Reece's Rainbow

I have been currently reading several adoption blogs. I hope to adopt someday and I am considering adopting a child with special needs. Through these blogs I have found the website Reece's Rainbow. This is a website that lists special needs children and has places for people to donate towards the adoption of these children. The pictures are heartbreaking. These children were abandoned at the hospital right after they were born for the only reason that they were not "perfect" according to the world's standards. I have printed out two of these pictures and am praying everyday for these children since I am not in a position to adopt any right now. I am going to try to donate money to some children's accounts every month. I would urge everyone to take a look at those pictures and consider either adopting one of those children. If you are not able to adopt I would urge you to consider donating to their accounts and praying for some of these children. Many of these children have never experienced love and what it is to be wanted. Maybe with your help we could change the futures of these children.

In Too Deep by Mary Connealy

A marriage of convenience to Ethan Kincaid seems to be the only option Audra Gilliland has after her husband dies leaving her with two small children to look after. She does not want to be a burden to her step-daughter, Julia, who is only recently married herself to Rafe Kincaid, Ethan's brother. She has been looked after all her life by men, with very disappointing results. She wants to show her new husband that she can stand on her own and that she doesn't need someone to care for her. Ethan Kincaid agreed to the marriage because it seemed to be the only option. He kept away from people as a general rule and tried not to feel anything too deeply. He plans to hold his new wife at arms length and not to get his emotions involved. He tries to protect her and keep her safe, but as he does he starts noticing that he is starting to care deeply for her and it terrifies him.
This book is the second book of the trilogy, The Kincaid Brides by Mary Connealy. The first book is Out of Control and is about the oldest brother Rafe Kincaid. In Too Deep is the story of Ethan Kincaid and his journey to finding love and really finding himself. This book can be read alone, but it is a good idea to read the first book if you want to really understand the back story. In each book there is the main story line about one of the brothers and side story line of intrigue that goes through all three books.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the story line was very good and I was very captivated by it. It was slightly predictable, but of course, so are mostly all romance novels. I kind of feel the story was more about Audra than Ethan. That might have been because I really connected to her character though. You really wanted Audra to stand up for herself and for her to know that she was strong and that all she had to go through in her life was just bringing her to this spot, where she could finally find happiness. Ethan's story line didn't captivate me as much. He was a good character in the story, but he wasn't my favorite character. He viewed himself as a coward and tried to do anything to prove that he wasn't. I thought that he was a little stuck on the past and sometimes it bugged me that he couldn't get over it, but that was his character in the story.
The ending was pretty good. It left a lot of loose ends that will be completed in the third novel. I can't wait to see how the story of the Kincaid brothers ends. I will definitely be reading the third book about Seth Kincaid, the third and youngest Kincaid brother, when it is published. I can't wait!!!
Bethany House Publishers provided this book to me for free in exchange for this honest review.

Giveaways

Ok, I know I said that I was going to try to write everyday...but of course, that is not how things workout. I have just discovered blog giveaways. I know, probably something I should have been aware of a long time ago, but unless I stumble across something or I am told about it, I normally do not think of these things on my own. Since then I have been scouring the Internet to find blogs that are doing book giveaways. I love reading and am always trying to find ways to read books for free since I have a very limited budget for books. My husband groans every time that I tell him I bought another book. Not necessarily because of money issues, but primarily because of space issues. I am currently two deep on my bookshelf and there really isn't much room for more. Oh, well. If there's a will, there's a way.
I may do a blog giveaway sometime. I do have two copies of one book that I would like to share with someone else, but we will see. :)

Westerns

I normally do not like Western books, but I love Zane Grey novels. I am currently reading The Wilderness Trek, my second favorite Zane Grey book. It is about two American cowboys who had to leave America and go to Australia. They hired on with a local cattle baron and started a trek of three thousand miles with eight thousand cattle across the never-never. A trek that they estimated would take them two years. There are many hardships along the road that they have to face including, shortage of water, cattle stampedes, aborigines, treachery, and murder. It is amazing to read about Australia from this author's perspective. Australia is one of the places that I really want to visit someday.

