Reading, Writing & Pondering

    Do you enjoy a suspenseful mystery with a dash of romance thrown in? Tunnel Creek Ambush by Kerry Johnson kept me guessing right up until the end. I had a few suspicions but I did not get this one figured out at all.  Kinsley Miller and Officer Jasper Holt were high school sweethearts. However, after Kinsley's parents died in a car crash, which she was also involved in, she let her guilt and fears drive her away from her home town. For several years she had been working as a biologist with a zoo. Now, she is back in town for her Aunt's funeral. At first, she tries to mix work with her personal life--until she is assaulted while trying to find bats to monitor in a tunnel. Then Jasper comes to her aid. However, things keep going haywire with more crazy assaults on Kinsley leading them both to wonder what type of trouble she is in. As Jasper and Kinsley try to solve the mystery, will they keep their relationship on the back burner or will they look for a way to move for...

  Are you a creative person but feel like it is hard to find the time to do "your thing" as a mom? Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood by Ashlee Gadd is a book that needs to be on your radar. Create Anyway is the book that I wish I had had when my son was little. I like how the book is written in bite-sized chunks, like busy moms need. It is full of encouraging stories and prompts for moms who want to incorporate creative pursuits into their lives while they work to be the best moms they can be. Gadd shares a lot about using bits of time here and there. I think that sounds realistic. I know I made a collage in a half hour one day and my creative bucket was full for a week. We all have those things we like to do and sometimes we need to squeeze in the time to do them.  Create Anyway has 19 chapters in it. Each chapter shares ideas and stories to encourage women to make time for their creative pursuits. Then at the end of each chapter th...

  Do you like to color to relax? I do. I find anything artsy helps me relax if I put my mind into it and release my cares. New Mercies I See by Jennifer Tucker is full of gorgeous inspirational pictures to color. New Mercies I See has 96 pages of one-sided 10 by 10 pictures to color. The pages are thick and with the fact that they are one-sided, they work with markers, colors, or colored pencils. I personally like to use colored pencils the most but whatever medium you enjoy could be employed in this book with the way that it is layed out. It is a beautiful coloring book. There are gold accents on the pages. I like that but it also takes away a little bit of the coloring space, so just something to think about. I like to put on music to relax and just let myself color my cares away.   I received a copy of this coloring book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours. All opinions within this review are my own.

  Good Night, Body: Finding Calm From Head to To e by Britney Winn Lee starts off with a note to parents about how to use this book to guide children to learn to feel more at home in their precious bodies. This book measures a little larger than nine inches square and is 40 pages long. It is aimed at early elementary children from ages four to eight. Good Night, Body is sort of an interactive bedtime book. It is a book that could help children get the last wiggles of the day out and start to settle down and relax. Several of the exercises are for relaxing. It could be fun to do this book together as a family. I like the illustrations so well. They are inclusive of people of all skin colors and include differently-abled children as well. It is a beautiful book both in the writing and in the pictures. This book is just a clean reading activity book and does not include Scripture. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

    Indescribable Activity Book for Kids by Louie Giglio with Tama Fortner is a cool interactive activity book for children ages six to ten.  This book has 165 pages of activities in it. There are mazes, puzzles, logic games, STEM projects, Simple Science Projects as well as ideas for helping people in the community. It is full of fun and learning activies that are both big and small, some are active and some are more laid-back. All of them would be great to use at home with children during summer vacation and they could be used along with homeschool lessons. This book also includes God alongside the science so children focus on faith as well as learning. The illustrations done by Nicola Anderson and Lynsey Wilson are bright and colorful. They would definitely draw a child in.I also like that there is an index in the back if you or the child are wanting to focus on something specific. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are m...

