Fabulous February 2010! (sticky post)

I love February!  All comments on regular posts will be entered into the giveaway for a free book out of my prize box USA and Canada only. I will have four random comment winners.  In addition, the person who comments the most in February will receive a $20 Amazon gift card emailed to them (open to all commentors).  I will add a little something extra to each winner this month too in celebration of Fabulous February!

This Giveaway will run from February 1 – February 28…. winners announced on March 1

This post will stay on top for the month of February.  All new posts will be directly below.

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher

“Did anyone ask where you were this afternoon?” Sol asked her.

“No,” Carrie answered, still smiling. “Dad and Eli were so excited about purchasing the orchards that it was all anyone was talking about.”

“Surprised me to see Andy with you. Think that was wise?”

“Aw, it was a birthday present for him. He won’t tell.” Carrie was quiet for a moment. “I won’t be here for his actual birthday.” Her heart caught for a moment.

Sol didn’t seem to notice the quiver in her voice. “So we’ll tell our folks Sunday afternoon, just like we talked about. On Monday, I’ll be on the team bus to Long Island, but you can follow on a Greyhound as soon as you can. I thought we could get married in New York, the day you arrive. How does that sound?”

Carrie didn’t answer right away. She glanced back at the big white farmhouse. The moonlight shone behind it, casting a bluish hue over it. The night was so quiet and peaceful, the barn and the house filled with sleeping people and animals. An owl hooted once, then twice.

Then her eyes caught on a shadowy figure and she gasped. Daniel Miller was sitting on the fence across from the phone shanty, watching her.

♦♦♦♦♦

I have really taken a liking to the books I have read over this past year involving the Amish Community. Carrie is a wonderfully strong main character that I took a liking to immediately. The Lancaster County Amish setting was well thought through and author Suzanne Woods Fisher does not disappoint when it comes to details.  I felt I really took away a deeper knowledge of the Amish through my reading of this book.

This book was one that once picked up did not get put down until I turned that last page.  There are several deaths early in the book but it only contributes to strength of the characters.  With such a strong character drive, Suzanne Woods Fisher drives us right through an incredible journey of faith and truth.  And author Suzanne knows what she is talking about having lived in a world between English and Amish all her life with many relatives living the Amish life.

I really enjoyed this read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suzanne Woods Fisher’s interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, W. D. Benedict, who was raised in the Dunkard Brethren Church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Benedict eventually became publisher of Christianity TodayToday’s Christian Woman, Worldwide Challenge, ParentLife, Christian Parenting Today, and Marriage Partnership. She has contributed to several nonfiction books and is the author of  Amish Peace and two novels. Fisher resides in Alamo, California.

*See you on February 15th for Suzanne’s Author Talk and Book Bomb! Fun. (Buy the book on Feb. 15th, submit your receipt to amy@litfusegroup.com and be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com! Details here!)

I received my review copy from LitFuse Publicity

Morning Meanderings

Good morning everyone.  I am currently sitting in the Orlando Airport waiting for our 7:40 am flight, and yes, today is my birthday.  For fun – I thought I would list some facts about my birthdate.

I was born on a Thursday.

I share my birthday with Alice Walker – the author of The Color Purple

Top songs of 1967

To Sir with Love by Lulu	Daydream Believer by Monkees
Windy by Association	Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry
Somethin’ Stupid by Nancy & Frank Sinatra	Groovin’ by Young Rascals
The Letter by Box Tops	Light My Fire by Doors
Happy Together by Turtles	Hello Goodbye by Beatles

My birth flower is Iris.  My birthstone is Amethyst.

Movies

• The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, In the Heat of the Night, Cool Hand Luke
• 
  

Pulitzer Prize

Fiction: The Fixer, Bernard Malamud

Popular Books Published in 1967:

The Outsiders by SE Hinton

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Christy by Catherine Marshall

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Snow White by Donald Barthelme

The Clue In The Crossword Cipher by Carolyn Keene

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O Zelinsky

The Boxcar Children :  Houseboat Mystery #12 by  Gertrude Chandler Warner

This afternoon I will be back home.  I have a review coming up later for The Choice.

What great books were published the year you were born?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Whew! What an honor! J Kaye over at J Kaye’s Blog has transferred this meme to me. I am excited as this is a wonderful weekly meme that basically reviews how your last reading week went, and what is on deck for this current week. J Kaye did such a wonderful job hosting this meme and I hope we will all continue to honor her by keeping this meme going strong!

