I am a Follower by Leonard Sweet

Hello there! I have just received a new book from Booksneeze, “I am a Follower” by Leonard Sweet, and I LOVED it! But, before I get started, I need to let you all know that I did get this book for free from the booksneeze blogging program offered through the Thomas Nelson Publishing Company. I got it in exchange for an honest review, and anything I say is completely my own opinion. Now, on with the review! Following, in today’s society, is not the norm. At all, whatsoever. We are the masters of our own path, the dictators of our own lives, and the rulers of our situations. So when this Jesus guy comes along and says, “Forget about you. Live for Me,” it gets sort of hectic. It turns our little, perfectly placed lives upside down and changes every aspect of our day-to-day schedule. Shouldn’t that be the case? And used to be, that was exactly what happened. But as AD 30 turned into AD 2011, our collective attitude towards Jesus has become less and less about Him and more and more about us. This book was written so that maybe some people would change that. In a time where everyone is wanting more, books such as “Radical,” “Not a Fan”, and “Crazy Love” rise to the top. I believe that we should add “I am a Follower” to this list. Five out of five stars!

Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks by K. D. McCrite

Hey, there, everyone! I just received a new book from booksneeze- “Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks: Confessions of April Grace #2” by K. D. McCrite. Before I delve into the actual review, I need to say (for legal reasons) that I received this book from the Thomas Nelson Publishing Company for free in exchange for an honest review. I am not obligated to give anything but my own thoughts, and whatever I say is my own honest opinion. So take it or leave it, folks. Anyway! So, I had also reviewed the first novel in this series, “In Front of God and Everybody”, and it was adorable. When I read this, I was just as enamored with the bubbly writing style and the plain sweetness of the prose. It was… Innocent, would probably be the best word for it, in my own opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I will probably be giving it (and the first one- nice little gift set! J) to a friend of mine for Christmas. I know that she will completely enjoy the books, as much I liked them. I think this was a cute book and I hope that there are more to come! Four out of five stars!

The Encounter by Stephen Arterburn

This book was great, I'm just gonna say up front. It flowed easily and almost made me cry at a few points. A young man, after an attepmt at suicide, decided to go out and find his birth mother. He tracks her all over Alaska with the help of a reporter, Erica. Does he find his mom? I won't tell you- you'll just have to find out for yourself. This was a really sweet book and I give it four out of five stars. Perfect for when you need a little sugary sweet something to lighten your day. I received this book for free from the booksneeze blogger program in exchange for an honest review.

His Steadfast Love by Golden Keyes Parsons

Good evening, all! I hope that everyone is well. I have just received a new book from booksneeze- “His Steadfast Love” by Golden Keyes Parsons. I’m not entirely sure that’s the author’s real name, but if it is, I am extremely jealous. Anyway, I need to say, before I get started on the review, I received this book for free from the Thomas Nelson Publishing company through the Booksneeze bloggers’ program, and everything I say is my own, complete, and honest opinion. So, now, on with the show! “His Steadfast Love” by Golden Keyes Parsons takes place during the civil war, on the Gulf Coast of Texas. A young woman, Amanda, never thinking that she would get married, finds herself falling in love with a Union captain. When her brother joins the Confederates, she is torn in two. What happens next? I guess that you will just have to read it for yourself and find out. Mixing history beautifully with romance, “His Steadfast Love” by Golden Keyes Parsons is a very well written book. It is interesting to see both sides of a conflict put together so well (you know, Union v. Confederate). I give this book four out of five stars.

Waking Hours by Lis Wiehl

Good evening, people! I’ve received a new book recently, and now I have to tell you all how great it was. Before I get started, however, I need to let you all know that I received this book for free from the Thomas Nelson publishing program in exchange for an honest review. Everything I say in the review is completely and truthfully my own opinion. So, anyway, I’ve just gotten the book “Waking Hours” by Lis Wiehl. I’ve read her work before, and this is different than the other books of hers that I have read. But it’s still fantastic. Set in East Salem, you immediately get a sense of mystery and intrigue. This is, after all, where the Salem Witch Trials took place. (Or is it? I’m terrible with geography :)) Lis Wiehl blends mystery, suspense, and the supernatural with as much grace and ease as someone along the lines of Ted Dekker. And I’m a super huge addicted Ted Dekker fan. This would actually be a good book for a reading group- I know that after I finished I could barely stop talking about it! If this is the case, the book has a handy reading guide in back. I loved this book and look forward to more work from the author. Four out of five stars.

