December 12, 2017
Chasing Red Book Review
In Chasing Red, she was supposed to be his ruin but he was more than happy to let her be.
About Chasing Red
Caleb Lockhart has everything―wealth, adoration, a brilliant future. Until a chance encounter with a siren in a red dress changes everything. Until he meets the woman he dubs Red.
Veronica Strafford’s past makes it hard for her to trust anyone. Now, kicked out of her apartment, she reluctantly accepts Caleb’s offer for a place to stay.
Caleb feels intensely drawn to Veronica. And, for the first time in his life, he really wants something―someone. Too bad Veronica’s heart might just be the one thing Caleb can’t win.
My Thoughts
Chasing Red was chosen as one of Goodreads’ 21 Big Books of Fall and I can definitely see why! It is sexy, witty and a breath of fresh air.
We have two characters that on the outside are complete opposites. One is super rich, very attracted and used to getting what he wants from women. His whole future is already set up for him once he graduates because of how influential his family is. On the outside he has it all but on the inside could he be yearning for more? On the other hand, we have Veronica (Red), who grew up with her Mother poor and with an abusive Father who blamed her for their social economic status. She has had to work hard for everything she has and consequently has thrown up walls to keep others out so not to cause her any more hurt.
While on the outside they are so different, on the inside they are both yearning for more. They want people to see them for who they really are and not the image they portray in society. They are both longing for love and yet so scared of it because of their past. Neither of them are good at opening up, admitting what it is they are truly feeling and consequently trusting the other person with their heart and feelings.
This novel was well written, witty, sexy and full of life. You feel as though you are right there with the characters, Caleb had me laughing at his comments and you can just picture that care free (but underneath full of heart) man who would do anything for Red. In this first book, we watch as our characters struggle with opening up and trusting each other. We learn just enough of their past to understand why they are hesitant but makes you wish that they can find a way to get over their past. The ending leaves you craving for more! I could not wait to start book two, Always Red.
Chasing Red is a definite must read for young adults and adults a like who love romance, humour and real life struggles built-in. You can purchase a copy of Chasing Red on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Isabelle Ronin is the author of Wattpad reader phenomenon CHASING RED. With over 150 million reads, Chasing Red was Wattpad’s top-read story of 2016. The story continues to attract one million reads per week. When she’s not writing, Isabelle can be found hanging out in bookstores, cafes, and whenever possible, the beach. Isabelle lives in Manitoba, Canada. Her stories can be found on Wattpad, www.wattpad.com/isabelleronin.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
December 11, 2017
Fragile Chaos Audiobook Review
Can Cassia and Theo end the mortal war and return balance to the earth and heavens? Or, will their game of fate lead down a path of destruction, betrayal, and romance neither of them saw coming?
About Fragile Chaos
Every fiber of my being is woven from the rage of mortals.
Theodric, the young God of War, has a talent for inciting conflict and bloodshed. After being stripped of his powers by his older brother, King of Gods, he sets out to instigate a mortal war to prove himself worthy of being restored to power.
I loved Kisk once; it was my home… But that was before. This is now.
Sixteen-year-old Cassia, like many in the modern era, believes gods and goddesses to be just a myth. Enemy to her country and an orphan of the war, she has no time for fairy tales. That’s until religious zealots from Theo’s sect offer her up as a sacrifice.
Can Cassia and Theo end the mortal war and return balance to the earth and heavens? Or, will their game of fate lead down a path of destruction, betrayal, and romance neither of them saw coming?
My Thoughts
This was an AMAZING audiobook from the start, I was hooked and could not stop listening. It was full of power, strength, romance and myth – everything I love and more.
The setting takes place in a mythical world with people praying and sacrificing to the Gods but so many of them have actually forgotten the Gods themselves or have dreamed up a different version of the Gods in their own minds. Cassia is a young woman who is betrayed by her country who view her as an enemy. Her parents are gone and she has lost everything she held dear.
Near the beginning of the book, Cassia is sacrificed to the God of War by her fellow citizens. You can just imagine her shock, pain and the sting of betrayal. Theo, the God of War, accepts her as a sacrifice and brings her to his home. While he does this he doesn’t initially full accept her as his “bride”.
Theo is full of raw power, strength and an almost anger. War and fighting is in his blood and he is plagued with sibling rivalry and his own betrayals. Cassia, with her innocence and proud nature, brings out a new side of him. One of hope and trusting. We watch as his character evolves and he slowly begins to fall in love with her.
The pair are thrown together not by choice but soon discover they have a strong attraction towards each other. They have to learn to trust but with their past history and the current political and war going on this makes it very difficult. They would tend to take one step forward and two steps back.
The plot in this story is amazing and I loved every moment of it. What I really enjoyed was having the two narrators, male and female. This made a huge difference in the telling of this story and really helped to bring the story to life. They also included background noise (chatter/rocks crumbling, etc..) which made the novel that much more real. I have never listened to that type of book before and it was fantastic.
This is a definite must listen to audiobook, you will not be disappointed.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Amber R. Duell was born and raised in a small town in Central New York. While it will always be home, she’s spent the last six years living in Germany and Maine as a military wife where the next step is always an adventure.
