Review of Miriam by Mesu Andrews

This blog post is a review of Miriam by Mesu Andrews.

Back cover synopsis:

               The Hebrews call me prophetess, the Egyptians a seer.
But I am neither. I am simply a watcher of Israel 
and the messenger of El Shaddai.
When He speaks to me in dreams, I interpret. When He whispers a melody, I sing.

At eighty-six, Miriam had devoted her entire life to loving El Shaddai and serving His people as both midwife and messenger. Yet when her brother Moses returns to Egypt from exile, he brings a disruptive message. God has a new name – Yahweh – and has declared a radical deliverance for the Israelites.

 Miriam and her beloved family face an impossible choice: cling to familiar bondage or embrace uncharted freedom at an unimaginable cost. Even if the Hebrews survive the plagues set to turn the Nile to blood and unleash a maelstrom of frogs and locusts, can they weather the resulting fury of the Pharaoh?

Enter an exotic land where a cruel Pharaoh reigns, pagan priests wield black arts, and the Israelites cry out to a God they only think they know.

About the Author:
             Mesu Andrews is the award-winning author of Love Amid the Ashes and numerous other novels including The Pharaoh’s Daughter. Her deep understanding of–and love for– God’s Word brings the biblical world alive for readers. Mesu lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Roy and enjoys traveling to visit her growing tribe of grandchildren.

My thoughts: 
              I have a few authors that I really enjoy reading. Mesu Andrews is one of them. So when I got the chance to review her latest book I jumped at it. Miriam more than met my high expectations. It is well written. The characters are believable and the story is interesting. Miriam is a glimpse into what the life of Miriam, Moses sister, might have been like. It gave me a new perspective on what it may have been like to live in Goshen during the ten plagues. It is fiction but it is well researched and a believable posibility of the time period aND events. Miriam is the second book in the Treasures of the Nile series. The first book is Pharaoh’s Daughter but they are stand alone books. I really enjoyed reading this book. Mesu Andrews is quickly becoming one of my must read authors. I would recommend this book to teens and adults. You can visit the authors website here. If you read about the book on her website you will find a link to download the first chapter for free. I received this book from blogging for books in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review of The Magnolia Duchess by Beth White

This blog post is a review of The Magnolia Duchess by Beth White. This is the third  book in the Gulf Coast Chronicles series.

Back cover synopsis:

              As the War of 1812 rages across the newly formed United States, another war rages in Fiona Lanier's heart--one that threatens to tear her family apart.

Fiona can scarcely take in the news of her brother's capture and imprisonment by the British Navy. It is almost as unbelievable as the half-drowned British sailor who is washed ashore on the beach of Navy Cove.

Charlie Kincaid claims to have no memory of his life before being discovered by Fiona, but in a world that seems saturated with treachery, she cannot be sure he is telling the truth.
As Charlie's memory returns in agonizing jags and crashes, he and Fiona discover that falling in love may be as inevitable as the tide. But when political allegiances collide, they'll each have to decide where their true loyalty lies.

About the Author:

             Beth White's day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she writes historical romance with a Southern drawl and is the author of The Pelican Bride andThe Creole Princess. Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers' Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader's Choice Award. Learn more at www.bethwhite.net.

My thoughts: 
        The Magnolia Duchess was an entertaining read. It is the third book in the Gulf Coast Chronicles series but can easily be read as a stand alone book. This book sets a love story against the backdrop of the War of 1812. It combines history, suspense, drama, humor, and romance quite nicely into a nice, clean, entertaining, read with definite christian overtones. The characters seemed fairly relatable and they developed and grew throughout the story. At times I did have to focus on the story instead of being naturally drawn in but over all it kept my interest fairly well. It is a christian romance novel but had enough meat to the story to avoid being too fluffy. I would say that I enjoyed this book and recommend it to older teens and adults. I received this book in exchange for my honest review as part of the Revell Reads blogger review program. 

Review of Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

This blog post is a review of Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette.

Back cover synopsis: 

         "Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all.

          Choosing to flee with the Hebrews, Kiya finds herself reliant on a strange God and drawn to a man who despises her people. With everything she's ever known swept away and now facing the trials of the desert, will she turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?" 

About the Author: 

         When she is not homeschooling her two sweet kids (with a full pot of coffee at hand), Connilyn Cossette is scribbling notes on spare paper, mumbling about her imaginary friends, and reading obscure, out of print history books. There is nothing she likes better than digging into the rich, ancient world of the Bible and uncovering buried gems of grace that point toward Jesus. Although a pacific northwest native, she now lives near Dallas, Texas. Counted with the Stars is her first novel. Connect with her at www.connilyncossette.com.

