Contest Giveaway:Testimony by Anita Shreve

It's that time again!I have 2 copies of "Testimony" by Anita Shreve to giveaway
here are the contest rules:
1.You must be a follower of this blog

2.Open to US and Canada residents only

3. Please leave your email in the comment section of this post by
October 5th(before midnight).   Please dont leave comments in the
wrong post it won't count.  So thanks for playing and have a good weekend!

Congradulations We have two winners of Blind Man's Alley!

Congradulations Emma and nfmgirl!

Please email your address within the next 48 hours to
clsherrard(dot)bookaddict(at)gmail(dot)com.
thanks for playing!

Living with confidence in a Chaotic World by Dr.David Jermiah

Hello everyone stopping by from the www.crazy-for-books.com book hop!  I believe our question for this Friday is do you wait until  you have finished the book to write the review?Most of the time since I mostly read fiction,I usually wait until I've finished simply becauseif the ending doesn't make sense to me
my opinon of the book will change at this point.  How ever for this particular review since it was nonfiction
and alot of research went into this,I had to take notes as I was reading because I didn't want to forget a point
I'd like to make. For example in Chapter 3 I noticed he took one word from President Obama's inaugural
speech to make his case that Atheist were being embraced in this country.  I noticed that everyone else had
atleast a paragraph taken from there interviews etc....  I am very leary of this because either you are going to represent the facts equally or you're not.  On page 46 in reference to our country he says ,
"We've torn down integrity
We've torn down purity
We've torn down honesty
We've torn down respect
We've torn down national pride
We've torn down ideals
We've torn down  sense of shame
We've torn down aspiration
We've torn down everything we began building at the birth of our nation."

I believe everyone is entitled to their opinon,but in this format you need to back this up with facts,especially
if you are going to criticize the moral values of a whole nation! Here's another thing I had a beef with
on page 57 he says"The Cleavers,the Brady Bunch and the Huxtables no longer mirror our complex families."

Hello when were these families ever a "mirror" image of a real life family?  I have yet to meet the woman who
was able to cook and clean in dressy clothes, pearls and high heels.   Where is this couple with all these
stepkids,that doesn't have issues with extended family members or only have problems that can easily be
solved in 20 minutes?  How can a husband who is a doctor and a wife who happens to be a lawyer have all
that free time to be with all 5 kids and still run successful practices?  Even if these families were real none of
them went to church(that I can recall).  The point I am taking so long to get to is this:  Why not use a real
life godly example from the past to show how much the family structure has changed instead of make believe
people ?  The other reason I am spending more time on these points is because there is a team of people
who check these facts so I think I am justifed in expecting facts to go with all statements made.

I did learn alot when it comes to Bible scriptures.He is an awesome gifted teacher of the word of God
because he is organized and structured.  There is nothing haphazard about this guy.  The book asks the following questions:

• How can we weather the storm with a calm heart?
• What does it truly mean  to "wait on the Lord"?
• What is Jesus saying to our chaotic world today?
• How on earth did we get in this mess?
• Can we take a broken world and rebuild it into something fruitful?

With the exception of the "how on earth did we get in this mess?" question, I feel like he did
an excellent job of answering these question.  I would like to take this time to thank Thomas Nelson Publishing(Booksneeze) for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.  I do not get paid to do these reviews.  Don't forget to check out my giveaway below this post.  As soon as my button is made I will
bring back the linky lists so stay tuned.

Contest Giveaway :2 copies of Blind Man's Alley By Justin Peacock

2 Lucky winners will win a copy  so here are the rules:

1.You must be a follower to win
2.U.S Residents only
3.Leave your email in the comment section of this post.
4.  If you are randomly choosen as a winner (in this case winners) please
respond within 48 hours. If you dont respond within that time period
I will have to select someone else who made the deadline.

