Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Nurture Book Tour and Giveaway/Q&A with Lynda M. Martin author of This Bird Flew Away

        
         September 28th – Kendall G. @ Telly Says @ Reading; Reading & Life
          September 29th – Lindsay H @ Everyday Is An Adventure
          September 30th – Wendy G. @ Fabulosity Nouveau
          September 30th – Charla W. @ Book Talk With Charla

Let's give a warm welcome to author Lynda M. Martin she will be sharing her book This Bird Flew Away with us today.
Lynda was born in Dunfirmline, Scotland in 1953, emigrated to Canada with her parents as a young girl. She grew up on the vast prairies of Western Canada, and loved the open wide spaces of that wild land. She was educated in Medicine Hat, Alberta, a town in the southeast corner of that province, and spent most of her time riding horses, barrel racing and hanging around rodeos and cowboys.

In 1968, the product of a troubled youth and a dysfunctional family, she found herself on her own at the age of fifteen, two thousand miles from her home, and knows first hand the dangers facing girls on our streets and the predators that prey on them. She was one of the lucky ones. She survived.

Later in life, she went east to Montreal for her education, graduating from the University of Montreal with a degree in Business Administration, which provided a fine income, but little in the way of personal satisfaction. Still in her twenties, she became a volunteer with social services to work with troubled teen-aged girls, and took every course the social agencies offered.   Read More!
                                                 
 
Synopsis:
What is real love? The whole world wants to know. They should ask Bria Jean, because she has it all figured out. Opinionated, stubborn and full of woe, Bria would tell you real love is having one person you can always count on through thick and thin. For her, that's Jack. And it doesn't matter to her that she's nine and he's twenty-three-not one bit.
When, at the age of twelve, Bria disappears, he and his Aunt Mary search for her, and when she surfaces, injured, abused and traumatized, Jack fights to become her guardian with no idea of the trials ahead of him. By then, Bria is thirteen going on thirty, full of her own ideas on how her life should run and with some very fixed notions about who is in charge.


This Bird Flew Away
Author: Lynda M. Martin
Genre: Literary Fiction
Published by: Black Rose Writing (January 27th, 2011)
Age Recommendation: 14+ for Mature Themes & Sexual Assault
Format: Trade Paperback & eBook
ISBN 13: 978-1935605928
Number of pages: 312







Lynda has agreed to let me interrogate her. So Lynda let's get to it.

