Tuesday, June 14, 2011

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Book Review: Beyond All Measure

Beyond All Measure by Dorthy Love was not a quick read for me. Even though it was hard for me to get into the story, I did enjoy reading all the historical background information. The racial prejudice as well as North vs. South prejudice depicted in the book helped me see what a long way we have come since the Civil War. Also, I'm glad the characters in the book were able to believe and trust in God again. Book Sneeze provided this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Description

Unless she can trust God's love to cast out her fears, Ada may lose the heart of a good man.

Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady’s companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future.

Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolks: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada's friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals seeking to displace the residents of Two Creeks, a "colored" settlement on the edge of town. As tensions rise, Ada is threatened but refuses to abandon her plan to help the girl.

When Lillian dies, Ada is left without employment or a place to call home. And since Wyatt’s primary purpose for staying in Hickory Ridge was to watch over his aunt, he can now pursue his dream of owning Longhorns in his home state of Texas.

With their feelings for each other growing, Ada must decide whether she can trust God with her future and Wyatt with her heart.
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Saturday, June 11, 2011

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Book Review: A Vision of Lucy

I enjoyed reading A Vision of Lucy. Even though it was book three in a series, I was able to follow along and not feel lost at any point in the story without having read any of the prior books. A Vision of Lucy contained a lot of the story elements I am looking for when I read a book - salvation, a moral, and humor. Book Sneeze provided this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Description

Trouble may follow Lucy wherever she goes, but with the help of God and the rugged, reclusive David Wolf, she'll never face adversity alone.
Lucy Fairbanks dreams of working as a photographer at the Rocky Creek newspaper. If she can earn money making photographs, then maybe her father will see that what she does is worthy, more than just a distraction. And her deepest hope is that he’ll see her as an artist, the way he thought of her deceased mother, a painter. But trouble follows Lucy on every photo shoot: a mess of petticoats and ribbons, an accidental shooting, even a fire.

When Lucy meets David Wolf, a quiet, rustic man who lives on the outskirts of town, she thinks she can catch the attention of the town with his photograph. She doesn't count on her feelings stirring whenever she's near him.

Two things happen next that forever change the course of her life: Lucy meets someone who sees her as no one else has—as the compassionate, creative young woman that God made in His image. And Lucy helps David uncover a secret that forces him to change his perspective on an event that left him deeply-scarred.
God’s arms are around this unlikely couple as they discover the truth about long-held assumptions and the importance of forgiveness.
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Thursday, June 9, 2011

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Book Review: Money Secrets of the Amish

Saving money, garage sales, thrift stores - some of my favorite topics. No wonder I enjoyed reading Money Secrets of the Amish. Since author Lorilee Cracker has a wonderful sense of humor, her book was a quick and easy read. Even though I already know and practice most of the Amash suggestions, the book was not a disappointment.

Book Sneeze provided this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Description

Discover the money-saving and wealth-building secrets of America’s thriftiest people, the Amish.

Author, journalist, and descendant of the Amish, Lorilee Craker, was just like the rest of us, feeling the pinch from the financial fallout of 2008. As a freelancer, her income was going the way of the dodo—family dollars seemed like an extinct myth, the bank account some archeological evidence of past prosperity.

Then, inspired by a news segment covering her people, the Amish, and how they emerged from the economic crisis unscathed, she realized it was time to get back to her roots and learn a thing or two about their time-tested approach to personal finances. While the middle-class was wringing its hands over the family budget and the wealthy were weeping over their slashed portfolios, the Amish were content as always, spared from the cares of the world and worldliness. They not only had financial health to support their lives, they exuded a wholeness that eludes so many when the financial bottom drops out.

In Money Secrets of the Amish, readers go on an “Amish money makeover,” learning the choices, secrets, and disciplines that safeguarded the contentment and the coffers of America’s favorite plain folk by spending less, saving more, and getting happier doing it.


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