The Sunday Salon (Apr.17)

This week was a good week for my mailbox! I got two books: “The Lady of Bolton Hill” by Elizabeth Camden (which I am sooooo excited about! — won a review copy from LibraryThing.com’s “Early Reviewers” program), and “Live Loved: A Devotional” by Max Lucado ~ a book I only just found online last week! (it came up for review, via FIRST Wild Card Tours, and it shipped out super-fast!)

 

I also got my first issue of “Timber Home Living” magazine ~ a subscription I’d ordered via one of the kids’ school fundraisers back in November. I’m so excited that I’ve finally gotten my first issue, as I’ve been waiting & waiting. I love this magazine!

I’m also excited because this coming week, I get to put in another order at Amazon! I’ve decided that, instead of waiting ’til June and ordering all of the books I want to get, I’ll order 3-4 each month between now & then, saving only the two that are being published in late June for that later order.

So, this week, I’m hoping to order the following: “Sun Stand Still” by Steven Furtick | “The Love of My Youth” by Mary Gordon | “Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working” by Craig Groeschel | and “Entwined” by Heather Dixon. Below are the descriptions [courtesy of Amazon.ca, or the publishers' websites]:

 ”Sun Stand Still” by Steven Furtick
About the Book: “Does the brand of faith you live by produce the kinds of results in your life that you read about in the biblical stories of men and women of faith? Chances are, not even close.” But it doesn’t have to stay that way. In Sun Stand Still, Steven Furtick challenges you to believe that the audacious faith that we see in the Bible, the faith that caused a man to pray and see the sun stand still in the sky, is the same faith we can claim for ourselves today. This is more than just another book. It’s a call to all of us to begin living the life of audacity God has created and saved us for.

 ”The Love of My Youth” by Mary Gordon
About the Book: Miranda and Adam, high-school sweethearts now in their late fifties, arrive by chance at the same time in Rome, a city where they once spent a summer deeply in love, living together blissfully. At an awkward reunion, the two—who parted in an atmosphere of passionate betrayal in the 1960s and haven’t seen each other since—are surprised to discover that they may have something to talk about. Both have their own guilt, their sense of who betrayed whom, and their long-held interpretation of the events that caused them not to marry and to split apart into the lives they’ve led since—both are married to others, with grown children. For the few weeks they are in Rome, Adam suggests that they meet for daily walks and get to know each other again. Gradually, as they take in the pleasures of the city and the drama of its streets, they discover not only what matters to them now but also more about what happened to them long ago.
 
Miranda and Adam are masterfully portrayed characters, intent upon understanding who they are in relation to who they were. A story about what first love means and how it is shattered, and the lessons old lovers may still have to share with each other many years later, The Love of My Youth is also a poignant look back at the hopes and dreams of a generation and what became of them.

 ”Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working” by Craig Groeschel
About the Book: Normal people are stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Many of their relationships are, at best, strained and, in most cases, just surviving. Even though we live in one of the most prosperous places on earth, normal is still living paycheck to paycheck and never getting ahead. In our oversexed world, lust, premarital sex, guilt, and shame are far more common than purity, virginity, and a healthy married sex life. And when it comes to God, the majority believe in him, but the teachings of scripture rarely make it into their everyday lives.
 
Simply put, normal isn’t working.
 
Groeschel’s WEIRD views will help you break free from the norm to lead a radically abnormal (and endlessly more fulfilling) life.

 ”Entwined” by Heather Dixon
About the Book: Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it’s taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He’s trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

They all sound soooo good! I can’t wait to have them show up!

Lastly, I’m excited about two books that I have coming to me from the local library ~ both of which I’ve been waiting (what seems like) FOREVER for! “Awakened” by P.C. & Kristin Cast {the lastest installment in the “House of Night” series!}, and “Unlimited: How to Build An Exceptional Life” by Jillian Michaels. The latter I got to look through at the store, the other day, and now I’m even more anxious to get my hands on it! It seems like just my kind of book!