Saturday, December 27, 2014

Marriage by Design" by Eric Disney

Marriage by Design serves as a healing salve to wounded marriages--as well as a warning to those beginning their matrimonial journey, and couples anywhere in the spectrum--offering hope and encouragement to those who want to revitalize, refine, or completely restore their relationships. Marriage by Design is loaded with practical tools and exercises designed to shed light on unhealthy modes of behavior and their motivations; it also challenges some of the beliefs we carry from childhood that can impact our current relationships.

Marriage by Design begins by establishing God's foundation in marriage and moving through a systematic building process, enabling couples to apply scriptural-based techniques and concepts to their own marriages. If you're looking to change a relationship based on inconsistent emotions and experience the freedom produced by intentional living--to move your marriage from stuck to stupendous--Marriage by Design is the tool you've been missing!

Author Info: 

Eric A. Disney is a Recovery and Personal Growth pastor at a local church in Norco, California, where he has served for two decades. He is a counseling psychology graduate from California Baptist University in Riverside, California. His ministry covers a wide variety of healing issues including addiction recovery, postabortion healing, sexual healing, and many others, and he offers a broad range of marriage, family, and relationship counseling classes and seminars. Eric conducts premarital counseling and has developed marriage classes for couples experiencing severe marital difficulties as well as those looking for marriage enrichment, both with a great deal of success. His passion for seeing people healed and marriages flourish has led to the development and implementation of several classes offered to the community. Eric has been an active member of the American Association of Christian Counselors since 1999. He is happily married to his wonderful wife, Jennifer, an author and teacher who is also very active in recovery ministry. Together they are the proud parents of two boys.

Aside from his family and his relationship with God, his passion is seeing people made whole. His passion for healing marriages stretches beyond the immediate family, it affects generations to come!


My Review:This is a fantastic book about marriage. It doesn't just tell you want to do and what not to do but gives you homework to work through the issues that I have listed at the end of this review, along with others that I didn't mention.                                                                                  This book has many quotes that left this reader thinking have I done this to my spouse and how true this is, this Eric Disney is so right. I read the book and haven't done the homework as I was reading the book for review purposes but I will be doing the homework in the next few days, going to take my time and get the full benefit from them!                                                                                       This is a great book to anyone wanting a better marriage or someone getting married. This would be a great wedding present, to help solve problems before they start.                                                                    I am going to come right out and say that the author makes it plain that you are responsible for your own actions and it is not your spouse's responsibility to make you  happy. So you can see this isn't a book about how to change your spouse to fit your plans or dreams or to make you happy but to change you and your spouse into the team that God designed you to be!   This book is written to be used as a couple but if your spouse won't it can sure be used alone! If you follow the concepts in this book, your marriage has to improve.                                                                                                     This is two actual paragraphs from the book, (page 223) and it sums up the book, "A key component in revitalizing your marriage is the understanding that your marriage is not about you.  Realize that God has created uniqueness in both of you. The more you come to accept and love the differences between the two of you, the sooner you can learn to let go of the little stuff that the enemy loves to use to distract you from the goal. The goal of every couple should be to live for the other, to live for God. That doesn't mean you sacrifice your individuality" it means that consideration for what is most beneficial to your relationship will outweigh what is solely beneficial to you individually. From that you will begin to reap increasing dividends.  Creating a richer, fuller marriage begins with a decision: the decision to die to oneself. This is not only in relationship to God,but also in our relationship to one another. Whether our dysfunction stems from attitudes, behaviors, past experiences, or simply choosing to believe the lies of the enemy, it is essential that we step out of ourselves and move into alignment with our creator.                                                                                                                       

This book has personal testimony from actual couples and I wish I could say they all lived happily ever after but not so, the couple that the book started out with has divorced. I still believed this book can help a couple if they applied it.                                                                                                       I was given a copy by the author for an honest review!                                                                                                                                                                                     Issues covered throughout this comprehensive and insightful book include:                                               • handling your emotions                                                                                                                                                       • moving from selfishness to selflessness                                                                                                                               • mastering forgiveness                                                                                                                                    • raising healthy children                                                                                                                                           • conquering the residue from past trauma                                                                                                      • understanding the difference between communication and conflict,

.and understanding how addictions can impact your marriage.
I am giving this book a 5 star rating!