One of the key things I have enjoyed about this meme is that it gives me a chance to link to other book bloggers and what they are reading this week. I encourage you highly to not only participate in this weekly with your own post and link to it here – but to also make a point to visit other participants.

Saying that, here is what I would like to offer. Go out and visit a minimum of 10 other participants that have linked to this meme and leave a valid comment (by valid I mean no one word “cool” or “thanks”, but an actual comment). Let me know here in the comment section that you did that and I will enter you into a weekly drawing for a book out of the Prize Box (your choice). Winners will be announced at the following It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? post.

Want to comment on more than 10? Say 20? Ok, I like your style! 20 will get you 2 entries, 30 will get you 3, etc…

This past week I:

Reviewed:

Beguiled

I, Alex Cross

February Social Justice Challenge:  Water

Home Is Where The Wine Is

dream HOUSE

Angels

Searching For Tina Turner

That probably looks like a lot of books but I have been on vacation this week!  Woo hoo!

Here is my week:

The Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet (my book club read – I get back to Brainerd on Tuesday and Tuesday evening is our review!

Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney (being read for a round table discussion later this month)

Anything beyond that I am going to leave open.  We will head back to Minnesota on the 9th so I will have time to read on the plane and on the 11th we start driving for Illinois – 9 hours there and return on the 14th – 9 hours back.  All reading time while Al drives. 

Ready?

Sign up with your post link! I would love to see what you are reading this week!

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Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Morning Meanderings

Yesterday Al and I were looking at the Yoder Frey auction most of the afternoon.  For a special dinner last night we went with my cousins and my aunt to Texas De Brazil.  A totally new experience for us but one I hope to repeat.  We really enjoyed the amazing salad bar and the meets were delicious.  I didn’t get to try a lot of the meats because I did exactly what my cousin told me not to do – I filled up on the salad.

Tomorrow I am excited to be taking on the hosting of J Kaye’s It’s Monday! What Are You Reading meme.  I am honored to do so.  I hope if you have participated in this in the past that you will continue to do so, and if this meme is one you have not participated in, I urge you to give it a try.  I like it because it causes me to plan out some of my reads for the week.  Plus – I really love seeing what everybody else is reading around the world for the week.

Have a great day – hubby and I are visiting the Richie Brothers Auction today in Orlando.  We will not be here the actual auction so Al likes to look things over if he wants to bid on line.  It’s all a little over my head but he likes to tell me about the equipment and I don’t mind going along for the ride.  I am hoping to treat him today to his first Cracker Barrel experience!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

In My Mailbox errrr….. Suitcase

I haven’t been home this week so I do not have any idea what treasures await me from the mailbox.  I have however made a few purchases this week that I can share:

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste…

Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition. He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets. Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she’s thinking—and he’s the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. She doesn’t know who he really is—or what he is. Damen equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.

Lotus Lowenstein’s life is merde. She dreams of moving to Paris and becoming an existentialist. Yet here she is trapped in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with a New-Agey mom, an out-of-work dad, and a chess champion brother who dreams of being a rock star. Merci à Dieu for Lotus’s best friend, Joni, who loves French culture enough to cofound their high school’s first French Club with Lotus. At the first meeting, the cutest boy in the world walks in. His name is Sean, and he too loves French culture and worships Jean-Paul Sartre.

At first, Lotus thinks Sean is the best thing to happen to her in years. He’s smart, cultured, and adorable. Unfortunately, though, Joni feels the same way. And having an existentialist view of love, Sean sees nothing wrong with enjoying both girls’ affections. Things come to a head when all three depart for Montreal with their teacher, Ms. G, on the French Club’s first official field trip. Will Sean choose Joni over Lotus? And will Lotus and Joni’s friendship ever recover?

When a night-time call to 911 from a secluded Wisconsin vacation house is cut short, offduty deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves her husband and son at the dinner table and drives up to Lake Mondac to investigate. Was it a misdial or an aborted crime report?

Brynn stumbles onto a scene of true horror and narrowly escapes from two professional criminals. She and a terrified visitor to the weekend house, Michelle, flee into the woods in a race for their lives. As different as night and day, and stripped of modern-day resources, Brynn, a tough deputy with a difficult past, and Michelle, a pampered city girl, must overcome their natural reluctance to trust each other and learn to use their wits and courage to survive the relentless pursuit. The deputy’s disappearance spurs both her troubled son and her new husband into action, while the incident sets in motion Brynn’s loyal fellow deputies and elements from Milwaukee’s underside. These various forces race along inexorably toward the novel’s gritty and stunning conclusion.

