Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I love Colleen Patrick-Goudreau; she's one of my favorite vegan chefs! But this book was not what I expected for several reasons: 1) I expected that this was primarily a cookbook. Now that I'm looking closely at how it's advertised, I see it doesn't actually claim to be a cookbook. But in case anyone else also assumed it was: it's not a cookbook; it's a resource book with occasional recipes. The recipes appear in small groupings at the end of most chapters (days). This structure makes it very difficult to find the recipes or quickly search through them. 2) I expected a 30-day challenge. There are 30 "days" in the book, but no real challenge. Each day focuses on a vegan health issue, tip, or interesting fact. These are probably really interesting to most readers (some parts were even interesting to me), but it's not what I had in mind. I wanted to be told what to eat each day, laid out with cute check lists, and a weekly shopping list; maybe even an additional challenge of something that could be completed in a tangible way. I guess the challenge is to eat vegan for 30-days. If like me, you've been vegan for some time, there is no challenge. 3) I expected specific meal plans per day for 30 days including nutritional information and optional snacks. I mentioned this already, I know, but it was a big disappointment not to have them!!! To be fair, there are weekly menu ideas in the back divided by breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but they are not specific or sufficient. On a 30 day challenge, I want to prepare my own vegan food, not buy frozen pizzas or make generic salads, sandwiches, and stir-frys. Some of the meal ideas are great, but most are incomplete or nothing special. She does not include nutritional information with each recipe, nor does she do the work of pairing meals together. 4) I expected new recipes. After recognizing several recipes from her other cookbooks, I soon realized that it's an intentional collection of her "best" recipes, not new Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Bummer! (Unless you don't want to buy her other cookbooks and only desire the selected favorites...) 5) I expected more pictures. There are some pictures and they are really good ones; it's not an ugly book. But I frequently cook from Colleen's Color Me Vegan (highly recommended!) and the pictures in that one are so gorgeous that I expected the same sort of very frequent, mouth-watering imagery! I realize now that I was not the primary market of this book: I've been vegan over a decade, am very athletic with more knowledge of health and nutrition than most, and regularly spend a few hours cooking gourmet meals per day (I'm a stay-at-home mom). I was looking for a time-oriented (month long or so) cooking challenge to do as a fun adventure to spice up my normal routine. I especially love the feeling of completing things and checking off lists, and was hoping it was that sort of challenge. This book is not meant for that sort of thing. It's one of the only "cookbooks" I regret purchasing. This would be great for a new vegan, a soon-to-be-vegan, a dabbling vegetarian, or anyone wanting more information on vegan health. I think it would even be great as a gift. It definitely has an audience but is misleading as a "30-Day Vegan Challenge". It should be named (as per it's subtitle): The Ultimate Guide to Eating Cleaner, Getting Leaner, and Living Compassionately. That's exactly what it is: a vegan guide.