Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart book review....

ANGEL SISTER

by Ann H. Gabhart

About the book: 

It's 1936 and Kate Merritt works hard to  keep her family together. her father has slipped into alcoholism, he mother is trying to come to grips with their dire financial situation, and her sisters seem to remain blissfully oblivious to all of it. Kate could never have imagined that a dirty, abandoned little girl named Lorena birdsong would be just what her family needs.

In this richly textured novel, award-winning author Ann H. Gabhart reveals the power of true love, the freedom of forgiveness, and the strength to persevere through troubled times, all against the backdrop of a sultry Kentucky summer.

My review:

This is a wonderful story of family secrets and forgiveness set during the Depression.

Sadly, little Lorena Birdsong's parents can't afford to take care of her anymore so the leave her on the church steps in hope that a nice family will take her in and care for her; but not before her mother tells her that the person who cares for her will be an Angel. So when Kate Merritt, aged 14, the middle sister of the new family who takes her in becomes her main care-taker, that is exactly what Lorena thinks Kate is...her Angel sister, sent by her Mommy to bring her food and make sure she is alright. Kate relates so well to Lorena because she is still  so emotionally young herself; being the middle child of a family caught in the middle of the Depression and a whole bunch of family secrets....

Make sure you have a full box of tissues before you read this one. I laughed and cried, which is exactly what I like in this type of book. There is just so much raw emotion, that you can't help but fall in love with this book and it's characters.

About the author: 

Ann is a country girl, born and raised on a farm in the Outer Bluegrass region of Kentucky.   She grew up working on the farm and enjoying the woods and animals. Her roots grow deep in the land, and she now lives on a farm just a mile away from the farmhouse where she was born and raised.

She started writing when she was ten and has been writing ever since. Her first novel, A Forbidden Yearning, was published by Warner Books in 1978 and was a historical romance about the settling of Kentucky. Since then she has published twenty novels for adults and young adults. She has been going to the same small country church since she was seventeen and used her memories of how it used to be in The Scent of Lilacs. She says, "I love small churches where everybody is like a big family and all ages interact with one another. My church was established in 1812 and I        like thinking about all the people who have served the Lord there." 

  http://www.annhgabhart.com

Buy a copy of 'Angel Sister' here.

Enjoy your day!!

~Steph

We have a winner....

The winner of the

'Random Act of Kindness Heart'

from Hide-A-Heart

is Dawn.

She has been notified by email and has 48 hours to respond

or a new winner will be chosen.

CONGRATS to Dawn :)

Have a great day!!

Cranberry Naturals review & giveaway.....

Old Orchard was way more than generous with the items they sent me to review :)

Here is what came in my package:

           

&

2 coupons for free juice :)

First of all, my daughter, the model will ONLY drink cranberry-raspberry juice

or water, so this was wonderful to see this flavor come in the mail :)

The shirt was a complete surprise and fit me perfect!!

And, it is ever so comfortable :)

I love it!!

What I would like to do here, is share the wealth a little....

I would like to give away 5 bottles of this wonderfully tasting, and

absolutely good for you, Cranberry Naturals juice.

~~~~~~

Now...for the giveaway.....

~~

I am giving away 5 coupons for a 64 ounce juice

U.S. and Canada entries only please.

~~~~~~~~

Mandatory Entry: Visit Cranberry Naturals and tell me which flavor you would choose if you win.....AND.... You must follow my blog via GFC.

Extra Entries: You may do as many of these as you like AFTER you complete the mandatory entry!! If the mandatory entry isn't done first, the rest of the entries will not be counted. Make sure you include your email address in each entry, so that I can easily contact the winner.

Leave a separate comment for each entry please.

~~~~

Tell me you favorite flavor of juice of all time.

Follow Old Orchard on Twitter, leave handle. (2 entries)

Like Old Orchard on Facebook, leave handle (2 entries)

Make a purchase from Old Orchard (15 entries) must prove if you win!

(purchase must be on or after today's date)

Tweet about this giveaway, can be done three times per day

(Must be at least four hours apart)

Share on facebook or other social network, leave me proof!! (2 entries)

Subscribe via email. (3 entries)

Subscribe via feed. (2 entries)

  ** New ** Follow my personal blog (Karma Is...) via GFC (5 entries)

Follow my chronic pain blog via GFC (3 entries)

Follow me on Facebook. (2 entries)

Follow me on Twitter (2 entries)

Enter another one of my giveaways (2 entries each) 

Tell me where you found this giveaway (2 entries)

Add this giveaway to a giveaway linky. Tell me which one. (5 entries)

Blog about this giveaway, leave me the link. (10 entries)

~~~~

This giveaway will end on 5/2.

A winner will be chosen, contacted via email,

and will have 48 hours to reply.

If no response, I will choose a new winner.

Best of luck to everyone :)

Dragonbreath Review & Giveaway......

Danny Dragonbreath's Lunch vants to suck your blood!!


Danny Dragonbreath knows that school lunches can't be trusted.
But even Danny is surprised when his hot dog bites his best friend, Wendell.
Suddenly Wendell is having strange craving, sprouting back hair,
and itching like he's never itched before.
Could Wendell be morphing into...a were-wiener???

My boys and I absolutely loved this book. We were so generously given a copy of
this book to keep for reviewing it. My boys laughed so hard when I read it to them.
My eleven year old has since read it twice through on his own :)
This book is very funny, and the graphics are great!!!

