A Miracle of Hope
The Amish Wonders Series
By Ruth Reid
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: December 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-1401688295
Pages:  352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/sABNg
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/rreid

Review:

Most of my blog readers know that I love reading Amish fiction, but there are so many authors in the genre, it is hard to keep up with all the new titles every month, so typically I only read the authors I have either previously read or have at least heard of. Author Ruth Reid wrote the Heaven on Earth series, which is an Amish supernatural book series (no vampires, werewolves - just angels). I enjoyed reading the three books in that series, so I quickly agreed to read A Miracle of Hope, book one in the Amish Wonders series, by the author.

The plot of A Miracle of Hope follows a similar clichéd plot found in many Christian novels (Love Comes Softly comes to mind), in which a man (mostly likely a widower and has at least one young child, which happens to be case in this tale) and a woman (most likely pregnant, which happens to be the case for this story) have an arranged marriage.

The mother-to-be is Lindie Wyse who ties-the-knot with widower Josiah Plank, who happens to be the father of a deaf eight-year-old daughter, Hannah. Like I said above, the marriage was arranged. Lindie was shunned by her community and her brother arranged a marriage for her to his best-friend, Josiah.

Josiah loved his late-wife dearly and doesn't believe he can fall in love again, let alone get remarried, but his daughter needs a mother figure, therefore, he agreed to marry Lindie. Of course, Lindie, agreed to the marriage, as she didn't have much a choice or anywhere else to go. Life throws the newly wedded couple several ups and downs, all of which only strengths their relationship and opens their hearts to possibly loving each other as a family.

Pages:  218
Genre: Historical fiction
Goodreads

Shaking Behind The Microphone
Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking
By Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pub. Date: November 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490941219
Pages: 156

Review:

I don't read very many non-fiction titles, mostly because I'm too busy reading the fiction books stacked up on my desk, but when I saw Shaking Behind The Microphone: Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking was available to review, I became interesting in reading it.

As many of readers know, I do suffer from anxiety, which isn't quite as bad now, but it was pretty bad during my childhood. Of course with anxiety, there was noway I could speak in public settings. It was bad enough when I had to give an oral book report during class, but speaking in front of strangers wasn't ever going to happen. I did my best to avoid crowded situations, but there were a few times during a class event in high school where I had to speak in public and lets just say it didn't turn out very well.

The author, Jill Ammon Vanderwood, had the fear of speaking in public too, but she found ways to overcome this. She wrote the book to help everyone with the same problem be able to speak in public.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

 

When you receive new books in the mail, do the older ones get moved to the bottom of your list or do go strictly "by the book" and keep your list with older books first and then the new ones?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

It all really depends if there is a book tour, if so then I'll read the books in order of the date I'm suppose to post the review for the tour. If the book isn't associated with a tour, then I go by the "first come, first gets read" method.

Are you working on boosting your blog rankings? How can you find readers that become devoted to your blog? Learning how to write for the reader can be a challenge, but with the right amount of time and research you can create outstanding blog posts. Use this business blog advice to help you create a blog that people will gladly read.

Far too often we come across blog posts that are not written for the reader. The writer usually picks a keyword and creates a topic written to this keyword. You want to use the keyword to help guide you, not to dictate the entire article. Always write for the reader if you want to gain higher website traffic.

There are keywords that do not always read properly. You need to include them for SEO purposes, but you do not want the keywords to become confusing. Difficult keywords can be added to the address or different areas of a page instead of within several lines of content. When you are looking at the keywords, avoid consciously adding them to the content. The keywords should come to you naturally within the content as you write it.

The NFL season is officially done with after the Super Bowl game this Sunday Night and of course the the Winter X Games that were held at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado just ended, but sports fans still have the Winter Olympics to keep them busy until the MLB begins their season this spring.


ESPN covers the Olympic Games, but I'm sure you’re very busy with other things in your life, so you probably don't have time to watch every event this year. Luckily for you, ESPN how has "Live" Streaming Events you can view from your own PC, iPad, Smartphone or tablet.

Instead of waiting until you get off work to go home and watch a recorded event, you can now watch 'Live" events anytime you want. You can watch your favorite Winter Olympic events while you are on your lunch break, stuck in traffic or while you’re sitting in a doctor's waiting room. If you missed the Winter X Games, though it isn't "Live," you can still watch highlights, clips and interviews online from the events.

In 1979, readers were engulfed in the one of the most guiltiest pleasure novels ever written - Flowers in the Attic, followed by three sequels and a prequel. Even teenagers became interested in the novel, though they most likely hid their copy under their mattress. Sadly, V.C. Andrews passed away just over twenty-seven years ago, and ever since then a ghost writer has taken over series. At first nobody knew who the writer was, but now it is public knowledge that author Andrew Neiderman is the ghost writer.

Unlike most readers my age, I didn't start reading V.C. Andrews until I was around twenty-years-old, when I bought a hardback copy of Flowers in the Attic (missing a few page though) at a thrift store. Shortly after, I was given my grandmother's (Sadly, she passed away in 2009.) V.C. Andrews collection, as she had lost all interest in the books. The collection was missing a few books, which I quickly bought the missing books at a book store and on eBay. I have continued to collect each new release, though I haven't read the most recent series'.

The newest novel, The Unwelcomed Child, was released last week, just a few weeks after television version of Flowers In the Attic broke rating records on Lifetime. After recently rereading Flowers in the Attic (here is my review for it), I became eagerly excited about reading The Unwelcomed Child, which is a stand-alone novel.

Similar to Flowers in the Attic, this tale has a young girl, Elle Edwards, living with her grandparents, but, no, she isn't being forced to hide in an attic. Elle's rebellious mother left her to be raised my Grandmother Myra and Grandfather Prescott. She's doesn't know much about her father, except for the fact he had raped her mother, resulting in her conception.

Grandmother Myra is very religious and believes because of her daughter's sinful life, Elle was born without a soul. She doesn't want Elle to be influenced by the wicked ways of the world and has sheltered her from everything. Elle doesn't attend public school, but instead she is home schooled. She isn't allowed to listen to any current music and is only allowed to watch television programs that her grandparents approve of.