January 25, 2014
A Miracle of Hope Review
A Miracle of Hope by Ruth Reid follows the story of Lindie Wyse. Lindie finds herself pregnant out of wedlock which is unheard of in her Amish community. Her and her brother decide that the only way to protect her is to arrange a marriage with one of his friends from another Amish community.
Enter Josiah Plank, a man who has lost his wife and has an eight year old daughter, Hannah, who is deaf. He has always vowed to never remarry. They take on this arranged marriage as business partners but soon realize they begin to feel more for each other then they thought possible.
Lindie sees how special Hannah truly is and is able to break through to her silent world. It is Lindie’s difficult pregnancy and Josiah’s health issues that put their new found love and respect to the test.
I fell in love with the simple love tale in this book. It is a story that you can find in so many communities. Pregnancy is a wonderful time in a woman’s life. It is a time to rejoice and give thanks for the miracle growing in your body. In Lindie’s case this experience is shattered by the events that led to her pregnancy and finally her arranged marriage to a stranger for her protection. She has to struggle with accepting and forgiving the circumstances that bring her to this point.
A lot of heavy topics were covered in this story but Ruth Reid hit on them perfectly. Finding healing and forgiveness through faith is so important. It allows us to move forward in our lives, appreciate all the goodness around us and even love.
A definite must read! A book to treasure for years to come. You can purchase your own copy here. To find more reviews, head over to the Litfuse blog tour here.
Rating: 4/5
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
January 24, 2014
Ruth Reid’s A MIRACLE OF HOPE Kindle HDX Giveaway and Facebook Party!
A Miracle of Hope is the first book in Ruth Reid‘s new series, Amish Wonders, and she is celebrating the release with a Kindle HDX Giveaway and an Author Chat Facebook Party!
One winner will receive:
- A Kindle Fire HDX
- A Miracle of Hope by Ruth Reid
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 11th. Winner will be announced at the A Miracle of Hope Facebook Party on February 11th. Connect with Ruth for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, prizes, and more!
So grab your copy of A Miracle of Hope and join Ruth and friends on the evening of February 11th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book, don’t let that stop you from coming!)
Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 11th!
January 23, 2014
Avocado Delight Smoothie
I am a huge smoothie fan! I start my day with one and it leaves me feeling refreshed and ready to face my day. I tried a new combination in my smoothie this week and I fell in love with it! It was my first time putting avocados in my drinks and it was fantastic. It did make it creamier then a banana would so I did have to put in a little bit of water to thin it out.
Ingredients
- one avocado (spoon out the inside)
- 2 cups of Almond Milk (I love Vanilla or Cocounut Almond Fresh)
- 1 cup of peaches
- 1 pear (skin off and cored)
- 3 tbsps of hemp hearts (I used Manitoba Harvest shelled hemp hearts)
Directions:
- Pour two cups of Almond Milk in blender
- Add fruit and hemp hearts
- Cover and blend
- Check consistency – may need to add water to thin it out a bit and re-blend if necessary
January 23, 2014
Deviled Eggs Recipe
Deviled Eggs
by Wholly Guacamole® brand
Your friends will be green with envy when they taste your guacamole deviled eggs. The combination of rich egg yolks and creamy guacamole is truly sinful. Hot sauce and mustard gives these green eggs a kick and the paprika sprinkled on top is a nod to this dish’s classic southern roots.
Ingredients
- 4 whole eggs in the shell
- 1/2 cup Wholly Guacamole dip
- 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 Tbsp minced green onion
- 1/4 tsp salt, or optional
- 1 dash hot pepper sauce e.g. Tabasco, or to taste
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
- 1 tsp Dijon-style prepared mustard
- 1 pinch paprika
Instructions
- Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, and peel. Slice eggs in half, and remove yolks to a mixing bowl.
- In the bowl with the yolks, combine the Wholly Guacamole dip, cilantro and green onion. Season with salt, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Mix well, and fill empty egg halves. Chill until serving. Sprinkle with paprika just before serving.
Bring these eggs to your next get together and your friends will beg for more. This is a really easy way to bring new life and extra flavor into a tried and true favorite dish.
January 22, 2014
Endless by Amanda Gray
Romance, mystery and science fiction – Endless by Amanda Gray has it all!
Jenny is the main character in Endless who loses her mother at a young age. Jenny has a special and very different type of talent then most teenage girls; when she touches another person she “sees” into their past lives. She sees loss and pain. It is a secret burden she carries by herself not willing to open up and share with anyone else.
Suddenly life begins to change for Jenny. She dreams of a stranger who then appears in real ifeis name is Nikolai and claims he has travelled through time to be with her – his one true love. Jenny and Nikolai must join together in order to stop The Order, an organization whose job it is to ensure that people remain in their correct times. The Order is determined to find Nikolai and return him to his time. Jenny and Nikolai must fight to remain together or be forced to lose him forever.
Endless is marked as Youth Fiction but I fell in love with it. I think it would be a great hit with young adults – young girls more likely. I am a huge fan of timeless love and souls destined to be together. The novel blended the perfect amount of science fiction and romance together. Neither being too heavily focused on that it would drive away from the story line. I loved how deeply Nikolai loved his Jenny that he risked all to travel through time to find her. It hit on the belief that some people have that certain people are just destined to be together.
I really do hope there is a sequel to this novel as I felt like it left me hanging right at the end. It may be because I fell in love with the characters but I did not want to believe that this was all for them – there just had to be a little more.
It was definitely a great novel that I can see myself re-reading again!
Rating: 4/5
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.
