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About the book:

The charming and often hilarious Forever Hilltop series follows the experiences of former city dweller Alex Armstrong as he settles into his new role as pastor of a Scandinavian community in rural North Dakota. Alex is sometimes baffled by his parishioners and their colorful ways, but he comes to appreciate their simple wisdom. One thing’s for sure — life in Hilltop Township is never dull! This new two-in-one format features An Unlikely Blessing along with its sequel, Surprising Grace.

In An Unlikely Blessing, Alex Armstrong is a former city dweller who has just accepted his first parish assignment to a small community in the wilds of North Dakota. In Hilltop Township, Pastor Alex becomes familiar with the residents and their odd traditions, from julebukking to King Oscar’s fish balls. And then there’s the excitement the single pastor creates among the unmarried women in the community! Alex soon discovers that his new church home has as much to teach him as he has to teach them.

In Surprising Grace, Alex Armstrong is settling into his new role as pastor of Hilltop Church, and he’s even starting to understand the strange ways of the people who populate this barren stretch of North Dakota prairie. But he also finds that his flock needs help and counsel like he never imagined. In this cozy and entertaining read, Alex must choose between the woman he once loved — and the home he’s come to love.

About Judy:

Judy Baer was born and grew up on a farm on the prairies of North Dakota, experiencing many of the same things as her Hilltop characters. An only child, she spent most of her days with imaginary people-either those she read about or those she made up in her head.

Baer graduated from Concordia College with majors in English and education and a minor in religion. While at the time, she was simply studying what interested her, Baer later realized that she was educating herself for her future career as a Christian writer. She certainly put her education to use as she is the author of more than 75 books.

A certified professional life coach now certified in three coaching disciplines, Baer coaches primarily professional and aspiring writers. She is also a faculty advisor in the Department of Human Development at St. Mary’s University in Minneapolis, MN. Baer has two daughters and three step children. She and her husband live in Minnesota.

She invites you to visit her at her web site www.judykbaer.com for more information on her and her books.
My Review:

This is one of those books I wasn’t sure I was going to like when I picked up but ended up finding very charming. I love books full of characters and their happenings.This book is more about a small rural town than it is about the new pastor. It’s packed with personalities and you may have trouble keeping track but it’s a cute read that could go on. Relaxed slow paced life, quirky characters, and seeing it all with city eyes.  The end will leave you wanting, and truly hoping there is a third book in the works.

Find more reviews on Forever Hilltop here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

About the book:

Beyond Hope’s Valley – Book Three in the Big Sky series

After an extended stay in Montana, where Amish traditions are different than in her home state, Marianna Sommer returns to Indiana for two reasons, first to help her brother and his girlfriend prepare for a baby and their wedding. Second, to plan her own wedding to Aaron Zook — a marriage she’s been dreaming about ever since childhood. And yet, although she had missed the idyllic farms and families of her upbringing, Marianna is surprised that Indiana is somehow making her long now for Montana.

As months pass, secrets that were hidden in winter’s frozen grasp thaw and take on a life of their own. The truths about a child, about a past relationship, and about God’s plans are being revealed. Walking through a valley of questions, Marianna must hold on to hope as she decides where and with whom her heart truly belongs.

About Tricia: Tricia Goyer is the award winning author of thirty-two books including Beside Still Waters, Remembering You, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences and is the host of Living Inspired. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife.

More info: Living Inspired and www.triciagoyer.com

My Review: If you like Amish fiction you will enjoy Beyond Hope’s Valley but you’d better start at the beginning. This book is part 3 of a series of three. I didn’t know that when I started to read but I figured it out pretty quickly without having to look anything up. Sometimes it doesn’t really matter and the book can stand on it’s own but I think in this case it would help a bit especially at the beginning. There were some things happening that I didn’t understand and having read books one and two would have helped to fill that in. I also am of the impression that books 1 and 2 were probably very good and that book 3 is a wrap up to some intense storylines. That being said this was also a good book even without the other 2. There were a couple of storylines going on here and I found the brother’s and the mother’s stories equally as interesting as the main character. I am going to go and read books 1 and 2 and I if you like Amish fiction you should definitely enjoy this books BUT please start at the beginning with book one. I think there is potential for a couple of other books out of this series but I believe this was the end.

