This Road We Traveled by Jane Kirkpatrick A Review

ABOUT THIS ROAD WE TRAVELED
When Tabitha Brown's son makes the fateful decision to leave Missouri and strike out for Oregon, she refuses to be left behind. Despite her son's concerns, Tabitha hires her own wagon to join the party. Along with her reluctant daughter and her ever-hopeful granddaughter, the intrepid Tabitha has her misgivings. But family ties are stronger than fear.

The trials they face along the way will severely test Tabitha's faith, courage, and ability to hope. With her family's survival on the line, she must make the ultimate sacrifice, plunging deeper into the wilderness to seek aid. What she couldn't know was how this frightening journey would impact how she understood her own life--and the greater part she had to play in history.


Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Revell (September 6, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800722337
ISBN-13: 978-0800722333
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If you'd like more information about me, please come visit my website at www.jkbooks.com and click on my blog. My dog also has a blog and you can find out what it's like to be Bodacious Bo, too. A monthly newsletter called Story Sparks is my way of sharing books about authors I enjoy as well as commenting on life and love. You'll find out more about me than you probably ever wanted to know!

One item not listed on my lists of books is my selection included in an anthology called "Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West" published by Houghton Mifflin I also have a piece in Storytellers II, a book published a few years ago by Multnomah Press and a few short selections in Daily Guideposts of a few years back. My first novella, "The Courting Quilt" is part of a collection that made the New York Times bestsellers September 2011 in a collection called Log Cabin Christmas. The rest of my writing, as they say, is history. Or it was until my first contemporary came out this fall. Called Barcelona Calling, it's the story of a writer who loses her way as she seeks fulfillment thinking she'll find it with fame. It's a laugh out loud book according to reviewers. I hope you'll enjoy it.


MY REVIEW
This is a story about a family who decided to move west, but didn’t want to take their mother Tabitha Brown. They said she was to old and crippled. Didn’t make sense to me because she was only in her 50’s and still could walk with a cane. Anyway she talks them into letting her go and she writes of her adventures.
  They took a different path than the Donner party, but also had trouble with steep trails, no food to gather or hunt and many other difficulties.
  The story was really interesting as it told of the older woman and her daughter and granddaughter. Also of several others in this remarkable story.
  I recommend this if you like adventure and perseverance.

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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Choose and Choose Again by J. Kevin Butcher A Review

ABOUT CHOOSE AND CHOOSE AGAIN
In Choose and Choose Again, the reader will encounter story after story of different people, most of whom are from Hope Community Church of Detroit, where Pastor Butcher has been sharing the healing love of God for thirteen years. They represent men and women, African American, Caucasian, Latino, and Asian, urban and suburban, professional types and prostitutes, clergy and addicts, drunks and lawyers and convicts—wounded human beings who have found themselves empty, dying, and longing to be filled.

The stories are not only about their own healing and restoration but also about how the love of God heals. Butcher hopes that readers will find before them a path of healing that they feel compelled to embrace. He begins with his own story of emptiness and despair, and his journey to healing, but the ultimate power of his message is that this healing journey is for anyone who is willing to own his or her emptiness and hold one’s heart out to God, who is desperately longing to love each person all the way home.

File Size: 1871 KB
Print Length: 269 pages
Publisher: NavPress (October 1, 2016)
Publication Date: October 1, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01CYRNO72

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. Kevin Butcher is the lead pastor of Hope Community Church of Detroit, a messy fellowship of human beings from every racial, economic, and educational background imaginable—with one thing in common: They own their emptiness and pursue healing through the love of God in Jesus Christ. Butcher has written numerous articles and has spoken around the world about the love of Christ. He is married to Carla and has three grown daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.


MY REVIEW
  Choose and Choose Again by J. Kevin Butcher is a very good book. He tells stories of all different kinds of people in all different kinds of lives. All are lonely and searching, every if they have everything here on earth they still are searching for the mighty love of our Father in heaven.
  You will read and experience how they lives have changed when they realize that God loves them and is always with them. Some of the people grew up with horrible lives, horrible parents and horrible things happened to them, but some grew up with seemly normal, happy lives. They all are lacking the love or understanding of a parent, both mothers and fathers. All children need that and when they don’t have it they don’t know how to react to God the Father the lover of all.
  Very interesting read and I recommend it.

