The Saturday Six

One.

Listen to Ann's interview here 

We're covering new territory on the Conversation Cafe this week! I had a chance to talk with Ann Gabhart, who has written many books, but the series of hers that I fell in love with was the Hidden Springs Mystery series. (I reviewed the most recent book in that series a couple of weeks ago on the Saturday 6.) Ann was fun to talk to and shared some insights into her writing craft and the world of fiction in general. Hope you enjoy!

Two.

My friend Sarah Forgrave is doing a new series on her blog to help you know how to eat fast food as responsibly as possible. I loved this first post with practical suggestions of what to eat at a number of popular fast food restaurants if you're wanting to try to be good!

Three.

Have you ever had someone apologize to you (for something big or small) and rather than saying you forgive them, you just dismiss the offense as no big deal? Sure, that might make us more comfortable in an awkward situation, but this powerful little post explains why pushing for grace and forgiveness is so important. Well-written words from Andrea Summers.

Four.

 And not to belabor the topic of forgiveness, but I also wrote on that subject for the Annesley site this week and thought I'd share my words as well.

Five.

Easter is a week from tomorrow, FYI. If you're needing a quick decoration (that's geared more toward Jesus than bunnies), I love this free printable! 

 Six.

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I was absolutely giddy when I saw book 3 in Irene Hannon's Hope Harbor series had been released. The first book, called Hope Harbor released a couple of years ago and was one of the first fiction books I read after I quit my full time job. It rekindled in me a love for fiction, and as you can tell, I haven't quit since! Last year, I happily revisited the charming Pacific Northwest town in book two, titled Sea Rose Lane, and when I saw that Sandpiper Cove was releasing this spring, I had to read it. Immediately.

If you read my fiction reviews very often, you know I have a soft spot in my soul for books set in small towns, and Hope Harbor is just such a town. Charming and little, where the people know each other and actually cheer each other on in the most beautiful way. I was happy to see some of my favorites from earlier books, like Charley with his taco truck and, Luis, the grateful citizen getting a new chance in a new country.

This time, I got to know police chief Lexie Graham, a single mom grieving a past that remains mysterious to most of the townspeople, and working hard to make Hope Harbor a safe and pleasant place to live.  I'd met her in an earlier book, but this time I learned her story. She's investigating a string of vandalism incidents around town and more than one seem to be targeting Adam Stone (or Stone, as most people call him), an ex-con trying to build a new life among the people of Hope Harbor.

As you might expect from an officer of the law, Lexie has keen intuition, and she expects to find herself overly wary of Stone and his prison-riddled past. But for some reason, the change she's making seems to be more genuine than facade. As she reaches out to help professionally, she finds herself intrigued by this man she knows better than to associate with.

And indeed, Stone wants a new life. He wants friends and a place to belong. But a lifetime of hurt and betrayal makes him a bit skittish of trusting a town full of people who know he has a shady past.

As the two begin to work together to find answers to the vandalism, they begin to wonder if they'll also find a way to fill these massive, secret voids deep inside both of them.

This third installment in the Hope Harbor series was a sweet, insightful, easy read that kept me up late so I could see how it ended! Thoroughly enjoyable!

* I received a copy of this book from Revell but was not required to provide a positive review. * 

The Saturday Six

One.

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If it's cold and snowy where you live, today would be a great day to curl up and listen to a podcast! I've got the first Conversation Cafe of 2017 with author Erica Wiggenhorn. I've told you about her new Bible study, An Unexplainable Life several times, because I just completed it at the end of last year. (It's also the study Ryan and I are leading together with our small group.) I really enjoyed this study and it was a treat to get to hear from Erica herself about her passion for Christ and what she learned from studying the first half of Acts. If you're looking for a good study to start 2017, pick this one! And take a listen to Erica's heart!


Two.

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I found this post by Wendy Lawton at the Books and Such Literary blog, and though it's geared toward writers, I think the words are helpful for anyone working from home/getting back into homeschooling right about now. Wendy gives permission to ease back in, which was my exact plan as I returned to work this past week. I appreciated her validation that easing in wasn't slacking off, and perhaps we'd all have a better start to the new year if we allowed ourselves this very thing, rather than rushing headlong into a busy schedule and finding frustration at the inability to keep up!

