The Second Half by Lauraine Snelling

July 6, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Second Half by Lauraine Snelling was a book I knew I had to check out when I got the email. The book reminded me of my situation in the fact that I was raised by my grandparents from the age of about eight on so I was super interested in this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book and in the end, I did like this book. I have read so many books that it is rare that one sticks out in my mind after I have finished it and written the review. This is one of the ones that stuck out to me because I just really enjoyed the story and the characters. This book was well written, and I wouldn’t mind reading other books by her. I also liked that this book was an easy read. I was able to sit down and read it in a few hours which was nice. I like that it gave me a little inside to what my grandparents could have felt like when they took my brother and me in when we were younger. I think this is a book that most people would enjoy.

About The Book

Bestselling author Lauraine Snelling shares a heartfelt story of a couple who put their plans for a peaceful retirement on hold to assume guardianship of their young grandchildren.
Mona and Ken Sorenson are approaching the best years of their lives. Mona’s greatest concern is that Ken will learn of the surprise party she’s planning for his retirement from his job as Dean of Students at Stone University. They’ve already been making plans to travel, spend limitless hours in the garden, and Ken is looking forward to working on his woodworking and fishing with his grandchildren. It’s what they deserve after years of careful planning.

But things begin to unravel when Ken learns that office politics are about to destroy his department. Can he really just leave, abandoning the work he spent a lifetime achieving? Mona is eager to build her event planning business with Ken’s help, but rather than supporting her, he expresses concern that the stress of the work will send her back into the depression she struggles with. Then, just days before Ken’s last official day of work, their son, a Special Forces officer in the Army, learns he’s being immediately deployed on a six-month mission in Pakistan. Since his wife left him, the only people he trusts to care for his two young children are his parents. In an instant, everything Ken and Mona spent their lives planning changes, and they will need to find strength, both physical and mental, to become parents once more. This is not the second half they wanted, and when their son fails to contact them as planned, they struggle to trust that it is God’s plan, not theirs, that matters most.

About The Author

Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of over seventy books, with sales of more than 2 million copies.

She also writes for a wide range of magazines, and helps others reach their writing dreams by teaching at writers’ conferences across the country.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston.

They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.

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Precious in His Sight by Karen Pashley

July 5, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Precious in His Sight by Karen Pashley was a good book. I did spend most of the book hating Clay and even now that I am done with the book, I still don’t like him at all. I had a hard time reading this book because of how I felt about Clay. I love when and the author can make you hate a character so much from the first few pages. So even though I didn’t like him, I did enjoy this book. I loved reading along and seeing how Sugar changed and grew throughout the book. I did love this book in the end, and I like I said before I love when authors make their characters so life like that you hate them. I did enjoy just about everything in this book. It was slow at times, but I didn’t mind those parts as much as I usually do. I liked this book, and I would love to read more by this author in the future.

About The Book

What if your husband was cheating? What would you do?

Feisty, tenacious, and adorably flawed, Sugar Brennan is fiercely committed to her family, her traditional Christian values, and her spotless reputation in her affluent Southern community. When she discovers her husband Clay’s been unfaithful, Sugar is determined to right the wrongs in her life.
But when Clay’s former mistress returns to Westfield with devastating news, it poses a heart-wrenching dilemma that challenges Sugar to rethink all she’s believed about faith, family, and the healing power of forgiveness.

She’s been raised in a preacher’s home, taught to love her enemies.

She’s got the fish sticker on her car and a collection of good works under her belt.

But . . . reach out to the woman who nearly destroyed her marriage? Surely God wouldn’t ask her to go that far.

About The Author

I’m proud to call Nashville home. Though I grew up in New York, and lived in Florida for more than two decades, I’ve been grafted into Nashville’s eclectic southern culture. I love the people, the easy going vibe, and the lingo. I’m a southern transplant, y’all!

I’m also:

A Christian. In awe of the transforming power of the Word of God. A daily recipient of God’s abundant grace. A redeemed sinner who still messes up regularly. I have a heart for women and the pressures we are faced with in today’s complicated world.

A wife. Thirty years. I didn’t have much training on how to be a wife. Wasn’t prepared for the many ups and downs we would face as we learned by trial and error what marriage was all about. Trials and errors. There have been plenty of them. But there’s also joy, and friendship, and matchless intimacy. I’m committed to one man—my husband Jay.

A proud mom of four incredible young women. Over the past twenty-nine years, they have been my reason for waking in the morning, my motivation to be the best person I can be, and the reflection of a Father in Heaven who loves me inconceivably more than I love them.