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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

A Review-Living With No Excuses by Noah Galloway

ABOUT LIVING WITH NO EXCUSES
Military hero and beloved Dancing with the Stars alum Noah Galloway shares his life story, and how losing his arm and leg in combat forced him to relearn how to live--and live to the fullest.

Inspirational, humorous, and thought provoking, Noah Galloway's LIVING WITH NO EXCUSES sheds light on his upbringing in rural Alabama, his military experience, and the battle he faced to overcome losing two limbs during Operation Iraqi Freedom. From reliving the early days of life to his acceptance of his "new normal" after losing his arm and leg in combat, Noah reveals his ambition to succeed against all odds.

Noah's gripping story is a shining example that with laughter, and the right amount of perspective, you can tackle anything. Whether it be overcoming injury, conquering the Dancing with the Stars ballroom, or taking the next steps forward in life with his young family - Noah demonstrates how to live life to the fullest, with no excuses.


File Size: 23754 KB
Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Center Street (August 23, 2016)
Publication Date: August 23, 2016
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
Language: English
ASIN: B01922I1B6

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sergeant Noah Galloway was assigned to the first of the 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Three months into his second tour of duty, he experienced a life-changing injury. After a long stint in recovery and rehabilitation, Galloway became a motivational speaker and fitness activist. A father of three, He currently resides in Alabaster, Alabama.




MY REVIEW
  Living With No Excuses by Noah Galloway is a very intense, realist book. It shows how you can overcome the most horrible tragedies if you don’t give up. How you can live life and be happy.
  I love to read Biographies of people that have been through horrible things and how much they have suffered and still made it out of the pit of despair.
  Noah Galloway lost his arm and leg in combat. He almost died, but he fought back. Noah also was a very depressed person at first and all he did was drink. Then Noah was inspired to exercise and get into a fitness business.
  Besides though positive things you will see Noah’s journey through three relationships and how they failed, but he loves his children and cares for them almost daily.
  I did like this book and think you will if you like to see a person strive to do things that most people wouldn’t do. I recommend this book.


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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

The Alliance by Jolina Petersheim A Review

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

When Leora Ebersole sees the small plane crash in her Old Order Mennonite community, she has no idea it's a foreshadowing of things to come. Soon after the young pilot, Moses Hughes, regains consciousness, they realize his instruments were destroyed by the same power outage that killed the electricity at the community store, where Englischers are stranded with dead cell phones and cars that won't start.

Moses offers a sobering theory, but no one can know how drastically life is about to change. With the only self-sustaining food supply in the region, the Pacifist community is forced to forge an alliance with the handful of stranded Englischers in an effort to protect not only the food but their very lives.

In the weeks that follow, Leora, Moses, and the community will be tested as never before, requiring them to make decisions they never thought possible. Whom will they help and whom will they turn away? When the community receives news of a new threat, everyone must decide how far they're willing to go to protect their beliefs and way of life.

File Size: 15811 KB
Print Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (June 1, 2016)
Publication Date: June 1, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B0198V4LL0

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jolina Petersheim is the bestselling author of The Midwife and The Outcast, which Library Journal called "outstanding . . . fresh and inspirational" in a starred review and named one of the best books of 2013. Her writing has been featured in venues as varied as radio programs, nonfiction books, and numerous online and print publications such as Reader's Digest, Writer's Digest, and Today's Christian Woman. Jolina and her husband share the same unique Amish and Mennonite heritage that originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but now live on a solar-powered farm in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin with their young daughters. Follow Jolina and her blog at jolinapetersheim.com.


MY REVIEW
  I usually don’t like to read Mennonite or Amish books, because it’s usually the same old thing, but The Alliance seemed different to me. Also I’ve read several books this year about a huge power outage that takes the whole world {must be the year for that} and how it affects everyone and how food would run out along with not having any cars/trucks that would work because of how cars are made now.
   The Alliance tells how the Mennonite don’t believe in wars and fighting back and how some Englischers got stuck in their community and how they worked together to protect each other.
  Leora and Moses are so different, but so alike in many ways.
One thing I didn’t see as natural is the romance in the middle of a crisis. A lot of people would disagree with me, but I don’t see it happening.
  This is the first book I’ve read by Jolina Petersheim and it won’t be the last. She writes a good story, but some of it was hard for me to believe. So much of it just seemed like the characters were pretending.
  I will however recommend it and most people will enjoy it.


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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Coming Clean by Seth Haines A Review

ABOUT COMING CLEAN
“I suppose we’re all drunk on something.”


