Book Journey

Morning Meanderings…

Published on November 13, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

Head cold is still battling me. I slept right through my morning group work out class. Now I will aim for the noon repeat of that class. I never sleep that long. Three of the seven people I went to Honduras with are battling this same overpowering sickness. Possibly more. I dont know what thats about.

I was blog hopping this morning (or maybe in my weakened condition I should say blog dragging) and found this really cool thing called Wordle. Here is what it does:

I found this through Yay! Reads, which I discovered through J Kayes blog post this morning.

And that is how I blog hop. 😉

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner w/ giveaway

Published on November 13, 2009November 16, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

Old secrets that open new wounds…. are only the beginning of healing in this captivating read. ~ Sheila

When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands– in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm–and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life, even though their own storybook lives are about to crumble.

Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, and other than a vague curiosity about her strange life, he doesn’t expect her arrival will affect him much–or interfere with his growing, disturbing interest in a long-ago house fire that plagues his dreams unbeknown to anyone else.

Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.

Will Tally’s presence blow apart their carefully-constructed world, knocking down the illusion of the white picket fence and reveal a hidden past that could destroy them all–or can she help them find the truth without losing each other?

My Thoughts

The book had me at the cover… it was the first thing that caught me, but certainly not the last. I like first lines of books and this one opening at a funeral was a great line, it left me wanting more. “Who died”, Is the first question that comes to mind followed closely by, “and what happened?” I found myself in a book that tries to make up for lost time and hurts. When Neil and Amanda take their 16 year old niece in to their home a shake up occurs that could not have been predicted. This book was a good example about how secrets have a tendency to surface and when the past hits the present it can cause life turmoil.

This book is a wonderful example of how things that can look perfectly wonderful from the outside are now always that way on the inside. The title of this book is a prefect reflection of this. Layered in plots, I enjoyed the different happenings in the book including a surprise that left me unable to put the book down.

This book is labeled Christian but I would say light Christian and if that label was not on the book I dont think you would read it and say this was a Christian fiction read. It is a clean book with a good story line. This was my first Susan Meissner book and I enjoyed it very much and would like to read her again.

About Susan:

“I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t driven to write. I attribute this passion to a creative God and to parents who love books and more particularly to a dad who majored in English and passed on a passion for writing.

I was born in San Diego, California, and am the second of three daughters. I spent my very average childhood in just two houses. I attended Point Loma College in San Diego, and married my husband in 1980. I had been majoring in education, thinking I might like to teach kindergarten, but I would have been smarter to major in English with a concentration in writing. The advice I give now to anyone wondering what to major in is follow your heart and choose a path that you know you already enjoy.

I didn’t do a lot of writing in the years my husband was on active duty in the Air Force, when we were living overseas, or when the kids were little. When my little heirs were finally all in school, though, I became aware of a deep, gnawing desire to write a novel; a desire I managed to ignore for several years.

Finally when I could disregard it no longer, I resigned in 2002 as editor of a small town newspaper, and set out to write my first book, “Why the Sky is Blue.”

Giveaway!!!

Woo hoo! I have an extra copy of this book to giveaway! Here is how you can enter!

**1. Leave a comment here with where you would live if you could live anywhere. *You must answer the question to have your comment counted!**

Bonus Entries!!!

Blog or Twitter about this giveaway and let me know on a separate comment and you will have an additional chance to win

Subscribe to receive email posts from me (upper right side) and let me know on a separate comment and you will have two additional entries

Giveaway will be open until December 1st. USA and Canada entrants only please!

Have fun and good luck!

This review copy and giveaway copy was provided by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group

Jantsen’s Gift by Pam Cope

Published on November 12, 2009November 12, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

This book tore into the very center of my heart and planted a seed there. At times I found it hard to breathe as I read about these children with little hope – yet they still had a flicker… and I couldnt close my eyes to shut out the vision…. ~ Sheila

Nine years ago, Pam Cope owned a cozy hair salon in the tiny town of Neosho, Missouri, and her life revolved around her son’s baseball games, her daughter’s dance lessons, and family trips to places like Disney World. She had never been out of the country, nor had she any desire to travel far from home.

Then, on June 16th, 1999, her life changed forever with the death of her 15-year-old son from an undiagnosed heart ailment.

Needing to get as far away as possible from everything that reminded her of her loss, she accepted a friend’s invitation to travel to Vietnam, and, from the moment she stepped off the plane, everything she had been feeling since her son’s death began to shift. By the time she returned home, she had a new mission: to use her pain to change the world, one small step at a time, one child at a time. Today, she is the mother of two children adopted from Vietnam. More than that, she and her husband have created a foundation called “Touch A Life,” dedicated to helping desperate children in countries as far-flung as Vietnam, Cambodia and Ghana.

Pam Cope’s story is on one level a moving, personal account of loss and recovery, but on a deeper level, it offers inspiration to anyone who has ever suffered great personal tragedy or those of us who dream about making a difference in the world

My Thoughts…♥

It has taken me several days to put this review into words. When I opened the book to read about Pam Cope’s experience I found her words easy to read and I fell right into the pages on her story. A story that soon had my heart wrenching as I has in Honduras working with kids who lived in a dump – and I was reading about Pam Copes own heartache and how it led her to Vietnam and working in a similar situation, trying to help kids who have nothing…. no home, no food, and looking them in the eye and trying to give them hope.

As I read this book and made me think about why I do what I do… and knowing that my story hits close to Pam’s story. I felt a kinship with Pam… a need to do more. I understood her and appreciated her sense of humor and her heart that held so many. Pam writes in a real tone that lets you know she is just one of us – struggling day to day making choices right or wrong… sometimes goofing it big time and occasionally getting it right. I loved that about this book.

As I came home on the plane I finished this read and the kids that haunt me from this book are the ones who are still out there – the ones who they were unable to save. They are the same kids that cause me to waken in the night. Thank God for people like Pam… As I neared the end of the book I openly wept – and not for the first time during this read. This is an important book for all of us to read. My recommendation could not come higher.

Last week while I was away, Alison guest hosted here and shared her thoughts on this read. She also at that time offered up a giveaway for a copy of this book. Link here for that giveaway that is still open until November 20.

About Pam Cope

Pam Cope is a frazzled mother of two ten year olds named Van and Tatum and an accomplished, independent 21-year-old daughter named Crista Austin. She is the Co-director, with her husband Randy, of the Touch A Life Foundation.

This book was sent to me for review by Hachette Book Group

Word Verification Balderdash (My Thursday Thing)

Published on November 12, 2009November 13, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

This is the weekly meme where I encourage anyone who wishes to play along to take those crazy word verifications they have had over the past week and create a fake definition for them (much like how you play the board game Balderdash). This is all in fun and makes commenting on blogs a bit more interesting when the verification may just give you the best definition of the week!

See original post here.

Concab: The latest ring sweeping the east coast that consists of ex cons (or are they?) that fake as taxi drivers and take unsuspectiong tourists out into the city and take all their cash and occasionally all their gum too.

Worster: Hill Billy talk for when things are worse than worse…. I mean really bad…. the worstest. 😉

Baraid: The latest standard addition to cell phones! An automatic number programmed into your phone so that even a random stranger can grab your phone and dial it to connect with that poor unsuspecting friend who is your emergency ride home when you have had too much to drink and can not drive yourself home.

I would love to see what you come up with! To do your own, simply grab the picture meme and add it to your own post. Link back to this post and leave a comment here letting my know you have and I will add your blog post to this one so people may see other participants. Let the fun begin!

