Review: Tea with Elephants by:R Gunn

 

About the Book:

Ever since they met as teenagers volunteering at a conference center in Costa Rica 20 years ago, Fern Espinoza and Lily Graden have shared a close friendship, even though they live in different states. They can hardly believe it when their teen dream of traveling to Africa together becomes a reality. It's the trip of a lifetime--but life sure isn't what they thought it would be back when they were young.

Along with their suitcases, each woman brings along emotional baggage that weighs heavily on them. Yet the people they meet and the places they experience have the power to change their hearts--but only if they surrender to the lessons God wants to teach them in this unexpected land of emerald tea fields, graceful giraffes, and rambunctious elephants.

Pack your bags and get ready for adventure as Robin Jones Gunn invites you on a safari of the heart in this vulnerable exploration of how to move forward in faith even when the future is uncertain.

My Review:

 Fern and Lily are just precious! What I wouldn't give to have a friendship like that. These two blessed ladies met 20 years ago, as teenagers and since have been inseparable. Even though each of their lives has had its own setbacks, their friendship has always remained intact. So these two friends get to visit Africa something they have wanted to do for far too long. A once in a lifetime adventure for two besties.

 So off they go to a place with endless sunrises that shows the wild in a whole new exciting way. But little did they know how life changing this trip would be and what it would do to change both of them and their lives forever. God is in the details and they learn this very vividly. Their faith will be tested in a lot of ways, more so than they ever imagined.

A great cozy read, for sure!

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: Desperate Prayers by:Rachel Wojo

 

About the Book:

Do your prayers resemble last-minute cries more than first-response chats? You’re not alone in calling out to God in life’s pitch-black moments and wondering if He’s listening.

Enter the powerful secrets of the Bible's eleventh-hour pleas of fifteen men and women. This engaging book invites you into the prayer stories of struggling Bible characters like Hagar, Hannah, and David. Each chapter's simple three-word prayer focus will deepen your trust and affirm your heart that it’s best to be you before God.

The ideal desperate pray-er to shine light on your prayer dilemmas, Rachel Wojo vulnerably shares her heartbreaking experiences of loss while pointing you to your Father. Her prayer journey and promising principles will guide you from frenzied desperation to dependent faith.

My Review:

Prayer in my opinion is one of God's love languages. He wants to hear from you on lots of different levels. Prayer is one of those. We get to pour our heart out to Him. And prayer I'm going to tell you is one of those things that comes from deep within. Whether you are speaking in a good way or bad, He can tell what your honest to the heart notion really is.

 The author takes different aspects of her life and uses them as examples for each of her talking points throughout the book. I like when an author does this. It gives us "real life". Its raw and open and I see myself if what they are trying to portray. This book was very eye opening! It really drives home the point that prayer is a source of strength and something we shouldn't take lightly.

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Very Merry Muddy Christmas by:M LaPlaca

 

About the Book:

Pitter! Patter! Pit Pat. Smack! The North Pole knew all about snow, but rain? This was a Christmas Eve rainstorm unlike anything Santa Claus had ever seen. Santa and his reindeer won't let a bit of rain stop them from delivering presents to all the good little kids around the world on Christmas Eve—or so they think. As they take off into the worsening downpour in rain gear for the reindeer, and a super waterproof suit for Santa, they expect it'll be business as usual. But then the reindeer start to sneeze. And soon, the sneezing not only knocks them off course, but right out of the sky! They crash land in the middle of a farm in a rain storm, which means . . . mud. So much mud. 

 The sleigh is stuck, the reindeer are sick, and Santa isn't sure how he's going to get the rest of the presents to the children. Just then, Logan appears, riding the very same toy tractor Santa had left for him last Christmas Eve. With a rope and some effort, Logan manages to pull Santa and the reindeer from the mud pit, but the sleigh is stuck for good. As they warm up and dry off in the barn, Santa and Logan try to come up with a plan to finish delivering the presents. But the reindeer are too sick to continue. And Santa doesn't have a sleigh any longer. How can he continue his journey? A kind and determined little boy, a barn full of eager farm animals, and a little bit of Christmas magic may give Santa a Christmas Eve present of his own.

My Review:

 The first thing a little boy or girl that are growing up on a farm want to know is will Santa visit me even on a farm. And our answer is always a resounding yes. No snow? No problem! Santa is on point and he will let nothing stop him from making those scheduled stops.

 In A Very Merry Muddy Christmas, Santa is making his rounds and he's not letting anything stop him from doing so. But something happens that Santa hadnt quite bargained for and soon he's stuck in the mud. But no harm Logan is just the boy to help Santa out. They all come together and make a plan to help Santa and to save Christmas.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: Hope Like Wildflowers by:Pepper Basham

 

About the Book:

  An Appalachian Girl Seeks a Place to Belong
 
Return to the mountains of 1910s Appalachia with beloved author Pepper Basham to discover Kizzie McAdams's story.

Kizzie McAdams spent her childhood longing to see beyond the mountains of home, but when her job as a servant in a landowner’s house results in an unplanned pregnancy, her world tips into uncertainty and heartbreak. Disowned by her father, she seeks comfort in the arms of the man who promises to take care of her, but his support is conditional and inconsistent. She finds acceptance in the home of a nearby family who not only offer Kizzie friendship but point her to a deeper understanding of God’s love.

Despite her change of heart, her status as a social outcast brings with it continued threats and alienation so she flees her past in hopes of starting over in a nearby town. But her new world carries many of the same prejudices as the old. It also brings the unexpected friendship of businessman Noah Lewis, a man who lives with the same desire as Kizzie for helping the marginalized.