How did this novel come to you? In other words how did it come about?
I’ve mentioned this a few times, but never delved into it. So here goes.
As anyone who reads my articles or other work knows, I spent a good chunk of my life involved in child protection, a second career that began in my twenties, helping underage prostitutes get off the street. (And it would break your heart to know how young some of them are, or how they got there.) From there I moved on to working with such groups as SafePlace and Children’s Home, organizations dedicated to at-risk children, offering them shelter, counseling and other assistance. (My training was through social agencies and law enforcement, but truth is you either have a knack for connecting to these kids, or you don’t.)
Before too long, I had made good connections with law enforcement, and became an outreach worker, often the first person to speak to child victims of crimes. In those days, the idea of paid workers was still unheard of, and most of us were volunteers. Later, I added fostering children in my own home to the mix, specializing in abused and exploited teenage girls – those completely messed-up, (and often indescribably wounded) kids no one wants to take on.
Over the years, you might say I developed a pretty good handle on the child-protection system, knowing it from kids on the street, social workers, law enforcement, prosecutors and the courts.
I wrote about it in articles and edited a journal for the international group, SafePlace for several years. I spoke to Chambers of Commerce, church groups and anyone who would listen and perhaps help out. In 1985, I attended the first ever international conference on child protection in Vancouver, Canada and made acquaintance with professionals in that field from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Pacific Rim countries, including the infamous Thailand (though in all honesty, their problem is no worse than ours – only more publicized.)
Then, changes in my private life and the needs of my own teenaged daughters took precedence and I stepped back, but my interest and passion for these issues remained strong. If anyone would like to read more about my experience in child protection, here’s a link to my personal publishing site on Hubpages, and an article there that sees 20,000 reads per year, The Rape of the Innocents http://lmmartin.hubpages.com/hub/The-rape-of-the-innocents .
Suddenly, child abuse and exploitation plunged out of the closet and into the limelight. It featured in the movies and moved to the small screen. TV dramas abounded with child victims, but something was wrong, very off kilter. The worst of these had to be Law and Order: Special Victims Unit with all its dark and twisted plots, intense and brooding police officers whose behavior is off the scale (if any real police officer acted this way, they’d be fired in an instant) and most despicable of all, the depiction of survivors as psychological bombs waiting to go off, suicidal, neurotic and warped, likely to murder (or be murdered,) destined to grow up into dysfunctional adults and become abusers themselves, with the phrase “ruined lives” bandied about at least ten times per show. High drama, indeed, but about as far from reality as one can get.
It angered me. I know so many survivors and most have grown up to live reasonably normal lives (or as normal as anyone else, which may not be saying a lot.) I’m not suggesting there aren’t scars or their subsequent behavior isn’t affected. No, not at all. But the portrayal of the victims in these dramas struck me as so disrespectful, so distorted as to do disservice to the God only knows how many survivors of childhood sex abuse walk the planet. (I promise I won’t quote the stats yet again.)
Friends who knew my background would ask me, “Did you see last week’s episode, when the teenage girl killed her abuser and…” in a hushed, shocked voice, followed by questions, as though I should feel some connection to the story, as though this was the way it is. It isn’t.
I decided then and there I was going to write a story reflecting the truth as I knew it. And after much thought and reflection, This Bird Flew Away was born.

Tell us about the most difficult chapter you had to write in this book. Tell us why.
There were a number of tough ones but by far, the most painstaking effort had to be Chapter Ten: “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” This is a scene written in the first person voice of the victim depicting the rape of a twelve-year-old girl. I wanted to express the girl’s pain, fear and bewilderment without stooping to anything overly dramatic or gratuitous. Finding that delicate balance presented a challenge.
I changed tenses for this one chapter from past to present to develop more of a sense of immediacy. I struggled to find bring to life that strange voice children will use when they remember and relate such experiences, often as though they’ve distanced themselves from the reality. They speak of what went through their minds – a day at the beach, the memory of a happy event, anything to escape the present and divorce themselves from what is happening to them. This is what they will remember, not the brutality committed against them – survival instincts at work.
I worked so hard to put all these somewhat nebulous things into words.
It was the first chapter of the book I wrote. I felt if I couldn’t get it right, there was no point in going on. I must have written that chapter thirty times before I shared it with my editor. I waited for her reaction with bated breath, expecting the worst. (Don’t ask me why I expected the worst, but I did. It had been such a difficult thing to get right.)
Her reaction was complete and utter enthusiasm for the scene, filled with many compliments about “my talent,” and how I’d taken her breath away. She said I’d transported her into the poor tortured girl’s mind while at the same time leaving her enough distance to be an observer, exactly the balance I’d striven for.
What was most important to me was that she “got it!” She understood it all. I knew it when she spoke of how I’d so vividly described the “shutting down of the child’s self.”
It meant a lot. I think that chapter is the most difficult, but the best writing I’ve ever done.