The Master of all things Balderdash: Wordsmithonia

The Blogger with a gift for words: Embrace The Whirlwind

Great Words from Melissa: My World

Morning Meanderings

Published on November 12, 2009November 12, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

I woke up this morning to a great smelling pot of coffee (if you have not tried Cameron’s Chocolate Covered Cherries coffee – bagged by the bean, I would highly recommend it. Smooth and not bitter.) LOL I sound like a commercial!

I was reading the Amazon top ten list for 2009 this morning… not the editor’s picks, but the customers picks. It is funny as the two lists are so different and looking over the Editors picks, I seen a couple I would consider reading and on the customers list there were more I would like to read as well as some I have. I had read none on the Editors List.

1. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown: This would be a “yeah I want to read it” for me. I am excited as I have actually won this book when I participated in the Dewey’s Read A Thon last month and won in hour 10! I cant wait to receive it!

2. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin – This one holds no interest for me.

3. Glenn Beck’s Common Sense – The Case Against An Out Of Control Government Inspired By Thomas Paine : Again, this one I would pass on.

4. Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man by Steve Harvey. Uhhhhh…. no. I am good. Thanks though.

5. The Help By Katherine Stockett. yes, yes – 1,ooo times yes! In my opinion, this should have been number one on this list. The book is amazing! Dont miss out on this book!

6. Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenco. I read this earlier on this year and it is a fantastic book. This is one I will return to again and again. Considering my recent eating habits… I should probably turn to it soon.

7. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney. These look great and I have not had the opportunity to read any of them. Have you?

8. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse book 9). I haven’t read any of these yet either. I know! I have heard such good things and once I get one in my hot little hand I am going to read it!

9. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. I honestly dont think I have ever even heard of this one. It looks readable but I have no background info on it and dont recall seeing it in the reviews I have read.

10. Cook Yourself Thin by Lifetime Television. I would buy this for sure. I like these type of cook books and am always looking for healthy recipes.

So… which have you read?

Which would you like to read?

What books are not on this top ten customers choice that you would have put on it?

Winners of Recent Giveaways

Published on November 12, 2009November 12, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Ok… Playing a wee bit of catch up here and I have a few giveaway winners to announce.

So first we need to go to the wonderful Royal Spotlight Giveaway where the delightful Amy of Royal reviews spotlighted me and my blog at her castle! She offered a $10 Gift card on her blog for commentors and I did the same on mine. Here are two royal winners of that giveaway:

Sheere (commented over at Royal reviews)

Pam R (commented here on the spotlight post)

Congratulations to you both! Your gift cards have been purchased and emailed.

The copy of Extraordinary by John Bevere goes to:

Renee Jankord

Congratulations Renee!!! An email has been sent to you and once I have your address the book will be on its way to you!

While I was in Honduras the wonderful Julie from My Own Little Corner Of The World hosted a giveaway for choice out of my prize box. The winner of that is:

Melissa (My World)

Congratulations Melissa! Please click on the box link above and let me know here on this post as well as by email with your address so I may send you what you have chosen! 🙂

And congratulations to all winners tonight! Be sure to watch my giveaway page for current giveaways – I add new ones several times a week so check back often!

Pick Up Lines…

Published on November 12, 2009November 12, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

I have been giving quite a bit of through to first sentences… I love opening sentences to books and many of the great ones stick with lovers of literature for life:

Call me Ishmael. ~ Moby Dick

Marley was dead: to begin with. ~ A Christmas Carol

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. ~ A Tale Of Two Cities

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” ~ The Lovely Bones

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. ~ Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. ~Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone

Do you have any favorite first sentences? What do you think of the first sentence you read in a book, or does that first line not stay with you and you relate more to the first chapter? At what point does the book stick with you or does it vary book to book?

The Magic Warble by Victoria Simcox

Published on November 11, 2009November 11, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

For those who love all things Narnia… along comes the Magic Warble ~ prepare to be amazed… Sheila

Dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals, and an evil queen – all these and more can be found in The Magic Warble, an enchanting tale of adventure and friendship.