My thoughts:  

        Counted with the Stars is the first book in a series called Out From Egypt by Connilyn Cossette. It is the only book in the series that has been released. I really enjoyed this book. Kiya is a young Egyptian girl who was raised in luxury, when her family falls on hard times she is sold into slavery to cover their debts. She is often ridiculed and mistreated by her jealous mistress. She is befriended by a young Hebrew girl named Shira who tells her about Yahweh. As they go through the plagues, circumstances dictate that Kiya and her family leave Egypt with the Hebrews. As they experience the early part of the Exodus Kiya comes to a turning point, will she choose to put her faith in Yahweh or will she turn back to Egypt. Counted with the Stars really made the ten plagues and the exodus come alive in my mind. It was very well written and the characters were realistic and relatable. This is a story that grabs your interest from the beginning and holds it until the end. If you enjoy Biblical fiction you will like this book. I would recommend Counted with the Stars to older teens and adults. Connilyn Cossette is definitely on my watch list and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.  Another plus, she is a homeschool mom!

     I received this book in exchange for my honest review as part of the Bethany House blogger review program. 

      

Playing Catch Up

Wow I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I have been super busy and gotten way behind. The last time I posted was Josh and Brittany's wedding and that has been a month ago now. The time has flown by pretty quickly.
    So when we got home from the wedding we got unpacked and settled back into every day busy life. The week after the wedding we started getting our supplies together for a strawberry picking field trip that we had planned. We went to 4 different stores before we finally found the mason jars and fruit pectin we needed. It seems that other people had the same idea we did because they were sold out in the first 3 places we looked. The following Monday Francie and I made a big family birthday dinner for mom. Josh and Brittany came up and we were all able to sit down for a nice family dinner together, we missed having Beau there and are all looking forward to having him home again. We grilled chicken and made a big salad, homemade rolls, and baked potatoes with a big strawberry shortcake for dessert made with homemade angel food cake. Yummy. The next day Noah, Ruthie, Abby, the kids, and I set out on a grand strawberry picking adventure. We had a blast! We ended up picking about 49 lbs of strawberries. Then we headed back to mom's and got started on putting them up. We made 27 1/2 pints of strawberry jam, ate countless strawberries, and put some in the freezer. A very productive day and fun field trip and home ec project!

 Just a few of the strawberries we picked.

               Strawberry jam cooking up.

                         Canning our jam.

             Part of our finished product.

     That Saturday the 26th was our 5th anniversary and Beau did his best to make up for the many miles separating us by spoiling me rotten. He really got into it this year and looked up traditional 5th year anniversary gift and flowers. Wood is the 5th year anniversary gift so he got me a wooden picture frame and two wooden plaques then he sent me a flower arrangement with daisies, the 5th year anniversary flower, in a wooden wicker basket. He outdid himself. He acts like Mr. macho man but he is so sweet and thoughtful and romantic to me. I love him so much and am so grateful to God for putting us together. I'm so glad that we trusted God with our love life and let Him write our love story because He did a much better job than I could ever have done. That day I stayed pretty busy cooking for the church dinner the next day. Then went out for dinner with Courtney and she stayed the night. It was nice it kept me from getting too lonely on our anniversary. The special days can be really hard.
        The next day was Resurrection Sunday. We had a full day. We had Sunday School and morning worship, then we had a dinner, then we stayed for the Spanish service and visited with them for a bit then we had devotional, and then we ate leftovers for dinner. Very busy day but lots of fun.
      The following weekend was the permanency of marriage convention. That was interesting we were able to make a lot of contacts for the church through that. Mom and Dad were in charge of the music and Dad, Nate, and Brother Clarkson preached at it. The church was well represented and hopefully we will see some results from it.
       The next weekend the kids and I went over to visit Bri and little Noah. We had a good time together. We were really brave and took the kids over to the gulf one day. We went to a state park that is usually pretty quiet and that has natural rock formations that form a shallow pool and blocks out the rough waves and keeps sharks out. It was nice until a cold front came in and the wind started to freeze us. We bundled the kids up and got them dried off and cleaned up. We drove around and let the kids nap then went to a yummy local restaurant for dinner. It was good. Unfortunately that cold front that blew in gave us all a cold and the kids fared the worst of it. We had to cancel our plans for the next day and instead spent a quiet day visiting. We came home late Sunday night.
       The kids seemed to be feeling better so we went out to church on Wednesday but it was too much and Hunter started running a fever and throwing up that night. We have been fighting the stuff ever since and still have the cough but thankfully seemed to be done with the rest of it. Rachel's 4th birthday was Sunday but she was a sick little girl so we are going to do something tonight after church instead. Well I am finally caught up for now. I have another review to do later. I have been able to get some nice books by doing the reviews.
      Please pray for my grandfather. My Pappaw Baldwin had a heart attack last week and they found out that his kidneys were functioning at less than 20% and his heart was functioning at 20%. The family was told that there wasn't much that they could do because of how bad it is. He seemed to improve and feel better and was stable so he was released Monday night to a nursing home for recovery. This morning about 7:30 he had another heart episode and was rushed back to the hospital. Please keep him in your prayers.