Review of Love's First Bloom

Ruth Livingstone's life is quickly turned upside down when her father, Reverend Livingstone, is accused of murder and must stand trial. To protect Ruth, he sends her with a young child to a family in a different state. Tragedy soon strikes, and Ruth must keep her assumed identity. While Ruth seeks peace attending to an abandoned garden, she meets Jake Spencer, a man with an ulterior motive altogether. Ruth and Jake's twists of lies are difficult to untangle, even as love slowly begins to blosom between the two.

Love's First Bloom is a very enjoyable story that I believe develops quite well. Delia Parr's descriptions paired with the plotline are quite lovely in themselves. I found myself not wanting to put this book down and looking forward how the story would unfold. My only complaint is that I very quickly grew tired of the term “fallen angels” being used over and over...

I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.

Review of Heaven is for Real

Colton Burpo is one extraordinary little boy. During an emergency appendectomy that he is not predicted to survive, Colton gets to visit heaven, see Jesus, and even converse with people like his great-grandfather, who had died long before Colton was born. His details of heaven, and especially of Jesus, were amazing.

I'm usually a bit wary of claims of experiences such as this, but this story definitely passed my test. Some “experiences” only confuse and scare readers, and as the Bible says, “God is love” and “There is no fear in love.” This book is not confusing or scary; it's actually the opposite! This was a refreshing, revitalizing read that brought me both laughter and tears. I finished reading this book in less than a full day because I literally didn't want to put it down. I kept having the desire to hear the blessing of Colton tell his story in person.

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.

I Don't Know Who I Am, Who I Am Without You; All I Know is That I Should

Life... Oh, if life had a rewind button! But alas, it doesn't, and we're stuck with our decisions. I can't go back a year and a half ago and tell him what I waited about two months too long to him. I can't make him change that either. I blame myself more than I blame him, in a way, even though we were equally at fault. I can't pretend that this whole situation hasn't put me in the most emotional pain that I've ever experienced. I can't even make hurting him make me feel any better about my situation. I certainly can't make him fight for me -- especially not with her there. What scares me is that I thought I was done hurting over this. I realize that I have to admit that I, despite everything, deep down still have feelings for him... feelings I don't want... feelings I would erase if I could. Do I love him? I don't know... I'm afraid to answer that question; I'm afraid that the answer would shake up everything I've always believed to be true about myself and about love. I can't face this right now. I don't anticipate falling for anyone else this hard again, because it hurts, way more than it should.

Review of Masquerade

The year is 1886, and Charlotte, “Lottie,” Gleason is leaving her life in England to marry a wealthy heir from America, whom she has never met. In her journey to find herself and mature, Lottie's life is changed in numerous ways, most notably when she decides to exchange identities with her lady maid, Dora. Both women must trust God to give them strength and to be a guide in their paths.

Though I can't explain why, I've always been interested in servants finding love with the higher class, and I assume that that is what drew me to this book in the first place. Nancy Moser has done a wonderful job of exploring the lavish Gilded Age, and once I started reading this story, I found that I didn't want to stop! I liked that Lottie was flawed but not in the sense that it appears the author made a noticeable effort to make the main character imperfect. This was a lovely book by Nancy Moser, and I would love to read more from her in the future.

I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.

Review of Where Hearts Are Free

Bridget Barrington is a young girl who is desperately in love with Philippe Clavell, a former French noble who became an indentured servant following hardships he and his family faced upon escaping to the New World. Because of their various differences, including the fact that Philippe is a Huguenot and Bridget is Catholic, Bridget's parents refuse to allow the two to be together. Once Philippe is released from his service, Bridget's parents quickly arrange for her to be married to Edward Moorehead, but Edward is far from who he seems to be. Both Bridget and Philippe must trust God to make a way for them. This book is book three in Golden Keyes Parsons' “Darkness to Light” trilogy. Though I have not read books one and two, my understanding of this novel was not at all compromised. It's a great stand-alone book, though I am sure that, if this book was any indication, the entire series would be a wonderful read. This was an excellent book, and I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to this particular genre! I didn't find any of the characters to be obviously fake or annoying, so that was very refreshing. “Where Hearts Are Free” is a book I didn't want to put down, and I'd love to read more from this author in the future. I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.

