River’s Call, Review

 Book Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 302012
 

I like finding new authors to read. Especially since I read so much that my favorite authors can’t keep up with my voracious reading appetite…

I recently was given the chance to read Melody Carlson’s River’s Call. It is the second in The Inn At Shining Waters series.
The characters were very believable. Which is one of the first things I look for in a book. Anna is a mom, widowed and newly remarried raising her teenage daughter when life throws quite the curveball at them. Lauren came home from college suspecting she had the flu, turns out, she was pregnant.

Mix in a manipulative mother-in-law from Anna’s first and now late husband, the father of the new baby’s mother, trying to make a nice quiet inn successful and all sorts of interesting family dynamics ensues.

While the characters of the book are believable, and the story flowed very well, I was left unsatisfied with the tale. I truly did want to like it as much as I have fallen in love with other books. However, I felt that the dynamics with Anna’s new husband were not a major component of the story. And since I know how important one’s marriage is in relation to everything else, I just felt the lack. We didn’t really get to know Clark and his part in the story.

I will say that I long to visit the Inn at Shining Waters myself and get away. The place sounds like it would be amazing if it existed in real life. I could smell the river and see the fish jumping in my mind as I read the scenes that took place at the Inn.

The read was riveting and I did stay up late the night I started the book in an attempt to finish it. granted, being a mom of two young children, I had to give up and finish it later the next day.

I did enjoy reading River’s Call. I will warn you though that if you are wanting an overtly Christian book, this isn’t it. River’s Call is clean, no foul language or violence, but it isn’t overtly “Christian.” There are Christian themes and a small smattering of faith in the book, but for the most part, faith was left out.

I was given a copy of River’s Call by Melody Carlson from Glass Road PR. All opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone and no other compensation was received

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Back to Normal!

 Crazy Life, Guest Posts  No Responses »
Mar 172012
 

Sort of.

Greetings all. This is HubbaHubba. I am here to assure you that the malware that had affected my wife’s site is gone and the vulnerability that was exploited to put it there is gone. We are fairly certain that this only affected the site for the past two days and if you have a Chrome browser then it would not let you get to the site during the time the malware was on the site. That being said we are also fairly certain that the malware was more focused on the website and getting our passwords than attacking you as the person visiting.

Rest assured that all our passwords have been changed and our site is again clean. Also this malware did not spread itself to our readers. However, as any good “techie” would and should do; I would like to take a moment to remind all our readers of the importance of being proactive with regards to viruses and malware. Make sure you have ONE anti-virus and ONE malware/spyware program installed on your computer. It does not help your computer to have multiple and actually will slow your CPU down! A few good free ones that I suggest are Microsoft Security Essentials which does both Virus and Malware scanning, AVG free (Virus only and make sure you install the free version or it will expire in 30 days.) and Malware bytes. (Malware/Spyware only) Now for all you bloggers out there., don’t assume your site is exempt from malware. As we found out even if you have very strong passwords in place all it takes is for someone to find a loophole in your theme/blogging software and exploit it. Ours was caused by a theme that wasn’t updated for several months. So for all you bloggers/website owners I would like to take this moment to remind you to UPDATE YOUR SITE! Even if you are afraid of messing it up. Trust me it is a lot easier to fix something that you messed up yourself rather than trying to find something that someone else put in your site where you have no idea where it is.

Next I would like to give you some resources that we found cleaning up our site. Sucuri offers a free website checkup to see what you have in your site. The problem is that it will only tell you what is there not how to remove it or even where it is. That takes a little more digging/googleing unless you pay for their services. Also, while I am on this soap box, a word of warning to churches/christian based websites. Many of these organizations think that because they are a church or a good person they won’t be targeted by hackers. Actually that is often the opposite of what happens. Some hackers are teens/kids that just want to see how much they can get away with, however, some organize themselves and work together to reach a common goal. One such group who shall remain nameless (which is a synonym for their name) has time and time again targeted churches since they are atheists and believe it is their cause to take down the evils of religion as they see it. Jesus told his diciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matt 10:16) so please remember that we live in a fallen world full of people who do not always play by the rules. Always make sure you have your sites updated, your antivirus running and a good malware program scanning what you see on the internet. Now back to your semi-regularly scheduled programming. (Love you Babe!)

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Well, Things Look a Bit Wonky…

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Mar 172012
 

I’m sure you’ve noticed that my blog doesn’t look quite right at the moment. I can explain. Sort of.

Turns out someone embeded some code on my site and Chrome caught it. Google Webmaster Tools kept insisting there was nothing there. After going over the blog yet again tonight, HubbaHubba found the coding on my landing page and got it off there (it directed to a site known for malware, but according to Chrome, I hadn’t spread it). So then in trying to update my theme, well, it decided to delete the blog.

Thankfully HubbaHubba was able to save all my posts and files, but we had to slap up a theme and things aren’t quite right at the moment. It is past midnight in our time zone and well, neither of us are capable of much cognant thought at the moment (when did we get so old? We used to be able to stay up untill all hours of the morning) So since I had been wanting a page redesign anyway, there’s no time like well, tomorrow when we’ve had enough coffee to function.

So please bear with me as this mess gets straightened out.

