Softly & Tenderly

 Jade lives in Tennesse in a small town dominated by her in-laws, under presseure from her lawyerhusband to get pregnant. But she keeps having miscarriges. Then she finds out her in-laws' marrige is a wreck under the surface. Her husband is addicted to perscription pain-killers. Jade mother, who has come to stay with her, is dying of Leukemia. It sounds like she's living a Southern soap opra. But at least her husband is faithful.

Or is he? Turns out he has a son who is younger than their marrige. Not only that, but the child's mother is dead. Her husband wants custody of his son, age 18 months. Full of conflicting emotions, Jade takes off to Iowa with her mother and mother-in-law. Her mother just wants to die in the old homstead Iowa. Now there's nothing preventing Jade from taking her there. But in Iowa a temptation for her- her first love, who still pines her. They hang out and play midnight football. Jade knows she is not suspposed to be with her first husband but she breaks the rules anyway. Later on, she goes home and tells her husband the truth. He is uset with her but still forgives her. He decides that Jade should help parent his son. Jade says she would not keep any secrets from her husband and he sys the same thing. So Jade and her husband parent the child and they live a better healthier relationship.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Cleaner Plate Club

This is another book I borrowed from the library.  As I was looking for some other books, I came upon this and it looked healthy and interesting.  And, I was totally correct.  This cookbook not only has recipes, but it gives a lot of great information.

This is not a vegetarian cookbook, but the emphasis is to get more vegetables into our children.  It gives the background of the vegetable and pictures of all different varieties of that vegetable in color.  It tells you how to select and store them, the nutritional goodness, then, some recipes that are typically easy to make. 

In a different section, it does things like Soups, Desserts, etc. which combine a variety of vegetables, fruit, and meat/poultry/fish.  It's really informative, which I absolutely love.  The layout of the book is great.  It gives you healthier alternatives to the traditional stuff - for example, sweeteners are resigned to white sugar, rather you can use maple, honey, stevia, agave nectar, etc.  And, the alternatives they give are natural, not yucky synthetic.

All the recipes look to be kid-friendly.  If you have kids, you know how things like peer pressure or changing taste buds can wreak havoc on a family's meal times.  They also give suggestions for packing school lunches that are healthy.  I think at some point in the future, I will purchase this book when I can find it for under $5 with shipping. 

The Noticer

This is another book that I checked out at the local public library.  I wish they had all his books, but I was glad that I got to find 2 books that I had not read.  After reading The Lost Choice, I was anxious to read this.  Thought this book would be just as impactful, but it wasn't.

The premise of this book's message is about PERSPECTIVE.  How life can go for us, the choices we make, our attitudes all depend upon our perspective, regardless of the circumstances. 

The Noticer is an actual person named "Jones" or he could be "Garcia".  He's a man that notices a lot of things that most people don't.  He seems to come right in time in a person's life to help them change their perspective and get back on track by suggestions.  He does leave it up to each individual.

I'm not sure if part of the book is true, the part of Andy being the down & out person at the beginning of the book and is one of the main characters of the book.  If so, he came a long way from his homeless beginnings to author & speaker.  This book still referenced people briefly in history that made a big difference, like George Washington Carver.

Having read quite a few of Andy's books, he's used George Washington Carver's biography in a number of them.  Though I wasn't as entranced in this book, it's still a good, short read.  It has a good message, but I prefer the books where he really entertwines historical facts with his fictional story.  This one really didn't do it, so it just didn't touch me as much.

The Lost Choice

I did not get this book from Book Sneeze, rather from the public library.  I really loved this book.  Andy is really good with putting actual historical stuff into his fictional books.  So, there is a lot of truth in the fiction.

It did not take me really long to read this book, as it kept me mesmorized.  The chronology of the book seemed to be all over the place, but it's with regards to an ancient relic and though it holds no power in it of itself, it's the choice that someone makes to make a difference.

This relic was probably a couple thousand years from current day.  Loved how the storyline was.  So, it starts off a long time ago, but you don't really know when.  There is mystery as to what the relic is and there is tragedy at the beginning of the book, possibly.

This relic gets broken purposefully into 4 sections.  So, fast forward to current day when one of the pieces is found by a little boy.  But, then the mom (a journalist) and the dad (a detective) get involved with finding out the history of the piece that they had.  It leads them to this really old woman whose great grand uncle or something like that was George Washington Carver.  It goes through some of the choices Carver made while he had possession of one of the other parts of the relic.

Each part of the relic had a different "theme" and it seemed that all those who possessed the relic made a significant difference in history for whatever that "theme" for that specific piece of the relic was.  The book goes throughout history dating to probably before Christ.

Anyway, I found this book fascinating, but it showed the power of the choices we make.  It really shows "The Butterfly Effect".  Totally LOVED this book.  Very powerful message for me.

A must read!

Stained Glass Hearts

I've now lost track as to what number of eBooks I've gotten from Book Sneeze.  One thing I've found when I go to Amazon to find out how long the books are, whatever it says, getting it in eBook format the pages are by far fewer.  Amazon said this book is 208 pages, while my Adobe reader on my laptop says there are 141 pages.  So, I don't know where the discrepancy is.  Hopefully I can finish this book in a couple of hours.

