Deadly Disclosures (Dinah Harris Mystery)by Julie Cave

Beside Still Waters by Tricia Goyer

The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of Godby Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

Mansfield Park* by Jane Austen {I was glad this was on Jessica’s list because I like to reread at least one Austen novel a year}

Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanaticby {fellow Dodger fan} Alyssa Milano

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day* by Jeff Hertzberg

Finding Your Purpose as a Mom: How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground* by Donna Otto

The Pilgrim’s Progress* by John Bunyan

The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompanimentsby David Lebovitz {considering the connoisseur I am, it’s sort of sacrilegious that I haven’t checked this out yet!}

Dancing with My Father: How God Leads Us into a Life of Grace and Joy* by Sally Clarkson

The Help* by Kathryn Stockett

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life by Shauna Niequist

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald

Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods by Nina Planck {I’ve read parts of this already}

Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Livingby Tsh Oxenreider {working through Part 2 now}

*books from the Booking It list

As someone who’s been through my fair share of storms in the last year, I can tell you that this sweet little book will be an encouragement to all who read it. Full of inspiring quotes, scriptures and beautiful poetry, it reminds its reader of the love of God and of His control of all situations.

Reading an open-page spread per day has been a lovely little addition to my quiet times with the Lord.

This ninety-six page gift-book combines heartfelt poetry with powerful quotes and Scripture verses to speak to the heart and soul of anyone going through difficult times. The beautiful fabric binding with foil stamping makes this the perfect gift for anyone seeking comfort.

Author Cheryl Ricker reaches into the depths of human suffering from the perspective of Christ speaking to the reader in soothing poetic words.

This elegant gift book will reach the heart and soul of anyone facing difficult circumstances, leading them through their suffering into the arms of a faithful loving God.

Each two-page spread includes a poem, as well as reflections written by Christian leaders, along with healing Scripture verses.

About Cheryl Ricker:

Cheryl Ricker has a degree in creative writing and has written columns and articles for various magazines and newspapers. She’s been writing poetry all her life and her poems have won awards in fine arts and literary magazines. Cheryl lives with her husband and two sons in Rochester, Minnesota

Please check out Cheryl’s amazing website for more information. www.cherylricker.com

Cheryl Ricker is hosting this great contest over at her website during
the blog tour for A Friend in the Storm, Zondervan’s latest innovative gift book of quotes, Scripture
and poetry that leads to lasting hope!

Since this book covers matters of the heart, Cheryl wants to hear from YOUR heart! In the midst of any type of loss, grief or crisis, A Friend in the Storm takes you on a healing journey where you experience Christ’s love in a fresh, memorable way. Now she invites you to submit an original poem, story or snippet about a time when someone was a friend in your storm… and she’s giving you the opportunity to win a KINDLE to do it!

Head on over to her Contest Page on her website to find out how to enter!

On October 3rd, she will randomly select one winner to receive a brand-new KINDLE! She’s also choosing 5 more names at random to receive a signed copy of A Friend in the Storm! The winners will be announced at her Facebook Party on October 4th. The party will take place on Cheryl’s Facebook “A Friend in the Storm” Page – go here for all the details.

The Facebook Party will be a blast!  Not only will she be announcing the Share Your Storm Kindle Giveaway winners, but she’ll also be chatting with party goers, hosting fun trivia contests, and giving away even more prizes every 10 minutes – including signed copies of A Friend in the Storm, and gift certificates to Amazon.com and Starbucks.com!

Oh, and check this out – Cheryl is also giving away a $50 Amazon gift certificate!
Simply help her spread the word about the contest; Facebook Party. Interested? It’s easy to enter! Here’s how:

Share this on FACEBOOK: Want to help someone who’s hurting? “A Friend in the Storm,” Zondervan’s latest gift book of quotes, Scripture and poetry, is helping thousands find lasting Hope! Go here http://ow.ly/2BYiN to enter to win a KINDLE!

Post this on TWITTER: A Friend in the Storm by @cherylricker heals hearts in tough times. Enter 2 win a KINDLE http://ow.ly/2BYiN here! #litfuse (You must use hashtag #litfuse to be entered.)

Share this as many times as you like – just email amy@litfusegroup.com by October 4th and let her know how many times you tweeted/shared on Facebook, twittered or blogged about the contest. Each ‘sharing’ represents one entry into the contest.

