Facing the Blitz: Three Strategies for Turning Trials into Triumps by Jeff Kemp

Jeff Kemp compares facing a trial in life to a blitz in a football game.  He talks about his experience in the NFL and the lessons he has learned in life. 

His three strategies are to take a long-term view, be willing to change and to reach out to others.  

There was a lot I disagreed with Kemp on in this book.  For a book that is supposedly to be from a Christian perspective,  I found the book to be very worldly in nature.   There were very few references in the book to God and the Bible.  A lot of times if felt like people talking about God was thrown in there, but it didn't go further from there.  There was only ONE part of the book where he took what he was talking about and using scripture verses to apply what he was saying. There is a good Biblical application at the very end of the book, but again there is only one verse to apply what he is saying.  There could have been a lot more Biblical application put in throughout the book.

I also strongly felt he was talking about how we should put ourselves first.  We should not put ourselves first, we need to put ourselves last.  JOY spells Jesus, Others, You.   When we are going through a trial we need to turn to God and ask him for his help.  We need to turn to others and ask them to pray for us. 

This is not a book I would recommend.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers for the sole purpose of this review.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

Blessings for the Morning by Susie Larson

Blessings for the Morning is a short devotional book by Susie Larson.  There is a scripture verse followed by a short message of encouragement on each page.  Each day's reading is short and has a color picture on each page.

Each verse and message offers up words of encouragement and blessing.  The only problem I had with it was the various versions of the Bible she uses.  I found I had to look up several verses up in my KJV Bible as I couldn't understand where the translation she used was saying.

This book would be a good addition to your bookshelf and would also make a good gift for someone.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers for the sole purpose of this review.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

Dauntless by Dina L Sleiman

A wonderful book by Dina Sleiman!

Lady Merry Ellison has lost everything.  Her home and her family.  She is now an enemy of the king and will do whatever she can to protect the orphan children from her former village.  They became known as The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest.  Merry finds it more and more difficult to help keep the children safe as they are pursued.

One of the people after them is Timothy Grey,  As the ninth child of a baron, he has little hope of every receiving a title and longs for to rise from obscurity and have his own title.  He serves as a scribe to a local earl and realizes he has a chance to secure his dreams if he can catch the Ghosts.  When he does encounter them he is in for a huge surprise!!!!

I love how this author portrays Merry a strong women set in the time of medieval England.  .  Although her character is fictional and unlikely to have happened, Dina does a great job of showing how it could have been possible.  I really enjoyed the referenced to "Robin of the Hode".

The struggles that Merry faces and the struggles that Timothy faces were both very well portrayed.  They both overcome several different things and learn to see things in a new way.  

I can't wait to read more books in this series!!

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers for the sole purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expresses herein are my own.

A fantastic thriller story by Nancy Mehl!!

Sarah has only just been reunited with her sister after being separated when her sister Hannah was adopted and she was placed in a different foster home, her sister is brutally murdered in the same way her parents were many years before.  Sarah asks Paul, the local deputy sheriff, to help her find out the truth about what happened.  Her parents murder was never solved and she doesn't want the same thing to happen to her sister.

Sarah is also faced with the challenge of now raising her niece Cicely.  Through the challenges she now faces with raising her niece, she also continues to pursue what happened to her sister and her parents.  She faces many dangers along the way, but she won't rest until she has the answers.

Paul is there with her helping her along the way, while trying his best to show Sarah that he has fallen for her.  Sarah needs a little help with realizing it.

What a fantastic story!! This was the hardest book to put down!!!  It keeps moving and keeps you in the story from the beginning to the very end!!! One night I told myself one more chapter and I had to get to sleep.  When I got to the end of the chapter, I found it impossible to put down! So I kept going until I finished it!

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers for the sole purpose of this review.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expresses herein are my own.