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Sunday, December 25, 2016

#Book #Review: 5 out of 5 stars for The Rhyme Bible Storybook by L.J. Sattgast @LindaSattgast @Zonderkidz

AUTHOR: L.J. Sattgast
ILLUSTRATOR: Toni Goffe
PUBLISHER: Zonderkidz
PUBLICATION DATE: December 18, 2000 (first published 1996)
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 448 pages
GENRE: Childrens/Religions
ISBN: 9780310701972
Boys and girls -- even toddlers -- love the soothing sound of rhyme! And now they can enjoy thirty-five delightful, classic Bible stories retold in lilting verse and rollicking, read-aloud rhyme in The Rhyme Bible Storybook. Rhyming books are always among children's best-loved treasures, and The Rhyme Bible Storybook is certain to become a well-worn favorite! Filled with vivid, joyful illustrations, each story teaches important Bible truths while giving children a reading time that's packed with giggles, chuckles, and fun!

MY REVIEW:

I wrote in another review that The Rhyme Bible Storybook for Toddlers is my absolute favourite children’s bible. This one, The Rhyme Bible Storybook, is by the same author and features bible stories that are a little longer for the child who is ready for that. I think this bible is the perfect follow-up! There are 35 stories, 17 from the Old Testament and 18 from the New Testament. Each story is about 10-12 pages long, which is told in rhyming verse. That sounds like a lot, but the text is only on one side of the page and can be read in under a minute with the illustration featured on the other side of the page. This is also the same illustrator from The Rhyme Bible Storybook for Toddlers, and I like the familiarities of the drawings between the two bibles. 



The publisher indicates that this bible is suited for Ages 4-8, but I feel that is only a starting point. I have read this bible aloud to my children many times over the years, and my younger daughter who just turned nine years old now enjoys reading it to herself. The stories are the perfect length for her.

MY RATING:

5 stars!! It is superb, and we love it! We have read it many times, and we will continue to read it again and again!

This book qualifies as:
#69 for my 2016 You Read How Many Books? Challenge
#69 for my 2016 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#51 for my 2016 Women Challenge
#62 for my 2016 Backlist Books Reading Challenge
#19 for my What An Animal IX Reading Challenge
#4 for my The Hard Core Re-Reading Challenge 2016
#5 for my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

View all my reviews
Posted by at 10:19 AM 0 comments
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Stacking The Shelves and Sunday Post

This meme is hosted by Tynga over at Team Tynga's Reviews, which she describes as follows:
"Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!"

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme


Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their families. Here is our tree last night, before the gifts were unwrapped:

If the weatherman is right, a Colorado Low is heading straight for us and will bring blizzard-like conditions with snow up to 50 cm between today and tomorrow!! We're in that purple band down below. Looks like we might be snowed in! That's nearly double the dump we had earlier this month, and we had two-foot drifts with that! I hope the snow holds off at least until after we get home from my parents' house!

Here are some pre-blizzard pics of my yard this morning:



No new books for me this past week!


Recap: Last Week On The Blog


Sunday: Stacking the Shelves and Sunday Post
Monday: It's Monday! What Are You Reading?
Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree
Wednesday: Waiting On Wednesday: The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney
Thursday: Audiobook Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans
Friday: Audiobook Review: 5 out of 5 stars for The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado
Saturday: Book Review: 5 out of 5 stars for Daily Readings from It's Your Time by Joel Osteen


What books have you added to your shelves this week? If you are also participating in either of these memes, please leave me the link to your blog post in the comments so that I can come and drool over all your goodies!
Posted by at 9:54 AM 7 comments
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Saturday, December 24, 2016

#Book #Review: 5 out of 5 stars for Daily Readings from It's Your Time by Joel Osteen @JoelOsteen @Howard_Books

TITLE: Daily Readings from It's Your Time: 90 Devotions for Activating Your Faith, Achieving Your Dreams, and Increasing in God's Favor
AUTHOR: Joel Osteen 
PUBLISHER: Howard Books
PUBLICATION DATE: December 28, 2010
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 288 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction, Religion
ISBN: 9781451609875
It’s your time to declare your faith, to look for God’s favor, and to give control of your life to Him so that you can find fulfillment in His plans for you!