Friday, December 19, 2014

"Worth The Wait" (Waltham Academy Book 1) by Laura Jackson

Book Description

 February 2, 2014
Christian Fiction for Young Adults.

Ellie Lansing has a picture-perfect life with a close-knit family and the perfect boyfriend. But her world is suddenly knocked off center when her drool-worthy boyfriend cheats, and her always-has-it-together mother is diagnosed with cancer. Ellie doesn't get it. She always does the right thing - doesn't God owe her a happy life? Through her heartache, Ellie learns that sometimes what seems like the end is really just the beginning and that what God has for us is always worth the wait.

March 2014 winner of "Clash of the Titles", the ultimate literary challenge where authors battle and readers judge.



Author Bio: ( copied from Amazon)

I love books---reading and writing them. As an elementary school librarian, I get to spend most of my day sharing great books with kids. After work, I write my own stories to share.

When I'm not surrounded by words, I love watching sports. I'm a huge Rockets fan, and I love the Texans. 

I'm passionate about Jesus, books, trees, and cupcakes. 

I love to hear from readers, so please find me on Facebook, Twitter (LauraJackson80), Goodreads, or on authorlaurajackson.blogspot.comI

My Review: 

"Worth The Wait" (Waltham Academy Book 1) by Laura Jackson is a great book for young adults. The title describes the story very well. There are just a few scenes that bother me a little as I read it but then that could be because I am a 55 year old woman and through they are not what I want to read the scenes aren't really that inappropriate as this is a novel for teens.

Here are some reasons I love reading this book, " Stacy had said that God was big enough to handle her anger and strong enough to handle her hurt"and "You try to make everyone around you happy, and while I think it's Christ-like to love others as yourself, I don't think Jesus requires that you be someone other than what He created you to be."

One thing I found that I didn't like was "As the kiss deepened, he inched her shirt up and caressed the skin of her back. His fingertips were hot as his lips nibbled toward her ear." 

That was all that was inappropriate in this scene because Ellie told Dylan to stop because her mom might see. I am thinking she should have said Jesus was watching since this is an Christian Novel  but I loved the book and don't mean to imply that I could write better just giving my honest opinion. I am giving this story five stars.  Dylan is always pressuring ellie to have sex with her and when she won't Dylan cheats on her but once again I want to point out there are no inappropriate scenes and the only language I found "for me" that is inappropriate is the words "my life sucks and sucked " I don't like those words and though I don't like it, it portrays most teens accurately.

This story shows us that just because you follow what you feel are the right rules and are a Christian, your life will still have trials and in the end God does have the perfect plan, and it is " Worth The Wait".

I was given an ebook copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I am going to read the second book in this series as soon as I finish this review and I'm sure I will love it just as well.

Monday, December 15, 2014

"For All Eternity"by June Foster

Book Description
 October 13, 2014
When Joella Crawford meets handsome accountant, JD Neilson, he's the man of her dreams—polite and clean cut with strong moral values. He's the perfect Christian man. Or is he?
JD Neilson falls in love with interior designer, Joella Crawford despite his father's command to marry a woman of his faith, the one true church, the Exalted Brethren. Yet despite his efforts to gain status in the afterlife, he can't attain the quiet peace he sees in Joella's life. Can he find the strength to forsake the teachings of his childhood to embrace The Truth? If he does, will Joella accept him or has he lost her forever? 

