost a cult, and is run by Aidan, who is charismatic, but nuts. Irene goes undercover, with help from the FBI. They are concerned about terrorism, but Irene is on to the reason for the birth anomalies. Does she become an unintended guinea pig for whatever the AQD has planned?

Here is a really good piece of writing. It's gripping, it's plausible and it will certainly keep the reader's attention. This is very much worth checking out.