Book Review: Need You Now (Beth Wiseman)

Review of Need You Now by Beth Wiseman.

Tired of the big city, Brad and Darlene Henderson move their family out of Houston and into a smaller town called Round Top, Texas. Their middle daughter, Grace, does not handle the move very well and takes up a dangerous activity.

Darlene decides to take a job outside the home working at a special needs school for the first time in many, many years. She enjoys the job and feels like she is making a difference, but at the same time tensions begin to rise between her and her husband. When a divorced parent of one of her students begins paying attention to her, Darlene feels like someone is actually listening to her for the first time in a long time. When Brad blames Darlene's and her job for Grace's issues, a wedge is driven between the two and only God can fix things.

Darlene does befriend their neighbor, the lovely Layla Jager, a former well-known actress. Layla doesn't open up to people easily (fearing they will only like her for her celebrity status) but Darlene manages to get her to open up and the friendship is beneficial to both Darlene and Layla.

This is Beth Wiseman's first contemporary fiction novel, and while I think I prefer her Amish fiction, I did enjoy this book. The story drew me in and was a good read.


Thank you to BookSneeze for providing me with a free review copy of this book!

Bee Day 2012

Book Review: Song of My Heart (Kim Vogel Sawyer)

I love a good Christian historical romance. I don't know what it is about the endearing female protagonist and the charming male cowboy who sweeps her off her feet. Granted, they can be a bit predictable, but I love them.

Song of My Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer, however, while predictable in parts, took some twists and turns that I did not quite expect.

I absolutely loved Sadie. I'm pretty much convinced that if she were not just a fictional character, and if I had lived back then, we would've been fast friends.

And what is not to love about Miss Shelva and Miss Melva. You can't help but smile at their antics. Their brother, Asa, however, is part of the reason the story took some turns I didn't quite expect. I expected Asa to be a sweet little man. I was wrong.

My all-time favorite character, however, was (not surprisingly) Thad McKane. Typical fictitious cowboy/sheriff/good guy. And the guy you root for the entire time. Thad had a lot to overcome and it was fun to watch him grow throughout the book.

The whole story was very engaging and enjoyable. This was only the second book by Kim Vogel Sawyer that I had read, and I've enjoyed both so I think it is time to get my hands on some more of her books because I am sure they are just as enjoyable!

With endearing characters, a sweet love story and just enough mystery to keep things interesting, I would  recommend Song of My Heart!

This review copy was provided to me by the publisher. I received no compensation and was not required to give a positive review. Thank you to Bethany House for providing me with this book!

Books Read in March 2012

Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, the month of March segued into the month of April without me even realizing it. I mean, I knew that we were writing "4" for the month when writing the date, but for some reason the fact that we did, indeed, change months somehow slipped past me. And that is why I am a whole week late sharing with you my list of books from March. What I hate to admit, however, is that I only read one book in the month of March. I'm not sure why, it just happened that way.

1. Longing (Karen Kingsbury) - 319 p.

Which is a whopping 319 pages during the month of March. And 4947 pages in 2012. I can assure you that April will have a better total, as we are already 8 days in and I've finished two books. *whew*

How Great Is Our God?!

I sat in a friend's hot tub last night, staring up at the stars. It was one of those perfect nights for star-gazing - the air was crisp, the sky clear. The stars twinkled. After awhile my gazing was rewarded with a shooting star that streaked its way across the sky. I was thinking about a few things, but one thing that was going through my mind was "how GREAT is our God!" I mean really....looking at those amazing and magnificent stars....yeah. Gets me every time.

Thank you, Lord, for clear starry nights.

Photography: Headshots!

I recently had the opportunity to take headshots for a friend of mine that she is going to use for a local theatre audition. I had a lot of fun practicing my headshot skills!

  

  

Engaged: Tim & Cassie

I've been fortunate enough to be pretty close to my paternal cousins for most of my life. Since we moved to Idaho, we've lived only a few hours away from each other, which has been really nice.

I've been teasing my cousin Tim for several years now that he would probably be the first cousin to tie the knot. Well, whaddya know? I was right! Tim met a girl at college (I predicted that one, too...) and the rest is history.

Tim and his super-awesome fiance, Cassie (who, I am sure, is going to be a great addition to the family!) were nice enough to come up one Saturday and let me take engagement pictures for them. We came close to freezing our toes off, but we sure got some fun shots! 

They said I could share some of the pictures with you, so here are a few:

Cassie and I made that chalkboard out of a wooden frame and some foam board. We MADE it, people. We were pretty pleased with ourselves. She gets all the credit for the idea. I couldn't find a chalkboard anywhere so was abandoning the concept of cool chalkboard save-the-dates. :)

I had to include the shoe picture because I really like it, and because Tim just doesn't understand why anyone would want to take pictures of shoes...... :)

Enough of the ambiguous shots....I'm sure you want to see the happy couple....right?

No, Cassie is not short. My cousin is just TALL! 

I feel like he has grown an extra inch every time I see him.

By the end of it, we were all pretty tired.......

Congratulations, Tim & Cassie! Thanks for letting me spend a few hours with you!