10 Minutes in the Word:Psalms

10 Minutes in the Word:Psalms is a new devotional out by Zondervan.  This devotional is a way of reading through the Psalms in 45 days.  This study takes a mere 10 minutes per day.  Have you every wanted to read through the entire Bible?  And didn't make it?  Have you ever felt that you should read and enjoy the Psalms but you just can't get into it because it isn't a story--its poetry?  Maybe this is just me but when I saw this little tiny book promising that I would enjoy reading the Psalms in just 10 minutes per day I jumped at it.  This book brings to life David's writings.  This book helps the reader to see David as the man.  Helps to see David as a human with difficulties.  David loved God but he made mistakes-really big ones.  David loved God but he was afraid that his enemies would attack and kill him.  David trusted God but sometimes it was hard.  David experienced loneliness just like we do.  David's life was hard sometimes.  And even when David was king and the people did what he said David still made mistakes.

Read this book if you would like to read and know the Psalms.  Read this book so that you will know David and why he was such a favorite of God's.  Why God loved him and wanted only good for him.  Read this book of poetry and learn to enjoy it as you maybe have never before.
I was provided this book for this review from BookLook.

A Daring Adventure by Elizabeth Camden

A Daring Adventure by Elizabeth Camden was such an interesting historical novel.  It is based on the beginnings of the clean water act which was made easier by the chlorination of water which made purifying it cheap enough for cities to be able to supply to all their citizens.  This book takes the reader back to the early 1900s when cholera and typhoid were a quite common cause of death.  Many readers of today believe that the reason that modern people live longer today than the early 1900s was because of antibiotics but the real reason is because of the clean water act.  It is so much easier to keep people well than to cure them of typhoid or cholera.  This novel tells a fictionalized story of Dr. Leal who invented the first chlorine feed system which could cheaply chlorinate water systems of the cities.  Though it is quite common today and we don't really think much about it now, it caused quite a stir in May of 1910 when the courts ordered that it was safe to use. In the four short years from the beginnings of chlorination and 1914 when over half of the cities had adopted the technique the deaths from water contamination plummeted where ever the clean water was available .

But let us go back to 1908 when Dr. Rosalind Werner was working with Dr. Leal on his chlorination technique to bring clean water to the city of Jersey City.  It is a huge secrete because of the talk among the citizens that it will poison their family.  It is difficult to convince the wealthy lawmakers of the area that what is poison in large amounts will purify the water if droplets are used.  Dr. Werner has been asked to speak to a consultant, Nick Drake, who is working against the cause to try to convince him to trade sides.  When the two meet they instantly fall in love even though neither change their mind about which side they are on.  Unbeknownst to Rosalind though Dr. Leal is secretly working to go ahead and chlorinate the water system of Jersey City without telling anyone except those college students working with him on his new system.  Rosalind later finds out about Dr. Leal's work but agrees not to tell anyone including Nick.  Well as any reader can figure out Nick finds out and trouble happens in their relationship and they vow never to see each other again.  How will this story end?  As we know chlorination eventually happens but did Rosalind find love with the opposition namely Nick?  Do they figure out how to live with each others differences?  Read this book to find out.
I received this book from BethanyHouse for this review.

Amish Celebrations by Beth Wiseman

Amish Celebrations by Beth Wiseman is the next book by this writer.  In this book she tells of 4  celebrations in the Amish faith walk.  In the first: The Gift of Sisters she tells the story of Hannah and Rachel sisters and fraternal twins.  They had always been the best of friends also that is until Abraham Stoltzfus had come into town.  Rachel had been very good friends with Gideon every since she was 5 until their moms had tried to through them together and marry them off.  It was offputting but then the first time Rachel saw Abraham it was love at first sight for her but for him as soon as he saw prettier Hannah he immediately fell for her. Hannah and Abraham had been dating for about a month and everything was going good for the two of them but Hannah and Rachel no longer were speaking at least not kindly to each other.  Hannah and Abraham were a planning a date and not the date that they told their parents about but a date to the Beekeeper's cemetery to make out.  When they got there though Abraham immediately became too demanding and wanted more than Hannah was willing to give.  Rachel was on her own date with Gideon when all of a sudden she got that feeling that Hannah was in trouble.  She tried to ignore it but she finally told Gideon that she had to leave and that they needed to go to the Beekeeper's cemetery because Hannah was in trouble.  When they arrived Hannah was running away limping with her torn dress.  Hannah then admitted Abraham had gotten mad when she tried to break up with him and she ran and tripped and twisted her ankle.  What she didn't tell them though was that Abraham ha said that he was going to go after Rachel because she would do what he wanted.  Hannah was then afraid of what he might try to do to Rachel.  What will these 2 do? Will they get back to being best sister friends?  Will Hannah continue to date Abraham to try to save Rachel?  Will Rachel see Gideon for the nice guy that he was and give him a chance?

Rebecca and Noah are very much in love in A New Beginning and they are planning the next step: getting baptized and then planning their wedding.  Noah decides against his better judgment to have another fling on the wild side and go to a party with his friend, Gavin.  Gavin had taken him to a party at the home of his rich girlfriend, Penny.  When they got there Gavin had gotten Noah a friend, McKenna, to stay with him and talk while Gavin and Penny were busy doing other things in another room.  Noah loved the beer at the party and maybe drank too much but not so much as to not notice the skimpy clad girls in their bathing suits especially McKenna who was not only beautiful but also nice to talk to.  So nice in fact that he broke up with his fiancé, Rebecca the next day.  What he didn' know was that McKenna thought she was just being nice, she had a boyfriend of her own that she was interested.  When McKenna told Noah that the next day Noah was so crushed that she hugged him and the boy that she was interested, Paul, who happens to be Rebecca's sister saw them.  This story has a surprise ending and  tells how the couples end up. 

In the next novella, Priscilla King and Chester Lapp are planning their wedding day in A Perfect Plan but everything seems to be going wrong.  The house that Chester is building for them keeps having problems first the electricity (which they won't even use but they have to put in anyway because of building codes), then the roof which not only had a problem but the supplier had sent them shingles that didn't go together and Chester had not even noticed.  And that doesn't even count the day that Priscilla had arrived at home to find that her little sister Sarah had cut up her wedding dress to make clothes for her doll and right after finding out that she needed to make another wedding dress she found out that the person who was going to make her cake wasn't coming.  Just one thing after another.  Was God trying to tell them not to marry?  Will they marry or will the fates intervene?

The fourth and final novella is a Christmas story, A Christmas Miracle.  Mary and Gabriel King were very much in love when they at a very early age married.  Then the children came one after another until now they had 5 children who were always getting into everything.  Mary felt like she was a failure as a mother and a wife.  How did everyone else do it and she couldn't?  She didn't have a mother who could teach her things about running a house because she had died.  Her mother in law didn't like her children and didn't hardly ever even come visit them though both of her in laws visited Gabriel's sisters in another state all the time.  Rachel their young daughter went to stand in the Santa Claus line to ask for help for her mother.  Of course that brought great embarrassment to her parents but it also brought together coworkers Santa Bruce and Elf Joan into the Amish home to teach Mary how to run a household with their many children.  Will Mary and Gabriel accept the offer of help? 

These little novellas of about one hundred pages each are delightful little treasures that anyone would love to read and each can be read in one sitting.  I think that you will just love them.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.