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

That’s it for my mailbox this week.  Be sure to stop over at Kristi from Story Siren and add your link to this wonderful weekly meme.  You know I want to know!  What was in your mailbox this week?

Morning Meanderings…

Today I am up bright and early to go to the auctions with Al.  Yes – this is my first time going.  We will be in Orlando all day and then tonight we will have dinner in Orlando with my cousins and my aunt who will be flying in today to join us.  Al has been so great this week taking me to book stores and to Disney World that now it is my turn to smile real big and do something nice for him.  The auctions we are seeing these next two days do not start until after we have headed back to Minnesota so Al is checking them out to see if there is anything he wants to put a bid on for online.

I am taking with me today Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet.  This is our book club read that we meet to discuss on the 9th, the day we fly back.

What are you reading today?

Searching For Tina Turner by Jacqueline E Luckett

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother’s “overbearing behavior.” When Randall decides that he’s had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: “Be grateful for all I’ve done for you or leave.” Lena, realizing that money can’t solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter.

It didn’t take many pages into this book to realize who Randall was and what he represented.  He was that guy that thinks that money is happiness and if you are his wife – you had just better smile and remember who brings in the paycheck.

(Pause here while I throw up)

When Lena leaves it all I am totally in a “You go girl!” mood.  Randall turned my stomach.  What I had thought was going to be a lighthearted fun book turned out to have more depth than I had anticipated.  Lena’s journey (and why not?  She had the money to do it!)  As Lena find that she does have self worth I found myself liking her more and more.

I enjoyed this book with its message of it is never too late.  I am a firm believer in a woman’s ability to take care of herself  and Lena, much like Tina Turner, learns in this book that there is a whole world waiting out there that does not require living under anyone’s thumb.

Jacqueline describes herself as an avid reader and lover of books, excellent cook, aspiring photographer (all the photos on this site were taken by Jacqueline) and world traveler. She lives in Northern California and, though she loves that city and all the friends she has there, she takes frequent breaks to fly off to foreign destinations.

Searching for Tina Turner, her first novel, was published by Grand Central Publishing in January 2010 — and, as you can imagine, she is thrilled!

MY AMAZON REVIEW

My review copy came from Hachette Book Group

Angels by Dr. David Jeremiah w/Giveaway

Separate Fact from Fiction
For centuries, men, women, and children have been fascinated by stories of angel sightings. Yet many contemporary beliefs are based on misconception and myth rather than solid, biblical truth. Responding to our widespread, modern cultural interest in the agents of heaven and their role in our world, popular Bible teacher Dr. David Jeremiah provides an in-depth, biblical look at the hot topic of angels. His broad and thorough survey of scriptural teaching is illustrated by powerful quotes from prominent teachers Billy Graham, Corrie ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, and others.
Separate Fact from Fiction
Popular Bible teacher Dr. David Jeremiah explores the Bible’s rich teaching on angels, revealing a fascinating doorway into reliable, eye-opening truth.
Discover the reality of how angels can draw you closer than ever to God as you sharpen your sensitivity toward spiritual realities.
Endorsements]
“Outstanding As one would expect from David Jeremiah, this book reflects a theologian’s concern, a pastor’s heart, and a Biblicist’s accuracy.”
–Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, “New York Times “bestselling author
“David has that uncanny ability to be deliberate without being dull. His words will deepen your gratitude for God’s messengers in light of God’s Word.”
–Max Lucado, pastor and bestselling author
“Dr. David Jeremiah shifts the focus from contemporary ‘angel hype’ to the fascinating biblical truth about God’s powerful messengers.”
–Dr. John C. Maxwell, founder of INJOY, Inc.
Story Behind the Book
Endorsements
“Simply put, this is an outstanding book As one would expect from David Jeremiah, this book reflects a theologian’s concern, a pastor’s heart, and a biblicist’s accuracy.” –Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, “New York Times” bestselling author
“David has that uncanny ability to be deliberate without being dull. His words will deepen your gratitude for God’s messengers in light of God’s Word.”
–Max Lucado, pastor and bestselling author
“Dr. David Jeremiah shifts the focus from contemporary ‘angel hype’ to the fascinating biblical truth about God’s powerful messengers.”
–Dr. John C. Maxwell, founder of INJOY, Inc.

