Category: review

February 24, 2014

The Thief #Review

Set during the time of Jesus Christ, The Thief by Stephanie Landsem gives us a different perspective of life in these times especially for a Roman Centurion and a Jewish woman.

The Thief is based on the lives of our two main characters, Longinus, a Roman centurion and Nissa, a Jewish woman. Longinus is haunted by death and his own failures. He has always felt a bit out of place by being not a full Roman by blood. When a group of thieves begin to steal from the marketplace he accepts a huge wager – if he can find the thieves before Passover he will earn a transfer out of the region and if he does not he will lose his Father’s sword.

Nissa is a young, Jewish woman who has a sharp tongue and because of her age no hope for marriage. She begins to steal in order to feed herself and keep a roof over her head.

When a healer named Jesus heals her blind brother, Longinus wants to learn more about this mysterious man. In his quest to learn more he is drawn to Nissa. When they are caught up in the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus, they begin to wonder who this teacher is and why he was not able to save himself.

The Thief was a moving story of forgiveness and the power it has to change our lives. I was not able to put this novel down! I stayed up all night reading it. I fell in love with our two main characters and watching them struggle with their own insecurities and beliefs was very difficult. You wanted to be able to help guide them. I loved how they evolved throughout the novel and found healing in the end. It was fantastic the way the story of Jesus was tied into the novel – I was not expecting that at all!

You can purchase a copy of the book here. You can also find more reviews on the Litfuse Blog Tour here.

Rating: 5/5

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

February 21, 2014

Learning Languages with Langmobile #Review and #Giveaway

Learning a second language is a high priority to me for my children. It is a fantastic skill for them to carry forward into their school and later on their professional careers. For me knowing that language acquisition is easiest during the ages of zero to five, puts a little bit of pressure to get started early!. This is often called the “critical period”. Yet I still want them to have fun and enjoy learning a second language – not the second language classes I had where we had to memorize conjugating verbs but never learned to understand and speak Italian!

Langmobile is based out of Saint-Lambert, Quebec. They offer high quality workshops in music, yoga, English, Italian, French and Spanish, along with pre-school activities and camps. Langmobile has developed a program that helps parents bond and interact with their children while teaching a second language. Langmobile actively includes parents in the learning process to help learn and teach them at the same time. They have taken the research that they have put into their programs and developed an incredible app that assists parents in teaching children English, Spanish and French.

The Langmobile app incorporates new teaching methods that place the interaction between parent and child at the core of the learning process. The Langmobile app features fifty lessons in English, Spanish and French. Each lesson contains a video, song and printable materials (teaching sheets, colouring sheets and more!). The apps use adults to bring languages to life. The apps feature original music composed by Langmobile’s team of experts.

yoga , music workshops, English classes, Italian classes, French classes, Spanish classes, Saturday classes, after school activities, preschool activities, day camps and specialized services to CPE and private Daycares – See more at: http://www.langmobile.com/quality-workshops/#sthash.hbdLhMKb.dpuf

When I first download an app I like to spend a couple of hours looking through the app myself to allow myself to become familiar with the teaching aspect, how it works and so on. As soon as I opened the app up and let the first video play my children came running (both my two and nine year old!) at the energetic music and singing! They were engrossed in the app!

My favourite features of the app were:

easy and quick download
music was energetic and great at catching my children’s attention
repetitive; allowing the words to be easily learned
informative parent guide with instructions on how to use each word/video, including also colouring books, craft activities, activities on the go, lyrics, words to practice and cards to print out
the parent guide allows you to minimize the amount of time spent directly on the app itself for parents that are worried about too much screen time
loved that I was able to interact and be part of the learning process (versus just reading it aloud and hoping they absorb what you are reading to them)
incredibly fun way to learn a new language (all of us were dancing and singing along!)
even though it is designed for teaching children 0-5 years of age, my nine year old loved it as well!
easy to navigate between pages on the app
app is designed to be able to download onto Apple devices and Android

Langmobile is offering four individuals a chance to win their own copy of the app! US and CAN residents can enter via the Rafflecopter below.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

February 5, 2014

The Smitten Book Club: Love and Friendship #Review

In the collaborative novel, The Smitten Book Club, authors and best friends Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter and Diann Hunt intertwine the Gentlewoman’s Guide into the personal life of each Smitten town book club member.