When Amber isn’t writing, she’s wrangling her two young sons. She is a lover of history, a fan of snowboarding, and a travel enthusiast. In her downtime, she can be found curling up with a good book and a cat or two.
About the Narrators
Bradley Pittman is a producer and freelance musician living and working in Atlanta. He received a bachelor’s degree in audio production from Georgia State University in 2016. Though he most commonly works on musical projects, he began self-producing audiobook chapters in 2015 as a way to unite his love of studio production with his love of literature.
Jamie-Lee Lewis, aka Jaylew, hails from the island of Jamaica. Since a small child, she’s always had a hyper imagination. She enjoys writing and telling stories, singing and composing songs, entertaining and edifying, playing different characters as well as creating them through drawings, and finding the beauty and fun in everything she does. She is currently a professional and passionate Youtuber.
Audio Excerpt
The Giveaway
Fragile Chaos Giveaway: $5 Amazon Gift Card/eBook OR Headphones/Mug/Tea
Disclosure: I received an audiobook in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
December 11, 2017
Seeking a Familiar Face Book Spotlight
The greatest adventure of your life awaits. And it will change everything.
About Seeking a Familiar Face
Ever feel disappointed? Like your life isn’t as fulfilling as you had always dreamed it would be? Are you laden down with responsibilities, feeling overwhelmed and empty, or maybe even a bit caged?
You’re not alone.
Many people in the Bible felt the same way. Most had difficulties. Some felt stuck. Others were depressed, afraid and uncertain. And some just wanted to get closer to God. So they set out on life’s adventure —seeking God—and encountered the One who fulfilled their longings and changed their lives forever.
The same can happen for you.
Seeking a Familiar Face guides you on the transforming journey of connecting with God, through simple, yet extraordinary ways. It doesn’t matter if you are already seeking Him or just getting started, this book will encourage you to go a little farther toward locking hearts with God.
In this book you will discover engaging narratives from ten biblical characters, along with stories, humor, and practical ideas for seeking God. There are thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter to discuss with a friend or a group. Most of all, “Seeking a Familiar Face” will offer you fresh hope for deepening your intimacy with God.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.
About the Author
May Patterson has been writing and teaching bible study classes for several years. Her new book, “Seeking a Familiar Face,” was birthed from a Bible study she wrote in 2014 called “A Time to Seek.” She was trained in small group dynamics for over ten years at Bible Study Fellowship, serving as a leader for four years. She has written for several magazines including Focus on the Family, Upper Room Magazine and Shattered Magazine, among others. She is married to her dear friend, Mike, and they have three grown children. She loves to tell stories, laugh, and talk about the adventure of seeking God.
Connect with her on her website, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Book Trailer
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.
December 8, 2017
Collect and Battle with the Awesome Little Green Men
My kids love to create battle scenes and whenever their cousins come over, our toy room becomes a huge battle ground. We have soldiers versus soldiers, soldiers versus superheros – anything is game!
Awesome Little Green Men bring a whole new take on your typical soldier figure. These small little figures are full of spunk and authority! These characters, both male AND female, are truly epic with fantastic features and even better names (Sgt. Major Attitude and Major Boo Book to name a few!).
Your child can create their own battles OR follow the super easy Battle Game Guide (which can also be found online). Each player picks their army so that each player has the same amount of power points, which can be found on the bottom of each soldier. They also require a small coin, large coin (which are included in the packs) and a “prized possession” – which can be anything but each player should have an equal sized possession that becomes the goal to capture. The smaller coin becomes the attacking slider and the larger coin the march slider.
Your child should set up either on the floor (no carpet!) or a long table in order to have a good-sized battle. The youngest player always goes first (this is actually in the rules not just our youngest making it up). Each player can use their march slider to advance their soldiers or their attack slider to hit an enemy soldier. They have to hit the enemy enough times to match their Hit Points in order to capture that soldier. The main mission is to capture the prize behind the soldiers but if your children are anything like mine they will love the marching and attacking just as much if not more. All the obstacles and bandaids that you will need for your attack are included in the package or you can print them online.
The boys even made up their own battles too which was pretty awesome and fun. They enjoyed battling just as much as they did playing and setting up their characters in their rooms. The characters are well designed and they loved showcasing and just carrying them around as is.
Check out this video showcasing these adorable and spunky characters:
You can purchase Awesome Little Green Men at Toys R Us, Amazon and Walmart. They are sold in starter packs of four, deluxe battle packs and blind box. The starter packs include 4 soldiers, 4 dog tags, 1 chain and a collector poster. The deluxe battle pack includes 8 soldiers, 8 dog tags, 2 chains and a collector poster.
Make sure to check out the Awesome Little Green Men website for more information, super cool videos and more!
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
December 6, 2017
To Hear the Forest Sing: Some Musings on the Divine
To Hear the Forest Sing is an invitation to break free of any or all of your spiritual confinements and find your own path to kindness and mindful living.
