Fading Starlight Book Review

Title: Fading Starlight

Author: Kathryn Cushman

Genre: Christian, Contemporary Fiction, Friendships, Mystery/Intrigue, Hollywood Fashion,

Plot: Lauren Summers is an up and rising fashion designer with all her hard work finally paying off in the form of a lovely gown being worn by a teenage star on the red carpet. With her future in fashion glittering and sparkling in the camera flashes, Lauren couldn't be happier, until a suspicious wardrobe malfunction sends her career plummeting and Lauren scrambling out of the spotlight as fast as she can.

An old professor friend comes to her rescue with a job and a place to stay in a secluded neighborhood with strict rules. The perfect hide out, or so Lauren thought. But when a reporter comes snooping around, Lauren's fight or flight instinct kicks in - only to turn to intrigue when she learns that the reporter isn't after her. She's after the mysterious Charlotte Montgomery, the reclusive old woman who rules the neighborhood with a firm hand.

With her dreams in tatters, Lauren is grasping at straws and poking into her neighbor's secrets seems like a good straw to grasp.

Likes/Dislikes: I was intrigued to read this book by the lovely cover and the description which made it sound like a historical fiction set around the turn of the century with a dashing hero reporter to come rescue the floundering fashion designer. I was somewhat disappointed to get the book and learn that the story is modern and the reporter is just a nosy woman looking to expose hidden secrets. While still interesting, it wasn't exactly the story I wanted to read. Hence why I haven't finished it yet. But I'll keep poking away at it because the descriptions of Lauren's new house and remodeling sound nice. The writing style is quite nice and smooth. Very easy to read and follow along.

Rating: N/A, though very clean so far.

Date Review Written: June 21, 2016

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publishers. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Jo's Boys Book Review

Title: Jo's Boys

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Genre: Classic, Children, Sequel, Christian, Adventure

Plot: In this third installment in a presumably unintentional trilogy, the March girls take a backseat and watch as their grown children take on the world. The boys of Jo's school are men now and branch off on their own paths, some to never return and some to strive, fail and ultimately triumph. One of the professor's nephew's is set adrift in the sea and survives the horrible experience, coming out alive with a beautiful wife, while the other nephew marries in a hurry to surprise everyone. Nan pursues her medical education and continues to refuse Tommy's marriage proposals, while Nat has his hands full trying to survive on a struggling musician's salary. And Dan? Well, he is perhaps having the greatest adventure and causes poor Jo the deepest heartache.

All of Jo and the Professor's hard work to raise these boys pays off in this sequel and we get to see how God carries the lessons through into their adult lives.

Likes/Dislikes: This is my favorite book by Alcott. I loved all the romance and meeting old friends all grown up, taking on the challenges in life and rising above the hardships thrown in their paths. Dan was my favorite character and I loved his adventures, but was sad that he never got to marry his true love.

Rating: G-all ages. Highly recommended.

Date Review Written: November 10th, 2015

Inside Out Movie Review

Title: Inside Out

Starring:

Release Date: Theaters early 2015, DVD November 3rd, 2015

Genre: Children, Fiction, Humorous, Family

Plot: Have you ever wondered what it's like inside other people's heads and what emotions would look like if they were people like us? Well, Pixar's newest movie explores those concepts in a fun colorful humorous way. Ever since she was born, eleven year old Riley has had two dominant emotions; Joy and Sadness. Of course, Anger, Disgust and Fear came along eventually but the two primaries are Joy and Sadness. Joy, with her blue hair and twirling yellow dress, just wants to keep Riley happy and does everything she can to keep the other emotions under control. She puts Fear in charge of making lists of possible disasters, Disgust in charge of fashion, and Anger is talked out of blowing his top and using that one curse word he knows. Poor Sadness doesn't really have a use, so she's stuffed into a corner and given manuals to read. And Joy "drives," creating an abundance of happy memories for Riley to recall later on.

All is going great till Riley and her parents move from Minnesota to San Francisco. That's when everything changes. Separated from her friends, unable to play hockey for the time being and thrust into a new school with a new house to adjust to, Riley has her hands full. And her emotions are running amuck. Disgust, Fear and Anger are unexpectedly left in charge when Sadness touches the sore memories and threatens to turn them blue, causing Joy to overreact and both of them with the main memories are sucked into Long Term Memory. Away from the keyboard of Riley's brain, Joy and Sadness begin a long journey through her colorful mind to get back to headquarters and put everything to rights. But will they be in time to save the day before Riley makes a terrible decision?

