About Me I am a retired librarian and I now support books and authors through my reviews.

I have always loved to read and I was able to share that love through my work as a public librarian for 22 1/2 years. I now promote literacy by reading, and then writing reviews. I love to support authors by sharing my reviews with others!

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Faith's Journey by Heather Greer: Review & Giveaway


About the Book



Book: Faith’s Journey
Author: Heather Greer
Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance
Release Date: February, 2018

Sometimes it’s the unexpected path that leads you on your journey back to faith. Katie McGowan left her parents and their faith behind years ago. However, when faced with a devastating betrayal, Katie is ready to go back to Carbondale, Illinois to help her elderly parents despite their tempestuous relationship. Drained by the constant friction, Katie finds emotional support and encouragement in Austin. His practical, simple faith speaks to Katie, and she finds herself yearning for a new connection to God. As their friendship grows, so does the attraction between Katie and Austin. 

Before her fledgling faith and thoughts of romance have a chance to take root, Katie’s cheating fiancé returns, remorseful and promising change. Can her tentative faith strengthen their past love? And if her heart breaks again, will Katie’s journey to faith end before it has really begun?


Click here to get your copy.

MY THOUGHTS.....

This is a story that many adult readers will fully understand. Being hurt by the betrayal of the person you love, returning home to help your aging parents and realizing that the parent/child dynamics are now very different, and recognizing that you have drifted away from the faith that you once possessed. A journey of discovery is what Katie McGowan must take as she realizes that the man that she has loved for six years has betrayed her and that she, in turn, has betrayed the One who has loved her all of her life. As she struggles to help her parents and adapt to living once again in her hometown, she finds friendship with Austin, the young minister who also owns the town bakery, and it is then that her return to faith begins. As she attends church services she begins to experience the joy and comfort that a personal relationship with God can offer but then.... Katie's former fiance comes for her and she finds herself torn. Jacob says that he has changed. Should she throw away the six years they shared together? If she resumes their life together, will she be be risking her renewed relationship with God?

Faith's Journey shows how a loved one's betrayal can forever change a life. It is also a reminder that trust may be misplaced. Do we trust people who don't deserve our allegiance and is it possible to trust too much? And why, even though we profess our love for our Heavenly Father, do we fail to give Him our complete and unfailing trust?

Author Heather Greer has written an enjoyable read with a message for us all. Katie admits that "I had been seeking God's purpose without seeking God himself. I realized only when I got to know God would I start seeing Him taking me where I needed to be." I recommend Faith's Journey to all who enjoy Christian contemporary romance.

I received a copy of this book from the author and Celebrate Lit. I am volunatarily sharing my thoughts in this honest review.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the  Author



Heather Greer is a pastor’s kid and pastor’s wife from southern Illinois. Though her nest is quickly approaching the empty stage, with three of her four children out on their own, she enjoys the times she gets to spend with all her children, husband, and grandson. Equal mix geek and romantic, you could as easily find Heather watching an episode of Doctor Who as the latest Hallmark movie. Of course, you may find her baking, reading, or crafting too! Heather’s writing and teaching ministries revolve around a passion to see believers grow in their faith. Though God has used her most often with teens and adults, she has worked in ministries reaching all age groups through the years. It is Heather’s prayer for God to use what she writes in her books and on her blog to challenge and encourage readers in their faith walks.  


More from Heather

What happens when a person raised in church begins to see the failure of those within the church to live their faith every day instead of on Sunday morning? Often, the truths of scripture are pushed aside in favor of blanket statements like “churches are full of hypocrites” and “I don’t want to follow a God whose people are like that”. In frustration, they walk out the church doors in frustration. Sometimes they walk out with their beliefs intact, but other times faith gets left in the pew they vacate.

That’s what happened to Katie in Faith’s Journey. And when she left home for college disappointed with the people in the church she was raised in and at odds with her mother, it was all too easy to listen to the voices in her life telling her religion and God made no difference in life.  Deciding she knew better than anyone what her life should be, Katie makes her own decisions without considering the God she left behind.

