Life, Love and Books

Unscripted by Davis In the latest release by award winning author Davis Bunn, we meet the main characters Danny Boyd and Megan Pierce. It delves into the glittering world of Hollywood with the storyline. Both characters are dealing with brokenness and seeking redemption in their lives. Danny is a line producer who is well known in the movie production world for being savvy and creative in getting projects done. As a LA lawyer, Megan has put her all into proving to impossible bosses that she can get the job done. When life throws these two go-getter a curveball, they each have to take a second look at their careers and lives. With his reputation in tatters, Danny is given the one chance to redeem himself and restore what was lost.  An unbeatable opportunity drops into Megan's lap, she realizes that she needs to grab it.  Megan has to take Danny's case and defend him in court; but they didn't realize that they bo...

       

Listening to Love by Beth Wiseman   In the second installment of the Amish Journey series, we find englischer Natalie Collins and Lucas; the older brother of Levi Sheltar having friday night suppers together. As time passes, the two have become very much best friends to the concern of their family and dear friends Levi and Mary. The opinions of those around them, starts to frustrate Natalie, who adamantly says that it is friendship only. But deep down she is realizing that her feelings have grown toward love for Lucas.  Lucas loves getting to talk with Natalie in the late night hours, but time has come that he has to face the truth of the struggle between their two ways of life. To leave would cause so much pain for his family. Also he knows that asking Natalie to walk away from her plan to become a veterinarian, would break her heart. But the more time they spend together the truth starts coming out that they have feelings for each other When Natal...

                  Until The Mountains Fall (Cities of Refuge Book 3) by Connilyn Cossette In the third installment of the Cities of Refuge series we revisit Kedesh, where Malakhi is now faced with marrying the one woman he has loved since he was a child. The only thing is she had been  his older brothers wife, who was now a widow and being commanded by the law to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband. Rivkah has no interest in marrying her deceased beloveds  younger brother and makes a decision to flee the city of her childhood. With plans of using her talents as a scribe to provide for herself, she escapes what she thinks is going to be her worst nightmare. There is a price for leaving the protection of her father and the safety of the city of refuge, this price takes a toll on Rivkah. After the disappearance of the one woman he has ever loved, Malakhi throws himself into t...

               Cross My Heart By Robin Lee Hatcher In Cross My Heart, we meet Ashley, the owner of a horse rescue farm and Ben, who is starting up a equine therapy farm. When Ashley and Ben first  meet, they find they have several things in common. Having been both raised by single mom's and sharing a passion for helping those who are hurting. While Ashley and Ben work together to bring forth Ben's dream, they both feel drawn toward a deeper relationship. But there is a big issue that is standing in their road toward this. Being that they both have very broken pasts that have affected their choice's in life. Carrying these burden's  can also drive them apart instead of bringing healing to their lives if they do not face the truth. Will they choose to hand these burdens over to the one who can handle them or walk away from a beautiful thing in each of their lives? This is a beautifully written story about he...

The Girl's Guide to Conquering Life Erica & Jonathan Catherman This book is a must have for girls of all ages, if there is something you want to learn how to do this book will give you simple instructions. From how to change the tire to applying for a job, this book has 100 skills that help to thrive i n life.  Growing up I would have loved to have had a book like this to guide me thru the skills that I never was taught. Even now as an adult, I will be using this book to guide me to learn new skills, maybe even get a dream job. I will also be sharing this book with young women in my life as they seek to conquering life. As a mentor of young women myself, I have ran into moments where I did not know how to teach certain skills, ones that I did not know. I see this book as a blessing that is going to touch alot of young women's lives.  I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Tyndale Blog Network. A favorable review was not required....

Becoming Resilient  by Donna Gibbs Resilience is something we all long for in our lives, each of us have faced some kind of difficulty at some time. Disappointment, rejection, injustice, loss and grief is part of our lives. This suffering can leave us broken inside, while going thru the motions on the outside. We can remain stuck in negative patterns or choose to move forward toward healing.  Donna Gibbs brings to the table twenty years of experience as a professional counselor. Drawing from that experience, she shares the secrets of building your resilience to change your experience of suffering. By offering practical tools and effective coping strategies to with whatever life throws at us. Using these tools and coping strategies can help you move through suffering and come out on the other side stronger. Grief and loss is part of our life, at some point we all have had to face this.  This book helps us deal with all of this in our lives. I would r...

Bread of Angels  by Tessa Afshar There is a brief passage in the Bible about Lydia the seller of purple, so I jumped at the chance to review this book. Also, I have read another book by Tessa Afshar and I loved it. She does a wonderful job of writing about biblical stories and brings them to life in her books. Her newest novel takes place during the time of Paul's travels through Roman empire. We find Lydia learning the trade of making purple dye from her father.  Her life is filled with spending her days with her father making the dye that provides for their needs. One  day her father has an accident causing him to be unable to perform his job, Lydia takes over the everyday duties of making the dye. The young man that rescued her dad makes an offer to both of them seems too good to be true. As time passes by,  Lydia's life is overturned by false accusations against her father, Running from the disgrace, she finds a home in Phillippi. Doing t...

Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette This is the first book I have read written by Connilyn Cossett, the first thing that interested me in reading her books was the biblical aspect of her story line. From the moment I picked up the book to the end I was hooked to the story. Getting to take a step back into the time period of Moses was a delight for me. It gives me a different look at the scriptures and helped me to understand some of the events that happened  during the long journey to the promised land. This is the second installment to the Out Of  the Egypt series, it continues with the Israelite's journey to the promise land. Shira now is living in freedom with her family at the foot of Mt Sinai.When the opportunity comes along for Shira to learn a new trade, it awakens a new desire in her. Going against her mother's wishes to continue in the families weaving trade; she pursues the calling of becoming a midwifes apprentice.  When a delivery goes wro...

