Sex, Dating and Relationships Book Review

Title: Sex, Dating and Relationships.

Author: Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas.

Genre: Christian, Nonfiction, Relationships.

Plot: In our culture, sex and dating are the norm. But what does the Bible say about sex before marriage? Why is sex so important to God anyway? And if dating is so wrong, what should we be doing in order to meet people and find our true love in a safe way?

First off, I have to say that I didn’t finish this book. I’ll explain that in the section below. I did however, really like the part on engagements and I will quote one particular paragraph. “Make a beeline to the altar. And one last word about timing: if things work out and you get engaged, keep your engagement short. Engagement exists for one purpose only – to plan a wedding. It is not a final vetting process or an attempt to buy time while your parents warm to the idea. Too many Christian couples are sacrificing their purity on the altar of a perfect wedding day. So don’t think of engagement as uber-dating, where you buy more time and have the benefit of a closed deal. Engagement is there to plan a wedding. Once she says yes, it’s beeline time.” My husband and I had a really hard time going from engaged to married because my parents dragged their feet and threw wrenches into the plans at every opportunity. So I’m a strong believer in short engagements. I often wish they had read this book when my husband and I were courting.

Likes/Dislikes: One of my major dislikes about this book and the reason I didn’t finish it is that the authors will make a point, say in the first two pages of a chapter, and then spend the next six pages going over it three or four more times. It got very boring very fast and going over it again and again didn’t strengthen their point or add more weight to it. It just made me bored. Another dislike I had was their take on dating. Personally, I prefer courtship over dating. Their idea of having “friend-dates” was fun sounding though. All in all, I really liked what I read from this book; it just wasn’t for me. I really enjoyed the first chapter on the history.

Rating: PG-17 and up, mainly for content as it’s about sex and getting married.

Date Report Written: April 1^st, 2013.

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I wasn’t required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Procrastination Quotes

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well."

                                                                                                                ~ Mark Twain

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” 

                                                          ~ Martha Troly-Curtin.

“You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. 

What mood is that? 

Last-minute panic.” 

                          ~ Bill Watterson

“I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do - the day after.” 

                                                                                      ~ Oscar Wilde

“I Can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.” 

                                                                                                    ~ Margaret Mitchell

“If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.”

                                                                                       ~ Rita Mae Brown 

“Someday is not a day of the week.” 

                                       ~ Janet Dailey

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” 

                                                            ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.” 

                                                                  ~ Alan Dean Foster

“Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today.” 

                                                                 ~ Holbrook Jackson

The Icecutter's Daughter Book Review

Title: The Icecutter's Daughter.

Author: Tracie Peterson.

Genre: Christian, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance.

Plot: Living with her widower father and four older brothers has it's perks and benefits - she gets to help raise the horses and run around in trousers without worry - but it also has it's draw backs, and one of those is that at nearly twenty-one, Merrill Krause is still unmarried. Her brothers keep the undesirable suitors away, but they also intimidate the potentially desirable ones too. And while she hasn't felt the want of a husband and family of her own before, it's still a hope nestled deeply in her heart. At least her cooking is the best in the town and wins prizes all the time.

But when Rurik Jorgenson arrives in town to help his aging uncle with the furniture business, Merrill isn't prepared for the wave of renewed hope for a family of her own. Because Rurik, unlike most men, is not in the least intimidated by her brothers. He in fact gets along marvelously with them - probably because he has brothers himself. With a small flower of love blooming in their hearts, the two are caught unawares when Rurik's former fiancee` and her brother roll into town, disrupting daily life and making things increasingly difficult for Rurik. With scandal and gossip whirling around the town thicker than snow, rising to a very serious pitch, Rurik and Merrill have never needed their trust in God more than now. But will it be enough?

Likes/Dislikes: This is my first Tracie Peterson novel and I rather liked it. It was a wonderful change to have characters with Swedish and German lineage, with words and phrases from their respective homelands thrown into the mix. I also really enjoyed that, despite it being a romance and the characters falling in love much too quickly for my taste, that there wasn't a lot of the usual jabberings about stolen glances, secret smiles, and all the butterflies in the stomach when their hands accidentally brush. Very refreshing in that sense. I didn't like how the description protrayed Merrill as having a "lack of femininity," because she was very feminine in my opinion. Of course, she wore trousers to keep her legs warm and didn't go in for all the lacy frilly stuff - I don't either - but she was very feminine. She dressed like a lady, wore her hair long, and delighted in baking, cooking, cleaning and all the feminine things. I liked that. I didn't care for the former fiancee` and her brother though; I have the tendency to wish certain characters would just die, but that didn't happen. *winks* All in all, a pretty good book.

