Author: Libby May
Dead, and Alive Again
We’re so dead.
Whenever our department at work has no customers we call it dead. It’s so dead. So boring and monotonous and it almost can make you go crazy. But that’s not right.
That’s not what dead means.
You know what girls? The church is so dead.
I didn’t think I was dead. Sure I’m saved. I know Jesus is my savior. I know He loves me. I seek to please Him and witness my life for Him. But…
He’d become a neat little corner in my life that I went to often, rather than everything in me.
One of my friends recently moved to Virginia. And I watch his move I thought why? Why are you moving? Why are you going away?
The church here needs fire. The church here needs revival. The church here needs a refreshing of the Spirit. A reminder of the power of God and everything He’s called us to do and be.
Girls if we have a fire in our hearts to serve and make a difference please listen to me. Don’t leave. Please don’t go somewhere else. The church in your home, not the building or the pastor or the specific group you go to, but the body of Christ in your part of the world, is starving.
We live in a world of complacency. The United States was created as a safe place for Christians to worship God without persecution but I’m starting to think that that safety is one of the most dangerous things that could take hold of the church.
Complacency. We’re happy. We’re safe. We’re content with our relationship with God. We’re pretty good people. We’re taught to reach for our dreams. The American dream. We can do anything we want. We can be anybody we want. It’s so attainable it becomes our passion and our drive and our purpose. Because we’re ok. We’re not bad people. We love our family, we’re kind to our coworkers. We recycle when we can, we go to church every week. We state our opinions on the election, or not maybe. We stand against abortion, we love our friends, we’re careful how we entertain ourselves. Some of us even read our bibles every single night or morning without fail.
Still dead. Still so very lukewarm it’s sickening. It’s all works. That doesn’t please God in the least. You know it doesn’t make God happy that you go to church every single week? It doesn’t make Him happy that you scan your eyes over a verse or two every morning. You know why? Isaiah says all our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Christian everything you ever do is nasty and disgusting to God, no matter how good you think it might seem to be.
I stumbled over something yesterday that flipped my world and I praise God that it did.
Jimmy Needham says “My ‘nicety’ gave me a sense of worth and value, but that’s really the opposite of the gospel. We bring nothing to the table except sin and brokenness. Through all of my religious efforts, I was actually fleeing from the cross.”
Are you able to wrap your mind around that? Even as a Christian for 20 years I still have nothing, nothing, nothing, to bring to the table except my sin and brokenness. And BOY do I know that to be true. My “light” and smile is so empty and useless and gross and absolutely pointless. Because you know why? As much as I prayed every day “God fill me with your light and your love to bless the people around me today.” What do I do? I get tired and upset and moody and then what does my head think? “God, why didn’t you give me your joy?” It makes me ashamed and it makes me cry at how vain and self-satisfied and self-dependant I’ve become. It’s nothing less than sickening. I want that to CHANGE.
Where does that change start?
Well for me, I need to stop lying to myself. No, a five minute Bible reading while I’m brushing my teeth with eyes half closing is not ENOUGH. Who does it please? Nobody but my sick conscious that tacks it up as another righteousness towards me. It makes me so ANGRY at myself.
I’ve been living in this disgusting contentment, not really doing anything. I was missing FELLOWSHIP with God. I know He’s there but my heart so longs to know that He’s HERE. The pain in my chest and emptiness was practically killing me and I wept to God over and over please FILL me God! But oh Christian.
Christian, God is not your servant. He’s not there to do your every bidding. You know how it is for me? God why don’t you take this pain away from me? I’m asking you to do it. Am I using the wrong phrasing? Why aren’t you answering? I’ve prayed, therefore you should answer. I prayed for a good thing, and I know it’s your will for me to be happy. I know you don’t want me to be hurting. So then why am I still crying on the floor in pain? Why are you not filling me up?