Review of Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Being immediately drawn to Max Lucado's idea of “outliving your life,” I was excited about reading this book. To my delight, it even exceeded my high expectations. Seriously, how wonderful would it be if we Christians shared the love and glory of Jesus Christ in our lifetime so that that message would blossom and grow in other people's lives even beyond our own lives? If more Christians would live their lives this way, the world as we know it would undergo a change for the better. This is my first book of Lucado's that I have read, and I love his writing style and inspiring viewpoints. I found myself looking forward to the selected Scriptures and directed prayers at the end of each chapter. The more I read of this book, the more absorbed I became in it, and I definitely didn't want to put it down! I've already been recommending this book to others, and I would love to read more of Lucado's works in the future. I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as a part of their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review; my opinions, therefore, are completely unbiased.

My Favorite Television Shows... & Why

I just wanted to do a little blog post about my favorite T.V. shows and why I like them so much. Consider this to be in order of preference, too.


#1: Touched by an Angel



Gahh, I LOVE this show! There aren't many shows out there that explicitly share the message of God and His infinite love like this one does. When I'm having a bad day or just a hard time in my life in general, I like to pop in one of the DVDs into my DVD player and allow the show to uplift me. Plus, Andrew is sooo handsome and sweet, and Monica is gorgeous and freakin' adorable. I think the major reason I love Monica so much is because she's pretty much everything I want to be, all wrapped into one. I guess that shows how lofty my goals are, though, since it takes an angel to be that way. :) I remember watching this show with my grandparents when I was a wee one, and several of the episodes stuck with me through the years. I have so many "favorite" episodes of this show, but one that sticks out to me is "Seek & Ye Shall Find." This particular episode takes place in Mississippi, yet they DON'T portray us as being complete idiots (which is so rare -- but with John Dye, who plays Andrew, being from MS too, I don't think they'd do that anyway). Also, the stunningly beautiful lilt of Monica's Irish brogue carressing the word "Tupelo" (where I was born... as was Elvis. blah) just gets me every time. hehe. Monica loses her memory in this episode, and when she asks for an angel, Andrew shows up; I LOOOOVE that! And she's so attached to him in this episode. It's absolutely precious. Okay, I'm going to stop gushing now. I just adore this show so much!


#2: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman






















Ah, Dr. Quinn, my new love! I remember watching this show, too, with my grandparents when I was a wee one. The thing I specifically remember most about the show from when I was younger is the scene where Michaela gives birth. haha. I don't know what it is about this show that initially attracted me to watch it again this summer, because I ordinarily would never watch something like this. The single fact that it's in the Western genre is alone enough for me to snub my nose at it, but this show is different. I really love the spelling of Michaela's name. If I ever have a child and it's a girl, I want to name her Iliana/Ileana Michaela. I also like the name Quinn, too, though, so maybe Monica Quinn if I ever have a girl after that? Or maybe I should just get a pet and name it Quinn (though I really am considering Monica as a second girl's name). hah. And I have to mention the beauty that is Byron Sully... WOO, is that man gorgeous! Sexy, even. Oh man, oh man.... Oh, and Jane Seymour is extremely beautiful, too. ;D hehe.


#3: The Nanny

















Yes, The Nanny. :) This is another that I remember from when I stayed with my grandparents a lot, but I didn't really get to watch this one back then because they didn't really like it. I do vividly remember seeing/hearing the theme song, though, and that made me really want to watch it. lol. But I really started watching it back in about 2005 or so. I had never sat down and watched it before then (besides as a child, of course, but like I said, I saw it so rarely that I knew nothing about it), but I definitely knew about it, because it came on Lifetime all the time when I was watching The Golden Girls (which is also one of my faves) on that channel. One day, I turned the TV to that channel because The Golden Girls was about to come on, and The Nanny was just about to go off. It was the Thanksgiving episode when Fran is pregnant and is talking about how happy she is to be married to Maxwell and be pregnant with the twins, etc. I didn't really think much of the show at the time, but that night, I had a dream about the show (which I won't get into -- this is long enough already!). That inspired me to watch the show the next day, and I fell in love with it immediately. Probably my favorite thing about the show is Niles and C.C.'s complex love/hate relationship. If you didn't know any better, you'd think they hated each others guts, but deep down, there was love there. Thankfully, they did get together in the end, but sadly, I felt that it was too rushed, and too much was crammed into that last episode. They deserve more than that! Oh well... That's what fanfiction is for, I always say! ;D