Who was your biggest supporter in writing this book? Tell us why.
I have to give you three answers here. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.
First and always is my biggest fan, my husband, Jim. Not only did he make it possible for me to take the time to write this book, sending me to our Florida house while he stayed up in Alberta, facing the ice and snow – and work! – but he had the patience to sit on the other end of the phone for hours while I chattered away discussing this bit of plot or that, never voicing an opinion, just letting me talk. When I wrote the scene of Jack’s finally confronting his abusive alcoholic father, he gave me a lot of insight into the male point of view, helping me with the dialogue, line by line. By the way, Jim has never read the finished work. He doesn’t read much. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t deeply involved.
Second, I have to talk about my granddaughter, Paige. She was sixteen when I wrote this novel and came down to spend a couple of weeks with me in Florida, leaving the frigid Manitoba winter behind for a while. I was still struggling through that messy first draft and Paige became deeply involved in the process, reading each passage as it developed and offering me her youthful input. Much of the voice of the teen-age Bria, particularly in Chapters Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight where Bria confronts Jack’s girlfriend and must cope with idea she is not the center of his life, as she yearns to be -- belongs to Paige, right down to the cadence of my granddaughter’s speech with that flippant teenage attitude.
Lastly, I can’t say enough about my editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis. A talented and successful author herself, she devotes much of her time to editing and mentoring new writers and writers like me who’ve been out of the game for so long, they’ve gotten a little rusty. Her kindness, her faith in my work, her sometimes sharp tongue, and her tremendous skill kept me going and pushed me to put the book out there. We’ve since become good friends and I will always be grateful.

Lynda M Martin

I have found Lynda M. Martin, author of This Bird Flew Away, guilty of writing a good book. I have no other chose than to give her a rating of 5 out of 5.  Do we all agree! Say Yay!


Where you can find and follow Lynda M. Martin?
Author Website
Author Blog
Twitter
HubPages Profile
Facebook Page
Facebook Profile
Goodreads Profile

Where can you buy her book?
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble
Author Website





My Thoughts:
Some of you may be curious to know what I disliked about this book.  I pondered over this question and could not come up with anything I disliked about the book.  It is somewhat of a touchy subject that a lot of people keep behind closed doors.  I feel as if Lynda has done us a favor by opening those doors for people to face up to the fact of abuse, slavery, yes and trafficking of children.
Bria Jean felt as if she could trust only one person with her secrets and that was Jack. He understood her need to share her dark secrets because he had secrets of his own and he shared them with her.  Even though Bria was thirteen years younger than Jack she was much older in maturity because of what she had to live through.  This kept Jack confused about his feelings toward her. This I think was a problem for the readers of this book but also for other characters in the book.  Jack wanted to keep her safe.  But is that all he really wanted?

The author, okay Lynda, gave the character Bria a strength and courage along with determination to not only survive but to succeed in her life.
Kuddos, bravo or however you say it Lynda did the job of sticking it in our face as some say.  Let's be more aware and protect our children.

It Takes A Village To Raise A Child!!!


Lynda I want to thank you for joining us on my blog today! I hope I wasn't too tough on you. I enjoyed the questions and answers.  I wish you great success with this book and I can't wait for more.  Watch over Bria and her family until we hear from you again with the next book. You are free to go write again!
Patricia aka Mamaw

Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book  for review.  This is my honest opinion.

Lynda is offering to giveway a pdf copy of This Bird Flew Away.
To enter leave a comment about what you enjoyed about the Q&A or you ask a question to Lynda.  Be sure to leave you email so we can contact you if you win.
 It is not mandatory that you follow me but it would be nice.
When you leave your email be sure to leave it so spammer can't get it.
example:  plb1050 (at) gmail (dot) com
Entries Sept 27-30th.  Winner will be announced Oct. 1st.
GOOD LUCK!


Monday, September 26, 2011

Review: New Women's Devotional Bible

             New Women's Devotional Bible                                         

Leather Bound, 1600 pages
Published September 6th 2006 by Zondervan
ISBN0310936160 (ISBN13:9780310936169)

Bible Translation: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

Ages: 18 & Up

Paper Edge Description: White

Page Count: 1600

Size: 5.6 in. wide x 8.5 in. high x 1.5 in. deep (Metric:142 mm x 216 mm x 38 mm)

Book & Bible Cover Size: Medium

Weight: 1.97 lb
(892 gm)
Written by women for women, the New Women's Devotional Bible in NIV offers a fresh perspective on God s Word through a year s worth of relevant, engaging devotions placed throughout the text of the NIV.

