Book Review: The Stars Shine Bright by Sibella Giorello

About the Book:  After the FBI suspends her for bending its rules, Special Agent Raleigh Harmon is looking for a chance to redeem her career and re-start her life.

Sent undercover to a thoroughbred horse track, Raleigh takes on a double life to find out who’s fixing the races. But when horses start dying and then her own life is threatened, Raleigh realizes something bigger—and more sinister—is ruining Emerald Meadows.

She’s never felt more alone.

Her one contact with the FBI is Special Agent Jack Stephanson, a guy who seems to jump from antagonistic to genuine friend depending on the time of day. And she can’t turn to her family for support. They’re off-limits while she’s undercover, and her mother isn’t speaking to her anyway, having been confined to a mental hospital following a psychotic breakdown. Adding insult to her isolation, Raleigh’s fiancé wants them to begin their life together—now—precisely when she’s been ordered not to be herself.

With just days left before the season ends, Raleigh races to stop the killing and find out who’s behind the track’s trouble, all the while trying to determine if Jack is friend or foe, and whether marrying her fiancé will make things better—or worse.

Raleigh is walking through the darkest night she’s faced, searching for a place where the stars shine bright.

My Thoughts:  This is the second book of this series (The Stars Shine Bright is the fifth installment) that I've read and reviewed, and I enjoyed this one as well, but not quite as much as the first one, The Mountains Bow Down. Now, that book took place on a cruise ship and we love to cruise, whereas this book takes place at a horse track and I know nothing about horses - so that likely played into it.

That being said, I enjoyed Giorello's writing style once again and the storyline held my interest.  This is the fifth book in the series and I've only read books 4 and 5, but I'm assuming the love-hate relationship with Agent Jack has continued throughout the series - I'm already wanting that angle to come together and I've only read two of the books, so that would be my one "complaint".

Overall though, an excellent read. I think I'm going to have to go back and read the first three books of this series!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for organizing this tour and providing me with my complimentary review copy and to NetGalley/Thomas Nelson for the ebook version.

Book Review: Mindful of Him by Hollis Hughes

About the Book:  Mindful of Him is a tale of heartbreak and triumph set in the 1950s. Separated from his young wife, and with both of his parents recently deceased, Rob McLain sets off on an adventure for which he has longed since childhood. Travel with Rob as his journey not only takes him to beautiful places, but also crosses his path with influential men who help him through his loneliness. Five months into the trip, Rob has a moonlight encounter that changes his life forever and overwhelmingly convinces this young skeptic that God is indeed mindful of him!

Through it all, he receives answers to life's deepest questions. What does he learn? What happens to his wife? Do they get back together? Does he make it back safely?

Find the answers to these questions and others dealing with faith, creation, nature, and more in Mindful of Him, which will keep you reading long after you had planned to turn out the lights. Mindful of Him was inspired by the writings of Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, the giant of 20th Century Christian philosophers.

My thoughts: Honestly, I didn't really like this book.

It took me a little bit to get into it, but then I began to enjoy it a bit more.  Truthfully, parts of the book are simply captivating.  At first, I appreciated the philosophical thought process and the internal questions that Rob had, but after awhile it just seemed to be going around in circles ad nauseum.

In addition to this, there were several instances of vulgarity in the book which also gives me pause to recommend it, particularly since some of them came from the mouth of a pastoral character.  Both profanity and inappropriate comments about physical abuse were present, neither of which were essential to the storyline. It is possible to convey utter frustration in a different manner.  I have read some books where the use of profanity was understandable in the context, but I just felt this was inappropriate.

One of the most frustrating parts for me was the ending.  The novel had little enough storyline as it was, so the fact that it ended with one huge unanswered question was, frankly, annoying to me.

To be honest, if I hadn't agreed to read this book in it's entirety and review it, I'm not so sure I would've finished it, and that's happened less than 5 times in my life I'd say.

That being said, from some other reviews I've seen, some people thought this book was simply marvellous, so to each their own.  But I, personally, cannot recommend it.


Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for organizing this tour and providing me with my complimentary review copy.

Book Review: Love Finds You by Melanie Dobson

About the Book:  As the Gilded Age comes to a close, Elena Bissette's once-wealthy family has nearly lost its fortune. The Bissettes still own a home on fashionable Mackinac Island, where they will spend one last summer in the hope of introducing Elena to a wealthy suitor. But Elena is repulsed by the idea of marrying for money.

Quickly tiring of the extravagant balls, Elena spends most evenings escaping back into Mackinac's rugged forest. There she meets Chase, a handsome laborer who shares her love for the night sky. The two begin to meet in secret at an abandoned lighthouse, where they work together to solve a mystery buried in the pages of a tattered diary.

As Elena falls in love with Chase, her mother relentlessly contrives to introduce her to Chester Darrington, the island's most eligible bachelor. Marriage to the elusive millionaire would solve the Bissettes' financial woes, and Elena is torn between duty and love.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book - the vivid scenery, the romance of the Gilded Age, the mystery of a time long past, the cons of the Gilded Age fully exposed, the realistic characters and the intriguing storyline.

At first I thought that the reaction of the main characters (when the plot twist was revealed) was unrealistic, as they both blamed the other for the same fault they had committed, and then I realized how realistic that actually was.  We are often so quick to find our own faults in the behaviour of someone else, while excusing it in ourselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and I'm glad the mystery in the diary was revealed at the end.

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for organizing this tour and providing me with my complimentary review copy.

