Welcome to the blog tour for Susan May Warren’s The Shadow of Your Smile!
Sometimes love requires a little forgetting … Come back to Deep Haven and find out what’s been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you’re new to the Deep Haven series – this is the perfect book to start with – each book in the series is a stand alone story.
Note: I am not finished with the book yet, so stop back next week for my full review.
About the book:
A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage.
After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?
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 ofwww.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.
Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.
One grand prize winner will receive:
A $200 Visa Gift Card(Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)
[amazon_link id="1616263466" target="_blank" ]Too Blessed to be Stressed: Inspiration for Climbing Out of Life’s Stress-Pool[/amazon_link]
by Debora M. Coty
Publication Date: August 1, 2011
Barbour Books
Source: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my participation in Litfuse Publicity Group’s Virtual Blog Tour. This did not influence my thoughts about the book.
“Too Blessed to be Stressed” is an inspirational book for us ladies who are stuck in life’s rut. Filled with humorous anecdotes and witty charm, Deb Coty gives us advice from God’s Word and some simple, yet practical tools to help us become less stressed. This short book is divided into four sections, Time Management, Develop a Sense of Humor, Cultivate Relationships, and Focus on Faith. Each section has 10 mini-chapters of about 3-5 pages with stories, tips, advice, Bible verses, and reflection questions for you to dig a bit deeper into your own life. Coty will help you understand that you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to do everything. And dust really is okay (God created it!).
The author has so many great insights throughout this book. I will relay one here, but you should just get the book so you can read them all yourself!
Peace is acquired by intentionally handing our heavenly Father our daily annoyances, dilemmas, and burdens one by one, minute by minute. By giving up the steering wheel. By opening that station wagon door of trust and climbing in. By making the choice to relax in the backseat, enjoy the journey, and let Papa drive. (p. 216)
Don’t you love the word picture she paints? Oh how our lives would be if we could give our cares to God every minute of every day! I know it’s not that easy – almost impossible really, but God is at the ready, willing to take those burdens for us. We just have to let him have the driver’s seat!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it for any woman!
Be sure to enter Deb Coty’s “Too Blessed to be Stressed” Kindle Giveaway!
(Enter 8/8 – 8/25!)
The Life Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do-It-All World Authors: Shaunti Feldhahn & Robert Lewis Genre: Christian, Non-Fiction Publication Date: January 1, 2011 Publisher: B&H Books ISBN: 978-1433671128 Page Count: 217 Source: I received a free copy of this book to review for the Litfuse Publicity Group Blog Tour. This did not influence my opinion of the book.
About The Life Ready Woman:
Are you a ‘Doing it all’ or ‘Do what matters’ woman?
Whether a stay at home; or working mom, an airplane-hopping executive, an empty-nester caring for multiple generations or a single juggling high demands of career and personal life, today’s fast-paced modern world leaves women gasping for balance. We as modern Christian women want to look to the Bible for guidance on how to manage our lives — but because the world of women looks so different today than it did when the Bible was written, it is hard to find chapter and verse that seems to apply to our situation today.
Thankfully, God has given us exactly that timeless, unchanging guidance for how to find peace, clarity, and God’s best for our lives once we know where to look! The Life Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do-It-All World, reveals a profound biblical roadmap for how each of us can find the abundant life we are longing for, rather than the stressful, torn, how-do-I-balance-it-all life we often feel like we are trying to keep up with today. Actually being a LifeReady Woman means that you are clear about your life, bold in your faith, and able to find God’s best for you, and the end result will be that you not only survive but thrive in our do-it-all world.
God has given every wonderfully unique woman different skills and abilities, different desires, and different temperaments — and every woman around the planet and through the ages is certainly living in different circumstances. But no matter what a woman’s life looks like, the Bible says that God has an individual mission and plan that He’s carefully designed for each of us. And He wants us to find it. Starting January 2011, The Life Ready Woman and the Life Ready Woman Video Series will help every wonderfully unique woman to thrive as she identifies and courageously pursues God’s unique design and callings for her. LifeReady Woman puts you on a roadmap to make decisions that will lead to relief, delight, and fulfillment instead of regret.