Even reading it now it feels almost like that’s what I was supposed to do, right? There is nothing wrong with what I said, right? Except for the disgusting self-righteousness. Even as I admitted to Him I was a mess, I couldn’t not, I live with me, I was still clinging to the righteousness I practiced every day. I was still clinging to the fact that God I’ve been doing this for you, so then will you please fill my pain in exchange?
There’s no exchange! THERE IS NO EXCHANGE! “We bring nothing to the table except sin and brokenness.” Forever and always. We bring absolutely nothing to the table except debt and the fact that we deserve to be punished.
Christian when we come to God, through Jesus Christ His son He washes us absolutely clean! Romans 8 says there is NO CONDEMNATION to the one who comes to Jesus and is washed through His blood. But realize Christian, Please realize this doesn’t give you the freedom to step back out into the world and try again. Please realize this. I’m begging myself to grasp this in my heart. You’re not meant to go back out and try again to build yourself a kingdom. Your only hope is to stay there, stay kneeling, in utter humility, at the feet of God. Don’t ever, ever leave that place. The moment you stand up and walk back out of that throneroom to try and make your own path you will die again.
Christian, Jesus did not come to give you a second chance at your personal pursuits in life. He’s not here to wash away your past mistakes so that you can go back out and try to find your way again with a clean slate. He came to give you a second chance at eternal life. Life with Him, the right life pursuing His will.
Walk, walk, walk with Him always. Please, I’m begging you, please never leave the foot of the throne. It’s there and only there that you have hope and fulfillment. Don’t ever let yourself turn away from seeing His feet. Don’t let your eyes stray from His face of love. From the very God who gave His life to have you. I’m not asking you not to lose your salvation, I’m asking you please realize again who God is and what He has done for you.
Christian, right now, as you read this, I ask you to kneel down, physically, on the floor and pray. Pray to God and ask His forgiveness. Ask Him to show you where your self-righteousness is. Ask Him to fill you with the fire of His spirit so that you can live life in line with His will. Remember who you were before He took you in and realize that you are still that person if you dare to step outside of His throne room. There is space at His feet, I promise. And when you get up off the floor to go about your day, don’t let your heart get up off the floor. Keep your heart bowed at His feet, even as you go about your day.
You’re a child of God and He loves you. He wants so much to know you and love you and show you His glory and His plans for you. James 4:8 says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you double minded.” I like to remind myself and others all the time, God is not holding back from you. He’s not cocking His head on the throne and considering maybe you don’t deserve to know Him. Maybe He will let you wallow in your sorrow for just a little bit longer so you’re really truly sorry. No. Our God is reaching out His hand for us. Reaching down from heaven and calling us. Come, He loves you, He wants you, He’s ready to teach and grow you now if only you will come.
We live in such a lukewarm world and I want to change that. I want to be so on fire for God that people can see it coming off me. I have so far to go, but I have forever to get there, and I’m starting today. I want to start today and I want to chase after my God with such passion that He can’t help smiling. I’m a person of passion. I always have been. I am more than able to dedicate myself to something and learn and memorize and pursue that thing to the maximum potential. I’m ready to turn that passion onto my God. I’m ready to run.
What about you?
On Wings of Devotion by Rosanne M. White – Just Read Tours Review!
I know I posted a review earlier today already but who said you can’t do more than one a day? I got to be part of this awesome tour by Just Read Tours!
But no seriously. My blog has been going slightly insane and I currently am in a transition process. I’m going to be updating the theme, the formatting and the purpose of the blog soon, so I’m not going anywhere and I can tell you It’ll even out soon!
For now I can offer you this review. I got a head start on the one before, An Uncommon Woman. Not so much with this one. In fact I didn’t even realize this one was due today until I read my email this morning so I had to read it really fast and write this review. (Don’t doubt the quality of my review! I love writing reviews.)
Book Blurb:
All of England thinks Major Phillip Camden a monster–a man who deliberately caused the deaths of his squadron. But he would have preferred to die that day with his men rather than be recruited to the Admiralty’s codebreaking division. The threats he receives daily are no great surprise and, in his opinion, well deserved.