About the Author

An award-winning author, June Foster is also a retired teacher with a BA in Education and a MA in counseling. In 2013, June's book Give Us This Day was a finalist in EPIC's eBook awards and in 2014 a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards for best first book. Ryan's Father won The Clash of the Titles book of the month for 2014 and is one of three finalists in the published contemporary fiction category of the 2014 Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing Contest and Awards. June has written four novels for Desert Breeze Publishing. The Bellewood Series, Give Us This Day, As We Forgive, and Deliver Us, and Hometown Fourth of July. Ryan's Father is available from WhiteFire Publishing. Red and the Wolf, a modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, is available from Amazon.com. June loves to write stories about characters who overcome the circumstances in their lives by the power of God and His Word. June uses her training in counseling and her Christian beliefs in creating characters who find freedom to live godly lives.
My Review
"For All Eternity"by June Foster is the first book in the "Almond Tree Series" and once again she has written a great story. June Foster's book has a way of making you feel you are are actually reading a real person's story. You found yourself hoping and yes even praying for the characters while you are reading, (especially if you really get involved in the story lines like this reader does and with June's Foster's book it happens naturally right from the first few chapters.) I have read all of her books but one and it is on my to be read list.
When Joella Crawford and JD Neilson meet in an accident ( funny one involving a bicycle) they are instantly attracted to each other but there is a problem, well isn't that just like real life. lol
The problem is Joella is a Christian and believes in the one true God and JD belonges to the Exalted Brethren Church. I had never heard of this church before and even though the author doesn't go into great details about this church and it's beliefs she does give enough details to make readers understand the conflicts Joella and JD have without interrupting the storyline! 
This book shows how when you let someone believe something about you that isn't true just so you can get something you want how it doesn't turn out the way you wished.
This book is about forgiveness and love. It is full of surprises and it shows that life doesn't always have happy endings. Now with that last sentence I am not saying that JD and Joella don't have a happy ending nor am I saying they do. Guess if you want to know how it ends, you are going to have to read the book! I highly recommend all of June's Foster's books.
If you do read the book I know you will be like me and  anxiously awaiting book 2 in this series because it is about two of the other characters in " For All Eternity". 
"For All Eternity" is getting five stars.
I was given a copy of the book  "For All Eternity" for an honest review 








Thursday, December 11, 2014

Q & A time with Elaine Marie Cooper , author of "BETHANY'S CALENDAR"

Bio:
Elaine Marie Cooper has released her first non-fiction book, Bethany's Calendar. It is a personal memoir of her daughter who died of a brain tumor and how the Lord was their strength during the darkest journey of their lives.
As a novelist, Elaine Marie Cooper has written Fields of the Fatherless and the Deer Run Saga.Her passions are her family, her faith in Christ and the history of the American Revolution, a frequent subject of her historical fiction. She grew up in Massachusetts, the setting for many of her novels. Visit her website at: http://www.elainemariecooper.com


Book Blurb:
 
In January of 2002, Elaine’s world flipped upside down. What started out as a beautiful New Year for the mom of three, turned into a living nightmare when her 23-year-old daughter, Bethany was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
 
In the months to come, Elaine not only used her nurse’s training, she learned to recognize the hand of God on her daughter’s life. Bethany’s Calendar tells the story of Elaine and Bethany’s journey and the many ways God helped their family to survive.  It is a story of fear and faith, commitment and compassion, told with gut-wrenching honesty while sharing unwavering faith in God.

MY REVIEW:
"Bethany's Calendar" is a five star Non-Fiction account in the life of a young lady and her family's journey with Brain Cancer. I know whatever I say about this book it will not be enough or give it justice!

When Elaine Cooper asked for reviewers to read it and write an honest review, I responded because my mother has cancer, ( lung, breast, bone and it was in her lymph nodes, though the breast cancer is in remission now). Bethany, Elaine's daughter, in her early twenties, had Brain Cancer and even through the cancers were different I felt I could learn something and maybe help her and my sisters and other family members learn to cope and understand mom and her feelings better as well as how to deal with the illness itself. I really hope others are helped by Elaine reliving her pain and sharing this book with other families struggling with this critical disease.


