Posted October 25, 2017 in Faith, Review / 0 Comments
A Call to Mercy by
Mother Teresa Publisher: Image (2016)
Hardcover (384 pages)
Via: Blogging for Books Rating: Synopsis
Published to coincide with Pope Francis's Year of Mercy and the Vatican's canonization of Mother Teresa, this new book of unpublished material by a humble yet remarkable woman of faith whose influence is felt as deeply today as it was when she was alive, offers Mother Teresa’s profound yet accessible wisdom on how we can show mercy and compassion in our day-to-day lives.
For millions of people from all walks of life, Mother Teresa's canonization is providentially taking place during Pope Francis's Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. This is entirely fitting since she is seen both inside and outside of the Church as an icon of God's mercy to those in need.
Compiled and edited by Brian Kolodiejckuk, M.C., the postulator of Mother Teresa’s cause for sainthood, A Call to Mercy presents deep yet accessible wisdom on how we can show compassion in our everyday lives. In her own words, Mother Teresa discusses such topics
as:
the need for us to visit the sick and the imprisoned
the importance of honoring the dead and informing the ignorant
the necessity to bear our burdens patiently and forgive willingly
the purpose to feed the poor and pray for all
the greatness of creating a “civilization of love” through personal service to others
Featuring never before published testimonials by people close to Mother Teresa as well as prayers and suggestions for putting these ideas into practice, A Call to Mercy is not only a lovely keepsake, but a living testament to the teachings of a saint whose ideas are important, relevant and very necessary in the 21st century.
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Tagged as 5 star, Read 2017
Posted March 8, 2017 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
The Bear and the Nightingale by
Katherine Arden Series: Winternight #1 Publisher: Del Rey (2017)
eARC (322 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Also by this author: The Girl in the Tower,
The Winter of the Witch Also in this series: The Girl in the Tower,
The Winter of the Witch Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge,
2016 Royal Challenge,
Read 2016 Synopsis
At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.
After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.
And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.
As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Read 2016
Posted October 22, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Beauty Begins by
Chris Shook,
Megan Shook Alpha Publisher: WaterBrook Press (2016)
Hardcover (208 pages)
Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2016 Synopsis
You are, and always have been, beautiful.
“Beauty begins. That’s the point of this book. Our understanding of beauty got started somewhere and somehow, and probably due to someone. Now that may have been a good start, but then again it may not have. But regardless of what your past looks like, we want to offer up this word of hope: it’s never too late to make peace with your reflection.”
We live in a culture that’s obsessed with beauty. Walk by any magazine stand, turn on a television, or visit the local shopping mall, and you’ll be bombarded with the images and ideals that our culture believes are the epitome of what it means to be beautiful. And if you’re like most women, you’ve probably spent countless hours trying to measure up to this standard of beauty whether you realize it or not.
But if you don’t make peace with your reflection, you’ll end up declaring war on yourself.
That’s where mother-daughter team, Chris and Megan Shook, want to help. In Beauty Begins, they explore the origins of beauty (hint, it didn’t start with a fashion magazine) and challenge each of us to trade the pressure of perfection for God's perfect love.
Poignant, relevant, and relatable, Beauty Begins is for every woman who wants to reclaim what it means to be truly beautiful.
Do you feel beautiful?
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Others may tell you that you’re beautiful, but do you believe them? Why not? Don’t let another day go by without believing and knowing that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
It’s time for you to exchange society’s cookie-cutter suggestions for what is beautiful and instead discover and reclaim what true beauty looks like – and the One who created it.
In Beauty Begins, Chris and Megan Shook share with you their own experiences and struggles with appearance and body image, as well as equip you with the wisdom to distinguish what’s artificial beauty and what’s real. Filled with heartfelt encouragement, insightful challenges, and undeniable truth, after reading Beauty Begins, you’ll never look in the mirror the same way again.
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Tagged as 4 star, Read 2016
Posted October 17, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Rebel of the Sands by
Alwyn Hamilton Series: Rebel of the Sands #1 Publisher: Viking Books (2016)
Hardcover (314 pages)
Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2016 Synopsis
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic. For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.
Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.
Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she’d gallop away on mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.
Rebel of the Sands reveals what happens when a dream deferred explodes—in the fires of rebellion, of romantic passion, and the all-consuming inferno of a girl finally, at long last, embracing her power.
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Tagged as 5 star, Read 2016
Posted July 18, 2016 in Reading, Review / 3 Comments
The Rose and the Dagger by
Renee Ahdieh Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #2 Publisher: G P Putnam's Sons (2016)
Hardcover (420 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Wrath and the Dawn Also in this series: The Wrath and the Dawn Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge,
2016 Royal Challenge,
Read 2016 Synopsis
The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.
In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.
Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.
The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.
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Tagged as 5 star, Read 2016
