The Sparkle Box - Book Review

The Sparkle Box is the perfect way to start a new family tradition, teach your kids to help others, and add more meaning to Christmas. 

We received a copy to review and the kids and I Loved it! I'm so excited to add this to our family traditions. Such a great way to teach kids to be compasionate givers, while also showing the love of Christ. 

At the beginning of the story you see The Sparkle Box  sitting on a fireplace mantle and a child asking him mom about it.Throughout the story you read about the child and his family and the various things they are doing to help out someone or some charity. Simple things like donating money or giving a homeless person some gloves. As the story progresses the child continues to ask about the sparkle box, but the parents tell him he has to wait until Christmas to open it.

Finally Christmas comes and the child gets to open The Sparkle Box , but there is nothing in it except slips of paper. On the slips of paper are each of the kind acts that the family has done during the month of December. The parents explain that these were their gifts to Jesus, helping others.

The book comes with The Sparkle Box  and you can do the same thing the family does in the story.

Gone Girl - Book Review

Gone Girl

OK, it's been quite a while since I did a book review and part of the reason is that I haven't read anything worth reviewing in some time. Which means that I really liked Gone Girl. In fact I couldn't put it down. I read it in three days after a friend of mine mentioned that she couldn't put it down.

Gone Girl is a mystery book that takes place in Missouri. Amy, wife of Nick, has gone missing and you follow along the journey of finding out what happened.

The story changes directions drastically throughout the book. Just when you think you've figured out what's going to happen the author changes directions and almost transforms the characters into different people. After enough changes in direction you are dying to get to the end and see how it all plays out.

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• 6 Books Perfect for Book Clubs

6 Books Perfect for Book Clubs

Here are 6 book recommendations perfect for a book club or just reading on your own. My book club is actually reading all of these right now. All of these books were recommended by friends of mine or other bloggers I know.

 The Light Between Oceans


The Sandcastle Girls


The Comfort of Lies


Here I Go Again


Where'd You Go Bernadette


The Language of Flowers
The Language of Flowers was one of the selections for World Book night 2013.


Also the author of There's a Lion in the Toilet! Based on the true-life extraordinary adventures of 6 Andersons will Skype with your book club meeting for a Q & A with her. How fun is that!


Do you have a good book recommendation? If so, please share it in the comments below.

Book Review - Strike it Rich with Pocket Change

Strike It Rich with Pocket Change

What a great book this was.

Although this is not something I would normally read it has been quite interesting. I had no idea until I read this that you could make money off off coins with errors in them.

My 10 year old devoured this book! My 7 year old has had a lot of fun with it as well. Apparently this topic is fascinating to children. Both kids have gone through every coin we have in the house and sure enough they found two of the ones mentioned in this book. It has fun to read something with the kids and talk with them about it

Beneath the Night Tree - book review

Beneath the Night Tree
by Nicole Baart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the third and final book in a series. I did not realize this was a series since there was nothing to indicate this on the actual book. Obviously, now that I know how the whole thing ends I will not be going to back to read the other two.

This book is about a young women struggling to make decisions for her and her family.  She has a family mostly put together through circumstances.  Julie, the main character struggles through what she wants versus what is best for her family.

I had a hard time relating to the main character and a lot of the book is her thoughts on a little bit of everything going on around her. The whole book is from her perspective. Maybe if I had read the previous books I would have understood her constant mind rambling thoughts that went on for pages. Overall it is an interesting story, but I found myself skipping through paragraphs of her thoughts. I enjoyed the references to the bible and that the characters had faith. I liked the ending, but could see it coming.



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I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale House.

Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny

     I thought Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny was an okay book. I couldn't wait to start reading it after the introduction.  I wish the whole book had been written as good as the intro.
     This was a broad over view of Patton's life, but he could have written much more. He skims over many of the aspects of Patton's life. The author also spoke of various events and then never followed up with the eventual outcome of these events.  I was curious about Patton's family, but there is almost no mention of them.
     I did like the perspective this author took in sticking to facts instead of the movie persona of Patton.



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Great Book Blog
Kid book review blog

Memorize scriptures

Since becoming a mom my brain is always completely scrambled it seems. I have a harder time remembering things. I used to have what I considered a really good memory, but I would not dare make that claim these days!

My mom gave me a book by Lisa Whelchel called Taking Care of the ME in Mommy. In it she talks about something she calls Scripture Primping: writing out scriptures that coordinate with your primping tasks, and sticking them to the mirror where you put on your makeup each morning.

Foundation: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" 1 Corinthians 3:11

Eyebrows: "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell" Mark 9:47

Eye makeup: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit" Proverbs 16:2

Mascara: "A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool" Proverbs 17:10

Finishing powder: "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" James 1:4

Blush: "To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also" Luke 6:29

Lipstick: "Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment" Proverbs 12:19

Confesssions of a Shopaholic - Book Review

I love to read! So, I have decide to add an occasional book review. Don't worry they won't be too wordy since I am a pretty basic gal and I don't want to spoil any of the book for my readers. Last week I read
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Movie Tie-in Edition)

I thought Confessions of a Shopaholic was pretty good overall. I did not enjoy the first two thirds of the book. I am not really into clothes. I mean, I like to look nice, but if I see something in the store I don't go crazy over it. I found it annoying to read paragraph after paragraph about one item of clothing. I didn't like the character, but once she changes for the better it is a good book. The ending was great. There is a whole series so I am glad I stuck with it because I am looking forward to the other books.