This book is very well written and truly a story from a mother's heart. Elaine is a nurse but this isn't written from a nurse's perception, I have read other books about people that had cancer but they were kinda of technical and "Bethany's Calendar" is not technical at all but a real story about a mother's and caregiver's struggles and heartaches dealing with cancer.

There were times I was literally crying while reading this story,such as this example from my Facebook post
 "I am setting in the dentist's office and trying not to cry. I am reading a PDF file of Bethany's Calendar by Elaine Marie Cooper Author. It is so heartbreaking but I love the notes to self and notes to others after each chapter. And if I start to cry hope the others in the office don't think I'm strange but oh well life is like that and cancer is real and those of us that are affected by it do cry".

No, Bethany's story isn't mom's story but any one going through cancer or taking care of someone that does have cancer or another critical illness have similar heartaches and thoughts. I felt the author shared an honest and trueful account and even admitted that sometimes angry feelings were expressed.  

I want to share one more Facebook post I posted while reading " Bethany's Calendar" 
"Reading "Bethany's Calendar" by Elaine Cooper and I really am struck by this "note to others" at the end of one chapter
"Don't delay visiting those who the Lord draws you to see. You never know if it might be your last opportunity to be with them this side of eternity" 

This is my thought after reading the above note: How many times how we felt the urge to call or go see someone and we don't follow though and then we get that call that let's us know it is too late." 

I encourage everyone to read " Bethany's Calendar" whether you or someone you know is struggling with a critical illness or not, chances are you will soon.

I was given a pdf file by the author for an honest review and I have just ordered copies for my family for Christmas! 

Elaine has agreed to answer questions from you, so if you have a question, just asked and she will answer. 
 
To order Bethany's Calendar go here: http://buff.ly/12izRBy

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Meet Author Patrick E. Craig, Author of The Apple Creek Dreams series and review of "A Quilt For Jenna"

  I am a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in 1984.  I spent the next 26 years as a worship leader, seminar speaker, and pastor in churches, at retreats, seminars and conferences all across the western United States.  After ministering for a number of years in music and to a circuit of small churches, I am now concentrating on writing and publishing both fiction and non-fiction books. My wife, Judy, and I now make our home in Idaho and are the parents of two adult children and have five grandchildren.
I am the author of  “A Quilt For Jenna,” “The Road Home,” and “Jenny’s Choice.

I sent some questions to Patrick that my readers wanted answers to and he has sent us his answers.

1 What intrigued you to write about the Amish?
I actually wrote about the Amish because my editor, Nick Harrison from Harvest House, challenged me to send him a one-sheet (story description on one page).  He said he liked Amish stories and quilting stories so I sent him the idea for A Quilt For Jenna and he liked it.  One year later, after writing the book, I got a deal with Harvest House.

Have you ever visited an Amish family's home?
No but I have several friends that I have made on social networks that are former Amish people that have left the Amish because of grace issues in the church.

Where can we buy your print books?   
Since they have been out for over a year, the best place is the online stores, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Store, etc.  

4 What is your favorite thing about the Amish culture.  
What attracts me and what I think really draws most people to the Amish way of life is the slow pace of life.  I think most people in their hearts are tired of the demands of the technological age.

What are your research habits when starting a new book.  
First of all, since most of my books are set in the past, I do a timeline of the expected action and important dates in the lives of characters.  I also do a chapter outline and then I try to find out what was happening in the world during that time.  In A Quilt for Jenna, I discovered the great snowstorm of 1950 in Ohio as I was researching quilting and quilting fairs in the area.  It fit right in with my story idea so I built the book around it.

6 Do you have any Amish friends that live in Apple Creek Ohio?  
No, but I do have friends that are from there.  Once I met a man at a writer’s conference.  I noticed his nametag listed him as being from Ohio.  I mentioned that I had written some books centered around a town there and he asked me what town.  Well, when I said Apple Creek, he laughed and told me he was from there.  Coincidence?  I’m not so sure.

7 What is your favorite character that you have ever created in one of your books?
Jenny Hershberger, Jerusha and Reuben’s adopted daughter.  I came to love her courage and spirit, and because she is also a writer, I felt that we had a lot in common.

