Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “A Mother’s Greatest Gift” direct from the publisher CFI (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read | my original note to join the blog tour:
I’m a Prospective Adoptive Mum which is why I talk openly about my future role as a Mum throughout my blog, especially if I am reading a selection from Children’s Lit and/or a novel about adoption or foster care. I also have a special sidebar section about it too. I haven’t sought out a lot of books about parenting or on being a mother as I’m still a few years away from being in a position to bring this prayer forward into my life but this particular book interested me within my heart. I’d love to be able to read it & share my thoughts on motherhood from the perspective of a singleton who is going to adopt children out of foster care and who lives her life with spirituality and God at the center of it.
I’m a non-LDS book blogger who is a champion for Cedar Fort’s fiction & non-fiction! I love the INSPY* driven feel to the stories and I like the inspiring life affirming non-fiction offerings too. This one felt like I should read it due to where my path in the future is leading me to go. I’ve been wanting to adopt children for quite a long while now; but everything has a season, and right now mine is to be a book cheerleader and book blogger.
I openly talk about my spirituality and faith life, except I do not oft paint the picture specific to where my beliefs lie in Christianity, as I embrace and study World Religions, whilst keeping in mind that my blog is read around the world — I wanted to keep the relatablity factor open, whilst I try to keep everything in broad strokes which are transparent and accessible to all. I love pulling thoughts and affirmations from different sources that give such a positive light on how to live well whilst we live through the love and hope which nurtures our spirit as much as encourages our faith.
*INSPY by definition refers to “Inspirational Fiction” the main branch of Literature for ‘faith-based literature’ and is non-inclusive to one particular religion as it is accepting of all denominations and religions as a whole; wherein the stories are rooted in a faith-centered life. Faith is an individual walk and journey, thereby the stories under this umbrella of a genre ‘Inspirational Fiction’ is as diverse as the seven seas and the populace therein on the continents.
Strengthen your connection to the spirit and learn to depend on the Lord for all your parenting questions.
This inspiring and insightful book shares personal stories, research, and interviews that will teach you how to seek out the Holy Ghost. Learn to keep the Spirit in your home so you can have help with whatever parenting problems come your way.
Harness the power of a mother's prayer.
Take refuge in the Comforter and stories of divine intervention
Strengthen your ability to hear the Holy Ghost
Heed the voice of warning when it comes.
Rely on faith, trust, and patience when the heavens seem silent.
Whether your children are tiny, teenaged, or grown, this book will keep you connected to the best gift you could have as a mother and the best one you can pass on to your children -- a legacy of listening to the Spirit's still, small voice.
Heidi Poelman was born in Provo, Utah. She lived in North Carolina, San Diego, London, and Mexico before planting her roots firmly back in the Beehive State. Heidi received her degrees in communication from Brigham Young University (BA) and Wake Forest University (MA).
Her experience includes working in public relations for high-tech companies, helping college students fight global poverty, teaching families about nutritious food storage options, writing stories for children, and her favorite post as full-time Mom. Heidi is the author of A is for Abinadi: An Alphabet Book of Scripture Heroes as well as several stories published in The Friend magazine. Her biggest fans are her husband and three children.
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “A Boy back from Heaven” direct from the publisher Plain Sight Publishing (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Heaven is for Real was a book I was going to read until my Mum read it ahead of me, and we decided that it was simply a heap more fun to converse what the contents were about than for both of us to read it separately! This is something that we have done for quite a long while (years truly!), as we like to experience the stories we find through the way in which we each re-tell the heart of what was inside the books! We get into these wicked stellar fireside chats, including whilst out and about at coffeehouses where it is not unlikely for people to overhear our conversation and believe we’re speaking about those who are living rather those that are writ in a fictional world! Laughs. Except in this case, the boy truly did live and have an experience of Heaven which the world has since embraced.
