Still House Pond

I was sent a complimentary copy of Still House Pond by Jan Watson from Tynsdale Publishers to review for them.

Lilly Gray Corbett loves living on Troublesome Creek, but she would much rather play with her best friend than watch her little brother and the twins. Her mama, Copper, is often gone helping to birth babies, and Lilly has to stay home. When Aunt Alice sends a note inviting her to visit in the city, Lilly is excited to go, and Copper reluctantly agrees to let her. Later, when they hear the news that the train crashed, Copper and her husband, John, rush to find out if their daughter is injured . . . or even alive.



I ended up really liking this book. It took me a while to get into it, but by page 100 I didn't want to put it down. I thought in the first half of the book, the character development was also a little slow. I didn't feel like I was getting to know anyone. In the second half it totally turned around and once I got to know the characters I loved them! There are really 3 main characters -



Copper - She is the town Midwife (or baby catcher). She is a strong and smart woman. She takes sick, pregnant women into their home against her husbands better judgment. She nurses them back to health and teaches them how to care for their babies.


Lilly - An 11 yr. old girl who is carefree and a little mischievous. She intends on being a mature young lady but something is always tempting her away, puppies, people, listening and watching things she shouldn't, all these things are far more interesting than watching her siblings and doing chores. She is scheduled to visit her Aunt for a spell, which she is very excited about and feels very grown-up taking the train alone.


Manda - She is the 18 yr. old hired help. She has big dreams of falling in love. With stars always in her eyes, her mind is always wandering to a certain stranger, while at the same time her heart is wondering if her friend, Gurney could be "the one". I loved Manda, she was my favorite!

Not Exactly For Reading

This isn't a book review but I thought it was a very good idea that would go along with a book.  It is a book bag but is being used as the wrapping of the gift and then you can use it to carry the book and your other stuff around with you.  So go take a look and see what you think about it.  Have fun!!

http://ajpadilla.com/patterns/quick-gifts-small-quilted-projects/bags-accessories/book-gift-bag

Same Kind Of Different

I received a free copy of Same Kind Of Different As Me from Thomas Nelson publishers to read and write a review for them.  This is a facvtual book but while reading it you get the feeling that it could easily be fiction.  It is about two friends and each person takes turns telling their part, Ron tells his part and then Denver takes over and tells his part.

Now Ron Hall is an Art Dealer that travels all over the world to buy and to sell his expensive pieces of art.  In living in this manner he has become very wealthy and very self-centered.  He is growing away from his family and his wife thought it might help him to do some volunteer work at a homeless shelter so he could see how others have to live.

Now while  working there he meets a man, Denver Moore, that grew up in Louisiana as a sharecropper, which as it turns out is not much different than the way his older relatives had lived.  But he decided to leave Fort Worth, Texas as perhaps life would be easier for him.  The two men meet as one is serving food and the other is there to receive it.

It is hard for Ron to get Denver's personality to break but they finally do make friends even though they are two men from two different worlds.  They go through a tragedy together and as it ends up each man ends up teaching the other man about his own life. 

This books ends up making you feel like it is a novel because it ends up being just too good to be true.  Everything the men write let you know that their worlds are almost completely opposite and this shows what can happen if we all open our minds and our hearts and just give each other a chance.

Lead Like Ike

I was given a copy of Lead Like Ike by Geoff Loftus by Thomas Nelson to review for them.  Mr. Loftus gives us a look at how Dwight D. Eisenhower would lead the military forces of several nations that woud defeat Hitler and Germany in this book.  His intent was for the leaders of today to learn by observing from the CEO of D-Day, he takes us from the organization  of his men to the actual D-Day.


When you read through this book you will find yourself in the command post of the Allied Forces. You will see how fascinating it is to see the interaction between the different personalities of WWII.  I enjoy reading History and therefore I enjoyed reading this book, but if you happen to be a leader you will learn many things from this book.


