MomSense

This book made me feel all kinds of better about my abilities as a mom! Like mentioned in her books, we're surrounded by so many blogs, books, tv personaities, etc... that all try to tell us how we as parents ought to be raising our children. So many of these places raise the expectations so high that it's almost impossible to fulfill them!
I loved how Jean Blackmer gave really open, honest, and truly common-sense approaches to parenting, the idea's she presented were simple, well explained and highly attainable! But even more than that, I loved that she also made room within her suggestions to let people know that their own parenting style, that their own ideas of parenting are still ok! We weren't asked to become these cookie cutter type mom's who should all only live one way, parent one way in order for us to raise our kids the "right way".

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

A heart divided

I liked this book, a lot, so much so that I've started hunting around for other books written by Kathleen Morgan that I can purchase! This book was much more than a simple romance, it was filled with a lot of drama and thought provoking situations! The story mainly focuses on a feud by two families, the Caldwells and the Wainwrights, who both believe that each family has done the other wrong. In the middle of this feud is Sara Caldwell, who sits apart from the anger that seems to engulf the rest of her family; and Cord Wainwright who comes home to help save the ranch, but feels that his life is outside of the simple country town and ranch.
When circumstances bring them together they both are fighting to protect their families/homes, and through many mis-steps, trials and suffering they begin to find themselves drawn to each other.
I really enjoyed this book, I would recommend you pick up a copy at the soonest opportunity!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

To win her heart

This is again another one of those books where I initially didn't like the main character of the book! The female character Eden Spencer starts off behaving in an almost snobbish and arrogant manner. However the book was very well written, so I was still enjoying the story very much. I'm glad to say though that by the end of the book we can really see her character take shape and she becomes much more likeable! The story mostly focuses around Levi, who is fresh out of prison and looking to find a quiet life with as little trouble around him as possible. That however seems impossible after he meets Eden and begins to see her as more than a friend. With this budding romance he begins to have trouble find him in the form of the town's sheriff (who happens to want Eden for a wife). While Levi faces many challenging situations throughout the book, we can really see his strength of character and he shows himself to be quite likeable to the reader! I would definitely recommend this book!!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

An unlikely Suitor

To be honest, I was pretty excited to read this book, I love anything that fits within the "historical fiction" category so I had some great expectations of this book! Like I mention quite often, I'm not a huge romance reader, a lot of those types of books seem to be just a little to corny and gushy for my tastes. And while there were some "romantic" twists in the plot, the book was definitely more than that!
At first I found myself really disliking the main character Lucy Scarpelli, I found her to be rather bossy and almost smug. However, even with that initial dislike, I was still loving the book, and by the end of it I very much enjoyed reading about each of the characters!
Basically the story centers mostly around Lucy Carpelli who befriends a slightly handicapped socialite named Rowena. With this friendship comes many new life experiences for Lucy and her family. I enjoyed reading about the girls' struggle to be friends while still remaining in their separate and distinct social classes.
This was a pretty fantastic book, and I'll be adding this author to my lists of favorites!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Amish Prayers

I love this book, and without trying to sound flippant, I find it utterly adorable. we took a trip recently and spent a lot of time on the road, so I had an arsenal of books to entertain me, and this one was included in the group! Its a nice small size, so it was easy to pack and take with me, but it was also pretty sturdy which was nice!!
Honestly, I didn't much expect to get anything out of reading the book, I figured it would be rather mundane prayers and simple doctrine. But truly, this book has really impacted my prayer life and the way I try to live my life! (I have no plans to turn Amish, but do love many of their attitudes towards others). While the language of the prayers is fairly simple, the idea's behind them and hugely meaningful and very insightful. Really I would fully recommend this book to everyone, it's insightful, simple and easily applicable!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Max on life

I generally enjoy all things Max Lucado he is my absolute favorite non fiction writer, so I was pretty excited to have a chance to review his newest book!


There was a lot about this book that I really did like, I love that he's taken questions from real people and set answers to them. There were quite a few of the questions that I found applied directly to me! (I'm a worrier, lol) However at the same time, because he's covered so much in one book I felt at times that his answers and the scripture he provided didn't go as deep as I've come to expect from him. Lucado usually has fantastic insight into Scripture and with this book I don't think we saw enough of that. For me it was just too much at once, I would have rather seen him cover less questions but with more depth to them.

All in all though, I would have to say I did enjoy this book, and even though I would have liked more I did learn an awful lot! So on that basis, I would totally recommend this book!
 
"Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson".

Live Loved: Experiencing God's presence in everyday life

There were a number of things I loved about this book by Max Lucado, (I'm a huge fan of his writing, its easy to grasp and easily applied in life!) but I truly loved how he put this book together. As a full-time mom and a full-time employee my spare moments are few and far between,  so when I try reading a devotional book, generally I just get lost, and struggle to keep a good pace. With this book the devotions aren't too long, they're too the point and simple. I was easily able to understand and apply what Max was talking about in my own life. I really loved this book.
However, I think the bigger review/recommendation would come from my husband! He's one of those guys who dislikes reading and unless it's something that's a part of his job, her rarely does. He saw me reading "Live loved" and when I finished he borrowed the book to look at. That was a couple of weeks back, and I haven't been able to get my hands back on it since, lol. He enjoyed reading the book and really got a lot out of it too!
I would totally recommend this book, especially for those who don't necessarily like reading, I think with this book you'll be pleasantly surprised!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson"

Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas

I'm a bit on the fence with this book, on one hand, I love the story and drama surrounding Abby Sunderland and her struggle to and perseverance to survive. I think its a great lesson for so many people, but especially one that I'd love to share with my son! I love her faith, and how often it's expressed throughout the book, and in that view, I really did enjoy this book. However, I found it such a struggle to keep up with all the terms and to understand most of what she was doing (boat-wise). For someone who is incredibly unfamiliar with boats and sailing this book was a bit of a struggle to get through!
All in all though, once I was able to kind of put aside and pick up on some of what was talked about in the book I did really start to enjoy reading it.
This is one of those books that I would probably give to some of our youth, I think it's a great message that regardless of age, nothing is impossible with God!


"Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.


Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson".