I can’t believe that I didn’t get the wrap-up post up last week. I was swamped at work all week and then when I got off work on Thursday night I never got around to writing it once I was home.
I am going to share a few more of the fun things I have seen on Facebook and Youtube like a did the last time I wrote one of these posts. Let me know if you like this because if you do I will keep doing it but if you don’t then I won’t spend the time.
FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse 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 Loyal Heart by Shelley Shepard Gray was a book I knew I was going to love because of who wrote it. I can’t even count the numbers of books I have read by this author and so far I think I have enjoyed them all. This book takes place after the Civil War ended and from the moment I started the book I didn’t want to put the book down. This is one of the books that I started on a Sunday morning, and I didn’t go to bed until I finished the book. I felt bad for and liked Miranda from the outset. I did find the book more on the predictable side, but that is usually how books like this are for me. Even with me saying that I still really enjoyed this book. I know that if you like historical novels then you will enjoy this book as much as I did.
About The Book
Robert came to Galveston to fulfill his promise to a dying man and look after his widow. He didn’t expect to find love in the unlikeliest of places.
Robert Truax, former Second Lieutenant and Confederate officer in the Civil War, made a promise to his comrade Phillip Markham. If anything happened to Phillip, Robert would look after his beloved wife, Miranda. She was his life, his world, his everything.
After the war, Robert is left to pick up the pieces and fulfill his pact. When he arrives at Miranda’s home in Galveston, Texas, things are worse than he imagined. Phillip’s name has been dragged through the mud, everyone in town believes him to be a traitor, and his widow is treated as an outcast. Even more disturbing is her emotional well-being. Miranda seems hopeless, lost, and so very alone.
Robert had thought his duty would be simple. He would help Miranda as quickly as possible in order to honor a promise. But the moment Robert laid eyes on her, his plans changed. He’s mesmerized by her beauty and yearns to help her in any way he can.
He makes it his duty to protect Miranda, turn her reputation around, and to find some way to help her smile again. But it doesn’t prove to be an easy task—Robert knows something about Phillip that could shake Miranda to the core and alter her view of the man she thought she knew so well.
About The Author
Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.
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.
Until Then by Krista Noorman this is the second book in the series, and I did enjoy the book. I did read the first book as well so if you want to check out that review you can click here to see it. Like I said, I enjoyed this book but if I had to pick between the two I would pick Goodbye, Magnolia because I felt like I connect better with those characters than I did with Michelle in this book. Even with that being said I did enjoy this book, and I still love the authors writing. I love this author writing, and I hope that she will come out with other books in this series because I can’t wait to read other books by her.
About The Book
Growing up with a distant mother and absentee father, Michelle’s childhood has been far from idyllic. Her only attention comes from her partying friends and the guys who are more than happy to give her the affection she longs for. But when one party goes wrong, Michelle’s family hatches a plan to get her out of Chicago and away from her so-called friends.
College plans are low on Michelle’s priority list, especially with no money to pay for it, until her grandparents offer to foot the bill for her entire tuition. There’s just one catch. Michelle must choose between three schools – all hours away from Chicago and all Christian colleges.
Michelle’s reluctant choice leads her to an unfamiliar place, where she’s faced with new relationships and unexpected decisions that could change her life and her heart forever.
PG-13 for sensuality
About The Author
Krista Noorman is the author of the young adult novel, The Truth About Drew, and theCornerstone contemporary Christian romance series. Most of her life has been spent scribbling away in journals, while documenting her every day life, but it wasn’t until she took part in National Novel Writing Month that she found her true calling and turned her pen to fiction.
Krista studied music education at Cornerstone University. After college, she turned to her love of photography and spent nearly a decade running her own wedding photography business. She is constantly inspired by books and movies, enjoys beautiful instagram feeds, and loves a great cup of coffee. Krista makes her home in a small town in western Michigan with her husband and their two children. She writes about life, family, faith and whatever else comes to mind at bykrista.com.
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.
Oh Ship! Tales of A Cruising Chick & Other Travel Adventures by Lori A. Moore was a fun book to read. This is a super short book, so I don’t have tons to say about it, but I did enjoy the book. I have never been on a cruise, but my grandparents are going on one in a few weeks so I am going to send this book with them so they can pass it on to someone who would enjoy it. I loved that the author included travel tips after each of the stories because some of them were super ingenious and things that if I ever travel I will use myself. I was left smiling after the stories, and I did enjoy the book. I think this would be a great gift for someone who likes to read and travel.
About The Book
Ship happens. Cruises can be quite the adventure within an adventure if you keep your eyes open and watch the little dramas that are going on among the several thousand passengers and crew members aboard the ship. Reading author Lori A. Moore’s true tales of things that happen on the high seas will have you saying, “Oh Ship!” From stories of passengers pepper-spraying other passengers to grown men fighting over glass figurines of penguins, you’ll laugh until your ribs hurt.
About The Author
Lori A. Moore is an award-winning author and professor who doesn’t take herself too seriously and believes her greatest gift to be silliness. A public speaker and consultant, Lori has four graduate degrees in business. Lori, her husband, and their cat, Grady, live in Louisville, KY. An avid traveler, she has explored much of the globe, finding and bringing silliness to all places.
I have always loved reading books about the Kennedy’s. When I read this quote, I knew I had to post it. This quote made me stop and realize that I need to look to the future. I have found that at times I get so caught up in things that happened in my past that missing thing that is going on now. I always try and remind myself not to get trapped in the past and to focus on the new things that are happening.
What do you think of this week’s quote of John F. Kennedy?
I am just writing this as a way to remember how I was feeling this year as it has been hard for me than I thought it would be.
I can’t believe it has been 11 years since I gave birth and placed my daughter for adoption. It has been on my mind more this year than in years past. I am sure that is because I had to put Alley down at the end of January. Alley was my replacement baby, so when I put her to, sleep I felt like I was reliving all the emotions that I had back when I placed my daughter for adoption.
I knew this year might be hard, but I didn’t expect that it would be as hard as it was. I found that this year everything lined up like it was the year I had her, so I almost felt like I was reliving it all again. There were times where all I was doing was going from minute to minute trying to get through the day.
I know that at moments like this will happen, and all I can do is deal with it one day at a time. I am also glad that I know that it will all pass, and life will get back to normal after a while. I wish I would have known that the first year because even though people tell you it will get better, it was hard for me to believe that it would get better.
I have always said that the first year was the hardest but this year would have to be the second hardest. Like I said I was grateful that I knew in time that things would get better in time which isn’t something that I knew during the first year. All I want to say is that it always gets easier to deal with as time goes on.