EmpowerMoms

Home At Last: A Chicory Inn Novel ― Book 5 by Deborah Raney

This is book 5 and the final book to the Chicory Inn series by author Raney. I have read all 5 books and overall I thought the series was good. Some of the books and characters I liked more than others, but I loved the concept of each book focusing on a family member and on the Chicory Inn the parents ran.

The author mostly addresses inter-racial relationships and racial hate in this book which is a pretty heavy topic. Link wants to date Shayla but her father doesn’t approve due to past inter-racial relationship struggles. Shayla is struggling to hold her life together as she becomes the mother figure to her niece and running the bakery full time with her father. She constantly experiences racism all around her and doesn’t think Link has any idea what her world is like. As Link spends more time with Shayla and Portia, he knows he will do anything to protect them and make them a part of his family.

I liked the ending of the book which wrapped up the mom’s struggles with the Inn with constantly feeling overwhelmed trying to balance her family responsibilities and running the Inn with her husband. Good ending to a good series! I would recommend reading all 5 in order to get the best character development and flow.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book
Why did their differences matter so much?

Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.

All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite–well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?

Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

Purchase a copy here

About the author
Deborah Raney’s books have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers’ Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken, recently traded small-town life in Kansas—the setting of many of Deb’s novels—for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita. Visit Deb on the web at DeborahRaney.com.

Conclude Deborah Raney’s Chicory Inn novels with the final book, Home at Last, a story of acceptance, trying to overcome differences, and love. Everything changes for bachelor Link Whitman one icy morning when a child runs into the street and he nearly hits her with his pickup-and then the girl’s aunt Shayla enters Link’s life. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

Join Deborah on Thursday, March 23, for a live author chat party in her Facebook group with fun prizes to be won! Click the graphic below for more details and to RSVP. Hope to see you there-bring a friend or two who loves to read!

The Berenstain Bears Bless Our Pets (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights) by Mike Berenstain

We received this book yesterday and my 6 year old was thrilled to get another new Berenstain Bears book! “Bless Our Pets” was just released last week. My son is just starting to recognize words and groups of words so he enjoys looking at the pictures and book before I read it to him. He especially loved that he had a word search in the back of the book.

I honestly didn’t know what this book was about- I assumed it was about being grateful for our pets. It was actually about the Bear family taking their pets to the local church for them to receive a special blessing from God and the pastor.

I did not like the “heavenly intervention” part of the book and I don’t agree with having a ceremony for pets, although I do believe they are gifts from God and can be a part of our family. This is probably my least favorite Living Lights book. I wouldn’t have gotten this book if I had known what it was about because I had to tell my son after reading it that its not something our church does.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book:
In the newest Berenstain Bear Living Lights title, The Berenstain Bears Bless Our Pets, Brother, Sister, and Honey Bear love their pets Little Lady, Gracie, Swish, and Cutsie … they are just like part of the Bear family. So when Preacher Brown holds a special Blessing of the Pets service on Sunday, the Bear family joins in. But what starts as a peaceful gathering of Bear Country neighbors and their animal friends on the lawn of the Chapel—including dogs, cats, rats, goats, and even a snake or two—ends up needing a little heavenly intervention.

Purchase a copy here:

About the Author
Stan and Jan Berenstain introduced the first Berenstain Bears books in 1962. Mike Berenstain grew up watching his parents work together to write about and draw these lovable bears. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them too. Though Stan died in 2005 and Jan in 2012, Mike continues to create the delightful Bear adventures from his studio in Pennsylvania, in an area that looks much like the sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country.

“Love, Jane” is a cute, romantic story that follows Jane and Sean’s love story. Although this book is a specific Christian LDS book, I feel that most readers will enjoy the story.

Jane has been wanting for years to serve a mission for her church and submits her mission papers when she feels its the right time. Even after trying not to get serious, after months of dating Sean they both realize they love each other and want to get married. Jane has a hard time expressing her feelings to others and dealing with situations head on, so unfortunately over the years she has had bad relationships and experiences because she doesn’t speak up. She ends up waiting to tell Sean about her mission papers and leave date only weeks before she leaves, which obviously affects their relationship in a negative way. However, Jane feels very strongly about serving her mission in Alaska and asks Sean to wait for her and he agrees.

Most of the book follows Jane’s experiences while on her 18 month mission trip and their emails back and forth. With only a couple months before coming home Jane stops getting emails from her boyfriend and assumes the worst- that he’s met someone else and he won’t be waiting for her.

I liked reading about Jane’s experiences while on her mission and trying to connect with her teaching companion while teaching others about God. I also liked reading about Sean’s life and how close he was to his family and students at his high school teaching job.

I felt like the whole story was leading up to Jane and Sean’s reunion, only to be disappointed that it was crammed into two chapters at the end of the book which felt very rushed. It did not leave me a very good impression of Sean and his wavering emotions and feelings back-and-forth between the two women he needed to choose from.

This was a quick romantic read which I did enjoy but was left feeling disappointed at the end.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book
Jane Reeves and Sean O’Callaghan seem to be a match made in heaven—but the timing is all wrong. Jane has her heart set on serving a mission, and she can’t delay telling Sean the news any longer: not only has she quietly submitted her mission papers, but she’s also leaving in a month . . . for Alaska. Shocked and devastated, Sean struggles to come to terms with Jane’s decision. Unable to deny the depth of their feelings for one another, Sean makes a promise to wait for her. Life unfolds for both Jane and Sean, with communications limited to weekly e-mails. But with just a few months left in Jane’s mission, Sean’s messages stop. When she receives the dreaded “Dear Jane” breakup, along with the news that she has been replaced by Sean’s former flame, Jane knows the future she envisioned now belongs to another woman. But upon her return home, Jane quickly realizes some things are worth fighting for—perhaps most of all, a shot at true love.

You can purchase a copy here:

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Tightropes and Teeter-Totters: Finding Balance in the Ups and Downs of Life

The author starts off by describing the old teeter totters on the playgrounds (I loved them!) and how falling is a part of life and that life is about balance. “Falling, getting up, trying again, over and over, is how we learn.”

Balance is NOT about perfection, control, comfort, or the exact formula (because one specific thing doesn’t work for everyone). Balance is our intentional reaction to something and looking at areas in our lives that aren’t working and making specific actions to change them.

The author goes on to give suggestions and examples on how to balance motherhood, marriage, friends, money, moods, etc. She uses the word BALANCE as an acronym to help her remember the steps when trying to balance and cope with a particular situation.

Begin
Assess
Learn
Account
Notify
Change
Endure

She then goes thru each chapter using this method to “find balance” to each situation mentioned in the book, along with posting mini homework assignments at the end of teach chapter. I liked that the author used personal experiences and humor to share insights and practical suggestions through out the entire book.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own

About the Book
Lisa Pennington knows how to get up after losing her balance, even with a full house, a not-so-full bank account, and never enough energy. In her latest book, she offers readers:

Strategies for finding balance in marriage, motherhood, and bad moods

Playful yet biblically based tips for turning hard days around

Inspiration for shaping obstacles into opportunities

Ways to respond to irritations with gratitude

Enthusiastic encouragement for living out God’s purpose.

For every woman who wonders if her satisfaction in life will ever match her dreams, Pennington has real-life answers full of hope and humor.

About the Author
Lisa Pennington is a homeschooling mom of nine who shares her life—one laundry load at a time—on her blog, The Pennington Point. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and women’s groups and is the author of Mama Needs a Do-Over. Lisa and her family live near San Antonio.