For Heaven is for Real, it was one of a succession of books we were discovering about walks in Heaven, as ahead of this one, we had learnt of The Five People You Meet in Heaven which is the book my Da read prior to the televised adaptation which we all watched together. This was quite lovely as Da took the reins to lead the discussion before the film started, and then afterwards we all reflected on what was in the adaptation and the wider scope of the story itself. 90 Minutes in Heaven was quite a bit more intense, which is why I opted not to read it personally, but I did see the film adaptation and I must confess it is not for the faint of heart, as the emotions are quite epic but well placed.
There are times in my life where I find myself able to drink in a hard-hitting story through a film adaptation a bit easier than a book — in part, because I have an empathic heart who is sensitive to the lives others have led and the circumstances that have given them trauma. Even good trauma is hard to read at times because your still connected through your heart to what the other person lived. Other times, such as seeing A Boy back from Heaven coming up on tour, felt like one I could handle whilst reading.
What inspires me the most about all of these stories, is how convicting they are as conjoined memories of a place that not all of us are able to see ahead of time but how their memories become stitched together in ways that are truly a key to how Heaven isn’t as far away nor as unimaginable to believe as some might think. I love these stories because they speak to the root of the human condition and to the human’s acceptance of what cannot yet be seen but what is plausible and accepted on faith. I truly believe that each of our stories has a measure of importance for each person who picks them up; as we never truly know how many lives we can touch simply by having shared our story with someone else.
Stories are our lifeblood as much as they are way of communicating ideas; the true stories stitch a special thread into our connective tapestry and give us a grounding of where we are and where we can go next. It is part of how we understand our humanity as much as it is a beautiful uplift of reflective narrative on how each of us has so much to learn and gain simply by embracing the life we’ve been given to walk.
"Mommy, are you sure you're not mad that I didn't want to come back?"
Celeste and Billy Goodwin sighed in deep relief when their four-year-old son, Matthew, finally came to consciousness after critical surgery. But just when they seemed to be in the clear, Matthew's eyes rolled back in his head, and he became unresponsive for several harrowing minutes.
Doctors called the episode a medical anomaly, but what really happened can only be described as a miracle. When Matthew returned, it was with a perspective and wisdom about life and love that was far beyond his years. Experience the serenity of heaven through a child's eyes as you read Matthew's true account of his walk with angels and his shocking revelation months later about the angels' identities.
Not to be confused with a similar title:
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Alex Malarkey (info)
Celeste Goodwin, pediatric hypertension advocate, is a Christian speaker, patient advocacy presenter, national award-winning mom, and founder of the National Pediatric Blood Pressure Awareness Foundation. Her passion to help others is evident by the dynamic presentations in which she uses humor and her love of God to encourage change. Through her writing and speaking, Celeste encourages others to never lose faith and to always rely on the power of prayer. She ignites thought provoking transformations in the hearts and minds of those she communicates with. Her effectiveness is evident by the honors she has received, such as being selected by Disney owned Babble.com, as one of 2011’s Top 100 Moms Changing the World in the education division. Celeste was honored as Baton Rouge City Social Magazine’s January 2012 Extraordinary Woman. Celeste has appeared on local and regional news, radio, and television programs. She has also been featured in varying print media.
Last year, I participated in an epic historical fiction blog tour on behalf of a novel I was itching to delve into ever since it was first offered to me to review for the tour itself! The novel I’m referring to ended up being one of my Top Picks for 2014 (which is included on my End of the Year Survey for 2014; not yet released at time of this posting) due to the breadth of the story combined with the scope of a story-teller who left me ruminatively happy! “To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis” changed my perception of historical fiction as much as “Inscription” by H.H. Miller. Both writers wrote genre-bending narratives that etch themselves into your mind and heart, to a level that sets the bar quite high for others who follow suit.