Ready to dig

 The machinery is here and ready to go - digging starts tomorrow!!

Soon there will be a pool there instead of those red lines :)

July Photo Challenge Day 31 - Looking Down

Today's assignment: Looking down

Well, today wraps up the daily July photo challenge and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised that I managed to post every single day.  Though I really shouldn't be - usually an internet promise is exactly the kind of accountability I need.  Today I'm just squeaking in under the wire - though I do have a good excuse for that.

I dropped my iPhone in the toilet.

I know - I freaked out too.

It's currently sitting in my FIL's silica gel (for his hearing aids), drying out so that hopefully it will be back to normal tomorrow morning!  Anyway, instead of conveniently taking a picture with my iPhone and emailing it to my computer for an easy blog upload, I now had to take a picture with my actual camera and then hook the camera up to my computer to download all the pictures before I could post it to my blog.  It seems like more work to me for some reason.

Anyway, here it is.

Looking down from our covered back porch onto the new composite deck that Nathan and my FIL built today. (Yes, there will be stairs joining the two at some point) The square part at the end is where our outdoor washroom will be - we decided that was a "necessary luxury" with the number of children that will be likely traipsing in and out of the facilities constantly once our pool is in.  A decision we won't regret I'm sure!  Speaking of the pool - they are coming to mark out tomorrow afternoon and start digging Thursday morning - woohoo!

July Photo Challenge Day 30 - Something you`re grateful for

Today`s assignment: Something you`re grateful for

It took me a LONG time to decide what to share for today`s challenge.  There`s sooo many things I`m grateful for.

My relationship with God

My Bible

My Bible Blog and what I`ve learned from it

My husband

My children

My parents and siblings

Nathan`s parents and siblings

Our health

Our new house

Everything in our new house - both old and new

Baret`s miraculous healing

Family coming to visit

Summer vacation

You get the idea.  The list could go on and on and on. 

So, I tried to think of something that was at least somewhat unique to me.

 Inspired by my cousin Tammi who was grateful for something she had because she lost it for awhile, I realized that one of the things I`m most grateful for is my eyesight.

Those of you who know me are thinking, YOUR eyesight?!  Your eyesight is terrible!

And it sure is.  Both eyes are worse than -9, which is really bad, in case you`re wondering.  You know how bedside alarm clocks have these huge glowing red numbers on them? Yeah, I can`t see those when I wake up.  Not even close.

But thankfully, because of modern optometry, they actually have glasses (crazy expensive as mine might be) and contact lenses that can correct my vision so that I can see just as well as "normal" people.  

Which means I can see all those things I`m thankful for.  

I can see the faces of my children, including their distinguishing features.

I can see my husband and the way he looks at me. 

I can see firsthand the results of all my husband`s hard work on our home.

I can see my son`s face light up over pretty much everything.

I can see that my middle daughter`s hair is turning curlier than it used to be.

I can see my oldest daughter turning into a woman right before my eyes.

I can see my youngest daughter`s mischievous twinkle in her eyes and her brilliant smile.

I can see the amazing things our Creator has made.

And even though it`s doesn`t come naturally, but rather through scientific advancement,

I can see.

And for that, I am very, very grateful.

Tomorrow`s assignment: Looking down

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Book Review: Tales of the Not Forgotten by Beth Guckenberger

About the Book: Follow these real-life stories as they take you on a journey to faraway lands and unknown faces. Travel through their challenges and see the hand of the great Storyweaver writing endings you’d never imagine!

Joel dares to ask for what he can’t have. Seraphina sacrifices what she can’t afford to give. Ibrahim looks for an answer buried out of reach. Christiana, saved by a mission, searches for her own.

These are the tales of the ones the world doesn’t see . . . the tales of the not forgotten.

In this collection of four real-life stories written for preteens, a compelling storyteller paints a picture of God’s dynamic movement in four foreign cultures, inspiring children to trust that God is weaving a story in their lives as well.

This resource will shrink the macro picture down to approachable, individual stories of real children and teach about fundamental survival issues. The stories address some of the challenging questions that kids have and weave God's promises to orphans into each one.

The Tales of the Not Forgotten Leader’s Guide is a 6-session kids' missions resource (sold separately) that walks adults through an easy-to-follow guide for making the abstract real and for designing an action plan to help others.

Preteens will be challenged to answer the questions:
How do I pray? What can I give? Where can I go? Who will I serve?

My Thoughts:  I'm not a preteen, but I was challenged by these real life stories as well!  I was completely drawn into each of the four stories, literally to the point of tears during at least one of them, as I read how amazingly God answered prayer and worked through complete strangers, weaving their stories together for His glory.  Written at a level preteens can easily understand, it still captured my attention as an adult reader.

I'm definitely going to be giving this book to my preteen to read.  I pray it impacts her the way it impacted me.  

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for organizing this tour and providing me with my complimentary review copy.

July Photo Challenge Day 29 - Something You Don't Like

Today's assignment: Something you don't like

Potatoes - hate 'em.  Even my fries have to be so thin and crispy that they don't taste like potatoes at all.  Sweet potatoes are better though!

Tomorrow's assignment: Something you're grateful for

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July Photo Challenge Day 28 - View from your front door

Today's assignment: View from your front door

Hopefully in several weeks it'll be a greener view :)

Tomorrow's assignment: Something you don't like

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July Photo Challenge Day 27 - Mail

Today's assignment: Mail

Now that's a mountain o' mail!

Tomorrow's assignment: View from Your Front Door

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