Though this book was not very long, it was harder for me to get interested in.  Not sure why.  There are elements of Patsy's life that I could totally relate to, and many things I could identify with.  Perhaps I expected it to be partially humorous and the other part serious. 

When I think of Stained Glass, I think of beauty and elegance.  She had beautiful words written through this book, very descriptive.  The book was well-organized.  She has Scriptures and references different stories in the Bible and mixes it with her story mainly, but also the stories of others.

She shares of her foibles and the many challenges of her life, as well of that of her family, and how her challenges impacted her family, both present and the one she grew up in.  This book is filled with so much grace & sweetness.  I found the book very open & honest.  However, I wasn't moved as I had expected.  Maybe because the past couple days I've been incredibly tired.

Anyway, I'm giving it 4 stars for all the great things about the book and maybe I'll reread it again sometime in the future when I'm feeling more alive.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Rumors of God

I'm starting to lose track of how many eBooks I've gotten from Book Sneeze, but eBooks are cool.  Though I cannot highlight, it allows me to read the book and if I really want the print version, I can get it later.

Okay, I was hoping I would've finished this book 2 weeks ago, but that didn't happen.  This book is a fairly easy and quick read words wise.  It took me about 2.5 hrs to read at a comfortable pace.

However, though an easy read, the message is very power.  I like how the book is structured.  There are 10 chapters, each about 10-15 pages.  Somehow reading this as an ebook allows me to finish books faster than if I had the actual physical book.

This book really convicted me, challenged my thinking and perspective on things regarding my own walk with God.  The authors touch on 10 different topics:  1)  The Abundant Life, 2) God's Dreams for Our Lives, 3) Generosity, 4) Love, 5) Grace, 6) Freedom, 7) Commitment, 8) Community, 9) Justice, 10) Hope.

There was not a chapter that I did not see where I needed improvement on from where I am to where God possibly wants me to be.  I've been learning about God's Justice and I got a bit more enlightenment with what the authors talked about.  Justice is really finding the root cause and fixing that, rather than band-aiding a situation.  That was such a good description and I can see where I've had that tie to God's Justice my whole life and didn't realize it.

Then, the topic of Grace, which I thought I understood, but I didn't as much as I thought.  Though I knew some brief stuff about the Assyrians, what I did not know was that Ninevah was an Assyrian City.  What the authors talked about made a lot of sense and gave me a much better understanding of Jonah's attitude here.  Grace is undeserved favor and what was impressed most in this chapter is that it is undeserved, meaning there is nothing we can do to earn it.  So, even with the people who commit the most atrocious crimes, they can be forgiven, too.  Doesn't seem right, does it?  Grace.

I didn't keep track of which author was writing or not, but since there were 2 authors for this book, Jon and Darren, they would identify who was writing.  That was helpful.  The whole book contained Biblical stories as well as the stories of either their own personal stories or that of other people.  They were all very poignant and impactful in conveying their points.

The use of the word "Rumor" is something that drew me in, as if I have a choice to believe it or not, or at least I should investigate it more to see if the "Rumor" could be true.  So, there is a level of ownership, if you so choose to answer the questions that are posed.  Very cool of the authors.  A very well thought out book.

This would be a good book to do in a small group and there is a section at the last part of the book that is a guide that allows you to do this.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Women of Faith

I am so excited to be going to the Women of Faith Conference 2011.  I've never been and have wanted to go for quite some time.  I've heard some really good things about this.   Thank you to Book Sneeze for selecting me from my city to be able to attend this event.  I am very grateful.  God bless Book Sneeze.  They have been so generous to give away so many free books to myself and many others. 

Though I won't be able to go this year to my church's women's retreat, it will be great to go to at least one women's extended event this year.  I praise God.



They have a fantastic 2011 Lineup.  I am big fans of the authors - Andy Andrews, Steve Arterburn, Henry Cloud.  If Luci Swindoll is as good as her husband, this should be a treat.  I love the music of Natalie Grant, Mandisa, Mary Mary, Laura Story, Selah, Sandi Patty, and Sheila Walsh.  I remember watching the "Facts of Life" series growing up, so it will be great to hear Lisa speak.

God's Love Letters to You

This book was not what I expected.  I've read some of Dr. Larry Crabb's other books and liked them, but this is the one that I liked the best.  Got this as an eBook from Book Sneeze.

This book can be written for anyone from youth well into adulthood.  It is comprised of a 40-day devotional that contains a short, very powerful "letter" from God from a book of the Bible, followed by questions for reflection and ending in a succinct prayer to God.

This book is NOT long, but pretty short.  But take heed that the "letters" so convicted and impacted me that it made me really think about where I am in my relationship to God.  Those "letters" sound as if it's like God speaking right at me, and the letter is a summary of the book of the Bible it's talking about.

Originally I wasn't going to get this book because I just didn't want to get another devotional to read at this moment, but I'm so glad I listened to the Holy Spirit and got this because every single one of the devotional days were for me.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Don't Check Your Brains At The Door

I got this as an eBook from Book Sneeze.  This is my 5th eBook from them.  Originally I wanted this book in print for my kids to use as reference, but I missed the time when it came out by 1 day and all available print copies were gone.  So, here I am with the eBook.

