What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted by J. Kaye atJ. Kaye's Book Blog. If you would like to participate, please leave your link with Mr. Linky at J.Kaye's blog - but you can also leave me a comment - I would love to know what you are reading!
I also hope to have a few new giveaways up before the end of the year - so stay tuned!
Current audio books: Due to the kids not being in school, haven't been listening to audio books this week. The two that I was listening to - Woman in Red and Evermore - I lost interest in as I haven't been driving my daughter the 40 minutes to and from school! I hope to get back into audio after the new year!
Well, I took an unexpected vacation the last couple of days. I hurt my back (I think shoveling snow, but I will never admit it!) and finally today feel like moving around and sitting up - not that I was allowed to not do anything! We celebrated Christmas with my in-laws on Friday in Wisconsin - thankfully missing the bad weather - and then had our Christmas at home on Saturday. The house still looks like a toy tornado went through! I am feeling better and plan on visiting my friendly chiropractor tomorrow! So, on with the mailbox!
The Marriage Project: 21 Days to More Love and Laughter by Kathi Lipp
More love, more laughter - more lingerie.
Was the last time you flirted with your husband before you had kids?
Do you spend more time on the couch with your wife watching movies or with a bag of chips watching The Game?
Does your idea of a hot date include a drive-thru and springing for the extra-large fries?
What would your marriage look like if for 21 days you put it on project status? Plenty of books describe how to improve a marriage, how to save a marriage, and how to ramp up the intimacy in a marriage. In The Marriage Project, Kathi Lipp shows you how to put the fun back in marriage with 21 simple yet effective projects.
here are just a few of the results you'll see when you put The Marriage Project into practice.
new levels of warmth and tenderness in your relationship
a deeper sense of security with your spouse
new ideas to bring fun and flirting back into your marriage
If you haven't given up on the dream of being head-over-heels with your spouse again, The Marriage Project will give you just the boost you need.
The Marriage Project is great for groups (a leader's guide is included) or for couples to do one-to-one. (back cover)
Hearing From God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer
In today's world we are surrounded by noise. We are overwhelmed by the voices around us, whether they're from our children, our friends, our spouses, or ourselves. Distracted by the sounds of others, we soon forget how to listen to the most important voice of all - the voice of God.
In this devotional, Joyce Meyer guides readers to a more intimate relationship with God, showing us how to cultivate qualities and behaviours that will help us recognize God's voice. Each message is based upon teachings from three of her books, How to Hear from God, Knowing God Intimately, and The Power of Simple Prayer.
This collection includes powerful meditations that will inspire and help you to:
Make time for God
Discern His responses to prayer
Sustain relationships with others while developing your intimacy with God.
This book offers short, empowering reminders of how to reconnect with His plan and persevere through common obstacles ranging from fighting temptation of the mall to overcoming deeply held grudges. With daily readings that reinforce the power of peace, patience, obedience and love, Joyce Meyer provides strategies for opening ourselves to His wisdom by first opening our ears.
Whether preparing for a new day or reflecting on a day past, you too can hear from God! (back cover)
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
On a hot, beautiful day in the English countryside, six-year-old Joanna Mason witnesses a horrific crime. Thirty years later, the man convicted of the crime is released from prison.
Sixteen-year-old Reggie works as a nanny for a doctor devoted to her infant son. When Dr. Hunter goes missing, Reggie - no stranger to bad luck and worse - seems to be the only person who is worried.
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is also looking for a missing person, unaware that hurtling toward her is an old friend, private detective Jackson Brodie, himself on a journey that becomes fatally interrupted.
As lives and histories intersect, as past mistakes and current misfortunes collide, Jackson and Louise both get caught up in an investigation that will call into question everything they once thought true. (back cover)
The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry
When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and emperor, he had stolen immeasurable riches from palaces, national treasuries, and even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where the loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing, and in his will he made no mention of the treasure.
Or did he?
Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is about to find out when trouble comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally.
Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone's good friend Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon's legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy.
But Thorvaldsen's real objective is much more personal: to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Thorvaldsen's vendetta places Malone in an impossible quandary -- one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets and cathedrals of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value. But at what cost? (inside cover)
The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight. By the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic (I also received The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal)
In our work with literally thousands of patients, we've identified the critical habits of people who maintain a healthy weight, and the habits of those who don't.
With The Mayo Clinic Diet, we've boiled this research down to five simple habits to help you take off the extra weight -- and five habits to break so that you can keep it from coming back. Plus, we've made it easy, because what works best when it comes to weight loss is keeping it simple!
The Mayo Clinic Diet is composed of three sections to get you started, to keep you on track, and to give you the knowledge and tools you need to keep those unwanted pounds off for good.
Lost It! is a two-week quick-start program designed to help you lose 6 to 10 pounds in a safe and healthy way.
Live It! is a long-term plan in which you continue to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week until you reach your goal. Then, you team how to maintain your healthy weight for life.
All the extra stuff includes meal planners, recipes, tips on overcoming challenges and much more to help you along the way.
The Mayo Clinic Diet puts you in charge of reshaping your body and improving your health -- for a lifetime. (inside cover)
The Mudhogs by Dalton James
No mud equals no fun for three little pigs.
Three little pigs try everything in their power to make or find mud. Along the way they learn a valuable life lesson.
This is the third book written by eight-year-old Dalton James - first two were very cute. I can't wait to read this one with my son.
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo
In the tradition of best-selling Jane Austen Ruined My Life, Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart features an Austen fan who uncovers an early draft of Pride and Prejudice -- and discovers that Jane Austen didn't always have Darcy in mind for Elizabeth Bennet.
Claire Prescott doesn't understand Mr. Darcy's appeal. She's been comfortably dating Neil, a nice -- if a bit negligent -- sports fanatic. But when she agrees to stand in for her sister at a Jane Austen seminar in Oxford, England, she finds herself holding a lost version of Pride and Prejudice. Scholars thought Austen's original manuscript was destroyed centuries ago, but as Claire reads the first draft, she uncovers a long-hidden secret about the iconic Darcy, as well as the truth about Austen's own struggle to find the right hero for Elizabeth Bennet.
And when a tall, dark, and dashing stranger crosses her path, will the staid Claire sudd3enly discover her inner Lizzie Bennet? Neil's unexpected arrival in Oxford complicates Claire's journey to finding her own romantic lead, and she discovers that finding the right hero can be more difficult than she ever imagined.
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart is the story of a woman who finds that falling in love may be the biggest adventure of all and that a true hero can appear in the most unexpected places. (back cover)
Title: Primal Author: Mark Batterson Publisher: WaterbrookMultnomah
About the book: BE ASTONISHED AGAIN.
We have a tendency to complicate Christianity. Jesus simplified it: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we are to live out the essence of Christianity, we must commit to being great at this Great Commandment.
In Primal, Mark Batterson explores the four elements of Great Commandment Christianity: compassion, wonder, curiosity, and power. Along the way, he calls you to be a part of God's reformation, starting in your own life.
As Mark writes, "Is there a place in your past where you met God and God met you? A place where your heart broke for the things that break the heart of God? Maybe it was a sermon that became more than a sermon. Maybe it was a mission trip or retreat. Maybe it was a vow you made at an altar. In that moment, God birthed something supernatural in your spirit. You knew you'd never be the same again. My prayer is that this book would take you back to that burning bush -- and reignite a primal faith."
Primal will help you live in light of what matters most and discover what it means to love God. It will help you become great at the Great Commandment. (inside cover)
My thoughts: I waited kind of late to start reading this book due to the bustle of Christmas, but also due to the fact that I had the mind set that it would be a quick read at 170 pages. It did not take me long to realize that this book was not to be rushed through, but to take to heart and let the message sort of ruminate before moving on - so, as this is the last day of the blog tour, I just wanted to affirm that this is a fantastic book for really laying it all out there on the line - I had never really thought about Christianity as being simple or complex- but as I was reading, I realized that in my own family we have different views as to what being a Christian means - and if I were to spread that out to my friends, my church, and my community it would look very different to everyone. But if we just focus on that one Great Commandment - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength - What kind of a movement would that start in the community? It is just that simple - I know, easier said than done right? What is holding you back today from this commitment?
Purchase Primal today and make it your priority in the new year to read this one!
~This book was provided for review by WaterBrookMultnomah.~
What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted by J. Kaye atJ. Kaye's Book Blog. If you would like to participate, please leave your link with Mr. Linky at J.Kaye's blog - but you can also leave me a comment - I would love to know what you are reading!
I made up for last week and got caught up on my reviews!
Current audio books: 1. Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge - This one is heating up 2. Evermore: The Immortals by Alyson Noel - Enjoy listening to this one with my daughter
The One-Day Way produces lasting results by taking you back to the basics. No more complicated weight-loss strategies. No more expensive diet plans that achieve only temporary results. Instead, you will lose weight and get fit with Chantel's simple, high-energy meal plans and her at-home program for cardio exercise and strength training. She will teach you how to change the way you think, which leads to new actions. Before you know it you will be strong, fit, and healthy. All it takes is doing things differently for twenty-four hours -- and then repeating it.
The One-Day Way gives you everything you need to lose weight and get fit in body, mind, and spirit:
Break free from past dieting defeats
Learn a realistic, life-changing way to measure success
Change the way you think so you can change your life
Translate your dreams into goals, and your goals into lasting achievements
Get strong with thirty-0ne simple exercises, no fancy equipment required
Take advantage of ten ways to eat better while you lose weight.
By focusing on food, faith, and fitness, Chantel shows you not only how to lose weight, but how to build the new life you were designed to live. You don't have to wait any longer. The One-Day Way gives you all the tools for success, starting right now. (inside cover)
Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin
Denise Austin shares the perfect plan for anyone who wants to live better and lose weight but can't seem to find the time. Denise's Daily Dozen covers a whole range of health-and diet-related concepts managed in a no-stress, time-conscious program of "twelves" to keep you flexible, strong, trim, and feeling great about yourself. Denise knows these methods work because she uses them personally to stay fit and looking fabulous, and they've worked for countless others, too!
Organized into seven-chapters - one for each day of the week - this perfectly balanced lifestyle program offers a three-week healthy meal plan with simple recipes and delicious foods. Each chapter also features a fully illustrated, total body workout of twelve simple and fun exercises you can do in just twelve minutes any time during the day. Cardio, fat-burning, toning, yoga: they're all here but in a way that maximizes effect while minimizing time. Denise also gives inspiring encouragement and advice in her numerous Daily Dozen tips, including ways to trim food costs as you trim your waistline, boost your energy level, get a better night's sleep, and inspire your family to join you.
Leave any excuses behind. . . Denise wants you energized about your health and fitness so you can feel better about yourself right now! (back cover)
Your Best Body Now by Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen, M.D.
Each of us is unique. we were all born with a specific body type and body shape based upon our genetics. Although we can't change our genetics we can take charge of our shape by "specific body shape blueprint training." To do this we need to understand our individual shape and put together a workable and enjoyable fitness plan to achieve the best version of ourselves we can. (back cover)
Terror By Night by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence
As I sat there gasping for breath, I turned my attention to my house. Even through the thick woods, I could still see the glow of the fire. As I watched the sparks and smoke soaring over the trees toward heaven, a wave of despair washed over me. My throat thickened, and tears filled my eyes, blurring what little vision I had.
They're gone.
Penny, Erin, Matthew, and Tyler were dead, and no effort on my part would bring them back.
What am I going to do without them? Oh, God, what am I going to do?
I didn't understand any of what was happening, but most of all I couldn't understand why God had turned His back on us and allowed this.
Finally the porch light came on, and my next-door neighbor, Tommy, Opened the door.
"Oh, my God. Helen, come quick!"
Tommy came out and bent down to talk to me. "What happened?"
"We need help," I said. "Charlie came and shot us all."
"What about Penny and the kids?" he asked.
A tidal wave of grief swept me away.
"They're all dead."
. . .
Then God intervened. (inside cover)
Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession (audio book) by Julie Powell
Julie Powell has always felt about butchers the way other women feel about firemen. Perhaps it is no wonder, then, that she turns to butchery when her own life and marriage are rife with confusion, doubt, and obsession.
Food saved Julie once before. Sparked by an early-onset midlife crisis, she cooked all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year and discovered herself as a writer. Now she is stuck again, this time between her adoring husband - the two of them as close as two trees twined at the root - and a lover she can't resist. Seeking escape Julie does what any torn and desperate woman would do. She plunges herself elbow-deep -- in meat.
At Fleisher's, a family owned butcher shop in the Catskills, she finds a sympathetic bunch of delightful "meat hippies" willing to train an apprentice. Julie takes instantly to the tough, physical work that (less often than she'd like) distracts her from penetrating thoughts of afternoon trysts.
Inspired by the camaraderie at Fleisher's, Julie embarks on a trip around the world, discovering an international brotherhood of butchers and a confidence she didn't know she had. As her journey progresses, she begins to see where the divisions lie. And how in breaking something down you can begin to make it whole again. (back cover)
Dear John (audio book) by Nicholas Sparks
"Dear John," the letter read. And with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives changed forever.
When Savannah Lynn Curtis comes into his life, John Tyree knows he is ready to turn over a new leaf. An angry rebel, he had enlisted in the army after high school, not knowing what else to do. Then, during a furlough, he meets Savannah, the girl of his dreams. The attraction is mutual and quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah vowing to wait for John while he finishes his tour of duty. But neither can foresee that 9/11 is about to change the world. Like so many proud men and women, John must choose between love and country. Now, when he finally returns to North Carolina, John will discover how love can transform us in ways we never could have imagined. (back cover)
Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes
At the end of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, we know that Pearl, the elf-child daughter of Hester Prynne, is somewhere in Europe, comfortable, well set, a mother herself now. But it could not have been easy for her to arrive at such a place, when she begins life as the bastard child of a woman publicly humiliated, again and again, in an unrelentingly judgmental Puritan world.
With a brilliant and authentic sense of that time and place, Deborah Noyes envisions the path Pearl takes to make herself whole and to carve her place in the New World. Beautifully written with boundless compassion, Angel and Apostle is a heart-rending and imaginative debut in which Noyes masterfully makes Hawthorne’s character her own. (Unbridledbooks.com)
Bread of Angels: A Memoir of Love and Faith in Damascus by Stephanie Saldana
In 2004, twenty-seven-year-old Stephanie Saldana traveled to Damascus, Syria, on a Fulbright fellowship to study the role of the prophet Jesus in Islam. She was also fleeing a broken heart. It was not an ideal time to be an American in the Middle East -- the United States had recently invaded Iraq, refugees were flooding into Damascus, and dark rumors swirled that Syria might be next to come under American attack. Miserable and lonely, Stephanie left Damascus to visit an ancient Christina monastery carved into the desert cliffs. In that beautiful, austere setting, she confronted her wavering faith and met Frederic, a young French novice monk. As they set out to explore the mysteries entwining Christianity and Islam, Stephanie slowly realized that she had found God again -- and that she was in love with Frederic. But would Frederic choose God or Stephanie?
The Bread of Angels sweeps readers inthe violent extremes of a war-torn region and renews their belief in faith, self-discovery, and the possibility of true love. (back cover)
The Sacred Cipher by Terry Brennan
A secret room has been discovered in the chapel of the Bowery Mission.
And what's hidden inside reveals a mystery of Biblical proportions.
When New Yorker Tom Bohannon uncovers an ancient scroll containing a dead language that has been lost in the sands of time, he doesn't fully comprehend the danger that's about to unfold. Though Tom and his team of ragtag scientists and historians want to decode the ancient text, others don't want the cipher revealed. And they are prepared to kill to keep it hidden.
From a market in nineteenth-century Alexandria to a library in present-day New York to the tunnels beneath Jerusalem, the secret of the cipher is gradually revealing itself across the globe. And for those in its pat, life is about to change -- forever. (back cover)
by Richard Dudum
by Susan Beth Pfeffer - this is my current bathroom book - It is pretty good, but I wish that I had the first book to read side by side - as it is laid out in date format and it would have been neat to compare the experiences of 2 kids in 2 different parts of the country in this devastating scenario.
by Don Wilton
by Jill Greenberg
by Max Brenner (I need to get this one done before I have to start all the diet books for next month!!!)
by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg
by Deborah Noyes
by Terry Brennan
by Yxta Maya Murray
by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
by Eileen Goudge - This one is heating up
by Alyson Noel - Enjoy listening to this one with my daughter
by Mark Batterson - Just started, seems promising