My Thoughts:
This book provides a clear road-map for every woman who is trying to do it all – and feeling like she can’t; feeling like she is a failure for not being able to do everything and please everyone. That’s what we want to do as women, isn’t it? We want to be all and do all. But, what happens when we fail? We beat ourselves up and think we aren’t good enough.
So, what exactly is a Life Ready Woman? She is a woman who knows who she is in God’s eyes and follows His calling for her life. She doesn’t try to do impress anyone other than her Creator. Whether He has called her to be a world traveler, a jet-setting corporate executive, a stay-at-home mom, or a single, unmarried woman, a Life Ready Woman embraces her calling and lives life to its full, because she knows who she is called to be.
But the bigger question is, in my mind, how do we know who God has called us to be? Isn’t this one of life’s greatest questions? In the first half of the book, the authors explore three types of callings, that they declare are the biblical road map to being a Life Ready Woman: 1. Core Callings – Our callings as humans designed in God’s image 2. Feminine Callings – Our callings as women 3. Personal Callings – Our callings as individuals
I found these sections to be a very worthwhile read. They really made me think about my life and design as a human being first (Core Calling), then as a woman (Feminine Calling), and finally as a unique individual (Personal Calling). Have you ever thought about why you are in the body you are in? God made you female for a reason! There are some really enlightening and thought-provoking topics in this section centered around the three callings. I am looking forward to going back and re-reading these sections and soaking them in.
In the second half of the book, I was actually tempted to skip through parts of it, because I didn’t feel like it pertained to me. I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed out on some very valuable information. The authors explore how we are to get the best out of each season of our life (i.e. single, single but engaged, newly married, married with preschoolers, married with grade-schoolers, married empty-nester, late-in-life widow, glorified saint) and the steps we should take during each season in order to live out our biblical road map.
This book is definitely worth the time spent reading it. There is a lot of information to digest and I think I need to go back and re-read it again to get a more full understanding of all the material presented by the authors. There is one tiny thing that annoyed me in this book, though. Since there are two authors and the book is written in the first person, I found the narrative presentation to be very clumsy. When Shaunti would be writing, her section would start something like: ”When I (Shaunti) …” or “I (Shaunti)…” When Robert would be writing a specific part, the section would start in a similar fashion: ”I (Robert)…” or “This happened when I (Robert)…” It got incredibly annoying to read a book in this fashion. I think it could have been presented in a different way, such as in the third person.
In any case, I would recommend this book to any woman who is trying to do-it-all and feeling like she is barely keeping her head above water. This book will definitely put your life back into perspective and make you remember that you are God’s child and He has plans for your life that are greater than any plans you could ever dream of!
Final Rating:
The Life Ready Woman Video:
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About Shaunti Feldhahn:
Shaunti Feldhahn is a former Wall Street analyst, best-selling author of the book For Women Only, national speaker, and regular commentator in the media. She has been featured on The Today Show, PBS, TNT and Fox News- to name a few. You can learn more about her many activities by visiting her website Shaunti.com or get some great mom advice from her at MomLifeToday.com. She and her husband live with their two young children in Atlanta, Georgia and enjoy every minute of living at warp speed.
About MomLife Today:
At MomLife Today you will enjoy community with real moms experiencing every age and every stage of MomLife—right alongside you.
Moms need friends we can walk through life with, but more importantly we need friends who will encourage us and equip us in our role as moms in an honest and transparent way … and that’s just what you’ll find by becoming part of our MomLife Today community! We believe that every MOMent counts!
We admit it, being a mom 24/7 is not easy. Rather than lament the role of motherhood, however, we choose to embrace that role and learn from each other how to make it through each day with the right attitude. Come share the joys, sorrows, insanity, and special moments of motherhood with us as we live it and candidly write about it…we’ll have lots of fun along the way! Join us, and do tell… What’s happening in your MomLife Today? www.momlifetoday.com
About The Weekend To Remember Get-Away Giveaway:
In celebration of Shaunti Feldhahn’s Life Ready Woman, MomLife Today is giving away 2 Weekend To Remember Gift Packs and much more!