This book did not take me long to read and is a fairly easy read for an adult.  I did not go through the "Brain Food" exercises in each of the 42 chapters.  This book is broken down into Myths in the following areas:

• Myths About God
• Myths About Jesus
• Myths About the Bible
• Myths About the Resurrection
• Myths About Religion & Christianity
• Myths About Life & Happiness

The latter 2 sections had a lot more examples.  This book is appropo for teenagers and those entering teenage years.  I have a 7 & a 10 yr old and I will be getting this book in hard copy for them to do.  Though my kids are a little younger, as a family we regularly read & discuss the Bible.

I love how each chapter is short, an explanation of what the LIE is and the Scripture backing & argument for it.  It doesn't go very deep into the argument, but it's a starting point for study on any of the topics.  To go through 42 different LIES, have "homework" to do, it gives whomever is doing the "Brain Food" work things to think about, as well as to discuss with others to better help understand what one believes.

The topics of the myths are things kids and even adults will come across.  I think this book was well-organized and very appropriate.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Cure For The Common Life

This is my 4th eBook from Book Sneeze and I'm totally loving these eBooks as it allows me to get the books quickly and read them.

The last book I read of Lucado's, I did not care for.  However, this book, I absolutely LOVE.  Since I got the eBook version, the copyright on this book is 2005.  The cover is different than the one displayed in this, which is what came from Book Sneeze.

I really loved the perspective with which he describes each of our unique lives, rather than seeing our lives often in the duldrums or showered with drama.  God gives us desires, talents and skills and every single person is unqiue and special.  We all have the ability to walk in the destinies that God has for each of us, which he says in "Our Sweet Spot".

In this book, Lucado focuses on each person's uniqueness and I love how each main and subsection covers this.  Amidst the billions of people, each is endowed with talents, gifts, skills that are unique, unlike anyone else's.  We each have a part in this world, and it is in a major part.

Lucado follows all his other books where it is about perspective and this book is no exception.  He strongly advocates what we are drawn to as well as our skills & talents.  He said that when we live in that "sweet spot", that's when we are most effectively utilized for God's Kingdom.  He backs up his illustrations with the Bible and expounds on what the Bible talks about.

So, not only are we to use what God gives us, all of it is to glorify God.  Everything points back to God, not in puffing ourselves up, rather showing people to Jesus.  This is to be our perspective, our eyes.

Other things are to be in community with God's people.  Community helps lifts us up when we're down, but we can do likewise for others.  It also inspires.  He also devotes a subsection to humility and when we are so full of ourselves, we can't be full of God.  Thus, in order to be filled of God, we must deflate.

The final section talks about our daily lives.  This section is broken in 5 subsections:  Jobs, Focusing on Purpose and not getting knotted up in all the minute things that keep us busy; Common Deeds (small gestures) do make a big difference to God; Allow our kids to grow as God sees them and not as we see them; Serve others.

This book also includes a Sweet Spot Discovery Guide.  It's about 40 pages.  I just skimmed through this section, but will be doing it.  I'm really excited about this book and think this is one of the best books I've read of Lucado's!!!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Place Called Blessing

This is now my third eBook from Book Sneeze.  This book didn't turn out to be anything like I thought it would.  My original intent when I started the book around 2 am was just to read a couple chapters.  By 3:15 am, I was on Chapter 13 and physically my body was saying that I needed to sleep.

Anyway, I couldn't stop.  Finished all 19 chapters at about 4:10 am Friday morning with tears in my eyes.  I'm not much of a fiction reader, but this is a very touching and endearing book.

It's a story about a young boy, Justin (aka Josh) in the story that got a raw deal early in life.  He lost both his parents, ended up in foster homes.  His 2 older brothers, Sam & Matt, got eventually adopted, but Josh never did.  He ends up as an adult and homeless at times.  Through a series of events, he finds himself with no education other than a high school degree, working in a town doing the grunt of construction - cleanup work.

He meets a young man named, Mike, who befriends him.  Mike's mom, Anna, has a room for rent (a converted garage).  Through the course of the next year plus to follow, friendships are forged and trust is built.  Josh has a really hard time trusting because of all that he's gone through.  He begins to fall in love with Mike's cousin, Lori, but upon Lori confessing a secret, Josh feels betrayed that she lied to him and breaks up with her.

Mike's cancer that had been in remission came back and with a furious vengeance.  Mike was in his late 20s nearly finished with his engineering degree, but shortly after receiving his diploma, he dies.

I don't want to give away the ending of the story, but I think this book is well-worth the read.    At the end of the book, there are questions from each chapter that make you think about "stuff" that happens in people's lives and it's a good book I think for young people to read, as well as adults.

How do we rise up above our circumstances?  Forgive?  Love?  Trust?  Despite a whole lot of crappy and really bad things happening?  It's all about Jesus.  Yes, I was moved to tears quite a few times in the book.


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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

eBooks

Originally I resisted getting the eBooks as I thought it would minimize my enjoyment of reading, meaning since I did not have an eBook Reader, I would be forced to sit at my computer and read. However, I have a 22" monitor and it makes reading fairly easy. My chair is comfy and I get to have good posture while reading these books.