Description:

An all-new devotional Bible, the New Women's Devotional Bible helps a new generation of Christian women apply God s Word to their lives. It includes a full year of all-new devotions by women of God. Added features from its bestselling predecessor make this Bible more engaging, practical, and versatile. Features Include:

Complete text of the NIV "the most read, most trusted Bible translation"

A full year of weekday and weekend devotions bring insight and inspiration. Also included are questions for reflection to help women apply God s Word to life.

Devotions by well-known--and not-so-well-known women of God, including Joni Eareckson Tada, Elisabeth Elliot, Lynne Hybels, Anne Graham Lotz, and Katie Brazelton

Multiple reading plans for year-after-year use

Introductions for each book of the Bible

500 callouts spotlighting key verses of the Bible for memorization and contemplation

Author index with biographical information on each contributor

Subject index to help you locate topics easily

Presentation page

Double-column format



My Thoughts:


The devotionals in this bible are written by women for women, sharing their love for God.

I especially enjoyed the weekend devotions. It shared with me women from the bible. Into their character and daily lives. Stories of women like Delilah, Queen Esther, Bathsheba and Rahab. They had the same sorrows and concerns then as we have now as women.

In the New Testament you'll find women who were a very important part of the early growth of church. Their lives inspired and encouraged Christians then and today.

I, as woman, get a chance to see into their lives and apply what I learn from them to my own daily life.

I highly recommend this devotional bible.

Disclosure: I receive an ebook copy of this bible for review. This review is my honest opinion.
I give it a 5 out of 5




Friday, September 23, 2011

Review: Close Enough To Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul



 View a preview of this book online

CLOSE ENOUGH TO HEAR GOD BREATHE
by GREG PAUL 
Paperback, 224 pages
Expected publication: October 4th 2011 by Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
ISBN 1400203007 (ISBN13: 9781400203000)


In Close Enough to Hear God Breathe, readers encounter a rich message that recounts the story of a God who has been inviting all of humanity, and each individual, into his tender embrace since time began. Beautiful prose, powerful stories, and inventive teaching walk readers though this, the Bible's foremost narrative thread.
Both subtle and radical, full of common stories told in extraordinary fashion, this book weaves the experiences of the individual into the great tapestry of the biblical saga. The reader learns to hear the voice of God speaking in the ordinary events and relationships of life, as well as in the broad, deep current of Scripture.
Reading the Bible ought to be like putting one's head on God's chest. Close Enough to Hear God Breathe will help readers do just that. And when they do, they'll hear him whisper, "You're my child, my love, my pleasure."

My Thoughts:
I did not read any other reviews before I read this book.  I wish I had.  I don't like giving bad reviews so I will try to be kind.  The book was inspiring and well written but I do not agree with some chapters.  I did not care too much for chapter 13 and  14.  I wish I had not read those two chapters at all.  I feel as if his interpretation of the Song of Solomn was offensive, to me.  Song of Solomn has always been beautiful, to me, but I feel as if he colored outside the lines, to put it mildly.  But it is his version of his interpretation of that Book in the Bible.  I was tempted to not write a review at all. But I feel as if readers need to know how I strongly I feel about this book. Just to be clear I am not a prude, just a woman. There is so much more I would like to say but I will not. 


I will give this book a 3 out of 5.  At first I gave it a 2 on after thought decided to change it to a 3. I do not recommend this book. 


Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze.  This is my honest opinion and in no way that of Booksneeze.



I review for BookSneeze®

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Review: The Harvest of Grace Cindy Woodsmall

The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall (ch. 1 excerpt)


My Thoughts:
Sylvia Fisher is an Amish woman who wants more than anything to run her family dairy farm.  She just needs to learn about the business end of the farm.  But her father and her fiance have other plans.  Everything backfires and she is betrayed in more than one way.  She leaves the comfort of her parents home and farm to work for an Amish  family that desperately need help getting back on their feet.  Sylvia thinks she is the person that can help them get their dairy farm more productive.  Then here comes the prodigal son, Aaron Blank, returning to take over everything.  She feels confused about who is running things now her or the son.  She tries to keep her distance so she can focus on her work and not what a handsome and kind person Aaron seems to be.  
This book has love, loss, betrayal, forgiveness, peace, hope and amazing grace.
The author brings characters from the first two books in the series so the story hops from one couple to another keeping you on edge hoping everyone will have a happy ending.  
The author did a great job intermingling all the characters like pieces in a quilt.  It was a real work of art.  I ached a little after the book ended because I wasn't ready to leave the characters behind.


I would highly recommend this book to my family and friends.
I rate this book 5 out of 5.
Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah/Blogging for Books.  This review is my very own opinion.  I did not receive any compensation for this reveiw.





Sunday, September 18, 2011

SUNDAY MEME: MAMAW'S SUNDAY DEVOTIONAL 9/18/1011

I feel very inspired since I did a review on The Grandmother's Bible/Daily Devotional.Here is a new meme I have come up with. You will choose a scripture from the Bible and tell us how you will apply it to your daily life by posting it on you blog with this meme. Calling it Mamaw's Sunday Devotional. You could even add your scripture to the header of your blog, optional, for the week as a reminder of your devotion.

PROVERBS 15:13
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

I know we all feel as if our spirit has been crushed. The more we feed into to the heartache it turns into bitterness. We must ask God to heal our heartache and give us a cheerful spirit. Look at the difference in this young man in the many stages of heartache. You can see a variety of reactions in his face. We may not be aware but people can see the change in us when we don't turn our problems over to God. So I will ask God to remove the heartache before it has time to feed on my spirit.




Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament A joyful heart maketh the countenance cheerful;
But in sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
The expression of the countenance, as well as the spiritual habitus of a man, is conditioned by the state of the heart. A joyful heart maketh the countenance טוב, which means friendly, but here happy-looking equals cheerful (for טוב ro is the most general designation of that which makes an impression which is pleasant to the senses or to the mind); on the contrary, with sorrow of heart (עצּבת, constr. of עצּבת, Proverbs 10:10, as חטאת equals חטּאת, from חטּאה) there is connected a stricken, broken, downcast heart; the spiritual functions of the man are paralyzed; self-confidence, without which energetic action is impossible, is shattered; he appears discouraged, whereby רוּח is thought of as the power of self-consciousness and of self-determination, but לב, as our "Gemt" [animus], as the oneness of thinking and willing, and thus as the seat of determination, which decides the intellectual-corporeal life-expression of the man, or without being able to be wholly restrained, communicates itself to them. The ב of וּבעצּבת is, asProverbs 15:16., Proverbs 16:8; Proverbs 17:1, meant in the force of being together or along with, so that רוּח נכאה do not need to be taken separate from each other as subject and predicate: the sense of the noun-clause is in the ב, as e.g., also Proverbs 7:23 (it is about his life, i.e., it concerns his life). Elsewhere the crushed spirit, like the broken heart, is equivalent to the heart despairing in itself and prepared for grace. The heart with a more clouded mien may be well, for sorrow has in it a healing power (Ecclesiastes 7:3). But here the matter is the general psychological truth, that the corporeal and spiritual life of man has its regulator in the heart, and that the condition of the heart leaves its stamp on the appearance and on the activity of the man. The translation of the רוח נכאה by "oppressed breath" (Umbreit, Hitzig) is impossible; the breath cannot be spoken of as broken.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Gabby, God's Little Angel



More about Gabby:
This first book in a delightful new series offers a comforting message for young readers-God loves you very much and is always watching over you!

What little girl wouldn't love her very own guardian angel? Parents and children alike will be won over by this humorous tale of Gabby, a guardian angel in training who has much to learn about taking care of God's little ones. Her new assignment is to protect a young girl named Sophie, but Gabby soon realizes that watching after Sophie is a bigger challenge than she had expected! After a close call while riding her pony, Sophie learns what the Bible says about guardian angels: "He will put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go" (Psalm 91:11 ICB).

I set out to develop a new character that young readers would embrace and delight in, and out from my pen and from my heart poured a new series, Gabby, God’s Little Angel. Gabby is an adorable guardian angel in training who finds that she has so much to learn about taking care of God’s children.