As nurse Arabelle Denler observes the so-dubbed “Black Heart,” she sees something far different: a hurting man desperate for mercy. And when their families and paths twist together unexpectedly, she realizes she has a role to play in his healing–and some of her own to do as well.
With Camden’s court-martial looming, an old acquaintance shows up, intent on using him in a plot that sends the codebreakers of Room 40 into a frenzy. With their fragile hopes for the future in the cross hairs, Arabelle and Camden must hold on to hope–and to each other–if they want to survive.
Review
I LOVED THIS BOOK! It’s so so so good! I’ve read a book by Roseanna White once before, A Song Unheard, and BOY was this one good too!
For one, can I say this? Ms. White writes HEARTTHROB male characters. Camden? My heart. He was just so… perfectly broken. But so well balanced and so realistic and so non-cliche and I basically fell for him like all the nurse girls. Especially once I got to know him just a bit. I’m gonna try and put together a bit more review, but I can say you haven’t heard the end of Camden. XD
The plotline was seamless. I loved the way that it was so complete and complex and defined, and of course, like any book in a series, had little connections that lead into the next book (WHICH BTW THE MC IS A RUSSIAN CODEBREAKER AND I CAN’T WAIT! [because I’m Russian of course]) but it didn’t leave you feeling like you were missing answers.
I actually enjoyed the different POVs, though that’s a touch and go for me. It worked well in this book. Each character’s voice was so unique I didn’t really have a hard time transitioning between them.
I’m just trying to pull my head together to put the giddy happiness I got from this book into words.
The historical fiction aspect was AMAZING. I felt like it was TOTALLY WWII, but also it was so real. So emersed. I saw and felt and smelled Arabelle and Camden’s world.
I wish I had Ms. White’s talent for naming her characters and weaving them into such heart filled amazing people. Camden, Camden, Camden. Black Heart was so PERFECT. I don’t want to say anything in the review because I want readers to discover him on their own as they read the book but I am gonna say MAN was he well done. SO well done.
Arabelle was such a good place to lead the story off. I noticed I have hard time connecting with female MCs, especially ones that are in Arabelle’s “category.” Not so with her. Her sweet nature and faith and her absolute destruction over always being somehow overlooked every single time wrapped it’s fingers around my heart and made me want to cry “Yes yes yes!” Her emotions were so well done, even as her faith was strong and flooded. Arabelle is almost… exactly how I feel about my faith and my life. You fall, you break, you cry and rant and fight, and then you turn to God and allow Him to rebuild you. I understood her. And because of that Arabelle is one of my favorite female characters now.
The only one aspect that I didn’t really like was that she “wasn’t pretty.” Which is just getting annoying already. I get it that people don’t want female MCs to be “blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin.” Good. Make them beautiful with brown hair. Dirty blonde hair. Make their hands beautiful, their noses or their foreheads or their jaws. Don’t just write them off as “not pretty.” That’s not what we’re going for by speaking out against cliche beauties. XD
Diellza was… Interesting. Mislead, passionate, blinded and so so in love. It’s hard to condemn her. And yet, it almost brings a sort of agreeable ending. As sad as it was what happened, it needed to happen. And at the same time, you couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity.
Let’s talk about content. There was content. There was some language, there was some graphic scenes, and there was some romantic content.
The language only went as far as the word “blasted” though it was used quite a bit. Many mentions of “uttering a curse” etc. even though they’re not specifically mentioned.
Graphic scenes didn’t get very detailed. Camden’s (Camden my boy) flashback was intense and painful, even though it wasn’t really “graphic.” Arabelle is a nurse, so there’s a description of mustard gas symptoms, burns, blood etc. described. They mention a firing squad more than once, although it wasn’t described as an event, more of a suggestion. A character committed suicide before the book starts, and it’s discussed, although the method was not graphic or gruesome. Some mentions of shooting and characters getting shot. Mention of a corpse. Mild description of a bombing of a hospital. Ms. White did an amazing job putting the reader into Camden’s head when he had his concussion and such. Getting into precious Camden’s head was amazing. I’ll shut up about him now.