Another thing that caused me to be against eBooks for review is that I love using a highlighter on my books and I cannot do that with these versions. However, I can still take notes and write down what page I want to markup, so if I'm so inclined, then I can actually purchase the book when the price drops.

The eBook versions are helping me to have less clutter in my home and it makes getting the books much easier and quicker from just a few clicks in a couple minutes or less to the near usually 2-3 weeks it takes me to get a hardcopy. I still love the feel of a good book. And, maybe later this year or next year when my budget allows me, maybe I'll be able to get an eBook reader so I can take along these eBooks to read elsewhere.

I'm finding at least with the first 2 eBooks I got, that I'm able to read the books much faster.  Let's see if it happens to subsequent eBooks. 

The Little Red Book Of Wisdom

This is not a very long book and again an easy read as it is so short.   Each chapter is short, just a few pages at most.  He has many succinct stories.

The book is comprised of 2 main sections - one for the professional life and one for the personal life.  Each of those main sections is broken down into small chapters.

The points are all kept short, but putting all those things into practice will be a big challenge.

I started reading the Personal Life section first.  One of the things that I really liked was disciplining yourself as well as abstaining from things that even are potentially harmful.  Alcohol is one of those things.  His argument wasn't even that it's wrong, rather just the statistical evidence of how much harm it's done in more lives than good is enough proof.

And, one of the things he talked about that I did partially last year was read 5 chapters of Psalm a day with 1 chapter of Proverbs a day and repeat this until each book is finished each month, thus, I would do this 12 times a year.  This just reinforced that there is great benefit in doing this.

The stories are very poignant.  My intent was really to break up the reading to do half the book the first night and read the other half during the next day, but the chapters were so short and I kept saying just one more chapter and next thing you know, I've completed the whole book.

I think the chapter that surprised me most was Chapter 5 - Work Less, Think More.  This chapter really intrigued me to do more investigation.

The letter writing chapter sounds good and something I used to do well.  Maybe I ought to bring this back to practice again?

Though there are many areas for me to improve on from what I learned in this book, I also found there were a number of things that I have learned well and am living wisely in.  This is a good reference book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Billy Graham in Quotes

I absolutely LOVED this book.  This was the first time I did an eBook through Book Sneeze and thoroughly enjoyed this, even if I had to sit at my laptop the whole time as I don't have one of those mobile ebook readers.

I felt inspired, convicted, moved to action at reading these books on the plethora of topics that are a part of our lives.  Billy Graham says it like it is and these were quotes compiled for over 70 yrs.  Wow!

The NOTES section is comprised of 35 pages of where each of the quotes come from.  This is like the best of the best of his writings and probably the things I would've highlighted had I read all those books.

With the eBook version, when I wanted to see where a particular quote came from, I just clicked on the number reference and it took me straight to the NOTES section.  Very cool.

This book has 332 pages of quotes that is broken down into 107 topics.  I'm not going to list all the topics or even some, but this book is well worth the read.  Got this book late Wednesday evening and read the first 30 topics quite easily in a matter of a little over an hour.  The rest of the book took me almost another 3 hrs to finish the next day.

The topic that probably impressed on me the most was on THE BIBLE.  As my children & I are reading aloud the whole Bible this year, those quotes really are so true.  Love it!

I feel stronger reading this and more solid now.  God bless the Graham family!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Put Your Dream To The Test

This is an amazing book that must've taken John so long to write.  He is so right on the money with things and this book took me a long time to read not because the words were hard, but it is a book that calls me to action right where I am at.

As I've "Put my dream to the test", I'm finding the areas where I need work.  Those 10 questions are quite riveting and John goes really in depth into them.  There are quizzes, questions, stories, acronyms, task lists, etc. to help you determine if it's a fantasy you are having or if it's something that what you are dreaming of can really be put into reality.

This book is less than 300 pages, but it has so much.  It contains a Dream Map.  It does what a map supposed to do - Guide You.  I really like that.  Also, he has a reference section of all the resources & materials he used. 

Though he does talk about God, I would've liked a little more about God specifically spelled out and corresponding Scriptures.  Though I have a good knowledge of the Bible and can figure out where certain things came from, other people who do not will not be able to tell if it's suggestions Maxwell is giving is really Biblical perspective & guidelines.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Truth of the Matter

I really liked this book. Even though I didn't read the first 2 books, there was probably enough said in The Truth of the Matter that allowed me to eventually understand a good part of the story. However, I won't really know unless I read the other 2 books before.

Charlie West had to go through a lot of tough stuff. His faith was really challenged, as well as standing for what's right. Would he serve his country in this secret, covert way and risk dying with maybe the truth never being told and help stop terrorism or would he just ignore what was happening and keep going with life?

There will come a time when Christians will have to take stands that may cost their lives in the U.S. and this book asks some of those questions for me. Will I and others have the guts to stand for Jesus?

I do believe there are movements well underway to bring down the U.S. So, there are probably elements of this book that are quite true. There is a bunch of Divine Intervention in Charlie West being able to escape from the Homelanders a number of times. I'm looking forward hopefully to reading Book 4 sometime in the future, to see the conclusion.

Can we live boldly & confidently in Jesus here on this earth? Charlie West is.