Mr. Loftus not only shows us Eisenhowers fine strength but he also shows us leadership strategies while he interjects applications of these strategies throughout the narrative.  Plus at the end of each chapter he also provides notes which focus on the lessons inthis fine story.


Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully fulfilled his missions and the reader gets to see how many times he failed.  You are also able to learn from these failures as well as from the successes.


I think any person that reads this book will come away with more understanding of Ike than they had before.  Plus I think you will understand the strategies that go into military manuvers or practices, and will have a more positive feeling for them than you did before.


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Do Your Teenagers Like Mysteries?

This book by G.P. Taylor of The Dopple Ganger Series is The Secret Of The Indigo Moon, and was given to me to review for the Tynsdale Company.  This review is of my our words and I am not paid to do this.

You know when you read a quote that says this author is the new such and such author you aren't quite sure whether to listen to this recommendation or not.  Well G.P. Taylor was compared to C.S. Lewis, and sometimes you should just read on and not try to think so much first.  This book The Secret Moon is the second in the Doppler Ganger series, and if you will just give it an honest try I think yu will be very surprised.

One of the things that I found most interesting was the manner in which the book is printed.  You feel like you are reading a comic strip book.  The drawings allow you to see what perhaps your mind needs a little help in developing.  This is a great mystery for the middle age school children, it is a normal style of young fiction. 

It evolves around a young male student who lives at a school for homeless children, there he becomes great friends with two other students.  Now these three run across a mystery and they decide they will have to check it out and see what has really happened.  Now we also have some people from the first book that decide to make an appearance here in this one, some are good additions and some are bad additions.

One of the things that interested me was the interaction the reader must get into to enjoy the book.  You go from page 2 to try to understand a clock, then on to page 4, then back to the comics on pages 5 and 6.  The movement of the story really keeps you involved and very interested, you really don't want to stop reading it until you are completely finished.  I really loved this technique of interaction.

I'm sure there are many books for the middle age to teen readers but this one is a big plus on being different and holding the persons attention.  I would recommend this to any teenager, and be prepared not to hear from them for the rest of the day.

Love On A Dime

Love On A Dime by Cara Lynn James is her first novel, I was given a complimentary copy to review by Thomas Nelson Publishers.  As the title suggests this is a love story, about Lilly Westbrook that although she is a socialite she writes her novels under the name of Fannie Cole.  Since Lilly doesn't want to be considered badly, she uses her penname, her novels are very popular and they are written with good moral statute, and she does not want anyone to know her true identity.

As I said it is a love story, that you can tell from the title, and it is very typical in the way it is written about a long lost love and a new love.  It is somewhat easy to guess which one she will end up with but I still found it very nice and clean love story style of reading.

The book also centers on other things not just her love problems.  It shows that she is a very giving and charitable person that is not just concerned about herself and her position in society.  Her giving to others makes you sit and think a little about yourself, are you doing enough?  It really made you stop and count your own blessings and think about if there was any other ways you could help someone.

This book is such an easy read that I finished it in one day, you find yourself saying, "Just one more page."  Of course first thing you know you  are completely finished with it.  It is a very enjoyable book to read but it is also one that will make you stop and think about your life.  Do we do enough for others?

Happpily Ever Laughter

Now who could refuse a title like that?  I was given this book by Tynsdale Network to read and write a review for them, the book was a complimentary issue.

Happily Ever Laughter by Ken Davis helps you to see the lighter side of Marriage. While most books on marriage are mostly very serious this book helps you to see and enjoy the lighter side of things.  While things that did not seem funny at the time they were happening, just a little while later and given some thinking time you finally get to see the funny side...finally.  We either laugh at them or we let them build up inside ourselves which  as you  know is not good at all.

 This was a great read. The chapters are short - just a quick laugh and short thought will add humor to your marriage. I tried reading one of the stories out loud and couldn't finish because I was crying and laughing so hard. I actually read a few chapters while I was making supper and finished it off when it was bedtime.

