One Lovely Blog Award

A big thank you to Lee Smith at Butterfly Blessings for passing along this award. My thank you is a little bit delayed due to some things that have been happening here at home, but I'm back and very grateful.



Here are the rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award": Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I'm not as seasoned as some in the blogging world, so it will be hard to come up with 15, but here are some blogs I enjoy:

Caffeine and Romance

What You Reading Now?

Great Christian Fiction and other tales

Just A Little Something On My Mind

A Sequence of Continual Delights

Redefining Beautiful by Jenna Lucado

Redefining Beautiful
by: Jenna Lucado with Max Lucado

Summary of the Book:

In this book Jenna Lucado uses real life issues to help teenage girls realize they are beautiful because God made them and God loves them. Through studying the relationship of a girl and her father Jenna is able to pinpoint specific areas why girls feel they are not beautiful and counteract that with biblical reasons that prove that they are.

My Thoughts:

This book is a great read for every teenage girl. Jenna has a wonderful writing style that makes it easy for anyone to read. Her real life examples help you to realize that you are not alone in your insecurities and awkwardness and that there is hope. I was a little bit concerned with how much she focused on a good relationship with your earthly father, but about half-way through my concerns faded. She does a great job of pointing out that we all have a Perfect Heavenly Father. Her advice for teens on relationships is wonderful. I also really like the way that she has personalized the book for every reader to get involved and explore their motives and relationships. This would be a great book for family discussions. I think that anyone who reads this book will certainly redefine their definition of the word beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sugar and Grits

Sugar and Grits
by: DiAnn Mills, Martha Rogers, Janice Thompson, Kathleen Y'Barbo

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am at a point in my life where I have a wonderful group of friends that are similar to the group in this book and I just fell in love with all of them and was able to relate to them really well. Each novella was written well and did a great job of portraying the uniqueness of each character. Each woman learns how God needs to be at the center of every relationship and that sometimes you find love in the oddest of places. We all need to keep our eyes open to God's plans that are happening all around us.

Back of the Book:

Strong women with a dash of sweetness. . .

Berta is a young woman in her twenties who owns and operates Bert's Dirts, a bulldozer and backhoe business. She's putting away her money to attend a school in Biloxi to fulfill her dream of singing opera. But God has other plans, and romance is on the way.

Dottie Jean is heading toward her fifty-fifth birthday. A widow, she makes her living by owning and operating Calista's Catfish house and making the best pecan pies in the county. But love is standing in the background when Dottie Jean encounters an old high school flame.

Sassy, a widow in her fifties, is known for her quick tongue and peculiar temperament. As the proprietor of Sassy's Bait Shop and an avid fisherwoman, Sassy thinks she has life all figured out until God reels in something unexpected.

Sue Ellen is a young woman in her twenties who is living out her dream as a hairdresser at the RhondaVous Beauty Shop. She and bud Briggs, deputy sheriff of Calista, have been friends since their school days, but does God have something else in mind for them?

Will these Mississippi women learn to balance their tendencies toward gritty strength and independence with feminine sweetness and godly joy?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Talking to the Dead

Talking to the Dead
by: Bonnie Grove

This book has had me kinda torn. The book is very well written. Ms. Grove keeps your curiosity peeked throughout the book. She is very descriptive, helping you put yourself right in the house, office, church, etc. You really do feel like you know the characters and can picture them in your mind very easily. She is also very knowledgeable and you can tell that the book was very well researched.

However, I do have a few concerns. The book wasn't exactly what I expected from the description on the back of the book. I do not like how much the book focuses on psychological practices and medicine for mental healing. I personally believe in biblical counseling. In 2 Peter 1:3 Peter tells us that "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." I also do not like the feelings-based 'God-experience' that is thrown in at the end. Nowhere does anyone encourage her to, neither does she call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10).

*Please note that these are my personal preferences and beliefs and I understand that those reading this may feel different*

About the Book:
Twenty-something Kate Davis can't seem to get this grieving widow thing right. She's supposed to put on a brave face and get on with her life, right? Instead she's camped out on her living room floor, unwashed, unkempt, and unable to sleep-because her husband Kevin keeps talking to her.

Is she losing her mind?

Kate's attempts to find the source of the voice she hears are both humorous and humiliating, as she turns first to an "eclectically spiritual" counselor, then a shrink with a bad toupee, a mean-spirited exorcist, and finally group therapy. There she meets Jack, the warmhearted, unconventional pastor of a ramshackle church, and at last the voice subsides. But when she stumbles upon a secret Kevin was keeping, Kate's fragile hold on the present threatens to implode under the weight of the past. And Kevin begins to shout.

Will the voice ever stop? Kate must confront her grief to find the grace to go on, in this tender, quirky story about second chances.

About the Author:
Bonnie Grove started writing when her parents bought a typewriter, and she hasn't stopped since. Trained in Christian Counseling (Emmanuel Bible College, Kitchener, ON), and secular psychology (University of Alberta), she developed and wrote social programs for families at risk while landing articles and stories in anthologies. She is the author of Working Your Best You: Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You; Talking to the Dead is her first novel. Grove and her pastor husband, Steve, have two children; they live in Saskatchewan.

Purchase Talking to the Dead at
Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Teaser Tuesdays Oct. 27

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading
Anyone can participate just follow these steps:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others.)
5. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser for the week:
"Dad never gave up. Having immediately fallen in love, he pursued my mom until she walked down the aisle at the same small Miami church where their relationship began."

This week's teaser is from:

Redefining Beautiful
by: Jenna Lucado

Come back in a couple of days for a review of 'Redefining Beautiful'.

Thanks for stopping by!!