Trouble in Store - Carol Cox Review

Thank you to Bethany House Publishing for sending yet another intriguing read. Trouble in Store by Carol Cox follows the story of Melanie Ross when she makes the life changing decision to uproot herself and move out to the wilds of the untamed Arizona Territory. She has come to claim co-ownership of a general
store mercantile. Not only does she inherit half of  a business but also a confusing business partner, a small and mischievous boy, and a generation old murder mystery. I found Ms. Cox to be a write extremely talented in pulling her reader in right from the beginning of the novel up to the final sentence. She very neatly balances the budding romance story with the thrilling sleuthing to solve show down western murder mystery. I recommend this book only if you have a several hours to set aside in one day to read because you will not want to set this book down!

The Guardian: A Bethany House Publishing Review

Since I am playing catch up with my book reviews here is my next one. The Guardian by Beverly Lewis is another story set in Lewis' backdrop of Hickory Hollow, a beloved setting for her well know Amish romance stories. While The Guardian does have an undertone of that Amish love story the main plot follows a young woman reeling from the death of her sister and the loss of her first teaching position as she tries to reconnect with those she loves and in her relationship with God. Jodi Winfield stumbles along the Amish town of Hickory Hollow while out for a morning run when she discovers a young little girl dressed in Plain clothing who can not speak a word of English. This little girl leads Jodi to the Amish community where she learns about the beauty of a life of simplicity and brings her back to what is truly important in life and in relationships.



Right away the beginning of this book grabbed my attention up until about two thirds of the way though when the story began to drag on and each chapter started to sound exactly the same. If the author had cut out a good six or seven chapters in the middle this would have made my top favorites list. As it was, this was still a sweet story with pleasant undertones and good life lessons in religion and in love.

Swept Away by Mary Connealy - Review

Looks like I'm playing some super catch up with these book reviews this month. Here's my most recent Bethany House Publishing review with a few more to follow shortly. I hope you enjoy.

Swept Away by Mary Connealy is the first book in the Trouble in Texas series. It follows the story of Ruthy MacNeil, a mischievous ginger who has recently escaped her abusive foster family while traveling west with a wagon train in the 19th century. Ruthy  becomes separate from her group during a tsunami like storm and is found unconscious floating down a river by the ever gallant Luke Stone. Luke is on his way back to Texas to reclaim his stolen ranch and seek vengeance for the murder of his father.

Through some hilarious entanglement Ruthy finds herself not only engaged to Mr. Stone but also somehow drawn into an old fashioned western gunfight. Being the independent pioneer woman she is, Ruthy is convinced she is the only one who can rescue Luke and his friends from the evil land baron who has stolen Luke's ranch. Can she save herself, her friends and he brand spanking new husband all before it's time to complete the dinner chores. Ever bust Ruthy thinks she can.

This book kept me laughing and intrigued the whole way through. Thank you again to Bethany House Publishing for sending me yet another great free review copy book.

Shattered - Another Bethany House Publishing Review



Wow! It's been a long time since  I wrote an entry on here. I've been so busy all summer but here is finally my latest book review for Shattered by Dani Pettrey, another free review copy from Bethany House Publsihing. Shattered is the second book in the Alaskan Courage series.

Shattered starts out in the small, secluded Alaskan town of Yancey, A perfect setting for any murder  mystery. This story follows the adventures of Piper McKenna as she struggles to prove her brother, Reef's innocence for the murder of a young ski star. With the help of local deputy, Landon Grainger, the two venture out on a quest that spans Alaska, Canada, and takes them all the way back to California to untangle a web of secret identities and gang warfare.

The Murder case is not the only hot story in Shattered though. The personal bond between Piper and landon seems to be growing stronger withe evry passing day they spend on this case together. Is it simply the excitement of being thrown together on this enthralling case or are their true feeling for one another finally being brought to the surface? Both sub plots of this story kept pulling me back into this book each day after work. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen on the next page. A definite must read!

Chelsea Chelsea!!

I know it has been quite a long while since I wrote an entry so here is a catch up on some books I have been reading. I will be posting an entry with some recipes and new book lists coming soon.

Who here loves Chelsea Handler and her witty musings on Chelsea Lately on the E Network? Well, your entertainment doesn't need to stop at the end of a segment. Chelsea Handler has written a collection of comedic books illustrating her her childhood in a large family with all the impossible family members every family must have. I have completed two of her books lent to me by a friend, Ann (check out her blog here), Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. The first had me laughing non stop from the first page to her last hysterical segment on her love life tribulations. Unfortunately, I can not say the same for her second books. I'm pretty sure I just sat there reading the book with my mouth wide open just thinking, "who took the time to actually write this stuff done?" I'm pretty sure I lost a few IQ points after finishing that one. 

 
In an earlier, entry I wrote about the book, The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It about a group of boys trapped in a maze in a post-apocalyptic world.  I finally was able to secure copies of the last two books in the series, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. The main character, Thomas, has managed to lead the Glader Boys out of the maze and into what they think is finally some peace and safety. What they didn't know is that there was a girls' group identical to theirs bent on killing their leader, Thomas. Thomas must keep his group of Gladers safe from the plotting of these girls and from the Cranks they meet in their forced journey across The Scorch. Cranks are what has become of  the human population after a disease, the boys learn is called The Flare, has rocked the planet. This disease causes the brain cells to die and leaves only bestial and animal instincts which has left the human race as a cannibalistic killing race. Unfortunately, it is not only the humans who have taken the toll of this dystopian world. The planet itself has been hit by sun flares and Earth is all but unlivable leaving vasts stretches of dessert know as the Scorch. As the Gladers embark on a journey for their lives they hope to end up at a safe haven and gain access to the Cure before The Flare and the Cranks catch up with them. Unfortunately, gaining the cure isn't going to be as simple as just journeying to the safe haven and swallowing down a tonic. There are still more tests and trials for the Gladers.

