Book Review: Love Blooms in Winter

 

Love Blooms in Winter is a charming tale by Lori Copeland. Her novel tells the story of Mae, a young woman living in the wild west of North Dakota and raising her younger brother who has some mental disabilities. Mae is dating Jake, a local businessman who is pretty much worthless and lazy. She has been patiently waiting for him to come to his senses and ask for her hand for many years and she is starting to wonder if it will ever happen.

She has plenty to keep her busy, she serves as the town's postmistress and she also looks after her elderly neighbor, Pauline. But when Pauline starts to exhibit signs of dementia, Mae realizes she is in over her head and can no longer handle her independent and headstrong neighbor.

The only problem is that Pauline says she has no family, at least none that she remembers. So when Mae finds a slip of paper in Pauline's desk with a name and address, she assumes she may have just found a long lost family member. Tom Curtis, a railroad man, receives Mae's letters, and although he cannot remember an Aunt Pauline, he decides to head to North Dakota to see if it jogs his memory.

While he doesn't sense any long-lost relationship, the town does jog his memory, but for a very different reason. And when the rails around the small town are damaged by a runaway train, Tom suddenly finds himself stuck in town on long-term business. But it seems that while he came to town for Pauline, he is finding that he wants to stay for Mae.

I so want to ruin the wonderful ending, but alas, I will leave it to you, lovely readers. I can tell you that this book was delightful and I give it a five out of five starts. My only critique is the hokey looking cover. That being said, it is still a great book. Go and pick up a copy for yourself!

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Harvest House Publishers. If you are a publisher interested in having me serve as a reviewer, please contact me through my blog: www.lifeundivided.blogspot.com

Book Review: To Love and To Cherish

In To Love and to Cherish, Kelly Irvin tells the story of Emma, a young woman who was jilted by her fiance 4 years earlier. She is still recovering from the loss of her love when he decided to leave the Amish community for the outside world. As she recovers, she finds solace and friendship in a local widower named Thomas. But just when things seem to be beginning to blossom with Thomas, Carl, her ex-fiance shows up once again. And he wants to win her back.

This story was positively delightful. I loved every minute of it and had trouble putting it down. Thomas was the perfect hero in the story: loving, caring, gentle and kind. Carl was maddening and Emma frustrated me at times. How can a woman have difficulty choosing when a hero like Thomas is in the picture?

This book has so many layers of storytelling: romance, grief, loss, hope, worldliness versus being set apart, and forgiveness. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of Irvin's storytelling. I would definitely give this book a five out of five. I hope to read more from her soon!

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Harvest House Publishers. If you are a publisher interested in having me serve as a reviewer, please contact me through my blog: www.lifeundivided.blogspot.com

Book Review: An Amish Family Reunion

The book An Amish Family Reunion, by Mary Ellis is a delightful story of a young Amish girl named Phoebe Miller and a young Amish boy named Eli Riehl. The two young people meet on a rumschpringe trip to Niagra Falls and connect immediately. Phoebe is a sweet farm girl who loves to escape farm work to draw and illustrate the countryside in her drawing notebook. Eli is an avid storyteller who delights his friends with his daring tales. When Phoebe quitely starts illustrating as Eli is telling a story, their paths collide and they begin to think that if they work together they can both achieve their dreams of doing what they love and still making a living.

Together they decide to write a children's story. Eli will write, Phoebe will illustrate. They soon find that they aren't just writing a children's story, they are also writing their own love story. Soon, with the help of a local librarian they manage to find a publisher and their dreams start to take off. But when Eli's family is struck by tragedy, their dream has to sit on the back burner while Eli takes on more responsibility at home.

I don't want to ruin the sweet ending, so I'll leave it at that.

This was a delightful story. I enjoyed it very much. I would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy Christian fiction. I give it five out of five stars.

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Harvest House Publishers. If you are a publisher interested in having me serve as a reviewer, please contact me through my blog: www.lifeundivided.blogspot.com

Book Review: 365 Ways to Organize Everything

I recently received a review copy of 365 Ways to Organize Everything by Emilie Barnes and Sherri Torelli. The book is well organized (ha!) and does a good job addressing the underlying causes of disorganization rather than just helping you to get out of your bad habits. The beginning of the book goes through several common reasons for disorganization. I really related to the idea of perfectionism, procrastination and pride leading to a paralysis in organization. I think that is very much where I get stuck. But, this is a book review not a therapy session, so I'll move on.

The book is divided into ten sections: Why Get Organized, Inviting Order into Your Home, Organize Your Family, The Joy of an Efficient Kitchen, Align Your Time and Priorities, Take Control of Your Home Office and Paper Piles, Manage Your Money, Bring Peace to Daily Life, Preparing For and Enjoying the Seasons, and A Five-Week Plan of Action. I loved the way they divided the book and I enjoyed the care they took in subdividing the table of contents so you could either read it cover to cover or seek out specific organizing areas you wanted to study.

The only thing that really confused me is that I didn't see where the 365 in the title came from. It seemed like just a catchy title rather than a part of the actual book. That was somewhat annoying to me. Not a huge deal, but if you put 365 in your title (or 101 or 200 or 1,000), I expect you to number the suggestions or tips.

I really enjoyed the action plan section at the close of the book. While I am certainly not all that organized, I think that if I actually buckled down and followed the suggestions in this book I would definitely see results. All in all I give this book a four out of five. My only suggestion is that they add more pictures. I am a visual person and pictures of organization really help me get excited about moving towards a more organized life.

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Harvest House Publishers. If you are a publisher interested in having me serve as a reviewer, please contact me through my blog: www.lifeundivided.blogspot.com

Puke in the Pot, Please

My daughter isn't old enough to understand where to puke, but from what I hear from my friends, it takes quite a while to ingrain that in your dear children's heads. I heard a great idea recently! Once your kids are old enough to enjoy money, you can bribe them to puke in the pot!

According to experts (other moms), this works wonders. $1 per puke correctly deposited in the toilet! Brilliant. I chronicle this here to allow other moms to bask in the brilliance of this idea. May all the pukes at your house be properly placed!

Pinterest Addiction

If you have noticed, I haven't been blogging much. I know, you're totally surprised, right? ;) I have been doing a lot of Pinterest searching, pinning, and recently, projects! Here is one.


Here is the pin where I got the idea (click pic for link to blog):




And here is my version for Vera's room:



What do you think? I love it!

Club Project: Are you with me?

Have you ever fantasized about getting big projects done around the house but you just can't seem to find the time/energy/help to do it? I know I have. Here is an idea I saw on Pinterest and I want to get one going here in Huron!

The blog Jilly and Mia shared a great idea about a group they have called Club Project. Here is some info from their site.

"Made up of 6 handy girls, we take turns spending all day at one of our homes conquering things like updating cabinets, reupholstering sofas, wallpapering dining rooms, decorating niches, tiling back splashes, and refurbishing furniture.

Here's how it works.

Every sixth months, each member gets to choose a day that's convenient for her
(it's usually a Friday) and from 8am-4pm she has

a team of design assistants at her service.

The hostess is in charge of beverages, lunch (we break for 30 minutes at noon) and rounding up all the tools/equipment we'll need for the job. If one person can't make it, it's up to them to pay back the hours on their own time."

Love it? I know I do! I'm thinking that we could also alternate where one of the ladies watches the kids (if members happen to have them) each time so that we don't have to worry about childcare. Perhaps we could use our church for the person doing childcare so they didn't have to get their own house all messy.

Here are some ideas I have:
-Organizing/decorating/designing my craft space
-Mural in Vera's room
-Painting my clawfoot tub
-Spring cleaning

What do you guys think? Any takers?