Month: October 2021

I am feeling relieved October 04, 2021

/ For the Love of Books / Leave a comment

It’s true. And unexpected. I would have done it long ago if I’d known it would make this big a difference in my anxiety levels.

By now, many of you have read my coming out in the open post. It can be found here if you’ve not read it. Basically it’s purpose was to admit that I am much older than pretty much all of my readers. I don’t feel like I’m older but pictures don’t lie.

I don’t really know what people think about my admission as there’s not been enough reaction to give me any hints. I’m OK with that though. I’ll just keep on being me, as authentically as I can, and see what happens. If I manage to write some things people like to read maybe they will forget to care about age.

One thing I’ve long understood, it’s easier to be real if you don’t care what people think. On some levels I care more than is healthy, on other levels I care very little. That’s how I made it through high school. Marching to the beat of my own drum, not worried if I was the only one.

Anyway, I feel more relaxed now that my secret is out there.

This is especially good since I have been thinking about possible new directions this blog could take in the near future. I love finding good deals and blogging about books but it seems to be getting a little tired, sticking to the same theme almost exclusively. Not everyone has the appetite for books that I do and their to-be-read pile fills up very quickly leaving them with little reason to come back.

The This and That posts have been attracting the most attention, I’m finding.

We will see how the future looks depending on the direction inspiration takes it.

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In the meantime, there were book suggestions today but I rejected them all. Mostly because we’ve seen them before, but also because I didn’t love them all that much. I prefer telling you about great stories if I can.

I will mention the one just finished tonight.

It’s hard to know sometimes, when we see the promotional blurb, whether it will be a bona fide story or something sappy. This story was anything but sappy. It was well written, well developed, and held my interest – beginning to end. I loved this book.

Marrying Mandy (Brides of Clearwater Book 1) 

A marriage of convenience might be crazy…or an answer to both of their prayers.

Mandy Hudson swore she’d never marry. Abandoned by her parents and raised by her grandparents, she has a hard time trusting that real love will last. When her grandmother dies, Mandy is shocked to discover a stipulation in the will. Considering marriage to her best friend may be the only way to keep her family’s beloved bed-and-breakfast.

The loss of his job threatens Preston Yarrow’s shaky financial stability. Besides, he can’t watch his best friend give up the only real home she’s ever known. Frustrated by Mandy’s stubborn refusal to let him help, he’s certain they are stronger together than they are apart.

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It’s still FREE if you are interested.

It will be exciting to see what is going to happen next. I feel like there is change coming but I have no idea what it will look like.

It will be a surprise.

In the meantime, keep reading.

Reading changes us, helps us grow.

Embrace it, learn to love it.

Read books that bring out the best in you and make you a better person.

That’s what I do and I like who I am becoming.

Join me in the march.

I’m outing myself.

/ For the Love of Books / 4 Comments

The reason I haven’t done it sooner, preferring anonymity, is because I thought you wouldn’t like me anymore if you knew the truth.

At this point I don’t think it will be much of a surprise to anyone, as I’ve been leaving lots of hints. I’m sure you may have already guessed anyway.

I don’t know why, but age has never really meant a whole lot to me when it comes to relating to people. I’m attracted to who they are and what they are all about. Do we share common interests? Do we enjoy talking to each other?

Currently, the person I relate to best in the company I work for is the young thirty-and-a-bit gal on my team. We each have our part to play in the process we are responsible for and we support one other in whatever way is needed. We enjoy hanging out, especially if it involves ice cream.

You may suspect I am past retirement age and you would be right. I have no plans to quit anytime soon and some of my clients are counting on it. lol

I’m not taking a job away from a younger person. So far we haven’t found anyone who wants it, and I think it’s funny. It’s true, I might not want it either if I were new to it today. I’ve grown into the job as it’s changed hugely over the last nine years and it would be much a bigger challenge now, having to start from scratch.

On the other hand, challenges and learning new things keeps a person young.

Talking about young, there’s a meme out right now that makes me laugh, and it fits me perfectly.

It says: my mind thinks I’m 35. My body tells my mind it’s an idiot.

