Category Archives: Reading

Book tour: The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner

Posted on by
10

Readers, I’m happy to offer The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner as my next book giveaway.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Meissner’s newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy’s words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars together face life’s hardest struggles about where true meaning is found, which dreams are worth chasing and which only lead to emptiness, and why faith and hope are essential on life’s difficult path. Meissner’s prose is exquisite and she is a stunning storyteller. This is a novel to be shared with friends. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What other authors had to say about The Shape of Mercy

“I loved The Shape of Mercy from beginning to end. Ms. Meissner’s prose sings, and her characters captured my interest from the start. As the story unfolded, those same characters captured my heart. I won’t soon forget Mercy, Lauren, or Abigail.”
–Robin Lee Hatcher, award-winning author of Wagered Heart and When Love Blooms

“The Shape of Mercy is vintage Susan Meissner: tender storytelling that keeps you hooked; living, breathing characters that capture your heart and madden you, too; and a message of redemption that sticks with you. Meissner deftly weaves the stories of three women of vastly different generations, connecting them perfectly and crafting a winsome, interesting, powerful read.”
–Mary E. DeMuth, author of Watching the Tree Limbs and Daisy Chain

I have two copies to give away, thanks to WaterBrook Press. You know how it works: leave a comment to enter, tweet or post to your own blog to increase your odds – don’t forget to send me the link! Contest open until next Friday; next giveaway is the week of November 3. Enjoy!

Book tour: For Young Men Only (A guy’s guide to the alien gender) by Jeff Feldhahn and Eric Rice with Shaunti Feldhahn

Posted on by
7

Hey, do you know a young man who could use a little help understanding girls and what they think about boys, dating and sex? Maybe you are the parent of a teen boy and you wish you could help him navigate a girl’s world?

For Young Men Only by Jeff Feldhahn and Eric Rice is just the nifty little handbook you are looking for. (And it’s the perfect size for a Christmas stocking).

From the backcover:

Just for guys… the inside scoop on girls from girls themselves.

Okay, the authors aren’t girls. But to bring you the facts they survived more than 1,000 of them. Every teen buy wants to know how girls are wired, what they want, and how they really think…

or at least how to talk to a girl without feeling like an idiot. Here’s your chance to find out.

Check out some of the chapters:

  • Abercrombie Boy vs. Our Hero, Average Joe (Why ordinary guys have a real chance with great girls)
  • Why Good Girls Like Bad Boys (Understanding a girl’s greatest secret fear – and what you can do about it)
  • No Dropped Calls (How to talk and listen to a girl without looking like an idiot)
  • What it Means to Score (The truth about girls, guys, and sex)

About the authors:

Jeff Feldhahn is an attorney and the owner of the tech company, World2One. With his wife, Shaunti, he wrote the best selling For Men Only.

Eric Rice is the owner/director/producer of 44 Films. Eric lives in Atlanta area with his wife, Lisa, and their four teenage children.

Shaunti Feldhahn is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, public speaker, and best-selling author whose books include For Women Only, For Young Women Only (with Lisa Rice) and For Parents Only.

Wanna win a copy for your boy? I have two copies to give away. Even if you don’t have a teen boy now, you may want to get your hands on this book, because today’s toddler will grow up to tomorrow’s teen, pimples and whiskers and all. I know I’m going to tuck my copy away for when my boys need it.

Enter the contest by leaving a comment.

Want an extra entry? Promote this giveaway on your blog, and send me the link. For another chance to win, give this a shout out on Twitter. Don’t forget to email me the tweet.

That’s it. Contest closes next Friday, October 17.

What I’m reading: Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway

Posted on by
Reply

Monique and the Mango Rains (Two Years with a Midwife in Mali) is a memoir of Holloways’ experience as a Peace Corp volunteer in Mali, where she befriended midwife Monique Dembele.

From the backcover:

Monique Dembele saved lives and dispensed hope in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter. This book tells of her unquenchable passion to better the lives of women and children in the face of poverty, unhappy marriages, and endless backbreaking work. Monique’s buoyant humor and willingness to defy tradition were uniquely hers. In the course of this deeply personal narrative, as readers immerse themselves in the rhythms of West African village life, they come to know Monique as friend, mother, and inspired woman.

I know! I know! Yet another memoir. This one I couldn’t resist, mostly because I’ve read hardly anything at all about Africa, except a short story by Hemingway. (Why is it I can’t remember any of the details of The Sun Also Rises and… another Hemingway novel I read? Can’t even recall the title of that book).

Plus, I won this book from the Early Reviewers group over at LibraryThing. I had to read it.

Oh, darn. You all know how I hate a memoir. Ha.

Modern medicine in Mali looks nothing like what we take for granted here in the United States. I look back at my four birth experiences, and nothing that I’ve complained about with those hospital births comes close to what the mothers in Mali have to endure. We American mothers are blessed, and dare I say – spoiled – with the health care we have available.

Have you read any books about African culture? Please share in the comments below. Have you been to Africa? Tell us your experience.