An author. An encourager. A storyteller. I wrote my first novel PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT to inspire others to grasp the very personal truth of God’s amazing love for each one of us. It’s a story of hardship and heartache, and the power of forgiveness to set us free. You can read more about it and my upcoming projects in the Books menu under the Fiction tab.

A foodie. I am the founder of Girls Dine In. Part cooking class, part supper club, my monthly events bring women together for an evening of great food, fellowship and loads of fun. No kids. No hubbies. Just the girls. Check out the Food tab under the Blog menu for recipes, entertaining ideas, kitchen tips, and more.

A creator. A visionary. A bigger picture kind-of thinker. I love coming up with ideas and setting them in motion. Seems like I’ve always got a new project to tackle!

I enjoy entertaining, going for morning hikes in the woods, hanging out with my daughters, cuddling my sweet grand baby, painting old furniture, trying to grow things in my yard, planning events, wandering through museums, and lounging at the beach.

I do not enjoy mani/pedis or massages (I know, I’m weird). I’m not fond of carnivals, heights, doing paperwork of any kind, watching my plants whither and die despite my best efforts, and I’m probably the only person in America who did not like the Broadway musical Wicked. So there you have it.

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Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley

July 1, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley was a great book. This is the second book in the series, but you don’t have to read the first book to understand what is going on in this book. You can click here to check out my review of the first book “Her Sister’s Shoes by Ashley Farley.” I enjoy reading books by this author and like I said I enjoyed this book. I love the family that is in this book, and I feel like I can relate to them and the things that they have gone through in their lives. I loved everything about this book, and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series because I love catching up with all of the characters in this series. I look at these characters like they are actual people because the author does a great job of making them seem like real people. I think that just about anyone would love this book, and I recommend this book to everyone.

About The Book

Family Drama, Southern Style.
There’s a stranger in town. And it’s no coincidence when she shows up uninvited at a Sweeney family wedding. All eyes are drawn to this urchin who seems to have washed in with the tide. Before the night is over, the doe-eyed waif charms young and old with her street smarts and spunky personality. For better or worse, Annie Dawn is here to stay.

The memorable Sweeney sisters from Her Sister’s Shoes have returned with more suspense and family drama to hold you spellbound until the dramatic conclusion. As she approaches the next stage of her life as an empty nester, Jackie is torn between expanding her fledgling design business and spending these last precious months with her boys before they fly the coop. Her own worst enemy, Sam is terrified of making a commitment to Eli Marshall, handsome police officer, true love of her life. Her resolve is tested when a ghost from her past shows up after nearly two decades. Faith nurtures her seven-year-old daughter who is recovering from the trauma of her abusive father. Is the threat in the past, or is there more danger on the horizon? The sisters seek guidance from their mother, Lovie, a true Southern matriarch who shows them how to respond to adversity with grace and dignity.

Things are heating up in the Lowcountry. The Sweeney sisters remind us, once again, that being a part of a family is about more than sharing the same DNA.

About The Author

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

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Wild Within by Christine Hartmann

June 30, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Wild Within by Christine Hartmann was a fantastic book. I enjoyed this book right from the start. I saw a lot of myself in Grace, and I felt like I knew her even though she was just a character in the book. Even as I write this, I am not sure what it was about this book that I liked so much other than Grace, but I didn’t want to put it down until I was finished with it. This was a book that I would get upset if I had to put it down and do something other than work. I felt like I was there with Grace as she was hiking the PCT and I could do everything that happened to her to happen to me. At times, I felt the book moved super quick, and it felt like they cut things out that should have been left in. I was confused right at the start when she met Lone Star for the first time, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. I can’t wait for the next book in this series to come out. This book is going to be added to my collection of books because it is one I could see myself reading again. I think this is a book that anyone who loves mystery and romance novels will love.

About The Book

Title: WILD WITHIN

Author: Christine Hartmann

Publisher: Limitless Publishing

Pages: 274 Genre: Romantic Suspense

A year after a family tragedy, Grace Mori embarks on the journey of a lifetime…

Two thousand, six hundred miles of blistering heat, wilderness, and soul searching—that’s what Grace signed up for when she decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s not a voyage for beginners, but with no husband and her family still recovering from her brother’s death, Grace is more alone than ever.

This trail meant something to her brother, and she’ll hike it in his memory, but she can’t do it alone. So with her brother’s gear and a small group, Grace takes the most important first steps of her life.

Grace finds something more than peace and magic on the trail…

When her first day of hiking ends in heat stroke, Grace is rescued by a handsome, red-haired hiker who calls himself Lone Star. Grace has an immediate connection with him, and their brief encounter leaves her fearing her soul mate has slipped through her fingers. Although he vows to keep in touch, Grace doubts she’ll ever see him again.

