Hidden in the Stars
Quilts of Love series
by Robin Caroll
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: Sept. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1426773600
Pages: 224
Buy Link: Amazon
Blog Tour:  http://litfusegroup.com/author/rcaroll

Review:
 
If you have never read a book from the Quilts of Love series, then you're missing out on some great storytelling. The series is published by Abingdon Press, featuring a different author with every new title. Each book has a new plot and a new group of characters, but each and every plot somehow involves a quilt. Typically these books are a straightforward romantic novel, but the newest entry, Hidden in the Stars, is completely different from the others.

Hidden in the Stars centers on Sophia Montgomery, a talented gymnast who has just been accepted as a member of an Olympic team, but all her dreams are quickly shattered when her mother and her are assaulted. Her mother is killed during the incident, but Sophia barely survives, losing her eyesight and injuring her hands. Out of nowhere the grandmother she thought was dead shows up to help Sophia slowly pick up the pieces.

Meanwhile, Detective Julian Frazier is investigating the attack and is determined to catch whomever killed Mrs. Montgomery and injured Sophia. The longer he works on the case, the stronger his feelings for Sophia become. Though he might be able to catch the murderer, he doesn't know if he can help mend Sophia's broken spirit.

Since I started blogging in 2009, I have had many great opportunities to review a wide variety of products. I never thought I would be reviewing a bottle of wine, but when I learned that Uncorked Ventures were looking for bloggers to review their Wine Club, I eagerly signed up.

Luckily, I was one of the few bloggers that got accepted to review either 2 bottles from the Explorations Wine Club ($55 value) or one bottle from the Special Selections Wine Club ($50 value). The Explorations Wine Club includes two bottles of wine (1 white and 1 red), which costs $40 per shipment. The Special Selections Wine Club consists of two bottles of a limited production red wine, which costs $95 per shipment. All the wines have a +90 rating. Both Clubs can either be bought in a one shipment, 3-month shipment, 6-month shipment, 12-month shipment, quarterly, every other month or as a monthly shipment. 

By now you are probably wondering which club I picked to review, well I picked the Special Selections Wine Club. I'm not much of a drinker, but I do drink wine around special occasions and holidays. The wine I buy never costs more than $10, so I was excited to try a $50 bottle. The bottle of wine was delivered by UPS on Friday, which I had to sign for it.


The Special Selections Wine bottle that was sent to me was called VinRoc RTW (Red Table Wine), a 2010 wine from Napa Valley AVA. Due to the Atlas Peak, the soil is almost entirely volcanic and the temperatures are ten degrees warmer than the valley floor, though during the afternoon and evenings the area receives harsh winds and cool breezes from the bay. The volcanic aspects of the soil blends nicely with the grapes, giving the juices an unique taste.

My Little Pony: The Complete Series
Starring: Bettina Bush, Scott Menville, Keri Houlihan, Susan Blu, Katie Leigh, Sherry Lynn, Nancy Cartwright
Ellen Gerstell
Studio: Shout! Factory
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Retail: $29.93
ASIN: B00KTFJ6DS
Running Time: 720 minutes
Rating: PG
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Anyone growing up in the '80s will probably remember the overload of Saturday Morning Cartoons and weekday afternoon cartoons. Toy companies took advantage of the animation popularity and began making cartoon shows based on their toy-lines. Hasbro produced animated series based on their line of toys for Transformers and G.I. Joe, which were marketed for boys. The My Little Pony toy-line for girls was released in 1983 and it became so popular that Hasbro produced two TV-Specials that aired in 1984 and 1985, along with a feature film in the summer of 1986. A weekday animated series followed that September, featuring a 10-minute My Little Pony segment followed by another Hasbro cartoons (The Glo Friends, MoonDreamers and the Potato Head Kids). The series only lasted 65 episodes over the course of two-seasons.

Over the years there has been several DVD releases, but My Little Pony: The Complete Series will be released on a 4-disc set for the first time by Shout! Factory this Tuesday. The series is set in the magical Ponyland where the Little Ponies live a peaceful life at the Paradise Estate, but the Little Ponies have enemies that want to destroy them. Throughout each episode The Little Ponies must try to outwit witches, trolls, goblins and other creatures that try to do them harm.

The original untitled My Little Pony special was re-edited into the two-part episode, titled Rescue from Midnight Castle, and the TV-special Escape from Catrina was also re-edited into a two-part episode, which served as the series-finale.

Episodes on the the four-part disc are:

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 Stephanie!

How important is a book's cover to your overall impression of it?

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: 

I try not to judge my final thoughts on the cover alone, but whether or not I liked plot, the characters and if the book was well written.

Tried & True
Wild At Heart, Book One
by Mary Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Pub. Date: September 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0764211782
Pages: 320
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/AS8Js
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/mconnealy

Review:

Now available to own on paperback and as an eBook is book one in the Wild At Heart series, titled Tried & True. The book is written by one my favorite authors, Mary Connealy. At first glance at the cover, I actually thought the book would have a contemporary setting, but instead it has a post-Civil War setting.