It’s easy to forget how old I am until I pass a mirror or try to attack the garden like I did a few years ago.

One thing is sure about getting old; it’s going to happen to everyone. I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to be the age I am, not everyone makes it this far.

I’m grateful I can still think like I’m 35 and some days I can even behave like it. Not everyone has the health to do it.

I’m grateful that I see people, not age. I love hanging out with the teenagers in my family, well not just my family, other people’s too. Not everyone does, but we won’t talk about them. I feel blessed.

I feel blessed by the smiles on our faces. We haven’t seen much of each other through the years, with their family living in China and all. These two are home now and we are going to have a good time.

These guys take after my brothers in the height department.

We took this picture at their father’s request. He wanted to see us together, missing us all.

It’s not easy letting your kids go.

We promise to do a better job of keeping them in the loop.

Josh, in the red shirt, likes to cook and he knows how to get great treats when he wants them. Zach, the tall one, is not used to baked goods as they are uncommon in China. Ingredients are not easy to find. This will be an adventure for him.

Not sure what he was thinking… probably, go way
By the looks of this it must have turned out OK

Free and bargain books October 02, 2021 Part two

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I mentioned this Lori Wick book in my last post and promised to share it with you. Here it is.

Leave a Candle Burning (Tucker Mills Trilogy Book 3)

Lori Wick’s bestselling Tucker Mills trilogy concludes with Leave a Candle Burning about a widowed physician, Dannan MacKay, who creates a new life for his daughter but longs for the faith to love again.

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The blurb for this book is pretty short and does not reveal much of anything.

I guess I’ll just have to read it to find out what this story is all about. At least I know this author and her writing, I can trust this will be another good one.

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BookRunes has a FREE suggestion for us. It’s a mystery, just what I was hoping for, to offset the long list of romance we have had going on lately. I’ve read this author but have not read this book.

Murder at Black Lake

Film actress Jamie Riedel was barely a teenager when, while on a camping trip, she witnessed the brutal murder of her father. Fourteen years later, Jamie returns to Jackson Ridge to settle up the estate of her estranged mother. Soon after her arrival, a note appears on her door: ‘I saw you in the woods today.’ Now Jamie is questioning if the right man was sent to prison for her father’s murder.

Helping her to answer that question is childhood friend, Deputy Chief Gage Hansen. He’s more than willing to find the truth that will finally bring Jamie peace in her life, but at what cost? A nasty divorce from his cheating wife has made Gage gun-shy when it comes to relationships, especially with beautiful women who use their feminine wiles to get what they want in life. His defenses start to crumble once he learns that most of the stories he’s read about the starlet are lies, and that Jamie is basically the same girl he had a secret crush on when they were best friends. They live in two separate worlds, though, and Gage knows he could never fit into her celebrity lifestyle.

When it becomes apparent that someone in Jackson Ridge will go to any lengths to get rid of Jamie, the pair risks everything to solve the fourteen-year mystery that’s haunted the town.

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For current reads I have two, as of a few minutes ago. The collection I’ve been caught up in for the last few days is down to the last book and a change was needed, so I started (barely) a new one.

Oops, I didn’t notice the new read is also a collection. I was looking for a single read or two to make the list decrease a little faster. This 4-in-1 business just doesn’t cut it, especially two in a row.

Maybe I’ll read this mystery next instead.

I will get back to the other two eventually, promise.

Happy Reading y’all

Bargain books October 02, 2021

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A few years ago, back when I was still borrowing library books, I kept an eye out for all things Lori Wick. After a while I’d read most everything of hers and gradually found myself side-tracked by a multitude of emerging new authors. Lately Lori has been coming back into view for me.

This time three books caught my eye.

Cassidy (Big Sky Dreams Book 1) 

Token Creek, Montana Territory, 1880—Cassidy Norton is a fine seamstress who makes her living sewing for others. Amid the bustle of a busy frontier town, her life is rich. What time her business doesn’t take, her friends and church family fill. But Cassidy hasn’t always lived in Token Creek, and few people know her full story. So she struggles with a nagging unsettledness in her heart.

