Review: Hope Runs

Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption by Claire Díaz-Ortiz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered an orphanage seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.
When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home. She entered an orphanage seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek.
God had other plans.
"
Hope Runs "is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It's" "about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It's about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it's about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.

-- Wonderful story of what God can do when we let Him move in our lives. I love how we move back and forth in the story between Sammy and Claire, I loved especially Sammy's story. As Americans, we really take for granted everything we have. I thought this story was just a story of adoption, I didn't know that they started a running program and that really made it over the top for me.

This story brought tears to my eyes and I will tell lots of people about this fantastic book. Too bad we all don't have these thoughts, each one of us, one by one.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.



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Thirty One Review and Giveaway

HUGE GIVEAWAY!
 

HUGE Thirty-One Gift Giveaway ya'll... My friend Melissa is a Thirty-One Consultant and was so kind to let me check out a bag.

 It is a pink and black Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote and I knew I was going to love it but I didn't know I would love it this much!
Melissa is giving a Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote to one lucky winner! ( the winner can select their favorite print! )

 It is so versatile! I can use it for a purse, or sports, practically anything! It has a zipper top so nothing is going to escape and LOTS of pockets!!!

My Bold Bloom Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote! 

I have looked at Melissa's Thirty-One website, you MUST go have a peek!
 Lots to choose from, whether you need a purse or an organizer, there is something for everyone. I personally am going to get the pink purse next week! That is a MUST!!!
  
Also, check out Melissa's Thirty-One Pinterest Board! She has tons going on there too!
  
Click here to be added to Melissa's Monthly Thirty-One Newsletter! I really love knowing all of her sales and new products too! 
   
Personally, Melissa is a really neat lady. I have enjoyed getting to know her, and I am blessed to call her friend. Some days, she pops up in my IM when I need a friend to chat with and I don't even think she knows what it means to me. I will be forever grateful to her. Besides, anyone who reads as much as me, is A-OK in my book!
 

So, now for the really good stuff, the giveaway!

 *USA only, sorry ladies.

 You MUST comment below to enter

If your profile or blog, dosent have a way to contact you, please leave your email address 

( one comment per person please )

Giveaway ends on May 1st!
Winner will be chosen by random drawing
Winner can select their favorite Zip Top Organizing Utility Tote Print!

Review: Sincerely Yours

Sincerely Yours by Jane Kirkpatrick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4 short novellas. Good to read, light, enjoyable, you can read them in the car. Entertaining. Certainly satisfying. I don't know, this is why I don't read books that have small stories from different authors. I feel as if they are trying to cram too much into something and few can pull it off.

The first one, it was ok. I did enjoy it, cute story, of course in the end boy gets girl. There was a little mystery there of who Camilla really was, was she who other people were saying?

Second story, the girl is supposed to be trying to catch a husband but instead she is writing. One of my favorites from this book! Very good!

Third one was good, the carousel part was excellent. The fourth was really good, in part because of course I love Jane, and who doesn't love when authors talk about your area, The Dalles being mentioned!! (We live in Goldendale!)

Overall, enjoyable.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.



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Review: Mama Needs a Reboot

Mama Needs A Reboot: Getting Out of the Rut and Bringing Purpose Into Your Home by Allie Casazza

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Mama Needs A Reboot is written by a wife and stay-at-home mom of three small children, who went from depressed, overwhelmed, and on the verge of snapping to truly discovering her purpose in this beautiful but simple life. This book is for the mom who desires to stop barely getting by, start living God's purpose for her life, get out of survival mode, and get out of that rut!
This little book really packs a punch. In it, the author goes over each section of the life of a mom and homemaker, giving simple, effective, and fresh suggestions that will lead you out of your rut and into a happier, more organized life.
Some of the topics covered are
tackling overwhelming housework
simple health and fitness strategies to kick fatigue
what to do when you're about to snap
coming into your role as prayer warrior in your home
learning to give and receive grace during bad days
and more.

-- Allie goes through all the things us mamas need to do to reboot ourselves and our lives, with God's help of course! This book is small, but lots of wisdom nuggets in it!

Mama needs to: get it together, more coffee, pray, be ready, clean, take a time out, needs some me time, make some changes, needs some grace and needs some Jesus.

All of these chapters are so practical and I think we should all reboot every so often. Even though my kids are leaving the nest, this book is still so pracitical, I think in almost every season of our lives, us mamas will find wisdom in this book. You can find more of this book on the website at: http://mamaneedsareboot.blogspot.com/

You can also find more of Allie on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/thepurposefu...

I have been an avid follower of Allie. She brings wisdom, some fashion and hair advice that is much needed to this mama and her kidlets are ADORABLE!!!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Review: The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress - Ariel Lawhon

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A tantalizing reimagining of a scandalous mystery that rocked the nation in 1930-Justice Joseph Crater's infamous disappearance-as seen through the eyes of the three women who knew him best.

