Month: August 2015

August 18, 2015

Irish Meadows by Susan Mason

Sometimes when faced with the unknown, all we can do is have the courage to dream.

About Irish Meadows

Brianna and Colleen O’Leary know their Irish immigrant father expects them to marry well. Recently he has put even more pressure on them, insinuating that the very future of their Long Island horse farm, Irish Meadows, rests in their ability to land prosperous husbands. Both girls have different visions for their futures.

Brianna, a quiet girl with a quick mind, dreams of attending college. Vivacious Colleen, meanwhile, is happy to marry–as long as her father’s choice meets her exacting standards of the ideal groom. When former stable hand Gilbert Whelan returns from business school and distant relative Rylan Montgomery visits Long Island during his seminary training, the two men
quickly complicate everyone’s plans.

As the farm slips ever closer to ruin, James O’Leary grows more desperate. It will take every ounce of courage for both sisters to avoid being pawns in their father’s machinations and instead follow their hearts.

My Thoughts

A perfect historical romance novel for you to cherish! Brianna and Colleen, although sisters, are night and day. Like any other family, the two girls fight, argue but love passionately. Their Father has always been a constant presence and pressure in their life. As they have gotten older, he uses them as pawns in order to secure his own financial future. He goes to any means in order to accomplish his goals.

When the two young men enter their lives, their whole world changes. The girls must make important decisions, risk their Father’s anger and disapproval or follow their hearts.

I loved this story not only for the romance but for the story of faith, love and following your dreams. You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy here.

Rating: 4.5/5

About the Author

Susan Anne Mason’s debut historical novel, Irish Meadows, won the Fiction from the Heartland contest from the Mid-American Romance Authors Chapter of RWA. A member of ACFW, as well, she lives outside of Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two children.

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

August 18, 2015

My Garden #WW with linky

Welcome back to this week’s Wordless Wednesday!

This week I am featuring my garden. The only surviving plants are my tomatoes (the lettuce and zucchini were unfortunately dried up due to the extreme heat we had a few weeks ago) but my tomatoes have thrived very well. I couldn’t wait to show them off.

Make sure you link up below so that I can come visit you too! Have a great week 🙂

August 18, 2015

The Seventh Dwarf {Giveaway!}

On August 18th, 2015 get ready for big fun and adventure with the seven dwarfs in a new animated picture, The Seventh Dwarf!

The Setting: The eve of Princess Rose’s 18th Birthday.

Everyone has come to Fantabularasa castle to celebrate including Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood. But just before the stroke of midnight, the youngest dwarf Bobo accidentally pricks the finger of Princess Rose, a.k.a Sleeping Beauty! This sends not only Princess Rose but the whole kingdom into a century long slumber.

In order to find Rose’s true love, Jack, the dwarfs must go on a dangerous journey, facing a fiery dragon and the evil witch, Dellamorta.

The Seventh Dwarf combines all of your favourite fairy tales with a brand new spin! My personal new favourite is Snow White, she is full of spunk and brave in her own right. Sleeping Beauty is more than just a pretty face – she is strong, wise and determined. The movie is full of laughs, singing and the adorable yet brave dwarfs. This is a movie that both yourself and your children will love to watch over and over. The Seventh Dwarf does an excellent job of showing children that you don’t have to be the typical ‘hero’ or ‘knight’ in order to be brave and strong.

Check out this sneak peek in the trailer from Shout Factory:

My Canadian residents can now enter to win their own copy of The Seventh Dwarf from Shout Factory!

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

August 17, 2015

Check In One: The Good and The Bad on My Healthy Start

My first week is officially done in my healthy lifestyle challenge and I had quite a few ups and downs. While I am not 100% happy with how well I committed to it, I can’t look back but only forward as tomorrow is always a new day. I need to focus on my overall health and well being and each positive and healthy step forward is a win for me.

