Reading, Writing & Pondering

  The Last Way Home by Liz Johnson is the second in the Prince Edward Island Shores series. While it would be better read after the first book, it could also be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone. Eli Ross left home to join the NHL right at the time his family was falling apart. One brother told him to leave and not to come back. . .and Eli didn't for more than ten years. When Eli does come home, he is a broken man. He has lost most everything he owns and he has nowhere else to go. However, he is happy to find his mother welcoming him with open arms. Violet Donaghy is Eli's Mom's partner in an island pottery business. . .until their kiln starts a fire and they may lose the business. As she struggles to come to terms with the business loss, Violet also considers some of her own past baggage.  Can Violet and Eli both come to terms with their past--and find a better future? Both Eli and Violet have their share of pain from their own family issues. They both have hurts they nee

  It truly does seem to happen quickly--your children seem to be in diapers one minute and the next minute, they are all grown up. Love, Pray, Listen: Parenting Your Wayward Adult Kids with Joy by Mary DeMuth is a book for relating to our adult children.  Love, Pray, Listen offers guidance for parents who want to continue to show the love of Jesus to their children when they have reached adulthood. The chapters focus on I Corinthians 13 and showing love to our adult children.  I could relate to Mary's heart of wanting to do things differently as someone who did not always feel wanted or loved by my parents. I never want my child to feel that way. There are also many other examples of other parents whose children have not chosen the path that their parents expected them to. Love, Pray, Listen offers encouragement and advice on grieving and on showing the children love and acceptance in the midst of holding on to your own values. I think it is a good book for our times as many of

  Do you have a clutter problem? The Clutter Fix by Shannon Acheson might just have some answers for you. The Clutter Fix is divided into four parts:  Part 1--Get some Quick wins under your belt. Chapters includea 10-Day decluttering shortcut and 120 things to throw away--guilt free. Part 2--Build a Decluttering Mindset. Chapters include four reasons to simplify your home, information on clutter and organizing personalities, how to handle sentimental things and how to handle family issues. Part 3--Declutter and organize every room in your home. This section includes advice on how to purge and organize your ENTIRE house in seven easy steps, how to decide what to keep and what to toss, a step-by-step guide to decluttering, and three methods of decluttering. Part 4--Master Maintenance Mode. This section focuses on keeping your house clutter free and maintaining what you have started. The Clutter Fix includes a lot of worksheets and great ideas for de-cluttering your house. I like how t

A Gift of Joy and Hope by Pope Francis offers snippets of encouragement in walking with Jesus through life from the Pope. Pope Francis shares a mix of his wisdom, thoughts and snippets of faith thoughts throughout A Gift of Joy and Hope . I think there is encouragement for both Catholics and other Christians in this book--as I am not Catholic. I was interested to see what this Pope had to say though as I have read about him. However, it was more disjointed than I expected--I am thinking maybe that comes with the language translation. I think it is sort of like a collection of the Pope's thoughts and bits of wisdom related to the topics of Faith, Joy and Hope. He shares at the beginning that he wants people to smile and that is his wish in one word. I guess, I found the book to be more simplistic than I expected and it certainly isn't too deep for most people. Everyone should be able to come away with something positive to think about from this book. The nice thing about the wa

    Mama, Sing my Song by Amanda Seibert and illustrated by Sally Garland is a beautifully illustrated and sweetly written book based on Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." Don't you love the thought of God rejoicing over you with a song? I know I do. I also like the thought of passing on that loving thought to young children. Mama, Sing my Song encourages children to see how special they are and how much God loves them. Siebert has the reader's attention with the first lines, "Did you know there's a song for each child on earth about how much you're loved and how much you're worth. A song to remind you that you always belong--oh, Mama, Mama, will you sing my song?"  I love the idea that every child could see how valuable and worthy they are through this book. We are all unique, special

  Born to Shine by Kendra Scott is a mix of an autobiography and a business book. Part of this book tells Scott's story and how she grew up in the Midwest. Then she also talks about how she created her jewelry business carrying her Kendra Scott name. I honestly wasn't familiar with her jewelry but I found the book to be interesting and enjoyed reading it. Scott talks about her Midwestern roots and growing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As a Midwestern gal myself, I could understand the family values and hard work ethic that was a thread woven through her family. Her parents divorced and when she was in high school, her mom moved to Texas when she re-married. Not long after, Kendra moved to Texas to live with her mom and ended up staying there for many years. She started her business there and continues to run it from Texas. While her personal life was interesting, I also found how she created her business to be interesting. I have a background in fashion and a mother who worked in

  A Door Made for Me by Tyler Merritt is a beautifully written and illustrated book. Lonnie Ollivierre's illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. This book is aimed at children ages five to eight. It greatly saddens me that children this age need to read books like this in our day and age. The book is 40 pages long and measures roughly 9 1/2 inches by 10 1/2 inches with a dust jacket.  A Door Made for Me is a good reminder that no matter what color you are, what you look like or what you are wearing, you are unique and special just as you are. I love how the grandparents affirmed their grandson in this book. I also liked how they said to not give up on the boy who wasn't nice and to keep hoping he would change for the better. There is a page at the back of the book , A Note from the Author, where the author explains how this was his story and the impact it had on his life as a boy and how he wanted to share that story with others. A Door Made for Me invites discussion among t