In Daily Readings from It’s Your Time, pastor and bestselling author Joel Osteen helps you turn every day into an opportunity for a better life as you incorporate messages of hope and faith more deeply into everything you do. No matter where you stand, this 90-day devotional provides new approaches for transforming your life. Joel guides you with thought-provoking anecdotes, words of encouragement, and inspiring scripture. Based on It’s Your Time, this devotional centers around five encouraging themes:

• It’s Time to Believe

• It’s Time for Favor

• It’s Time for Restoration

• It’s Time to Trust

• It’s Time to Stretch

Each section consists of readings that elaborate on one of the five ideas. As you travel through each day, you will find new and exciting ways to bring the teachings of It’s Your Time into your life. Highlighting key stories from It’s Your Time, this devotional also supplies passages and daily thoughts that offer messages of faith, hope, and strength to help you rise above any circumstance so that you can fulfill God’s best plan for your life. Joel offers assurance that God does not want you to merely survive challenging times, He wants you to thrive. When you give your life over to Him, God will send opportunities your way so you can soar to new heights of fulfillment. He also reminds you that the bigger your burden, the greater your blessings to come.

It’s Your Time
MY REVIEW:

Joel Osteen is a new-to-me author, and I find him to be very inspirational and motivational. I used this book as my night-time devotional, and I just loved it. Each devotional is several pages long, and it takes approximately ten minutes to read through it. If you intend to also do the suggested scripture reading, it will take longer. If not, Joel highlights a key verse from the suggested scripture reading. At the end of each devotional, there is an accompanying prayer and thought for the day to focus or meditate on.

 I borrowed this one from my local library, but I loved it so much that I bought a copy and gave it to my cousin to read because I was so impressed with it! Joel writes in such a way that I find it very easy to relate to him, and I love the book’s overall sense of positivity! I will definitely look for more books by this author.

MY RATING:

5 stars!! It was superb, and I will likely re-read it in the future! I highly recommend it!

This book qualifies as:
#68 for my 2016 You Read How Many Books? Challenge
#68 for my 2016 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#23 for my New Author Challenge 2016
#23 for my 2016 New To You Reading Challenge
Posted by at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Friday, December 23, 2016

#Audiobook #Review: 5 out of 5 stars for The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado @MaxLucado @OasisAudio

AUTHOR: Max Lucado
NARRATOR: Greg Whalen
PUBLISHER: Oasis Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: October 25, 2006
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 1 hrs and 43 mins
GENRE: Holiday/Christmas, Religious/Inspirational
When a mysterious angel suddenly appears in a lowly candle-maker's shop, the holy and the human collide in a way that only God could imagine. Glowing bright with a timeless message, The Christmas Candle will warm your heart with a surprising reminder of God's bountiful love.

MY REVIEW:

This is a captivating Christmas story about hope, faith, and love!

The book starts off in 1664, with a candlemaker witnessing a miraculous event. He sees a glowing figure touch one of the candles, and then the figure vanishes. The touched candle glows for a short time. The candlemaker was puzzled by what he just witnessed, but he slipped the candle into his pocket before making his way to church. Touched by the plight of a widowed woman who did not have any food for her family, the candlemaker's wife gave the candle to the widow and told her to light it and say a prayer. On Christmas, the tradition in the church is for people to stand up and tell others of their blessings. The widow stands up and tells everyone that a wealthy uncle gifted her with a farm, so that she could lease the land to earn an income and support her family! Coincidence, or something more?

The visits continue every 25 years, and the angel visits only this particular candlemaker as well as his descendants. The story then moves ahead to 1864, and the village is expecting another visit from the angel that year. The angel does make an appearance, but the candlemaker stumbles in his sleepy stupor and knocks all the candles over so he does not know which one was the one that was blessed! He certainly can’t tell the villagers what happened, so he hands out his candles and tells the people to light them and pray. He knows that someone will receive the blessed candle, but he just isn’t sure who!