When fears become reality, the only people Grace can rely on may be killers…

Grace is surprised to find notes left at supply posts along the trail. Lone Star’s eloquent letters keep Grace going, clinging to the hope she’ll find him—and happiness—at the end of her journey. But as the trail becomes more perilous, menace grows within the group. And when Lone Star’s letters mysteriously stop coming, Grace fears the worst.

As tensions flare and a killer emerges, Grace must battle to survive…and reunite with the man she’s sure is her future.

About The Author

Christine Hartmann grew up in Ohio and Delaware and loves traveling to exotic, romantic settings. After a college semester in Kathmandu, her first three “real” jobs were all in northern Japan, where she lived for almost 10 years. She currently splits her career between her daytime occupation (improving the quality of veterans’ nursing home care) and her night/weekend avocation (writing romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction as well as non-fiction books). Her husband Ron Strickland is a well-known long-distance hiker, trail guide writer, and the founder of the 1,200-mile Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. Christine loves reading, pilates, bicycling, snorkeling, and health foods that taste like they’re bad for you. You will often find her at a keyboard, a German shepherd at her side, and Ron whispering sweet edits over her shoulder. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America.

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The Average Girl by Angelina Goode

June 29, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Average Girl by Angelina Goode was a fun chick lit book. This was a great book, and I loved that the premise of the story was different from any other book that I have read lately. I usually am not a huge fan of this type of book but this author hooked me right from the start, and I didn’t want to put it down until the book was done. I enjoyed Olivia because she seems like someone that I would get along with in real life. I can say that this book was predicable but I still really enjoyed this author’s style of writing. She was able to make me feel like I was there with the characters. She also made me feel like I was a part of the story and I enjoyed that about this book. If you love chick lit or and looking for a fun book to read this summer, I would for sure recommend this book to you.

About The Book

Sometimes being average can lead to wonderful things…

Olivia Fowler, helper of the star-struck, runs a successful business helping average people meet celebrities in everyday ways. She is so good at what she does, the celebrities don’t have a clue they’re part of a pre-planned meeting. Business is booming and Olivia knows everything there is to know about Hollywood’s famous and their behavior. Her clients trust her because she is just like them, not famous.

But when Olivia accidentally meets the uber-famous Alexander Young at the grocery store, her world is flipped upside-down. She can’t possibly resist those charming eyes and sexy arms. As their romance blossoms, Olivia learns she may not know as much as she thought she did about celebrities and their ways.

Then Olivia’s most important and loyal client requests to meet Alexander. Suddenly, Olivia is forced to choose between her love and her business.

Will Olivia be able to keep her booming business a secret from her soon-to-be boyfriend? Will her clients still trust her if she is no longer the average girl?

About The Author

Angelina Goode began writing as a teenager. Though her first works were poems about love-struck teenagers, she grew her craft while earning her degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. A former grade school teacher that loved teaching children to write, she enjoys finding creative ways to present everyday events. Now she primarily writes light-hearted contemporary women’s fiction. She lives in Los Angeles where she enjoys the occasional celebrity sighting and year-round sun.

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The Silver and Gold Deception by Brenda G Bradley

June 28, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Killion Group in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Silver and Gold Deception by Brenda G Bradley wasn’t the right book for me. From the description of the book, I thought it was going to be a book that I would like, but it just didn’t work out for me. I felt like the book was rushed and I felt like I couldn’t connect with any of the characters in the book. It was written well, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. After I was finished with the book I saw that is a romantic comedy and I was wondering how I managed to miss that while reading the book. I know that this will be a book most people will probably like, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

About The Book

Dee thinks her life is finally perfect; she’s found her “Mr. Right” and she has a great job. Things are going great until four masked men rob the store where she works—then things start to go horribly wrong. Bad luck seems to follow her everywhere, and when she finds a corpse in her bed, she knows she needs help. Agent Derek Branch sees the evidence pointing to the sexy Dee Carter, but his heart doesn’t want to believe this woman capable of murder. When evil targets Dee, will Derek’s duty to the FBI keep him from following his heart? Or will Dee go down for the crimes?

About The Author

I am a former employee for the state of Maryland. I have been married for more than thirty years to the same man. We have two adult sons. Reading and writing love stories is my passion.

The World As I See It

Contemporary Fiction

The Second Half by Lauraine Snelling

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About The Author

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Precious in His Sight by Karen Pashley

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Lowcountry Stranger by Ashley Farley

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Wild Within by Christine Hartmann

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The Silver and Gold Deception by Brenda G Bradley

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