This book is best for teenagers & up.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Heaven Is For Real

In my Single Mom's group, one of the moms brought up this book and how good it is.  She basically gave away the jist of the book.  I borrowed this book from the local library, though, it took about 6-7 weeks to finally get it.  That's alright.

In about 2.5 hrs, I was able to read the book from start to finish.  It's a very easy read.  I think the book can be a bit shorter and more to the point, but this book is better than another book where the man went to Heaven for 90 min.

The little boy went to Heaven for 3 minutes, but how he describes it, it seems much longer.  I always wondered whether there are animals in Heaven.  This little boy, which his name eludes me right now and I've already turned the book back to the library, talks about animals.

What I really liked was that people know each other, even if they never met in life on earth, but because of the connection, they KNOW each other.  Isn't that cool?  So, that tells me that though I may not have led a specific person to the Lord, maybe what I did for one person that did lead that person to the Lord, I may know that person that was led to the Lord.

It got me to thinking about Heaven a lot and giving me some assurance.  I want so much for all of my family and extended family to go to Heaven, as well as my friends and well beyond that.  I think this is a good book for others to read.

Making Sense of the Men in Your Life

Kevin Leman has a lot of good information and his style of writing is alright.  He says things in a matter of fact way and the information in this book wasn't all that new.  Maybe it's because lately I've been reading books on men and listening to teleseminars.  Though Kevin Leman is a Christian, I guess I do expect a more godly approach to things rather than what seems like a secular view.

He does give practical ways and things for people to do.  Basically, men and women, though they are equal, they are wired differently.  They have different needs and communication styles.  This is what he talks about.  Men should not be women and women should not be men.  Let men be men and he basically spells it out.

I'm reading some other books by Leman right now, so hope I'm not getting these books confused.

Eat, Cheat & Melt the Fat Away

I have one of Suzanne Somers' books that I bought several years ago but never got very far in it.  The reason why I borrowed this book from the library was because it was mentioned on a teleseminar that I was listening to.  Since the library had it, why buy it?

Maybe it's where I am in my life, in my 40s, and my body is changing and the things I used to do, it used to be easier to lose bodyfat and exercise.  Now, I feel more aches & pains. 

Not sure how many pages this book is, but I was able to complete this book in a matter of a couple days.  There are lots of good recipes in the back of the book.

Anyway, it is an easy read.  Suzanne can be a little long-winded in some areas, but that's okay.  I think it's her being real and that is what reaches a lot of people.  She makes no bones about being challenged to drop bodyfat and to look good.  She says it was easy when she was in her 20s & 30s, but once she got into her 40s, things changed and continued to.

Suzanne's book is about living more naturally, though, everything isn't totally green and organic, but she gives tips and helps people to make strides to begin making healthier choices for their lives.  I'm not sure how much this information is repeated in her other books or not.  But, since this is the first book of hers I actually read, it is a good book. 

It's less overwhelming than Paula Owens' book, but you have to weed through the personal stuff with the factual stuff.  I like the testimonials, but then, who doesn't.  Testimonials are given to help motivate.  Anyway, I did end up buying the book used for hardly anything.  Shipipng cost more than the book.

She lays out what the eating plan to lose bodyfat is and maintenance.  These are ways to eat for life.  The recipes are really yummy.  I have a bad habit of food combining, like fats & carbos.  That's a no-no.  And, I'm used to eating fruit with proteins.  Also another no-no.  So, I have some challenging habits to break.

The Power of 4

Paula Owen's book has soooo much information, I originally borrowed this book from the library but ended up buying a copy.  I read through this book pretty quickly, but it was super overwhelming. 

Honestly, I don't know that I can do all these things anywhere close to the next 5 years unless my financially situation turns super great.  However, there are still many changes that I can make.

This is a good reference book and definitely a read again and more thoroughly.  She has a medical background and looks amazing.  I think she is in her 50s and to my knowledge, she hasn't had plastic surgery.  However, I don't really know.

There are many things in the American culture that we do that are very harmful to the body.  It seems like we can't get away from it, but as I've been working on this for the past decade, where I am now is much better than 5-10 yrs ago.  In the next 5-10 yrs, I'll be even all that much better.  I'm thankful for this book.

The Soulmate Secret

Okay, this book really was low for me in terms of being useful.  I had to weed through so much New Age crap, that I just couldn't handle it that much.  I got to the point I just had to skim the last half of the book because each story seemed to have someone turning to a psychic to get their direction.  That is demonic and just plain yucky.  How can any reasonable person turn to a psychic? 

Yes, I'm glad all those people got connected to their soulmates.  There isn't anything that it talks about that is all that different, just different words are used.  She uses the idea of creating specific lists for your soulmate, as well as doing a vision board type thing.  Then, there is forgiveness of yourself and others.  Let go of the past so you can move forward.  A lot of common sense stuff wrapped up in New Age mumbo jumbo.

Don't waste your money.

Making Sense of Men

Making Sense of Men was a book I heard about on the WISH (Women's International Summit on Health) teleseminar series for 2011.  Allison Armstrong was one of the guest speakers and I really liked her.  I checked out her book from the public library and it's a very small, short book.  This was a very easy read, however, it had a lot of good information.

I love in chapter 2 where she says "Men Are Not Hairy Women".  I think often I still expect men to think like me, the woman, and they just do not.  It's frustrating, but God did not make men like women or vice versa.  He made each to be as He purposed. 