So here is the breakdown:

Last week’s goals:

~~2 pound weight loss.~~ Completed!! Woohoo!!
~~Follow my vegetarian diet with a meal plan.~~ I stuck to this like glue and while I wish I had some additional emotional support for this change I am happy with how I feel and I am sure my loved ones will too over time.
Yoga four times a week. I managed to complete my yoga practice twice this week and it made me feel so good! I love how my body feels so relaxed afterwards and this will be something I will do more of.
~~Daily evening meditation.~~ While I did complete this in the bath (the only time I am given absolute and complete silence) it still felt good to just quiet my mind and focus on nothing.
Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge. I actually kind of forgot about this one so this week I am going to make a fitness calendar to keep myself on track!
Run daily for five minutes (I am starting out here!!). Does chasing after kids at soccer count??
~~Stay hydrated with eight glasses of water a day.~~ This is the part I loved the most and left me feeling less bloated.
10,000 step minimum a day. Oops, not even close! I was very bad last week while on vacation!

This week’s goal:

1-2 pound weight loss
Continue to maintain my vegetarian diet with a meal plan.
Yoga fours times this week.
Daily evening meditation.
Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge with a fitness calendar.
Two litres of water a day.
10,000 steps minimum a day.
Daily morning detox tea.

Make sure you check out my initial post on my healthy start and enter to win a giveaway to focus on your healthy start!

August 17, 2015

Natural Detox with Purgo Teatox to Feel Better and Re-Balance Your Body

Since one of the areas I wanted to re-focus and examine is what I am eating and change-up my diet, I thought it would be a pretty great idea to kick this off with a detox. But where to start? I have seen many ‘detox’ diets online but these are not for me. I could not stick to a liquid diet nor would I be able to do so and have energy for work and the boys. What I was looking for was that something that could help heal my gut that would be easy to follow and not be too restrictive.

I was on Twitter when I came across Purgo Teatox on Twitter. After heading over to their website, I read the incredible story that founded the Purgo Tea and realized I had a lot in common with Ben. Over the last couple of years, I have been neglecting my health, making poor choices and constantly remained stressed. Some days my stomach hurt and other days I just had poor energy levels. I was not myself but did not know where to start. I started by removing gluten from my diet but even this alone was not enough. I needed something natural to help heal my gut from the inside out.

Purgo Tea is a two tea system that works by using all natural tea formulas to cleanse, detoxify and balance your body. It comes in either a fourteen day plan or a twenty-eight day plan.

The Morning Detox is had to drink every morning before you consume food or coffee. The Morning Detox contains: sencha, goji, dandelion, lemon grass, hibiscus, chamomile, acai and ginseng. It has a pleasant taste (better than some of the other herbal teas I have tried) with a slightly pink/red colour to it. I added the tiniest amount of honey to sweeten it up but the hardest part was remembering to have my cup before I had my coffee. For some reason I had such a hard time with this! Purgo Tea recommends using a calendar to help remember to drink this first which I found beneficial for me in remembering to brew my tea first.

The Evening Cleanse is made every other night and works to help relieve bloating naturally and effectively. The Evening Cleanse is made up of Locust plant, sencha, key lime, lotus leaf, cassla see, pu’reh, oolong and chamomile. I found this was extremely effective at cleansing my body but I usually saw the results the night after which was nice because other natural cleansers can be quite painful and immediate. I found the tea relaxing and semi sweet with no need to add anything extra in.

Purgo Tea encourages you to follow these four steps: drink your morning detox tea, eat nourishing food, exercise for at least thirty minutes and drink your evening cleanse. I love that Purgo Tea encourages you to live healthy and nourish your body instead of starving it or restricting it. While I did not lose extra weight on the detox, I felt better inside and out, less bloated and my stomach felt lighter (if you have ever suffered from food sensitivities I am sure you know what I mean!).

You can find more about Purgo Tea on their website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Orders can be placed on their website and shipping is free in Canada.

Have you tried a tea detox before? What are your experiences and what do you look for?

Disclosure: I received a fourteen day trial of the above mentioned products free of charge in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.