Food Family Style ~ Review

About the Book:

In a time when the family meal is increasingly losing out to music lessons, sports practices, and the general busyness of life, it's time to rediscover the joys of cooking and eating together as a family. Time may be short and budgets may be tight, but these 365 mouthwatering recipes are sure to draw families into the kitchen and around the table day after day. From tasty breakfasts, soups, and salads to sumptuous main dishes and desserts, Food Family Style delivers just what readers' families ordered. Throughout the book are symbols indicating recipes that double easily, freeze well, are gluten-free or vegetarian, can be made in a slow cooker, and more. And since there's more to mealtime than just the food, this innovative book also includes tips about how to involve kids in meal preparation, meaningful conversation starters, and simple ideas to bring warmth to your home.

About the Author:
Leigh Oliver Vickery is creator and founder of Leigh Oliver's, a specialty "fun food" company with numerous products on the market in at least twenty-five states and grocery chains, including Whole Foods Market and Costco. She is the former food editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas, and now blogs at www.onebighappytable.com. Leigh also has a regular twice-weekly segment on two local TV stations called "One Big Happy Table with Leigh Vickery." She lives in Tyler, Texas, with her husband, two sons, and three dogs.

MY THOUGHTS:

I LOVE cookbooks! Anything that can provide me with new menu ideas and great recipes, I am on it! "Food Family Style" is very well organized! It also shares which recipes can be doubled or reduced for less calories and fat. You will find Vegan options and even recipes that will allow your kids to come and help you. Leigh also provides "Conversation Starters," which is great for either dinner time or just hanging out in the kitchen while dinner is being prepared!

I decided to do a quick and easy desert and also asked my 15 year old Son to make this recipe with me. We made Mexican Cinnamon Crisp Sundaes. Anytime your children put their arm around you and say "This was fun Mom" it is sooo precious but when they are 15, it is that and so much more :)

3 T. unsalted butter
2 T. Sugar
4 flour tortillas, cut into 1/2 in. strips
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 pint ice cream
1/2 c. fudge sauce

Melt butter and sugar in a large skillet over medium heat. Add tortilla strips and cook until crisp, turning several times, about 5 min. Transfer to paper towel & sprinkle w/cinnamon.

Scoop ice cream into bowls and top with warmed hot fudge and cinnamon tortilla strips.

They are sooo YUMMY! The only problem I had was that the paper towel stuck to the tortilla strips when placed on for cooling, which was a bit frustrating. I will definitely make these again but will probably use something else next time.

I look forward to coooking more recipes out of "Food Family Style!" I give this a 4 out of 5 ♥'s :)

Thank you Donna @ Revell Publishing for allowing me this complimentary copy of this cookbook in exchange for my honest review!

Happy Reading!

A Sweethaven Homecoming

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingA Sweethaven HomecomingGuideposts (August 2012)

byCourtney Walsh



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Courtney Walsh is a published author, scrapbooking expert, theatre director and playwright. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, was released in February, 2012 by Guideposts Books, and will be followed by two additional novels in the series. She has also written two papercrafting books, Scrapbooking Your Faith and The Busy Scrapper and is currently working on her third, The Scrapcrafter’s Idea Book (F&W Publications, February, 2013.)



Courtney has been a contributing editor for Memory Makers Magazine and Children’s Ministry Magazine and is a frequent contributor to Group Publishing curriculum, newsletters and other publications. She has also written several full-length musicals, including her most recent, The Great American Tall Tales and Hercules for Christian Youth Theatre, Chicago. Courtney is a member of ACFW and is the current PR Manager for Webster’s Pages, a scrapbooking manufacturer. She lives in Colorado with her ultra creative husband and three children.







ABOUT THE BOOK

Suzanne's daughter, Campbell, journeys there in search of answers to her questions about her mother's history.



Suzanne's three friends-Lila, Jane, and Meghan-were torn apart by long-buried secrets and heartbreak. Though they haven't spoken in years, each has pieces of a scrapbook they made together in Sweethaven.Suzanne's letters have lured them all back to the idyllic lakeside town, where they meet Campbell and begin to remember what was so special about their long Sweethaven summers.



As the scrapbook reveals secrets one by one, old wounds are mended, lives are changed, and friendships are restored-just as Suzanne intended.