The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck

One dress, four women. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck is the story of how one wedding dress touched four different women's lives. It gave them the courage to do what was right, it was uplifting in a time of need, it was comforting in a time of grief, and it gave a future. The book follows the lives of two women very closely. Charlotte, a young engaged woman who owns her own wedding dress shop where she prides herself with finding the perfect unique dress for each bride.  She bought a trunk at an auction and when she opened it she found a pristine wedding dress inside that was around 100 years old. Emily, the bride who the dress was originally designed and made for. She lived in 1912 where she was expected to marry the man her father picked for her because his family had the best social standing in town. 


I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first that I would like it since I normally don't like modern day romances, but since half the book took place in 1912, it was a good mix of modern and old-fashioned. I thought the story was very well-written. Rachel Hauck did a great job of switching back and forth between the two main stories with the other two stories intertwined. I thought that the concept of the story was great. The fact that one dress could touch and change four different women through time was a great idea.  The characters were very real. They weren't perfect. They had moments of weakness and strength that we could all relate to. 
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a heart warming story to brighten up their day. 


 I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Hearts Awakening

So, yesterday, I read yet another book. My total of books read this week is 5 1/2. Best week I've had in a while. I bought an ebook off of christianbookstore.com and stayed up really late reading it. The book was Hearts Awakening by Delia Parr. It was a book that I had been keeping my eye on, but didn't want to spend too much money on, so when I found it for pretty cheap, I went ahead and bought it. I really liked the book. It was my typical Christian historical romance that I usually read. It was about a single, 31 year old woman, who in that day was a spinster. She agreed to a marriage of convenience in name only, to a man who had two little boys and needed someone to take care of them. She wanted to escape her cousin who had taken her in after her parents died and who viewed her as a burden that was forced on him. Both she and him had many issues to overcome as they learned to live together. Both their relationships with each other and with God are challenged. I thought that it was a very well written book. It did have a very predictable twist near the end, but I find as a whole that most of the books in the historical romance genre are pretty predictable. This book was a tear jerker, but that may have just been me. I tend to cry a lot during books and movies and any sad things in them tend to draw out tears. This is a book that I would really recommend to someone who likes a story of strength and overcoming difficult pasts, with some romance sprinkled in, along with two adorable little boys who really steal the whole book :)

The Hunger Games

This week I read The Hunger Games. I read all three in 48 hours over the span of three days. Don't ask me why, but I take great pride in how fast I can read books. After reading the books, I am really excited to see the movie, I just hope it is as good as the book.
I really enjoyed this series. I like trilogies so it was no surprise that I would like this series. I did wait a while before I read them, though. I normally do not like reading books when they are popular, but my friend had them on her Kindle and since they were such easy access, I decided that I probably should read them. I thought it was an excellent trilogy and very well written. There were times when I was frustrated because of how dense Katniss could be, but that was her character so I just accepted it. These were books that I will probably read again. If you like futuristic fantasy books, these would be a great choice.

Really good video

I was on Facebook today and one of my friends posted a video from Youtube entitled Sex has a price tag. This is an excellent video and I would recommend that everyone watch this. The speaker makes excellent points even if you are not a Christian. I fully believe in no sex before marriage and both my husband and I were virgins when we got married. We even saved our first kiss for the altar. This is an wonderful video to show all teenagers and those who think that having sex before marriage is not harmful and just for fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFYPigFlp7w

Random Thoughts...

I am going to try to write something everyday, doesn't have to be much, just some of my random thoughts.
So, today I finished reading Just David by Eleanor H. Porter, for about the tenth time. I adore this book. It is one of my favorite books of all time and I try to read it about once a year. If you are looking for a good, wholesome, sweet book to read that won't take much of your time, this would be an excellent choice. It is about a little boy named David living in a mountain home with his father. He lived for his violin and played heavenly. His father became ill and they had to leave their mountain home. The book follows the journey of David as he learned to adjust to a world so different from the one that he was used to and how he touched so many lives with his spirit, his view on life, and mostly, his violin.
If you are at all interested, you can find a free download of this book at amazon.com.