Thank you to Litfuse for providing this book for me to review.

Here is a mini archive of all my old posts over at Gidget Goes Home on reading, including book reviews. My forthcoming book reviews will be here on Gidget Loves Language.

• Tending to Eden {Book Review}
• Songbird Under a German Moon {Review}
• Double Trouble {Review + Giveaway}
• The Swiss Courier {Review+ Twitter Contest}
• Pearl Girls {Book Review}
• Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie {Review}
• Susan May Warren’s The Great Christmas Bowl {Review + Giveaway}
• A Silly Poem From Memory
• Tricia Goyer’s Blue Like Playdough {Review}
• Mark Driscoll’s Religion Saves {Book Review}
• Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World {Review + Giveaway}

I was privileged to have been contacted by Oxford University Press to review the children’s picture book, First Spanish Words, illustrated by David Melling and compiled by Neil Morris. For those of you who are teaching your children other languages, there is also a French and a German edition in the series. According to the press release,

each volume takes the reader on a picture-book journey through a child’s typical day. There is a bird’s eye view of an early morning at home, the journey to school, inside the classroom, at a birthday party and even a trip to the museum and the beach. Aside from the useful everyday items, these books also incorporate many children’s favorite things: airplanes, dinosaurs, and even fairy tale characters. Over 400 foreign words and their English translations are given on the side of each ilustrated page. These books also include supplementary material– a picture/word matching game, a learning to count page, indentifying shapes, opposites, the weather, time, and a comprehensive index.

I love the Where’s Waldo?-esque feeling to this book; on each page spread there are vocabulary words with small pictures of the items going down the sides, and then the items can be found in the large illustration that spans both pages. The book is colorful and the illustrations are full of life and energy. {I will insert here the only thing I found odd which is a strange dinosaur-like animal that appears randomly in the scenes throughout the book. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was or why it was in there, but hey, I’m sure little kids will like it just fine. }

From a language learning stance, I love that the vocabulary words are taught in context, within the child’s daily activities, and found within a picture of a somewhat familiar scene. Probably my favorite part about the book is the supplementary material in the back; that is what sets apart this book from your average children’s Spanish vocabulary book, in my opinion.

As the press release states, you’ll find a wide range and large amount of words to be learned in this book, which makes it pack a lot of punch for a fun picture book. I highly recommend First Spanish Words!

Now comes the fun part! Oxford University Press was generous enough to give me a second copy of the book to give away to one of you lucky readers!! I think this is the perfect first giveaway for Gidget Loves Language!

Here’s how to win:

Winner will be chosen randomly; you get 1 entry for each of these things you do with a total of 4 possible entries per person. Make sure you leave a comment for each of your entries (i.e. 1 telling me you subscribed, 1 with the link to your blog, etc.). Giveaway will end midnight, mountain time on Thursday, November 6, 2008.

1. Leave a comment telling me why you’d like to win this book.
2. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed to my blog via RSS or via email (if you already subscribe you can post a comment telling me that).
3. Leave a comment with a link to your blog, where you mention this giveaway.
4. Leave a comment saying you Stumbled or gave a thumbs up to any page at language.gidgetgoeshome.com via StumbleUpon (post a link to your SU profile in the comment to verify your thumbs up).

¡Buena suerte!

Here are my current books… not too many as I’m getting geared up for NaNoWriMo which starts in just a few days (!!).

1. Praying God’s Word Day By Day by Beth Moore~ I’ve been reading this daily devotional since the beginning of 2008 and I really like it.
2. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty~ I’ve returned to this book to use as a guideline for some basic outlining for my WriMo novel. I like Baty’s suggestions for getting prepped for the month of writing a lot.
3. I heart bloomberg by Melody Carlisle~ I’m about halfway through this one and it’s pretty cute (and I love that it’s the 1st of a series). I wanted to read a couple more Christian chick lit novels to get me fired up for WriMo.
4. Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck~ I’m super excited about this one; I hope to read it, too, before starting my novel. I loved the prequel to this, Sweet Caroline~I borrowed it from my friend Ashley and she said she liked Elle’s story even better so I can’t wait! Oh, and thanks to Amy @ Litfuse I won a free copy, too!

This post is part of 5 Minutes For Books‘ monthly carnival; be sure to check out the other links by clicking the button below!