The romantic aspect was also pretty mild. There were definitely several kisses not really detailed, a couple of them were detailed a bit more, though they didn’t make me uncomfortable. (considering I’m going to be 20 in 12 days a kiss doesn’t make me uncomfortable anymore XD) There was a girl who got pregnant out of wedlock, some talk about unfaithful husbands. Diellza was a dancer, not the most respectable girl, though no scenes are actually described. Age suggestions is 16 and older.
I loved this book and I’m SO HAPPY that I own it. I can’t wait for the next one to come out so I can love it too.
Ms. White is definitely one of my top favorite authors now. If you want to follow her, you can do so on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and her Website, and you can check out the rest of the tour here!
Purchase links
Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository, Christian Books
And last but not least, the giveaway!
Make sure you click here and enter to win some goodies!
Thank you to Just Read Tours for sending me a copy of this book and allowing me to read it! I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author, but a positive one was not required. All opinions were my own and genuine! I highly recommend this for girls over 16 who enjoy historical fiction WWII stories!
Live, Laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby
An Uncommon Woman by Laura Frantz – Revell Books Review
Happy New Year my girls! I can’t believe it’s already 2020, and yet I feel like it took so long to come. I hope you all had a good time celebrating!
I actually finished reading this book before Christmas and I had to schedule this post ahead so it would post when they wanted the review posted XD. It was a good one!
The complication of life with Indian people and the frontier is so intensely woven together into the complicated list that comes down to reality.
Personally, I always enjoyed stories about Indian captives returned, and this book did a beautiful job of portraying that heavy life.
I liked Tessa a lot. I loved her life and the way she was quick to step in where needed. I loved her rough frontier woman upbringing and the way that shone in her character, but the longing for civilization and flare made me feel her hunger.
Her family was so much fun too! Although I feel like things with Jasper fell apart too quickly and then somehow repaired too quickly, I did sort of kind of wish I got to know him a bit more as a person rather than just the angry brother.
Cyrus and Zadock were fun, and of course Ross was such a darling baby boy. I still don’t know Lemuel the least bit.
Keturah was interesting and I enjoyed unraveling her story.
Clay Tygart was… curious. I never really fell for him, and yet I had a respect for him. I wish we would have gotten a little more backstory details from him.
The plotline was good. Honestly clearly good. I enjoyed the complications and the conflicts and minor plot twists and the progression. It wasn’t too fast or too slow. The relationship between Clay and Tessa was so WELL DONE. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t dramatized, and it wasn’t overstretched. It was natural and there and that was really good.
There were a couple minor things that I felt were incorporated for no reason, like Ruth, McKee, Girty, and even the ferry. I wish we had gotten a little more about Tessa’s father as well.
Content:
There was no alarming content. There are plenty of talk about Indian’s, referring to them as red skins, and lots of prejudice and hatred towards them.
There are no graphically described scenes, but there are a couple of violent scenes that do have blood and injuries.
There are plenty of romantic feels and emotions and heat and jitters. There are two detailed kisses and some minor suggestive sentences towards the end of the book [SPOILERS]after Clay and Tessa marry[END SPOILER].
There was a tiny bit of talk about Indian beliefs and mystics, but nothing was detailed, described, or practiced.
All in all it was a good book. I enjoyed it. It’s one of the few Indian captive returned stories that I actually thought was well executed. I just wish there was a little more detail on the characters rather than setting the tension and stage of their way of life. Four Stars!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own!
Live, Laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby
Seconds to Live by Susan Sleeman – Bethany House Review
Another suspeeeeense.
Oh my where to start. Well this one was so much fun. I was hooked from chapter one!
Since I just read Always Look Twice by Elizabeth Goddard, my brain automatically compared the two, especially since both came out the top as five star reads for me.