Though this is not a biblical book, she has the point biblically.  She says that getting men's attention is through our sexuality is through 4 things:  1)  Sexual Energy; 2) Sensuality; 3) Shapely Body; 4) Shiny Hair.  The response from men is to have sex.  She starts off with what many men and women already know.

Having just that in a relationship isn't enough because men when they get that sex, it just ends there sooner or later.  There's no depth to that.

Allison then talks about when a man is "Charmed & Enchanted", that he wants more from the woman than just a superficial sexual type thing.  These are the 4 characteristics of women that cause them to be "Charmed & Enchanted":  1)  Self-Confidence; 2) Authenticity; 3) Passion; 4) Receptivity.  This produces the response in men to want to A) Spend time with us; B) Take Care Of Us; C) Protect; D) Contribute To; E) Make Happy; F) Fall In Love With

She talks about women not short-changing themselves with focusing on the things that attract sexually, rather do the things that charm & enchant a man.  She also talks about women not giving up ourselves sexually in any relationship, rather in marriage only and staying faithful there.

Anyway, she expounds succinctly in each of those things listed and is well-worth the read.

Project Everlasting

Project Everlasting is a delightful book that was written by 2 bachelors, one of whom is engaged to be married.  I heard about Mat Boggs when I attended online the WISH (Women's International Summit on Health) teleseminars and found Boggs humorous, but wise.  I learned a number of things about men that I did not realize.

Since Boggs is a man, it is helpful to hear from a man, rather than a woman on men.  This wasn't a book on these are the things men like or do not like and this is how women are to appease men, rather, this book had so many stories of couples' whose marriages have worked and been long, and in many cases, until death do us part.

I felt connected to these couples and LOVE how the book was formatted.  Each couple that they shared their story touched me, minus maybe 1 couple.  I honestly don't know how many couples' stories they shared, but it was probably 3-5 dozen stories.  They weren't long stories, and they weren't all stories where both the man and wife totally got along all the time, rather they were stories of how they kept their marriages to be long lasting and to the point that they could not live without their spouse.

Often, I was in tears or just touched by the love of each couple.  Growing old wasn't a bad thing, but it was almost like a flower that maybe first starts it's budding early in their relationship and doesn't reach the peak of the blossom until one spouse dies. 

What an incredible 4+ yr project, but I also appreciate Jason and Mat's honesty that doing the project wasn't "blissful" nor easy.  Their candor was refreshing and I found it more impactful than a book of to do's, rather it was a book of selflessness (putting the other person above yourself), commitment and respect.  Those are the 3 words that I think made each marriage successful.  Each story had a picture of the couple, their names, and how long they were married at the time they got put in the book. 

Loved the book!

Doing Virtuous Business

Doing Virtuous Business was a good book.  It took me a bit long to read, but I finally got through it.  This was not a book that was written by someone who was bashing capitalism or making money, lots of money, however, Malloch he talks about the virtues needed in order to virtuously do business. 

The book talks about some historical things as well as philosophical things.  I think there is a good meld of contemporary philosophies with God's philosophy.  This helps one understand better why our systems are as such in a capitalistic society.  He also goes into talking about companies that do have good virtues, and that begins from the top down.  If the top is corrupt, that infiltrates to the lower forms.

At the end of the book, he cites examples of companies that he considers are virtuous, that overall follow Biblical principles and how God has blessed them.  Sometimes our society considers godly spiritualism synonimous with being financially poor and down trodden, that you cannot have wealth and be spiritually aligned with God, which is totally incorrect.

Malloch goes in depth about the virtues of faith, hope & charity.  And, something I never heard about until reading his book were hard and soft virtues, but they make sense.  The hard virtues are considered:  leadership, courage, patience, perseverance, and discipline.  I was set straight and had a number of false beliefs here.  Each individual person owes these in their lives. 

Then, there are soft virtues:  justice, forgiveness, compassion, humility, and gratitude.  These are virtues I practice regularly in my life, but I found that the hard virtues I used to practice (albeit, askewed), that now I need to incorporate those back into my life.  Malloch discusses at length each of the soft virtues in how they relate to business.  As a Christian, it's not hard to see the soft virtues as things we need in our lives, but I got to see a clearer picture of this in how it relates to business.  And, it isn't always easy to do this in business when in a capitalistic society, can be ruthless and displaying these virtues can seem to be a sign of weakness.

I will need to reread this book more carefully and not extend it out to weeks, rather just a few days so I can get the full impact of the message, pray as to how God can help me to create businesses and have them be Virtuous Businesses.  I'm inspire by the book, and getting back up on the horse again, after my failures. God bless Malloch.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Max On Life

Max On Life was not what I expected from a book or from Max Lucado.  Maybe I like his books that concentrate on one subject rather than a multitude of topics:  Hope, Hurt, Help, Him/Her, Home, Haves/Have-Nots, Hereafter.  That's a lot of "H" topics.

He answers 172 questions on these topics, which are topics that we face in life in many cultures.  Okay, that's all well and great, and I thought as I read on, I could get into the book, but I couldn't.

