Kathryn Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy. After practicing as a pharmacist, she left her career to marry and begin a family and has since pursued her dream of writing.
Other books by Kathryn, A Promise to Remember was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book-of-the-Year in the Women’s Fiction category, and Waiting for Daybreak was a finalist in Women’s Fiction for the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award.
Leaving Yesterday, her third novel, was a finalist for the ACFW Carol Award.
Now her fifth book, Another Dawn, has arrived in stores, and I’m very excited about it!
On the homefront, Kathryn has been married to Lee for over twenty years now, and their two daughters are currently braving the worlds of junior high and high school. They’ve lived in Santa Barbara for the last nineteen years. It’s a beautiful place and Kathryn feels blessed to be there (although a seventy degree Christmas still leaves her dreaming of a white one—or at least a colder one!)
ABOUT THE BOOK
Grace Graham is back in Tennessee with her four-year-old son on a short unpaid leave from work, helping her father recover from surgery and spending time with her sister.
Shoal Creek seems more backward than ever after her years in California, and it's hard to find organic food anywhere. When the unthinkable happens and her son is diagnosed with measles, Grace's fears over modern medicine take a dangerous turn.
Worse, the town has fallen into quarantine and its residents focus their anger and blame on Grace. She is alone and scared, until one brave woman chooses to reach out a hand of forgiveness and mercy. But when the outbreak takes a life-threatening turn, will Grace be able to forgive herself?
If you would like to read the first chapter of Another Dawn, go HERE.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, f hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for un! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Jumping daily improves circulation and flexibility.
When you are young, you can't help but jump around. As you get older, it seems like there is less to jump up about. But it you practice leaping for joy, you may actually feel happier about things.
A little bounce in your step as you walk around the house, go to work, or even just get up from bed can perk up your heartbeat and your attitude.
~taken from p. 98 of Lessons from Stanley the Cat by Jennifer Freed
WoW want a series! I was so excited when I was accepted to do this Made to Crave Tour. I received the book back in Dec. However, the participant's guide and dvd didn't come until this past Wednesday. I've had the book read for several weeks now. It was awesome. I wish the study guide and dvd would have come sooner so I could have worked them along with the book. Anyway they are awesome too. I had to hurry through them and not do the weekly sessions and take my time, but I will go back through them again and use them as they were intended to be used.
Lysa is absolutely excellent on the dvd sessions. I had to cram them in in three days instead of 6 weeks as was intended.
Main theme through the whole book and series is We as women are made to crave God not food. Boy is it stressed. Lysa explains that we must fix the foundation before we can fix the upper part that is broken. It isn't he How-to, but the Want-to that makes the lasting changes. We must keep focused on who we are in every situation. We need to learn to control the food and not let it control us. Lysa gives weekly assignments in her sessions. They are outlined in the participant's guide as well as her outline on the sessions. You are able to jot notes and keep tabs right in the participant's guide. Lysa also stresses this isn't a diet book, but the missing link between the diet plan you choose and reaching lasting success. It is a spiritual commitment, a journey. We need to choose a diet plan and exercise program that we will actually do. Lysa tries to get her viewer to grab ahold of the thought that God is magnificent and we should desire to crave Him not food. He wants us to depend on Him daily; He wants to be our portion. Victory is made by the choices that we make and we can have the victory if we choose wisely. God wants the best for us. Also in the participant's guide are six daily sessions to do on your own following through what Lysa discussions in the sessions.
In the book, each chapter ends with pa personal reflection. We learn that there are lessons to be learned and perspectives to be gained when we embrace healthy choices. We need to learn how to consume food, which is permissible and beneficial, without it consuming us. Food was never meant to fill the deepest places of our heart....that is reserved for God only. We tend to tie our happy to the wrong things.
This was an excellent study and I highly recommend it. Now that I have it all I need to go back through it the proper way. I encourage you to go to the Made to Crave web site and probe around. There are many videos to watch and things to look at. I do trust that you'll consider letting Lysa help you in Craving after God and not Food.
Sign up for a FREE webcast with Lysa based on her new book: Made to Crave. For more information, click here.
**Also – today at Amazon the Crave God companion study (21-day devotional) is FREE for KINDLE: I’m not sure how long it will be free! click here to download
Just because a woman finally fits into her skinny jeans doesn't mean she's won her battle with food. Too often, women overlook the spiritual component to their physical struggle with healthy eating. Made to Crave taps into the desires God gave you to consume food without letting food consume you!
