You Can't Sit with Us by Nancy Rue

You Can't Sit with Us by Nancy Rue is the 2nd in the Mean Girl Makeover series.  Ginger Hollingberry is the new kid in the 6th grade class at Gold Country Middle School.  Ginger moves a lot with her family but she has learned a little from all that moving around.  Like don't tell everything you know about your family.  Ginger's mother was killed in a car accident that no one in her family will talk about.  Ginger knows that it must be bad and she doesn't want her dad to go back into that deep hole that he was in when it first happened. Both she and her brother Jackson know that if he goes into that hole again that their grandmother will take them away from him and they will have to live with her. The popular kids at school don't like her much but at this school for the first time she does have a few friends and they seem to like her--even those few times when she slips and lets some of her true self show through.  This group had as its leader, Tori, the person who had helped come up with the antibullying code that most everyone had signed.Then came that awful day when the cruel leader of the bully gang, Kylie, had her come over to talk to them and she told them some of the story that she never let out--the one that she didn't know how her mom died.   Kylie, the only person in school who had not signed the code, had a small gang of friends but they would all do exactly what Kylie told them to do and Kylie could be so mean.  First she told Ginger that if she talked to her friends any more that she would tell them that her mom was killed after getting into a car with a drunk driver.  Ginger did as she was told but then Kylie ramped up the meanness.  She somehow started a Twitter following telling lies about how her Ginger's own dad was the drunk driver.  Ginger didn't have a cell phone so the only way that she found out was when others would tell her.  Ginger knew that her dad was not the driver because he was home with her and her brother when the accident happened but that did not stop the harassment.  This is the story of how Ginger found the strength to keep on trying during this ordeal.

This is a great book.  It tells the story of bullying in a true and honest way.  It brings out how the bully functions and how the bully actually bullies her so called friends into doing what she wants them to do so that she does not get into as much trouble.  It also shows how the bully uses flattery to bring in not only her victims but her gang members and even the teachers.  This book shows how just a few teachers looking past the flattery into the facts can be such a help for these students.  This takes time however and most teachers are not willing to take this time and trouble and it is much easier to just do their job and go home.  Just like in any profession there are a few who are willing to stand up and find out why the student is "acting out" and make a difference.  I would recommend this book not only for reading by middle school and high school students but also parents and teachers.
I received this book from Booklook for this review.

Furry Logic by Jane Seabrook

Furry Logic by Jane Seabrook is advertised as a guide to life's little challenges.  This little 6x6 book would make the greatest little coffee table book.  I know I know usually they are huge picture filled books to impress your guests but this one will have your guests in stitches.   Each animal gives light-hearted advice to the reader.  This book if left on the coffee table would be a great conversation starter, "here read this.  It is so funny and true."  The self satisfied cat on the cover is saying, " I hear the call to do nothing, and I am doing the best to answer it." 

Jane Seabrook is an artist and this book is filled with animal pictures with great detail shown to each feather, fin, or hair.   In the back of the book Jane tells about how she paints detail into each page--sometimes with a single hair, which is worn out by time the picture is finished.  If the reader has lived on the planet they have probably seen these little animals with all their wisdom by they are soooo cute all together in this little 10th anniversary collection by the artist.  This book could be read and enjoyed by any age person.
This book was provided by Blogging for books for this review.

Watch for the Light--Readings for Advent and Christmas

Watch for the Light--Readings for Advent and Christmas is a collection of readings from spiritual writers for each day of Advent and Christmastide.  It is advertised as being a guide to use for daily devotions and it could be used that way.  There is a daily reading starting at the first point that Advent could possibly begin, November 24th, and goes until the day after Epiphany or January 7th.  Of course most days could be used in any order but some such as Epiphany or Christmas are especially placed for those days.  Most days have no scripture associated with them so the reader must be able to find their own scripture for those days.  Christmas week happily does tell the Christmas story from the Bible as well as readings from famous spiritual writers.

I was expecting to use this book as an Advent devotional as was advertised but I really like my devotional to have the scripture lesson assigned to the reading.  Yes I can find my own scripture but if I get a devotional I kind of expect that to be done for me or at least have suggestions for scripture.  Also I think that those of marginal reading ability would find some of the readings above their head.  It feels like some of this book was written for pastors or other theology majors instead of the general public.  Though I like to learn during Advent I also expect to relax and let the Savior come to me.  I would only give this book an average rating-there are those I like better than this one for my own use.
I received this book from Plough Publishing House/Handlebar for this review.

Evening Prayers by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

Evening Prayers by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt is a collection of scripture and a prayer for each day of the week for a year.  Some of the prayers are for personal use and some are for gatherings of people.  Each prayer has before it a scripture for the day.  This is a prayer book written by Pastor Blumhardt for his theology students and truthfully not intended for the general public.  Some of the students using the book were Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Emil Brunner, Oscar Cullman and Karl Barth.  Because some of his students became people of notoriety over the years for one reason or another and because there came more and more persons asking for copies of this little book for their own use it became published.  Whether the reader uses this book as a personal nightly Bible study or as a book to be used as a reference source for prayer this book is well worth reading.

I got this book by mistake but like many mistakes it turned into my blessing.  I really enjoyed the scriptures and the prayers for my own daily use.  I plan to use it for future use also as a reference for groups at the church.  This book would enhance anyone's faith walk. I would advice this book for anyone of any age though the book is obviously written at an adult level of reading skill.
I received this book from Plough Publishing House for this review.

A Very Fine House by Barbara Cofer Stoefen

A Very Fine House by Barbara Cofer Stoefen is the story of a mother's story of love, faith, and crystal meth.  This is the story of the Stoefen family's walk down the road of addiction with their daughter.  This is the story of how parents can do the very best job they know how to raise their children to be fine and upstanding citizens of society and still have a child who becomes addicted to drugs.  The author and mother in the story tells the not so pretty tale of addiction and the life on the street that their daughter lived but then she tells the story of how that affected the family-mom, dad, and the kids who follow the rules.  How do you show love to the child you have lost to street drugs and still teach the remaining child that he must follow the rules?  What do you pray for when it seems that your daughter is determined to live opposing God's will?  How much do you spend on a child who appears to just throw it all away when the child who is doing most things right has needs also?  Is it something that I did wrong as a mother or father or something that I didn't do?  Is she just a "bad seed"?  All of these questions and more are answered but the author does not say that she has all the answers--only reports what they did and what didn't work and finally what did.  Though this book is told through the mother's eyes  also through conversations tells about what the addict and the rest of the family feels like during this ordeal.  It is not a pretty picture but it is a revealing look into addiction.

I liked this book though I didn't have to deal with this issue with my children.  It is an issue that touched my family though my children's friends and of course others in my wider family as I am sure unless the reader has their head in the sand it does all families.  This book opened my mind to some of the truths regarding addiction that I had no idea.  How do you love a child who broke into your house and robbed you of your prized possessions.  How can a child figure our how to break into your house after you have changed all the locks but still not figure out how to use society's tools to break free of addiction?  This book does not pretend to answer all your questions but it does have a list in the back of further reading to assist that parent who is going through this with their family.  It is a good book to read if you are like me and have been blessed with drug free children but have friends going through this so that you can be a good support person for them.  It is a book we all need to read as drug use and misuse is becoming more widespread through the country.  It would be a good conversation starter as your child grows toward their teen years.
I received this book from Booklook for this review.

The Skinny Gut Diet by Brenda Watson

The Skinny Gut Diet by Brenda Watson is a diet book for lifetime weight loss.   This author outlines the plan and some histories of success by some of her clients.  The front half of the book has stories/histories of some of the author's success along with some of their problems.  This author has evidently already authored a diet called the Fiber35 Diet.  The skinny gut diet promises to not only cause weight loss but also to permanently loose the weight.  She gives a 2 week startup plan and has many recipes for having good results on this plan. 

This is not however what impresses me the most on this plan.  She outlines why we as a nation are gaining weight while eating less food.  She tells how our diet is changing our gut and turning us not only into an overweight nation but also constipated and/or diarrhea , depressed, and having chronic abdominal pain.  She connects this with our overuse of antibiotics starting at a very young age.  This killing of our good bacteria along with bad bacteria affects the human for much longer than previously thought.  Some can be affected for months or even years.  She explains how the American diet of low fiber and vegetables coupled with no fermented foods have no healing properties with which to fight this "too little or no good bacteria" in our guts.  This leads to chronic inflammation.  Combine all this with excess stress, aging, and the toxins in our environment and is it any wonder that the resulting stress hormone release in our bodies are causing a weight gain?

This book is well written and easy to understand.  She spends much time in the front of the book explaining the plan and the back of the book explaining the diet.  If the reader needs a 2 week plan to get started then she provides it.  If the reader needs recipes then the author provides it.  She tells point by point the why for each part of her diet.

I liked the book and thought it easy to understand and found the diet easy to follow and had success in the weight loss.  It will remain to be seen if I can maintain this for life. 
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Love Without End by Robin Lee Hatcher

A Love Without End by Robin Lee Hatcher is the latest novel by this author.  This is a Kings Meadow Romance but it is a stand alone novel evidently as the reader does not have to have any knowledge of the other novel, A Promise Kept, in order to enjoy this one and enjoy you will.
 
Kimberly is a widow who along with her daughter is used to the good life but with the death of her much loved husband found out that the family had not been able to afford the good life that they were living.  Kimberly needed to sell everything to pay the debts and now was homeless and without a job.  Luckily her very good friend, Janet, rescued her and is allowing her and her daughter to live in her Idaho home rent free.  Kimberly knows that this is only temporary until she can get a job in Seattle and go back to the city life that she loves.  Her daughter, Tara on the other hand loves horses and has wanted one ever since she can remember.  Tara had been given a horse, an untrained horse but a horse none the less and she was thrilled but now she needed a place to board and train this horse and all with no money to do it.  Janet introduces Kimberly and Tara to Chet who agrees to board and teach Tara how to train the horse in exchange for Tara's work on the ranch.

Chet second guesses his generosity which he can barely afford but quickly changes his mind when the petulant teenage Tara turns into hard working ranch hand who is willing to do as asked no matter how hard the work and is quickly getting her horse trained as well.  Chet and Kimberly even though opposites find themselves drawn to one another as do Tara and Chet's sons Sam and Pete. 

This is a well written Christian romance novel that anyone would love to read.  Read it and the aforementioned Promise Kept and be ready for the next promised novel by this author, Whenever You Come Around  which should be out in the Spring of 2015.
I was provided this book by Booklook for this review.