A Wedding Invitation by Alice Wisler

I am still behind on review books but I can't wait to start to this one. I enjoyed reading all of her other books. :)

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingA Wedding InvitationBethany House (October 1, 2011)byAlice Wisler



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice was born in Osaka, Japan in the sixties. Her parents were Presbyterian career missionaries. As a young child, Alice loved to walk down to the local stationer's store to buy notebooks, pencils and scented erasers. In her room, she created stories. The desire to be a published famous author has never left her. Well, two out of three isn't bad. She's the author of Rain Song, How Sweet It Is, Hatteras Girl and A Wedding Invitation (all published by Bethany House).



Alice went to Eastern Mennonite University after graduating from Canadian Academy, an international high school in Kobe, Japan. She majored in social work and has worked across the U.S. in that field. She taught ESL (English as a Second Language) in Japan and at a refugee camp in the Philippines. She also studied Spanish at a language institute in San Jose, Costa Rica.



She has four children--Rachel, Daniel, Benjamin and Elizabeth. Daniel died on 2/2/97 from cancer treatments at the age of four. Since then, Alice founded Daniel's House Publications in her son's memory. This organization reaches out to others who have also lost a child to death. In 2000 and 2003, Alice compiled recipes and memories of children across the world to publish two memorial cookbooks, Slices of Sunlight and Down the Cereal Aisle.



ABOUT THE BOOK

After returning home from teaching English at a refugee camp in the Philippines, Samantha Bravencourt enjoys her quiet life working at her mother's clothing boutique in Falls Church, Virginia. When she receives an invitation to a wedding in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, she looks forward to reconnecting with her college friend. Instead her life collides with Carson, a fellow teacher and the man who broke her heart, and a young Amerasian refugee named Lien who needs Samantha and Carson's help to find her mother before Lien's own wedding. When the search for Lien's mother reveals surprising secrets from the past, Samantha must reevaluate her own memories and decide whether to continue to play it safe or take a risk that could change her life.



If you would like to read the first chapter of A Wedding Invitation, go HERE.



Watch the book trailer:

It's Monday What Are You Reading? October 10, 2011

This is a weekly meme hosted by Shelia at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.
http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I really need some audio book recommendations if anybody has one. I am listening to the radio right now because I can't find anything I like at the library. Help!

What I read last week:

- The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (audio in the car)

- Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon

What I am currently reading:

- My Dearest Friend by Hazel Statham

- The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
- Carney's House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace

- Walk Strong, Look Up by Chantel Hobbs

What I am reading next:

- A Wedding Invitation by Alice Wisler

- A Necessary Deception by Laurie Alice Eakes

Reviews I posted:

http://abookloverforever.blogspot.com/2011/10/deadly-pursuit-by-irene-hannon-review.html

Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon (Review)

Paperback: 340 pages

Publisher: Revell (September 1, 2011)

ISBN-13: 978-0800734572

From the Back Cover

A stalker with deadly intent . . .
A woman who protects children . . .
An ex-Navy SEAL turned police detective.
Social worker Alison Taylor has a passion for protecting children. But now it seems she needs protecting. When her tormentor's attentions take a violent turn, she calls in reinforcements--her police-detective brother, Cole, and his new partner, ex-Navy SEAL Mitch Morgan. As her relentless stalker turns up the heat and the danger intensifies, Mitch takes a personal interest in the case. Because protecting Alison has become more than a job; his future depends on keeping her safe.

Filled with nail-biting suspense and heart-melting romance, Deadly Pursuit is Irene Hannon's storytelling at its very best.

My Review:

Although this is book two in the Guardians of Justice series it can stand alone fine. The series follows two brothers and one sister who pursue justice in their careers. This book focuses on Alison who is a social worker. I love the kind of books that have a little mystery, suspense, romance, and action all together. Parts of this book were not easy to read because of subject matter. It is well written and the characters are well developed. The book held my attention and I wanted to know what happened next to the characters. I even had to put it down at one point because I wasn't ready for what came next for Alison. lol This is one of my go to authors for these kind of books. She reminds of my all time favorite author Dee Henderson. Recommended. :)

 

 

About the author:

Irene Hannon is the author of more than 35 novels, including the CBA bestsellers Against All Odds, An Eye for an Eye, and In Harm's Way. Her books have been honored with the coveted RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America, the HOLT Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier award, and two Reviewer's Choice Awards from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine. She lives in Missouri.

 

"Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group."

 

Thank you Donna at Revell for my review copy.

I love Quotations

I have always loved quotations. I found one of my older journals from middle school and there were pages of quotations in it. lol I post most of them on my facebook page but here are a couple of my more recent finds that truly resonated with me.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
Robert Collier

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."
- Truman Capote

“How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
- Marilyn Monroe

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”
- Time Must Have a Stop, Aldous Huxley

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
- Text of Steve Jobs’ Commencement address (2005)

You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against.
- Laurie Halse Anderson

There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”
- Francis Bacon

“We shall go on so quietly and happily together with our books and our music.”
- Sense & Sensibility Jane Austen

"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."
- Louisa May Alcott

“There is no man, however wise, who has not at some period of his youth said things, or lived in a way the consciousness of which is so unpleasant to him in later life that he would gladly, if he could, expunge it from his memory.”
- Marcel Proust

“What better way to get to know someone than through her choice and treatment of books?”
- Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

“Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn’t it be the other way around? I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.”
- Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail (1998)

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
- Frederick Douglass

The greatest battle is not physical but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit can never be silenced for good. They must always be answered by the quiet the steady dignity that simply refuses to give in. Courage. We all suffer. Keep going.
- Graeme Fife

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
- Anne Frank

“Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Mercy by Beverly Lewis

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingThe MercyBethany House (September 6, 2011)byBeverly Lewis



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beverly's first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, including The Shunning, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author's maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly's work to be "a primer on Lancaster County folklore" and offers "an insider's view of Amish life."



Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."



A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms."



ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Kauffman pines for prodigal Nick Franco, the Bishop's foster son who left the Amish under a cloud of suspicion after his foster brother's death. His rebellion led to the "silencing" of their beloved Bishop. But is Nick really the rebel he appears to be? Rose's lingering feelings for her wayward friend refuse to fade, but she is frustrated that Nick won't return and make things right with the People. Nick avowed his love for Rose--but will he ever be willing to sacrifice modern life for her?



Meanwhile, Rose's older sister, Hen, is living in her parents' Dawdi Haus. Her estranged "English" husband, injured and helpless after a car accident, has reluctantly come to live with her and their young daughter during his recovery. Can their marriage recover, as well? Is there any possible middle ground between a woman reclaiming her old-fashioned Amish lifestyle and thoroughly modern man?



If you would like to read the first chapter of The Mercy, go HERE.



Watch the book trailer:

Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge 2011

The Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge is hosted every October by Sarah at A Library is a Hospital for the Mind. It runs October 1 to October 31. The goal is to read any book by Maud Hart Lovelace or materials about her. I had not heard of her before this challenge  few years ago and I am so glad I found it. She is most famous for the Betsy Tacy series. I have read all of them now so my goal this year is to read Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart.

Please visit Sarah's blog here for more information:
http://libraryhospital.blogspot.com/2011/10/3rd-annual-maud-hart-lovelace-reading.html

40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension by Dr. Scott Morris and the Church Health Center

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Dr. Scott Morris and the Church Health Center

and the book:

40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension

Barbour Books (September 1, 2011)

***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

From the time Scott Morris was just a teenager, he knew he would do two things with his future—serve God and work with people. Growing up in Atlanta, he felt drawn to the Church and at the same time drawn to help others, even from a very young age. It was naturally intrinsic, then, that after completing his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia he went on to receive his M.Div. from Yale University and finally his M.D. at Emory University in 1983.

After completing his residency in family practice, Morris arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1986 without knowing a soul, but determined to begin a health care ministry for the working poor. He promptly knocked on the doors of St. John’s Methodist Church and Methodist Hospital in Memphis inviting them to help, and then found an old house to refurbish and renovate. By the next year, the Church Health Center opened with one doctor—Dr. Scott Morris—and one nurse. They saw twelve patients the first day and Morris began living his mission to reclaim the Church’s biblical commitment to care for our bodies and spirits.

From the beginning, Morris saw each and every patient as a whole person, knowing that without giving careful attention to both the body and soul the person would not be truly well. So nine years after opening the Church Health Center, he opened its Hope & Healing Wellness Center. Today the Church Health Center has grown to become the largest faith-based clinic in the country of its type having cared for 60,000 patients of record without relying on government funding. The clinic handles more than 36,000 patient visits a year while the wellness center, which moved to its current 80,000-square-foot location on Union Avenue in 2000, serves more than 120,000 member visits each year. Fees are charged on a sliding scale based on income.

Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Millions experience high blood pressure—and 40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension provides clear, manageable steps for you to manage it, through life-changing attitudes and actions. If you’re ready to really live better, select one or more elements of the 7-step Model for Healthy Living—Faith, Medical, Movement, Work, Emotional, Family and Friends, and Nutrition—and follow the 40-day plan to improve your life, just a bit, day by day. With plenty of practical advice, biblical encouragement, and stories of real people who’ve taken the same journey, this book—from the Church Health Center in Memphis, the largest faith-based clinic of its type in the U.S.—may be the most important book you read this year!

The 40 Days to Better Living series offers clear, manageable steps to life-changing attitudes and actions in a context of understanding and grace for all people at all points on the journey to optimal health. With plenty of practical advice, spiritual encouragement, and real stories of those who have found a better life, this simple and skillfully crafted book inspires readers to customize their own path to wellness by using the 7-Step Model for Healthy Living as a guide:

• Nutrition: pursuing smarter food choices and eating habits
• Friends and family: giving and receiving support through relationships
• Emotional life: understanding feelings and managing stress to better care for yourself
• Work: appreciating your skills, talents, and gifts
• Movement: discovering ways to enjoy physical activity
• Medical care: partnering with health care providers to optimize medical care
• Faith life: building a relationship with God, neighbors, and self

Along with tips from the Model for Healthy Living, the easy-to-read format features a Morning Reflection and an Evening Wrap-Up as well as a place for documenting plans, progress, and perspectives. Targeted scriptures and prayers that undergird the focus of each day’s message make this compact book an excellent choice for a daily devotional.

Subsequent titles in the Better Living series will be released bi-monthly and address key health topics including hypertension, diabetes, depression, weight management, stress management, aging, and addiction. All promise substantial support to those who are ready for a newer, better way of living—body and spirit.





Product Details:

List Price: $7.99
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Barbour Books (September 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616262656
ISBN-13: 978-1616262655

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER: