Book Review (Kind of)

I tried to read the Jesus We Missed by Patrick Henry Reardon but was unable to ever get the book to download.

When you read and write reviews for booksneeze the only way to get another book is to post the web address for your reviews. So here is my review..

The website wasn't working and I could not get the book to download. The title and reviews of the book looks very compelling. It discusses the human aspect of Jesus and his physical, emotional, psychological struggles because of them.

I hope this starts to work later so I can read this book.

Book Review: Heart of Ice

Heart of Ice is Lis Whiel and April Henry is a suspenseful crime novel about three women who call themselves the triple threat; a FBI agent, prosecutor, and crime TV reporter. These three women help each other with their jobs and with personal life. The book also involves Elizabeth a women who lie, cheats, steal, manipulates, and kills to get what she wants. As these four women's live are thrown together, death and mystery occurs.

This book was good. It took me a long time to get through it. If it wasn't for this assignment to read and review the book I think I would have quit about 1/3 of the way through. I'm glad I didn't in the end. In the beginning you are following six different characters with many more side characters. A good 50% of the book is just setting up the background of the story and the people. It doesn't really get exciting until about 2/3 of the way through. If you can make it that far than you will fly through the last third of the book.

I am a huge fan of Lis Wiehls books. This one was no exception in the end. Lis Wiehl is very good about weaving these interesting complex plot lines and yet making them understandable to the author.

Note: I was given a copy of this book to read and review through www.booksneeze.com. I was not compensated for a positive review and the opinions above are my own.

Book Review: First Date

First Date by Krista McGee is a cute book for teens about a girl, Addy, who gets picked to be on a reality TV show competing to be the prom date of the President's son. Addy is not one for attention and glamour. She is a quiet girl focused on good grades and making it to an ivy league school. Though kicking and screaming she does the show. Throughout the show she becomes America's sweetheart for just being herself. She runs into many obstacles including other contestants not liking her and the exec producer and host scheming to get her off the show. In spite of all this Addy starts a great relationship with the Presidents Son, Johnathon.

Throughout the book Addy also deals with her faith in God and his plan for Addy being on this show. Once she is no longer afraid for people to know she is a Christian and that God is in control, she sees how God uses her to better the lives of so many.

Overall I liked the book. I realize I was not the intended target but it was a fun quick read. I would recommend this book to teenagers.

Note: I did receive a free copy of the book from www.booksneeze.com to read and review. I was not compensated for a positive review and the opinions listed above are my own.

Book Review: This Thing of Ours

This thing of Ours: How Faith saved my Mafia Marriage by Camille Franzese is the story of Cammy and her dating a man named Michael. Later they were married and had children. What Cammy didn't really know was that Michael was the son of Sonny Franzese, head of the Colombo Mafia family.

As Michael was trying to get out of the family and his old life, he spent 8 years in jail. During those times Cammy learned to live owning everything and nothing. She an her children would travel the US visiting Michael at different prisons.

This story is one of prayer, faith and commitment. She talks a lot about her mother's solid faith and insistence that prayer would help. Though this force Cammy and Michael both became devote Christians relying on God to resolve these issues. Today Michael is an author and speaker about the power of Faith and God.

There were a few things in this book that really stood out to me. A couple good and a couple bad.

First I loved Cammy's commitment to marriage. She really believes that for better or worse she made a commitment to Michael and never thought about or tempted herself into breaking it.
Second, I loved her honesty about making Michael an idol in her life and thinking he could fix everything instead of relying on God and his path. This is something I think a lot of women are guilty of (myself included) at some point in their marriage. Its so easy to place the love of your life in charge because he is here and you can see him and touch him and you love him so much.

The couple things I didn't like were a few stories in there where she would name out a specific person who wronged them. It felt a little petty to me and something she needs to let go. For instance, the special agent who was trying to get Michael into jail. This agent may have been out to get Michael but consider what Michael was a part of. I don't know if this agent ever crossed the line or did truly have a grudge against Michael but her hatred towards this man came through in this book and turned me off towards her a little. The second story a the guard who wasn't going to let her see Michael and made up the excuse her outfit was inappropriate. I just felt this story made her look a little petty and was not necessary towards her goal and voice in the book.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I don't think I would read it again, but I will keep this copy in my collection.

Note: I did receive a free copy of this book from www.booksneeze.com for review. The opinions above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.

Test blog

I need to see if this will let ne post from my phone.

Book Review: Smitten

Smitten: Love is one the way is four novellas in one book written by best friends Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter. These four best friends write a series of novellas about four best friends who live in a small town named Smitten. When the local factory closes, the future of Smitten is at stake. These four women band together and come up with idea of making Smitten a romance capital.

Along the way they run into some opposition from the men of the town and do not want their town to become girly. As the town progresses from old mill town to a quaint romance capital love is found, families are made, friendships strengthened and faith tested and solidified

Overall I really enjoyed this book and the journey of the four women in it. I did find them a little too cut out and easy to predict but they were quiet enjoyable. I also enjoyed the theme of faith in the book without being overly pushy or sappy.

I would definitely recommend this book to friends and family. It was a nice easy read. The novellas flowed well together.

Note: I was given a copy of this book from www.booksneeze.com for free to read and review. The comments above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.

Book Review: An Amish Wedding

An Amish Wedding by Kelly Long, Kathleen Fuller, and Beth Wiseman is a book put together of three novellas telling three wedding stories of different people in an Amish community. The three stories are about the stresses of courtship, engagement, and planning a wedding. The three authors did a great job using the same characters and timeline in each.

Overall I loved this book. I am a sucker for books about Amish and weddings...so from the start I had high expectations. These books did not disappoint. The characters were real with worries and flaws. I love how their faith was so well depicted in each character.

I am always fascinated how the Amish have removed all of the distractions modern society gives us so that they can truly focus on God and family. This book did not depict them as perfect, as some do. They were real people with flaws and struggles. Even the story of Zeke’s parent in a loveless marriage, only together because divorce was not allowed, made the people seem that much more real.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Amish stories.

Note: I did receive a copy of this book free from www.booksneeze.com for review. The opinions expressed above are my own and I was not compensated for a positive review.