About To Hear the Forest Sing
Mindfulness and conscious living as not cut and dry. Oneness with nature and the universe can be attained through patience, trust and prayer that is unique to you. Throughout this book, Dulaney demonstrates that a life of mindfulness and kindness can be achieved by any person. It offers a fresh outlook on traditional religious constraints. Dulaney shares memorable, touching and beautiful essays written from aspects of her childhood, family members and her love of nature and animals. Themes throughout the book are love, enlightenment and hope as we are all continuing to endlessly evolve.
To Hear the Forest Sing includes:
- Unfreezing the conventional notions of how the divine works
- Overcoming our obsession with negative news
- The undervalued value of restoration over punishment in society
- Concepts of more open ideas of faith and a no rules form of prayer
- The opportunity for advancement by unlearning certain dogma
- The compelling and profound aspects of nature and animals which make you pause, reflect and repeat
My Thoughts
I love reading books and essays that really make you pause and think. I am Catholic and I love my faith. I have always felt welcome and accepted in my parish (I have been a member of two parishes since birth). When I am sad, full of anxiety and despair and at my lowest points, I have always looked to my faith and felt a sense of peace. I also believe that you don’t have to fit into the pre-determined boxes that people make for people of a certain faith. I may be Catholic but I support marriage in all forms, I am pro-choice, I use birth control (in fact this was taught in Catholic school contrary to what many people believe are taught in Catholic school) and I don’t believe religion is there to make you feel guilty or bad about your choices and actions. I never did get the jokes about Church making you to feel guilty about your life choices – Church to me is about opening up to God, offering up your sorrows and allowing Him to shoulder some of your pain, worries and fears.
Faith (I prefer to use this word over religion) has evolved and I think so many people have overlapping ideology and beliefs that can grow together. I think we all believe in someone looking out for us, our loved ones who have passed on being present in moments, that we are all connected in some manner, we pray in a similar manner and we all harbour so many similar wishes and hopes. How could our faiths not all be connected in some manner?
I strongly believe that there is a God (and God can be whatever name you want God to go by) and we can view this God every day in our lives IF we are listening. One of these examples for me, was when I was suffering through a really bad period of depression and anxiety. It was one of the lowest times in my life and I was having a hard time forgiving myself. It was about three weeks into this period that I was in Church and it was getting near to Palm Sunday. After we took our seats, in the back of the pew in front of us where the missals are kept, was an olive branch. Our Church doesn’t usually hand out Olive branches and there were definitely none at that mass. My kids had yet to see or touch the branch. I picked it up and felt this moment of release. I was able to let go of so much of my self-hate, despair and forgave myself. To me this olive branch was God telling me that I was forgiven and I need to forgive myself to move forward. This was over five years ago and I still carry that branch in my car visor as a reminder that God is always there.
I felt like this book was exactly like that branch. A reminder of all the ways we are connected, how to listen and how to accept a more open view of faith and understanding. There is compassion, understanding, acceptance and common sense. So many things that I find lacking in the world today – every one is so busy and so on the go that we forget to stop and really see and listen to the presence around us. I bet if you stopped and really thought hard, you would find small moments of God (by whatever name you call God by) in your daily life.
This book shares so many intimate stories and reflections of the life of Margaret – she doesn’t hold back. Her life hasn’t been perfect but she finds the perfect moments to cherish, guide and assist her. She doesn’t put herself into a narrow box but instead opens her mind and heart to new ideas and concepts, which I think is so important! We should never become so narrow-minded that we can’t see nor hear what is around us. This is a truly beautiful story to one person’s faith, openness, love and hope. I felt truly blessed after having read it and it came to me in a moment that I really needed to hear these important reminders of faith and hope.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Margaret Dulaney wrote for the theater in New York City for years before she moved to rural Pennsylvania to pursue nonfiction. After many years, and a closet full of writings, she founded Listen Well, her spoken word website offering once-monthly recorded essays championing hope, and the ultimate, inescapable awakening of the individual soul.
She writes from an old stone home in Bucks County Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband, musician/producer Matt Balitsaris and a revolving group of semi-domesticated animals. She records her essays at Maggie’s Farm Recording Studio, home for many years to Palmetto Records, and conveniently located in the majestic old bank barn in her backyard. The guitar music that introduces Listen Well’s monthly offerings is played and produced by Matt Balitsaris. Her essays are edited by Aina Barten, former editor for Orion Magazine.
Margaret’s essays, apart from those on Listen Well, can be found in various journals and Magazines including, Parabola, Spirituality and Health, Cezanne’s Carrot, Read the Spirit, Day 1, Big Muddy and Contemplative Journal.
Margaret’s plays include: The Hummingbird’s Tour, produced at the Bucks County Playhouse, and Off-Broadway at the Theater at St. Clements .The View From Here, produced Off-Broadway at the Lambs Theater, and published by Samuel French, Sightseeing, produced at the Quintero Theater, NYC, received a professional reading at the Bay Street Theater, and winner of the Berrilla Kerr Award, Il Corvo, Charlotte Rep. new play finalist. Spill of light, professional reading at the New Jersey Playwrights Theater and the The Meadow Lands, Professional reading People’s Light and Theater Company.
You can learn more about her own her website.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.