Unfortunately, Kizzie and Noah’s attempts to help those in need pit them against Noah’s elder brother, a powerful mill owner who holds control of the family finances. Is Kizzie and Noah’s growing romance strong enough to battle family power, social expectations, and Kizzie’s past to capture their happy ending? And when Kizzie’s first love returns to claim her, which future will she choose?

My Review:

 I have followed Kizzie on this journey and each time she becomes more and more alive to me. She is trying to make a way for herself. Being disowned by her father has its challenges but she was able to find some solace within a family that has taken up with her. She is able to have a model christian family played out before her eyes.

 Even though she has a conditional relationship with Charles she longs for something more, most likely something he cant give. Soon she meets Noah and things seem fine with him he definitely shares some of the same interests as Lizzie does. 

 Everything seems to be up in there for her because things get shook up a bit before its over. she has many decisions to make and they need to be made soon.

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Color of Home by:K Tosello

 

About the Book:

 Audrey Needham, Bay Area interior designer to the rich and pretentious, is down to her last nerve. Her boss is impossible to please, her future is in jeopardy, and her great-aunt Daisy needs support as her husband descends into Alzheimer's. When Daisy enlists Audrey's help preparing for a move to assisted living, Audrey risks her career to return to the idyllic small town of Charity Falls, Oregon, the summer stomping grounds of her childhood. But Charity Falls was also the place that broke her heart when her father was killed in a tragic fire at the Sugar Pine Inn thirteen years ago. Despite Audrey's intent to avoid emotional entanglement, the pull of home is hard to resist. Something should be done about the deteriorating inn. A local girl with an incarcerated father needs a friend. And handsome local do-gooder Cade Carter is coloring Audrey all shades of uncertain.Join award-winning writer and debut novelist Kit Tosello in this lyrical and often humorous exploration of how God redeems brokenness and draws us to the life we're meant to find.

My Review:

 Even though the storyline was so I guess sad to a point. It was really a great story. I felt bad for Audrey but at the same time I envied her. she herself doesnt have any attachments and she is free to come and go and she chooses to help her Great Aunt Daisy. She is a very noble person with good intentions. Returning to a place that brings her so much pain but willing to for family is very admirable in the last.

 Cade Carter has his eyes set in Audrey's direction but will that help her see any value to being back in Charity Falls? He better come up with something quick if he has plans for this girl.

 Great story! Would love to see more from this author!

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

 

Review: Snowbie by:A&J Alton

 

About the Book:

One upon a time, the world had never seen a snowman! Here's the story of the very first one!

Did you know that, once upon a time, nobody had ever seen or even heard of a snowman? Kids will love this beautifully illustrated instant classic storybook about the very first one!

On these pages, they will

• How Santa found three very special snowballs.
• How he used them to build a very special kind of a snowman!
• How the snowman chose his Snowbie!
• How Snowbie met Mrs. Claus and Santa’s elves and reindeer friends!
• How Snowbie found his new family and a real purpose in life!

If you've ever built a snowman, you'll love the story of Snowbie! The whole family will want to give it a special place in your children’s book library. It’s a story you’ll want your kids to read to their children!

My Review:

 Inside the enchanting world of North Pole, Alaska lived Santa and his family. One day he came upon a snowball that talked and that was his first introduction to Snowbie the first snowman. Santa gave this wonderful friend an option of different names and the snowman chose his own name. Snowbie had a heart for love and kindness and hard work from the start. He left Santa's home to find his own way. Each step he was met with love and kindness.

 Santa soon found him and took him back home where he belongs after a short world tour, of course. Snowbie was loved more than he even knew.

 A sweet story about a precious snowman named Snowbie that just wanted to return all the love he felt inside.

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Review: Out of the Shawdows: My Life Inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden by:Lunden Roberts

 

About the Book:

The tell-all memoir of Lunden Roberts's tumultuous relationship with Hunter Biden.

“He was sitting there wearing nothing but parrot boxer briefs, organizing his crack pipes on his Rosemont Seneca desk, with the Obama’s senate seat behind him, and I thought, this is definitely a guy I want to get to know better.”
That was the first time Lunden Roberts met Hunter Biden. She had come to DC from Arkansas to escape the yoke of her mother’s overbearing expectations. Hunter radiated the “live-for-the-moment” energy she sought. What followed from that first meeting was a wild journey that would come to define Lunde’s young life in ways she never could’ve from cooking crack in the kitchen of Rosemont Seneca, to strip clubs where Hunter was the one on the pole, to stories that make the laptop debacle seem every day, to giving birth to the grudgingly acknowledged grandchild of the sitting President of the United States.
When a hailstorm of media hit, painting Lunden as a stripper and one-night stand, Lunden retreated to Arkansas to live in the shadows. She’s ready to set the record straight. Her book is a sweetly raw, tell-all memoir of the crazy year she met and dated Hunter, and the chaotic, secret life that followed of mothering and protecting the nation’s first granddaughter.

My Review:

 Ummm well, this book was not quite what I expected. Most of the beginning kept referring to a lot of drug abuse and well just silly theatrics that don't quite fit a girl that I feel, was just too old to behaving the way she did. But that is neither here nor there, as my husband says. So lets get to the meat of it. 

 I think the author was intrigued by Hunter Biden and couldn't believe he would do such things, so much so that she followed on his escapades just to see what he would do next. Did she plot to get pregnant in order to cash in on him? Im not sure. 

 I saying anything bad but the book did lack substance unless you consider story after story just about drinking and drugs and partying. I was very bored early on and I'm not quite sure why the book was written. Im not sure I would want the world to know these things.

 So my review will reflect that I'm just not sure on this one. Im stumped actually.

**Disclosure**This book was sent to me free of charge for honest review. All opinions are my own.