In Lucado's other books, characters are developed throughout the book, which I love.  There are no characters here, rather topics with questions and answers.  I've read of number of his books and can see where he's coming from, but maybe I put Lucado on a pedestal to wow me with each book.

This book did not wow me or even come close.  It was really hard to get through this book.  I guess I like the longer version to answering tough questions in life rather than the short 1-2 pages typically for each question.  It didn't do anything for me.  Some answers to the questions, he did use Scripture.  I just don't find his writing in these short spurts all that great.  Disappointing.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Final Summit

I'm not a fan on fiction, but there have been a few books that I absolutely LOVE.  The first fictional book I read in years was The Shack, by William Young.  Awesome book.  Then, I read The Traveler's Gift, by Andy Andrews.  Since both books were life changing and caused me to be moved in action, when Book Sneeze offered this book for review, I snatched it up.  The Final Summit is just in line with Andrews style of writing and is another hit with me.

David, the main character, has experienced great failure, as well as great success in life.  His greatest successes came after his biggest failures.  Gabriel, the arch angel (he is an arch angel and not just an angel), plays a vital role in this story.  The Final Summit is a summit comprised of incredible people throughout time where God brought revelation to these people to help them through life and impact a good portion of mankind.

Though David did not see himself as impactful like Winston Churchhill or Abraham Lincoln, because of the courage of David's life as he relied on God, he is considered just as great.  Without giving away the whole story, the summit is a gathering of these great people throughout all time, including King David & Solomon from Bible times.  Five people, called "Travelers", are called out to help David determine the correct answer to the question "WHAT SHOULD HUMANITY DO, INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY, IN ORDER TO RESTORE ITSELF TO THE PATHWAY TOWARD SUCCESSFUL CIVILIZATION?"

They were given 5 chances to get this right.  With each chance, David and Winston Churchill could call upon a pre-selected "Traveler" to help them figure out the answer.  With each addition of a Traveler and discussion, despite great wisdom & incredible discussions, each of the answers were wrong.  If they did not get it right by the 5th time, all of mankind would be doomed.

Anyway, I don't want to spoil the ending of the story, but it's a definite must read.  My guesses were wrong, but I learned a great deal in this book.  Failure isn't failure unless you give up.  Keep relying on God.

I hope you enjoy the book as I have.  Thank you again, Book Sneeze, for sending this book to me for free to review.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Ancient Practices Series: In Constant Prayer

When I first started reading this book, it seemed like a yawner to me. I couldn't seem to really get into the book, but I had committed to reading this book in its entirety as a condition of getting this book for free from BookSneeze. I'm really glad I stuck it out, because this book turned out way better than I thought.

After reading a different book from BookSneeze the night before, this book didn't seem all that great.  Thankfully the book was not a long book and I was able to get through rather quickly.  However, about a third of the way through the book, I actually started to get into it.

Benson is a poet, a writer.  He's not a theologian.  He doesn't even have a college degree.  He doesn't go into depth about the history of prayer.  He is sort of sarcastic, but I found him to be raw and real on the topic of prayer.

He talks about "The Office", which is a type of prayer that is done every day throughout the day.  Well, it's not just one prayer, but a series of prayers that have been recited for what I gather thousands of years.  What spoke to me and got me more interested in this book was Benson's own struggles with prayer itself.  He grew up in a Christian home and was surrounded by God stuff, but inspite of that, just even the fact of praying consistently, even if for a short bit, was incredibly challenging.

He puts this in language that is plain and understandable.  There is an honesty that is refreshing.  But, it gives us room to improve, to seek God. 

In the back of the book, there is sample Office prayers.  I've heard the term "the Office" before, but after reading this book, I have a better understanding of the background and can see the purpose.  What truly spoke to me about the value of constant prayer is "Discipline is the price of freedom."

I may explore some of the other books in the series.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

This book is so good.  This is not your feel good book at all.  I remember when I was attempting to decide on this book or on some relationship book on men & women, or something else.  The title seemed reasonable and the little excerpt resonated with me and I felt this was more appropriate than getting a relationship book.

It was exactly perfect for me and the timing in which I received the book, Tuesday of last week.  The book floated and sat around for a few days before I picked it up, but once I did last Friday, I couldn't put it down.  My heart, mind and soul was ready to hear cold hard truth, and that I soaked it up.

The back of the book cover "Now where you want to be?  Wondering how you got there?" really hit me hard.  Furthermore, it asked, "Why is it that smart people with admirable life goals often end up far from where they intended to be?"  Not that it resonated with me, but just that very question alone pricked my bleeding heart all the more.

Pastor Stanley is a pastor.  He relays various experiences he's had as a pastor & people he's pastored sharing all sorts of things that I can relate to.  As a reasonably intelligent person, I've found myself in some pretty tough circumstances of life.  Stanley expounds on how I got here in a very point-blank sort of way.  Truth, God's Truth, brings much clarity to everything.

Just like one of the reviewers wrote in the book, I would also like to agree.  Wished I had this book and the wisdom, clarity & courage to do what this book said when I was a teenager.  Had I done this, I doubt I would've faced all these hardships in my life that I had.

Stanley gives a story about "The Wizard of Oz" and the yellow brick road that has a really good spiritual and physical impact to me.   God does give us a "Yellow Brick Road", but most of us fail to take this path, as we want the path we choose.