If you would like to read the first chapter of A Sweethaven Homecoming, go HERE.






Happy Reading :)

Over the Edge ~ Review

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingOver The EdgeBethany House (August 1, 2012)byMary Connealy



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:







Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys. She is a Christy Award Finalist, a Carol Award Finalist and an IRCC Award finalist.



The Lassoed in Texas Series, Petticoat Ranch, Calico Canyon and Gingham Mountain. Petticoat Ranch was a Carol Award Finalist. Calico Canyon was a Christy Award Finalist and a Carol Award Finalist. These three books are now contained in one large volume called Lassoed in Texas Trilogy.



The Montana Marriages Series, Montana Rose, The Husband Tree and Wildflower Bride. Montana Rose was a Carol Award Finalist.



Cowboy Christmas—the 2010 Carol Award for Best Long Historical Romance, and an Inspirational Readers Choice Contest Finalist.



The Sophie's Daughters series. Doctor in Petticoats, Wrangler in Petticoats, Sharpshooter in Petticoats.



She is also the author of; Black Hills Blessing a 3-in-1 collection of sweet contemporary romances, Nosy in Nebraska, a 3-in-1 collection of cozy romantic mysteries and she's one of the three authors contributing to Alaska Brides with her Carol Award Winning historical romance Golden Days.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Seth Kincaid survived a fire in a cave, but he's never been the same. He was always a reckless youth, but now he's gone over the edge. He ran off to the Civil War and came back crazier than ever.



After the war, nearly dead from his injuries, it appears Seth got married. Oh, he's got a lot of excuses, but his wife isn't happy to find out Seth doesn't remember her. Callie has searched, prayed, and worried. Now she's come to the Kincaid family's ranch in Colorado to find her lost husband.



Callie isn't a long-suffering woman. Once she knows her husband is alive, she wants to kill him. She's not even close to forgiving him for abandoning her.



Then more trouble shows up in the form of a secret Seth's pa kept for years. The Kincaid brothers might lose their ranch if they can't sort things out. It's enough to drive a man insane--but somehow it's all making Seth see things more clearly. And now that he knows what he wants, no one better stand in his way.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Over The Edge, go HERE.


My Review:

Mary Connealy was a new author to me when I read Out of Control, the first book in this Series. I knew right away ~ I LOVED Her!

On The Edge, the 3rd and final book in the Kincaid Brides SERIES, is EXCELLENT!

Not even sure how one would "forget" they were married, but apparently, it happens! :) This Kincaid bride, Callie, learns that Seth does not remember her and is NOT happy to say the least! But like his brothers, once he sets his mind to something, he will make sure it happen and He definitely wants to be a husband to Callie!

I love Callie - She is fun and witty and like the other Kindcaid brides she is a strong
woman! These two are a mess and I loved learning more about them!

This is a WONDERFUL SERIES, and I would recommend it to ALL! Thanks CFBA for allowing me this complimentary book in exchange for my honest review!

Happy Reading!

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingChasing The WindB&H Books (August 1, 2012)

byPamela Ewen



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Until recently retiring to write full time, Pamela Binnings Ewen was a partner in the Houston office of the international law firm of BakerBotts, L.L.P., specializing in corporate finance. She now lives just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband, James Lott.



She has served on the Board of Directors of Inprint, Inc., a non-profit organization supporting the literary arts in Houston, Texas, as well as the Advisory Board for The New Orleans Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans; Pamela is a co-founder of the Northshore Literary Society in the Greater New Orleans area. She is also a member of the National League of American Pen Women.



Pamela’s first novel, Walk Back The Cat (Broadman & Holman. May, 2006) is the story of an embittered and powerful clergyman who learns an ancient secret, confronting him with truth and a choice that may destroy him.



She is also the best-selling author of the acclaimed non-fiction book Faith On Trial, published by Broadman & Holman in 1999, currently in its third printing.



Although it was written for non-lawyers, Faith On Trial was also chosen as a text for a course on law and religion at Yale Law School in the Spring of 2000, along with The Case For Christ by Lee Stroble. Continuing the apologetics begun in Faith On Trial, Pamela also appears with Gary Habermas, Josh McDowell, Darrell Bock, Lee Stroble, and others in the film Jesus: Fact or Fiction, a Campus Crusade for Christ production.