Now...for the giveaway.....
~~



The author has generous enough to also give away


a copy to one lucky winner.

U.S. and Canada entries only please.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me who this book will be for if you win. AND, You must follow my blog via GFC.

Extra Entries: You may do as many of these as you like AFTER you complete the mandatory entry!! If the mandatory entry isn't done first, the rest of the entries will not be counted. Make sure you include your email address in each entry, so that I can easily contact the winner.

Leave a separate comment for each entry please.

~~~~

Tweet about this giveaway, can be done three times per day

(Must be at least four hours apart)

Share on facebook or other social network, leave me proof!! (2 entries)

Subscribe via email. (3 entries)

Subscribe via feed. (2 entries)

  ** New ** Follow my personal blog (Karma Is...) via GFC (5 entries)

Follow my chronic pain blog via GFC (3 entries)

Follow me on Facebook. (2 entries)

Follow me on Twitter (2 entries)

Enter another one of my giveaways (2 entries each) 

Tell me where you found this giveaway (2 entries)

Add this giveaway to a giveaway linky. Tell me which one. (5 entries)

~~~~

This giveaway will end on 5/2.

A winner will be chosen, contacted via email,

and will have 48 hours to reply.

If no response, I will choose a new winner.

Best of luck to everyone.

I need new night-eyes.....

So this morning I woke up and realized I absolutely have to throw away my night eyes!!

I've known for awhile now...they just haven't been doing the trick.

They have slowly been ripping at the edges, etc, etc.

They were the best pair that I have ever had, and believe it or not, they were free to me :)

Kellogg's sent them to me with a cereal sample!! 

I've been wondering what I was going to replace them with ....

And then I found these at EdenFantasys....

If these aren't the most adorable blindfolds/night eyes as I call them, 

I don't know what are :)

But then, I just love dragons and the whole Asian theme.

Here are a couple other things that I'm totally going to get this time around from EdenFantasys....

Knead Me massage set

and the 

Illume happiology candles
They come in three scents:
- Mint / Yuzu
- Sunflower
- Agave / Bamboo

So what do you think?

Have you checked out EdenFantasys lately?

If not? Check them out now.

Tell me what you think.

~Steph

"Song Of The Silk Road" by Mingmei Yip book review...

'Song of the Silk Road'

by

Mingmei Yip

As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Lily Lin was captivated by

photographs of the desert--its long, lonely vistas and shifting sand

dunes. Now living in New York, Lily is struggling to finish her

graduate degree when she receives an astonishing offer. An aunt

she never knew existed will pay Lily a huge sum to travel across

China's desolate Taklamakan Desert--and carry out a series of tasks

along the way.

Intrigued, Lily accepts. her assignments range from the dangerous to

the bizarre. Lily must seduce a monk. She must scrape a piece of clay from the famous Terracotta Warriors, and climb the Mountains of

Heaven to gather a rare herb. At Xion, her first stop, Lily meets Alex, a young American with whom she forms a powerful connection. And soon, she faces revelations that will redefine her past, her destiny , and the shocking truth behind her aunt's motivations.

Powerful and eloquent, Song of the Silk Road is a  captivating story of self-discovery, resonant with the mysteries of its haunting, exotic landscape.

About the Author:

Mingnei Yip was born in China, received her Ph.D. from the University of Paris,

Sorbonne, and held faculty appointments at the Chinese University and Baptist 

University in Hong Kong. She's published five books in Chinese, written several

columns for several major Hong Kong newspapers, and has appeared on over 40 TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the U.S. She immigrated to the United States in 1992, where she now lives in New York City. Visit her at www.mingmeiyep.com.

An interview with the author:

Stephanie: Can you tell us something about yourself that not a lot of your readers don't know?

Mingmei: Besides my hectic writing schedule, that I still manage to take time
to perform the Chinese zither (guqin) professionally - last year I was
invited by Carnegie Hall to play at its Chinese Music Festival -- and teach
calligraphy workshops. 

Stephanie: What is your favorite part of the writing process? 

Mingmei : After I labor through getting down the first draft, as I polish up

my writing, I begin to enjoy my characters and their trials and struggles as
they work towards a happy ending. In my writing, I meet people like the
Chinese herbalist and blind fortune teller in Song of the Silk Road, whom I
might never meet in real life. 

Stephanie: Do you have any quirks that come out while you are writing?

Mingmei: I just plunge into my writing and ignore everything around me. Since
I was a tiny girl I have always preferred life inside my own head. 

Stephanie: What is your daily routine as a writer? 

Mingmei: I don't have a chance to write every day, but when I do, I write
eight or nine hours non-stop, then I eat Chinese take-out and fall asleep. 

Stephanie: What inspired you to write your first book?

Mingmei: I wanted to bring back to life the strong women of an earlier era
in China when almost the only choices for women were being a wife (actually,
one of several wives sharing the same husband), a Buddhist nun -- or a
prostitute. Despite this some women overcame the barriers to become
independent and creative artists. 
Some mingji, prestigious prostitutes, also called geishas, left
behind poems and paintings providing windows into fascinating but often
tragic lives. 
I decided to give these talented, powerful women -- silent for centuries --
a voice. 
The result is my first novel Peach Blossom Pavilion, which I'm happy
to say, is now in its fifth printing.

Buy a copy here.

~Steph