Lastly, I got the chance to read Beautiful Creatures, now a major motion picture. My wonderful bf promised to take me to see the movie on Valentine's Day if I finished the book in time for my visit out to Virginia to see him. Well, I desperately wanted to see the movie so of course I got that book read by the happy hearts day! Ethan Wate, a junior, living in Gatlin, South Carolina can't think of anything besides finally leaving this small, narrow minded town of Gatlin. Or, at least, it was all he could think of until the new girl,  Lena Dauchannes, shows up in town with mysterious shattering windows and a voice that somehow winds up inside Ethan's head. Why does she have such a pull on Ethan and why is it that he would do anything and fight anyone for this mysterious black haired girl? I did not want to put this book down even to sleep and I am literally on the edge of my seat waiting to get the second book from the library!

Well, that was my whole catch up for my young adult fiction and fantasy books. Happy reading folks!

Save money on Groceries by using Everything in your Fridge

Open up the fridge and think "there is nothing to eat." Close the fridge. Open the cupboard and think, "there's nothing to eat." Close the cupboard and open the fridge again. Does this sound familiar? It pretty much sounds like me until recently. I always eat up all the easy stuff right after I go grocery shopping and then I'm all annoyed because I have nothing to eat. Except, really, I have tons of food in the kitchen but I actually have to cook it. Bummer! Until I found all these websites where all you do is type in the ingredients you already have in your kitchen and it generates quick and easy recipes for you to make. Oila! You have a whole ton of meals and snacks in that refrigerator and your cupboards! No more of those quick trips running out to the grocery store for some more cereal or a box of mac and cheese and then coming out with a whole armload of snacks.

Here are a couple of the sites I've used:
http://www.supercook.com/
http://www.myfridgefood.com/index.php?kitchen=detailed

Happy Cooking and enjoy that fully stocked kitchen of yours!

Apple Crunch Bread

Since the last recipe I posted got a pretty good feedback I figured I'd put another one up here. This one I found on allrecipes.com. It's a pretty cool site. If you don't have enough ingredients to make the full recipe you can type in how much you want to make based on what you have and it will calculate the new amounts for you. I made a recipe for eight serving which makes one loaf of bread.(Although, I think it was supposed to make two and I just ate too much batter! It was delicious!)

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

1 1/2 cup chopped and peeled apples

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 eggs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease your loaf pan.

2.  Mix flour, baking soda, salt, walnuts, and apples in a large bowl. Whisk oil, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon together in a small bowl; add to flour mixture and mix until just moistened. Evenly divide mixture between prepared loaf pans.

3. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 90 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Bethany House Review #3

 Love and mystery in the Colorado Mountains. This is the backdrop of Kristen Heitzmann's novel The Breath of Dawn. Quinn Reilly testified against a religious cult leader and landed him a four year sentence in prison. She has taken on an anonymous existence as a transient e-bay dealer and has made herself a new home in a small mountain town in Colorado. There she meets Morgan Spencer a genius business millionaire who is also running from a past with his small daughter. The two of them start off on a business deal but soon become more acquainted as they clear out the remains of an old mental asylum. As their relationship grows Quinn finds out the man she helped to put in prison four years earlier is out and he wants revenge.

I could not put this book down and was literally up until six in the morning so I could finish the entire book in a day. From Morgan and Quinn's whirlwind relationship to the religious sociopath and the haunted asylum there was more than enough plot to keep me entirely intrigued for the entire novel. Once again, Bethany House, thank you for sending me yet another wonderful free novel from your collection!

Cinnamon Bread Pudding

I know the majority of the books I post about are novels or fiction but I got this new cookbook for Christmas from my boyfriend's mom and I've just started some of the recipes. (I think this was possibly her way of telling me to become more domestic ;-) ) The book itself was somewhat of a surprise, The Joy of Vegan Baking the Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets compiled by Colleen Patrick-Gourdeau.I am a vegetarian so I guess the word "vegan" caught her eye and she thought of me. However, I have always thought vegan recipes were a little over the top. I mean no milk or eggs? But then I realized I can substitute some of the vegan stuff with my "normal" ingredients. So, here's one of my favorites so far:

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
6 slices of day old bread
2 Tbs of butter
1/2 cup of raisins (optional)
1 ripe banana
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of sugar
1.4 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Break bread into small pieces and add into a 9 inch pan
3. Drizzle the melted butter over the bread and sprinkle the raisins
4. In medium sized bowl mash the banana and add the milk, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed
5. Pour over the bread and lightly push down with fork until the bread is covered and soaked up the mixture
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread is very tender

Soo simple and delicious!! Happy baking :)

New Blog to check out.

I also just wanted to share a new blog a friend of mine just started. She's looking for new ideas for entries. So, just click below and connect with her!

Peace,Love, and Dogs

 

Extremely Long and Incredibly Slow

For my local book club we read Jonathon Safron Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. At the next meeting we then watched the movie. Obviously, from my entry's title I was not at all impressed by the book or the movie. It took me almost three months to finally finish the book and it was all I could to stay awake during the movie. I finally had to pull my phone out and check out my E-mail just to keep my eyes open! I am not at all sure what the raving about the book or the movie was about. I suppose a boy's multi-year journey throughout New York City to reconnect with the memory of his father, lost in 9/11 could have been a touching story if it had any type of plot to follow. Other than his search there was zero plot, barely any dialogue and a whole lot of misfitting anecdotes and disconnected thoughts. Any Psyche major would love to read this book but that's the best critique I can give. Sorry, Mr. Foer.