This one was better juuuust a little (because I read it most recently?) The plot line was interesting. It was a good first book to a series, but the plot line in the book itself as a standalone was sturdy and firm and (as opposed to Always Look Twice) I really liked the ending of this one. All the loose ends tied up nicely, at least the ones that didn’t extend to the next book.
The characters were so well done. XD I loved Sean as a character. He was pretty awesome. I didn’t fall for him as a fiction boyfriend though. He was too quick and bossy for my personal preferences.
Taylor was awesome. Her complex build up and backstory and her passion and quiet strength just blended together so well! I can’t even describe how well done she was.
Content: As a suspense there were two murders described, though not overly details (Still, discretion advised) There were a few intense scenes that could be stressful. Hacker was paranoid and rash and threatened lives.
The romantic tension in this book was quite a bit higher in this book than in Always Look Twice. The dynamics between Taylor and Sean were reeeeeal. Sparks were there for sure. We watched them fly. Sean noticed Taylor’s body, but not in an inappropriate way. There were several hand holdings, two detailed kisses and a couple not-detailed kisses.
There was suggestion and encouragement for a character to get hypnosis treatment to retrieve memories which personally goes against my beliefs, and I just wanted to put it out there for whoever else would want to avoid that. It’s not described in the book and not preformed on screen, but it was portrayed in a positive light.
AGE SUGGESTION: 16 AND UP
Five stars from me! I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for a review, a positive review was not required and all opinions are my own!
Live, Laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby
What Do You Need?
Hey girls. I think it’s time for a post that’s not a review, who agrees with me? XD
What do you need? We all have a list of things we want, especially now around Christmas time. “What do you want for Christmas?” “What should I get for you?”
A new phone.
A car.
Gift cards.
Yarns.
A laptop.
Good friends.
Slime.
Bracelet charms.
Fairy lights.
Books.
A cute pot for my cactus.
It’s not uncommon to have that list. And it’s fun to imagine you’d get it. Same with all the people around you. Maybe you’re clueless this holiday season. Maybe you have no idea what to get your brother or mom as a gift.
What about you? What do you need? We all have those things we need. Clothes, a home. Warmth, friends.
What do you have in your heart that you need? Maybe it’s peace. Maybe it’s love. Maybe it’s someone to share life with. Maybe it’s a sense of purpose or a point in life.
What are you desperately longing for? What do you need?
Maybe it’s just me. I don’t know. I know what I think I need. I even ask God why He hasn’t provided what I need. But who am I to question God?
Even so He is the most faithful loving God, and in my questions, He told me this.
I love you. Trust me. I know exactly what I’m doing. I know exactly what you need. I will take care of you. Don’t you think I love you enough to take care of you? You do not need to strive to fill those places by yourself. You do not need to strive to find satisfaction. Don’t give up on me. I know my plan. I see the beautiful masterpiece that I’ve laid out and I want you to trust me. I promise you’ll never regret trusting me. Just hold on my child. I love you, and I’m taking care of your needs.
Trust me.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
Live, Laugh, and Love, girls.
~Libby
Always Look Twice by Elizabeth Goddard – Revell Books Review
Well I’ve been reading a whole lot more suspense novels than I have before and as much as they stress me out, I’ve enjoyed a few of them. This was one of them!
I really enjoyed reading this story from beginning to end.
The characters were so much fun. I loved Heath and Harper and Emily and Lori and allll the fun people!
The plotline was a blast to follow. I had so much fun trying to work out who was who and I was super excited about the details they caught onto like Harper finding the hair (even though that seemed a little blown out of proportion) and the gun number. So coooool.
The dynamics between Heath and Harper felt very real and believable. The sparks were flyyyying. Only thing I would say was Heath’s hesitation seemed realistic, but Harper didn’t have a real reason to keep pushing him away? But it was well done anyway.
What else. I feel like Pete was an excessive character used as a decoy and then dropped when he was done. He could have had a small plotline of his own I think. But that wasn’t an important aspect.
