Sunday, November 27, 2016

KJV Journal the Word: Bible Review


Journal the Word bible is a gorgeously designed bible with a solid color cover, delicate onion skin style pages with single spaces lined sidebars to write thoughts, journal notes and even stamp and color!

Bible journaling is one of the newest phenomenons that has taken over the bible and christian book industry.  I've had the opportunity to see many in a variety of bookstores but this bible far and wide stands out well above the crowd!  The cover is sturdy yet it's also a great statement piece on a bookshelf and a conversation starter for a coffee table. This bible is appropriate for either males or females, as the journaling art experience has caught on across the creative board.  

The inside pages have standard biblical print in both the Old and New Testament. The sidebar space for journaling and coloring is about 2" x 7".  The paper is strudy enough to stamp and color and marker and write on with no worries.  It does not bleed through.  However, please note that  I played it safe and colored with colored pencils rather than bold colored markers.  I used a few 'test' pages in the back of the bible and didn't have any issues!  The side is lined with gold and there is a beautiful satin ribbon bookmark sewn into the binding so you will have a way to remember you space where you left off.  Just a gorgeous bible, for keepsakes, creations, and gift giving!

It's also a very heavy book, especially if you are carrying this in a bible case or purse ~ it has some weight to it!  The large print is so much easier to read and follow along and highlight, and create on the pages with coordinating artistic designs.  I've seen this bible in the smaller print and this is so much easier to read.   I wear glasses with a moderate prescription for reading (heavy for long distance) and this large print is perfect for me. 
  How much I absolutely LOVE this bible is beyond measure.  It's beautiful and sturdy and really spurs the creative process.   God asks of us to read and share His word as the gospel and to be creative as individuals.  What a wonderful world to be able to combine the two and creatively express our understanding of the world through art and journaling and drawing!  




Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher as part of the BookLook Blogger Review Program, in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Book Review: The Silent Songbird


 

My Review:  I'd like to confess one thing. I picked up this book after seeing the gorgeous cover and reading the quick book jacket insert about a gifted girl with a heavenly voice.  I have a gifted daughter with a heavenly voice so my interest was peaked.  Combine that with a walk through English history during the time of King Richard's rule, Lords and ladies and castles and countryside manors, dashing knights and fair maidens, and I'm already smitten!

To have read it, I'm now aware that Melanie Dickerson was on point with her storyline, character development in this exquisite time piece.  4 well deserved stars right out of the gate, and the number stayed right there as Silent Songbird did not disappoint.

 "Jesus, is that what you would wish me to do? 
 Comply and submit and allow myself to be married off to someone 
who makes my stomach churn and skin crawl?" ~ book excerpt

Just as the title suggests, Evangeline is to be married off as a pawn in the time when young ladies of the court often did not have a say in whom they married or what happened to them, as they were pawns to be played in the games of greater gains.  Her harmonous voice is, at the onset, silence by her own doing in order to gain her freedom and escape an arranged married to a horrible twice her age older man. Masquerading as deaf and as a servant, Evangeline travels in seclusion to hopefully freedom.  

She encounters many trials and tribulations along her journey to Glynval, home of Wesley Wyse, a kind and gentle soul understanding the world's need for peace in a time of rebellion.  Because "Eva" is pretending to be mute to save herself from an arranged marriage, they commute through writing and one sided conversations.  That is until Eva needs to save Wesley and gives up her secret.  

Eva's strong faith and constant talks with God are resonant through out The Silent SongbirdShe is a royal but her heart is one of the people's people, respectful of the lives that everyone is living, fortunate and less fortunate.  She mentions how the "Lord is close to those broken hearted and saves those crushed in spirit" and she maintains a steady grace and voice that gifts us readers from start to finish.
 
4/5 stars
 
Book Jacket: Evangeline is gifted with a heavenly voice, but she is trapped in a sinister betrothal—until she embarks on a daring escape and meets brave Westley le Wyse. Can he help her discover the freedom to sing again? 

Desperate to flee a political marriage to her cousin King Richard II’s closest advisor, Lord Shiveley—a man twice her age with shadowy motives—Evangeline runs away and joins a small band of servants journeying back to Glynval, their home village.

Pretending to be mute, she gets to know Westley le Wyse, their handsome young leader, who is intrigued by the beautiful servant girl. But when the truth comes out, it may shatter any hope that love could grow between them.

More than Evangeline’s future is at stake as she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue that threatens England’s monarchy. Should she give herself up to protect the only person who cares about her? If she does, who will save the king from a plot to steal his throne?


 
Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher as part of the BookLook Blogger Review Program, in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Book Review: The Wedding Shop




From The New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Dress comes The Wedding Shop.

Book Description:
Two women separated by decades. Both set out to help others find their dreams when their own have crumbled.
It's the early 1930s, but Cora Scott is walking in stride as a career woman ​after having inherited her great aunt's wedding shop in Heart’s Bend, Tennessee, where brides come from as far away as Birmingham to experience her famed bridal treatment. Meanwhile, Cora is counting down the days until her own true love returns from the river to make her his bride. But days turn into months and months to years. All the while, Birch Good continues to woo Cora and try to show her that while he is solid and dependable, he can sweep her off her feet.
​More than eighty years later, former ​Air Force Captain Haley Morgan has returned home to Heart's Bend after finishing her commitment to military service. After the devastating death of her best friend, Tammy, and discovering the truth about the man she loved, Haley is searching for her place in life.
When Haley decides to reopen the romantic but abandoned wedding shop where she and Tammy played and dreamed as children, she begins a journey of courage, mystery, and love.
As Cora’s and ​Haley's stories intertwine through time in the shadow of the beloved wedding shop, they both discover the power of their own dreams and the magic of everyday love.