Twelve-year-old Kristina Kingsly feels like the most unpopular girl in her school. The kids all tease her, and she never seems to fit in. But when Kristina receives an unusual Christmas gift, she suddenly finds herself magically transported to the land of Bernovem, home of dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals, and the evil Queen Sentiz.

In Bernovem, Kristina not only fits in, she’s honored as “the chosen one” the only one who can release the land from Queen Sentiz’s control. But it’s not as simple as it seems. To save Bernovem, she must place the gift she was given, the famous “Magic Warble” in its final resting place. And she must travel through the deep forest, climb a treacherous mountain, and risk capture by the queen’s “zelbocks” before she reaches her destination. Guided by her new fairy friends, Clover and Looper and by Prince Werrien, a teenage boy, as well as an assortment of other characters, Kristina sets off on a perilous journey that not only tests her strength but her heart.

My Thoughts…

Occasionally a book comes along that seems to be the right book for the time. This was that book for me. In laymans terms, this book hit the spot. I was taken in right away by the magical motion of the book as I swept into the pages and actually felt myself relax into the words. The Narnia feel to this book gave me a sense of thrill, knowing I was about to embark on an adventure.

For a little while I was in another world of fantasy… and I do enjoy a good fantasy read! The pages I swear turned themselves as I followed Kristina to Bernovem to a place that she no longer is the missfit….

Two words: Loved it.

Who Is Victoria Simcox?

Victoria, known as Vicki, was born in 1966, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She has one older sister, Jeannette. When Vicki was 7, she moved with her family to British Columbia. In her early twenties Vicki moved to Western Washington and now resides in Marysville WA. She has been married to her husband Russ, for nineteen years and they have three children; Toby, who is fifteen, Kristina, thirteen, and William, eight. She has home schooled her children for the past nine years, and she also teaches elementary school art. Vicki’s other family members are, a Chihuahua, named Pipsy, two cats, Frodo, and Fritz, and two parakeets, Charlie, and Paulie. She did have a pet rat named Raymond when she started writing The Magic Warble, but sad to say, he has since passed away of old age. Vicki enjoys writing, painting watercolors, watching movies, hanging out with her family, and chauffeuring her kids around to their many activities. Her favorite author is C.S. Lewis, and one of her fondest memories is when she was twelve. She would sit at the kitchen table and read The Chronicles of Narnia to her mother while she cooked dinner. These magical stories were very dear to Vicki and she remembers wishing, If only I could go to Narnia like Lucy and Susan. Vicki hopes that maybe, she can touch someone with her story in a similar way.

I received my review copy from Dorothy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion

Its Tuesday, Where Are You?

Published on November 11, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

This is hosted by An Adventure in Reading

I just witnessed a murder…. and I am still reeling from it… the girls name was Salmon. Yes, like the fish. Oh but that was her last name. her first name was Susie. Was.

It is December 6, 1973. I just witnessed a murder. And I know who did it.

~ The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

(audio I started on my drive to book club last night)

Morning Meanderings…

Published on November 11, 2009November 11, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Morning all! Coffee Cup and I are slowly settling back into a routine. I wake up at about 6:15 am and get the coffee going. Pretty much pre – anything else…. I pop some lotion on my face, this morning we are going with the full out face mask to hopefully replenish the damage I did last week in the sun, and then open up my lap top…. which to me feels like opening a treasure box on an Indiana Jones Adventure.

Its funny to think that this routine started in June of 2009 when I discovered book blogging. 5 months later – I still love it so much!

Yesterday afternoon I was excited to discover I won a book over at With A Good Book. The book is called Fablehaven and I love love love the look of this book! Seriously look at this cover:

This is going to be their November book discussion book at With a Good Book. I participated in their October discussion on a Book Thief and that entered me in this giveaway. Super way cool and made my day!

Today I have a book review popping up in a couple hours and I have some giveaways to clear up later today so take time to enter while you can! I am also reminded that I need to plan another Word Shaker book club read…. hmmmmmm….