I am so passionate about teaching the little angels in your own lives just how much God loves them. I pray that through my new little friend, Gabby, they will discover this truth and rest assured that He is always watching over them!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Book Blogger Hop: 9/9-9/12 Honor 9/11

LET'S HONOR 9/11
image via Wikipedia
What were you doing the day this happened?

I was getting ready for work as it started and was at work all day trying to hold myself together as everyone else around me was doing the same.  I pray for everyone and our country as we remember that earth shattering day ten short years ago. 


Voting for Book Blogger Appreciation Week ends on Saturday Sept. 10! Here are the nominees! Now, GO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES!

Book Blogger Hop

How it Works
As long as you meet the qualifications of a book blogger, you may add your book blog link into the linky list below. But before you do that, there are a few requirements. Read up, to save yourself a headache with the linky!

1. Before you add your link, you must post about the Hop on your blog and link directly back to THIS POST (not just my domain, but the direct post for this Hop). The linky is going to review the link that you enter in your submission, looking for a link to this post on your blog. If it doesn’t find one, your link will not be approved. This is called back linking and I had to institute it because people were taking advantage of the Hop and getting some free advertising without promoting the Hop themselves. You can read more about this here.


2. While you are creating your post, answer the following question (there’s a new prompt each week)!



Thanks to Lori for this week’s question!

“Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn’t read that genre anymore?”
I primarily read Christian Fiction. But if for some reason they stopped writing this genre I would read Historical fiction like The Winter Sea and contemporary romance.  God forbid they ever stop writing Christian Fiction.  I do like some of the Young Adult.  It is the Fantasy that I have difficulty in getting into some are too far fetched for me.  I read The Host and enjoyed it very much. I just found out she has The Soul (Host #2 ) and The Seeker (Host#3) coming out in 2012.  I will be reading both of them.   I am anxious to read Witch Song if I can find a way to work it into my must read book list.
The Host (The Host, #1)Witch Song
The Winter Sea



3. Now it’s time to enter your blog link into the linky below (after the list of instructions!).
Instructions:
  • Click on: You are next – Click here to enter
  • A new page will open
  • In the “Link Title/Blog Title” box, please enter the NAME OF YOUR BLOG and in parentheses after your blog name, please state the main genre that you review (i.e. Crazy-for-Books (contemp. fiction))
  • In the “Link” box, please put a direct link to your blog hop post
    (i.e. http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/08/book-blogger-hop-819-822.html)
  • There is a note about the Back Link requirement. Please make sure you have linked back to this blog hop post in the post on your blog or your link will not be accepted! Be sure to read this important note!
  • Please enter your e-mail address in the box provided in case I need to contact you about your link submission.
  • The list is randomized, so your link will not appear in a specified order. If you are looking for your link, I suggest you do a Ctrl-F on your PC keyboard and type a few letters of your blog name so you can find it easily.
That’s it! Now you can start hopping around, visiting other links in the list, meeting fellow bloggers and chatting about their blogs and books they are reading. If you aren’t a blogger, this is a great opportunity for readers to find new sites to follow and meet some new friends who enjoy reading the same things that they do! I strongly encourage you to take some time to visit these blogs and spend some time with your blog friends. We all work hard on our sites and we enjoy getting company, so let’s read more than just the blog hop post – let’s connect! That’s what the Hop was created for! :) Happy Hopping!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Review - The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall

The Hope of Refuge (Ada's House #1)
by Cindy Woodsmall
GOODREADS
4.09 · rating details · 276 ratings · 62 reviews

Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history  ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?

Paperback, 352 pages
Published September 15th 2009 by WaterBrook Press (first published August 6th 2009)
ISBN 1400073960 (ISBN13: 9781400073962)
primary languageEnglish
original titleThe Hope of Refuge: A Novel (An Ada's House Novel, Book #1)
seriesAda's House #1
literary awardsChristy Award Nominee for Contemporary Series, Sequels, and Novellas (2010)


My Thoughts:

The Hope of Refuge (An Ada's House Novel, Book #1)The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This  book is one of three from the Ada's House Series about an Amish community.