It takes a return home for Katie to start realizing there may be more to God than the people in the pews. Maybe she was quick to see the failures of others to live their faith but slow to see her own problems with the same issue. And maybe it’s time to acknowledge that regardless of how others are living out their faith, God has plans for her and desires a relationship with her that defines who she is every day.

While the original idea that sparked Faith’s Journey was what happens when someone you love betrays you, I quickly realized Katie’s story was more than that. In a sense, the first betrayal she needed to face wasn’t the one with her boyfriend. It was the perceived betrayal by those in the church who failed to live faith outside the church walls. It’s a feeling I believe many Christians have to face since there isn’t a perfect person in any pew.

I pray Faith’s Journey may be an encouragement and give a new perspective to those who currently struggle with the idea of church. And I hope it’s also a challenge to those of us faithfully in the pews each week to make our time there about more than religion or habit. I pray Faith’s Journey challenges us to evaluate the depth of relationship with have with God and let Him change the way we live every day, not just on Sunday.

Blog Stops

Texas Book-aholic, January 24
janicesbookreviews, January 28
Artistic Nobody, January 29 (Author Interview)
Quiet Quilter, February 1
Older & Smarter?, February 2
Emily Yager, February 3
Godly Book Reviews, February 4
Pause for Tales, February 5
A Baker’s Perspective, February 6 (Author Interview)
Batya’s Bits, February 7

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Heather is giving away a Cozy Winter Nights giveaway including a $15 Amazon gift card, a mug, assorted teas and hot chocolates, chocolate, and a fleece blanket to create the perfect reading experience on cold winter nights!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

Little Mole Finds Hope by Glenys Nellist

Little Mole Finds HopeABOUT THE BOOK

When Little Mole is feeling sad in his dark, underground home, his mother shows him how to look for hope. He finds that signs of spring are everywhere, from the daffodil bulbs under the soil to the tiny buds on the branches above. Hope can be found--even in the darkest places.In Little Mole Finds Hope, best-selling children's author Glenys Nellist and illustrator Sally Garland tell an endearing story sure to lift the spirits of people emerging from the cold of winter or a challenging season of life and inspire them to look for signs that spring will come again.

MY THOUGHTS.....

 How many times have you seen your child or grandchild struggling with sadness and you weren't sure how to help them? Author Glenys Nellist offers the perfect solution with her new book Little Mole Finds Hope. In this sweet, inspiring story Mama Mole encourages her sad Little Mole to have hope, even when it's hard to find. "Sometimes, hope is hiding in the darkness. Sometimes it's hard to see. But it's always there. You just have to find it." She then goes on to show Little Mole that a dead bulb, dead leaves, and even a chysalis can turn into something alive and beautiful.

Nellist's delightful text easily captures a child's attention and the colorful illustrations by Sally Garland beautifully emphasize the theme that hope can be found everywhere. There is also a Discussion Guide for Caregivers at the end of the book that I especially find useful. After my granddaughter and I read the book together, we talk about Little Mole and these tips and questions truly help me guide our conversation!

This is a book that I am proud to own and I hope that school and church libraries will add Little Mole Finds Hope to their own collections. It is a wonderful resource for parents and caregivers and I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and Beaming Books. I was not obligated to write a positive review and I am voluntarily sharing my thoughts.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I'm an author of twenty books for children, including the best-selling Twas The Evening of Christmas, The Wonder That is You, and two popular series: Love Letters from God and Snuggle Time. Here's my little story...

Although I live in Michigan, USA, I was born and raised in a little village in northern England. Four long decades later, I would find myself living across the pond, married to a wonderful man, mum to four adult children and three daughters-in-law, and grandma to three bouncing boys and one gorgeous girl. And as if all that wasn’t blessing enough, I somehow became an author, despite giving up on my first book half way through.

And if you would have told me then, that this book would one day become a series, that I would begin a second series, and a third… I never would have believed you. The only possible explanation is that our great God is able to do immeasurably more than all I could ever ask or possibly imagine.

Learn more at my Website    Facebook    Twitter     Instagram    Pinterest

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