Rating: PG-14 and up, mainly for reading level and content {hints of someone being pregnant out of wedlock, but not graphic}.

Date Report Written: April 9th, 2013.

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't required to write a positive book review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

The Christian Mama's Guide to Having a Baby Book Review

Title: The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby.

Author: Erin MacPherson

Genre: Christian, Nonfiction, Pregnancy, Guide, How-To, Self-Help, Humorous.

Plot: With a hilarious sense of humor and a wonderful easy-going style of writing, Mrs. MacPherson takes you on a fun-filled journey through pregnancy and helps you navigate this most fulfilling and often unpleasant phase in life. She also gives you pointers on how to draw closer to God during your pregnancy, especially on days when you’re too sick to do anything besides moan and throw up.

With a detailed chapter on what to expect during each trimester, followed by equally detailed yet not at all boring chapters on baby gear, maternity clothes, exercising during pregnancy, morning sickness and how to eat healthfully when you’re carving junk food, this book is definitely one of the keepers you’ll want on hand to answer a lot of your pregnancy questions. It walks you through the doctor/midwife’s office, explains some of the tests they do, gives you an in-depth look at the actual birth of the baby {which is probably the most stressful of the whole nine-month journey}, and covers breast-feeding as well, which can be a pretty tricky thing for new moms to learn. It also has tips for pregnancy sex and a chapter written by husbands of pregnant women for husbands of pregnant women. I made my husband read that chapter and he said he really liked it, and that the big difference between it and other books I’ve shoved into his hands is that it was written by actual guys.

There are also wonderful little sections in each chapter with Bible verses and a prayer to help you along in your daily meditation on God’s word while pregnant. The chapter on food is very deliciously detailed so I recommend you take the advice in the opening paragraph and get a snack before reading it.

Likes/Dislikes: I’ve read maybe close to half a dozen pregnancy books in the last several months as my own personal homework {ya never know when this knowledge will come in handy!}, and this book is, by far, the most fun of the lot. It also addresses the emotional side of pregnancy a lot better than the other books did. On top of that, it’s Christian and has tips for drawing closer to God during pregnancy – something the other books definitely didn’t dig into. It was written in a hilarious easy-to-relate-to style that flowed really well and made sense. There wasn’t all that medical jargon to confuse and wade through. The only issues I had with it are pretty minor; in the food chapter it lists canola oil as being good to take when pregnant. It is, in fact, not at all healthy for you. Also, it described the various options open to women when it comes time to give birth {which is a good thing}, putting stress on having an epidural and also saying that when the nurses whisk your newborn baby off to test it and give it shots, it’s a good thing. Now, I have nothing against epidurals {I just don’t particularly want to take one because it’s a big needle that gets poked into your spine and could cause a lot of damage if they poked it wrong}, but I don’t agree with the tests and shots on the little newborn. That’s me personally. I really liked that the author was such a huge fan of breastfeeding. In all, I highly recommend this book to any expectant {or hoping to be expectant} moms. I will personally be keeping it close on hand when I have my first baby.

Rating: PG-16 and up, mainly for content. It’s about having babies after all.

Date Report Written: April 1^st, 2013.

I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

And Yet the Books Poem

And yet the books will be there on the shelves, separate beings,

That appeared once, still wet

As shining chestnuts under a tree in autumn,

And, touched, coddled, began to live

In spite of fires on the horizon, castles blown up,

Tribes on the march, planets in motion.

“We are,” they said, even as their pages

Were being torn out, or a buzzing flame

Licked away their letters. So much more durable

Than we are, whose frail warmth

Cools down with memory, disperses, perishes.

I imagine the earth when I am no more:

Nothing happens, no loss, it's still a strange pageant,

Women's dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley.

Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born,

Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.

                                                                                                                        ~ Czeslaw Milosz

A Round of Blog Posts 23

While I haven't been doing this particular post series as much as I used, I still read everyone's blogs! So, here are some of the latest links that I rather liked. Enjoy! And keep blogging!

Jessica at SafireWriter tells us, in a tag, about two of her current book projects.

A very neat post on what it means to be a man at the blog A Holy Experience

Amber at Seasons of Humility has a wonderful book review to share.

Turns out that Ruth at BookTalk and More is just as excited about David Tennent's return as me. :)

Also from Jessica at SafireWriter is the writer-humor post that just made my day. *huge grin*

Hannah at Candy Apple Books has a beautiful review on Inkheart.

And over at Bloom! we have a wonderful touching story of how God works in our lives through prayer.