Contest September  28th at midnight

Bending Toward the Sun Review and winner

You may know Leslie Gilbert-Lurie as the producer of Cheers,Family Ties,Saved by the Bell, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air but did you know that her mother is a Holocaust Survivor? How does the Holocaust affect future generations?  What do you do when people deny that the Holocaust even happened?.  In this memoir

someone made the nightmare palatable.  It's always heart rending to witness someone else's pain brought on

by Nazi Germany in the 1940's.   What makes this book interesting  is that we get to hear the mother 's perspective and the daughter's.  I feel that we can all learn from this story.  By not letting people forget is the best thing to do silence the naysayers who are depraved enough to suggest it didn't happen.  I gave this book 5 out

of 5 stars.  I would like to take this time to thank Fsb media for giving me the opportunity to review this book.  I really felt like I learned alot. Congradulations Inspired Kathy you won please email me your address at
clsherrard(dot)bookaddict(at)gmail(dot)com

Contest Giveaway:Bending Towards the Sun by Leslie Gilbert Lurie

One lucky winner will win a free copy of Bending Toward the Sun
Here are the contest rules:
1)You must be a follower of this blog

2)US residents  only
3)Post your email address in the comment sections by September 19th(no later than midnight)
and I will annouce the winner that Monday.  If you do not respond in 48 hours I will have
to pick another winner from this comment section(Only the people who left comments before midnight 9/19/10).Thanks for being patient with me and stay tuned because I will be celebrating my 1 year blogerversary next Month so I am planning something real special

Great Parents/Lousy Lovers By Dr. Gary Smalley and Ted Cunnigham

  This is a relationship book that promises to
a) Enjoy your spouse again

b)Bring peace and balance  to your life.

I really didn't see how any of this was going to happen in the first four chapters.   Allow me to clarify my point of view.  Each chapter begins with 'You might be a Great Parent ,Lousy Lover if.....' and at the end of each chapter it instruscts you to go to www.greatparentslousylovers.com to view the  video podcast,answer the
questions listed at the end and suggest a different type of date.  I realize technology has given us some great advances,but if I have to go to a website to get the full benefit of a book I am a little skeptical about the
effectiveness of said book.The other thing that frustrates me with this book is  only taking a verse out of the
Chapter of the Bible.  I feel it would be more benefical if they would include the verse before and after.
For example: In chapter 5  they go to the book of Eccl.Chapter 1:4"Generations come and generations go
but the earth remains forever" This was used to describe the way life can be a grind sometime,and how God
didn't give your spouse to be a part of the grind but to help you through it.(Well duh!)  I think you need
a degree in theology to know that,but I was hoping to learn something new or give me a new pespective which it didn't.  Here is a partial list of the chapters I thought were the most helpful:

Chapter 7: Building Margins
Chapter 12: Your  Marriage Journey
Chapter15: Laugh More
Chapter16: Touch  Often
Chapter 17:Great Lovers

My overall impression is that this book will probably wont do any more  or less than any other book on relationships.  I give it 3 out of 5 stars.  I would like to also thank Tyndale for allowing me the opportunity to
review this book and no I dont get paid to write these reviews.I am a Amazon Associate

Alibi by Terri Woods

 I am very frustrated and disappointed with this novel.  I am frustrated because the premise of this story has alot of potential.
The story takes place in the 198o's when this thug ,called Nard, decides he wants to rob big time
drug dealer Simon Shuller in Philadelphia.  Things go horribly wrong ,as they are prone to do when
you decide to make your money illegally. What is supposed to be a simple robbery morphs into homicide.
enter Daisy Fogglethorp, who is a stripper that is willing to provide the alibi Nard need for the right price.
Even though we begin this story with the robbery , We actually spent way to much time with Daisy's character.   There was absolutely no background  for Nard or the logic behind trying to pull off this robbery
in the first place.  Although we spent an inordinate amount of time on the seedy aspects of Daisy's job.  The
only person that got any background info was Daisy's mother who wasn't even in the story long enough to
justify doing that.  I didn't get much of anything from Daisy's childhood.  She literally was a baby then a couple of pages later she's an adult!Two things you have to have ,in order for me to want to read about a fictional
character is :
a) some qualities that make him or her relatable
b)give me some insight as to what makes them do what they do.
I didn't get that here.  I felt like the author was relying heavily on "shock" value instead of  good imagery,sound plot development etcc... . I can only give this book 1 star out of 5 stars which means if you
see this book at the library don't check it out!
Ftc disclosure:  I would like to thank the Hatchett Book group for allowing me  the opportunity to review
this book.  I do not recieve money in exchange for the book review.