My Review: 

"We'll come back here one day and own this wedding shop."
 "Pinky promise." 
"Pinky promise."
The lightning flickered, kissing the front window again.  Haley jumped up and ran screaming aroudn the shop with Tammy in pursuit.
Because make-believe was what best friends did.
But make-believe ended.
Best friends were forever.
And pinky promises could never be broken. ~book excerpt

Having read and enjoyed Rachel Hauck's The Wedding Dress, I greatly looked forward to this novel.  Right on cue, it did not disappoint.
Taking place in two different eras and times, alternating between the store of Cora and Rufus, the local riverboat captain, and Birch (past) and Haley and Cole (present day).  Each brings love, heartbreak, mystery, and ultimately friendship to the chapters that enrich this wonderful novel.

The story is a tale of wedding shop, gifted to Cora in the rural country of Heart's Bend, Tennessee and she sews and sells wedding dresses to the many brides that walk through her door.  Ironically, she rebuffs love from a local while pining away for a riverboat captain. Flash forward to current day, Haley is now out of the military and home again after the untimely death of her best friend, trying to run the wedding store she promised her best friend she would. 

"That's when she heard God speak.  Like a strange echo from her Jesus-freak teen years.  His gentle voice was a soft rain over the dry, craggy terrain of her heart.
Go home." ~ book except

Complications arrise when the fiance' is also there to help pick up the pieces, both from each other.  I laughed, I cried, I thought and I prayed right along with the couples in this book. 

4/5 stars
  
Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher as part of the BookLook Blogger Review Program, in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."



Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Book Review: Twilight at Blueberry Barrens


My review:
It's not very often that an author can reach into your faith and pull out the threads of loss and sadness that you carry as a burden heavier than a wet woolen blanket, but somehow - reading Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, Colleen Coble mananaged to do just that for me. Except for the recipe for Okra brownies (admittedly, I have not tried them but fear I will not, either!), I loved every part of this book. 

"I see you wincing.  The entire world doesn't rest on your shoulders.  It's your turn to find out what you really want out of life.  What makes you happy and fulfilled.  God gave you specific gifts, and you're not using them at all." ~ book excerpt

Those are the poetic and fortifying words that Shelley said to Kate as they pondered the life's events unfolding and deciding to venture to Rock Harbor.  These words resonate through-out the novel as truly we are often times at unknown places, unsure of the future and stuck in the past, terrified to move thinking "what if I fail?"  This book, however, is so much more than making choices!  It's about a foundation, written beautifully in the previous books (see her Sunset Cove series, as Blueberry Barren is the third book in the series) of faith and family and ties that bind.  

Murder, mystery, denial, loss, redemption ........ this book truly brings out the characters in full life.  You can smell the dinners cooking, the horses whinny, the sounds of the salty sea smashing against the rocks at the coast ......... just delightfully written and draws the reader in right up on the conclusion.  I loved the connection the author connected between people.  It gives you a glimpse into the lives that we don't know.  The cantankerous old man that lives down the street, or the lady in deli that is always seems to be in a bad mood ... there is usually a reason.  A story.  Such is the case between Claire and her sister Kate, desperately hoping for a baby of her own.  When her sister Claire is the one that gets that positive pregnancy test, she remains happy for her sister yet hopeful for her self, too.  What a testament in faith and family!   

"God always provided a way out of her difficulties.  He wasn't going to fail her now." 
~ book excerpt

This book was hard to put down - and after I closed the last chapter, felt God's presence in my own daily tasks.  Just a little note - while it's helpful to read the previous books in the series, it's not an absolute necessity ... you can pick up and read along and enjoy the novel just the same.  

5 stars!

Book Description: 
I need you to keep these girls safe . . .”

Kate Mason has devoted herself to caring for her family’s blueberry barrens. But after her fields stop producing fruit, she’s forced to come up with alternative ways to make a living.
Renting out the small cottage on her property seems an obvious choice, but it won’t be enough. When entrepreneur Drake Newham shows up looking not only for a place to rent but also for a nanny for his two nieces, it’s almost too good to be true. And maybe it is—because Drake brings with him dangerous questions about who might be out to kill his family. The more time Kate spends with Drake and the girls, the more difficult it becomes to hide her attraction to him. But a family crisis isn’t exactly the ideal time to pursue a romance.
Meanwhile, Kate learns that her uncle—in prison for murder—has escaped. Add to that a local stalker who won’t leave her alone, and Kate is looking over her shoulder at every turn. With threats swirling from multiple directions, she wonders if her blueberry fields will ever flourish again . . . or if this twilight is her last.
Set on the beautiful coast of Maine, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens brings together suspense, romance, and the hope that one day new life will come again.


Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher as part of the BookLook Blogger Review Program, in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."