"Start Your Own Family Tea Time" by Babette Donaldson

This short booklet is a must-have for anyone who is uncertain what the fuss is about with tea.  Don't understand why tea is important?  Not sure where to start?  Not sure how to get friends and family involved?  This book covers it all.  Additionally, this book is not just the author's perspective.  Sprinkled throughout the pages are opinions from famous tea experts, as well as ordinary people.  Men and women, parents and children all have their say.  Photos are included, too.  This book is geared towards all types of people, and I enjoyed how there were writings and photos of all types of ethnicity represented.  Budgeting is also considered as tips for saving money are included.  Ideas for crafts and cooking are inside too.  Overall, this is a nice quick reference guide for all things tea. 

"Keepers of the Covenant" by Lynn Austin

This sequel to Lynn's "Return to Me" is a great book but not as phenomenal as the first.  Still, even for readers who have not read "Return to Me," no details will be missed, and there will be no confusion.  This book starts with the story of Esther and goes through a generation of lives.  There is Ezra the priest who is called to move Jews to Jerusalem and eventually govern a rebellious people in ways he could never imagine.  There is Reuben, a young boy who loses his father in an apartheid against Hebrews.  His life spirals out of control as he strays from the God who took everything away from him.  There is Amina, a crippled Gentile who hates her life and is beaten by her father and uncles.  There is Devorah, a woman who is married to the love of her life but must choose what to do when circumstances turn her world upside down.  Warriors, potters, priests, thieves, weavers and more come together as we see how individuals view the curses and blessings God bestows upon His people.  The fine line between discipline and grace is discussed as real-life characters struggle to obey the Torah.  Politics play a part too as God's chosen people must bend to the edicts of the Persian king.  True love and false love are played out too as hearts dance the dance of destiny.  Great book.

"Life on the Family Farm" by Tom Heck

A compilation of short stories a few pages each, this book is nice for someone who is short on time.  You can pick this book up to read a quick tale and then put it away for months.  When you pick it up, you won't have to worry about remembering characters or events since each story is unique.  Many of the stories revolve around farm animals, tractors, the dairy business, family lessons, and such.  My personal favorites are the animal stores, especially the one where cows play with fish in their water bins in a cute fashion.  There are also stories of hunting and trapping animals.  They are not written in graphic detail, but there is a photo of a skinned fox included.  There is also a story of the author overcoming pornography.  For these reasons, I would not suggest this as a book suitable for very young readers.  Additionally, it should be noted that this book has Christian undertones.

The blog tour page for Life on the Family Farm is at: www.lifesentencepublishing.com/life-on-the-family-farm-2/

"Stolen: The True Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor" by Katariina Rosenblatt and Cecil Murphey

Starting with Katariina's childhood, this book tells a true story about how a girl was forced to become a woman far too early.  We sit with her at the hotel pool while her mom works.  We feel the loneliness.  We fall for the smooth-talking woman who promises to be her friend.  Then reality sets in.  Katariina is lured into child trafficking.  She is forced to sleep with numerous men.  She is beaten and force-fed drugs.  On more than one occasion, people try to murder Katariina.  However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Readers will discover how Katariina got out of her personal hell, how she bettered herself, and the work she does now.  What's also fascinating is the picture of family life in the book.  Katariina does not shy away from discussing her troubled parents, children, and even ex-husband.  This book is brutally raw and honest.  At the end of the book, there are tips for helping vulnerable victims and even who to contact about freeing children from sex slavery.  This book is not suitable for young readers due to the mature nature.  Additionally, there are Christian undertones in the book.

"Playing by Heart" by Anne Mateer

This fascinating story follows a woman with a passion for music and a drive for mathematics.  Her love of music comes from her deceased mother, whereas her love of music comes from her dying father.  The wish of both Lucy and her father is for her to become the first woman PhD in Oaklahoma.  With a teaching scholarship in place to make that happen, Lucy is good to go.  That is, until life happens and she must temporarily leave her position.  Worst of all, she must teach girls' basketball, which she has neither interest not knowledge in.  The boys' basketball coach at the high school is Chet.  Chet's life experiences are tied into the book as the chapters alternate between Chet's perspective and Lula's perspective, which was nice.  I always like when books change voice.  It keeps things interesting.  There is added drama with the death of characters and war enlistment.  Not surprisingly, Chet and Lula have some chemistry, are separated, and then reunite at the end of the book.  However, the series of events in between is anything but predictable.  Unlike stories where the plot solely revolves around two love-struck characters.  The lives of high-schoolers and family members weave their way into the events.  It should be noted that there are Christian undertones in this book, but they are not overwhelming.     

"Lena of Vegitopia" by Sybil Severin and Illustrated by Carlos Patino

This adorable children's book is will hold the attention of both child and adult readers.  Set in the land of Vegitopia, Lena is friends with all the animals.  When she learns that some animals are missing their babies, she writes a letter to the Princess of Vegitopia for help.  This teachers youngsters the power of public advocacy and writing representatives.  After the Princess writes back and visits, both her and Lena visit the Carnista to free the baby animals from being dinner.  Carnista is portrayed as an ugly, overweight woman with a cruel heart.  However, after eating Lena's carrot-cake, Carnista decides to become vegan and let the animals go.  Lean's carrot-cake recipe is even included in the back of the book for interested bakers.  After Carnista becomes vegan, she is illustrated as thin and beautiful.  While many ideas in this book are taken to the extreme, there are many valuable lessons.  Eating healthier will result in a slimmer waistline and clearer skin and better hair.  Also, friendship and conflict management are pushed in this tale.  At the end of the story, Lena and Carnista are friends and even send each other gifts.  In terms of the artwork, it is very crisp and fun.  I would have like to see more pictures of animals, but overall, the book was very nice.

"Brief Encounters with Che Guevara" by Ben Fountain

Hitting the ground running, this book starts with a fascinating tale of a graduate student who studies birds--an ornithologist to be precise.  He is in Central America studying a rare species of birds when he gets kidnapped by rebels who suspect him as spy.  His experiences in this situation are detailed with stunning detail.  After that, there are a series of short stories, none of which are related.  They are not even all about Che Guevara.  Rather, the stories are about freedom and the lack thereof.  There is war, both physical and emotion.  One story chronicles a wife's experience with her PTSD husband who has become obsessed with voodoo after returning from the army.  Another story follows a pianist with eleven fingers whose brilliance is a self-destructive force.  There are many tales to hold the reader's attention, and this book is very well-written.  The only exceptions are the swearing and R-rated parts sprinkled in.

"Atlas Girl" by Emily T. Wierenga

Poignant and brutally honest, Emily tells a story of starving for food, starving for love, and starving for family.  Raised as the child of missionaries, Emily has an exotic upbringing from living in foreign countries.  Searching for her own meaning, Emily also travels once out of her parents' house.  We learn of a home-schooled girl's college experiences and her boyfriends.  We also discover how she came to love her husband.  The pain of not being able to conceive and dealing with a mother who has cancer does not make this book an easy read.  However, there is a happy ending.  Since this book is written by a Christian, there are religious undertones.  However, they are not in every chapter and are not too in-your-face.  Before each chapter, there is a motivational quote, which is nice.  At the end of the book, there are discussion questions for a book group.  

"Body and Soul" by Bethany Hamilton

Geared at young women and pre-teen girls, this book is full of advice for how to be happy and healthy.  From exercising to eating a nutritious diet to making friends, this book has it all.  Girls are encouraged to eat well and have fun while working out.  There are even parts of the book where Bethany shares her own personal struggles as a female.  Her individual stories make the book feel as if the reader is chatting with her in a coffee shop.  In terms of spirituality, Bethany discusses her own faith and encourages girls to seek spiritual matters.  There are Christian undertones in this book but they are not overwhelming.  Overall, this was a nice book.  The font and graphics were well done, too.  

"Collision" by Michael Phillip Cash

A while ago, I received a different book written by Michael Phillip Cash that I hated.  However, this book I thoroughly enjoyed.  In this book, Cash has impressed me with the talent I knew he had.  This science-fiction fantasy novel has a star wars feeling and is about opposing kingdoms, good and evil.  There is romance, but it is not graphic (compared to some of his other books).  In this book, readers understand who likes who but do not feel like they are reading a trashy book.  Aliens fill this book, as distant planets and species interact.  There is religion in the book as characters vie for their own spirituality.  Forces of good are seen as mysterious at times and vocal at other times.  The forces of evil are scary but not so much that the reader will have nightmares or want to put the book down.  There is a sense of paganism / animism in the book, but the reader does not feel preached to or overwhelmed.  It comes off more as just context and part of the story.  There are plenty of words the author made up, many of which are hard to pronounce.  However, even with all the characters' alien names, the book is not too hard to follow along with.  Something I enjoyed was how the chapters alternated between voices.  In other words, one chapter would be narrated by one character, and another chapter would be narrated by another character, and so on.  This is not an easy thing to pull of literary, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  This is book 2 in a series.  I did not read book 1, but I was not at all confused in reading this.  This is also a difficult thing to pull off in any sort of series edition of books.  On another note, I liked how the print was nice and big.  I did not have to put my glasses on or strain to read the words.  It was a nice size for leisurely reading.  As for the ending of the book, I won't give it away, but it was unexpected and made me excited for the next book. 

"Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office" by Lois P. Frankel, PhD

Full of tips of stories, this book explains to women the many pitfalls and strategies that affect their career.  What I enjoyed is that there were not just mistakes but also advice for how to work on said mistakes.  While there are chapters, the bulk of the book is broken up into 101 sections that are very short.  One page discusses the mistake with a story from real women.  The next page discusses tips for how to overcome this mistake.  With this layout, not only does the book get straight to the point, but it is also incredibly readable for all those women who work long hours and don't have the time to read long psychological dissertations that span hundreds of pages.  I read this book through a book club at my corporation and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I realized there were some mistakes I was making, and--along with Frankel's tips--I am working on correcting them.  

"The Introverted Leader" by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, PhD

I had the privilege of hearing the author speak in person at a professional development seminar.  She is definitely knowledgeable on introversion and business acumen.  So, when I started to read her book, I knew there was meaningful advice in it from a real expert.  This book has tips of meetings, sales calls, career-planning, mentoring, and so much more.  There are plenty of places where the reader is prompted to write out their thoughts and goals, too, which is nice.  The author expresses what she calls her 4 P's.  These are Presence, Practice, Prepare, and Push.  These are explained in more detail in the book.  They give readers a quick and easy way to remember how to be successful.  I also want to point out that--unlike some self-help business books--readers do not feel like they are being yelled at.

"The Israeli Solution" by Caroline Glick

Full of history, politics, and research, this book will explain to readers what Israel is all about.  From pre-World War I to modern day, Glick explains what international laws have been passed and ignored through the ages.  Other countries' political makeups are also detailed.  Readers will learn about Egypt, Syria, Iran, and other places.  Leaders and terrorists are detailed.  Media broadcasts and educational propaganda in other cultures are expounded upon in translations / quotes.  Broken up into three sections with an extremely useful table-of-contents, this makes a great reference book.  There are terror events recorded and hateful quotes inserted.  This is not a book for the faint-of-heart but it does give an honest account of the news surrounding Israel.  Glick also gives chapters where she discusses what she predicts for the future in Israel.

"Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor E. Frankl

Written by a Holocaust survivor, this book is a must read.  It chronicles his sufferings, his triumphs, his freedom, and--most importantly--his soul.  We read how Frankl decided to stay in Germany at the rise of the Nazi party when he could have accepted a visa to America.  Why did he stay, you may ask?  Because he did not want to leave his parents alone to face what was coming.  Even more beautiful is what Frankl thinks of when he in the concentration camps.  He remembers his wife, whom he calls his beloved.  In a very philosophical moment, Frankl writes that love is what really keeps one going in life.  This book is full of great words that you'll want to quote to your friends.  It is the story of a decent man who cared for others and did not let the monsters of indecent men ruin him.  After the memoir aspect of the book, there is a second section on the author's psychological theories.

"Twirl: A Fresh Spin at Life" by Patsy Clairmont

Full of encouraging tips, this book is a nice read for those who want to add more oomph into their lives.  The author encourages readers to stop and smell flowers, both literally and figuratively.  The notions of dance, art, writing, reading, studying, loving people, loving animals, and more are covered.  Each chapter is also full of inspirational quotes and thought-provoking questions.  There are Christian undertones in this book as the author speaks of Jesus and quotes Bible verses.  However, it is not too pushy or overwhelming for the reader.  Overall, this book is about being happy and--let me just say it--stop being uptight.  Life is too short to not enjoy it.  What I love is the back cover where the author is smiling.  She is not some twenty-year-old but rather a wise woman with life experience.  

Josephus IV Jewish Antiquities, Books I-IV

Rich in history and literary devices, this is a must read.  The reader feels like they are getting a tour of Jewish history.  In these works, Josephus essentially sums up the Torah in his own words.  There is a lot of paraphrasing and even accounts that are slightly different from the Torah itself.  For the reason of that, I will let each reader arrive at their own conclusion.  Needless to say, this book is very interesting.  We read of how Moses wasn't the only one to part a sea.  Josephus writes that this isn't a made-up story since even Alexander the Great is written of as having parted a sea.  The footnotes in this work are also fascinating.  When the topic of manna came up, a footnote had me learn that Arabs have long found an edible substance that emanated from tamarisk trees.  There are even some phrases that are familiar to the New Testament and even predate the New Testament.  This gives evidence to the idea that much of the phrases and cultural references in the New Testament was derived from contemporary sources such as this work.  All in all, I found this very work very interesting.  It really made me about the history of manuscripts.  The footnotes do note where discrepancies between manuscript lie, and that really was great.  There was no covering up.  That isn't to say that a book with discrepancies should be ultimately dismissed.  After all, even my great grandmother's birth year is different on several documents from ancestry.com.  The discrepancies in Josephus' work prove that his book is not divine (he never claimed it was).  But still, it is a great peek into a historical time that is worth the read.

Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption by Claire Diaz-Ortiz and Sammy Ikua Gachagua

Thoroughly engaging, this book will inspire you on many levels.  The story is real-life and each chapter is either narrated by Claire or Sammy as the tale goes back and forth between their different perspectives.  We get to know two very different yet very similar souls.  We also begin to understand how other cultures behave and value things.  Claire is a twenty-something American looking to find her own way in the world.  Her friend Lara accompanies her as they travel the world.  Sammy is a Kenyan orphan living day to day.  When their paths collide, a love grows that can not be put out.  This is by no means a romantic love but rather the love of a woman for a child.  Sammy sometimes calls Claire his big sister, his aunt, his mother, or just his guardian.  Whatever the title, they care deeply for each other as family members.  Readers also learn about the charity organization Hope Runs, which is active in the story.  A part of the book’s proceeds even go towards the charity.  In the middle of the book, there are some full-color photos of international travels for both Claire and Sammy.  Well written, this story will make you think twice about the meaning of life and it will make you want to make a different in the world.  At the end of the book, you will want to climb your own mountain, whether it be physical or symbolical.

"For Such a Time" by Kate Breslin

Mirroring the story found in the Book of Esther, this book changes its setting to Germany in WWII.  Hadassah has forged papers that state she is Aryan (her blond hair and blues eyes help).  However, she still ends up in the ghetto.  As a child she loves is torn from her, a brave SS soldier takes Hadassah—her Stella, her fake Aryan name—to work for him as his secretary.  Bald, emaciated, and wearing prison garb, the soldier Aric gives Stella a wig and food and new clothes.  Slowly, Stella is nursed back to health.  In Aric’s home, Stella meets a one-eared Jewish boy named Joseph, whom she begins to love as her own child.  Joseph is also involved in a secret note-smuggling effort that involves Stella’s uncle Morty (to no surprise, this nickname is short for Mordecai).  One Stella’s secretarial duties begin to take speed, she is heartbroken and torn as she must write notes for Nazi and even type up deportation lists for Jews who will meet their fate in Auschwitz.  As one may suspect, Stella and Aric develop a romance.  There is emotional tension as Stella hides her Jewish identity and Aric must cope with the monster the war has turned him into.  Drama ensues when Aric’s fellow soldiers hit on Stella and try to woo her away from Aric.  The climax of the book involves a train to Auschwitz, and I will not spoil the ending.  What I did like was how there was an author’s note at the back of the book explaining what was and was not fictionalized.  There is even a section in the back that defines some Jewish and German vocabulary.  There is no swearing in this book, and while the violence is not written graphically, allusions to crematoriums and shootings are there.  In terms of romance, that is not graphic either.  Stella and Aric do not go any further than kissing in the book; and Stella is honorable in that she does not sleep in Aric’s bedroom when not married to him, insisting, “I am not your mistress.”  

“Riley Mae and the Rock Shocker Trek” by Jill Osbourne

This is a fun children’s book about an ordinary girl turned extraordinary.  Riley Mae is a normal kid that loves her friends, her family, and playing softball.  One day, her father’s business associate stops by to chat, and he catches Riley Mae having fun trying on the shoes.  At that point, it is decided that Riley Mae will make the perfect spokesperson for the girls’ athletic shoe line.  While that is fun for a bit, Riley Mae soon realizes the responsibility and time-commitment of being a full-time spokesperson.  It is even ironic how she misses softball games in order to take pictures wearing softball shoes.  There is some mystery in the book, and things get scary for a bit—but not too scary for kids.  There is no swearing, graphic images, or perversion in the book.  There are Christian undertones in the book as things like Christmas and Easter ham are mentioned.  Riley Mae goes to church on occasion, and we follow her as she helps out the little children.  There is charity as Riley Mae tries to provide sustenance for a girl who can’t afford food.  Overall, the story was engaging and interesting. 

“Summer of Joy” by Ann H. Gabhart

This story follows a young teenage girl’s family as day-to-day drama ensues.  The girl’s father is a preach and part-time journalist.  Given the family’s poor state of financial affairs, she works after school with her father on the local newspaper.  The preacher is divorced and plans to remarry a young blond woman.  The two are madly in love, but things get a bit complicated when the protagonist’s English teacher starts hitting on and stalking her father’s soon-to-be new bride.  More drama comes in when a minor character gets a visit form a long-lost grandson.  This book has a lot of “country talk” and a lot of Christian undertones.  While the back cover did not allude to it, there is a big Christmas theme in this book.