Pamela is the latest writer to emerge from a Louisiana family recognized for its statistically improbable number of successful authors. A cousin, James Lee Burke, who won the Edgar Award, wrote about the common ancestral grandfathers in his Civil War novel White Dove At Morning.



Among other writers in the family are Andre Dubus (Best Picture Oscar nomination for The Bedroom; his son, Andre Dubus III, author of The House of Sand and Fog, a Best Picture Oscar nomination and an Oprah pick; Elizabeth Nell Dubus (the Cajun trilogy); and Alafair Burke, just starting out with the well received Samantha Kincaid mystery series.



ABOUT THE BOOK

At 8:47 A.M. on Wednesday, October 12, 1977, new-to-town businessman Bingham Murdock flew his small plane into New Orleans, banking it in such a way that a ray of sunshine shot through the city at light speed.



Amalise Catoir saw the flash from her sixteenth floor law office window. Finally feeling alive after the death of her abusive husband, she imagined seeing the plane was a fate for her eyes only; a special connection between the unknown giver and she, the recipient of light.



But someone else saw it, a six-year-old Cambodian refugee in foster care for whom a sudden burst of brightness reminds him of artillery fire.



Destined to cross paths with the man and the child, Amalise doesn’t yet know the deeper spiritual lesson she will learn: that we are responsible not only for the things we do, but also for the things that we don’t.



If you would like to read an excerpt of Chasing The Wind, go HERE.


Happy Reading!

Discretion

From the “female John Grisham” (The Providence Journal)—a new legal thriller exploring the intersection of sex and power in Washington, D.C.’s most secretive worlds.

From former federal sex-crimes prosecutor and critically acclaimed author Allison Leotta— a new thriller exploring the intersection of sex and power in Washington, D.C.’s most secretive worlds

When a beautiful young woman plummets to her death from the balcony of the U.S. Capitol, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Curtis is summoned to the scene. The evidence points to a sexual assault and murder. The victim is one of the city’s highest-paid escorts. And the balcony belongs to Washington, D.C.’s sole representative to Congress, the most powerful figure in city politics.

The Congressman proclaims his innocence, but he’s in the middle of a tough primary fight, and the scandal could cost him the election. For Anna, the high-profile case is an opportunity. But as the political stakes rise, she realizes that a single mistake could end her career.

At the same time, her budding romance with Jack Bailey, the chief homicide prosecutor, is at a crossroads. Determined to gain respect in the office, Anna wants to keep their relationship under wraps. But the mounting pressure and media attention that come with the office’s most important case will inevitably expose their relationship—if it doesn’t destroy it first.

The investigation leads Anna to Discretion, a high-end escort service that caters to D.C.’s elite. But with each break in the case, the mystery deepens. And the further Anna ventures into D.C.’s red-light underworld, the larger the target on her own back.



From the secret social clubs where Washington’s most powerful men escape from public view to the asphalt “track” where the city’s most vulnerable women work the streets, Discretion is a gripping exploration of sex, power, and the secrets we all keep.


Praise for Allison Leotta’s Law of Attraction:
“With this riveting debut legal thriller, Leotta, a federal sex crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C., joins the big leagues with pros like Lisa Scottoline and Linda Fairstein.” —Library Journal (starred review)

Allison Leotta’s debut novel, Law of Attraction, was named one of the best legal thrillers of 2010 by Suspense Magazine. A former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Leotta left the Department of Justice in 2011 to pursue writing fulltime. Visit AllisonLeotta.com.


My Thoughts:

If you LOVE a good Suspense Novel, or maybe fast paced crime stories! Well, let me tell you "Discretion" has it ALL!!! TRULY, this is one to recommend to those who love to read murder mysteries and have uninterrupted time to read, because they won't be able to put this book down!!

Thank you Ashley Hewlett w/Touchstone Publishing for allowing me this complimentary book in exchange for my honest review!

