who is my shelter?

I received "Who is my Shelter?" by Neta Jackson from Booksneeze.com.  Shelter is the 4th book in the  House of Hope series, which is a spin-off series of the Yada Yada Prayer Group books.  The main character of the series is Gabby Fairbanks, a niave and wealthy woman from Virginia who moves with her "old money" husband to Chicago.  Her husband starts a business there, while she starts to work for a homeless shelter as an activity director.  In the first book her husband takes the children back to Virginia without telling her and kicks Gabby and her mother out of the house, putting them in said homeless shelter.  This fourth book is about Gabby and Philip, her husband, and her choices.  Gabby has also, during this series, been putting together the House of Hope.  A type of half-way house for homeless single moms and their children.  This book covers the bringing up of that home. 
My opinion......well for starters I'd like to say that I am totally in love with the Yada Yada Prayer Group series.  It does top the House of Hope series by far and I couldn't wait to get the next one.  The House of Hope series is good.  Really good.  Just not as good.  The problem is that I don't like Gabby very much.  She's kinda spoiled and sometimes I just can't figure out how she keeps on living.  But as the series grows, so does Gabby.  This is the best book of the series.  She has come into her own.  She also has some tough choices to make in this book; ones that I know I wouldn't want to have to make.  Well worth the read.

lady in waiting book review

Now this is a good book.  A really good book. Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner  follows two Janes and tells two different stories that tie together because of a ring.  The first Jane is in modern day Manhattan.  She is an antique dealer with pushy parents and a husband who has left her to "find himself".  She has allowed everyone to make all of her decisions for her throughout her life.    The second Jane is from the 1550's England.  She is of noble birth, with pushy parents and her husband will be chosen for what he can provide for her parents.  She has had all her decisions made for her throughout her life as well, tho not entirely willingly.  The ring is originally owned by the 1550 Jane and tells the story of how she got the ring and what happened to her.  The ring is bought by the Manhattan Jane and tells the story of what she will do with her wayward husband and the rest of her life.  Both women decide to make their own decisions and deal with the consiquences.
This is one of those books that you don't want to go to bed at night because that means you will have to stop reading.  It is well written, it is not far fetched.  Tho fiction it is a work of "what if".  This book will make you reconcider antiques and the story behind them. This book was free to me from Waterbrookmultnomah.com. 

Amish Love Review

I received "An Amish Love" from Booksneeze.  "An Amish Love" is a collection of three novellas: Healing Heart by Beth Wiseman, A Marriage of the Heart, by Kelly Long, and What the Heart Sees by Kathleen Fuller.  All three stories center around the same small Amish town.  All three stories are complete fairy tales; never gonna happen.  On the other hand, who doesn't love a good fairy tale.  The stories are really good and would work even without the whole Amish thing.  Sometimes I wonder if writers stick in Amish stuff to improve the sales.  It seems if they aren't writing about Amish, its a vampire.  But anyway, this book is a good read. 
The first story, "A Marriage of the Heart" is about a girl who says a boy kissed her when he didn't so she has to get married within the hour.  Yeah, right.  But anyway, they fall in love over time and work through the grooms drug problem.  The second story, "What the Heart Sees" is a little more deep.  It is about the aftermath of a serious car wreck and forgiveness.  The third, "Healing Hearts"  is about a couple of emptynesters and their path to refind each other.  This book is a good collection of love storys that will be enjoyed by any woman of any faith. 

Precious Moments Storybook Bible Review

Recently I read the Precious Moments Storybook Bible to my 6 year old and she loves it.  This storybook bible is a collection  favorite bible stories, songs, prayers, and praise.  It is broken into 4 collections:  Favorite Bible Classics, Words of Praise and Wisdom, More Stories of Faith, and Songs and Prayers.  The illustrations are what make this book stand out.  Our family has a special spot for Precious Moments being that my mother-in-law lives near the chapel and we can visit it every year or so.  The book is written at a K-3 grade understanding level, but more of a 3rd grade reading.  It does not talk down to children or "dumb down" the story.  It reads like a bible.  The only part I don't like about it is that the stories are not in biblical order.  The stories in each collection are, but as a whole book they are not.  For instance, Jesus feeds the 5,000 on page 47 and is born on page 115.  That does throw off an adult reader, but my 6 year old never noticed.  I think this book would not only be a wonderful addition to a beginning readers collection, but to any Precious Moments fan as well. 

new year's eve

My New Year's Eves have changed drastically in my life.  This year I ate a healthy spinach and muchroom omelet at IHOP, saw Little Fockers, went to a party with a swinging game of UNO, and still managed to make it home by 10:30 where I brought in the new year with a 6 year old and Brendan Fraiser.  Not even a hot "journey to the center of the earth" Brendan Fraiser, but middle aged "Furry Vengance" Brendan Fraiser.  (Sarah's been on that kick lately.)  Seventeen years ago at this time I would have been to hung over to slur 2 words together let alone put together a paragraph.  Strangely I don't feel I have missed anything this year.  Like the Bible says:  there's a time for this and a time for that.  And right now is a time for diet dr. pepper, a sleepy kindergartner, and the comfy version of Link.  Happy 2011!

Eat Pray Love

Just finished watching the movie:  Eat Pray Love.  Must say it was a bit of a disappointment.  When I had read the book this summer I was floored.  I took up yoga.  I took up meditation.  I would like to say I took up eating pasta, but lets face it, that was already a done deal.  It was one of those life altering, top 10 books of all time, books.  The movie is good.  Julia is wonderful of course.  And her parade of men......ooo la la.  But, its not life altering.  It's just a damn good movie.  Soooo, what I'm saying here is, watch the movie first.  Then read one of the most amazing books of your life.

a time to dance book review

A Time To Dance by Karen Kingsbury is a Christian drama novel about John and Abby, a couple who have been married for over 20 years and are the brink of divorce.  At the time they are planning to announce their divorce to their children, the oldest child announces her engagement to Matt, her boyfriend.  Throughout most of the book, the couple tries to conduct business as usual without their children finding out there is trouble in paradise.  The resoning for the divorce is that Abby has gotten too busy to cater to John and John has taken up with a co-worker, Charlene.  John and Charlene have never had sex, so he claims it is only friendship.  Clearly it is not and this is flaunted to Abby at every opportunity. 
This book will stir up plenty of emotions while reading it.  The more prominent emotion will be a deep hatred for John.  Frankly, John is a self-centered ass and can't be trusted.  You will find yourself asking "are men really this stupid?"  As you read further you will discover, "yes, they are."  He eventually comes to his senses, but it literally takes an act of God to get him to see the light.  The spiritual point of this book is that what God has but together, let no man seperate.  It is repeated over and over.  At first I wanted to stop reading this book, but continued and I am glad I did.  It is a moving and well written book.  It certainly makes one think about marriage, family, and their personal relationship with God. Stirs up the emotions, that's for sure.   I wish John had been a little more likable, but I guess if he was, he probably wouldn't have been in the trouble he was in.  Two thumbs up.