Link to buy the book:  http://ow.ly/azust 

Find more Litfuse reviews on Beyond Hope’s Valley here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

About the book:

About Crystal Paine:

My Review:

I’ve been reading Crystal’s blog off and on since it was called Biblical Womanhood. Before the trio of kids, back when her hubby was in college. When she REALLY had to stretch a dollar.  I read it more then for the tidbits on her regular every day life. We didn’t have a CVS in our area and I found her simple way of living nice to read about. Today I read Money Saving Mom sporadically more for the deals and stuff. The giveaways and coupons.

When I heard Crystal had written a book I decided I wanted to read (or listen) to it. I like gleaning information about saving money so I was looking forward to it. We work hard for our money so why not get the most out of it.  Not looking to be millionaires just the best stewards we can be of our resources. I know a lot of people say that if you read Crystal’s blog you’ve already read the book so I took that into consideration.

So I said I would review The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

Chapter One: I started off listening to The Money Saving Mom’s Budget audio with my husband who bowed out after chapter one. He’s was put off by the first chapter on Goals. He said it sounded exactly like what you hear from popular motivational speakers. It was the same formula. For achieving this or that.  You hear a lot of this kind of talk when they make you go to seminars and such in the workplace and he was done. I admit it was not sounding like the usual Crystal of years past. It was all about laying down our goals so we could realize our “financial dreams”. Lots of encouragement for Financial Success. If I thought the rest of the audio book would have been like this I would have put it down. It did sound like a lot of motivational speak. Goals are important but it felt more like she was trying to motivate and entrepreneur rather than a Mother struggling to make ends meet. I hope this makes sense.

Chapter two: I kept going on to chapter two. This chapter was on clutter. Yes clutter. It’s like this. Time is money. If you spend your time looking for things around your house because you’ve misplaced them and are disorganized. And then say you have to go buy that thing again because you just could not find it even though you KNOW you have one. Well you’re wasting your money. So she talks about getting organized at home so you are not wasting your money. This is true and very important.

Chapter three: Chapter three was good. It was the basics for putting down a budget. I liked this chapter. A budget is so important if you want to know where your money is going and what you’ve truly been doing with it. It was nice, simple, and to the point.  This is probably the single most important chapter for those really struggling with making ends meet.

Chapter four: In this chapter Crystal challenges you to go plastic free. To stop using your credit AND debit cards for…I’ve forgotten. It’s like 2 months or something. I can see the wisdom in this (after you budget) but of course this is not going to work for everybody so you’ll have to decide what you can do here. Having had credit cards I can say I never want one again but we do use debit a lot. A way to get around overspending on our debit cards is we have a separate account for online shopping and grocery shopping. That money is put into that account and that is what we use. This is the cash chapter.

Chapter five: Now we move on to coupons. Crystal is a big believer in coupons and if you’ve ever visited her site you how much she uses them and they are in fact the main feature of her site. This is the info I was after.  Here she tells you why you should use them and different methods to go about organizing them. I think most of this I already knew. But I was wondering if I was missing something since food wise I don’t save that much with coupons. Face it. If you eat healthy, make all your own foods, eat as much organic as you can. You’ll pay big. Or at least bigger than if you don’t do all of this. So what I learned from this chapter is that where we can save is on the non-food items so I have to focus more on those and stop using Claus Porto soap for my every day bath. Sigh!

Chapter 6: How to save even more on your groceries with coupons and places other than grocery stores that you might shop to save money. This is the chapter where you have to decide how much time and energy you can put into cutting your grocery bill. She points you to her site (which is a great resource and time saver) to find coupon match ups. She also accounts her CVS beginnings and how she saves on her household products.

Chapter 7: 25 ways to save without using coupons. Other ways to save without having to clip coupons. We do most of this already.

Chapter 8: Going out without going broke.  This chapter will help you to realize how to have fun without spending a lot. I think most families are pretty good at this. Every family finds fun in different things so finding your fun and doing it at low cost is important.

Chapter 9: So the last chapter is probably the best. Because here she is speaking of how much she relied on God in the earlier years of her marriage. Choose Contentment is the title of this chapter. She also talks about tithing which is ultra important. Tithe first.

Finally: There are printable checklists and forms to get you organized.

