The Saturday Six

One.

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LOVED this one. If you're a brought-up-in-church-child of the 80's and 90's, you will remember most of these, I'd bet! Don't even tell me you don't remember the WWJD bracelets, the True Love Waits pledge cards, and reading {or if you're Bekah, collecting} Brio magazines. {Bonus points if you ended up in college with the Brio cover girl!!!} {I did!!!}

Two.

COMPLETELY switching gears...last week at work, we got a review copy of a new book called Ask the Past: Pertinent and Impertinent Advice from Yesteryear. From how to kill bedbugs circa 1777 to how to cure pimples circa 1665...there's much to learn. I found out there is also a BLOG for this...and you should check it out. Hilarious advice and remedies from days of yore. Kinda makes me glad I was born...circa now.

Three.

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Do you guys watch Flip or Flop? We like watching it when we can...but I just read this article about Tarek, the host, and how a fan of the show encouraged him to get a lump on his neck checked out, and it ended up being thyroid cancer. Incredible story - and a good reminder of the importance of second opinions!

Four.

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 My friend Ronda's niece has started a new site called Lend the Love. She got married last year, I believe, and she and her family worked hard to make beautiful wedding decorations...and then weren't sure what to do with them! So this site allows former brides to register their decorations and new brides can rent them. Win-win for both!!

Five.

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Wanted to share this with you in honor of Mother's Day...whether we're grieving or celebrating this weekend, let's do it well.
Six.

I've turned into a reading fool again. It's such a delight. I have missed reading for the last, oh, four years or so. I wanted to squeeze this book in before I left WBCL. We got a copy there to review, and I wanted to peek at it before Lynne did! It's Colleen Coble's latest, The Inn at Ocean's Edge.

I actually got to meet Colleen last year, when she came to the studio to be a guest on Mid-Morning about her friend Diann Hunt's book For Better or For Worse that was made into a Hallmark movie. Ryan and I went to the red carpet premiere for that movie up in Fort Wayne, and through all of that, I came to know that Colleen is a sweet, genuine woman with a love for people and writing. So...I knew I had to read the new book as soon as it came out!

The Inn at Ocean's Edge is set in Maine, and while I've never been there in person, I've always wanted to visit, so one delight of this book was feeling like I actually made a trip to Maine! Colleen's descriptions drew me into every sight, sound, and smell of life on the ocean. {And since you all know how much I love the water, you might know how very happy this made me.}

She weaves suspense with romance, and blends them in a beautiful way. The book tells the story of Claire Dellamare, a successful young woman working alongside her father to grow their family business. They've arrived at the Hotel Tourmaline on the coast of Maine in hopes of closing a significant business merger, but just after arriving, Claire begins to learn details about her childhood she'd never known before. She begins to hunt for answers to clear her own mind, but it's not long before the hunt takes a series of urgent turns, with lives and reputations at stake.

The rest of the book is a wild ride of surprise twists, unexpected characters, and the never-ceasing internal rush to connect the dots before the characters do. Colleen weaves in splashes of faith, romance, marine life, mystery, and courage alongside the complexity of family relationships that we all experience on some level, even if the details look a bit different for each of us. 

I read the book - all 318 pages of it - in one day, and a good chunk of that took place at the salon during a cut and color. I had no clue, until she tapped me on the shoulder to inform me I was done, what length OR color my hair was...that's how deeply I was engrossed in the book. Thankfully, she's trustworthy, and it was only slightly darker and shorter than I'd imagined. But at the conclusion of the haircut, I was only halfway through the book and didn't care if my hair had been green and an inch long. I had to get home to finish the book!

Thanks, Colleen, for the affordable vacation to Maine, the new book-friends I made within the pages, and the gift of your captivating story-telling!