I was captured by the journey Ms. Watkins was taking on the Trace, camping out in front of a computer with my Mum & Da, watching her videos like you might serial tv! Each video was honest and shot straight from the Trace itself! The only takeaway we wished we had of that experience is the little green calling card for “To Live Forever” which Ms. Watkins held up during each video! She captured our spirits by her unwavering honesty and her cheeky humour which gave us a lift of joy! Whilst she was on the Trace, I hosted her for a review and an interview (the latter of which she replied to at a stop!), but I knew then, what I know now… Ms. Watkins was one author I would support throughout her career. She has something quite special to share with the world and I knew I had discovered something quite extraordinary!
I was contacted by Ms. Watkins who put me in touch with her publicist in regards to reviewing her first non-fiction release, an autobiography of her journey on the Trace and the time she spent with her father. I was honoured she had reached out to me and I quite happily returned a reply to accept. I received a complimentary copy of “Not Without My Father” from Word Hermit Press in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On my connection to Ms. Watkins:
I felt connected to Ms. Watkins before and after I read her debut novel, “To Live Forever” whilst attempting to keep in touch with her via her blog. Life ebbed and flowed in the months between when I first met her through the blog tour and January 2015 when I am hosting her for the second time, but one moment in particular I remember we both experienced the same agony at the same time! In July 2014, we were both bitten by spiders and equally allergic to them! We had a lovely conversation about it on Twitter, and I couldn’t help smiling realising despite the miles, she understood what I was going through! She’s an incredible writer and motivating spirit — a person I am genuinely thankful my path has crossed with and of whom I am thankful to interact with during the year.
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with her through her blog as much as I enjoy our random conversations on Twitter. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.
Can an epic adventure succeed without a hero? Andra Watkins needed a wingman to help her become the first living person to walk the historic 444-mile Natchez Trace as the pioneers did. She planned to walk fifteen miles a day. For thirty-four days.
After striking out with everyone in her life, she was left with her disinterested eighty-year-old father. And his gas. The sleep apnea machine and self-scratching. Sharing a bathroom with a man whose gut obliterated his aim.
As Watkins trudged America's forgotten highway, she lost herself in despair and pain. Nothing happened according to plan, and her tenuous connection to her father started to unravel. Through arguments and laughter, tears and fried chicken, they fought to rebuild their relationship before it was too late. In Not Without My Father: One Woman's 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace, Watkins invites readers to join her dysfunctional family adventure in a humourous and heartbreaking memoir that asks is one can really turn I wish I had into I'm glad I did.
Andra lives in Charleston, South Carolina. A non-practicing CPA, she has a degree in accounting from Francis Marion University. She's still mad at her mother for refusing to let her major in musical theater, because her mom was convinced she'd end up starring in porn films.
In addiction to her writing talent, Andra is an accomplished public speaker. Her acclaimed first novel To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis was published by Word Hermit Press in 2014.
I was selected to be a tour stop on the “We’ll Always Have Paris” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher Sourcebooks, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Being a lifelong traveller who appreciated visiting different areas throughout her home state as much as the states nearby and further away, I can attest my best travels were always in companion with my family. I have travelled numerous times independently, but there was always something missing — the key component for me is the person who was not there to ‘share’ the randomness of the joy and the unexpected (oft-times humourous!) moments which knitted together to prove to be the best stories told long after I had returned! I love sharing the adventures of life but sometimes what I enjoy more is discovering someplace new with someone beside me to see their perspective and to re-define my own at the same time.
Some of my fondest memories are travelling with my Mum on a road trip which criss-crossed through the Southeast, Midwest, and Eastern starboard side of the United States. We spent nearly four years on the road and travelled over 15,000 miles in total. The stories of life on the road are some of my favourites of the recent past, but it was the way in which we spent our hours and delighted in our discoveries whilst on the road that have kept with me the most! Including all those silly moments, like trying to sort out the right number to ring a radio DJ about the crazy stunt they were attempting to pull off for the holidays or ducking into the Grand Ole Opry just to see the festive decorations!