Made to Crave is the missing link between a woman's desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen. The reality is we were made to crave. Craving isn't a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in physical pleasures instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction. If you are struggling with unhealthy eating habits, you can break the "I'll start again Monday" cycle, and start feeling good about yourself today. Learn to stop beating yourself up over the numbers on the scale. Discover that your weight loss struggle isn't a curse but rather a blessing in the making, and replace justifications that lead to diet failure with empowering go-to scripts that lead to victory. You can reach your healthy weight goal - and grow closer to God in the process. This is not a how-to book. This is not the latest and greatest dieting plan. This book is the necessary companion for you to use alongside whatever healthy lifestyle plan you choose. This is a book and Bible study to help you find the "want to" in making healthy lifestyle choices. 224 pages. Companion Bible study DVD set also available. http://madetocrave.org/purchase-resources/
About the DVD series:
If you want to maximize your experience and bring these teachings to life in a way you’ll never forget, you’ll want to order the full set of resources. Adding the DVD teaching series and the workbook will motivate you to get healthy without feeling deprived, lose the weight in a permanent way, and find the peace your body, mind and soul desires. This DVD study can be done in a group or by yourself.
Lysa TerKeurst is an author and speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has led thousands to make their walk with God an invigorating journey.
Lysa wrote the book Made to Crave from the perspective of a woman who has never craved a carrot stick in her whole life. Having struggled with her weight her whole adult life, Lysa knows what it feels like to be in the vicious cycle of gaining and losing, but never feeling at peace in her struggle. Everything changed when Lysa decided to have her deepest desire met by God not food. Now, armed with the spiritual motivation she gained in her own journey, she is inspiring others to find lasting victory.
As a nationally known speaker, Lysa has been passionately teaching women God’s truths for years. Lysa’s personal adventures of following God led to appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, USA Today newspaper, Woman’s Day magazine, and Focus on the Family radio.
Today, Lysa and her ministry team at Proverbs 31 Ministries encourage more than 375,000 women through their daily online devotional. In addition, she co-hosts a 1-minute inspirational radio program aired on more than 1,200 stations around the world. Plus, she touches hearts through their monthly magazine, P31 Woman. Lysa’s blog averages over 70,000 avid readers per month. She is the award-winning author of 14 books, including her newest releases, Made to Crave and Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl. Other noteworthy books include What Happens When Woman Say Yes to God, What Happens When Women Walk in Faith, Capture His Heart, and Capture Her Heart. Visit Lysa's website for more info and to visit her blog! http://lysaterkeurst.com
About the giveaway and party:
Lysa is throwing a Made to Crave Party on February 8th! Made To Crave Party on Facebook!
During the party Lysa will chat with guests, host a trivia contest or two, and give away lots of other fun prizes (copies of Lysa’s other books and Amazon.com, iTunes & Starbucks gift certificates) – including a live Author Chat with Lysa for your small group!
Don’t miss the fun! Lysa is looking forward to learning more about you – so be sure to stop by Lysa's Facebook Author Page on February 8th at 5:00 PM PST (6 PM MST, 7 PM CST, & 8 PM EST).
**Also – today at Amazon the Crave God companion study (21-day devotional) is FREE for KINDLE: I’m not sure how long it will be free! click here to download
A copy of Made to Crave, Participant's guide and DVD was provided for this review by litfuse
Janice Thompson has brought Hollywood right into your front room with her book, Stars Collide. You see the stars, Angie (Kat) and Jack (Scott) on and off the stage. As they deal with the paparazzi and Kat's eccentric Grandmother, a Hollywood oldie goldie. I think Grandma Lenora almost stole the main spot with her wackienss, fun loving, off beat and unusual, quirky, erratic behavior. Thompson takes the readers on and off the stage in this delightful book. Janice makes the scene changes smooth and easy, you don't get lost in switching back and forth on and off the set. The author makes you feel like you are really backstage on a scene set or setting in real life with the characters. The author deals with Alzheimers, father abandonment and other issues all through the book. Deals with true love overcoming the obstacles that real life brings our way with God's forgiveness and grace. Stars Collide is full of wit, romance, drama and award winning characters. This was a very fun book to read. I totally loved this book and I'm sure young and old alike will enjoy Janice's Stars Collide.