All in all 5 stars!
Content:
Lots of feeling close and enjoying each other. One detailed kiss. Several mentions of wanting a kiss.
Violence content was high. Several murders are described, and multiple times over as the character remembers. It’s traumatically described and consider this a trigger warning.
Blood, injuries, stitches, attempted murders, murders, bombs, a coma, cancer symptoms described.
No witchcraft or language that I can remember.
RECCOMENDED AGES 16 AND UP! READER DISCRETION ADVISED.
I’m back in action y’all! I was worried that after missing quite a few due dates end of October and the beginning of November I would get banned from the review system that I’m in, but I’m still receiving books and I don’t plan on being late again! I’m almost caught up with the ones I was late on XD.
Live, Laugh, and Love, girls!
~Libby
Stitches in Time by Suzanne Fisher – Revell Books Review
Stitches in time was a fun read.
I’m not a huge fan of Amish fiction but I fell in love with this author’s writing style on page one. Honestly, I loved all of it a whole lot. The Amish community was so much more… decent, in this book, as opposed to the last one I read. It made me appreciate the love they can give, the tight-knit community, and the importance of doing what’s RIGHT rather than what people want you to do. But it was done in such a pure, non-preachy way!
I loved each and every one of the main characters. I loved Luke Schrock’s personality. I loved his dynamic relationship with his wife and the way that he handled growing, the dynamic character that he grew to become at the end.
I liked Mollie well enough. She seemed way too bouncy and cheerful, and then she crashed and burned sort of. Her condition kind of came out of nowhere, and I sort of feel like it’s possible that whole part of the story came late in the author’s writing and didn’t get tied into the beginning as it possibly could have been.
The only one thing that I wasn’t 100% thrilled about was “the baby project” between Luke and his wife. It wasn’t inappropriate, but it was sort of like funny to read the way they talked about it. Just thought I’d mention it for younger readers.
Honestly, I say it was a five star read. Pick it up if you get the chance some time in the future. 😀 I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and a positive review was not required.
Live, Laugh, and Love, girls.
~Libby
Deadly Deceit by Natalie Walters – Revell Books Review
Yes another book review. XD
Y’all I don’t ever read this genre but this book was so fuuun!
Ok well let me take a step back. I enjoyed the plot line. I loved the writing style. I loved loved loved the dynamics between Vivian and Ryan. I liked Vivian as a character, and I loved the way you could tell the change in Vivian over the course of the book.
I didn’t take the chance to read Living Lies when I had the chance and can I just say I’m super sad about that. I’m not turning down the chance to read the third when it comes out!
There were only a few plot things I didn’t like in the story. Chapter 13 made me sick. Physically I felt sick to my stomach. I hated it. If I hadn’t pressed forward it may have ruined the book for me. Thankfully it was the only one that was that way and the rest of the book was good.
Content wise, this is not a children’s book. Personally I recommend no younger than 16 years old.
CONTENT LIST:
There’s a lot of kissing, but none of it is detailed.
There’s a few scenes that are describing an inappropriate video and even though it’s not actually describing anything in particular, it made me very uncomfortable and I did skip over that scene. (chapter 13)
There was also a scene where a man makes advances on a woman that she didn’t welcome but nothing happened.
Several inappropriate glances and suggestive mentions are present.
There is also talk and discussing children out of wedlock.
There’s mention and discussion of human trafficking. Drug abuse by minors.
Graphic wise, there are mentions of gunshot wounds, lots of pain described. A man dies, but it’s not graphic in any way.
Four stars! I got a free copy in exchange for an honest review and a positive review was not required. All opinions are my own!
If you like romantic suspense and you’re over 16 this is a good one to try out!
~Libby
Not A Book Review
It’s been too long since I just posted a fun post and it’s time to give you something fun to read.
How are you girls doing? Life has been crazy! I work as a cashier now and the stories I have to tell are endless now. XD
Dewdrops and Butterflies went public in October and after taking a short break, I jumped right into working on the sequel Playgrounds and Black Markers! I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth y’all. I’ve reached for the reality of life instead.
