Once Upon a Prince...

I love fairy tales. I'm a Disney geek through and through and always have dreamed about meeting my Prince Charming. I think most girls have that dream of waltzing around in a big poofy gown in the arms of their beloved and gazing longingly into his eyes.

I also love movies like The Prince and Me and The Princess Diaries. Oh to be a small town girl and be whisked away by a prince or be told that you are the princess of a country. Now, I'm not saying that I want to run a country...I can barely keep my own household afloat!

I'm also a sucker for romance novels. C'mon...you can't tell me after a long day of stress you wouldn't want to curl up with a book with a cheesy romantic aire and just lose yourself in the world of royalty, love, and romance. I know I do. Maybe that's what helps keep me "sane". Not sure, but I will choose to believe it for the moment.

"Once Upon a Prince" had a lot of the same similar ideas as the movie the Prince and Me: Royalty travels to foreign country, falls for a common girl, hides who he is, problems arise, becomes King, and so forth. The story was also fairly predictable throughout. But that didn't bother me at all. After reading books where you are trying to figure out the end, or remembering 500 characters and the storyline is so complex you need a Cliffs Notes and diagram to figure it out, it's nice to have an easy predictable read. I think the characters were easily distinguishable, relatable, and easy to understand. Even though I knew what was going to happen at the end, I still teared up. I guess I felt like I was Susanna, and was waiting for love to come along.

This is also a great story to show that you do not have control of your own life. You may have a "plan" as Susanna did, and like the beginnign shows, she was more in lvoe with the plan than the man she thought she loved for 12 years. Susanna had to let go and give plan over to God. And He obviously had more in store for her than she could have ever dreamed...far more grand, more full of love and passion than she probably ever let her heart desire.

I would recommend this book to those that love romance, predictable or non, those looking for love, those searching for a reason for their life. God's got it.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Wishing on Willows

When I first read the description of this book, it sounded familiar to me. I couldn't place why though. After I started reading the first chapter, I was like, "Wait a minute....Robin sounds familiar....." And sure enough; I was right. 

Wishing on Willows by Katie Ganshert was a nice little step back into Peaks with some familiar faces. I enjoyed reading Wildflowers from Winter, which was the prequel to this book. I sometimes have a hard time with series books, because I don't feel like they can live up to the first book (I've read some series recently that felt like they bombed compared to the original). However, Katie's style of writing had me drawn in once again and I felt like I got to know the characters more and meet some new characters. 

I can't wait to see where Katie takes us next. This is a good, easy, leisure read. Good, clean romance. 

Bread & Wine

When a small group from my church decided they wanted to read this for this month, and create some of the recipes from the book, I was really happy that when I saw that Thomas Nelson was having this books a BookSneeze selection. I was giddy with excitement as I got my package in the mail.

When I was flipping through it, though, it wasn't what I expected it to be. 

"My prayer is that you'll read these pages first curled up on your couch or in bed or in the bathtub, and then after that you'll bring it to the kitchen with you, turning corners of pages, breaking the spine, spilling red wine on it and splashing vinegar across the pages, that it will become battered and stained as you cook and chop and play, music loud and kitchen messy" Shauna writes on the back cover of the book. Even though in the book she says this is not a cook book, it is more of an collection of stories of her life. 

I was hoping for more recipes that are in here. This is not a book that I would bring into the kitchen with me. Some other people might, but that is not for me. My cookbooks are loaded with leftover food, stuck and curled pages. This book would never make it in my kitchen. 

I did find the book pleasing to read, and I will (try) to make some of the recipes in the book. And it will be interesting to hear what the ladies in the small group at church thought about the book too.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com®  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Letters to Katie

It's been some time since I've read an Amish inspired book. I think it probably was one of Beverly Lewis' ones. When I read the description for "Letters to Katie" it sounded interesting and I decided to give it a go. This is a sweet story centered around Katie. It took some time to get in to where the "letters" were going to be part of the story, but when it was finally revealed, it made sense. I quickly fell in love with the characters. This is an easy, quick read and I enjoyed it. If you are looking for a wholesome love story, this is a good choice.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com®  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

God "Hearts" Me

I'm a journaler. I love to jot down my thoughts, put pictures and items in my journal to keep as remembrance of things. My journal is much like a smashbook. I know this journal is supposed to be for girls, but as a thirty-something woman, I wish that this would have been available in a hard copy instead of an ebook. I love how the devotional for each entry makes it feel like it was written especially for me. It makes it personal. However, because I am a journaler, I would have love to have a little more writing time. To each their own I guess. I think that was the books only downfall. Great design, great readings, great time with God. 

Simply Delicious Amish

ONE WORD: YUMMO.

I LOVE Amish food and growing up we had Amish that lived in the area in Northeast Wisconsin (Still do and they drive past my parent's house all the time). It was always like a little slice of heaven when I would buy some cookies or fresh baked bread (Yeah....bread was something that I could NEVER master...so I would cheat and use my bread machine or go Amish). 

So when I saw the book Simply Delicious Amish Cooking: Recipes and Stories from the Amish of Sarasota, Florida by Sherry Gore, I was so excited. I flipped through the book and I can't WAIT to try  these recipes. I really enjoyed the Introduction and reading the stories through the book. And the pictures? Made me drool. I turn to mush when looking through cookbooks regardless. Glancing at the recipes, I was surprised to see some "special" ingredients (mashed potatoes in Cinnamon Rolls???!!!). Very excited to play. I love cooking, and this book just made my day!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com®  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Accidental Pharisees

My pastor read this book and presented it to our congregation. He said this was a challenging book. This is coming from a pastor who has read lots of different types of material. So I was happy to see that this was a BookSneeze selection. 

I agree with Pastor. It was a challenging read. It got right to the heart of things and dug in deep. Deep into scripture, deep into your heart, deep into your soul and really made you think about things. I liked the Discussion sections at the end of the each Part. This is a real eye-opening book and if you are ready to take a deep breath, jump off the cliff and learn more about God, yourself, your faith...then I suggest reading this. If you are ready to look in the mirror and acknowledge who you are, then this is the book for you. No turning back.