Take Back Your Time by Morgan Tyree

"Take Back Your Time" by Morgan Tyree is an organization and scheduling book.  I am not an organized person by nature so I was very interested in this book.  However, it was way more advanced than I am at organizing.  With the three different levels it uses and all the different tasks you need to do to figure out where things should be scheduled in your life, I got overwhelmed.  I just need simple easy lessons on scheduling and this was not for me.  Maybe I am just too simple just give me a plain planner with no stickers or extras and I can plan my day still have issues but that is me. So if you are looking for something more advanced then this book is for you.  So I recommend it for the non-basic easy-going planner type person.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Light From Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker

"Light from Distant Stars" by Shawn Smucker is a novel about Cohen Marah in the present and in his past.  We see Cohen coming to terms with his dad's death which bring up some bad memories from his childhood.  He lived with his dad at a funeral home after his parents divorced. We learn that his dad was a caring father but his mother was a harsh cold woman and he had a very loving sister.  However, that is all I can really say without giving away to much of the story.   I will say that this book at times did seem to jump around some.  I did enjoy the way the author made a clear jump from the past to the present which is nice when they do that.  However I still was getting confused at times by what was happening in the story well mainly the parts in the past.  Even though I was confused by the story at times I still enjoyed and could not put it down once I picked it up.  So I do recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The String by Caleb Breakey

"The String" by Caleb Breakey is a crime thriller novel about the conductor pulling the strings that affect the life of university cop Markus Haas.  This book started out as a possible good psychological thriller if that is your cup of tea which is mine.  However, it did not turn out to be that way for me as with in the first couple chapters I figured out what was going on in the story and who the conductor was.  This type of book should have kept me guessing all throughout it but it did not as it was a very formulaic type of book.  I mean seriously it is like I have read this story before just with different character names and a few other differences it was just badly written.  I do not recommend this book at all.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Protecting Your Child From Predators by Beth Robinson

"Protecting Your Child From Predators" by Beth Robinson and Latayne Scott is about not only identifying how a predator works but also on how to help/teach your children at different ages about predators.  This is such a powerful and informative book in my opinion it is a must read by any church or group that has kids in it.  There are so many points that I really agreed with.  Some of my favorite are for example if you or your child have a bad feeling about someone follow that instinct don't ignore it.  I personally have had bad feeling about not trusting someone and then later find out they are a rapist.  This book teaches us how to teach our children from a young age about predators in an age appropriate way.  Also this book explains that most of the time the predators are people close to us or sometimes the friendlist person you know.   You just have to read this to be able glean all the good information from this book as it is a very powerful book that I could not put down and I highly recommend it to any one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Net Galley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Am I an Introvert or something else.

Interesting thought I have been rattling in my head.  I will admit I have always been an introvert but I was a more outgoing one until 1997/98.  Why those years?  Well, I was being stalked in my little town of around 1600 people.  I would have someone calling my home knowing exactly when I walked in my door or went to bed to harass me all night.  They would also call my parent's house or even a couple of friends houses as soon as I walked in the door.  It never happened to them until I would walk thru the door.  At this point in time in my hometown had no police except one sheriff who lived there (now they have none) and no way of tracing phone calls.  I was a single mom at the time lving in a really bad one bedroom trailer that should have been condemned.  So I would stay with parents a lot as my place was not safe and they would even call my parents home mainly when they knew my dad was not home.  It also did not help that I had a car that leaked oil so bad that you could follow me by my trail of oil I left behind. When I moved to the bigger local town of 20,000 people then the calls stopped.   So it was someone in my small hometown.  I still don't know who it was have a few ideas but cannot confirm any of them. Over the years I still go there and have had a few bad incidents to were still a mystery to me.  Once in 1999, I had my tire stabbed in the sidewall with a knife (the police cadets that helped me change it found it and the tire store agreed it was a knife).  My husband and our children were once followed and chased in the woods behind that town that is a very long and weird story.   And we have had some issues at our home that made us think that somoeone has been watching our house until we put up security cameras. 

I know you are asking yourself why are you bringing this all up after 20 years.  Well, I want people to know and understand stalking changing a person mentally.  I keep my head down way more than I used as I am still scared that whoever it was will come back into my life as I don't live very far from my hometown.  I know I am a introvert and a hard person to get to know but some of that is due to the stalking.  But some of that is it seems like people really don't want to get to know me if they did they would find out that once I am friends with someone I am loyal.  Also if you think my outfits are getting on the weird side because you were more used to my dressed down look well sorry that was not me that style actually depressed me.  But due to my stalker and other reasons, I just tried to be considered more normal but husband said no that is not you it is making you depressed.  So now you will see me with a in progress spiked leather jacket, boots, skulls, spikes, crosses, lots of black and maybe one day different colored hair (right now no money to do it).  My clothes have not changed who I am on the inside I am still a God fearing Christian women, wife and mom who just does not look like the average women in my town.  I am happier not trying to be like everyone else it is not me.  Yes I know I will be made fun of and I have already had that happen but you know what I don't care. Also people might wonder about my faith nope still a Christian women yes having issues but that is a story for another time and really does not need to be out in public. And what women has not had struggles in their faith it just refines u.  It has taken me 20 years to really come to terms that my stalker and the threat of them still out there is not going to change me or keep me down.   God is in control not them.