Seth Haines was in the hospital with his wife, planning funeral songs for their not-yet two-year-old, when he made a very conscious decision: this was the last day he ever wanted to feel. So he asked his sister to smuggle in some gin, and his addiction began.


But whether or not you’ve ever had a drop to drink in your life, we’re all looking for ways to stop the pain. Like Seth, we’re all seeking balms for the anxiety of what we believe is an absent God—whether it’s through people-pleasing, shopping, the internet, food, career highs, or even good works and elite theology. We attempt to anesthetize our anxiety through addiction—any old addiction. But it often leaves us feeling even more empty than before.


In Coming Clean, Seth Haines writes rawly through the first 90 days of a work of sobriety, illuminating how to face the pain we’d rather run from, and even more importantly, how Jesus meets us there. Because it is only when we face our anxieties with the tenacity and tenderness of Christ’s passion that we truly discover that we are indeed clean, surrendered, and whole.

File Size: 499 KB
Print Length: 215 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Publisher: Zondervan (October 27, 2015)
Publication Date: October 27, 2015
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
Language: English
ASIN: B00UF72CD6

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am a working stiff who is lucky enough to call the Ozark Mountains home. I am blessed to be the husband of Amber Haines and the father of four boys. I enjoy good sentences, good music, good food, and good fly fishing.
Here, http://sethhaines.com I pen my notions regarding faith, creativity, marriage, culture, and whatever else strikes me as word-worthy. I hope you’ll follow along.
Question or comment? You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ .


MY REVIEW
  Coming Clean is a true journaling of a man who was addicted to alcohol. The book is his first 90 days of sobriety. His drinking started when their young son isn’t thriving and Seth believes he will die. He can’t face up to the pain so he hides behind the drink. The first part of his sobriety is quiet sad and he has a very hard time, but with God and facing his past he finds the help he needs.
  This book isn’t full of happiness and joy, but a journey that will keep you reading to find out whaat answers Seth finally comes to.
  Seth tells us that there are many ways to hide and not face the truth. Some ways may be an addiction to food, cutting or to your body. Each addiction needs for us to draw closer to God and put Him first.
  Coming Clean is a very good book full of truth and insights. You are never totally alone. God is always there. Another book to recommend.

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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

A Reason for Hope by Michael S. Barry A Review

ABOUT A REASON FOR HOPE
As a pastor and chaplain at a cancer treatment facility, Dr. Michael S. Barry has spent hours with cancer patients listening to their stories, reflecting with them on their disease, and helping them better understand the role their faith can play at this critical time. And frequently, he has sat beside them as they wrestle with tough questions that have no easy answers.

Now Dr. Barry shares the answers that have come to his heart through his ministry to men, women, and young people engaged in the battle of their lives. These answers will re-engage your faith, re-energize your mind and body, and revitalize your hope. These answers will truly give you A Reason for Hope.

File Size: 3767 KB
Print Length: 128 pages
Publisher: David C. Cook (September 1, 2015)
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B012UZ4ADA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As director of pastoral care at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia, Dr. Michael S. Barry specializes in the connection between spirituality and health, particularly as it relates to cancer. Dr. Barry earned his bachelor of arts at the University of Texas at Austin, master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and doctor of ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary.

MY REVIEW
  A Reason for Hope by Dr. Michael S. Barry is an exceptional book. In his book he tells us that many things contribute to cancer and how he shares with us the different things that need to be done if you have cancer.
Dr. Barry is the first to say that if it is your time to die then God will take you, but if it isn’t your time these steps will help you.
 One amazing thing Dr. Barry said is that people have been cured/healed from every type of cancer. So it is possible to beat any type you have.
 He said the main thing is a positive attitude to overcome. If you think you are going to die you will even if it’s not your time.
  Having faith and praying, growing closer to God are all very important steps. Nothing will make you stronger than being close to God.
  This isn’t the only thing that can cause cancer, but one thing is having a very drastic thing happen in your life, like a death of a family member, divorce, loss of job. It all depends on how you handle these horrific events. The main reason you could get cancer during these times is because your immune system is fighting your emotions and the cancer slips in.
  Also things like diet, not exercising or bad habits.
   The book is telling us even if these things happen we have hope. Never lose sight of that, because once your hope is gone it’s to late. Also if a doctor tells you, you only have a few weeks or months don’t believe them. God is the one who is in control and you need to keep the faith and hope. Very interesting, small book. Recommended.

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I received my free copy from Net Galley for my review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255