Today we will be having a very special person visiting the Blog!! We welcome Rachelle Dekker, the author of the Seers series. The Returning  by Rachelle Dekker When I heard that Rachelle Dekker was the daughter of Ted Dekker, it really peaked  my interest in reading her first book The Choosing. I truly do love getting to read new authors books, because I never know when I might find another fave.   After I read The Choosing I was hooked and could not wait to read the next book. Rachelle is very good at taking a story line and moving it along in years; without making you feel like you missed out on something. Also she takes the Christian faith and puts it into a very different way of thinking that even had me looking at my life differently. It made me take a step back and see how much we are like Elise. That we each as believers have a light inside of us that we need to let shine on all who is around us. Also being able to see our Lord Jesus Christ po...

Take Your Life Back:  How to Stop Letting the Past and Other People Control You by Stephen Arterburn , M.Ed.  and David Stoop, Ph.D. Just as the title says is what this book truly about, making the choice to take your life back and to become the person you are to be in life. If you are looking for hope in your life of overcoming feelings and habits that have controlled you for a long time look no more. Overcoming the hurts and habits that are keeping us from moving forward, while taking new and very positive steps toward change in our lives.Getting healing from the hurts, setbacks and broken relationships that have effected every day of our lives. As I was reading this book, I myself had to take time and look at my past to see the issues that was holding me back from going further in my life. I found this book to be very helpful at working on the problems that I felt I was stuck on and could not find the freedom from. To anyone that needs or is looking for a way ...

Really Bad Girls of the Bible More Lessons from Less-than Perfect Women by Liz Curtis Higgs She did it again, Liz Curtis Higgs has taken the bad girls of the Bible and brought them to life in her latest book. We are introduced to some very overlooked women in the Bible, Jael, Medium of En-dor, Athalia and Herodias. Also some women that touched lives thru the things they did, Bathsheba, Tamar, the Adulteress and the Bleeding Woman. Each of these women did things that were bad or something that was considered bad in that time period in the case of the Bleeding Woman. Each chapter highlights one of these womens stories and at the end it gives us insight that we can learn from each of these women. I loved reading Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible, so when I got the chance to review this book I jumped at it. Liz does an amazing job of taking the stories of the women in the Bible and bringing them to life for us 20th century women. I would recommend this book to anyone as a study...

The Magnolia Duchess by Beth White     Beth White brings us the the third installment to the Gulf Coast Chronicles with the sequel to The Creole Princess. Returning to Mobile Point in the summer of 1814 we find the British preparing to invade the colonies. We are introduced to a new heroine Fiona Lanier who is the daughter of Simon and Daisy Lanier. Being the only girl in her family of boys, she has been able to do whatever she wanted in life. When one day on a ride along the beach she finds a British soldier that has been washed up on the sand. Upon recognizing the soldier as a young man she had met years before in England. Taking a big risk Fiona brings the young man back to her home and nurses him back to health. After losing his memory in a shipwreck, Charlie Kincaid woke up to see the face of an angel caring for his wounds.  During his time of healing, Charlie falls more in love with Fiona and gets to know her family as the time passes...

        The Calling  by Rachelle Decker In the second book of the Seer Series, we find that a year and half has passed by and a daughter has been born to Remko and Carrington. The following of Seers has grown to a larger number and keeps growing as the people are more oppressed by the new president of Authority City. Anyone who chooses to disobey and follow the rebel Aaron is executed and the people are forced to watch the executions.  As the tactical leader Remko faces many challenges leading his team to perform many missions inside the city. Also as a father he faces the challenge of protecting his family from the danger that faces them. From the day that I finished The choosing, I couldn't wait to read the next book in  the series. I loved getting to see Remko's side of the story, it gave a different outlook to the story. The timeline has moved forward a year and half after Remko and Carrington left authority cit...

The Prophetess (Deborah's Story) by Jill Eileen Smith Deborah's life was touched with tragedy when her father and brothers was slaughtered by the enemies of the nation of Israel. In this very dark time period of her life, she is called to lead God's people back to him. Deborah never asked to be the one to lead her people or to be the one sitting as a judge for them. As she sees visions with a voice she feels compelled to be there for them. Will her family ever be able to see that the work she is doing will lead them to the freedom they are longing for. Will her people trust her to hear the word from God calling them to turn from the idols they have set up. Another beautifully written story about a very strong woman in the bible, that is mentioned as a judge of the nation Israel. It shows that God not only chose men to do his will, but also a woman who was chosen to do a very big job in a very hard time period. Jill Eileen Smith artfully crafts a story out of a...

Merchant of Alyss by Thomas Locke  The second book in the Legends of the Realm, Merchant of Alyss finds Hyam living at in Falmoth Port with his wife Joelle. Many changes has happened in his life, a chance encounter has brought new wisdom and love finds a way into his heart. As he is slowly recovering from his last battles, a mysterious shipment arrives that draws his attention. When his dreams become haunted by soon coming conflicts and mythic beasts, he has to face another battle; the battle to rescue his beloved from  a sorcerers spell. Hyam sets out over desolate lands to save what is dearest to him, his wife and community. As he sets out on this new journey, he must rely on his abilities and his forbidden past to be able to win the battle. This quest could either bring deliverance or devastation. I truly like reading fantasy and checking out new reads, but this book was a hard one for me to get into. This was not the kind of book i would read, but I would recommen...