Likes/Dislikes: This movie is unique and very colorful. With each emotion their own set color, it's easy to figure out their personality and watch how they work together to grow and shape Riley's day. While I thought Disgust was an odd character for an eleven year old to have {it seems more fitting for a teenager}, I enjoyed all the others and the added balance Disgust provided. Anger was hilarious and quite possibly my favorite, while I felt bad for Sadness and Joy is well, Joy. My daughter's name is Joy so we get a kick out of watching this movie with her. I thought it was weird that in the Riley's mom's head, all the emotions are mature women who look like her and in the dad's head all the emotions are mature men who look like him, but in Riley's head, there's a blend of male and female emotions who don't really look like her. Just kinda odd to me. I loved seeing the parents, school friends, dog's and cat's emotions are the end. That was great. This is definitely a fun clean family movie.

Rating: G- 10 and up mainly for storyline. Recommended for all ages.

Date Review Written: November 9th, 2015.

My Joy

One of the reasons why I haven't been posting nearly as much as I'd like is that my sweet toddler has Juvenile Arthritis and its been a real roller coaster ride the last six months since we found out. She'd sprained her ankle in Oct 2015 and gradually stopped walking over the holidays, alarming us and {after an insurance issue}, sent us to the urgent care to see what was wrong. They bounced us around a little and two exhausting weeks later we learned she has Arthritis. Since then we've been doing everything we can to ease her pain, lower her inflammation and get her back on her feet. She's several doctors {some good, some not} her diet has changed and she's improving.

We've placed her on a Weston Price/anti-inflammatory diet with no gluten, soy, dairy, corn oil, processed foods and reduced sugar {all of which is hard to communicate to a two year old with a roving appetite}. We discovered she's allergic to soy and citrus so we immediately removed those from her diet and began to see immediate improvement in that area. She's seeing a nutritionist and a physical therapist regularly, and I'm happy to say that she has been walking independently for some months now and is in the process of trying to run. She still has a few kinks to work out though. We just started her on immune suppressant therapy which should help. We're hoping and praying that that combined with everything else we're doing will have her in remission sooner rather than later and she can go about her life in a happy pain-free toddler way once more.

And just in time too since she'll be dealing with a whole new challenge of having a baby sister here very very soon. Another reason for my lack of posts. Anyway, the reason I'm writing about all this now is partly because I just can't remember if I posted about it previously or not, and partly because I need your help. Some of you may have seen this lovely post over at In The Bookcase; my blogger buddy Tarissa kindly wrote it up for me and it says so clearly what we need; we need, help, we need funds, but most importantly, we need prayers and to get the word out about this sweet little girl who is going through so much at such a young age. Please hop over to her blog and check out the post, and then click Share. Also, please please share the GoFundMe page made just for my Joy. Anything and everything you can do to help is greatly appreciated. It's at difficult times like this that God tests us and shows us His grace. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you.

Lions in the Garden Book Review

Title: Lions in the Garden

Author: Chelsea Luna

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Teenagers, Romance, Action/Adventure

Plot: Rebellion is brewing all around the royal court but Mila could care less about that; she has a much bigger concern on her hands and must act before her opportunity vanishes. In an attempt to escape the impending marriage to an old baron her father has arranged, Mila runs headlong into danger and the arms of a handsome blacksmith who both saves and intrigues her.

But the handsome Protestant blacksmith has secrets of his own and they could land Mila into hot water, especially as the rebellion grows and threatens to burst.

Likes/Dislikes: With a title as intriguing as this one, you'd think there would actually be a plot to this book other than, "Idiot girl runs away, gets into trouble and starts flirting with hot guy who rescues her." Also, she gets jealous seeing him with other girls and seems obvious to everything going on around her. I couldn't finish this book at all.

Rating: PG-14 and up, mainly for content {with all the talk of sleeping around in the first couple chapters, somethings bound to happen later on}.

Date Review Written: May 15th, 2016

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publishers and Netgalley. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

We Just Had a Baby Book Review

Title: We Just Had a Baby

Author: Stephen Krensky

Genre: Children, Family, Babies, Adorable,

Plot: Being the only kid is great, until you realize that that title can be threatened by the arrival of a tiny bundle of wriggly pinkness. So, to help younger readers adjust to the change, books like this are essential. Children can read along as the hero investigates and gets used to the squirmy new arrival, and, despite the initial wariness, he grows to love the new baby.

Likes/Dislikes: With my own firstborn about to get a new sibling this summer, I was intrigued by this book and extremely happy that the publishers were able to send me a print copy because then I could share it with my daughter. While it seems like a book geared toward big brothers, my two year old enjoyed it and had a lot of fun reading it with me and looking at the lovely pictures.

Rating: G-all ages, though more for 4 yr. olds and up.

Date Review Written: May 3rd, 2016.

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publishers and Netgalley. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.