Anyway. If you want to add me as your buddy on NaNoWriMo you can do that by going here! I’ve already reached the 50k goal for this month. Thing is Playgrounds and Black Markers is written, I’ve just been working on typing the 165k handwritten words. That’s why I’ve been able to get so much done. I’m hoping to try and get at least 85k typed up before December.
Dewdrops and Butterflies is also available on Kindle now! I’m very excited. For Black Friday I will be offering Paper copies for $10 free shipping and Kindle copies will be $0.99!
Here’s a fun song that I’m listening to. I love the airy flying feeling of this song. Are you a Coldplay fan?
What else. Well, with thanksgiving literally coming up, I’m very excited. I work 4:45 in the morning until 4:45 in the evening on Black Friday and as early as that is, I’m honestly pretty excited.
And Christmas is coming! I’m having trouble, yes, picking out Christmas gifts for my family, but I’m not too worried just yet. It’s not December yet, so there’s still time before we need to start panicking… right?
As you readers have been seeing, I’ve been trying to catch up on my review reads, which have been a lot of fun honestly. I haven’t had a chance to read at all over the summer, especially with working so hard with getting Dewdrops and Butterflies published, so the chance to sit down and read has been fun. Especially since I kind of have to make it a priority since people are counting on them. XD
I haven’t been writing very much… original work in the last couple of months. My heart wants to explode and write something. It’s time. It’s been long enough since I finished Playgrounds and Black Markers. But there hasn’t been any sort of spark of a story that I’m committed to. So I have yet to fall into another novel XD. That’s a good thing though because I have quite a bit of work to do with Playground and Black Markers.
I’m getting more shelving space for books! My bedroom/office area is getting a bit of a remodel, and we’re covering one of the walls with just shelves for book space. I’m so excited to have all my genres and journals together again without having to search my brain for where nonfiction children’s books are stored in the house. XD.
Update on the blog theme change. It’s going to happen. No idea when, and no idea how long it’s going to take. But I’m excited! It’s going to be a more modern, author based blog with a lot of fun content and lots of book reviews and just basically a lot of the same that’s already here on Geoturtle but it’ll probably change just a bit for the better. 😀
Thanks for sticking around. Make sure you stop by Black Friday through Cyber Monday for the Printed Book Sale!
Live, laugh, and love, girls!
~Libby
All She Left Behind by Jane Kirkpatrick – Just Read Tours Review
Hi girls! Libby here! Still. I’m still here. I have a long thoughtful post that I might write out at some point. But for now here’s another book review!
All She Left Behind was a good read. It was my first Jane Kirkpatrick book and I was pleased with it!
Things I liked:
I liked Jennie’s personality and her devotion to her husband and son. I liked that she didn’t let her reading difficulties stop her from pursuing her dream.
I liked the settings. It felt real and well described without being an Anne of Green Gables description (Not that I don’t like Anne of Green Gables)
I liked Josiah and Douglas’ relationship at first. The way he called him Mr. Pickett was really fun.
I liked the story and the way that it progressed. I liked the depth and the way that it affected me just as a reader.
Things I didn’t like:
I didn’t absolutely love the way that raising her children was kind of placed on the back burner for Jennie to pursue a career. Being the old fashioned girl that I am, I think that children, especially ones that are already born, go first before a career. I understand in the beginning that she had to support herself and that was fine.
About half way point, I felt like that was a good place for the story to end, and the second half of the book was a fast paced, odd time frames and rough biography of her life more than a story.
Other than that I liked it. The cover is pretty, the story is entertaining and not cliche in any way. It was fun to read. 😀
Thank you for the free review copy from Just Read Tours! This was my Blind Book Tour book and I’m excited to do it again some day. 😀
I recieved a free copy of the book in exchange for a honest review. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own!
Live, Laugh, and Love, girls!
~Libby