This book would be a great addition to any family library but I really think it would be a great bride and bridegroom present.  It just might help a new marriage become  an old one.

Winner ! Winner ! Winner !

The day is here to announce the winner.  I want to Thank everyone that has entered, this has been a fun thing to win a very good book.  I will try to have another giveaway in about 2 months.  Enough chit chat on to the important stuff.....the winner is--drum roll please

         Diva Kreszl and Congrats to you!

You have 48 hours to let me know where to mail it or we choose another name.

Thanks everybody!

An Easy Mystery

I was given a copy of A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller to review for Thomas Nelson Publishing.  It is about a thirteen year old Amish girl that would like some privacy from her three brothers that are always pestering her. So she decides to create her own little world inside an old barn, she has a journal some food and no brothers in her secret place.  But then she runs into some problems. First off,  her Father has forbidden her to go to the barn anymore, plus she realizes that someone else has found her secret hideaway and therefore she's not as alone as she thought she was.

One day Mary's twin brother followers her to the barn and that is when they discover that someone else is hiding there also.  Now this creates a problem for the two of them as how to handle this situation.  Should they tell their Father about this ?  If they do will they get into trouble because they were doing something he had forbidden them to do?

This book is written for young readers but I think many adults would enjoy it, I know I did.  It is a clean Christian story and although there isn't much of a mystery going on, it is still very much worth reading.  Ms. Fuller really helps the reader by giving an insight into the Amish lifestyle that perhaps otherwise you would not have access to.  This is a easy read for those times when you just want to read something simple, or when you are looking for one of those Happy Ever After sort of things.  But simple as it was, I enjoyed it.  It reminds me of the Little House On The Prairie Days.

Giveaway---Giveaway---Giveaway!!!!

I was sent the book The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews, a story of second chances, by the Thomas Nelson Company to review for them and they also sent me a second copy to do with as I choose.  Naturally my first thought was  GIVEAWAY!  But first let me tell you a little bit about the book just to get you so very interested, which trust me this is an interesting book.

This book is about a lady whose name is Helen that is now a widow after losing her husband to the Germans.  Her faith and everything she believes in is tested when an officer from a German U-boat washes up on the shore near her home.  She now realizes that his life depends on her and she can't stop thinking about her own husband.  Now can she overcome her anger and help this person whose life actually is in her hands?  Helen Mason can barely exist in her life in 1942, she lives in Alabama, but is constantly living with anger and resentment that her husband was killed by Germans during this awful war.  She has no way of knowing that the man that has just washed up on her shore is also living a broken life.  He was on a German U-boat that was in the Gulf of Mexico, and yet he so wanted to be home with his wife and daughter.

The photographs that are in this book of the artifacts that were found in the author's backyard let you know that this is factual, and yet while you are reading it you think that this must be fiction because of the way things turn out or rather are turned around.

When I finished this book I was stunned.  I wanted to so believe that it was true, and yet Mr. Andrews says "it is mostly fact."   First you have a wounded German found by a woman in Alabama, she cannot tolerate Germans, or does she find it in her heart to just help another human being.  You then discover that each has a past that will require them to make choices.

I will not say much more but will add this one bit.  You know how when you finish a book you think to yourself, "I wonder what happened after that?"  Mr. Andrews tells us what happened to Helen and Josef, and you find yourself thinking that you have finally come to the end of the story.  But guess what, I found myself thinking about going into my back yard and digging a hole to see what I might find.  I didn't mention that part did I?  I can't tell everything I know.


Now, on to the Giveaway from May 8, 2010 until May 31, 2010
1. Leave a comment on this blog equals one chance
2.  Being a Follower equals one chance
3.  List my giveaway on your blog with a link back here to me equals one chance.
4.  Drawing will be done on May 31 and the winner posted on June 1.
5.  Make sure I have a way to email you or else you will have to come back to see if you've won.
6.  If I'm not contacted with 48 hours another name will be drawn.
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