♥Happy Reading♥

Wedded to War

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Wedded to War • River North; New Edition edition (July 1, 2012)

by Jocelyn Green



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jocelyn Green is a child of God, wife and mom living in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She is also an award-winning journalist, author, editor and blogger. Though she has written nonfiction on a variety of topics, her name is most widely recognized for her ministry to military wives: Faith Deployed. Her passion for the military family was fueled by her own experience as a military wife, and by the dozens of interviews she has conducted with members of the military for her articles and books, Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and its sequel, Faith Deployed...Again: More Daily Encouragement for Military Wives. She is also co-author of both Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan and Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front (forthcoming, May 2012). Her Faith Deployed Web site and Facebook page continue to provide ongoing support, encouragement and resources for military wives worldwide.













ABOUT THE BOOK

When war erupted, she gave up a life of privilege for a life of significance.

Tending to the army's sick and wounded meant leading a life her mother does not understand and giving up a handsome and approved suitor. Yet Charlotte chooses a life of service over privilege, just as her childhood friend had done when he became a military doctor. She soon discovers that she's combatting more than just the rebellion by becoming a nurse. Will the two men who love her simply stand by and watch as she fights her own battles? Or will their desire for her wage war on her desire to serve God?



Wedded to War is a work of fiction, but the story is inspired by the true life of Civil War nurse Georgeanna Woolsey. Woolsey's letters and journals, written over 150 years ago, offer a thorough look of what pioneering nurses endured. This is the first in the series "Heroines Behind the Lines: Civil War," a collection of novels that highlights the crucial contributions made by women during times of war.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Wedded to War, go HERE.


My Review:

Wedded to War is a phenomenal read! Life during the Civil War or any war for that matter, was such a difficult time! Charlotte was living a wonderful and privileged life, though it seems, but traded that in to serve those sick or wounded in the local hospitals. Charlotte wanted to make a difference! Her Mother wanted her to stay. Stay with the man whom she approved of for Charlotte. Charlotte had other ideas altogether and fought hard to do what she knew she wanted.

Her story is based on a true Civil War Nurse named Georgeanna Woolsey. In Wedded to War you will be able to read letters and journals written by Mrs. Woosley! It is quite amazing to read of her journey during the Civil War!

I LOVE the way Jocelyn Green tells this tale. At times I felt as if I was right there with the wounded, or heart broken for those in a prejudice situations, and definitely Charlottes determination can be felt through those pages!! Hope springs forth and you see God do HIS good work despite the circumstances that these people faced each day the battle continued.

This is a definite 5 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥'s from HeartofaBookworm

I look VERY FORWARD to the next "Heroines Behind the Lines" book! You won't want to miss this Series, so hurry...Check this out or run to your bookstore and read this one!
You will be so glad you did :)

Reunion by Lauraine Snelling

About the Book:

Keira Johnson, a 50-year-old mother of two grown sons, believes she lives a good Christian life without secrets-- until she discovers a life-jarring fact her late mother kept hidden all her life. Kiera was born out of wedlock, and the man she had always known as her father had adopted her as an infant.

Meanwhile, Keira's beloved 17-year-old niece, Kirsten, has just discovered an unwanted pregnancy. Her boyfriend, Jose, is bound for college and Kirsten does not know what to do. As the family comes together for a reunion, Keira and Kirsten struggle with their fractured pasts and jumbled present. Will truth and honesty be the catalysts that allow the entire family to find peace?

Inspired by events in Lauraine Snelling's own life, REUNION is the author's finest novel to date.

About the Author:

Lauraine Snelling has been writing since 1980, with over 65 books published, both fiction and non-fiction, historical and contemporary, for adults and young readers. Her books consistently appear on CBA bestseller lists, and have been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German. A hallmark of her style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Bassett named Chewy. Visit her Web site at www.laurainesnelling.com.


My Thoughts:

Reunion is such a wonderful and powerful book! I wish everyone could read this book! Lauraine delves into very real and very emotional issues.

Keira and Kirsten walk through some very difficult trials but neither one of them does it alone. With the unconditional love and support of family, they face the truth and consequences of their actions, as well as the actions of others. They learn that facing the "truth" is not always the easy thing to do BUT it is ALWAYS the BEST thing to do!


To me, when unconditional love is given, it provides a strength that allows me to face things that otherwise I wouldn't be able to. When that unconditional love is coupled with forgiveness... WOW! Love and Forgiveness are universal ~ Reunion is a great testimony for both!


Sarah Reck and HachetteBookGroup/Faith Words ~ Thank you sooo much for allowing me to read this complimentary book in exchange for my honest opinion.