I absolutely loved this Christmas story! The candlemaker and his wife spread hope to everyone, and the results are not what they expect! It was a great inspirational story, and a good reminder of what it means to have faith and the power of prayer. This is the kind of book that I enjoy reading at Christmas-time, and I know that I will be re-reading it again next year!

Greg Whalen is a new-to-me narrator, and he held me in rapt attention! Here is a sample:


 MY RATING:

Posted by at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Thursday, December 22, 2016

#Audiobook #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans @richardpaulevan @SimonAudio

TITLE: Finding Noel
NARRATOR: Richard Paul Evans
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: September 25, 2006
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 4 hrs and 33 mins
GENRE: Holiday/Christmas
The Christmas season is supposed to be full of joy, but not for Mark Smart. Life has dealt him one blow after another, until one snowy November night, when he meets a beautiful young woman who will change his life forever. Macy Wood has little memory of her birth parents, and memories she'd rather forget of her adopted home. A Christmas ornament inscribed with the word "Noel" is the only clue to the little sister she vaguely remembers, a clue that will send her and Mark on a journey to reclaim her past, and her family.
MY REVIEW:

It’s just not Christmas without a heartwarming, inspirational story by Richard Paul Evans!

Mark Smart has had a tough time of it lately. He left his home in Alabama to attend the University of Utah on an engineering scholarship. He lost the scholarship, his beloved mother died, and his girlfriend got engaged to someone else. Because he didn’t leave a forwarding address or phone number when he lost his scholarship and his dorm residence, he didn’t find out about his mother's death until two days after the funeral! Mentally, he is really struggling with how to cope and has had suicidal thoughts and is suffering from depression and loneliness. One night, his car breaks down and he walks to a coffee shop only to find that it has just closed for the evening. The waitress, Macy Wood, agrees to let him in to use the phone and he ends up pouring out his heart to her. They make a connection, and the kindness of this woman changes Mark’s world.

Mark’s father, Stuart, is a mechanic and owns his own auto repair shop. Once Mark turned ten years old, Stuart brought his son to work on Saturdays and taught him how to do routine maintenance on vehicles. Stuart hoped his son would one day take over the family business, but Mark had no interest in it. He felt like he was robbed of his childhood and that he never got to just hang out and play with his friends.

Mark’s mother, Alice, was nothing like his father. She was kind-hearted and soft-spoken, and Mark was very close to her. He reaches out to his maternal aunt, and she reveals to Mark that there are things in the past that he doesn’t know about and to not be so hard on his father. When the secrets are revealed, it’s a real turning point in Mark’s relationship with his father.

Meanwhile, Macy Wood has her own troubled past. Her mother passed away when she was very young, and then she was left with just her father who wasn’t really equipped to raise her. She was separated from her little sister and adopted into what should have been a loving family, but her adoptive mother was cruel and hit her and never failed to remind her that she wasn’t like the rest of her “natural” children. Mark ends up falling for Macy and proposes to her after a whirlwind romance, but she tells him that she can’t marry him until he deals with his past.

I really liked his story, but there was a lot of brokenness and sadness. I’ve read a couple other books by Evans, and this one definitely was a tougher story. I really liked Macy as a character, but I also felt like she put an awful lot on Mark! He almost had to be a mind-reader to figure out what she wanted and wasn’t saying! The best part of the story was when Mark was reunited with his father.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story but not as much as other stories by Evans, such as The Christmas List and A Winter Dream. I think this might be due, in part, to Evans’ less than enthusiastic narration of his own book! I absolutely love Evans as a story-teller, and he really knows how to tug on those heart-strings. However, he failed to deliver the emotions in his narration. Here is a sample:



MY RATING:

Posted by at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney #BallantineBooks #WaitingOnWednesday


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Here is this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection:


TITLE: The Girl Before
AUTHOR: J.P. Delaney
PUBLISHER: Ballantine Books
EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: January 24, 2017
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 320 pages
GENRE: Thriller, Mystery
ISBN: 9780425285046
In the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife, and Gone Girl comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

Emma
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

Jane
After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

I love psychological thrillers, and this one sounds totally creepy! The guy who owns One Folgate Street sounds a little too controlling as a landlord!
What are you waiting on? Please leave a comment in the section below. If you participate in this meme, please leave a link so I can visit your blog!
Posted by at 7:00 AM 1 comments
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree #TopTenTuesday


This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, they post a new Top Ten list that one of their bloggers will answer. Everyone is welcome to join!

