Reading, Writing & Pondering

    Hope Carpenter had a good life going. She married a mega church pastor. She had children she loved. She had a job she loved with her husband at the church. Then everything falls apart--until she gets healing and God helps her find a better life.  The Most Beautiful Disaster by Hope Carpenter is mostly a self-help book if you are someone who is struggling with mistakes in your past and  want to transform your life with God's help. Carpenter tells her story throughout the book--how she struggled and put on a mask to cover her insecurities as she started out her married life. Then she shares how everything fell apart, little by little, until she really messed up big and admitted her second affair to her husband. He then kicked her out of the house and she spent 8 months in intensive Christian therapy. She draws on that experience, as well as Bible verses, to offer advice to readers on how they can also climb out of a pit if they have their life in a mess too. The Most Beautiful D

Dust by Eva Marie Everson starts out with Allison Middleton, a young nineteen-year-old girl receiving a proposal from Westley Houser in 1977. The couple gets married are immediately struggling as Westley tells Allison that he already has a child from a one-night-stand with Cindie. Allisons helps Westley raise his daughter, Michelle, as her own child, while she deals with infertility. She also goes from a young bride to grandmother throughout the book. Everson writes beautifully in Dust. I have read her books before and truly enjoyed them. However, even though I think the writing is beautiful and the story flows wonderfully, I have to admit I didn't honestly LIKE this story through much of the book. I didn't like how Westley and Allison's marriage started out with him not being truthful to her. I didn't like Cindie and how she lived her life--as well as some of the other people she connected with. At the same time, I thought the book was realistic in that these sort of r

  Nikki and Ruggiero Delemont are a young happily married couple.Ruggiero is a famous pastry chef. Nikki is a write for Chef de Cuisine. They live together in a beautiful beach house on the island of Maui. They love their life together. Then Nikki receives an assignment to cover in France for 3 weeks. Unfortunately, this is also a busy time for Ruggiero so he cannot travel with her.  Nikki travels alone and soon finds herself waking up in a French hospital with amnesia. She doesn't know who she is. But someone does. And that someone doesn't want Ruggiero to find her. Can he find Nikki? Can he figure out what is going on? Circumvent by S. K. Derban is a modern day mystery set in some beautiful places. Derban writes beautifully about the areas the characters are living and staying in. As a foodie, I also enjoyed her descriptions of the delicious food and desserts within the story. It was a mystery and I wasn't sure how Ruggiero was going to find her. Nor was I sure if Nikki

    Have you ever been in a flood? I have lived through one and it was rather scary as an adult, never mind a child. A Flood of Kindness by Ellen Leventhal would be a great resource for children who are living through a flooding situation or even another difficult situation. In A Flood of Kindness , Charlotte and her family lose many of their possessions in a flood and have to go to a shelter. There Ellen meets others who lost their possessions. Through the book, we see glimpses of hope through the kindness of others during a difficult situation. As Charlotte learns about loss and grief, she also learns to give and care for others. I thought A Flood of Kindness was a sweet story. In spite of loss and hardship, Charlotte feels loved and cared for through others and she learns how important it is to pass on the love and care. This book is written for children ages 4 to 8 but I think it could even be encouraging for those up to age 10 because of the subject matter. While it shows how hard

  Cleo Can Tie a Bow: A Rabbit and Fox Story by Sybrina Durant is a children's book designed to help children learn how to tie a bow.  Little Cleo loves bows. However, she doesn't know how to tie one. Through this story a fox teaches a rabbit how to tie a bow using the bunny's long ears to tie the bow.  Cleo is definitely a girly girl with a room full of bows and butterflies. I think this is a cute concept. My son had trouble tying bows so I really liked the idea of a book to help him learn how to do that. However, I think it would have helped to hold his interest more if the book hadn't been so girl-oriented. It would probably be a good book for girls to use, but it didn't seem to include boys at all in the story. I also wasn't too thrilled with the idea of the fox tying the rabbit's ears. The author includes a page reminding children not to do those things to real animals but I just felt it sent mixed messages. It may be just me but it didn't sit wel

  If you need a dose of encouragement, Victoria Osteen offers that in her new book, Encouragement for an Exceptional Life .  This little book is a great size to carry in your purse or book bag as it measures about 4 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 inches. Encouragement for the Exceptional Life pulls uplifting stories and Bible teachings from Osteen's larger book, Exceptional You! This smaller book has 7 chapters, following the introduction: Know That You are Chosen, Set Your Eyes on the Promises, Align Yourself with God, Encourage Yourself, Travel Light, Love Well, and Power Up. At the end of each chapter, there are a few words of declaration to say to yourself to be help you put these things into practice. Osteen calls them all practices and encourages readers to keep doing them to help them reach for the exceptional in their own life. In the Introduction, Osteen says that they are all meant to be encouraging, empowering and inspiring. The other nice thing about Encouragement for an Exception