Cara was abandoned as a child after the death of her mother and ended up in foster care. She never stopped searching for answers to her past. She blamed God as so many people do when her prayers are not answered according to her wishes. God has a plan and it is sometimes hard to reason with the path He chooses for us. When Cara was a little girl she decided there must not be a God because He didn't seem to here her prayers.

Cara is a young widow with a little girl named Lori. Cara has had to jumped from one place to another to get away from a stalker from her youth. She is forced by fear to find a safe place for her child and takes off, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a backpack, to search for her a place she only remembers  bits and pieces of.  It is a happy safe place from her early childhood memories and of playing with a sweet young boy. She tends to wonder if it isn't just a figment of her imagination. She finds this place which is an Amish community in Pennsylvania and she is not welcome there. One person, Ephraim, stands up for her and helps her to find her answers only to jeopardize his standing in the Amish community.

This touched my heart reading about this pour young woman trying to find a safe place for her and her child. If you believe in God's will for your life and following the path He sets before us you will enjoy this book.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. I would recommend this book to my closest family and friends.

I purchased this book for my personal reading pleasure and this review is my own honest opinion.

View all my reviews

http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Refuge-House-Romance-ebook/product-reviews/B002KJA964/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R2A9YQDS2TJ9KS
Use above link and see my reviews on Amazon, read review and at the end, indicate "YES" if you found this review helpful.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

UGLee Pens Giveaway and Review @ Edge of Sanity

Angela did a good review and is having a giveaway of a set of UGLee Pens. Stop by her blog, Edge of Sanity and enter.


Writing is a part of everyday life- whether it's writing down a grocery list, doing homework, writing that important paper, or writing in a journal. But with arthritis or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) in the hands, its hard to get all that done without excruciating pain.

If you suffer from one of those ailments or writing for long periods of time is just hard, then you have got to try "Ultimate Grip" UGLee Pens! Dr. James Lee created the UGLee pens to give people a more comfortable pen to prevent hand cramps, the progression of CTS, or just get you through your daily writing needs without the use for conventional pens. read more

W...W...W... WEDNESDAYS September 7

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? I am currently reading. The Hope of Refuge (Ada's House Series #1)by Cindy Woodsmall. I will be doing review of book three in this series so I need to read books 1 & 2 first. It is a soul searching story.

What did you recently finish reading? I just finished reading, This Bird Flew Away by Lynda M. Martin, a heart wrenching tale of child abuse and over coming the odds. This is a must read! I will be on Book Tour on my blog the 27th of Sept. 2011. Check out the banner for the other tour dates scheduled for this tour.

What do you think you'll read next? Next on my list I will be reading The Bridge of Peace (Ada's House Series #2) by Cindy Woodsmall. I need to read this book so I can read book 3 in this series, The Harvest of Grace, for review.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

CHERISHED Video and Song

I did a review on Cherished by Kim Cash Tate last month and the other day I cried while reading one of her post.  Kim  wrote a beautiful post about Cherished and the song Cherished on her blog a few days ago. I emailed Kim and asked permission to put that post on my blog to share with my viewers. Hope you enjoy as much as I did.



I’m really, really, really excited.  I’ve been waiting for the official release of CHERISHED so I can show you this video that I recorded with Christian rapper Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and his wife, Nicole.  I’m excited because it so perfectly captures what this book is about….redemption and restoration in Christ.  And I’m excited because I want you to hear the SONGthat goes with the book, featuring CeCe Winans!  Watch the video, marvel at the greatness of God…and of course, I hope you buy the book. :)


I want to thank  Christian rapper Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and his wife, Nicole for
their story that is parallel to the book Cherished.