8 What is your favorite book that you written?
I love the whole Apple Creek Dream series, but I think my favorite is Jenny’s Choice – mostly because the character of Jonathan goes through a lot of the same things I experienced in my own life.

9 What is your favorite book that you have read?
Oh my!  I’ve read so many, but I must say that the most memorable starting from my childhood were Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Betty Zane by Zane Grey, and The Lord of The Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein.

10 Who is your favorite Author?
Zane Grey

11 What is your favorite Bible verse?
Philippians 4:6&7 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.


12 Where is your favorite place to write?
When I lived in California, I loved sitting in front of our fireplace.  Now I write in my office in Idaho.


13 How do you choose a theme to write about?
I get ideas while I’m working or reading and I write them down on a scrap of paper or a notepad.  I have dozens of story ideas in a folder on my computer that I’ve transferred there from my little pile of notes..

14 What is your favorite Amish tradition?
The Wedding ceremony I described in A Quilt For Jenna

15 What is your favorite Amish food?
That has to be Whoopie Pie.

The books in" The Apple Creek Dreams Series" 
 















I have read " A Quilt For Jenna" and I will say it is a "Wunderbar gut" . The other two books in this series are on  My To Be Read List.

Book Description

 February 1, 2013
Amish + Quilts = readers delight! And in this first book in Patrick Craig’s Apple Creek Dreams series, readers will follow Jerusha Springer’s journey out of tragic circumstances to a new life of hope. Jerusha has spent months making the most beautiful quilt anyone in Apple Creek, Ohio, has ever seen, and she knows it’s going to take first prize at the Quilt Fair in Dalton. The prize will be her ticket out of the Amish way of life—away from the memories of her dead daughter and her tormented husband. But on the way to the Fair, she gets caught in the Storm of The Century and Jerusha’s driver crashes their car. While the driver goes for help, Jerusha is led by someone, or something, to the side of a lost little girl. By the time the storm clears, Jerusha finds there is a greater prize to be won than money and blue ribbons. A beautiful story of loss….and redemption.

FrFrom the Author ( I copied this from his Amazon Web Page!

Apple Creek is a real place.  It is a village set in the heart of Wayne County, Ohio, eleven miles from Dalton and ten miles from Wooster.   There are real streets, and real people in Apple Creek.  There are Hershbergers and Springers and some Halversons living there.  Apple Creek and the surrounding area is home to a large Amish community and has been since the mid 1800s.  Not far to the east lies Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the first Amish that came to America settled in 1720.  I chose Apple Creek as the setting for "A Quilt for Jenna" while doing research on the Amish in Ohio and in particular on Amish quilt-makers.  Apple Creek, Dalton and Wooster, Ohio are known throughout the country for the marvelous Amish quilts that are produced there.  Dalton has one of the biggest quilting fairs in Ohio.
    A town named Apple Creek was just too good to pass up as a location, so I started my story there.  I used the actual streets and highways, the localities and even local family names.  As I mentally planted myself in the heart of Apple Creek, the characters in the book began to spring out of the earth, fully grown, with lives and stories, joys and sorrows.  The story was easy to write because it seemed as though I was reading someone's journal as I wrote it.
    The more I explored Apple Creek, the more I realized how connected I was to the village.  My great-great grandfather, Anthony Rockhill, was born 49 miles from Apple Creek in Alliance, Ohio in 1828.  Apple Creek is 85 miles from the site of Fort Henry, West Virginia on the Ohio River.  Fort Henry was the site of Betty Zane's run for life during the British and Indian siege during the revolutionary war in 1782.  The book 'Betty Zane,' by Zane Grey, was a childhood favorite and still has a place on my bookshelf.  As a child I poured over stories about Lewis Wetzel and Jonathan Zane and followed them through the trackless Ohio wilderness only a few miles from what would become the village of Apple Creek.  I've never been there, but I feel I know the area like the back of my hand.  And so it was no coincidence that I came to choose Apple Creek.  Though the characters in this book are fictional, they have become very real to me, as I hope they will become to you.  It is my hope that their stories will touch a place in your heart as you read, and that you might find something of your own life here in Apple Creek, Ohio, that may be changed for the better by the end of the book.  So, as I think about it, maybe it was coincidence that I chose Apple Creek.  After all, coincidence is just God choosing to remain anonymous ...
My Review: This story takes place during a blizzard at Thanksgiving in Ohio.  This story is about a quilt and how Jerusha intends to use it to help her leave the Amish life! Instead this quilt helps her learn that life isn't always as bad as it seems!