    Private Investigator Kenna Banburry is back in Salt Lake City, where she lost everything two years ago when a serial killer deeply injured her and killed her boyfriend. Since then, she has been working to solve missing person cases and bring the bad guys in. She has just done the same, when a series of murders in Salt Lake City turn towards her as the one behind them. Is she out for revenge now? Cold Dead Night by Lisa Phillips is a fast moving book with a complicated plot that will keeps the reader guessing right up to the end. I did have an inkling who the killer was but I didn't figure a lot of it out until nearly the end. There is the inkling of a romantic relationship in this book but otherwise it more of a suspense book than romance. There isn't much in this book in the way of faith, although there is indication that Kenna has faith in God. It took me awhile to warm up to her as a character because she was so defensive through much of the book. I didn't really fe

  Iris Blakely is the best friend of the Queen of Oloro Ile, a small African country. She is using her talents to start a sustainable clothing line to both honor and help the citizens of the country. Ekon Diallo is the man who betrayed her best friend--and her new business consultant. Ekon lost his princely title, his friends, all of his material possessions and the respect of many in his country when he betrayed the Queen. To pay for his treasonous actions, he is forced to assist Iris in her business and to do other community service. Iris and Ekon realize that they need to learn to work together, can they do it? I enjoyed To Win a Prince . I loved Iris' loving heart and compassion for people. As time went on, I also liked Ekon. I really liked how well faith was woven into the story. I like the continuous conversations with God that some of the characters had. There were also times they gently called each other out when things weren't quite right with their faith and I liked t

  Sometimes little children hear grown-ups talking about Heaven and they wonder what that is all about. Or maybe they have never heard about Heaven. Either way, The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party by Joni Eareckson Tada shares some basic ideas of what heaven is all about. The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party uses simple language and illustrations to convey to children that Heaven will be something to look forward to and how wonderful heaven will be, based on the Bible.   This book could answer some questions about Heaven but it could also create more discussion about Heaven. This small board book is a good size to read to toddlers and is also small and sturdy for them to look at on their own. It would be a good book in baby's own little library.   I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company. All opinions within this review are my own.

   Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know. . .by Melissa Kruger is such a great little board book. I love how this book invites children to see the possibilities for their lives. At the same time, it encourages them to have a relationship with Jesus in their life as they grow up.  The illustrations by Isobel Lundie are so cute too. I think this whole toddler board book is so much fun to read all the way around. The rhyming words just flow. It would be fun to read with little ones. It is also a small-sized board book that would be easy for them to learn to read and look at on their own as it measures approximately six by 7 1/2 inches. With the thick pages, these little books can stand up to some rough handling and still look pretty nice. I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company. All opinions within this review are my own.

  Are you a creative person who likes a paper planner? Maybe bullet journaling is your thing or you want it to be your thing? Draw Near: Your Creative Spiritual Journal by Sophie Killingley is a fun, basic journal that you can use to unleash your creativity and include your spiritual life. This basic journal is blank and could be started at any time. Killingley writes in the introduction that she used to be a compulsive doodler--but that was never a part of her spiritual life. Then she reached a point where she was struggling with her mental health and had to take Scripture in much smaller bites. She used that time to connect her creativity with her spiritual life. She began lettering and doodling verses. She has since moved on from that time, but then decided to merge her creativity with bullet journaling and her spiritual life. This book is a result of that.  Draw Near does have some basic organization to get your started. It starts with a "monthly" section. Killingley en

  Do you ever feel like you aren't enough? I know I do. As Mattie James says in Everyday Magic , we are all stretching ourselves more than ever to live up to life's seemingly endless demands. We often try to be Superwoman or everything to every body, which just isn't sustainable. James has some ideas to help you handle your overload. In Everyday Magic , James shows you how to evaluate your own life so that everything in it is MAGIC: M eaningful A esthetically Pleasing G oal-Oriented I ntentional C onsistent In the introduction, James says that you can read her book word for word or you can skim it and get what you need. She encourages the reader to do what they need to do for their own life. She says that you won't be shamed or lectured for not doing it a certain way. Whew, what a relief all of that is, huh? Everyday Magic offers a lot of great advice for living life as a woman in the world today. She offers practical, down-to-earth advice from a "regular everyday

  A Mindful Moment: 5-Minute Meditations and Devotions by Irene Kraegel is aimed at teenagers ages 13 and on up. It is a relatively lightweight, small book at about 7.75 inches by 5 1/2 inches and 190 pages long so it could easily fit into a backpack or nightstand to use regularly. A Mindful Moment includes 150 5-Minute Readings. The book starts out with an introduction explaining why Christians should meditate, what it is, how to do it, and how to use this book. Following the introduction are the 150 meditational devotions. Each devotional starts with a Bible verse, then moves on to a short devotional reading, and concludes with a section called, Practice. Practice offers practical ways to put the verse and the reading into action some way in life.  The book concludes withe a section on Mindfulness with information on various ways to meditate and pray using the book and keeping your mind on Christ. There is a also a section of questions and answers which I think is especially helpful.

  Wouldn't it be fun to be gifted a trip to Italy? In Lauraine Snelling's latest book, The Florence Legacy , Breeanna Lindstrom has always dreamed of taking a trip to Italy to see "the David." Breeanna had trips planned with her writing friends a couple of times in the past but they fell through. Then her friend Jade passed away and left Breeanna and her friends in the writing group the money to finally take the trip. Pierre-Rene Dubois is a widower with a dream of opening a coffee shop that will specialize in helping veterans. He is Breeanna's neighbor's brother-in-law--and he speaks several languages. Before leaving for her trip, Breeanna and Pierre meet and then work together to make sure Breeanna can speak some of the language she will need on her trip. Besides the language lessons, there are some sparks of interest between the two. But can they make a relationship work with all the two have going on in their lives? The Florence Legacy is a character driv