Sunday, September 4, 2011

SUNDAY MEME: MAMAW'S SUNDAY DEVOTIONAL

I feel very inspired since I did a review on The Grandmother's Bible/Daily Devotional.Here is a new meme I have come up with.  You will choose a scripture from the Bible and tell us how you will apply it to your daily life by posting it on you blog with this meme.  Calling it Mamaw's Sunday Devotional. You could even add your scripture to the header of your blog, optional, for the week as a reminder of your devotion.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT


My Scripture for the week:
MATTHEW 6:27  "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

How I can apply this scripture to my daily life this week?
I tend to be guilty of this.  Every time I begin to worry about the my family, finances or even the weather I will remember this scripture and ask myself this question.  I know a lot of people have created health problem in themselves due to worries in their life.
Lord, I lay my worries at the foot of the Cross.   


Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Which of you, by taking thought - The third argument is taken from their extreme weakness and helplessness. With all your care you cannot increase your stature a single cubit. God has ordered your height. Beyond his appointment your powers are of no avail, and you can do nothing. So of raiment. He, by His providence, orders and arranges the circumstances of your life. "Beyond" that appointment of His providence, beyond his care for you, your efforts avail nothing. Seeing, then, that he alike orders your growth and the supply of your needs, how obvious is the duty of depending upon him, and of beginning all your efforts, feeling that He only can grant you the means of preserving life.
One cubit - The cubit was originally the length from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. The cubit of the Scriptures is not far from 22 inches. Terms of "length" are often applied to life, and it is thought by many to be so here. Thus, it is said, "Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth" Psalm 39:5; "Teach me the measure of my days" Psalm 39:4. In this place it is used to denote a "small length." You cannot increase your stature even a cubit, or in the smallest degree. Compare Luke 12:26.
Stature - This word means "height." The original word, however, means oftener "age," John 9:21; "He is of age;" so also John 9:23. If this be its meaning here, as is probable (compare Robinson, Lexicon), it denotes that a man cannot increase the length of his life at all. The utmost anxiety will not prolong it one hour beyond the time appointed for death.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Review: Called Home: Two Hearts Answer by Gloria Schumann


Called Home: Two Hearts Answer

by 

3.57 of 5 stars 3.57  ·   rating details  ·  42 ratings  ·  36 reviews
Emma Benson's view of life was crafted by the death of her brother as a child, abandonment by her father and later, the man she trusted she would marry, until David Schlosser-back in town after years in New York writing best-selling novels-threatens her neatly tended life. Romance blooms. Emma and David eventually persevere in the face of tragedy, refusing to leave their dreams behind.
Paperback342 pages
Published May 8th 2010 by Savant Books & Publications LLC
ISBN
0984117571 (ISBN13: 9780984117574)



My Thoughts:
Called Home was hard for me to get interested in for the first couple of chapters but as I read on the story line unveiled a jaw clenching, nail biting novel I didn't want to put down.
The main character Emma is portrayed as a real pain in the buttocks. You will gradually learn why she is so rude and distant. I can't fault the novel because of this character. There are people like Emma in this world so why not write about them.

David enters the picture thinking he will be a knight in shining armour and seems to find her intriguing. He is persistent in making a connection with her whether she wants one are not. David sees through her masquerade. Gently he presses her to find out what happened in her past that causes her to distance herself from him.

Unexplained events began to happen and kept me as confused as Emma and David as to why all these suspicious events were happening to them. It definitely kept my eyes glued to the book wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I want to quote Emma's thoughts as she is reading a mystery book. "It was a section in which it is necessary for someone else to remove it from the readers' hand as he clung to every twist and turn in the plot, trying to ascertain its meaning."

That is how I felt about reading this book. When you read this book all the way to the end you might feel ashamed of yourself for having such a harsh opinion of Emma. Some people only see what is on the surface of a person.

I would recommend this book to my best friends.
I am rating this book 4 out of 5 only because I was tempted to stop reading the book all together at the very beginning. I am glad I kept reading because I would have missed out on a very good read.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by Gloria Schumann the author of this book for review. This review is my very own honest opinion.


Disclosure: By clicking on the Amazon link I will get a small percentage from the purchase of this book.