Not only, is MomLife Today helping promote Life Ready Woman, but they are thrilled to announce that Shaunti will be joining MomLife Today as a regular contributor!!!
Weekend To Remember Get-Aways offer marriage-changing principles that you can take home and apply to your daily lives to strengthen your marriage. Whether you are newly engaged or have been married for 50 years, you will find value in the tools provided at the getaway.
Don’t miss this opportunity to receive a conference registration for you and your spouse … and more! MomLife Today will be randomly selecting NINE lucky recipients to receive one of these great gifts:
2 Weekend To Remember Get Away conference registrations for two. $259 value each pair (Two couples will receive this.)
5 The Life Ready Woman books. (Book will go to 5 people.)
To enter click one of the icons below then tell your friends. Winner will be announced on March 2nd on the MomLife Today website.
MomLife Today provides encouragement, advice and resources to help YOU with your daily Momlife! Because…every MOMent counts!
Giveaway: Thanks to the publisher, I have 1 copy of LIFE READY WOMAN to give away to a lucky USA blog reader. The giveaway will end March 8, 2011 and one winner will be selected from all eligible entries. The selected winner will have 48 hours to respond to my notification e-mail with his/her full name and mailing address or be disqualified and another winner selected. I will ship the book directly to the winner. Good luck!
Blog Tour Schedule:
Check out the rest of the Life Ready Woman Blog Tour stops!
Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food Author: Lysa Terkeurst Genre: Christian, Non-Fiction, Bible Study Publication Date: December 14, 2010 Publisher: Zondervan ISBN: 978-0310293262 Page Count: 218 Source: I received a free copy of this book and DVD from the publisher for an honest review. This did not influence my opinion of either the book or DVD.
About the book: Just because a woman finally fits into her skinny jeans doesn’t mean she’s won her battle with food. Too often, women overlook the spiritual component to their physical struggle with healthy eating. Made to Crave taps into the desires God gave you to consume food without letting food consume you!
Made to Crave is the missing link between a woman’s desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen. The reality is we were made to crave. Craving isn’t a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in physical pleasures instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction. If you are struggling with unhealthy eating habits, you can break the “I’ll start again Monday” cycle, and start feeling good about yourself today. Learn to stop beating yourself up over the numbers on the scale. Discover that your weight loss struggle isn’t a curse but rather a blessing in the making, and replace justifications that lead to diet failure with empowering go-to scripts that lead to victory. You can reach your healthy weight goal – and grow closer to God in the process. This is not a how-to book. This is not the latest and greatest dieting plan. This book is the necessary companion for you to use alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan you choose. This is a book and Bible study to help you find the “want to” in making healthy lifestyle choices. 224 pages. Companion Bible study DVD set also available. http://madetocrave.org/purchase-resources/
About the DVD series: If you want to maximize your experience and bring these teachings to life in a way you’ll never forget, you’ll want to order the full set of resources. Adding the DVD teaching series and the workbook will motivate you to get healthy without feeling deprived, lose the weight in a permanent way, and find the peace your body, mind and soul desires. This DVD study can be done in a group or by yourself.
My Thoughts: The first thing that hit me about this book is the way Lysa Terkeurst defines what the book IS and what it IS NOT. Made to Crave is NOT a “how-to” book. You will NOT find meal plans, exercise routines, or nutritional information in this book. There is a local bookstore near you chock full of books like that. Made to Crave IS a book about finding your “want-to”. Through sound biblical teachings, Lysa explores our cravings for food and what fuels them and ways that we can combat those urges when they strike – by turning to God.