This story does an excellent job weaving Jerusha's past into the present ( in her memories, the past is described).

This is a great story of how bitterness and the inability to forgive can trap us into becoming something that we don't want to be!

I love how the little girl became a gift at just the right time. Oh, the best part is the name of the little girl, I am going to quote the author and say this about her name, "maybe it was coincidence, after all, coincidence is just God choosing to remain anonymous ..."

This book is a real story of forgiveness and healing that comes from sacrifice and reaching out to others in need.

This book was a book chosen for an online book chat and Patrick E. Craig joined in on the discussion and as always when an author joins us the book comes alive and seems more real. 

I read this book in September and the characters have been screaming in my head, "read the other two books in this series so you can see what happened to us, you know it is bound to be just as exciting and life changing as the quilt story!

I am pretty sure by now you know this book is getting five stars! I can't wait to get started reading the other 2 books in this series! I encourage you to invest your time in the stories of Apple Creek Dreams and you will be saying, what "Wunderbar gut stories as well !


Monday, December 1, 2014

" The Seed Police " by Gayla Prewitt

Gayla Prewitt/ Seed Police
ISBN-10: 1497583020 | ISBN-13: 978-1497583023  | List Price: $8.99 print/ $6.99 Kindle | Format: Paperback and Kindle | Page Count: 146 pages


It's the not-too-distant future, and no one but the government is allowed to grow food. Owning seeds is illegal.  Teenagers, Chance and Emily, along with their families, who call themselves the “Seed Savers,” are in a race against government patrols and a deadly pandemic.  The pure seeds the families have hidden may hold the key to human survival, in this action-packed political thriller.
The pure seeds the families have hidden may hold the key to human survival, in this action-packed political thriller. 



Author Bio:
Gayla Prewitt has a background in broadcast journalism and is a part-time instructor at a university near her home.  She is married to a firefighter,  has four beautiful children, and a wonderful son-in-law. A health crisis with her children prompted her to re-examine the world, making her much more diligent in researching the safety of the food and many other things which her children encountered.  Some of the information gathered was the catalyst for writing this novel.


To learn more about Gayla and her writing, visit her website:
www.seedpolice.com.  You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter. Please follow her Facebook Fan page too. Visit her on Goodreads

You can purchase your copy of Seed Police on the book's Website or on Amazon.
My Review:
I really liked " The Seed Police " by Gayla Prewitt even though it is a political thriller, which normally isn't something I enjoy reading.

I even wanted the story to continue after I read the last page. I contacted the author and asked if a sequel was in her plans and she told me she was working on one ! I can’t wait as the ending of “Seed Police” just begs for more of the story to be told!

This story is about how the government wants to control everything including the food we eat! This story hits pretty close to home with the food modification going on here in this country! We're killing ourselves and this book brings those points out. A must read! 

The heroes in this story are just normal people on a mission to save mankind before it is too late! 

I am going to end this review with two quotes from the book, some might think they are spoiler alerts so be warned if you want to stop reading this review at this point!

 “ The good book tells us, we are pressed on every side by troubles…,’ said the pastor. “We are perplexed, but never abandoned by God.” 

“ Let this be a lesson. Never again should we try to make for ourselves a perfect world by destroying the creation that was given to us,” he said. 

 I received a free copy of this book/Ebook/Product to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.