Heart Mender giveaway WINNER

I had Eli randomly pull a number out of a pile and as a result, Ann K. is the winner!

Book Review: The Heart Mender (and Giveaway!)

After I requested this book to review I went to the book's website to check it out. You can read the first two chapters online, so I did. I LOVED them! I was so excited to get the book, but of course I had to wait a week for it to be shipped. I truly enjoy a good love story and I expected to find one! Once my book arrived I was reading something else and had to finish it. Then I dug right in.

The book is split into three parts. In Part One, Andrews tells how he discovered this decades old story of mystery and love. Part Two is the story retold and Part Three is simply amazing. I would tell you about it, but I am not a storyteller like Andy Andrews and I would just ruin it. This book deals with resentment and anger and then forgiveness and the peace that accompanies it.

Andy Andrews was digging up an old dead tree in his back yard on the gulf coast of Alabama. He discovers a vegetable can that contains three photographs and a pile of German naval buttons from WW2 era. He researches all he can about the the buttons and what they mean, and talks to the old locals about why pieces of a Nazi uniform would be in Alabama. What he finds is a piece of history that got left out the media in 1942 and a love story to rival any fiction!

Josef Landermann is shot and thrown off a German submarine by the Nazi Party Representative on board. Helen Mason, a woman embittered by the death of her husband by the Nazis, finds him washed up, half dead on the beach by her house. She is at a loss of what to do when she discovers the man is an enemy.

The characters are funny and easy to relate to. The writing is poignant and interesting. The message is necessary.

The best part of this book- you can have one too! Thomas Nelson sent me an extra copy to giveaway! To enter leave a comment telling me what your favorite book is! This giveaway ends Sunday, May 23 at midnight!

I was provided this book for review by the publisher. My opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

The Myth of the Perfect Mother

A book I am reading.

I. need. this.

I cannot tell you if I agree theoloically with this book (I am only in the first chapter), but the few pages I have read have made me say, "Yes! Exactly! This is how I feel!"

Carla Barnhill says, "The real toll of motherhood often blindsides women who grow up believing that becoming a mother will be the greatest thing ever to happen to them. Instead of floating along in a sea of motherly bliss, many of us find ourselves conflicted, depressed, guilt-ridden, lonely, even suicidal. Sadly when these feelings begin to creep in, the last place many of us feel comfortable talking about them is in our churches."

I don't know what this lady is going to recommend, but at least someone understands me now.

Book Review: Jane Austen by Peter Leithart

I am not well read in Jane Austen books, so that may be the reason that I did not find this book interesting. The author was told stories not just of Jane but also of her family and friends. There were so many names I began to get confused, but also included in the back of the book is an appendix of the Austen's family, friends, and neighbors. This biography is not just a story of Jane Austen's life, but of how God and Christianity was entwined in her life. You learn of Jenny Austen's literary influences and the world she grew up in. I struggled to finish this book, but I did it! And while the book was well written, it is not one I will be keeping in my personal library, but I will pass it along so someone else can enjoy it! Jane Austen's work is still influencing literature and film 200 years later and I now know more about the woman behind the book.

I was provided a copy to review from Thomas Nelson Publishers. The opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

Book Review: Plan B

Thomas Nelson Publishers sent me Plan B by Pete Wilson to review. The opinions expressed in the review are my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

I found myself thinking about this book over the weeks I read it. It would pop up in my mind during women's Bible study or in conversation with friends. Pete is a pastor of a growing church in Tennessee and he addresses an issue that occurs in everyone's life: what do you do when things don't go according to plan? Sometimes our plans go awry because of our poor planning or sin, but sometimes it seems we did nothing wrong, but still nothing goes right. Where is God in that? Has He abandoned me? Those questions and more are discussed in Plan B.

Pete shares stories from his own life as well as those he has pastored and counseled. Most importantly, Pete opens the Word of God and relates it to life! The 'hero's of faith' in the Bible all fell on difficult times; was God abandoning them? Pete shows that God was faithful to Job, Abraham, Mary, David, and others and that He is faithful to His children today. Even when Plan A has gone out the window, there is a Plan B, and often, that plan is better than we could have ever imagined! I would recommend this book to anyone who feels lost or abandoned. If you have been a believer in Christ for many years or are searching for hope, God will meet you in this book.