Big Book of Juices & Green Smoothies

The Juice Lady’s (also known as Cherie Calbom) ‘Big Book of Juices & Green Smoothies’ is not only a recipe book with more than 400 recipes, but a tool to help the reader realize the goal Ms. Calbom dreams of helping others achieve and that is radiantly vibrant health. She includes a couple of testimonies in the introduction. One from a woman who had severe health issues whose life was turned around by juicing and the other from Ms. Calbom herself. Her testimony is inspiring.

The first chapter is what she calls, ‘All about juicing’ and that pretty much covers it. Lots of details and instruction on juicing.

Then starting with chapter two she fills each chapter with numerous recipes, and yes more tips and training.

This book seems like a good beginner’s guide to juicing and smoothies, but if you have specific health issues that you want to address, she gives you juice recipes to incorporate into your diet to do so.

If you are interested in juicing or making smoothies, or in just finding out more on the topic, I’d recommend reading this book. If you are wanting to get into juicing or know someone who is, then you will probably want a copy of the book for yourself. If you have specific health issues you want to work on, you will want your own copy as well.

My favorite part is actually in the introduction as she describes her reasons for doing what she does. That isn’t to take anything away from the rest of the book. It is full of great recipes for helping one get healthy and staying healthy.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a temporary digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Sound Like Fire by KD Veron

What will the last days look like? Will some people be aware that the time is short? If there is a rapture, will everyone who goes to church be raptured with the church?

There have been many writers and speakers, preachers and teachers who have shared what they believe the Bible has to say on these things. ‘A Sound Like Fire’ by KD Veron is one more voice among the roar of voices expounding upon this subject. A voice I haven’t heard of before, but his handling of the subject is done very well.

Although Mr. KD Veron approaches the subject in a fictional format, he uses verses of scripture on the subject at the beginning of each chapter.

I don’t know if his vision of the last days covers things correctly or not, but he presents a very strong case for being ready and real in your Christian walk. I suspect things will be worse than Mr. Veron portrays them as being in his book, but even if they are not, he shows a disturbing enough picture of those days to encourage fence sitters to get off the fence and be ready.

As I read this story, I got the impression that Mr. Veron did a lot of research into various aspects of the novel that he outlines in great detail.

My favorite parts are in chapters fourteen and the epilogue. It is my hope that many will read this and examine where they stand with Jesus.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a temporary digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Judgment Stone by Robert Liparulo

A few months back I read the first book in The Immortal Files series, ‘The 13th Tribe’ and found it a very interesting book. Recently I had the privilege of reading the second book in the series and even though I still feel the idea of a group of people condemned to living for centuries due to their evil acts at the foot of Mount Sinai is not biblical, I once again found myself drawn into the story and found it interesting and even encouraging in places.

This book in the saga of The Immortal Files, finds Jagger, Beth, Tyler, the St. Catherine’s monks, and Owen once again battling with immortals. This time an evil group called The Clan, bursts into their quiet sanctuary and Jagger and Owen set off to protect mankind only to find that Beth, Tyler, and the monks have their own battles to fight when The Tribe drops in for a visit.

My favorite part is what the judgment stone does for the characters in the story.  Not just seeing angels and demons, but what they see is influenced by how close or far away from God the character is in his or her spirit.  The characters closest to God see the demons as the most vile and ugly. The more evil the character, the cuter and more desirable the demons look to them.

The immortals known as The Clan are even more blood thirsty than The Tribe were in the first book of the series.

I recommend this as an action story with lots of little gems of truth.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

In Golden Splendor

‘In Golden Splendor‘ is the second book in Michael K. Reynolds’ fantastic Heirs of Ireland Series. Historical novels used to be one of my favorite genres and I was an avid reader so I read a lot of them.  ‘In Golden Splendor’ is the best I’ve read. A distinction it took away from ‘Flight of the Earls‘.
Seamus Hanley is the main character among a host of characters that range from the surprising, and entertaining to villainous, and inspiring. Brother Chuck is someone you wish you had as your own friend and mentor. If you are an animal lover Clarisse and Trip are great. I wasn’t particularly drawn to the character of Seamus in the first book and to have him be the main character of the second wasn’t as an appealing idea to me as maybe continuing to follow Clare, but within a short space Michael was able to turn my initial reserve around.
Once again Michael throws in twists that one would be hard pressed to see ahead of time, yet the story is believable. One almost wonders if these tales might be loosely based on family ancestors because only reality could have stranger twists than some of the surprises Michael weaves into these stories.

‘Flight of the Earls‘ starts the reader on a trip back into time so vivid you almost feel like you are there. ‘In Golden Splendor’ pulls the reader into the San Francisco ‘gold fever‘ time frame. If you are looking for stories that draw you into the time period, show the realities of what it was like, and yet doesn’t cross the line into glorifying sin or worse fill your imagination with graphic images of sin, you will definitely want to read this series. I’d suggest starting with ‘Flight of the Earls’ and then ‘In Golden Splendor’ as the second book builds a bit on the first. Even though the story doesn’t rely on the reader knowing the details of the first book, I think having read ‘Flight of the Earls’ first makes some of the comments in ‘In Golden Splendor’ more meaningful.

In my opinion, ‘In Golden Splendor’ lives up to its title.

The publisher allowed me temporary access to an electronic arc of this story in exchange for my honest review.

Winning Balance by Shawn Johnson

‘Winning Balance: What I’ve Learned So Far about Love, Faith, and Living Your Dreams’ by Shawn Johnson with Nancy French is a book that tells about Shawn Johnson’s life and more. Shawn shares insights that she has learned, poems she has written, the progression of her ambitions, her triumphs, failures, honors, and embarrassments. Shawn opens up and shows her readers who she is inside and out.