Cassidy’s friend Meg is married to a rancher and has a baby, something Cassidy wants for herself. But that would mean revealing the details of her life. Will Cassidy find the strength to take that risk?

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Sabrina (Big Sky Dreams Book 2) 

Sabrina Matthews, a young prostitute in the rough frontier city of Denver, is befriended by a police officer and his wife. Because of their kindness, she listens to what they have to say about Jesus and believes in Him.

Sabrina stays with Danny and Callie until she’s ready to make a fresh start in a new town. She boards the train for the long trip to Token Creek in Montana Territory, where she meets Jeanette Fulbright and is befriended by the church family and many of the townsfolk there.

All is well until she finds herself falling for Pastor Rylan Jarvik, who has begun to care for her as well. Will she be able to tell him about her past? How will Rylan respond? 

A moving novel about past mistakes and forgiveness—both from God and people.

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Jessie (Big Sky Dreams Book 3)

Jessie is book three in bestselling author Lori Wick’s popular new Big Sky Dreams series (more than 215,000 copies sold). Readers will be transported to the vast landscape of Montana Territory in the late 1800s where they meet Jessie Wheeler, whose husband, Seth, abandoned her before their second child was born. As a single mom and the sole proprietor of Token Creek’s general store, Jessie lives day to day with her hands full and her heart broken.

When Seth suddenly returns to town claiming he’s a man changed by faith, Jessie is reluctant to trust him or God with her family’s future. But Seth sets out to prove his commitment and his love. This is a timeless story of the transforming power of God’s love and forgiveness.

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At the last minute another one of Lori’s books showed up. It’s in different series and I’m going to keep it for the next post. Be watching for it.

In the meantime…

I would love to have written something in my own words about each of these books but since I haven’t read them yet …

It’s a dilemma.

I’m sure you forgive me.

Happy Reading!

Free books October 01, 2021

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BookRunes has a FREE suggestion. Two things: I’ve not noticed this author before, her subject is dark and I can relate. I haven’t read the specifics yet but…

I’m impressed with her writing skills, in the few pages I’ve read, and I’m hoping it’s a sign of good things to come.

A Vessel of Mercy

An impossible marriage. An unforgivable act. A story of redemption testing the bounds of forgiveness and the depths of God’s grace.

1842, New York. Abigail Wyndham, daughter of English nobleman turned investor, Sir Rathburn, has crossed the ocean to be reunited with her father. As she comes of age, however, she discovers she is only a pawn in her father’s schemes, fated to secure a business deal and preserve the family reputation.

Charles Henderson appears to have it all: a thriving shipping company and the hand of the prized Lady Abigail Wyndham. But he is a broken man who commits the unspeakable—an act that threatens to ruin all he has built and puts Abby’s very life—and faith—at risk. In a prison of his own making, Charles grapples between guilt and God’s grace. Can a sinful, self-seeking man ever believe in the hope Abby so desperately wants him to receive? Or will scandal send him to the gallows?

In this, the first of her Vessels Christian fiction series, author B. Taylor Lewis introduces a female heroine who defies the stifling conventions of her status and time.

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1531 Entertainment has a Free suggestion. A Mystery.

Effective Immediately (The Agency Files Book 3) 

As a security agent for The Agency, his career creates situations that redefine danger. As a Christian, he sleeps well, knowing that he serves his “neighbors” with the protection he and The Agency offers.

But when an assignment ends badly before it has a chance to begin, Keith questions everything—his job, his judgment, and even his faith. Feeling like a failure, he resigns and turns to his would-be girlfriend, Erika, for emotional support and advice.

Contrary to everything she’s ever felt or thought, Erika finds herself arguing in favor of a job she once didn’t understand, supporting a faith she doesn’t share, and reconciling the two in ways she never imagined possible.

Keith’s quest to piece together the remnants of his shattered faith and to redeem himself in the eyes of a friend puts him in more danger than he realizes. As a result, both he and Erika must make decisions that could change the courses of their lives.

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