Whenever I agree to read a book on scriptures or Biblical truths and I am not familiar with the author, I tread carefully. That was the case in this book.  A book on Angels does not guarantee a Biblical truth and before I said yes to this book I did a little Google searching on Dr. David Jeremiah.  The sell for me was knowing his teachings stemmed around people like Billy Graham, Corrie Ten Boom and C.S. Lewis, all who are respected by me as authors.

What are angels? What is their role in God’s plan? Are they present? Do they appear? Do they give us personal insight about our work and our worship?

I enjoyed going through this book and following where Angels appear in the Bible.  Scripture by scripture, David Jeremiah showed me what angels – and what angels are not.  I enjoyed taking this book chapter by chapter – learning more and ore about the ANgels of the Bible…. sadly, something I had never taken the time to do before.

I admit I went through a phase in my 20’s when Angels were cool to collect and I had a large collection of them throughout our home – because I liked the look of them, but didn’t really go deeper into what (or who) Angels represented.

Jeremiah’s book is a reprint that has already sold 60,000 copies.  Apparently people do want to know more about Angels and I am glad to hear that this author will be the one to help them – and me – know more about the true Angels.  I liked that while he gives his thoughts and insights – he does keep the focus on the Bible and doesn’t improvise his own ideas into the book.  It left me knowing more not only about the Bible, and Angels, but feeling like I knew a little more about God as well.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah publishing I have a copy of this book to give away to one lucky commentor!

How to Enter?

Leave a comment here for one entry

Bonus Entries?

Subscribe to this blog (upper right sidebar) and let me know in a separate comment and receive two bonus entries

Tweet or blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment for another entry

This giveaway will end on February 28.  Open to USA and Canada entrants only.

Have fun and good luck!

MY AMAZON REVIEW

I received my copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group

Morning Meanderings…

Good morning!  Still here, still in Florida – and now two of my cousins are here Jarrod and Rob so that is cool!    No big plan for today, I have a couple reviews to write and later tonight Al and I will probably go try out a different restaurant.  He loves that…

Yesterday I found a link to this site called BookCloseouts.com.  There are a few good reads if you are willing to dig a little and they are priced no higher than 1.99.

Right now I am in serious need of coffee so I am off to say good morning to the Coffee Pot!

dream HOUSE by valerie LAKEN

What price will people pay to hold their homes and dreams together?

When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they’re hoping their grand renovation project can rescue their troubled marriage. Instead, they discover that years ago their home was the scene of a terrible crime—and the revelation tips the balance of their precarious union.

When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate, now alone, is forced to confront her home’s dangerous past. Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof. This man’s family also disintegrated here, as the result of one brief act of rage that may haunt him—and this house—for years to come.

I was hooked to this book by the cover at first sight…. and the title with the eerie letters reflecting in the water.  When I read what the book was about I was sold out interested.  A mystery!  A murder mystery!  A ghost story even!  Yet who are the ghosts in this ghost story?  Lingering pasts of Stuart and Kate…. dashed hops and dreams, ghosts of a marriage they once had – or dreamed they had?  Possibly.  Not the ghosts I had envisioned, but ghosts all the same.

The prologue was a bit much for me and if the book would have been based off those first few eighteen pages I probably would not have been able to finish the book.  The character of Claire I found to be extremely unlikable and desensitized.  My stomach actually lurched at what the book described.

and then we move on to 2005… and with the story of Stuart and Kate comes a sigh of relief from me.  I like them.  I like Kate’s dreams for the house and I can relate to that.  As Kate remodels and remodels I start to wonder what is she really trying to fix?  As Valerie Laken brings the pieces of this story as well as the characters together for a story that kept me turning the pages.

And really – what home, what person, doesn’t have a few ghosts?

About Valerie

Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Valerie Laken has lived and worked in Moscow, Russia; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Krakow, Poland; Madison, Wisconsin; Iowa City, Iowa; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received an MA in Slavic Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.

Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, the Chicago Tribune, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Antioch Review, and Meridian. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories.

Her first novel, Dream House, was inspired by her own experience buying and remodeling a home in which a murder had occurred.

Laken has taught at the University of Michigan and Carthage College, and is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she teaches creative writing.

Visit Valerie Laken’s website.

My Amazon Review

I received my review copy from TLC book Tours