All in all I think this was a great book for a person who is just starting out to manage their finances. Someone who is committed to finally bringing that checkbook in order and caring for their family within their means. I did end up recommending this book to someone who is struggling with her finances.

If you’ve already been working at being frugal and managing your money for a little while then you are probably already doing most of what Crystal has in this book. If you are a blog reader then again you are probably already practicing a lot of these tips. As I went through each chapter I noted that we are already practicing much of what is in this audio book. Our nutritional needs are where we splurge and going out

And then if you’re really struggling with your finances you can dig around and buy much of this on Moneysavingmom.com

Buy the audio book here

Read more reviews of Crystal’s book The Money Saving Mom’s Budget

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

BUT!

About the book:

About Kim:

About the book:

About Regina:

By now you can tell I like to read…

So this review is about Beauty for Ashes by Dorothy Love

About the book:

About Dorothy:

About the book:

My Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed The Maid of Fairbourne Hall! Truthfully my last book review was a hard act to follow and I was concerned for the book that had to follow it.  Well no worries here. I enjoyed reading The Maid of Fairbourne Hall from beginning to end. Being enamoured as I am with cleaning practices of a bygone era (www.vintage-homemaking.info) it was interesting to read more about the life of servants below stairs (If you’ve seen Downton Abbey you will recognize much of the behavior). I found it so fascinating I had a book sent to me through interlibrary loan on subject.  But back to the novel.  Not only were those cleaning details interesting but the story itself that kept me reading. I love the time period. The snippets of humor. The remembering of small details. And a tale woven well. I loved to see how Margaret grows as a person and comes to appreciate those around her (not just Nathaniel). I will say I was hoping for more of Margaret’s life after her stint as a maid. This is my first Julie Klassen book but I’m on the hunt for more. This is a pleasant read. Some light humor.  It was an enjoyable read.

About Julie:

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

About the book:

About Colleen:

Kindle Giveaway and More! Save the Date – 3/13!

The book:

Music offers Kate sweet refuge from her troubles . . . but real freedom is sweeter.

In Westerville, Ohio, 1855, Kate Winter’s dreams are almost within reach. As the first woman to graduate from Otterbein College, she’ll be guaranteed her deepest wish: escape from the dark secret haunting her family. But with her mother determined to marry her off to a wealthy man, Kate must face reality. She has to run. Now. And she has the perfect plan. Join the upcoming musical performance—and use it to mask her flight.

Ben Hanby, Otterbein College’s musical genius, sees Kate Winter as an enigmatic creature, notable for her beauty, yet painfully shy. Then he hears her sing—and the glory of her voice moves him as never before. He determines to cast her in his musical and uncover the mystery that is Kate. Still, he must keep his own secret to himself. Not even this intriguing woman can know that his passionate faith is driving him to aid fugitives on the Underground Railroad.

A terrifying accident brings Kate and Ben together, but threatens to shatter both their secrets and their dreams. Kate can no longer deny the need to find her courage—and her voice—if she is to sing a new song for their future.

My Review:

Man! This book was excellent! I don’t use that word often with fiction but this book warranted that word. And not only did I use the word ‘excellent’  but when I loaned it to my mother that was the fist word out of her mouth also. Rosslyn just continues to impress. This is the second of Rosslyn’s titles that I have been blessed to read and it was just as good if not better than the first….hmmm. I think better.  When I first started the Sweeter Than Birdsong I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it. Set several years later than the first of her novels I found myself really wanting to know more of what happened to the original characters rather than focusing on some newly introduced upstarts. You know how we get attached when reading. But that desire was quickly snuffed out as I became caught up in the turn of events and the new entirely different personalities.  Not knowing what to expect (thankfully for once) I was surprised to the end. Even though you think you pretty much know the outcome the path to get there is not one most oft taken.

Also normally I steer clear of fiction books dealing with slavery for various reasons. Unrealistic portrayal of the slaves and a story a touch too close to home being my main reason.  But with Rosslyn’s historic portrayal of  the situation the stories are told with such grace and fine writing that I can’t get enough. Rosslyn’s fictional book of historical times was just an all over breath of fresh air. From the main characters to the supporting the characters the story was just excellent.

Who wrote this fantastic book?

For more reviews of this book follow the Blog tour schedule

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”