"Dancing with the One You Love" Book Review

The topic of this book is a very touchy one for a lot of women.  As much as I'd rather say that it's easy for me that just isn't the truth!  Now, from the title "Dancing With the One You Love" you might think that I'm talking about dancing, lol, but I'm not!  I'm talking about something much harder......submission.  I've struggled with this a lot throughout the last 20 years of my marriage and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I really enjoyed this book a lot.  The author, Cindy Easley, mentions in the book that submission is something she struggles with too.  I like that.  I like the fact that she is honest and transparent about her marriage.  It makes me believe the book.  It also makes me feel as though I can make the necessary changes to do God's will in my marriage.


That is the basis of submission, really, and it is what this book brought into full color for me.  Submission isn't really about your husband.  It doesn't matter if he is a good husband, or if he could stand to improve in some areas, regardless you are not submitting because of him or even because he "deserves" it.  Instead, we need to submit to our husbands because this is what God intended.  This passage in particular really got my attention...."For whatever reason, God chose to place the husband as the head of the relationship. When we refuse to accept God’s design, we are, in essence, telling God we don’t trust Him. At times, being willing to follow our husbands is certainly difficult, yet that is what God asks of us."

I highly recommend Dancing With the One You Love: Living Out Submission in the Real World to all women, whether you are single, have only been married for a short time, or have been married for ages.  You will learn something from this book, I promise!

You can also find Cindy & her friends discussing Dancing With the One You Love on her blog , her twitter account as well as her Facebook page.  Not only will you get to learn from her awesome writings but you will also have a chance to interact with other women that are trying to follow God's will and submit to their husbands.

Bye,
Lisa

I received this book free from Moody Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside – warm up with a Kindle Fire from Susan May Warren

Warm up to Chrismtas early this year with Susan May Warren's Baby, It's Cold Outside! To celebrate the release of her new Christmas book with Summerside Press, she and the publisher are giving away a Kindle Fire and hosting an early Christmas Party on Facebook!

About the book: Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Hope finds the hopeless when a storm hits.

It's Christmas weekend 1949, and despite the threat of a storm, the townspeople of Frost are determined to continue their holiday traditions, if only as a means to forget the war that they had all just suffered through. But the suffering hasn't ended for Dottie Morgan who lost her only son in the war. She's preparing to wallow in her isolation for the weekend, when Violet, nearly a spinster at age 29, dares to make a request that will force Dottie to publicly revive the memory of her dead son.

When a storm traps the two women at home with a strange young man who has an unbelievable confession and a neighbor with more to do with Violet's past than she would like, no one can predict how this Christmas will give them all a second chance.

Read an excerpt here and find out the story behind the novel.

Read what the reviewers are saying here.

About Susan:

Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia, Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.

Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.

Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)

A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at: www.susanmaywarren.com.

One festive winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire
• Baby, It's Cold Outside by Susan May Warren

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. Giveaway ends on 10/26!



But, wait there’s more! Join Susan May Warren on 10/27 for merriment and a few early Christmas presents at her Baby, It's Cold Outside Christmas party! Grab your Christmas sweaters, socks and pj’s and join Susan and a few friends for a fireside chat about her recent books (Heiress & Baby, It’s Cold Outside), holiday traditions, favorite Christmas recipes, a trivia contest and more! Invite your friends and don’t miss the fun!



RSVP here and we'll see you on October 27th at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST!

Win a Kindle Touch From Patti Lacy

Patti Lacy is celebrating the release of her latest book, Reclaiming Lily,  with a KindleTouch Giveaway, blog tour and FB Book Chat Party!


About Patti:

Patti Lacy graduated from Baylor University with a BS in education and completed master's-level courses in English at Indiana State University. She taught at Heartland Community College until May 2006, when she resigned to pursue her passion of writing. The author of three previous novels, Patti is the mother of two grown children and lives with her husband in Normal, Illinois.

For more about Patti and her other books you can visit her website.


Follow the blog tour and read the reviews!

About the book:
A storm the size of Texas brews when Gloria Powell and Kai Chang meet in a Ft. Worth hotel. They have come to discuss the future of Lily, the daughter Gloria adopted from China and the sister Kai hopes to reclaim. Kai is a doctor who had to give up her little sister during the Cultural Revolution and has since discovered that an inherited genetic defect may be waiting to fatally strike Lily.

Gloria's relationship with her daughter is tattered and strained, and the arrival of Kai, despite the woman's apparent good intentions, makes Gloria fearful. Gloria longs to restore her relationship with Lily, but in the wake of this potentially devastating diagnosis, is Kai an answer to prayer--or will her arrival force Gloria to sacrifice more than she ever imagined?

Buy the book here!


Patti and her publisher, Bethany House, are giving away a Reclaiming Lily prize package worth over $150 to one lucky winner!!!!

Enter the Reclaiming Lily Giveaway and you could win:

• A brand new just released KindleTouch with Wi-Fi
• $25 gift cetificate to Amazon.com

But, wait there’s more!


Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. Giveaway ends on 10/19! Patti will be announcing the winner of the Reclaiming Lily Giveaway at her Party on Facebook October 20th! She’ll be hosting a book club chat of Reclaiming Lily (it's okay if you haven't read it - you could win a copy!) and giving away other fun prizes! (signed copies of her books and gift certificates to Amazon.com, Starbucks, & iTunes!). Don’t miss the fun at Patti’s FB Author Page on 10/20/11 at 5pm PST ( 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, & 8 pm EST)! RSVP today!