Three.

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I haven't blogged much recently about my adventures in styling my capsule wardrobe, because I haven't completed any new sections of it! But when I started this adventure, one of the most helpful blogs I found was Audrey over at Putting Me Together. She is down-to-earth, real, shops at normal stores, has a normal body type, and I found her tips and ideas very helpful! This week she shared this post that I LOVED! Tons of ideas on how to figure out what you need in your wardrobe, if that confuses you. Really helpful post!

Four.

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One of the hard things about waiting for answers in the whole medical world is...well...waiting. I don't do it well, especially when I have to watch my Love hurting so much! I had mentioned in passing to one of my friends this week that I was frustrated as to whyyyyyyyyyyy {yes, read in a whine} God wasn't answering, and she reminded me that wait was an answer. {Sigh. I know.} Later, she shared this post with me, which was really convicting and comforting at the same time. Don't know if you're in a waiting game right now or not, but if so...read up! 

Five.

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Last year, I had the opportunity to join up with a team of writers to share posts in the Annesley Writers Forum. This week, they published one of my articles, which happens to be about our "Tuesdays at the Table" project. I'm excited to share that with you today, both to share about this project I love so much and also to share the site with you. Lots of great articles each week by a variety of women! 

Six. 

As you know, this past year I got in the habit of reading a book every week and reviewing it here on Saturdays. As far as I know, I plan to keep that habit this year, because I have loved returning to books after so many years of not having time to read.

But today I feel funny calling this last part a book review, since the book I read this week is considered an American classic and isn't going anywhere whether or not I loved it. But though I won't call it an actual review, I'll tell you that for the first time ever in my life, I read Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.

I had mentioned on a podcast not long ago that I'd never read the book, and my mom happened to have a copy that someone gave her for Christmas in 1947. (That's 69 years ago if anyone is doing the math.) So not only did I read an old book this week, I actually read an old book. I think it was as much fun to hold an old copy in my hands as it was to read the story.

Have you read The Secret Garden? If you haven't, the quick synopsis of the book is that it's the story of Mary Lennox, a little orphan girl who comes to live at Misselthwaite Manor with her uncle - although perhaps it's more accurate to say she comes to live with his staff. He's rarely there. She arrives in the winter, and the Manor is a giant, gray, tomb-like place to be, so Mary sets out exploring to keep herself occupied on the long days. As winter creeps into spring and she spends time outside in the gardens, she discovers a secret garden, one commanded closed by her uncle following the death of his wife.

The book was written in the early 1900's, so some of the words are unfamiliar to us now in daily use, and other words are used very differently in our language today. (I told Ryan I'd never read a book in which a female character talked about how excited she was to get fat.) There are also some sections written in a heavy Yorkshire dialect, so you have to slow down in those parts and read carefully to fully understand.

Mary and some other characters in the book believe the secret garden has magical powers, so if magic talk bothers you, you'll want to be prepared for that. But even with that, you could see a sense of innocence and fun throughout every page of this book that seems to be missing from much of what we might read in present-day books.

I particularly loved the way this book simply told a story. I'm pretty sure Frances wasn't worried with character development and multiple plot lines and all the things authors have to mess with today to be successful. It's just a fun story, and I was able to simply enjoy it.

When I was in college, one of my professors dearly loved to visit used bookstores and hunt for old copies of books. Treasures. I never understood it, but after reading this one, I am starting to see her joy in that. (Oh dear. I feel a trip to a bookstore in my future.) I say this because as I read through some reviews of this book on Amazon, I realized many of the copies for sale today are abridged versions and rewritten versions. There was something lovely about holding an untouched version in my hands to read, and I think I might like that again with another classic.

So that was my week with The Secret Garden. Ryan has asked if a movie version of the story is available. ;)

The Saturday Six

One.

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I realize that going on ONE cruise does not make me an expert, but I happened upon this article the other day and thought it had a lot of great advice! I was glad Ryan was a well-seasoned cruiser, because he knew all this stuff and made sure we did it on our trip, and it's true: things really did go smoothly because we followed these tips! So if you're thinking of cruising in the future, and you've never gone before, read this!