The Realms Thereunder by Ross Lawhead

Hello, there! I’ve just received a new book from booksneeze, “The Realms Thereunder” by Ross Lawhead. Before I get started, however, I must say that I received this book for free from the booksneeze blogger program from the Thomas Nelson publishing company, and I am under no obligation to give this book a positive review. Everything I say is how I legitimately feel. Now, on with the show! This was a fairly good book, well written and the plot was formed well. However, a lot of the book felt to me to center around the fantastical, mythical side of things. And that is something that I generally don’t like. The book was well written, however, and I’m trying to write an unbiased review. So I think that, all in all, it was a very good book. I shall give it a solid four out of five stars. I would honestly suggest this book to anyone who finds the unknown, science fictional realm interesting. I know of a few people in my life who would enjoy this book. In fact, I have a certain little brother who loves this kind of stuff, and I do believe that I’ve just acquired his birthday present. J

It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence O. Richards

Hi! I just got a new book from book sneeze! Before I get started, though, I need to let you know that I received this book for free from the Thomas Nelson publishing company through the booksneeze program and I am under no legal obligation to give this book a positive review. So whatever I say about this book is for real how I feel. So, anyway, let’s get going, shall we? “It Couldn’t Just Happen” by Lawrence O. Richards is a good beginner’s guide to apologetics. I’m not a seminary graduate, or have any kind of religious degree, but I love reading and collecting apologetics literature. This was a bit rudimentary for my taste, but this book is written for like 8-12 year olds. So I don’t hold the basic writing style against them J. This book is very colourful, and lays out the facts for all to see. It has charts, diagrams, pictures, fast facts, so on and so forth. I really, really like this book. It’s a good introductory guide to scientific apologetics. I that this book would be excellent for the more scientifically- minded kids out there. I most definitely give this book a solid five out of five stars J

A Vision of Lucy by Margaret Brown

Hey thereJ I’ve gotten a new book sort of recently  from booksneeze, and it’s really good. Before I get started though, I should probably tell you that I received this book for free from the booksneeze program offered through the thomas nelson publishing company and this review is one hundred percent my own opinion. Anywho, this story is about a fledgling woman photographer. Now, to be quite honest, I’ve never really looked into the history of photography- particularly American photography. For a while, it seems that photography  was quite the frivolous pursuit. This is where Lucy in introduced- a woman with a job at a time when it seemed women did everything BUT have a job. Lucy hopes to convince her dad she’s legit, but that’s hard to do when disaster seems to follow her everywhere she goes. Determined to become a respectable worker, she begins to take photographs of the town’s recluse, sure that capturing him on camera would insure her media attention. But she realizes that this job is harder than it looks as she falls in love with him. A plot twist comes (don’t you love those?!) and change Lucy’s story. What will happen to Lucy? Will she remain true to her passions and her God, or will everything crumble down? I’m not about to go and tell you now. You need to find out for yourselfJ

Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

Hello, there! I’ve gotten a new book from book sneeze recently. It’s call “Money Secrets of the Amish” by Lorilee Craker. Before I get started,  I simply must tell you that I received this book for free from the book sneeze program from Thomas Nelson Publishers and they are not making me give this book a good review. So whatever I say about this book is really and truly my own opinion. I need to say this because of some long legal law thing. Anyway, I’ve always been a fan of Dave Ramsey. If you’ve never heard of him, you need to look him up. Seriously. That guy is like a genius with money management. When I saw this book, I was intrigued. I think it’s always a good idea to manage your money well. “Money Secrets of the Amish” by Lorilee Craker is a very practical money mangagement guide. Not only that, but it is enjoyable to read- as enjoyable as accounting/ money books can beJ If you are looking for a user friendly, easily applicable guide to managing money, “Money Secrets of the Amish” by Lorilee Craker is the book for you. You don’t even have to churn butter or own a buggy to use itJ

Rejoice CD by Women of Faith

Hey! I got something new from booksneeze!! I need to tell you first (as always) that I got this for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers and I have no obligations to give this a good review. Okay, now this one got me excited. Because this time, I didn’t get a book. I got a CD! Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer CDs that I can hold over downloading songs from iTunes or whatever. The CD, called “Rejoice by Women of Faith”, offers a bunch of well-known songs, including “You Brought The Sunshine”, “Come As You Are”, “Great Is Thy Faithfullness”, and quite a few more. These songs, though, are not preformed by “famous” artists- rather, it sounds more like a women’s choir (although, really, these songs are actually kind of like arena concerts that were recorded) These songs are good songs, and I honestly enjoy them, but the people singing at some points almost got on my nerves. They sing really, really, really high at some parts (okay, a lot of parts), and it almost gave me a headache. But I still enjoyed this CD, and I think the song selections are superb. I think I give this a good four out of five stars :)