Do you love a story based on friendship and the power of its healing? Then The Smitten Book Club is the perfect read just for you!

Molly, Lia, Heather and Abby are the main characters in the Smitten Book Club. They organize the book club in the town of Smitten as well as being the best of friends who would do anything for each other. When Heather finds the Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship she can not resist bringing the book home with her. Not only did the title of the book call out to her but the book was written by a Smitten native, Pearl Chambers (a relative of Molly’s husband).

Heather and her fellow book club members pass the book along and each interprets the book in a fashion that is true to their personality. The members each meet with romance and the Guide proves to be both helpful and completely irrelevant at the exact same time. Not only does the Guide offer advice on love it also contains a town mystery to a secret gold mine! This secret could help Molly financially and each one of the girls is determined to help solve this mystery.

I love that this book was written by four best friends. Reading through the novel you can sense this friendship and I felt like I part of the friendship of the Smitten Book Club. The power of friendships is so important to our personal well being and an essential part when we are hurting – our friends know the perfect words and actions to make so much of that hurt go away. I loved how each character’s story was so intertwined that you did not feel like each story stopped but that it was a continuation from the previous story. It allowed a greater insight into each character’s personality and inner feelings. The Smitten Book Club was the perfect book to cuddle up with and laugh and cry along with. It is a fantastic novel to share with your own girlfriends, your sister and mother. It is a novel that I have recommended to all my coworkers as well.

Rating: 5/5

Want to find out more about this book and read other reviews? Check out the Litfuse Blog tour here. If you would like to purchase a copy you can do so here.

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

January 30, 2014

Step By Step Bread #DKCanada #Review

This year I have set severals goals for myself in the areas of cooking and baking. I am determined to eat healthier and purchase less processed foods. One of my goals is to provide my family with more home baked pastries and breads (I want to be able to control what goes in my food and choose healthier options). I have tried on several occasions to make bread loafs and have failed each time (sigh!).

I jumped at the chance to review Step By Step Bread as part of DK Canada’s Start Something New promotion. I was determined to finally make THE perfect bread loaf!

Step By Step Bread has over 125 recipes to suit any bread lover needs as well as for any occasion. Recipes range from classic breads, artisan breads, flat breads, crisps, quick breads to sweet breads (the complete set of recipes!). It was hard to even know where to start! The author Caroline Bretherton has worked in the food industry for the last fifteen years. She then opened up her own catering company and now owns and operates her own eatery in the USA.

One of the best features of this book has to be the photographs. Each recipe has a page or two dedicated to itself with large and clear photographs. She breaks each recipe down step by step making it much harder to make a mistake (especially for this newbie in the world of baking bread!). The ingredients were simple and included items that I always have stocked in my pantry. Caroline covers every possible question that I could possibly have had in this book! Not to mention the fantastic variety of recipes that were included. It covers such a large variety of recipes which eliminates the need to have multiple recipe books laying around the house.

For my first trial, I made a simple ciabatta bread. This is a family favourite in our home and we have it with dinner quite frequently and is delicious when topped with cheese. I have attempted to google recipes on four separate occasions and each time my loaf either did not rise, was rock hard or uncooked on the inside. The instructions for this recipe were simple and easy to follow. I was actually able to start this recipe while getting the boys ready to head out for school/daycare and continue it while working from home. Which is the perfect fit for me!

The final verdict from my family? They loved my ciabatta loaf! This was the first loaf that I have ever made that came out perfect – have to admit I was quite proud of myself.

I love this book and it has made the perfect addition to my recipe book collection. It is incredibly easy to follow, a great variety of recipes as well as a variety of easy and harder skill level baking. A definite must have for families! I am excited to be starting my new year providing great home baked breads for my family!

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.