"Atlas Girl" by Emily T. Wierenga

"Atlas Girl, Finding Home In the Last Place I Thought To Look" by Emily T. Wierenga is a memoir of the author's life.  The author gives a very detailed memoir of her life from her childhood all the way to her married life.  The author writes about her struggle with her faith and anorexia.  I was impressed on how well, in words, she was able to write her feelings of what has happened in life to the point I almost forgot I was reading a non-fiction book.  She finds the help she has always need help caring for her mom as her mom has a brain tumor.  All good until the point I am going to talk about now. The main reason I am on the fence of recommending this book.  In the chapter she goes into detail about her honeymoon not the so much the location but what happened that night.  I am sorry but I don't need to read her details about it.  Call me a prude but I don't care I just don't want to read that. From that point on I had a hard time reading the book.  So no recommendation from me.

I was given this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing for my honest review.

"Truth Be Told" By Carol Cox

"Truth Be Told" by Carol Cox is about a young woman Amelia Wagner taking over father's newspaper after his death.  As you can tell from the cover it takes place in 1893 in Granite Springs, Arizona.  What Amelia does not know is that her dad has opened a huge can of worms by telling the truth about by a company called Great Western.  A Great Western employee named by Benjamin Stone is told by the company to keep tabs on her.

This first part of this book was very slow for me.  I did enjoy the back ground finding out her mom lives in Denver as she hated living in Arizona.  Which does play into the story as Amelia's mom gets married right after her husband dies.  We find out that Amelia is actually in danger and Ben will have to choose to help her or stay company loyal. The book did pick about half way thru when Amelia's step dad shows up in Arizona. We find out he is connected to all that his happening in Arizona.  When the book did pick I really did enjoy it, so I will recommend it to be read.

I was given this book by Bethany House for my review and was not required to give a positive review.

Parenting With Scripture by Kara Durbin

 "Parenting with Scripture" by Kara Durbin is a book that states what it is.  It has a topic and then scriptures that back each topic, a discussion section, a take action section and finally a parenting tip.  An example of the topics is death, crafty (a tricking person), ministry, prejudice, sadness, self-respect, and honesty.  I did enjoy the breakdown of each topic even a dictionary answers.  Question to ask and answer with your family. In the discussion section it does have you read more from scripture.  I do enjoy when scripture is taken out of context for example in the loneliness section the author has verse Luke 5:16 "But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray", well in context this scripture is about Christ seeking refuge and prayer not about loneliness.  I will recommend this book as it does have good uses but to remember to always check the verses in context and make sure that is what the verse is about.  We must keep scripture in context at all time otherwise we are twisting it to our needs and that is not what we should do.

I was given this book from MPNewsroom for my honest review and was not required to give a positive review.

30 Days To A More Beautiful You By Kylie Bisutti

"30 Days To A More Beautiful You" by former Victoria Secret Model Kylie Bisutti.  Her focus of this very quick devotional geared toward girls is the focus of inner beauty instead of outer beauty.  At first I was not sure about how quick this little devotional is for each day but she surprised me by packing a lot of info into each days devotion.  Each day has a scripture verse, a little bit of her story, how to grow our inner beauty and questions for the reader to answer herself.  This is a very powerful devotional it is perfect for pre-teen and teen girls, I highly recommend it. 

I was given this book Tyndale publishing for my review and was not required to give a positive review.

Wish by Jake Smith

"Wish" by Jake Smith is a very powerful book.  Wish is about a young boy fighting cancer and his wish not for himself but for his dad.  I will admit this was a hard book for me to read because the first part when Aaron is taken to a Children's hospitalization the author really describes how a parent feels going into their "new home" while their child is hospitalized.  I know my son did not have cancer but when he first went in the hospital we had no idea what was going and this author really accurately expresses the feelings us parents of sick children have felt.  I highly recommend this book for everyone. Now I will admit that it is heavy on the baseball as Aaron is a huge fan and his wish for his dad does involve baseball.  

Here is Where By Andrew Carroll

"Here is Where, Discovering America's Great Forgotten History" by Andrew Carroll one of the best quick facts on history books I have read.  This has been a very fun and entertaining book to read.  It has all kind of different facts about history that most people did not know.  Each chapter has a main topic and the author not only talks about it but also his trip to the area his talking about and any side stories.  Its a wonderful for history fans.

I will give a little teaser for this book without given much away.
1.  Like who is Richard "Tow Gun" Hart's famous relative?
2.  How did the Spanish flu kill the most healthy people?
3. What Happened at Caledonia Correction Institution?
And my favorite fact
4.  What does Madison Square Garden, the New York Public Library, Washington Square Park, and the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel have in common?

This book is my absolute favorite unknown history facts book.  I highly recommend this book its a good one.

I was given this book from Blogging for Books for my honest review.

Part one on the blessing of the elderly in our lives and world.

This post will be part 1 of a series I decided to write on the importance of the elderly in our lives and world.

I have been thinking lately how sad it is that older woman now days don't always mentor the young woman around them.  What really got me thinking was 2 elderly woman (one I knew personally and one I only knew through a book her Granddaughter wrote) passed away in the last few weeks.  The lady I knew from Church was such a blessing no matter how she was feeling she would encourage people of all ages, I looked forward to seeing her at church.  She left this earth at the young age of 95 (yes I said young cause her attitude was young).  Now the lady I did not know personally impacted me by reading her story (you can read my review of her story  here ), her faith and strength through everything she went through really encouraged me and yet again I will highly recommend her story in the book The Waiting.  I think its sad on how many woman who need someone to come around them and mentor them but no-one will or they are not open to it.  I have craved having an older Christian woman mentor but when I have tried most think I have it all together (trust me I don't) or I have tried to help other woman but I am brushed off as I am too different from them.  We need to humble ourselves as Christian woman and be willing to ask for mentor or be a mentor no matter your age there is a woman younger than you. Women are you open to be helped or to help others?  Remember these scriptures pertaining to older women.

Titus 2:3-10 3Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9Bondservants^b are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. (Copied from the ESV Version of the Bible)