A January Bride

A January Bride
By Deborah Raney

About the book:
A year's worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed.
What will happen when novelist Madeleine Houser's 'pen pal' friendship with a lonely widower takes an unexpected turn?
Who can work in a house that's overrun by contractors and carpenters? Not Madeleine Houser, a successful novelist who gladly accepts the help of her octogenarian friend, Ginny, to arrange for a temporary office in the charming bed and breakfast owned by Ginny's friend, Arthur. Maddie's never met the innkeeper---but a friendship grows between them as Maddie and Arthur leave messages for each other each day. To Maddie's alternate delight and chagrin, she seems to be falling for the inn's owner---a man who's likely many years her senior---and who she's never even met.
Arthur Tyler is a college professor who lost his young wife to cancer. Together they ran the bed and breakfast where Art lives, but without his wife, the house is missing warmth and cheer. He jumps at the chance to have author Madeleine Houser use the space that was once filled with guests. He, too, begins to enjoy the daily exchanges with Maddie, but a series of misunderstandings lead him to believe she's far from being a prospective date---even if he were ready to date again, which he's not.
When Maddie and Art finally meet and discover one another's identity, sparks fly. Even so, they each have obstacles to overcome in order for this winter romance to blossom.

My thoughts:

A January Bride is a quick, light read a sweet and somewhat predictable read. Maddie is an author in need of a place to write. Art is a widower who owns a Bed and Breakfast. A pretty typical romance set up. While predictable, how events came about were sometimes surprising and a little bit sweet.

Dear Mr Knightley

Dear Mr. Knightley
By Katherine Reay
About the book:
Samantha Moore survived years of darkness in the foster care system by hiding behind her favorite characters in literature, even adopting their very words. Her fictional friends give her an identity, albeit a borrowed one. But most importantly, they protect her from revealing her true self and encountering more pain.

After college, Samantha receives an extraordinary opportunity. The anonymous “Mr. Knightley” offers her a full scholarship to earn her graduate degree at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. The sole condition is that Sam write to Mr. Knightley regularly to keep him apprised of her progress.

As Sam’s true identity begins to reveal itself through her letters, her heart begins to soften to those around her—a damaged teenager and fellow inhabitant of Grace House, her classmates at Medill, and, most powerfully, successful novelist Alex Powell. But just as Sam finally begins to trust, she learns that Alex has secrets of his own—secrets that, for better or for worse, make it impossible for Sam to hide behind either her characters or her letters.

My Thoughts:

Samantha, who grew up an orphan, is a twenty something determined to make it on her own. But one too many mistakes gives her no place to go but back go the place she grew up, Grace's house. Discouraged but still determined she decides to earn back the journalism scholarship she lost. Earning her scholarship back comes with one condition, that she write letters to the unknown man providing the scholarship to her. She calls him "Mr. Knightly"

This entire book is written in letters. Initially that sounds boring but is actually unique and a bit captivating. Samantha feels like a failure on the inside and appears awkward on the outside but having the birds eye view of her that we do she is tender and likable.

Katherine Reay is a debut novelist who I can tell has many more captivating books to come.

*I received this book free for review from Thomas Nelson Publishers*

Rating: 4 carats

Playlist Fiction

Playlist Fiction, the awesome YA e-book line is releasing their books I'm paperback.

I'm so excited I painted pictures inspired by each book or series.

Status Updates series By Laura L Smith
"Its Complicated"
And
"It's Over"



Glass Girl series By Laura Anderson Kurk
"Glass Girl"
And
"Perfect Glass"




The Ellie Sweet Series By Stepahnie Morrill
"The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet"
And
"The Unlikely Debut of a Ellie Sweet"



"Swimming Through Clouds" By Rajdeep Paulus



"Between These Lines" By Jennifer Murgia




Be on the look out for more titles from Playlist in 2014

Learn to paint in 2014!

Are you called to paint and haven’t because you don’t know where to start? Gorgeous Girls is for you. You can unblock, get out of your own way, and create beautiful work that really matters. If you’ve lost your connection with your muse or if you don’t know how to get it revved up Kat can help you.
Join me her Let's Draw and Paint! Gorgeous Girls, a year-long art class aimed at novice artists who want to learn whimsical/mixed media painting with a foundation in Fine Art techniques. Gorgeous Girls starts January 1st, 2014 at the Early Bird price of $197.
Need more info the class? ( http://katcanpaint.com/gorgeous-girls-virtual-art-studio/ )
If you can shush about how you can't even draw a stick figure then you can learn how to paint a gorgeous face. And that just happens to be the first lesson of Gorgeous Girls 2014. Check it out for free! ( https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64464092/Glam%20Faces.pdf

Happy Thanlsgiving

What are you thankful for?

Speak Love

Speak Love
By Annie F. Downs

About the book:
You’ve heard, ‘Think before you speak’ a hundred times, and probably shrugged it off just like that other insightful phrase, ‘Your face will freeze like that if you’re not careful.’ But unlike a facial expression, our words do stick around. Which means everything you say—from what tell your friends, whisper about your enemies, post online, mutter to yourself, or even say to the celebrity you ran into at the coffee shop—carries a whole lot of power. The question is, are you ready to use that power to make a real difference? Because the truth is, you could be part of the first generation who uses their words to build up and not tear down, and even kill the mean girl mentality. Through very funny stories, Scripture, and a real understanding of the good, bad, and ugly ways we can use our words, Annie Downs explores the difference you can make when you speak love to others, to God, and even to yourself. Because when you speak love, you speak life. And that’s what matters.

My thoughts:

I love Annie Downs. Her blog, her books, her tweets. All of it, she is real and relatable. I don't know how to describe "Speak Love." Its awesome and something we don't see often. The best way to talk about it is to let Annie herself as she did so wonderfully through the enter month of October posting about ways to speak love everyday.

31 Ways to Speak Love

Rating: a whole gem parcel

Want to paint? Kat can teach you!

Love whimsical art and mixed media art but want to paint better people? You can paint, Kat’ll show you how. (No beret required.) If you can shush about how you can't even draw a stick figure then you can learn how to draw a gorgeous face.

Join her Let's Draw and Paint! Gorgeous Girls, a year-long art class aimed at novice artists who want to learn whimsical/mixed media painting with a foundation in Fine Art techniques. You'll spend a year immersed in whimsical art lessons guaranteed to help you paint better people, if you do the work Gorgeous Girls starts January 1st, 2014 at the Early Bird price of $197.
Need more info the class? ( Gorgeous girls 2014