Month: May 2015

Irene In College by Lori Goldson

irene in college button

Irene In College by Lori Goldson was an interesting book to read.  At times this book made me smile it also reminded me of when I was in college.  This book kept me smiling throughout the thing which is always a good thing.  I spent most of the book waiting for the next crazy thing to happen to Irene because she always seemed to be into something and something was always going wrong in her life.  I loved following along with her and see what she went through but by the end of the book I was a little tired of it all but I did truly enjoy this story.

irene in college

About The Book

In book 1 of The Life & Times Series, “Irene in College”, Irene comes face-to-face with the realization that college is anything but easy. At the mercy of an insufferable mother, pompous boyfriend, malevolent best friend, dim-witted nuisance, and an ineffable college professor, what would be easy about it? Come join Irene as she learns how to deal with it all.

Irene thought college would be the easy part—get good grades, make new friends, and say good-bye to a daunting past. Little did she know that the whimsy of life would have other plans for her!

lori goldson

About The Author

Lori Goldson the Middle School Academic Director for the Philadelphia non-profit organization SquashSmarts.  She has been in education for seven years. During her years as a college student at the University of Delaware, Lori took a fondness to Latin American culture. She has traveled to Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Erik.

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Excerpt

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

When Grace Sings by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Book Review

When Grace Sings by Kim Vogel Sawyer was a sweet romance story.  This book was slow in the beginning but it did pick up after a few chapters.  I love how she tells you who is talking when the narrator changes throughout the whole book.  I like when authors do that because than it makes it easier to read because you don’t have to try and guess who is talking.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Briley throughout most of the book and I am honestly not sure why but he just got on my nerves.  Towards the end I did start to like him and was sad to see this book end.  I didn’t read the first book in this series and I was able to figure out what was going on and follow along.  If you love romance novels than I would for sure recommend this book to you.

When Grace Sings

About The Book

When Grace Sings (WaterBrook Press, March 2015)

When trouble roars into quiet Arborville, Alexa and Anna-Grace find themselves the target for discord and exposed secrets. Can they continue to seek the God of all grace amidst the fog of confusion?

Alexa Zimmerman wonders if the Old Order Mennonite community in Arborville, Kansas will ever fully accept her. Her family roots here aren’t what anyone thought when she first arrived, but she is hopeful that her culinary and hospitality skills will win the skeptics over. The bed-and-breakfast she’s operating needs to succeed so Alexa agrees to allow Briley Forrester, the hotshot reporter from Chicago, to stay as a long-term boarder not knowing his real motives for being amongst the Plain folk.

But when Alexa agrees to host her cousin Anna-Grace Braun, the presence of extended family brings out Alexa’s insecurities and sets Briley on the trail to uncovering a web of hidden truths.

Plans for a secure future and the sweetness of young romance hang in the balance when Alexa and Anna-Grace have to face that their secrets are interconnected, binding the two in ways they could not have imagined. They must trust in a loving, heavenly Father and His plan for their futures.

Kim Vogel Sawyer

About The Author

Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of twenty-nine novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women’s fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and nine grandchildren.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Called To Be Amish by Marlene C. Miller

Book Review

Called To Be Amish by Marlene C. Miller was one of the most interesting books that I have read in a long time.  It has been years since I have read any biography/autobiography and I realize how much I love those kind of books.  I love getting a first hand account of what it would be like to live if you were Amish and to help me better understand some of the fiction books that I read that have to do with the Amish.  This is another book that I didn’t want to put down.  Anyway in this book you get to hear about Marlene’s childhood and how her life was up until the time she chose to join the Amish and how things were for her after she joined them.  I loved being about to see what her childhood was like and also what lead her to join the Amish.  There are other books in this series and I am for sure going to be buying them and reading them because I love the behinds the scenes look at what life is really like for them and how things really are.  If you love books about the Amish and/or biographies than I know you will love this book and need to check it out!

Called to be Amish

About The Book

Called to Be Amish (MennoMedia, February 2015)

Fewer than one hundred outsiders have joined the Old-Order Amish—and stayed—since 1950. Marlene C. Miller is one of them.

In this rare memoir, Marlene recounts her unhappy and abusive childhood, how she throws herself into cheerleading and marching band, and how she falls in love with Johnny, the gentle young Amish man who helps her lace her ice skates.

Against the wishes of both sets of parents, Marlene and Johnny get married and begin a family. Follow the author on this unusual journey to find out how God’s love called her out of bitterness and depression and into the warm embrace of her new Amish community.

Accompany her as she dons an Amish dress and prayer covering and gets baptized. Learn how she endures the strain of ten children, a hundred-acre farm, and accidents and tragedy, and find out how she comes close to walking away from it all. Turning Amish has proven to be anything but plain and simple for this former majorette. But nearly fifty years later, Marlene is still living out God’s call as an Old Order Amish woman.

About The Author

Marlene C. Miller joined the Amish as an adult and has been a member of the Old Order Amish for almost 50 years. She and her husband of 48 years live on a farm in Ohio surrounded by their nine children, more than 40 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap-Up

It is that time again for me list all the posts from the past week so you can check them out in case you missed any of them.  So here it goes

A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade

Albert Einstein-Quote Of The Week

L.A. Rotten by Jeff Klima

A Beautiful Taste by Lilliana Anderson

New Career Path?!?!

Those are the 5 posts that I had up this past week.  Next week I have a week full of book reviews.  I also have a book review on a book that I can’t wait to share with you and it will be live on Sunday and trust me you aren’t going to want to miss it.

How has your week been?

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret

Changing Careers?!?!

This week for the writers workshop I am going to talk about number 3 which is You HAVE to go back in time and choose a different career path for yourself. What do you choose?  As I sit here and think about changing careers the one thing that keeps coming to the front of my brain is that I wish I had finished school and that I was a registered nurse.  I basically dropped out of school after I got pregnant and had my daughter.  It has been so long since I have been in school that when I think about going back to school now I don’t know that I could or that I even want to go back to school to get my nursing degree.

I remember when I was in college people always said don’t stop going to school because once you stop or take a break you won’t go back.  At the time I was in school I always thought that was stupid because I never saw myself not finishing school even if I took a break.  Now that I have been out of school for years and years the last place I want to be in the world is back at school with teenagers and people who are younger than me.  I am that weird person who loved school and now the thought of going to school again literally makes me sick to my stomach.

The more years I spend at the job I am at now the more I realize that I am probably going to be here forever because at this point I have done it for almost 8 years and it is all I know anymore.  I remember starting this job thinking it was just going to be something until I could go back to working at a nursing home and now the longer I am here the more I realize that I don’t mind doing accounting and things like that.

It is funny to me how I have changed and my thoughts on what I want to do when “I grow up” have changed so much.  I am glad I have the job I do and I am also glad that I think I am finally okay with not being in the medical field anymore.  It will always be something that I love and something that just comes naturally to me but I don’t think I would be able to do the job because of the Multiple Sclerosis and things like that.

If you could change your career what would you want to do now?

Here are all the prompts for this weeks writers workshop if you want to join in on the fun.

1. Write a blog post inspired by the word: guilty
2. Write a poem for your mother.
3. You HAVE to go back in time and choose a different career path for yourself. What do you choose?
4. I know my kids really love me because…
5. Describe a home cooked meal that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Margaret Margaret