New Series Takes Readers Into the Glamorous Life of a Hollywood Sitcom Celebrity and Her Quest for Love
From author who is a seasoned screenwriter with an insider’s perspective on the entertainment industry, comes the first book Stars Collide in the new series from Janice Thompson, “Backstage Pass.”
In Stars Collide, Kat Jennings and Scott Murphy don't just play two people who are secretly in love on a television sitcom—they are also head over heels for each other in real life. When the lines between reality and TV land blur, they hope they can keep their relationship under wraps.
But when Kat's grandmother, an aging Hollywood starlet with a penchant for wearing elaborate evening gowns from Golden Age movies, mistakes their on-screen wedding proposal for the real deal, things begin to spiral out of their control. Will their secret be front-page news in the tabloids tomorrow? And can their budding romance survive the onslaught of paparazzi, wedding preparations, and misinformed in-laws?
From the sound stage to a Beverly Hills mansion to the gleaming Pacific Ocean, Stars Collide takes readers on a roller-coaster tour of Tinseltown, packing both comedic punch and tender emotion.
You can find the author here.
For more information about this book click here.
Visit Revell books here.
A copy of this book was provided for this review by
Lisa Wingate is an award-winning journalist, magazine columnist, popular inspirational speaker and a national bestselling author of sixteen books. Her first mainstream novel, Tending Roses, is in its eighteenth printing from Penguin Putnam. Tending Roses is a staple on the shelves of national bookstore chains as well as in many independent bookstores.
Recently, Lisa’s Blue Sky Hill Series, set in Dallas, received national attention with back-to-back nominations for American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award for A Month of Summer (2009) and The Summer Kitchen (2010). Pithy, emotional, and inspirational, her stories bring to life characters so real that readers often write to ask what is happening to them after the book ends.
Lisa is one of a select group of authors to find success in both the Christian and mainstream markets, writing for both Bethany House, a Christian publisher, and NAL Penguin Putnam, a general market publisher. Her bestselling books have become a hallmark of inspirational fiction. Her works have been featured by the National Reader's Club of America, AOL Book Picks, Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, Crossings Book Club, American Profiles and have been chosen for numerous awards.
When not busy dreaming up stories, Lisa spends time on the road as a motivational speaker. Via internet, she shares with readers as far away as India, where her book, Tending Roses, has been used to promote women's literacy, and as close to home as Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the county library system has used Tending Roses to help volunteer mentors teach adults to read. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Adventure is the last thing on Andrea Henderson's mind when she moves to Moses Lake. After surviving the worst year of her life, she's struggling to build a new life for herself and her son as a social worker. Perhaps in doing a job that makes a difference, she can find some sense of purpose and solace in her shattered faith. For new Moses Lake game warden Mart McClendon, finding a sense of purpose in life isn't an issue. He took the job to get out of southwest Texas and the constant reminders of a tragedy for which he can't forgive himself. But when a little girl is seen with the town recluse, Mart and Andrea are drawn together in the search for her identity. The little girl offers them both a new chance at redemption and hope--and may bring them closer than either ever planned.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Larkspur Cove, go HERE.
The Adventures in Boogabooga Land is a cartoon featuringMarty the monkey and Gerard the giraffe. This particular DVD was suppose to have three 15 min. episodes based on the Parables of Jesus: The Lost Pearl (appox. 11 min), The Soil and the Seeds (approx. 10 min.), and the Wedding Banquet (approx. 10 min.). They were cute cartoons, but the Biblical message wasn't really there. The Wedding Banquet may have been a slight Bible message underlay. I was disappointed in this DVD. If you just want a cute cartoon then you won't be disappointed. I don't think it would hold any child's attention much above 3 years of age. The message for the money (price) don't think it is worth it.
This is how "Whatcha Reading Wednesdays" works this week...
Go to page 1 type in the first sentence. If it is a spoiler at all be sure to put **Spoiler Alert** at the top of your comment (like if the selection announces the death of an integral character or something).
"I'm sorry." Tabitha Eckles dared not look Harlan Wilkins in the eye. If she witnessed even a flicker of grief, the floodgates of her own tears would spring open and drown her good sense in a moment when she needed all of it. "I did everything I could to save your wife."
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, f hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for un! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Lost in her imagination, she blundered straight into a person standing on the beach. He grunted. She reeled backward. Her heel caught in the hem of her skirt. Her other foot slipped on the wet sand, and her posterior struck the ground with a splat like a landed fish.
~ from p. 12 Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes
"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." -C.S. Lewis
