"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)

Blind Trust by Sandra Orchard

Summary

"Blind Trust" by Sandra Orchard is the second novel in the Port Aster Secrets series. The main lead in the book is Kate Adams has no idea she was carrying counterfeit money that she got from her neighbor when she goes to the store and it starts another mess in her life.  If you had read the previous book you know she was set up in another case well that plays into this book also.  Also family secrets come to head and start affecting with all this other mess also. 

My Opinion 

Blind Trust would be a better book if you had read the first book in the series as I have not read the first book so I did get confused in the book   This book was all over the place in my opinion there were multiple side stories with the big one being the love story of Kate and Detective Tom. I got lost with some of the stories and not knowing some of the background that came from book 1 that I had to stop reading for awhile then pick it back up later. Truthfully I was hoping the romance portion was more of a minor part of the story but it was not.  So to me this was a mystery romance which is just not my cup of tea.  However if it is your style I would recommend it only if you have read book 1 first.

I given this book by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

United Captured By God's Vision For Diversity By Trillia J. Newbell

United Captured By God's Vision For Diversity By Trillia J. Newbell is a book about our churches becoming diverse and not just one race or culture.  I was so excited to read this book and I was right to be excited about.  I love how the author discusses while using scripture (correctly I might add) that our churches should be full of people of all races, financial status, and different walks of life.  It is sad that in this day and age there are still many churches that are all one race or one type of wealth. This is a topic that is not talked about much in the church but it should be.  I mean seriously its 2014 why are we as Christian still keeping separate at times? We are all one together as believers and this author really touches on that especially that all our culturally differences can help us grow in Christ.  We can learn from each others experiences.  Even if its uncomfortable at first to mix so what the Bible does not say the Christian life will always be comfortable.  So if you can't tell I highly recommend this book for everyone to read!

I was given this book by Moody Publishers for my honesty review and was not required to give a positive one.

A Woman Of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert

A Woman Of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert is a modern Christian novel.  Our main character in this story is a very rich woman named Claire Massey.  She has been living the dream of a very very rich woman but we start out finding out that her husband has embezzled lots of money so they lose everything.   She must decide how she is going to take this news for herself and her family.

First of all was not sure if I would enjoy this book but I could not put it down.  I really did enjoy the story of how Claire has to learn money and status will not make her happy even though that is what her mother thinks.  Also we see what happens to her daughter and sons through this family crisis of the father being arrested and put in jail.  I don't want to give away much to the story but it is a very good and truthful story.  Now I did have one spot I was a little uncomfortable with and that was her dating with her husband in jail.  To me even if your spouse is in jail/prison they are still your spouse so you should not cheat on them. Even with that part I do recommend this book.

I was given this book from Revel Publishing a division of Baker Publishing Group and was not required to give a positive review.