Today's list is: 

Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree

This was tough to narrow down, but here are some books on my Wishlist!
Nemesis by Anna Banks (Nemesis, Book #1) - YA Fantasy


The Black Country by Alex Grecian (Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, Book #2) - Mystery, Historical Fiction


The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon - Horror






The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics - YA horror, I have a thing for creepy houses!


The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer - Mystery, Thriller


Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - Science Fiction


The Rains by Gregg Hurwitz - YA, Science Fiction/Dystopia, Horror


The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (DCI Erika Foster, Book #1) - Mystery, Thriller


So, what books would you like to find under your Christmas tree? Please let me know in the comments, or leave me a link to your blog post if you are also participating in the meme!
Posted by at 7:00 AM 5 comments
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Monday, December 19, 2016

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

I'm reading: 

Something from the library, which has been on my TBR list for a long time.

AUTHOR: Amy Tan 
PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons
PUBLICATION DATE: March 22, 1989
FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 288 pages
GENRE: Classics, Cultural/China, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780399134203
In 1949 four Chinese women-drawn together by the shadow of their past-begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club. Nearly forty years later, one of the members has died, and her daughter has come to take her place, only to learn of her mother's lifelong wish-and the tragic way in which it has come true.

The revelation of this secret unleashes an urgent need among the women to reach back and remember…


I'm listening to:

Another one from the library, which has been on my TBR list for a long time.

AUTHOR: Markus Zusak
NARRATOR: Allan Corduner
PUBLISHER: Listening Library
PUBLICATION DATE: September 26, 2006
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 13 hrs and 56 mins 
GENRE: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids - as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
I just finished:

SERIES: Greer Family, Book #1
AUTHOR: Barbara Kingsolver
NARRATOR: C.J. Critt
PUBLISHER: Harper Audio
PUBLICATION DATE: May 19, 2009
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 9 hrs and 20 mins 
GENRE: Contemporary Fiction
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away.

But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity of putting down roots.

Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.


What are you reading? Have you read any of these books and, if so, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments and, if you are also participating in this meme, leave me a link to your blog post so that I can stop by!
Posted by at 7:00 AM 4 comments
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Sunday, December 18, 2016

Stacking The Shelves and Sunday Post


This meme is hosted by Tynga over at Team Tynga's Reviews, which she describes as follows:
"Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!"



Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme


This week has been bitterly cold, and the weekend has been bone-chilling. When I woke up yesterday morning, it was -32 degrees Celsius (that's -25 degrees Fahrenheit) with a windchill of -43 degrees Celsius (that's -45 degrees Fahrenheit)!!! But there is an end in sight. The temp is supposed to warm up throughout the day and even overnight. It is currently -27 degrees Celsius (that's -16 degrees Fahrenheit) with a windchill of -31 degrees Celsius (that's -23 degrees Fahrenheit).

Well, look at that! Looks like a couple of Santa's reindeer have stopped by for a visit!


Oh, my goodness! Didn't I say that it was supposed to warm up on Monday? Look at this!
Monday's high better be a typo!
Alright, on with the books!

 Penguin Random House Audio gave away this FREEBIE for two days from Dec 14th to 16th:
My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories
edited by Stephanie Perkins
Audible gave away this FREEBIE:
The Most Wonderful Tales of the Year
by Audible Narrators
I snagged this one for $3.00 at the dollar store:
The Wind Through the Keyhole
by Stephen King
(The Dark Tower, Book #4.5)

I received this audiobook for review:
A Promise of Fire
by Amanda Bouchet
(Kingmaker Chronicles, Book #1)

 Thanks to Recorded Books!




Recap: Last Week On The Blog



What books have you added to your shelves this week? If you are also participating in either of these memes, please leave me the link to your blog post in the comments so that I can come and drool over all your goodies!

If anyone has read any of these books, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Posted by at 10:56 AM 12 comments
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