Never Let Go by Elizabeth Goddard

"Never Let Go" by Elizabeth Goddard is the first in the Uncommon Justice series.  The story is about Willow Anderson a forensic genealogist who decides to finish the job her grandfather's death left behind which is the case of a woman who was kidnapped as a newborn from her mother.  And of course, it has the standard stereotypical romance of the main character and old flame, in this case, one named Austin McKade.  The first couple chapters were pretty good then it got confusing in the middle and really got confusing right near the end.  I am still not completely sure of the ending but the story might be more clear in the next book.  The story had potential but why can't Chrisitan mystery authors just leave the romance section out.  That was what was the main issue I had with this story is it was just like what seems like every other Christian mystery where good potential story but the main character are either newly met soon to be couple or a former couple who now thanks to this mystery will get back together (no I am not giving anything way its the normal of these style of books).  I will recommend if that is what you are looking for me I just want a good mystery with no romance.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

American Omens by Travis Thrasher

"American Omens" by Travis Thrasher is Christian American dystopian novel about the year 2038 where Christianity and free thought is now against the law.  The main character is Cheyenne Burne a intelligent programmer who ends up working with a group of believers.  A group of high profile believers are hiding and following a leader they call the Reckoner.    This book is fiction novel on what the author thinks is going to happen to America without saying that.   It is an interesting story about what American Christians may think is coming down the pipeline the belief that Christianity is going to be illegal.  What is interesting to me on that thought is that yes that prospect might be scary as an American but why the scriptures say we will not be liked for far too long Christianity has been the popular thing which has been bad for the gospel as it has become easy believism. This book I know is going to be a first in a series just by the way it is wrote. It seems to me to be a more modern version with similarities of the Left Behind series.  As of this book it's main focus is on American Christianity and I hope the author will write in the next books more about the faith of others in this world not just us Americans.  I will recommend this book as it is an ok dystopian novel but with the hope the next book will be better and more world focused.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Multnomah publisher.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Serial Killers Daughter by Kerri Rawson

"A Serial Killer's Daughter" by Kerri Rawson is the story of Kerri, not just her dad who is the convicted BTK killer.    Before you throw this book out saying oh she is just trying to make her dad look no that is not it at all.  She is sharing how she grew up with a man as a dad that she had no idea led a behind the scenes life of being a serial killer. It does start out with her giving some history of her dad's life before he married her mom and their life together before she was born.  But most of the book is about her life with her dad and how she thought he was a normal dad.  I chose to read this book because we have a tendency as a society that serial killers also create victims of their family.  What do I mean by that well their families think everything is normal and that serial killers are someone else.  They have hopes and dreams of a normal life and the serial killer especially when they are caught have killed their hopes and dreams.  She writes on how she was broken by her dad's arrest and how she did at first did not think it could be true.  But over time she had to come to terms with how her dad is a psychopath and that she was also a victim.  She never glorifies her dad she just talks about him like he was any other dad but she does realize as the years go on past his arrest that he was emotionally abusive to her family and that was a hard pill to swallow.  I liked this book as she focuses on her faith helping thru things and it was a reminder to me not to treat the families or friends of serial killers horrible as most of the time they had no idea and they are victims of the killer themselves.  I highly recommend this book especially since we never truly know every person in our lives.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

We Hope For Better Things by Erin Bartels

"We Hope For Better Things" by Erin Bartels is about a journalist Elizabeth Balsam who has been asked by an elderly man to return an important item of a relative of hers, she has never known about.  While she is learning about the man connected to her elderly relative, she also learns even more about her family history.  One part of the story takes place in modern times, one part takes place in the mid-1960's and the other part takes place in the mid-1860's.  Each chapter takes place in the one of the different eras which is a feature I really enjoy because then it is much easier to follow the different story lines.   Each story was so powerful and good that I could not out the book down just so I could finish each story to find out what would happen.  Truthfully each story could have been their own bookmaking this a series with one in 1860's, one in 1960's and one in the present.  This book deals with racism, love, betrayal, and lost in an era which makes it a very powerful book.  I highly recommend this as it was a great novel and I am glad it was my first book to read in 2019.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.