A Wreath of Snow
By Liz Curtis Higgs
Publisher:WaterBrook Press
Pub. Date: October 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1400072170
ASIN: B007SYQ4K6
Pages: 215

Review: 

Several years ago, I read Thorn in My Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs, mainly because it was set in Scotland where my ancestors are from. When I saw A Wreath of Snow was up for review on Blogging for Books from WaterBrook Press, I eagerly signed it to review it in exchange for an honest review. With Christmas approaching, I was definitely in the mood for a good Christmas story.

Set in 1894, twenty-six-year-old Margaret Campbell (or as everyone calls her, Meg) dreaded going back home to Stirling, Scotland to visit her family for the holidays. Nearly twelve years ago, her younger brother, Alan, was injured in a curling accident, crippling him for life. Over the years, her parents waited on him hand and foot, giving him anything he wanted. Alan has grown to be a bitter person with a short temper, one that Meg would like to avoid.

Meg has a good life as a school teacher in Edinburgh and she resides in her late aunt's house, which she inherited. She is more than eager to return to her home on Christmas Eve, but Mother Nature may have other plans for her as the falling snow is delaying her train ride home. Her fate collides with a handsome newspaperman from Glasgow named Gordon Shaw.

Courting Cate
By Leslie Gould
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0764210310
ASIN: B008B9HIMA
Pub. Date: November 1, 2012
Pages: 352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/eSNfb
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/LGould

Review: 

In this Amish version of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Cate Miller is not your typical Amish woman as she would rather spend her time working side by side with her father or reading a good book than spend her time inside a house cleaning and cooking. She has scared away all of the single men in Paradise, Pennsylvania with her sharp tongue and stubborn attitude.

Her younger sister, Betsy, is ready to start courting, but their father will not allow it. He makes a rule that Cate must begin courting first since she is the eldest daughter. This causes a big problem because Cate has no intention of ever marring. Despite the girls' objections, their father has made his decision final.

Cate has no other choice, but to find a respectable husband, which is a little hard considering she has told off every bachelor in the county. Luckily, Pete Treger arrives in town, but just like all other bachelors, he only has eyes for the stunning Betsy. When he realizes that the other men are after Betsy too, he tries his luck with Cate.

Paranormal Romance is an interesting mix. Love and the power of the unusual, can create fantastic situations. Love being one of the most intense and primal emotions we have, confronted with the unspeakable forces of evil will bring the best out in us.

The fight to survive, to protect those we love in the face of insurmountable odds, against the armies of darkness is always gut wrenching and fascinating story telling.

If an author manages to capture your imagination with images of battles, from the mind to the physical, from the surreal to the metaphysical, while sewing a tale that keeps you up at night wanting for more, it can rival any other genre.

There is nothing more satisfying then when love has the power to conquer forces greater then ourselves, to fight the good fight regardless of the consequences and save our soul from damnation, we admire it.

4 Movie Collection: Attack Force/ Into the Sun/ The Russian Specialist/ Conspiracy
Directors: Michael Keusch, mink, Dolph Lundgren, Adam Marcus
Starring: Steven Seagal, Lisa Lovbrand, David Kennedy, Danny Webb, Dolph Lundgren, Val Kimer
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
ASIN: B008XAT0SW
Release Date: October 9th, 2012
Running Time: 375 minutes
Rated R

Review:

I grew up watching the over the top action movies from the 1980s and early 1990s, so I was more than eager to review the 4 Movie Collection featuring Attack Force, Into the Sun, The Russian Specialist, and Conspiracy, courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment and Tower PR in exchange for an honest review. 

Steven Seagal plays Marshall Lawson, a commander of an elite military unit, in the 2008 direct-to-DVD Attack Force. While in Paris, three of his soldiers are brutally murdered in their hotel room. He starts his own investigation into their deaths with the help of his much younger girlfriend, Tia, and his military friend Dwayne. He learns that the soldiers deaths are linked to a military drug called CTX, in which Tia was one of the original scientist that helped create it. Whoever takes the CTX becomes an unstoppable killing machine.

I'm not the biggest Seagal fan and it has been awhile since I have seen one of his movies, but Attack Force has to be the worst. The plot is unrealistic and confusing. The fights scenes are ridiculous, the acting is laughable, and half of Seagal's lines are dubbed due to the script being changed after the movie was filmed. Attack Force is one of the worst movies ever made.

Dark Light of Day 
Noon Onyx Book #1 
By Jill Archer 
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Publisher: Ace 
ISBN: 978-0-425-25715-9 
Number of pages: 384 
Word Count: 123,000 
Buy Links: Barnes & Noble, Amazon 

Book Description: 

Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret—she was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of and some will consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

Review:

In book one of the new exciting Noon Onyx series, a battle between good and evil had occurred on Earth over two-thousand years ago, leaving Lucifer and his demon followers in victory. Now, the demons rule over the humans as either rules or tributes.

The Anger Workout
By Les Carter, Ph.D. and Frank Minirth, M.D.
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 978-1401675431
Pub. Date: October 30th, 2012 (Reprint)
Pages: 256

Review:

I signed up to review this book, courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review, because anger is part of everyone's lives. Some people can control their anger easily, while others have a difficult time with it. There is not one person that can say that they don't get angry over something every week. With the failing economy, the job market collapsing, and the continuing increases in gasoline prices, there are many things to be angry at.

The Anger Workbook was originally released back in in 1993 and has now been reprinted in an updated version. The authors, Les Carter and Frank Minirth, have written an interactive workbook to help you live a better life by going through thirteen steps toward anger management. Anger is not just slamming doors, screaming at a random stranger, or getting into fights. It is about shutting your feelings down, non communicating with others, feeling frustrated, and being over aggressive.