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Book Review: Girl at the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther
BOOK DESCRIPTION {FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK} A story of mind control, the Apocalypse, and modest attire. Elizabeth Esther grew up in love with Jesus but in fear of daily spankings {to “break her will”}. Trained in her family~run church to confess sins real and imagined, she knew her parents loved her and God probably hated her. Not until she was grown and married did she find the courage to attempt the unthinkable. To leave. In her memoir, readers will recognize questions every believer faces: When is spiritual zeal a gift, and when is it a trap? What happens when a pastor holds unchecked sway over his followers? And…
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Friendship for Grown-ups: A Look Back
Three years ago, I reviewed a book by Lisa Whelchel called Friendship for Grown-ups: What I Missed & Learned Along the Way. Lisa talked about how she was on this show that was all about the strength and support that comes from having close female relationships, yet she was all alone. Lisa’s words spoke to me at that time. I remember I was going through a period of deep loneliness. I was surrounded by people {family, an online community of friends, coworkers} but I was living this incredibly solitary life. This life that made me feel like I was somehow incomplete… Recently, during a phone conversation, a friend mentioned that she’d had an experience that…
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Witness to Fitness: Pumped Up! Powered Up! All Things are Possible! by Donna Richardson Joyner {Book Tour}
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) A 28~day program to help you lose weight while you nourish both your body and your soul. In Witness to Fitness, Donna Richardson Joyner brings together faith, food, and fitness in a way no one else has done before. She inspires the reader to follow her on a journey, strengthening mind, spirit, and body. Her program will help you get the results you are destined for and create lasting change in your life. Joyner’s plan is to inspire you to lose weight and feel and look great. The exercises can be followed by anyone at any fitness level. Each day in Witness…
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Banned Books Week Review and Giveaway: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee {CLOSED}
I firmly believe in the right to free access to information. There are many books that I simply will not read for religious and/or personal reasons but I do not believe I have the right to ban those books from being read. If I censor your speech and your ideas, it’s just a matter of time before someone censors mine. This is not my normal book review but more of a discussion about some of the reasons why To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been challenged and/or banned over the years. SYNOPSIS OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is…
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The Darkest Child: A Novel by Delores Phillips {Book Review}
BOOK DESCRIPTION {FROM THE BOOK} Rozelle Quinn is so fair~skinned that she can pass for white. Yet everyone in her small Georgia town knows. Rozelle’s ten children {by ten different daddies} are mostly light too. They sleep on the floor in her drafty, rickety three~room shack and live in fear of her moods and temper. But they are all vital to her. They occupy the only world she rules and controls. They multiply her power in an otherwise cruel and uncaring universe. Rozelle favors her light~skinned kids, but insists that they all love and obey her unquestioningly. Tangy Mae, thirteen, is her brightest but darkest~complected child. Tangy wants desperately to…
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The Weird Sisters: A Novel By Eleanor Brown {Book Review}
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) Three sisters have returned to their childhood home, reuniting the eccentric Andreas family. Here, books are a passion (there is no problem a library card can’t solve) and TV is something other people watch. Their father ~ a professor of Shakespeare who speaks almost exclusively in verse ~ named them after the Bard’s heroines. It’s a lot to live up to. The sisters each have a hard time communicating with their parents and their lovers, but especially with one another. What can the shy homebody eldest sister, the fast~living middle child, and the bohemian youngest sibling have in common? Only that none…
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A Secret Kept A Novel by Tatiana de Rosnay {Book Review}
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BOOK) This stunning new novel from Tatiana de Rosnay, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Sarah’s Key, plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of past secret to change everything in the present. It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island ~ over thirty years since their mother…
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Book Tour: Merry Christmas Stories by Jeff R. Spalsbury
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) These 25 short stories for the Christmas season will make you laugh, smile and just feel good about this magical time of year. These delightful stories, written in a variety of genre, all reflect Christmas love, hope, and charity. Detective Nick Tracer just wants to get drunk over the holiday season but an eight~year~old hires him to find Santa, and it changes his life. A magical Christmas bus enriches the lives of a veteran and his young daughter. The last S~2, an indestructable android, is given the toughest assignment of his long existence. A Christmas ghost discovers the real magic of Christmas,…
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Book Tour: Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) Louis XIV is one of the best~known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man ~ the man before Versailles? After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.…
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Book Review: Jolt!: Get the Jump on a World that’s Constantly Changing by Phil Cooke
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) In Jolt! television producer, social media guru, and cultural commentator Phil Cooke helps you discover how you can navigate today’s culture of disruption and actually use it to your advantage. You’ll learn that changing a company and changing your life are based on virtually the same key principles. The world is changing at light speed, but mastering the power of change can revolutionize your business and your life. Stop feeling overwhelmed with changing technology, culture, business trends, and values and regain the confidence that can give you a real advantage. The book reveals twenty~five “jolts” that anyone can leverage to establish a…