When I originally saw this memoir become available for review, I was quite eager to see how other Mums and daughters recollect their travels together! Read More
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Acquired Book By:I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Seven Letters from Paris” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Sourcebooks, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
From the moment I first saw Seven Letters of Paris adverted for this blog tour with France Book Tours, I *knew!* I wanted to become a part of the readership who not only found a new voice of literary merit to follow an emerging career of but to become part of the magic that eclipsed one woman’s life after a twenty-year search for truth, romance, and a life that all of us would be blessed to find! I was caught up in the synopsis breathing in the life of a woman I had not yet become acquainted with but captured by her real-life Romance whose blurb read like a bonefide Romance novel!
What impressed me the most was how wicked it was her relationship with Jean-Luc had a bit of a false start in France, but a continued connection through postal mail & correspondences with a bit of a wee gap between his seventh letter and her first! The story that is between the two letters is what held me in suspension – my curious heart beating quite rapidly like a hummingbird’s wings and my intent to read her memoir grew out of yearning to know the finer details of her life!
Early-on when I find an author I feel I can either relate too or simply want to get to know a bit better not only through reading their book(s) but on a personal level, I quickly see if they are on Twitter! Twitter has become such a wicked avenue of connecting with writers I blog about (whether on a blog tour, an off-blog tour review, a library book I attached myself too, or any numerous way a book can enter a person’s life) that I am always most delighted when I find them in the twitterverse! Ms. Vérant’s story inspired me from the moment I learnt of her memoir, and I knew at heart she was a romance lover which is why I had invited her to join my weekly Romance-centered chat #ChocLitSaturdays! We were happily able to connect through that chat for a short bit and I have enjoyed getting the chance to know the writer behind the book!
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with her through Twitter and privately as well. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.
Twenty years, seven letters, and one long-lost love of a lifetime
At age 40, Samantha Vérant’s life is falling apart-she’s jobless, in debt, and feeling stuck… until she stumbles upon seven old love letters from Jean-Luc, the sexy Frenchman she’d met in Paris when she was 19. With a quick Google search, she finds him, and both are quick to realize that the passion they felt 20 years prior hasn’t faded with time and distance.
Samantha knows that jetting off to France to reconnect with a man that she only knew for one sun-drenched, passion-filled day is crazy-but it’s the kind of crazy she’s been waiting for her whole life.
Samantha Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if occasionally unconventional, French chef. Over the years, she’s visited many different countries, lived in many places, and worked many jobs — always on the search for the one thing that truly excited her. Then, one day, she found everything she’s been looking for: a passion for the written word and true love. Writing not only enabled her to open her heart, it led her to southwestern France, where she’s now married to a sexy French rocket scientist she met in 1989, but ignored for 20 years.
Second Chances & Second Beginnings:
How I have managed to focus on stories of second chances and second beginnings back to back, I dare not know, but the fact remains that part of my appeal to read Seven Letters from Paris is mirrored by my admiration for Up at Butternut Lake; as both are a positive notation on how second chances and second beginnings can erupt out of unexpected hours whilst you were not expecting anything extraordinary to occur. Point of truth is that I think we are always a bit bogged down on the stories where there is not a known positive resolution to the journey two souls take to find each other. Inasmuch as there is such a negative focus out there in the world of books and motion pictures, that seeking out a reprieve that focuses on the purest of joys and the most encouraging aspects of our lives is paramount to maintaining a heart full of happiness. I love seeking out books lit from within with a glowing resolve of warmth, light, and love. I love stories that focus on the heart and soul of the character(s) who tether their lives into my own conscienceness and the best blessing on having discovered this particular book is an affirmation seen at the conclusion of Ever After: the most important part is the fact they actually lived. (am paraphrasing as the exact words elude me)
A Mother's Greatest Gift: Relying on the Spirit as you Raise Your Children
A Boy back from Heaven (a true story)
Not Without My Father: One Woman's 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace
Andra lives in Charleston, South Carolina. A non-practicing CPA, she has a degree in accounting from Francis Marion University. She's still mad at her mother for refusing to let her major in musical theater, because her mom was convinced she'd end up starring in porn films.
Seven Letters from Paris