In Front of God and Everybody by K. D. McCrite

Hi! I just got a new book from Booksneeze- “In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace” by K. D. McCrite. This is a really cute book, but before I start telling you about it, I need to tell you that I got this book for free and that I’m under no obligation to give this a good review. Okay, now that that’s done, we can get down to business. “In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace” is a cute book- it makes me think of books that I used to read when I was younger. As a girl that basically grew up out in the booneys, I loved that there was FINALLY a book that didn’t take place in some big city. This book chronicles the life and adventures of a young girl, April Grace, for whom this book is named. There is a certain innocence about the book, something that is prevalent in childrens books yet absent in most adult ones. It was very refreshing to feel that once again. This is just a simply cute book and I would recommend it to anyone under the age of 13 (any GIRL that is under the age of 13. For some reason, I don’t think many boys would be very interestedJ) I give this book five out of five stars.

Take Action Bible, NKJV

Hi- I recently got a new book from booksneeze. It’s a Bible actually, the Take Action Bible NKJV. Before I get started though, I just want to say that I don’t have to give this a good review. Because of this long legal thing, I’m under no obligation to give this a good review. So, any way, I got the Take Action Bible a couple days ago, and I really like it so far- I like the NKJV because the language is still very pretty, like in the KJV, but you don’t really get constantly tangled up in “thees” and “thous” and whatnot. The Bible itself has six colour installments in the Bible featuring the stories of missionaries who went and took action. This is a good Bible, but it’s very small. When I ordered it, I thought it would be like a regular Bible, like the size of a study Bible without the notes. No, this is about half that size. This isn’t really a good Bible for your normal studying, but it’s good for when you’re looking for some inspiration to get going:) This would work well as a gift Bible- it’s the right size. I like this Bible and I give it 4 out of 5 stars:)

The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble

Hi there! I just got a new book from booksneeze- “The Lightkeeper’s Ball” by Colleen Coble. I want to tell you something though before I get started- because of some long legal thing, I’m under no legal obligation to give this a positive review. Translation: I don’t have to say I like it. So whatever I say is how I really feel. Now, let’s begin. I like Colleen Coble’s work- I only own her book “Anathema”, which as my first novel by her, and it was fantastic. So my expectations for this was very high. “The Lightkeeper’s Ball” meets all of them and then some. This book, the third installment of her “Mercy Falls” series, is about young heiress Olivia Stewert. Her family is one of the wealthiest families in the country- or they were. Now their wealth is almost gone and the security of the families future lies on the daughter’s ability to marry well. Whis is where Olivia and her sister, Eleanor, step in. But under mysterious circumstances, Eleanor dies and it’s up to Olivia alone to restore her family. She is chosen to marry, but she flees to Mercy Falls under a long-forgotten family name to find out more before marrying. There she finds out more than she bargained for. When Mercy Falls host a charity ball, secrets will be spilled and truths will be revealed. What lies in store for Olivia and her fiancee? You’ll have to read more and find out. I would recommend this book to any historic or romantic fanatic:)

"Plain Proposal" by Beth Wiseman

I recently got a book from booksneeze- “Plain Proposal” by Beth Wiseman. Due to some legal thing, I’m under no obligation to give this book a positive review, so everything that I say is honestly my honest, real opinion. This book, “Plain Proposal” is a good example of Amish fiction. There seem to be a lot of interest in Amish romantic fiction in the Christian department and this book by Beth Wiseman will not disappoint. A young Amish woman named Miriam is in love with Saul, a young Amish man. Rumors begin circulating that Saul may leave the Amish lifestyle, Miriam ignores them. This book was a fantastic book on the wonderfulness of God and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Amish fiction, or even historical fiction- because of the setting, it feels at points almost as if it is set in the nineteenth century, despite the specifically Amish words and cultures. “Plain Proposal” is the newest book by Beth Wiseman, and it has been one of my absolute favorites of all. And like most Amish books, this one has a scrumptious recipe in the back as well, which just adds to the “deliciousness” of this novel!