Tried and True centers on Kylie Wilde, a civilized young woman, who just happened to have served in the Civil War as a solider. Kylie and her two older sisters exchanged their skirts for trousers and pretended to be "boys" during the war. While her sisters continue the charade, so they can keep the special exemptions for serving in the war, Kylie has grown out her hair and has started wearing dresses again.

It doesn’t take Kylie long to get the attention of the local land agent, Aaron Masterson, who becomes instantly fascinated with her. As she gets closer to him, she reveals her deepest secret of serving in the Civil War. Being a civilized citizen, Aaron has the responsibility to inform the government of Kylie and her sister's fraud, but he doesn't want to risk the chance of losing her.

Christmas at Rose Hill Farm
An Amish Love Story
by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Publisher: Revell
Pub. Date: September 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0800721930
Pages: 240
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/ARPVX
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/sfisher

Review:

I know that the holidays are getting closer when Christmas themed books start showing up in bookstores. Suzanne Woods Fisher is one of the most popular Christian authors and she has crafted a holiday tale, titled Christmas at Rose Hill Farm. Of course one the first things I noticed about the book is that there is a character named Billy, which coincidentally my name is also Billy!

Set in 1977, Christmas at Rose Hill Farm centers on Billy Lapp, an ex-Amish from Stoney Ridge that is working as a rose rustler for Penn State. He had no intentions of ever returning home, but life throws you unexpected situations and Billy finds himself returning to Stoney Ridge to investigate the origins of a "lost" rose that is found in the greenhouse at Rose Hill Farm.

When Billy originally left Stoney Ridge four years ago, he also left behind his love Bess Riehl. Since then, Bess has moved on with her life by getting engaged to Billy's cousin, Amos, though it did take three proposals for her to finally say "yes" to marriage. Bess and Amos are planning a quite Christmas Wedding, well that is until Billy made his return and old feelings start to return as well.

Joyful
Return to Sugarcreek, book three
by Shelley Shepard Gray
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Pub. Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0062204509
Pages: 256
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/BeIYd
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/sgray

Review:

There are some authors that never seem to fail with each and every new novel they released. Shelley Shepard Gray is one of these authors. I've been a fan of her work since I read the first book in the Sisters of the Heart series, Hidden, and her writing style keeps getting better with each new novel. Her newest book, Joyful, is the third installment in the Return to Sugarcreek series, which I eagerly signed up to review it through Liffuse Publicity Group.

Joyful centers on Elizabeth Nolt, a young Amish woman who had been dating Randall Beiler for the past two years that is until out of the blue, Randall breaks up with her. Heartbroken, Elizabeth has nobody to turn, except for grandmother.

Unknowingly to Elizabeth is the heartache the Randall is also feeling. He didn't want to break ties with her, but he had no other choice. Situations occured that forced him to push her away so he could take care of his younger siblings and run the family farm.

Petals on the Wind
Director: Karen Moncrieff
Starring: Heather Graham, Rose McIver, Wyatt Nash, Baley Buntain, Nick Searcy Dlyan Bruce, Will Kemp, Whitney Hoy, Ellia English and Ellen Burstyn
Studio: LionsGate Home Entertainment
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B00KFNF17E
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating: NOT Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on DVD on September 16th is the Petals on the Wind based on the classic novel by V.C. Andrews. The film is directed by Karen Moncrieff and stars Heather Graham, Rose McIver, Wyatt Nash, Baley Buntain, Nick Searcy Dlyan Bruce, Will Kemp , Whitney Hoy, Ellia English and Ellen Burstyn. The DVD comes with a Digital Ultraviolet code. There are no extras or special features.

After the success of the made-for-television adaption of Flowers in the Attic back in January, it was no-brainier why Lifetime quickly gave the greenlight for the sequel Petals on the Wind, which made its debut on Lifetime back in May.

Unlike the book of the same name that picks up directly where Flowers in the Attic ended, the film adaption jumps ten years with new actors (Rose Mclver, Wyatt Nash and Bailey Buntain) taking over the roles of Cathy, Christopher and Carrie Dollanganger. Shoving a 450 page book into a 90-minute movie means there are many characters and scenes that had to be cut. Dr. Paul Sheffield, who adopts the children and later has a romantic relationship with Cathy, never appears, as the film opens up with his funeral. Cathy's ballet roommates, Yolanda Lange and April Summers, never appears, as well as Dr. Paul's sister,
Amanda Sheffield (Biddens).

Despite some changes, the main plot is still intact in the film with Cathy wanting revenge for what her mother did to her and her siblings. A few scenes with Carrie shows how she was tormented by her classmates and how her mother ignored her, which all leads to her death (it differs from the book). Then there is a side-story with Christopher dating Whitney Hoy, which isn't in the book.