They say behind every great man, there's a woman. In this case, there are three. Stella Crater, the judge's wife, is the picture of propriety draped in long pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi, a leggy showgirl with Broadway aspirations, thinks moonlighting in the judge's bed is the quickest way off the chorus line. Maria Simon, the dutiful maid, has the judge to thank for her husband's recent promotion to detective in the NYPD. Meanwhile, Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the city's most notorious gangster, Owney "The Killer" Madden.

On a sultry summer night, as rumors circulate about the judge's involvement in wide-scale political corruption, the Honorable Joseph Crater steps into a cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he?

After 39 years of necessary duplicity, Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal what she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey, the site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judge's favorite watering hole back in the day, Stella orders two whiskeys on the rocks-one for her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the ice cubes in the lowball glass, Stella begins to tell a tale-of greed, lust, and deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of their prescribed roles, it becomes clear that each knows more than she has initially let on.

With a layered intensity and prose as effervescent as the bubbly that flows every night, The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress is a wickedly entertaining historical mystery that will transport readers to a bygone era with tipsy spins through subterranean jazz clubs and backstage dressing rooms. But beneath the Art Deco skyline and amid the intoxicating smell of smoke and whiskey, the question of why Judge Crater disappeared lingers seductively until a twist in the very last pages.

-- I believe that if a book makes you want to know more about the subject, the author has done a fantastic job! I think Ms Lawhon did a fantastic job with this mystery. I really enjoyed getting pieces of each character. I didn't have a favorite, I loved each woman. I really enjoy the mystery, and even better since it is based on true facts.

We will probably never know what really happened to the judge but Lawhon did a fabulous job with maybe guessing based on true accounts. I think she definitely has a gift and I hope she continues to write more!



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Review: A Place at the Table - Susan Rebecca White

A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A rich, beautiful novel about three unlikely, complex characters who meet in a chic Manhattan café and realize they must sacrifice everything they ever knew or cared about to find authenticity, fulfillment, and love.

A Place at the Table tells the story of three richly nuanced characters whose paths converge in a chic Manhattan café: Bobby, a gay Southern boy who has been ostracized by his family; Amelia, a wealthy Connecticut woman whose life is upended when a family secret finally comes to light; and Alice, an African-American chef whose heritage is the basis of a famous cookbook but whose past is a mystery to those who know her.

As it sweeps from a freed-slave settlement in 1920s North Carolina to the Manhattan of the deadly AIDs epidemic of the 1980s to today’s wealthy suburbs, A Place at the Table celebrates the healing power of food and the magic of New York as three seekers come together in the understanding that when you embrace the thing that makes you different, you become whole.

-- I started reading this book, and I was in total heaven. Then we switched characters and I was sad for the loss of the last one. Then halfway through, I could start to see the thread weaving the stories together and I whispered to myself, bloody brilliant!! It was like a little petit four, where you bite into it, get one flavor and then halfway through the bite, something else that is even more divine shines through, and then the last bite really just made it over the top! That is the way this book is! All the characters are so three dimensional, I thought any minute Alice would come through the pages.

And who doesn't love cooking in a book? Talk about making me drool! At the back, there is a recipe for Mittie Cumbie Wade's Sour Cream Pound Cake, seems to die for! There is also a book discussion and a chat with the author, which I always love, gives the story behind the story.

This was my FIRST book by Ms White, but it won't be my last! Thank you for such a wonderful read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.



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Review: Rachel - Jill Eileen Smith

Rachel by Jill Eileen Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Can true love overcome a legacy of betrayal?

Rachel wants nothing more than for her older half sister Leah to wed and move out of their household. Leah wishes her father would find a good man who would love her alone. Unbeknownst to either of them, Jacob is making his way to their home, trying to escape a past laced with deceit and find the future God has promised him.

But the past comes back to haunt Jacob when he finds himself on the receiving end of treachery. The man who wanted only one woman ends up with sisters who have never gotten along and now must spend the rest of their lives sharing a husband. In the power struggles that follow, only one woman will triumph . . . or will she?

Combining meticulous research with her own imaginings, bestselling author Jill Eileen Smith not only tells one of the most famous love stories of all time but will manage to surprise even those who think they know the story inside and out.

-- I knew a little about Rachel/Jacob/Leah but this book really made me think. Rachel and Jacob were in love. They thought Rachel's father had promised to give Rachel to Jacob after working seven years for him. But Laban is sneaky and he makes Jacob seal the deal with his older unmarried daughter, so Jacob has to keep Leah too. So now he has to work seven more years for Laban to give him Rachel too.

This story is fascinating. I really enjoyed it, for the most part. It seemed in areas to drag for me, so that is why I gave it four stars instead of five. I did enjoy it though, but sometimes, I wondered if it had a modern touch, rather than what they really did and thought? That put me off a bit as well. Team Leah here though. I thought that Rachel used her wild ways a bit too much!

I received a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest opinion.





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