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What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Stephanie!

Should book bloggers be doing more to support bookshops rather than just give links to Amazon or B&N as a place to buy the printed version of books they read?

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: 

Well, technically, B&N is a bookstore and I'm not for sure what else we could do besides for providing "Buy Links" in a review post.

Becoming Bea
The Courtships of Lancaster County, book 4
By Leslie Gould
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: October 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0764210341
Pages: 352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/Dcnfl
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/lgould

Review:

Yep, Amish fiction is one my favorite genres to read, which may seem a little odd to some since I'm a male. I stumbled upon the genre back in 2002, a time when there were only a few authors writing Amish titles. Fast forward to 2014 and there are several new titles being released every month by different authors.

Becoming Bea by Leslie Gould arrived in bookstores a few weeks ago. It is the fourth installment in The Courtship of Lancaster County series. I remember reading the first two installments, Courting Cate and Adoring Addie, but for some unknown reason I didn't know about the third novel, Minding Molly. Nevertheless, I still signed up to read the fourth book in the series.

Becoming Bea centers on Beatrice Zook, a young Amish woman who  could care less about getting married and starting a family as she would rather have her own bookstore. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she agrees to assist a family by helping take care of their triplets, which is a little odd as she doesn't know too much about children.

Frozen in Time
Director: Alex Leung
Voice Cast: Mira Sorvino, Ed Asner, Drake Bell
Studio: ARC Entertainment
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Retail: $20.99
ASIN: B00M0JTX3O
Running Time: 46 minutes
Rating: G
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Yes, it is that time of year when cable channels will be overruled with made-for-TV Christmas movies and holiday specials. And of course there will be a few new direct-to-DVD titles as well, including the computer-animated film Frozen in Time, which will arrive on DVD Tuesday November 11, 2014.

Produced by Kickstart Productions, Frozen in Time centers on Eric (voiced by Valin Shinyel) and Patty (voiced by Alyssya Swales), a brother and sister who are both dreading the fact that they are practically being dragged by their parents, along with their older brother, to spend Christmas with their nutty inventor grandfather (voiced by Ed Asner). It seems everything they say or do goes terribly wrong at their grandfather's place. They even accidentally break a strange looking clock in his work shed.

Tons of Adverbs and Adjectives

Overuse of a Single Word

“Telling” Actions

Too Many Passive Sentences

Too Many Lazy Words

• Stuff
• Went
• Was
• Got
• Very
• Are
• A lot

Garfield: Holiday Collection
Director: Phil Roman
Voice Cast: Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge, Gregg Berger
Studio: Anderson Digtial
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Retail: $14.99
Running Time: 150 minutes
Rating: TV-Y
Buy Link: Walmart

Review:

From 1982 to 1991, twelve animated specials based on Jim Davis' comic strip Garfield aired on CBS. All of the specials have been released on DVD over the last decade, but are now out-of-print. Luckily for Garfield fans, five of the specials will appear on the Garfield Holiday Collection: Collector's Edition DVD exclusively at Walmart. As an added bonus there is a brand new featurette "The House that Garfield Built: A Visit with Jim Davis."

The five Garfield specials on the DVD are:

A Garfield Christmas (1987) - Jon drags Garfield and Odie to his family's farm to celebrate Christmas. After befriending Grandma (voiced by Pat Carroll), Garfield learns the true meaning of Christmas.

Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989) -After a visit to veterinarian, Dr. Liz Wilson, Garfield is put on a diet and somehow Jon convinces Liz to join him for Thanksgiving dinner. Jon may know how to make a dish of lasagna, but he has no clue how to make a turkey dinner. Garfield comes up with the idea to ask Grandma to help them cook the meal.

Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985) - After hearing about Halloween on the Binky the Clown Show, Garfield is determined to go trick-or-treating, so he can get all the candy, candy, candy that he can get his paws on. He grabs some of Jon's old clothes from the attic and goes as a pirate. He brings along Odie, so he can have twice the candy, candy, candy, but he makes a mistake by crossing the river by a boat, as their are ghost pirates not to far behind them.

Garfield On The Town (1983) -When being driven to the veterinarians, Garfield accidentally falls out of Jon's car. At first he likes living on the streets that is until he meets a gang of stray cats.

The Brickmaker's Bride
Refined By Love series
by Judith Miller
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: October 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0764212550
Pages: 352
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/CAurf
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/jmiller

Review:

Being a book blogger, I constantly find myself backed up with titles to review for authors and publishers, so as of lately I have been more picky about what books I accept or sign up to review. In this case, I recognized the author's name, Judith Miller, so I instantly agreed to review The Brickmaker's Bride.

Set in the 1868, the novel centers on Ewan McKay, who mmigrated from Ireland to West Virginia with his Uncle Hugh and Aunt Margaret. Uncle Hugh had bought a brickmaking operation there and wants him to help get the business up and running as smoothly as possible. Starting a new business isn't easy as the economy is still trying to recover from the Civil War, but that didn't stop from Uncle Hugh from getting a bank loan for a business that he has no clue how to run.

Ewan seeks the help, well the advice, from the former owner's daughter, Laura Woodfield. He hopes he can make the brickworks a huge success, so that his uncle has no choice, but to make him a partner. Then maybe he'll have enough cash to bring his sisters to this country. The one thing he didn't expect was to fall in love with Laura, but there is one problem - she already has a suitor, a high-paying lawyer, Winston. No matter what obstacles lie ahead of him, Ewan is determined to make the brickworks a successful business and somehow win Laura's heart.

The Promise
by Beth Wiseman
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: September 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1401685959
Pages: 320
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/CP8sr
Blog tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/bwiseman

Review:

By glancing at the cover to Beth Wiseman's new novel "The Promise," I would have never guessed that it would be set in modern times as I originally thought it would be set in the late 1800s. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.

After reading a several other titles, the Daughters of Promise series and the novel The House That Love Built, by the author, I thought I had an idea the way The Promise would go, but I was completely wrong.

The Promise centers on Mallory Hammond who made a promise when she was seventeen-years-old and now twelve years later she intends to fulfill that promise when she learns that a sick teen in Pakistan needs her help. Despite her parents' and her boyfriend's objections, she travels overseas to meet a man she only Skype with a few times; a man who claims that he can help her achieve the promise she had made to herself all those years ago.

A Robertson Family Christmas
by Miss Kay Robertson
with Travis Thrasher
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Pub. Date: October 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1414398204
Pages: 320
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

With Halloween officially over, I'm almost sure that many department stores will begin rolling out their holiday decorations this next week. However, if you have been in a bookstore lately, then you probably know that several Christmas titles have already been released, including the novella A Robertson Family Christmas by Miss Kay Robertson with Travis Thrasher.

You might have heard of the author's name before as she appears on the A&E's hit reality series Duck Dynasty. Over the years, Miss Kay has been asked what it would be like to spend a few days with the Robertson family, which eventually lead to the idea for this Christmas novella.

A Robertson Family Christmas centers on the Robertson family running a contest where the winner will get to spend the Christmas with them. Stacy Clarke, a struggling divorced mother, hears about the contest and decides to sign up her teenage son, Hunter. She didn't actually think he would be win, so she was shocked when she gets the confirmation email, but deep down she hopes this experience will change his negative attitude.