Love Finds You in Last Chance  

Posted by Amanda

Love Find You in Last Chance California

ISBN: 978-1934770399

Alex Travers has to not only deal with the untimely and shocking death of her father, but she also now has to deal with a bank loan and someone trying to sabotage her farm! Feeling alone in the process, she has stopped asking God for help since it didn't seem to do any good. And on top of it all, Alex has suitors coming to court her when she's not interested and the ladies in town snubbing her because of her choices.

Justin Phillips, who has come to Last Chance (with his son Toby) to help out Ben Travers, finds him dead under suspicious circumstances and also finds Alex trying to manage on her own. Should he tell her why he's there? Or just keep it to himself till he gets things sorted out? And who's causing all this trouble?

Suddenly, Kristi enters the picture creating trouble on top of trouble and causes Alex to question who Justin really is and if she can truly trust him. Finally, Alex learns to trust God completely while unraveling this mystery and she finds unexpected love in the process.

I had the privilege and honor to be a pre-reader on this book for Miralee...what a treat! Miralee has such a way with words and situations that really help draw you in and put 'right there'! The characters aren't overly complicated, yet, there are depths to some of them that a reader can relate to. Congrats to Miralee for another job well-done!!

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Chronicles of the Kings  

Posted by Amanda


























Gods and Kings
ISBN: 978-0-7642-2989-3

We watch as Hezekiah starts as a boy and is named king, having to follow in his father's idolatrous footsteps. With horrible memories of his childhood, King Hezekiah struggles with his trust in God. Why would a loving and caring God allow such bad things to happen? Slowly, Hezekiah finds his way back to God and develops a deepening relationship with Him.

ISBN: 978-0-7642-2990-9

As King Hezekiah draws closer to God and devotes his life to following God's laws, he is constantly coming against things that challenge that trust. He wonders why he doesn't have an heir to the throne yet? He questions how to go against the Assyrians and yet still survive?

Jerusha has been a captive of the Assyrians for a long while and is finally 'set free'. As she fights to get home, she struggles with her own battle with trusting and believing in God.

ISBN: 978-0-7642-2991-6

King Hezekiah still doesn't have an heir and his wife Hepzibah vows her first-born to the idol Asherah. In a chance happening, Hezekiah witnesses her worshipping her pagan god and he destroys the idol. However, in the process he himself is severely injured.

Not knowing what will happen, Hezekiah cries out to God for help and the Lord sends his message once again through the prophet Isaiah, stating that he will extend his life by 15 years.

ISBN: 978-0-7642-2992-3

King Hezekiah finally has an heir, Manasseh, who is friends with Joshua, son of Jerusha and Eliakim. But when Hezekiah suddenly dies, Manasseh turns to witchcraft and sorcery rather than God. He allows things to happen in his kingdom that would shame his father. But Manasseh doesn't care. He listens to people who have selfish motivations and turns on the friends and families of his youth.

Joshua's family suffers terribly at the hand of King Manasseh, and they are forced to flee the only home they have ever known. Will God get them through?

ISBN: 978-0-7642-2993-0

As they try to stay away from King Manasseh's evil authority, Joshua's family flees to Egypt for asylum. But will God allow Joshua to exact revenge on Manasseh for the evil he has done and the pain he has caused? Will God restore the holy city of Jerusalem?

In the middle of struggling with the current situation against Manasseh, Joshua finds himself questioning why God would allow all of this to happen to them, a godly family? It pushes him into a depression and he can't find his way out. Can anything help?

------

I enjoyed these books immensely! They were very easy to read and once I started I just couldn't put them down! Lynn Austin has such a way with pulling facts from history (Bible History) and adding with them enough fiction to create a story, without diminishing the fascinating story given to us through the Bible. Themes of love, forgiveness, grace and mercy, along with other personal emotions like depression, anxiety, and stress are woven perfectly through these books.

My suggestion is not to start the series until you have them all in hand, because once you start them you won't want to wait till you get the next one to start it! You'll jump from the end of one to the beginning of the next without missing a beat!

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Fool's Gold  

Posted by Amanda



Fool's Gold

with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson

Rated PG-13

(Personal Rating: R)

Tess and Finnigan are a young married couple who are in the process of getting divorced. Finn is a treasure hunter who is looking for a lost Spanish treasure and Tess has gotten involved as well. After their divorce if final, they are able to get connected with a wealthy older man who is also interested in finding this treasure...but they must do it before the competition, who is only interested in the monetary value of the treasure, not the history. Of course they fall back in love in the process! Chick-flick!

We watched this movie last night and were totally flabbergasted by the language that was involved! (Hence my "personal rating" of R!) This movie should have been rated R due to the language alone. The violence and the nature of the movie (treasure hunting) was nothing to steer kids away from. But the language was. We were truly bothered by it. McConaughey and Hudson, however, were wonderful in this movie. They make a great pair! My kids didn't particularly like the part at the end with the 'kissing' LOL but I've determined that ALL movies are chick-flicks, regardless of how much bang-em-up is in it. (And no, the boys weren't in the room for all of the movie...they didn't pick up on the foul language, they just knew there were some bad words in it.)

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Apple Dumpling Gang  

Posted by Amanda

The Apple Dumping Gang
With Bill Bixby, Don Knotts and Tim Conway
Rated G
From Walt Disney Pictures

A bachelor (Bixby), who enters a town to play poker, finds himself in charge of 3 children who have no home and no parents. He tries to pawn them off on other couples so he can be on his way, but no one wants them for various reasons. Finally he resigns himself to keeping them and of course, they get themselves into all sorts of problems that cost him a fair amount of money.

Meanwhile, two outlaws (Knotts and Conway) attempt to rob Bixby of any money he gets, but are always failing in their attempts. And failing hilariously. :)

When the children discover a large nugget of gold in a mine, they become well liked and famous in the town. The outlaws and Bixby try to protect the children and the nugget from other outlaws intent on stealing it.

And of course, there is an element of romance within the story...when Bixby falls in love with the stage-driver, Dusty (or Magnolia, as she is more properly called). They marry and care for the children and live happily ever after....

----

We really enjoyed this movie. I hadn't seen it in a long time and the boys had never seen it. We really didn't think they would like it, but the boys laughed all the way through it. And at the end, during the gun-fighting shoot-out, Brent went in and got his "gun" and stood in front of the TV and shot with them. It was hilarious....when the horses were running and they were chasing each other on horseback, he starts jumping up and down with his feet close together, all the while still shooting at the TV. He was 'riding a horse' in the horse-chase. LOL Of course, not to be out down, Clayton got up and started riding the donkey in the movie. How'd we know it was the donkey? On leg kept kicking up and down. LOL

Obviously, this will be one we continue to watch when we need a good laugh.

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Collateral  

Posted by Amanda




With Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx
120 minutes
Rated R

Cab driver, Max (Foxx), is making his rounds when he picks up Vincent (Cruise), and his whole night changes. Vincent is a hired killer, in town to take care of some 'bad people' by his morning flight. He pays Max to be his driver for the night...and Max finds himself in a situation beyond anything he could ever want. Witnessing murders is bad enough, but when he discovers who the final target it, Max does everything possible to stop Vincent.

Terry and I watched this the other night and it was first, so full of language that it was hard to watch. Second, it was pretty boring for the first hour and a half. It didn't get good until the last half hour, but by then we were just wanting it to be over. So much of it was unrealistic, it was hard to get through. The ending espeically. There is NO WAY a person can physically do the things that Cruise did at the end of that movie if he was really shot in the head. (Sorry, spoiler....) It was stupid, to be honest. Not one we'll watch again.

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Happiness Sold Separately  

Posted by Amanda


ISBN: 9780446699396

Elinor Mackey discovers on accident that her husband has been cheating on her with a physical trainer from their gym. She decides to get them together in the same room to see how they react....then she let's him know it's over. During the time of separation, Elinor remembers the times over the recent months when they were going through infertility treatments, when Ted would try to comfort her and she would shut him out. Now, she realizes that is most likely what drove him away.

Ted, on the other hand, has found himself in love with 2 women. His wife and his mistress. He wants to stay with his wife and loves her immensely, but finds himself missing Gina and her son. But how can that be? How can he make that decision? He is soon able to, when he finds out that El is finally pregnant with their child. They get back together...but can they make it work?

I wasn't particularly happy with this book...mainly because of the lack of morals that the characters seem to have. There were a couple of minor characters in the book that could have been left completely out of it and the story would have been fine. I especially didn't like the ending. I won't spoil it here, but the ending was very unsatisfying. Nothing was resolved and the characters didn't learn anything throughout the story. I like my books wrapped up nice and neat at the end of the story! LOL

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Healing Stones  

Posted by Amanda


Healing Stones
by Nancy Rue and Stephen Arterburn
ISBN 978-0849918902

Caught in the act of adultery, Demi is now faced with losing not only her position at a prestigious Christian College, but she is also losing her family. And her friends. Now, she has to find a new job, make new friends, and find a way to make peace with herself and with her spirituality.

Enter Sullivan Crisp, a therapist on hiatus, who is asked by a friend to talk to Demi and help her work through things. However, by forcing her to work through her situation and deal with her past, he is also forced to deal with his own past and his own demons.

Can he do it? Can she? Where will their pasts lead them?

My favorite thought in the book was "the only way to deal with an issue is to go through it." I thouroughly enjoyed this book in how it dealt with therapy sessions. It was so true to life and very honest. There is so much to be dealt with in all of us...regardless of our sins or our situations...and so much can be gleaned from this book on how to work through those issues.

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