Shawn manages to stir up a sense of ‘you can do it’ even while telling about things that most of us will never experience. She boosts a feeling that with hard work and commitment, we might not achieve what we aimed to do, but in doing it we will attain something much more rewarding than simply realizing a goal.

‘Winning Balance’ isn’t a cheerleader or motivational speaker type of book, but the end result of reading it is having a renewed feeling that ‘all things are possible through Jesus’. Shawn’s book isn’t heavy on Christian theology or preaching, but she does share her faith and love of God with her readers in a low-key way.

Regardless of whether you have followed Shawn’s career as a gymnast, a celebrity on Dancing with the Stars, or never heard of her as in my case, this is a delightful book to read and I highly recommend it.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a temporary digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?’ by Andrew Keys

‘Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants‘ by Andrew Keys covers all the basics in the first thirty-three pages and then turns to specific alternatives for problem flora.

Andrew compares the flora we grow or attempt to grow in our yards to our classmates in high school. There are the prom queens and the all-star athletes who everyone admires and thinks will do so well, but many times a few years later haven’t met the mark of everyone’s expectations. Then there are the geeks and nerds that few are drawn to who turn out to become the stable, upright, hard-working backbone of society. I found his analogies fresh and lighthearted, yet informative.

In the “this” and not “that” part of the book, it was much more like a manual. He normally would show a problem grower, then give two to four alternative ones to try instead.

Overall I liked the book. It has a great deal of useful information in it and I’d like to eventually get a copy of it. If you have problem growers in your yard and would like some suggestions about what might be a good alternative, this book could be an interesting first step.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a temporary digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Reinventing the Chicken Coop

Some books leave you guessing about why the author chose that particular name for their book, but with this book the title literally spells out what you will find in Mr. Wolpe and Mr. McElroy’s book. ‘Reinventing the Chicken Coop 14 Original Designs with Step-by-Step Building Instructions’ by Matthew Wolpe and Kevin McElroy is a wonderfully detailed book on building unique housing for chickens. They go above and beyond just giving the reader ideas. They give the reasoning behind the idea and step-by-step instructions with measurements, possible supplies, and tools needed.

You will find included with each design, color photos of the finished coop, detailed instructions to build them, suggested supplies, ideas of other materials you could use instead, and drawings/illustrations showing each step.

Additionally, they not only encourage the reader to try their designs for him or her self, but assure you that the building process isn’t difficult. They even go so far as to encourage their readers to be creative and maybe come up with unique designs too.

I am glad to have come across ‘Reinventing the Chicken Coop’ and might actually try my hand at one or more of the designs myself. If you get the opportunity to read this book and have any thoughts of building a coop for your own place or someone else, this is a great resource to have on hand.  Look for it starting December 12, 2012.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a digital pre-release copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘Flight of the Earls’ by Michael K Reynolds

‘Flight of the Earls’ is a joy to read. Sad and shocking at times, but extremely easy to read and very absorbing. It is set in the 1840’s first in Ireland and later in America. This isn’t the kind of story that you know what is going to happen ahead of time. Michael gives clues throughout the story about the characters, but about the time I thought I knew the general direction the story was headed, it would take an unexpected turn.

Wonderfully written, the characters come alive as the story progresses. Monday night I sat down to read a few paragraphs to get a feel for what it was like and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 a.m., Tuesday morning. Then I sat down later in the morning to check my emails and got started again on the story instead, once again the hours flew by, and just like that the book was completed.

Mr. Reynolds doesn’t have a strong, blatant Christian theme to ‘Flight of the Earls’, but he hasn’t shied away from sharing a subtle Christian witness either.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was mentally transported to times and places that are basically alien to our current lives. A time when God, family, and country were more important than ‘I’. A time of monstrous hardships and sacrifices, yet pure joys and contentment. When life was harsh and extremely unfair, but people didn’t expect someone else to fulfill their every whim.

I recommend this book to one and all.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘Unstoppable’ by Nick Vujicic

‘Unstoppable The Incredible Power of Faith in Action’ by Nick Vujicic is an interesting book. Very encouraging, and inspiring.

Nick shares about his own experiences and the stories of others who have overcome one obstacle or another in their lives by faith in action.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is something Jessica from Pleasanton, California wrote to Nick in an email. “God wanted me to realize that life was not given to me just for my own satisfaction. In fact, that is not the purpose at all. He wanted me to realize that life was given to me so that I could bring Him glory and be an encouragement for others. He wants the best for me, but He realizes the meaning of that more than I do.” Jessica’s statement is refreshing in a society that thinks of personal pleasure first and foremost. It is one of many inspirational quotes Nick includes in the book.

Nick touches on numerous topics but the underlying theme is ‘faith in action’.
There are places that almost veer off into universalism, but not quite, and in most cases Nick brings it back to a need for Jesus in your life to really find fulfillment. If you are already a Christian but need some words of encouragement, this is a book that will fill that need. If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Saviour, read this book, be encouraged, and then talk with someone who will lead you into the most important decision you can make for eternity. Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received an a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Israel at War by Joel C. Rosenberg

‘Israel at War: Inside the Nuclear Showdown with Iran’ by Joel C. Rosenberg came out earlier this year and gives a detailed look at what is going on in the middle east between Iran and Israel. Mr. Rosenberg goes into a lot of detail about what drives the leaders of each country and points out what is at stake if Iran fulfills their goals.

Having listened to other Christian speakers about this topic, Joel didn’t bring out much that I wasn’t already familiar with, but he put it all in a very well written package and for those that haven’t been following the developments from a Christian perspective, I’m sure it could be eye-opening for most.

Not only do I recommend it to others, but I pray that they will share it and the truths he has put forth with as many as possible.

Purposes of Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a temporary digital copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion of it in a review on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”