Some of you may be reading this and saying to yourself, “Yeah, right!” Believe me, I thought so, too! Until I read this book, I never really thought about the connection between food and God. The two just never connected for me. I mean, why should God care about what I eat? Trust me – Lysa explores all of these issues, with humor and wit, in both the book and DVD sessions that will make you rethink your entire relationship with food. Check out this powerful statement from Terkeurst (page 14):
In addition to helping you find the desire to conquer your unhealthy craving, [this book} also holds the key to something very significant for most of us women – spiritual malnutrition. We feel overweight physically but underweight spiritually. Tying these two things together is the first step on one of the most significant journeys you’ll ever take with God.
Wow! I must have read that a handful of times. This is such an important message for so many women. Lysa goes on to say (p. 20-21):
Yes, we were made to crave – long for, want greatly, desire eagerly, and beg for – God. Only God. But Satan wants to do everything possible to replace our craving for God with something else.
What do you crave more than you crave God?
The book can be read on its own or I highly recommend doing the 6-week Bible Study. At the end of each chapter there are Personal Reflection questions to help you go deeper into the book and to have you think about your own experience with food. At the end of the book, there are two sections that I want to highlight. One is called “Verses By Chapter”; the second is titled “Healthy Eating Go-To Scripts”. “Verses by Chapter” lists all of the scriptural references that Lysa mentions during each chapter, in one handy location. So, if you can’t remember where you saw a specific Bible verse, check out this section in the back for a quick reference to find what you are looking for. The “Healthy Eating Go-To Scripts” section offer you scripture to turn to when you are tempted or are feeling week. This is a great place to turn for an extra dose of encouragement!
The DVD study is set up in a similar way to the book. There are 6 sessions
plus 1 bonus session with the opportunity for reflection at the end of the session (a Participant’s Guide is included with the DVD for further study). This was my first experience with a DVD Bible Study and I have to say that I will be looking for many more in the future. I got a lot out of the book itself, but actually listening to Lysa speak, it was a different experience and it reinforced the material that I was reading. The DVD is a powerful accompanying tool to use in your individual or small group Bible Study. I would definitely recommend it in conjunction with the Made to Crave book.
Overall Opinion: I would highly recommend this study as an additional tool to use in your healthy lifestyle journey. Don’t forget to consult a doctor before starting any nutritional or exercise regimen.
About Lysa: Lysa TerKeurst is an author and speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has led thousands to make their walk with God an invigorating journey.
Lysa wrote the book Made to Crave from the perspective of a woman who has never craved a carrot stick in her whole life. Having struggled with her weight her whole adult life, Lysa knows what it feels like to be in the vicious cycle of gaining and losing, but never feeling at peace in her struggle. Everything changed when Lysa decided to have her deepest desire met by God not food. Now, armed with the spiritual motivation she gained in her own journey, she is inspiring others to find lasting victory.
As a nationally known speaker, Lysa has been passionately teaching women God’s truths for years. Lysa’s personal adventures of following God led to appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, USA Today newspaper, Woman’s Day magazine, and Focus on the Family radio.
Today, Lysa and her ministry team at Proverbs 31 Ministries encourage more than 375,000 women through their daily online devotional. In addition, she co-hosts a 1-minute inspirational radio program aired on more than 1,200 stations around the world. Plus, she touches hearts through their monthly magazine, P31 Woman. Lysa’s blog averages over 70,000 avid readers per month. She is the award-winning author of 14 books, including her newest releases, Made to Crave and Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl. Other noteworthy books include What Happens When Woman Say Yes to God, What Happens When Women Walk in Faith, Capture His Heart, and Capture Her Heart. Visit Lysa’s website for more info and to visit her blog! http://lysaterkeurst.com
Blog Tour Schedule: Visit other stops in the Blog Tour!
, national speaker, and regular commentator in the media. She has been featured on The Today Show, PBS, TNT and Fox News- to name a few. You can learn more about her many activities by visiting her website Shaunti.com or get some great mom advice from her at MomLifeToday.com. She and her husband live with their two young children in Atlanta, Georgia and enjoy every minute of living at warp speed.
, MomLife Today is giving away 2 Weekend To Remember Gift Packs and much more!
