Stephanie Life of Determination

If you haven't been up on your Season 5 Below Deck Mediterranean then go watch it before reading my comments and review.  I highly recommend watching Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo!! Captain Sandy and the crew are voyaging around the beautiful island of Mallorca, Spain, on a 184-foot mega-yacht "The Wellington" according to Bravo is the largest in Below Deck history.  Captain Sandy had a rough sea on board.  The Captain had to get rid of 3 crew members so far. I believe there is only one more episode left, so hopefully no more firing.  Season 5 Below Deck Mediterranean is one of my favorite seasons of the Below the Deck series because there are women running the boat. Finally!!  ABOUT THE SHOW: "Voyaging around the beautiful island of Mallorca, Spain, on the 184-foot mega yacht “The Wellington,” the largest in Below Deck history, the crew encounters choppy waters trying to navigate everything from heartbreaks and power struggles to challenges with maritime law. As

In the spring of 1833, newlywed Betsey Baker-Swain’s simple life changes when she and her husband, Aaron, make a hasty decision to join Betsey’s family on a move from Pennsylvania to Michigan Territory. Along the way, rainstorms, freezing temperatures, seasickness, and lack of privacy pale in comparison to what the family will encounter once arriving at their destination. Soon, daily trials will include ear-piercing howls of wild wolves, bad weather, clouds of mosquitoes, and disturbing situations with the natives. Even then, Betsey wonders if this trip will finally quench her father’s adventurous spirit. Over the next year, the Baker family will gain incredible strength, divine trust, and unexplainable courage, but will it be enough to keep them at the tiny cabin by the twisting Shiawassee River? Will uncertainty overtake their determination or will God’s intervention sustain them enough to become a part of the history of a new land? Book:   The Year the Stars Fell Author:  Elizabeth

ABOUT THE BOOK Best friends Penelope and Tucker have faced their share of challenges. But finding a lost treasure in time to clear his family's name and win him an election may uncover something they never expected. Quote from the book: “Because this wasn't about the plans she made but the ones God had in store for her. Knowing she could trust him with her future was better than any list she could make, any task she could check off.” MY BOOK REVIEW Liz Johnson blew it out of the park with her book "A Dazzle of Diamonds".  This is book 3 of the Georgia Coast Romance series. I have not read the first two books and was able to follow along really well. The first two books of this series are on my list to read since I really enjoyed book 3 in the series.   Johnson takes us into Caroline's diary from the Civil War days and cleverly put present-day throughout the book with Penelope and Tucker's life. Caroline's diary helps give Penelope and Tucker clues to help

ABOUT THE BOOK Six years ago, a shocking secret sent Agnes Pratt running in search of a new start. She found it in Penance, a rugged town of miners and lumberjacks in the Dakota Territory, where she became Miss Aggie, a respected schoolteacher and confirmed old maid. But the past has a way of catching up with people.  When childhood friend and former sweetheart James Harris accepts a position as the town doctor, Aggie's pleasantly predictable days suddenly become anything but. James wants to know why Agnes left behind the life they had dreamed of creating for themselves- but he is the one person who can never know.  In the shadows of the Black Hills, can a healing light be shed on the past? Or will the secret Agnes can't seem to outrun destroy her chance at happiness?  MY BOOK REVIEW I was so excited to get a copy of "A Life Once Dreamed" as you know I love historical fiction series. This book takes us back to the 1880s frontier land  "A Life Once Dreamed" i

ABOUT THE BOOK Before Dan opened his door to find a wounded woman who had escaped from the tormentors in the mountain, his life had become rather quiet. He and the eight other people in the mostly abandoned town had become friends. They spent peaceful evenings around the campfire and even made vague plans to journey east one day and leave the ominous mountain behind. But the woman’s arrival changes everything. Who is she? How does she know so much about Dan’s brother, who is still held captive in the mountain? Why are long-forgotten memories rising to the surface? And why does Dan feel so compelled to keep her presence in his house a secret? Visionary writer Shawn Smucker is back with an unsettling story that invites us to consider two challenging questions:  To what lengths will we go to assuage our own guilt?  and  Is there a limit to the things we will do for the people we love? BOOK REVIEW  This is the second book I read by Shawn Smucker. My first book was "Once We Were Strang

ABOUT THE BOOK: Just when fourteen-year-old Sophia Violet thinks her life can't get any weirder, her entire world turns upside down. In a few short weeks, she goes from being an awkward teenager to holding the fate of two worlds in her hands. Naturally, she resists. She has her own problems to solve. Like what's up with her best friend, Luna, who's been shapeshifting in and out of her life for as long as she can remember? Yet no one else, including her adoptive parents, has ever met her. At least not in her human form.   And what about the wolves that haunt Sophia’s fire escape each night? Or the cat that appears out of nowhere just in time to save her from an oncoming car? What do they want? Could they have anything to do with that creepy old woman, Esmeray, who has been lurking around Sophia’s New York City apartment lately?   Things come to a head when Sophia draws the attention of the principal. He invites her to a special summer camp for students from Chiral