Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from a corner of the world with no snow! But then there was no snow in Bethlehem either the night that Jesus was born and laid in a manger.

It's so amazing that the the Son of God, who is God himself, came to this wretched world as a tiny little baby and experienced all the things we do just so he could live a blameless and sinless life in order to be the perfect sacrifice die on a cross and then come back to life three days later.

Tonight I went caroling at a hospital and afterwards someone shared some thoughts about the Christmas story. Jesus knew what it was like to have a dirty diaper (sounds sacrilegious doesn't it?), what it was like to not be able to communicate, what teasing children and preteen & teenage awkwardness were like. He's been there, done that. He knows. He knows how you feel. He knows what you're going through.

Share your burdens and joys with him and rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! (Did you know Emmanuel means 'God with us'?)

Merry Christmas!

P.S. I'd post a picture or share video of some great Christmas carols, but the internet is incredibly slow here (I'm visiting a friend). Next week I'll be back home and will get back to book blogging.

P.P.S. Guess I'll have to try posting this later, an internet connection speed of 1 to 4 kbps is not enough to publish this.

Waiting on Wednesday #21 - Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen

Hosted by Breaking the Spine.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're

eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen

Bethany House - January 2013

About
Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father regain his spirits when his academy fails, agrees to travel with him to the distant Cornwall coast, to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But after they arrive and begin teaching the younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen and danger mounts. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte, only to find the music room empty? Who sneaks into her room at night? Who rips a page from her journal, only to return it with a chilling illustration?

The baronet's older sons, Phillip and Henry, wrestle with problems--and secrets--of their own. They both remember Emma Smallwood from their days at her father's academy. She had been an awkward, studious girl. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her.

When the suspicious acts escalate, can the clever tutor's daughter figure out which brother to blame... and which brother to trust with her heart?

Why I want to read it

Julie Klassen is a great author. I loved Maid of Fairbourne Hall and am excited to see what new tale she has spun. Just from the description I can tell that she's woven some themes from English classics into her story. 

Where you can find it

Amazon and ChristianBooks 

Book Trailer

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Waiting on Wednesday #20: Safe in His Arms by Colleen Coble

Hosted by Breaking the Spine.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Safe in His Arms by Colleen Coble
Thomas Nelson - January 2013
Series: Under Texas Skies, #2

About
Margaret suspects the new foreman on her father’s ranch is hiding something. Though Daniel promises she’s safe with him around, how can she be sure? Born and raised on a sprawling ranch in Texas, Margaret O’Brien prides herself on her competence as a rancher. She’s convinced she can do as good a job on the ranch as her brother who died in the war. But her father believes she’s made for more than just dawn-to-dusk work. He wants her to have the love of a good man, to have children, to build a life. But she gave up hope for such dreams years ago. The ranch is her life now.

When Margaret’s father hires Daniel Cutler as a new foreman, she’s frustrated and suspicious. Daniel swears he’s turned over a new leaf and isn’t involved with the thieves he used to run with, but Margaret is unconvinced. When she finds out he’s an undercover Texas Ranger, sparks fly. Can she help Daniel extricate his younger brother who is still involved? And can Daniel convince her he’s the safe haven he’s promised for her heart?

Why I want to read it

The first book in this series is Blue Moon Promise. I didn't particularly love it, but I'd still like to read book two. I really liked the author's Lonestar series and am hoping this series becomes as enjoyable. Besides the description makes it sound like quite the adventuresome tale.

Where you can find it

Amazon and ChristianBooks

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2012 New to Me Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is the top ten authors that were new to you in the past year. Hard to believe 2012 is almost over! The *stared* titles link to my review of the book.

Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

1. Patricia C. Wrede
* Dealing with Dragons *

* Searching for Dragons*
Calling on Dragons
Talking to Dragons

2. Regina Jennings

* Sixty Acres and a Bride *

3. Becky Wade

* My Stubborn Heart *

4. Karen Kingsbury

* The Bridge *
(Yes, believe it or not, I'd never read any Kingsbury before)

5. Melanie Dobson

Love Finds You in Mackinac Island

6. Jody Hedlund

The Doctor's Lady

7. E.D. Baker

* The Wide Awake Princess *

8. Shelley Gray, also known as Shelley Shepard Gray
* Hidden *
A Texan's Promise

* A Texan's Honor *
* A Texan's Choice *


9. Shannon Hale
The Princess Academy
The Goose Girl

Enna Burning
River Secrets
Forest Born

10. Ginger Myrick

* El Rey: A Novel of Renaissance Iberia *


Which favorite new authors did you discover this year?

Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

The Memory Jar by Tricia Goyer

The Memory Jar by Tricia Goyer. Zondervan, 2012. 352p. (9780310335108) Series: Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors, #1

I don’t often read Amish stories but when I saw this one it caught my eye. Plus the series name is very much like one of my favorite musicals. Not that the book is anything really like that movie.

Goodreads Summary:

Every year, 30--40 young Amish men descend on the cozy little town of West Kootenai, Montana, arriving in the spring to live there for six months and receive 'resident' status for the hunting season in the fall. They arrive as bachelors, but go home with brides.