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Sorry for the Slam in Reviews, And I’ve Been AWOL Again

 Crazy Life, Homekeeping, Random Thoughts  2 Responses »
Mar 142012
 

So, I’m guessing you’ve noticed I haven’t been writing much recently. Ok, so until today I hadn’t posted in a month (sorry for the slam in reviews, I had to get those up ASAP). I don’t have a reason really. I’ve gotten behind on everything as it is. Between everyone getting sick the week after Sabbath week, resulting in the house getting totally trashed, catching that up and now the nice spring weather is starting so I’m starting the massive deep spring cleaning…
I know I should write. I know that I need to sit down and schedule myself time to write. However, doing so feels sort of selfish and like I’m cheating my family. I started this blog at the insistence of my wonderful husband just over two years ago as he noticed that when I have an outlet for my writing I seem to function better. And while I do admit that writing does bring me great joy, I feel selfish sitting down to do it when I have dishes to wash, floors to sweep and children who need my attention. While I agree that if I have an outlet for myself like this I can be a better person and more productive in the long the run and have a happier family for it, I feel selfish taking the time from now for something that seems to be for me. I don’t know if anyone else has this issue or not. If you do, could you let me know?

Another issue is the fact that I lost most of my blog followers with the demise of Google Friend Connect the start of the month for non-Blogger blogs. My husband wasn’t able to get the new Linky Followers widget on the blog until the second week of March (Love hectic and busy schedules…) and well, my GFC followers were lost. That was rather depressing actually.

We are still tethering through my husband’s cell phone for internet access for the computer so the only time I can be online with it is if I walk to someplace with WiFi or work when he is at home. Blogging on my phone is rather a pain ;-) . Our choice for internet isn’t working out due to geographical issues (less than a mile out of the service range…Yet we can get signal with them.) and the other options are not viable financially or have very strange and long contracts and restrictions on data usage. I really dislike working online when my husband is home. I would much rather be spending time with him. And I’ve learned that I can’t be doing anything tech a good hour or two before bed if I’m wanting to sleep.

I also don’t know if you have noticed or not, but I am no longer doing reviews for The Old Schoolhouse. I can’t go into the details, but it was time for me to take my life in another direction that did not include them so I resigned in January and finished the last of my reviews with them. I know that a lot of you had come to depend on reviews of various homeschooling products, and while I really enjoyed getting to try new things and my time on the Crew, it was time for us to part ways. So, for the time being, unless I find another homeschooling review opportunity, please don’t be surprised to not see those sorts of reviews posted on my blog for a while (I may write about what we are using and what we like, depends on if I have time to write).

So, if I’m extremely sporadic in posting in the coming months that is why. I realize it isn’t a good way to build this blog, but at this time, I’m not sure what to do. If you have any suggestions, please, let me know. I’m needing ideas on how to make this work better.

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Song of My Heart Review

 Litfuse  No Responses »
Mar 142012
 

A good story will transport you places. It is as if you are there, in person watching the story unfold. You can feel the breeze of prairie, smell the blooming wildflowers and hear the horses nickering in the distance. I was transported to the town of Goldtree Kansas while reading Song of My Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

Song of My Heart is set during the 1800s in the town of Goldtree, Kansas. It is an up and coming town that has a lot to offer for people looking for a new start. Sadie Wagner arrives in Goldtree after her cousin secures a job for her in the mercantile so she can help provide for her family after her stepfather is injured in an accident and can no longer work. Sadie is full of hope for what the future holds for her as a clerk and with the promise of being able to use her singing talent. Unfortunately, she had no idea what sort of trouble she would end up finding herself in. Sadie ends up entangled with an illegal moonshine operation and being forced to perform under duress. Can she find it within herself to stand up to her employer and stop participating in immoral activities?

Thad McKane finds himself as Goldtree’s first sheriff. He was hired to find out who is producing the moonshine in the area and to bring them to justice. After that, he intends on attending seminary to atone for the actions of his father. Will Thad learn that he isn’t responsible for his father’s choices? Will he find the source of the alcohol?

Then, what happens when Thad and Sadie meet? Can their new courtship survive the trials that come?

I loved reading this book. It was as if I was there watching it unfold in front of me. I love authors who have the ability to draw you in and make you a part of the happenings. When the characters have to sort through some very sticky issues and they don’t come through unscathed brings a touch of realism to the story. Kim Vogel Sawyer did this very well in Song of My Heart. The characters were realistic, had what could have been real problems and worked through those in a way that was believable.

Go see what other’s thought of this book with the BLOG TOUR and if you really want to and can’t wait any longer to read it, go BUY THE BOOK (no compensation as this is not an affiliate link)

Kim Vogel Sawyer is sponsoring a Facebook Party and a Nook giveaway

Win a Nook Tablet from Kim Vogel Sawyer and RSVP for her “Song of My Heart” Facebook Party {3/29}!

Celebrate with Kim by entering to win a Nook Tablet and connecting with her at the Book Chat Party on 3/29!

One “songbird” winner will receive:

  • A Nook Tablet
  • Song of My Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 3/28/12. Winner will be announced at Kim’s Book Chat Facebook Party on 3/29. Kim will be hosting an evening of chat, fun trivia and more! She’ll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, and much more!
So grab your copy of Song of My Heart and join Kim and friends on the evening of March 29th for an evening of fun.

Don’t miss a moment of the fun. RSVP TODAY and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 29th!

I was given a copy of Kim Vogel Sawyer’s Song of My Heart from Litfuse in exchange for this review. All opinions are mine and mine alone and no other compensation was received.

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