Month: October 2014

October 17, 2014

The Mason Jar

Heartbreak and separation are the heart of this beautiful novel, The Mason Jar by James Russell Lingerfelt.

About The Mason Jar

Clayton Fincannon is a Tennessee farm boy raised by his Grandfather. The two men leave letters for each other in a mason jar on his Grandfather’s desk – letters of counsel and affirmation. When Clayton leaves to attend college in Southern California, he meets and falls in love with a dark debutante from Colorado. When an unmentioned past resurrects in her life and she leaves, Clayton is left with unanswered questions.

Clayton goes on to serve as a missionary in Africa, both men continue their tradition of writing letters. When Clayton returns home five years later to bury his Grandfather, he searches for answers pertaining to the loss of the young woman he once loved. Little does Clayton know, the answers await him in the broken mason jar.

The Mason Jar is an inspirational romance that brings hope to people who have experienced disappointment in life due to separation from loved ones. With a redemptive ending that encourages us to love again and written in the fresh, romantic tones of Nicholas Sparks, The Mason Jar interweaves the imagery of Thoreau with the adventures common to Dances with Wolves.

My Thoughts

A fantastic story based on a very probable life situation. Life is not always the perfect romance story we hope it will be nor will it be without pain and sorrow. We all have been hurt and have to learn to deal with this. It is how we deal with these moments that make us a stronger and better person. Finn spent so much time hurt about his broken relationship with Eden – he needed closure. It is in this relationship we can also see the hurt that lack of closure can cause on an individual.

The relationship between Finn and his Grandfather is beautiful. I loved their story and the support they give each other. Sometimes it is hard to open up and speak to the ones we love. Sometimes the easiest way is with a letter. It is something that I would not mind starting up with my own children!

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour here.

Rating: 4.5/5

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

October 15, 2014

New Regency from @SarahLaddAuthor AND a Kindle HDX giveaway!

Award-winning author Sarah E. Ladd examines how to escape the clutches of a tainted past in the final installment of her Whispers on the Moor series. A Regency-era novel, A Lady at Willowgrove Hall cleverly shows that even though our pasts may be shameful or painful, God can take the darkest personal histories and turn them into the brightest futures.

Celebrate with Sarah by entering her Kindle HDX giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A Kindle Fire HDX
A Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah E. Ladd

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 2nd. Winner will be announced November 3rd here.

October 14, 2014

The Hardest Peace #review & #giveaway

An incredible life changing story of one woman’s journey through cancer and how it has changed her as a woman, a wife, a mother and as a daughter of God.

About The Hardest Peace

The Hardest Peace is the story of Kara Tippetts, a young mother battling cancer who invites readers to embrace grace in every season of life.

Kara Tippetts knows the mundane but rich days of mothering four kids, the joy of watching her children grow and the devastating reality of stage four cancer.

In her book, she invites readers to see the grace of the everyday in all seasons of life and to live well even when the living is hard. As the thousands of readers of her blog know, Tippetts explores the hardest questions of life with rare beauty and honesty. Most of all, she draws them back to the God who is present, in the ordinary and the suffering, and shapes every life into the best story of all.

My Thoughts

It is hard to know where to start with my own feelings and thoughts. Firstly, I feel blessed to have had Kara share her journey and story with us. Her faith is so strong and humbles me. While I cried at parts of her story I feel like she did not share her story for us to feel sad but instead to see all the good in her story. She wants us to see that sometimes the bad things in our lives can also help us recognize and appreciate all the beauty that is in our world. It helped me to step back and appreciate the life God has given me and that no matter how I am feeling that day that this is the path I am meant to be walking along and that I can conquer each day.

The Hardest Peace has changed the way I parent as well as the way I perceive situations with my children. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be in her shoes looking at your children every day but it also makes you appreciate each cuddle, each achievement and each I love you that much more. When I am feeling frustrated I now take a deep breath and say to myself remember grace – sometimes I may have to repeat it more than once but it helps remind me that these moments (even the screaming ones) are precious and a gift to be held dear.

Rating: 5/5 ++

About Kara Tippetts

Kara Tippetts and her husband, Jason, have four children. They lead a church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Cancer is only a part of Kara’s story. Her real fight is to truly live while facing a crushing reality. You can find her on her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Giveaway Time!

One of my lucky Canadian readers will have their own chance to win a copy of Kara’s inspirational book! Enter via the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review as well as a copy for the giveaway. All opinions expressed are my own.

October 14, 2014

The #FallMarketplace at Walmart: Full of #BrightIdeas to Make Fall Cleaning a Snap! #shop

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

This holiday long weekend flew by at lightning speed! Not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families but it was also my birthday (woot woot!!). We had so much to prepare for these occasions; purchasing meals, appetizers, reservations and the dreaded cleaning. On Friday, we headed into the #FallMarketplace demonstrations at Walmart (as part of the #CollectiveBias shop) and checked out the Fall Cleaning demo that featured Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels.

Fall cleaning is one of my least favourite things to do – especially when it comes to the bathrooms! I live with three boys and somehow no matter what I do the toilet is never as clean as I wish it would be. It probably doesn’t help that our youngest likes to help clean the toilet by peeing around the rim (his exact explanation when I caught him doing this!!).

I don’t know about you but I honestly feel that the bathroom happens to be the one room that says a lot about your home. When I know that company is coming over I want my bathroom to look and smell fresh (without having to spend hours achieving this look!). At the demo on Friday we were able to smell and check out the Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels in: Mountain Morning, Glade Rain shower and Citrus with Hydrogen Peroxide.We loved the smells so much we picked up all three scents.

We decided to match the scent of the toilet cleaning gel to our plug in air freshener and started with the citrus with hydrogen peroxide. I have never used T-Gels before so I was quite pleased to see how easy to assemble they were and how compact the kit was. It was literally pull the two pieces out of the box and connect them together and I was done. All that was left was to gently apply the T-Gel to the side of the toilet and with every flush the toilet is cleansed and a pleasant citrus smell remains.

The best part? The T-Gels can last up to six weeks! That refreshing smell from the toilet is still going strong after applying it on the Friday evening. Not to mention our youngest things it is super cool to have this green thing stuck on the inside of the toilet.

With our bathroom taken care of with Scrubbing Bubbles, we were able to forget about the cleaning and focus on the important stuff – family time! We baked chocolate cupcakes, painted pumpkins to give as gifts, made special hand print keepsakes for family members and not to mention the cooking. I still feel like I am detoxing from all the delicious food we had all weekend. It was well worth every moment – the love and happiness that we shared are memories that will last forever.

How do you make fall cleaning easy so that you can focus on the important holiday events?

October 9, 2014

Kara Tippetts’ THE HARDEST PEACE Blogger Challenge & Giveaway! Share Your #HardestPeace Story

Kara Tippetts‘ brave and touching book, The Hardest Peace is launching with a blogger challenge. Celebrate with Kara by joining the #HardestPeace conversation and share how you are finding grace in the midst of the everyday and in life’s hard moments.

Share your stories of everyday grace in the midst of life’s difficulties and enter to win a #HardestPeace prize pack:

A book club pack (10 copies of The Hardest Peace for you and your small group!)
A handcrafted candle
Journal
Custom Etsy The Hardest Peace print and coffee mug

To enter to win, simply blog about your #HardestPeace story and then submit the link to your post via the link-up (or see link in the Rafflecopter below). Plus stop by others’ stories to leave encouragement and offer prayers as we all travel the journey of life together and discover that the hardest peace is often the most fulfilling peace. Then follow Kara online (via the Rafflcopter) for additional entries into the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway