Nashville by Inglath Cooper Book Review

I had the wonderful opportunity to review Inglath Cooper's 4-part series, Nashville.  I am a fan of the show Nashville, predominantly because I love country music and I have totally purchased songs off of iTunes as soon as I have heard a new favorite on an episode.  Telescope, both the acoustic and Hayden P's version are some of my favorites.  So when I was asked to review a copy of all four parts of Cooper's work, I was excited!  What I like about this storyline, even more than the show Nashville, is that the plot surrounds up-and-coming musicians.  They're trying to make their way in the heart of country music.  So although this book shares the same name as a popular show, they're really not alike.  

I brought this book with me on a recent business trip to Wisconsin and it was a fast read, taking me about 2.5 hours to get through a sizeable amount of the text.  Cooper's characters are engaging and what I really like about them is that it's fun for the reader to cheer them on as they make their way from renting an apartment with no furniture to playing at the Bluebird Cafe.

The storyline starts off innocently enough, a blonde girl (CeCe Mackenzie) is trying to make her way into country music.  She takes off in a beat up a car, with her guitar, lyric book, and dog.  Of course the car breaks down (epically), but it's almost divine intervention as she meets two Georgia men who are also in the business of making their way into country music.  Both of these guys played football back home while in college and it kind of reminded me of the real-life storyline of hunky musician Sam Hunt.

Cooper builds a trusting relationship with her characters as CeCe is almost embraced into this small family of two buddies.  Of course, there has to be a romantic storyline and I was almost disappointed that Cooper chose to go with what felt like the obvious choice (tall, dark, handsome).  I actually wanted her to go after Thomas Franklin ;).  However, the love interest is a bit tainted and Cooper does a really good job of keeping a realistic approach to it.  While I feel the relationships were really well done, Cooper does throw in some interesting plot twists that at times felt kind of like I was reading a Sims game but it was fun.  I really enjoyed how her characters chose to face adversity yet valued integrity.  I think that's a wonderful life lesson to include in young adult novels.  Cooper navigates some rather complicated relationships and scenarios throughout the four-part series.  The fourth part is especially complicated with a rather dark scenario, but again Cooper puts her characters through intense situations to let their character development be the focus.

This is a great read for the person who is looking to fall in love with a group of characters who are just genuinely good people.  You get to root for the good guys!  There is something so charming about this little family of three and you want to see them succeed and for everyone to be happy.  It's perfect for a plane ride or an upcoming poolside read. 

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Book Review: The Devil Has No Mother by Nicky Cruz

In exchange for my honest review, I was given three copies of Nicky Cruz's book by the publisher.  Additional copies have been given to others who may have been interested in the overall concept of the book.

One of my favorite things about my blog, specifically, is the opportunity to review books.  I love getting e-mails from publishers asking if I would be interested in reviewing new authors and I hope that one day this can continue to expand.  Nicky Cruz's book The Devil Has No Mother covers, in depth, examples today of how the devil tries to intercept God's attempts in creating and showing the good in people.  

When I first was asked to review the book, I think I was under the impression that it would be more along the lines of Nicky Cruz's book Run Baby Run, which focuses on Cruz's earlier life as a gang leader and what caused him to turn to Christ.  That in itself sounds incredibly inspirational.  However, The Devil Has No Mother is not that.  

I actually had a difficult time reading it because I prefer a different style of Christian book.  The overall tone is very dark and within good reason because the emphasis of the book is to declare that the devil is evil and scary.  Cruz grew up in a family that practiced witchcraft style beliefs and that may have also contributed to the darker tone of the book and why he emphasizes so much evil in the devil.  However, the overall book felt very much like a giant scare tactic and I had recently heard a sermon about how this type of rhetoric often scares away people who are interested in being Christians or are "baby Christians."  I could see why because I was immediately turned off from the book by several chapters that Cruz had put together.   

Although the devil is an evil entity, I think why many Christians turn to God is because he is an all-loving God and He is the light of the world.  TDHNM felt very much like 256 pages of judgment and was not the type of Christian book for me.  One chapter focused solely on books and television programs today.  It was very obvious that Cruz had never watched or read any of these programs and at one point he admonished the Harry Potter book series as saying that it encouraged children to practice sorcery.  Although people may disagree with me, I love Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling's books have encouraged so much literacy and a love for reading around the world.  I grew up with the books, as did many other people my age, and it is something I hold as a dear memory from my childhood and one that I did not choose to practice sorcery with.  He also spoke against shows like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood because they're vampires.  Although I think Cruz may have some good points on why these shows are not necessarily appropriate for children, since they're highly sexualized, I think he discredits Christians for being able to separate fact and fiction.

I think one of the saddest points of the book was how this mentality has influenced his family.  One of his daughters, a psychologist, had asked him if the faults of their ancestors who practiced witchcraft were going to influence their relationship with God in the future.  That was actually more tactful than what was said in the book.  It basically was are we going to burn in Hell because our ancestors practiced black magic?  Throughout the book and reading Cruz's story, all I thought was that there is so much history behind Cruz's family.  He grew up in Puerto Rico and that type of spirituality was reminiscent of the culture.  I was more fascinated in those stories than most aspects of the book.  Of course he said no but what concerned me was that his daughter, in her later 20's, had to ask that question.  I obviously am not part of his family nor grew up in it but I think there is something to say about raising your family in fear versus understanding the love of God.

With all of that said, this book was not my cup of tea.  You may enjoy this or recommend this for people who are questioning the extent of the devil's evilness, but it was not the type of Christian book that I would recommend.  Instead of leaving it as a discussion of the devil, Cruz injected judgment of other people on every single page and it kind of felt like he went from one extreme of being a gang leader to the other of judging everyone on their sins, despite the fact that we are imperfect people.

I am so excited to review a Bible study that I have and I think many of my readers will definitely enjoy the next Christian book review I have up :)

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Book Review on "Grounded"

Correll brings the charms of a Kentucky farm to her book, "Grounded," where an airline flight attendant returns to her Southern roots as she figures out life. I really enjoyed the protagonist, who was a strong, independent female character as well as the quirks of her grandmother, Beulah and other neighbors like Evelyn.  The character of Jake seemed to be the handsome boy next door that you would have loved to have as a neighbor. However, the pace of the book was very slow and although I was always looking to see how certain events turned out, they were really minor events that took the entirety of the book to discover what happened.  Introducing the character of Stella, the stone house renter, was completely random and kind of felt like a filler character to add more dimension to the novel.  Camille, the relationship villain of sorts, makes a very short appearance and in order to make Annie a more appealing character, Correll writes Camille's personality as obnoxious.  It seems a little too obvious that Jake's love interest, and the conflict between him and Annie, would of course be a terrible person for him to marry. The characters are fun and the town seems charming, however, it's really more of a beach read than anything else.  I could definitely see this as a Hallmark movie channel or ABC Family book-to-tv movie deal or even better yet, set around Christmas time with Olivia Wilde playing Annie.

This post was sponsored by the author. I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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The Lightbearers Book Review

This book review is my own personal opinion and one that I was not paid for, instead I was allowed a free copy of the book for the review.  I am by no means a professional book reviewer, I just enjoy a good read.

The Lightbearers by Nora M. Garcia is a captivating novel that brings the reader into the plot right away.  The action starts with a sinister plot that the reader doesn't quite have a full grasp on, except that we know that an evil scientist, Dr. Natas is involved.  The protagonist, Jean Crystal and her husband George are determined to foil Dr. Natas' evil plans but Garcia's story works within the difficult circumstances of society.  Dr. Natas has created a cyber school run completely by robots and with a target of elementary school children.  Promising parents that their children will not only develop faster than other children their age but be certified geniuses, Dr. Natas' test schools thrive, much to the dismay of Jean and her husband.  What's not quite explained right away is that Jean is able to transcend from her body through extreme meditation.  Instead, the reader is introduced through various descriptions of Jean leaving her physical state, which is an interesting and incredibly curious concept within itself.  Within a few chapters in, the background story is covered where King Akhenaton and Nefertiti, Egyptian royalty, are invited to be Lightbearers.  Lightbearers are guardians of the human race and to enlighten any whose path they cross. Through reincarnation, during each of their lifetimes, they strive to overcome violence, greed and injustice and in each lifetime they leave  individuals with whom they have shared their secrets of life and death and to carry on the mission (from the Goodreads synopsis).  It's quite good stuff.  Readers will cheer on Jean and George as they figure out how to save the world from the dark plans of Dr. Natas.

I liked this book right away and the thing about book reviews of lesser known books is that it can always be a toss up.  However, Garcia has an incredible imagination and a power for storytelling.  One of my critiques with this is that sometimes she tried to tell too much in too little of space.  Jean's ability to transcend her physical state wasn't explained much later and so the reader is left to question if Jean is a spy or a government work, etc.  Jean is a teacher who cares about human compassion and understanding human needs.  She's also a Lightbearer.  I think it was an interesting format for the story to start right away and then give some background to it, but I also think it would have been great to have those chapters serve as a prologue.  Garcia spent a lot of time explaining that concept, which as the reader, was much appreciated.  The aspect of Lightbearers being able to meditate so deeply that they could leave their physical bodies to reincarnate was pretty cool and added such dimension to the story.  I felt like I was watching a movie as I read through the book.

Some of the characters were introduced really quickly and then cut out a little too soon.  In order to get to the next major concept, I felt like Garcia rushed certain aspects and relationships with characters.  In one chapter, there was a focus on Jean and George's previous life in which they were a French family and it provided more background information on being a Lightbearer but had little to do with the plot.  Dr. Natas' bond with his new son was also an important relationship but I also felt that his marriage was awkwardly intertwined throughout the last chapters.  I could see the importance of covering how unsociable this man was and how negative that can impact a society, especially when it comes to creating schools based on this mentality, however it just felt awkward to me.

Overall I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  I really liked the story and it's one that grabs your imagination and runs with it.  I would love to see this made into a movie, but it would definitely need finetuning.  There's a lot of action and great characters, plus it will make the reader wish they were a lightbearer.

  

Bloom by Kelle Hampton

 I recommend playing Colbie Caillat's song, "Brighter Than the Sun" while reading this post.

I had heard from many friends that they enjoyed the book Bloom, but for some reason, I didn't feel that innate pull to read it right away.  For one thing I knew nothing about it, just that it was quickly turning into a best seller and soon after I learned it was written by a blogger.  I didn't know if it would be a good book for me.  I love mommy bloggers but an entire book written about a mom...could I relate?  I can't tell you exactly what made me sign-up for the pre-order or what e-mail or blog post did I see that led me that way, but I bought a copy through the paperback pre-order and waited.  When it arrived in the mail, I saw sweet Nella on the cover, exploring a beach.  I put the copy aside as I tackled in-processing at a new base. 

On my very first alert, I was incredibly nervous, anxious, and worried beyond all mental capacity.  Here I was in my role in the military and I'm sure my commander could sense that I was insanely nervous.  When it was my first sleep shift, I tucked myself into the bed mod with that copy of Bloom and fell in love with the Hampton family.  As Kelle Hampton share her family experiences, they helped calm as I did my first alerts.  If you've never read Enjoying the Small Things, you're missing out.  In that space, Kelle shares the trials, tribulations, joys, and laughter that her family goes through every week.  Bloom is just one segment of those memories, a time that starts when Hampton gave birth to her second child, Nella.  She starts her story with having the most perfect preparations in welcoming this new baby.  I had never heard of anyone not only being that prepared but even having a birthing celebration in order with champagne glasses in tow.  Her attention to detail and creativity was something that immediately picqued my interest.  However, when her new baby was welcomed into the world she found out that little Nella had Down Syndrome.  It was something that rocked Kelle to her core and kind of left her in an infantile state.  Her family and friends swarmed in to create this protective layer of love and support.  It was amazing to read that type of family dedication.  For me family means everything so it was beautiful to see that written out in a memoir.  I don't have any children, but I can imagine that anything that would create difficulties for your child or impair their development in any way would just hurt your heart. 

What I appreciated about Kelle was her brutal honesty about herself.  She was very upfront in how selfish she was at times and how in many circumstances she could only focus on her feelings because she had to take the time to wrap her brain around her new family dynamic.  A lot of her critics dislike that about her and in reading reviews of the book before I purchased it, a lot of negative comments were written about her.  Kelle touches on many similar comments in Bloom.  She wrote a blog post about her happy family and how DS wasn't going to bring them down right before they took a vacation to Southern Florida.  She had a difficult time enjoying that time off because of the comments that were made on that post.  I also saw similar comments where people basically denounced her experience.  It was almost as if people were saying because your child has x, y, z levels of DS, your experience is not reflective of my child's case of DS or what I've experienced with it.  Almost as if to chastise her on her life not being difficult enough.  That made me laugh.  It's her memoir in which she and her family choose to look at the optimistic points in their lives.  They incorporate that optimism into everyday events because they have a family and want each of their children to live life to the fullest.  Should she be sad and concerned and worried all of the time?  I certainly don't think so.  All that does is exhaust the body and mind. 

Personally I would rather spend that time enjoying what's beautiful in life.  With my job, that's what we focus on.  When we're off of work, we spend time with family and friends.  We sit outside and admire the sunshine and we laugh a lot.  Our job is exhausting and we spend more time away from our families than with them.  If we didn't choose joy, we would probably have mental breakdowns.  The term "embrace the suck" filters in and out of our minds, so we choose joy to combat those negative thoughts.

I love the dynamic that Kelle Hampton has with her family and I am so glad that she has chosen to share a part of that not only in the emotionally-stirring Bloom, but also in maintaining a blog.  She helped me out with a different situation and I'm sure she has helped thousands of people.  I am so glad that I ordered her book.  I want to read it again and highlight quotes that moved me.  If you haven't visited her blog, do so.  Her family is adorable and like I said, she is so creative!  One of my favorite "fun" posts is the Christmas party she planned. 

You should read Bloom if you want a true story that inspires and teaches perseverance.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it was a beautiful book to read at this point in my life.

A Reflection on Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love

Last summer, after I discovered Ruthie Hart's blog, I saw a few of her book recommendations and she so strongly encouraged people to read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  I respect Ruthie's opinion and during the days when Ryan and I only had one care, waited for him and trekked to Barnes and Noble.  That was also the day that I ran into a very elderly man who would not leave me alone, but that's another story.  Over the next few months, Redeeming Love collected dust on one of my numerous book shelves as it waited for me to pour through its pages.  I started it after one of my alerts and couldn't put it down.  I became enamored with the characters and I wanted to see Angel succeed and find the love of God.  After starting it, it only seemed fitting that I would share an Instagram photo and I received so many "likes" and comments.  I even got more book recommendations on what to read by Francine Rivers.  After reading Redeeming Love, I know that I will definitely be checking out more of her work. 

If it were a movie, don't you think Hayden would be a perfect Angel?  She's beautiful but sassy and I think it would be awesome to see her in this role.  Plus Henry Cavill is so handsome, a perfect Hosea!

As much as I like book reviews, I think I'm going to stay away from that and try to apply this one specifically to my life and why I like them versus why everyone should read it.  Hopefully this works, so bear with me.

Angel is a prostitute during the gold rush in California.  Originally from the East Coast, she was sold into prositution and her earlier life wasn't any kinder to her.  Growing up, she grew cold and bitter at life and stopped trusting people, especially men.  Michael Hosea is a farmer who conveniently is in the gold rush town to sell goods when he sees Angel for the first time.  He immediately feels a call from God that this woman should be his wife.  The story goes on to tell their trials and tribulations in the theme of Gomer and Hosea, a story from the Bible. 

Y'all, I loved this book! 

Most of the book focuses on Angel's character development.  I think Rivers could have gone further into this and at times I did feel like she went a little too briefly over some of Angel's past.  I think it would have helped the reader to understand why Angel's personality was so hardened.  Rivers' lack of detail kind of forced the reader to side with Michael Hosea but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  I loved the character of Michael Hosea.  I would have loved to read this in high school, especially those times when you feel like you're never going to find a good guy to date.  I should have probably read this in college too, to be honest.  Michael Hosea represents all good men.  Men of their word who have honor and a quiet strength about them.  He had never-ending love and patience for Angel, regardless of how difficult she made life for him.  I also loved the new characters and families that were introduced later in the book.  It was as if you were growing with this couple in their love.

This book made me pause in reflection with my own marriage.  I wrote earlier in this post that I probably should have read this book in college, just because I was at a point where I was really frustrated with my personal relationships.  I was casually dating and I almost felt like I was dating just for the sake of dating.  The guys in college were smart, handsome, and career-driven.  I'm sure if I looked any of them up, they were probably successful in buckling down a job right away.  One of them was part of the NFL Draft and from what I understand, is at the very least, practicing with a professional team.  Despite how these guys looked on paper, I was rarely truly happy.  I've written about this before but there was definitely a point where I was almost certain that no guy that I met in college was going to follow me through the Air Force.  It was a sad thought and one that I just came to terms with at that time.  I decided that I should still date but these relationships quickly turned out to be fleeting and at surface-level I said that I just wanted it be casual, but deep down it hurt that I didn't think that I would be able to have more.  I remember spending nights incredibly frustrated, staring at texts, trying to decipher what each thing meant.  I would try not to put too much thought into each of these small details, but after awhile it was just exhausting. 

Ruth, the mom of one of my best-friends, said that we just need to be happy.  We wanted that quality relationship, but we were letting ourselves focus on things that weren't important.  She said that we needed to make ourselves happy first and then we'd soon find out that people are attracted to happy people.

So I prayed.  I often prayed while walking to the ROTC detachment on campus and I prayed on the long walks back to my sorority house.  I asked God to help me in my pursuit to be happy and I'll just do my best to put faith in the situation.  I didn't let go right away.  I was dating a really nice guy who right now is on his way to becoming a doctor.  I knew that the relationship wasn't going to go anywhere, but looking back part of me thinks that I was just really worried to be alone.  Maybe I was 50 shades of shallow in college, but regardless of what front you put up to the world with your organizations and leadership titles, you could still be lonely.  So somewhere in that flurry of figuring out personal relationships, Ryan, my future husband, walked back into my life.

I like to think of Ryan as a gift from God because I seriously was not expecting him at all.  He was literally in Afghanistan when he started talking to me and I was in Wisconsin.  All I knew was that he had me swooning.  He was 1). incredibly handsome 2). a Marine (ladies, a man in uniform, c'mon), and 3). we could have hours of conversation.  In reading Redeeming Love, whenever God spoke with Michael, I could relate to feelings of excitement and confusion.  I could also relate to Angel with feelings of distrust.  I wanted to fall in love with Ryan but I didn't want to end up looking like the college girl idiot who had fallen for another impossible relationship.  There was a distinct moment in which I was very upfront with him and basically laid it out that if he wanted to have a casual thing while he was on leave that was fine.  I went further and said that there was no need for him to basically tell me all of these sweet things, if that was the case. I think I hurt his feelings.  I was honestly worried that his post-deployment leave meant that he was going to be hooking up with girls from back home until he had to head back to his base.  Fortunately that wasn't the case.  For me that verbal declaration gave me some semblance of power in the relationship knowing that I could say that I didn't care that it was casual, as long as we both understood that.  It was actually really hard for me to say that, especially to Ryan because I cared so much for him.  It basically helped create a boundary to hopefully help prevent any hurt. 

I didn't want it to be casual, I loved him and I knew he was in my life for a reason. 

There was a hiccup in our dating where after we decided that despite long distance we were going to make it work, I could tell he was distancing himself from me.  That was hard to take because I was certain that we were falling apart and that would have only reinforced every negative bias I had for relationships.  I was sitting on my bed and received a phone call from him saying that he thought that we maybe should go back to what we were before we made it official.  I was trying to keep my composure but I was really torn up over that.  I finally had this beautiful relationship and then the other half of the equation wanted it be casual.  I was heartbroken.  I remember sobbing to my sorority sister, Lindsey and she was such a calming light in that really dark time for me.  What you've got to understand is that by that point in time I thought I finally had this relationship that I deserved.  I had this beautiful man who loved me and wasn't out to use me and then BAM there it all went.  I was devastated and my self-worth was probably at an all time low.  I remember Ryan texting me and I could barely text him back.  I didn't want to.  Memories of miserable college-relationships, fueled with frat dance parties and beer came to mind.  

More praying happened and I basically felt like God (and Lindsey) were telling me that if I let it go and if he was the good man that I knew he was, he'd come back to me. 

Within the next couple of days, Ryan apologized and said he made a terrible mistake and that we should be in a relationship together.  He had been hurt in prior relationships before and he didn't want to see ours fall apart due to the distance.  Of course, me being headstrong and loyal, had no idea where he was coming from with that.  He had gone to a party with his Marine friends and realized that all he wanted was to be with me, not surrounded by these people or dancing with any other girl.

A few weeks later he asked me what I thought about marrying him.

I totally thought he was kidding but that's a story that I'm sure I've told many times here.

Reading Redeeming Love reminded me that sometimes you just have to let faith and hope do work.  Not everything can be planned and managed, but you grow in faith and love.  This story also taught me what it means to be a more earnest partner and spouse. 

I recommend this book, whether you're married or not.  I speaks volumes on patience, love, and compassion.  I also loved the characters in the book.

Have you read Redeeming Love or any of Francine Rivers' other works?  What did you think?

Total Frat Move #TFM

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