Sarah Shelter has lived in West Kootenai for the last ten years and wonders if she will ever fall in love.  Since the tragic death of her best friend, she carries her memories in a jar along with the small items connected to them. For just as long, she's also been carrying around her emotions instead of allowing them to penetrate deep into her heart.

Now she's met a kind and gentle man who may be able to break down the wall. But can Sarah risk her heart to finally achieve her dreams?

Purcell Mountains in the West Kootenai Montana
Photo credit: Kinsey Barnard

My Review:

This was a fun read. Usually Amish stories take place in the Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana area but this one started out in Montana and stayed there for a good portion of the story. Part way through Sarah does indeed head east to visit her aunt and be closer to Jathan but she is still from Montana and her mindset is a bit different from the Amish she meets in Ohio.

I enjoyed learning about the different Amish communities and realized that they aren’t all the same, they have their own tendencies based on where they live just like everyone else.

The friendship between Sarah and Patty is lively and the flashback memories of childhood don’t interrupt the story in my opinion. Their friendship is a good reminder of how much one person can affect and shape the life of another and that we should strive to be a positive influence on our friends.

Go read it! 

Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from ChristianBooks

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Waiting on Wednesday #19 - Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Hosted by Breaking the Spine.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're

eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Zondervan - Dec '12 or Jan '13

About
A daring rescue. A difficult choice.

Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother’s jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie’s one chance at freedom---but can she trust another person to keep her safe?

Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl’s inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible---she is his brother’s future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else---he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what.

When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help---but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them---they must also protect their hearts.

Why I want to read it

I absolutely LOVED Melanie's first two books - The Healer's Apprentice and The Merchant's Daughter. I love the twists she gives to classic fairy tales and the Christian perspective she adds. Can't wait to read it!

Where you can find it

Amazon and ChristianBooks

Book Trailer

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books on Christmas Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Christmas is around the corner so I think the topic creators over at Broke and the Bookish had a great idea to make this week's topic the top ten books you'd like to get for Christmas.

Top Ten Fiction Books I Wouldn't Mind Getting for Christmas

1. Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

(I already got this in mail, thank you Anne Elizabeth Stengl! But getting a package from America while in Africa is like Christmas)

2. A Promise to Love by Serena Miller

3. A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado, California by Keli Gwyn

4 - 6. The Healer’s Apprentice, The Merchant’s Daughter, and an ARC of Fairest Beauty all by Melanie Dickerson

7. The Princess by Lori Wick

(One of my favorite books and I don’t own it)

8. A Change of Fortune by Jen Turano


9. & 10. Hope's Promise and Faith's Reward by Tammy Barley

(I read Love's Rescue and really enjoyed it, the ebook copy I have included a preview of the next book and ended on quite the cliffhanger.)

Which books are on your Christmas wishlist?

Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Part 1 of Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

 Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Bethany House, 2012. 347p. (9780764210266)

Oh. My. Goodness! This book is amazing! And I've only read through part one. Already I’m giving this book a five star plus rating, well five butterfly plus rating because that’s the clipart I chose. Which means before I post my complete review I have to go make a five plus rating.

In the beginning of part one we meet Sir Eanrin, Lady Gleamdren, Queen Bebo, and King Iubdan again. While Starflower does go way back in time before the other books in the series this is by no means the beginning of their stories. Eanrin has been a bard for so long he can’t remember not being one and Queen Bebo has had so many birthday’s that the Fairie folk of Rudiobus Mountain only celebrate it every one hundred years.

It’s very fun to see what Eanrin was like way back then compared to in the days of Una and Lionheart. I’m very excited to learn what all matured him a bit

We also meet the Black Dogs and the Midnight that surrounds them again and get to learn a bit more about them. Never would have guessed them to have the alternate shape that they do. Last night when I finished reading part one I decided to read something light and “fluffy” to keep myself from dreaming of black dogs and yellow eyes.

In the prologue we meet Hri Sora and the Dark Father. Both are dragons, but Hri Sora was not always a dragon. Over Christmas I’m going to reread Veiled Rose and Moonblood to learn more about the first dragons origins. Unless part two reveals more, which I suspect it will.

And of course we meet Starflower, whom the book is named after and who will be the heroine I suspect, is of course also introduced. I love how she tells her name and Eanrin figures it out but then calls her by the fairie word for starflower. And I can’t tell you what it is because that will spoil your “oh my goodness, that’s her! that’s so awesome! what’s the rest of her story?! how does she end up…? And…oh MY” moment.

On page 123 the Dragonwitch is first mentioned and now I can hardly wait for book five to come out next summer. I know, I’m terribly impatient and I haven’t even finished book four!

So there you have it. This book is fabulous. This series is fabulous – each book is better than the last. So what are you waiting for? Go read them!

Update: Here's part 2 of my Starflower review.

Go read it! Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from B&N; Buy it from ChristianBooks

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the author and publisher. Thank you so much Anne Elisabeth!!! I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.