Need to Get Organized!

I really, really need a schedule.  I am so frustrated with myself because I waste so much time on this computer every evening.  When we're eating lunch, I always think that I'm going to get so much done this evening.  But then Tom leaves for work, I get on the computer to check my email and next thing I know it is dinner time!  Time just flies on here.  I have been doing a lot of "important" things like working on Central Ohio Binky Patrol paperwork, doing some schoolwork, and tons of blogging things.  I'm researching potential sponsors, putting together giveaways/reviews, joining blog hops, building followers, forging relationships with other bloggers and just working on this blog!  I love doing those things & I know it'll pay off in the future, but there are still things I need to do away from the computer as well.

I need to clean, get the donations put away from Central Ohio Binky Patrol, work on old knitting/crochet/quilting projects, read the books I need to review for my blog.  The two big ones are cleaning and crafting.  I hate to clean, as anyone who knows me can tell!  I have to do it though. I really think if I could just get myself on a schedule it would be so much better.  I also really miss crafting....especially quilting!  I have so much beautiful yarn, fabric and supplies, not to mention all the unfinished objects (UFOs!!) that have been ignored for way too long.

Anyone have any suggestions?  How do you schedule your time?  How do you handle your UFOs?  I know I've asked this in the past but this time I'm serious - - - well atleast at this moment I am, lol!  How about you bloggers?  What type of schedule do you follow?  What blogging chores do you try to get done every day?

Bye,
Lisa

It's Christmas in September!

To celebrate the release of her first Christmas book, Suzanne Woods Fisher has teamed up with her publisher, Revell, to bring you the "Christmas in September" iPad Giveaway! The winner will be announced on 9/27 at the A Lancaster County Christmas Facebook Party! Details below. Tell your friends and join in the fun (9/7-9/27).


Oh and be sure to follow the blog tour here - many of the bloggers have copies of the book to giveaway! 

Suzanne and Revell will be presenting one merry winner with a Christmas Prize Pack (valued at over $600):

• A Brand New iPad 2 with Wi-Fi
• $25 gift certificate to iTunes
• A copy of A Lancaster County Christmas

To enter, click one of the icons below. But, hurry the giveaway ends on 9/26.


But, wait! There's more! The winner will be announced at the A Lancaster County Christmas Facebook Party on 9/27 at Suzanne's author page. During the party she'll be revealing something *BIG* - you won't want to miss it. She'll also be hosting a book chat, trivia contest and giving away a few early Christmas presents! Hope to see you there.

Sheila Walsh's Gabby God's Little Angel

Sheila Walsh is excited to announce her new series for little girls and she is celebrating Gabby’s arrival with a fun KINDLE Giveaway and an Angel FB party on October 4th!


Meet Gabby for yourself here. Help Sheila introduce Gabby - be sure to check out her video trailer promotion here!


In Gabby, God’s Little Angel, Gigi fans will fall in love with Gabby and learn about God’s love and provision and a little about His invisible creation, the angels.


Read what people are saying here.


Enter today - Sheila and her publisher, Thomas Nelson, have put together an “Angel” prize package worth over $150.00!

One lucky winner will receive:

• A brand new KINDLE with Wi-Fi
• Gabby, God’s Little Angel 

But wait! There’s more …


On October 4th join Sheila at her Author Page on FB for the Gabby, God’s Little Angel Party! She will announce the winner of the KINDLE, host a chat and give away a ton of fun products from the Gigi and Gabby line! RSVP today and then be sure to stop by on October 4th at 5:00 PM PST (6 PM MST, 7 PM CST, & 8 PM EST).

Finished Reading "The Help"

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow! I had heard such good things about this book. I was a little worried, to be honest, that The Help would not live up to the hype. I decided to go ahead and take the plunge though & I am so glad that I did! This is a wonderful book. Not only did it live up to the hype, in my opinion, but it exceeding what everyone had been telling me.

I loved how it was funny, sassy, sweet, and sad all at the same time. I loved how the author was able to motivate me to question how things where during a time when I wasn't even alive. I really enjoyed Miss Skeeter a lot. She seemed so full of dreams and goals - it was refreshing in a time period where most women just dreamed of becoming a wife and mother.

Everyone should take the time to read this book!



View all my reviews

A commitment to read

I used to love to read.  Really, I still do love it but I just don't make time for it.  That is going to change starting today!  I started reading "The Help" today.  I'm only about two chapters in so far but I can tell that I'm going to love it.  Have any of you read it yet?  Or seen the movie?  I want to get the book read first - I've always said that the book is always better than the movie.  Because of that I'll probably end up waiting until the movie comes out on DVD.  But I am committing right now to reading some every single day!  Even if it is only 15 minutes eventually I'll get really hooked on the book and won't want to put it down!

I've also just joined Good Reads.  Have you heard of it?  It's basically a social outlet type website for readers.  You can add books you've read, you're currently reading, and you want to read in the future.  There are places to write reviews, as well as read reviews that others have written.  I think it'll be a lot of fun to what others think of books I've read, plus it is going to be a great way to find even more books I want to read.  I've had a reputation of having a "to read" list that is a mile long!  I can't help it....there are so many great books out there!  If you are a member of Good Reads and want to become friends come look for me.  I'd love it!  My profile is HERE!

Bye,