I love that Stanley brings Proverbs 27:12 into this.  It says that a wise man when he sees danger, he takes refuge.  A simple man keeps going.  He explained what this verse means.  When a wise man sees danger, he changes his direction.  He doesn't keep going in the direction of the danger.  A simple, naive person ignores the danger signs and keeps going.  Wow, this is so powerful as this speaks to me. 

He has so many little sayings that make total sense:

• "Direction, not intention, determines destination."
• "Attention determines direction."

Those 2 are very powerful to me.  There is so much good stuff in this book, that I think I need to read it again and do a better outline.  It is chalk full of wisdom that I realize I have not been a prudent person and that there is much work ahead of me.  In my finances & relationships with men, I have been incredibly simple & unwise.  I began last summer really changing my direction in terms of relationships.  Now I need to attend to the finances.  Let's see what God will do.

I am very appreciative to BookSneeze for sending me this book to review and for giving it to me for free.  This would make a great Bible study book.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Same Life, New Story by Jan Silvious

Same Life, New Story: Change Your Perspective to Change Your Life  took me a little longer than I thought to read it.  I started out strong and got distracted by all sorts of things and in the middle of reading other books.  However, cranked out most of the book in the past 2 days and finished very late last night.

Have you ever watched a movie where you had to pay attention to what was going on because there was a number of different stories going on at the same time?  If you didn't, you really couldn't follow?

This book is sort of like that, but not as bad as a 1.5-2+ hr movie.  You can come in the middle of this book, but the author does have a a purpose.

There were 10 chapters in this book and each addressed a woman in the Bible where her story started out one way, but ended a completely different, surprising way.  She talks about each woman in chronological order for each chapter beginning with Naomi in Chapter 1and then ending with Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mom in Chapter 10.

The Biblical women were really interesting as I learned a number of things I never knew.  Like, I didn't know that Rahab was a part of the lineage of Jesus.  Rahab was a prostitute.  Silvious gives the lineage of each woman as to how they played a role in the birth of Jesus Christ as well as the courage & wisdom it took to make the choices these women made.  They could've continued with where they were in life, but they made a series of choices that has impacted mankind for all eternity.

This sort of falls in line with The Butterfly Effect that I read last year.  Silvious not only talks about these 10 heroic women in the Bible, but many, many other women in the Bible.  Interspersed within each chapter as she talks about the main Bible woman for that chapter, she has stories of women today and in the past century that have changed their lives by no longer putting up with the crap they were going through.

Each woman had ONE life, but they decided they wanted to write a NEW STORY for their lives.  However, Silvious also gave numerous examples of women who chose NOT to write a new story and you gather that each of those women continue to sink deeper into their own pits.

As I'm at my own cross point in my life, this book is very appropo for my situation and I can read about many dozens of women who decided to not be defeated by their circumstances, but trust God in who He said He is and that He is in control.  We now have the Bible, but back in the days when each of these Bible women lived, the Bible didn't exist yet, as we know it now. 

I'm encouraged and blessed by this book.  Silvious went back and forth in each chapter from the main Bible woman to stories of today and also other Bible women within the chapter.  I found that distracting, or maybe I wouldn't have if I was reading it when it wasn't late at night and I wasn't tired.

It would be interesting to do the 10-Week Bible study on this.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Healing Code by Dr. Alex Loyd & Dr. Ben Johnson

This is a really good book and I read it in less than 2 days.  About a year ago I heard about Dr. Alex Loyd and the only things that were offered were his packages on his website that were super expensive for me and not within my budget.

I borrowed this book from the library, but had to get on a waiting list to get this book, which took almost 2 months.  Wasn't sure if the book was worth getting or not and if it was quackery or not.  I tend to be a skeptic and need things proven to me first.

Last week I finally bought the book on Amazon:  The Healing Code.  I read through the book in 2 days as I was so fascinated with what was being talked about in the book.  Since I'd heard Dr. Loyd online on webinars, my curiousity was piqued.  However, he kept talking about God and I wasn't sure if he was referring to the God of the Bible or if it was some New Age crap.

Once I got to reading this book, I realized more and more that Dr. Loyd was talking about the God of the Bible.  He talks about issues of the heart, the spiritual heart is the root cause of all sickness, disease and problems in our lives.  He says that these issues create stresses that our body can deal with, but enough of those stresses impede our bodies from functioning as God designed our bodies to, which is to be self-healing.

Those stresses are embedded into all the trillions of cells in our bodies and unless we remove them, they continue to make us sicker.  However, as we address the spiritual issues of the heart like unforgiveness, sabotaging behaviors (harmful actions), wrong beliefs, love vs selfishness, joy vs sadness/depression, peace ve anxiety/fear, patience vs anger/frustration/impatience, kindness vs rejection/harshness, goodness vs not being good enough, trust vs control, humility vs unhealthy pride/arrogance/image control, self control vs loss of control, we are able to remove these blocks and allow our bodies to heal.

This is not a Christian book per se, rather it is a book written by 2 experts in their fields who are Christians.  Healing comes from God and this book does not say that it heals you, rather it's a tool that is used to help you get out of the way of yourself.

This book has come down in price from when it first came out in 2010.  Woohoo!  I love a good bargain.