  Are you a fan of Susan May Warren? Her books are among my many favorites. I especially love how she connects characters through different series to sort of keep regular readers updated. Jonas is the second book in the Minnesota Marshalls series and I recognize a character or two from a previous series.If you're a regular reader, I think you will too. Jonas Marshall is a storm-chaser--although now it is mainly in his spirit. He says he is done chasing storms after a terrible accident happened on a run . .but he is still a weatherman. Only this time he is involved in an experiment tracking dirigibles that gather weather information in Slovenia. It was sort of a safe gig, until he met Sibba Kovac and danger came knocking on both of their doors. Sibba disarms bombs for a living. Jonas weeks Sibba's help to disarm a bomb made from one of the dirigibles after meeting her for the second time on her grandfather's farm. However, their hearts are racing from more than just the exc...

  Lyla Fox has a reputation in the SNAP Agency for being impulsive and following her instincts, which has her taking a lot of risks. Nicolas Garcia is cool and controlled. He is drawn to Lyla but can his heart handle it when she takes chances he wouldn't? In Blind Trust , readers finally get to see Lyla and Nicolas work together in a whole new way. We also find out some back story on both characters that makes it is truly hard to put Blind Trus t down once you start reading it. I enjoyed this final book in the SNAP Agency series. I think this one is best enjoyed by those who have read all the preceding books, including Initium . I don't recommend it as a stand-alone. Blind Trust gave me all the feels. I pulled for Lyla. I pulled for Nicolas. I pulled for other characters. I love that the characters from Fatal Code and Lights Out are part of this book. I just really enjoyed all of these books and all of the characters. I like the spiritual element in this book. I liked the wa...

  Did you know that animals tell us about God? Bible Animals by Simona Piscioneri is a fascinating children's book full of facts about how God used animals in the Bible. Bible Animals is a large full color picture book that is 48 pages long and about 9 by 10 inches in size. This book is aimed at children ages seven to eleven--upper elementary students. It is a gorgeous book with beautiful pictures, bright bold colors and lots of interesting information and facts about animals from the Bible. Each animal that is featured has the verses from the Bible where it is mentioned along with a lot of questions and interesting information for children to read. This book would be a great book if you are home schooling your child to use along with others for science class. It is also one that would be great to have in your Sunday School or church library.  The book starts with the snake from Genesis and goes on to lions (Daniel and the Lion's Den) through a lot of Bible animals to the New ...

  The Say and Pray Easter Stick and Activity Book by Diane Stortz is a fun activity book for children ages three to six to help them learn Bible stories centered around Easter. This book is 32 pages long and full of fun activities for little ones. There are about fifty activities and 100 stickers. Wow! This book is brightly illustrated and has fun activities that would help little children learn. I do think they might need some guidance, depending on the age, for putting the right stickers from the middle section on the right pages. Older children wouldn't but the little ones might. Along with the stickers, there are mazes, hidden pictures, tracing, dot-to-dot, matching, drawing and coloring activities. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

  James says our tongue is sharper than any two-edged sword. I can think of times where words have hurt me greatly. I imagine you can too. Say the Right Thing by Carolyn Lacey invites Christians to use their words to glorify God and encourage others.  Say the Right Thing is a short but meaty book. It is hard for me to read these types of books quickly. There is a lot of information in each chapter with questions at the ends of the chapter. I think this would be a good book to use in a Sunday School group or book club.  Chapters are included on speaking wisdom, speaking truth, speaking beauty, speaking comfort, speaking kindness, speaking hope, and speaking praise. All of them are based on the Bible. This book is written by a pastor's wife in Great Britain. From a Scriptural perspective, it is helpful. I do wish there was a bit more information on boundaries and some of the things that trained counselors include as sometimes I can take things too far if I don't acknowled...

      I Pray You'll Be by Hannah C. Hall is such a sweet children's book. I love the beautiful illustrations by Catalin Ardeleanu and the beautiful prayer that Hall wrote that flows through this book. I Pray You'll Be would be a wonderful book to read at bedtime, but really any time of day. This beautiful children's book is 32 pages long, aimed at preschool children through second grade, and is a large beautiful dust-jacketed book measuring about 9 1/2 by 10 inches square. This beautiful prayer is one that could be prayed by any caregiver for the child that they are with. I also like how inclusive this book is as to children of all colors in the illustrations. This beautiful flowing prayer throughout the book could inspire children in so many ways. I just highly recommend it.     I received this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.