Two.

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This post is really a review of a journaling Bible {and a well-done review, at that}, but I'm sharing it because I adore her concept of creating a spiritual heritage Bible. If your kids are too young to journal on their own {or if their journals, like mine were at a young age, mostly contain the details of their latest crush's dreamy eyes}, this is a great way to help them keep a record of what they learned about the Lord, how their faith grew and was tested, and conversations you had together. Love this idea! 

Three.

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Every now and then I am invited to be part of a writing group along with other women, and that is always a joy for me. I'm pretty disciplined in my own writing, but there's something good for the soul about the accountability of writing for an audience outside my own and alongside a team of writers that push me to become better at what I do. Recently, I was invited to write an article on singleness for the Annesley blog, and it was published on their website this week. The ladies who write for this site are extremely talented, and I'm sort of a sweaty mess to be included alongside them. Here's the link to my article, but singleness was the topic of the month for September, so poke around and read very thought-provoking and wise articles by other single/formerly single ladies!

Four.

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I am sharing this article, because I'm guessing one or two of you out there might wrestle with this same conundrum. How do you work with/for people you consider to be friends, and find a way to be fair to everyone? How to you offer your talents and ask for compensation without looking mean? It's hard! I'm learning this as I do more work on my own, because my time does matter, and I want to be fair to myself and to Ryan to get paid for what I do, but at the same time, I feel like a big ogre charging my friends. If that's you {for any service!!} check this out.

Five.

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You guys know about glamping? I've read about it, but I think this takes the glamping cake. Have you seen THIS??!!?!? 
 

Six.

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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you guys. I might as well just come right out and say it. I didn't like the book I asked to review this week.


{Insert all the gasping, crying emoji faces here.}

I was so excited about this book because it's a marriage book, and I love marriage books. I love learning from other perspectives and finding new ideas to implement to make the marriage I have {and love} even better. So when I signed up to read Your Marriage Masterpiece by Al Janssen, I hoped I would be chosen to get a copy. And I was. I sat down with pen and ruler in hand, ready to underline and learn.

And I didn't like it. I feel horrible about not liking it, but it remains the truth. I'm baffled, because the book was first released in 2001, was updated and re-released in 2008 and again this year. While it doesn't have many reviews online, all but one from all three releases are glowing. And the one guy who didn't like it isn't a Christian and was bothered by all the God-talk. So I have no idea why I could not bring myself to connect with and learn from this book, which has found its way to its third release, but I couldn't and I didn't.

The book bounces back and forth between telling biblical accounts with a bit of a fictional license and telling real-life stories intertwined with marital advice. I am not opposed to fictionalized Bible stories. I've even written a few. But these were a bit too fictionalized for me. His angle for these stories is that they are told from the perspective of a couple of angels watching from Heaven. It was just a bit too much for me, but if that angle doesn't bother you, his storytelling is good, so you might enjoy it.

There were a couple of fictionalized parts that were more of a modern-day retelling of Scriptural accounts, like Gomer and Hosea, and I don't mind that method of teaching either, but I was confused as to why the fictionalized parts weren't all consistent one way or the other. 

In the sections of real life stories, I just found myself lost most of the time. I don't know the people he's writing about, and that's okay, but sometimes I would be reading along, eager to see what happened next, and the story just ended. Sometimes he stopped a story for a while and then picked it up later, but by that point, I'd forgotten who the people were, and I had to go back to find it. Sometimes the stories didn't end well, which is fine, because when you're sharing real life, sometimes that's the outcome. But I didn't always find the application spelled out after the story. It felt like abrupt transition that led to new stories I hadn't expected.

I'm so sad. I wanted to love the book. I really did. I did make myself read the entire thing, and I do think there are good bits of advice peppered throughout. Unfortunately I was so frustrated by the chaos that I couldn't focus on them to draw from them.

As a writer, I'm so sad to leave this review, because I know if it were my book, I would want it to be loved more than this, but I also have to be honest, and for me, it just wasn't a win.

* Bethany House provided a copy of this book to me in exchange for an honest review. *