My Battlefield

 

Summary:

 Millions of people recognize her name. They've bought the books, attending a conference, watched her show. Here, Joyce tells you her story in her own words. How she built her business, her vile childhood, the losses, the heartbreaks, the betrayals. The lessons, the victories the love. And the God of it all.

I have to say that I have only read a few of her books. I've seen clips of her tv show teachings. I'm more aware of her name than the woman behind it. Which is why I wanted to read her story. I've heard the controversy involving her in the Christian community. So, here was my chance to read what she had to say. How did she become the world wide known teacher she became? Is she really a name it and claim it leader? I had questions, so I let her answer them.

Let me tell you now, reading about her childhood is not easy. Disturbed doesn't cover it. Heartbreaking doesn't do it justice, either. Joyce was betrayed by the very people she should have been able to trust the most. No one stopped what should have never been allowed to happen. No one helped her out of the pit of hell they put her in, or kept her in. But, God had a plan for all of it.

Once Joyce graduated high school, she left home vowing to never come back. At 19, she got married to a man who lied, cheated and abandoned her. By the time the 4 year union was over, her husband had stolen from her and declared to his new woman the child Joyce was pregnant with wasn't his. Joyce was back to taking care of herself by herself. However, mere months after she was divorced, God sent a man who would forever alter her life. Dave Meyer had no idea what he was stepping into when he prayed for God to send him a woman he could help fix. 

Not only did Dave stand by Joyce's side as she lived with the side effects of her childhood and ill-fated marriage, he did so as he brought God to her life. After immersing herself in learning the teachings of God, she begun teaching a Bible Study for her coworkers. The grassroots of her legacy began to grow. With Dave's help, she grew in her faith-and in her healing. Bible Study led to teaching at the church they attended. From there, they took to the radio. Conferences and books weren't far off. What started in their basement continued to grow.

As Joyce shares the evolution of her company, she also shares all it took to get there. There were betrayals, heartbreaks and losses. But there was also a firm foundation built to house the love, help and victories. She was no stranger to criticism- mostly from the Christian community. There were many who took issue with her being a female Pastor when the Bible talks against it. I've always heard her lumped in with the "name it and claim it" pastors. Having read the book, I understand her side of it more. She prayed needs that came to be after praying. Every step of her business was done through prayer. 

I don't know if I'll read more of her books, or not. I'm glad I read this one. My Battlefield gave me a chance to get to know someone I didn't know much about. Learning about what she's been through and had to overcome, I have a newfound respect for her. It's undeniable that she's helped millions in the span of her career and I don't know how different her life would have been had she not endured all she did. 

Making Peace With What I Can't Control

 

Making Peace With What I Can't Control

By: Lysa Terkeurst

Genre: Christian Living

 

Summary: It's not that we want to be controlling people; it's just that we want to prevent bad things from happening and bring stability to the chaos. Especially when we are afraid of what God seems to be allowing. So we come up with plans and get very intentional about trying to make everyone around us line up with what we really think is best.

We don't have bad motives. We're just desperate to prevent another hardship, more heartbreak, and all the emotional turmoil that feels so unnecessary. But this only leads to a counterfeit version of control where we believe everything depends on us- a crushing weight we were never meant to bear.--- bn.com

One of my favorite Bible Study teachers is back with, yet another, gem I felt was aimed right at me. I struggle with the whole "crossing that bridge when we get to it" thing. I'm more of an "I want to know what is on the bridge so I can be prepared for it" kind of gal. I don't like the unknown. I don't like surprises that aren't good ones. So trusting God has been a journey He has taken me on. So this book hit the bullseye with me.

If you've been through painful, shocking, unforeseeable things this book is for you. Once life has taught you to always be on your guard and to have your defenses ready to go, it's very difficult to stop living that way. Life has taught you not to. Your body has learned not to relax because another tidal wave of stuff is just around the corner you seem to be rapidly approaching.

Within these pages of, Making Peace With What I Can't Control, Lysa addresses the variations of control- what they mean and how they look in daily life. She's going to distinguish the difference between responsible and controlling mindsets. As you uncover all this, she includes examples from her own life. She walks you through the pitfalls of when control crosses over into negative territory. 

Many of us have had someone in our lives who's behavior dictated our own behavior. This hit home for me because I had a friendship like this. While it started out healthy and with boundaries, over the years I was worn down to the point of my own choices and actions participated in the unhealthy control cycle it morphed into. This person's unhealthy need for control became the main influence on what I said and did- to my utter detriment. I became someone I no longer recognized. 

Learning to trade my will for God's will has been a long, long process. I've repeatedly thought I had a given situation only to make a mess of things in the end. Had I just let God drive the bus, we wouldn't have hit so many trees along the way. I had to learn that He knows what He's doing. He sees the puzzle fully done, where I only have a few pieces of it. I exhausted myself trying to make everything go the way I felt it was best only to lose it all anyway. I fell on my face countless times because I was trying to force something to happen that wasn't meant to happen. 

I strongly recommend this book! Making Peace With What I Can't Control is a great tool to help you re-evaluate your life. It helps you see what is on your plate that shouldn't be. Lysa is phenomenal at hitting you with the hard lessons through love. Every chapter has a QR code that sends you to a bonus video. it may be a craft or further discussion on what you were reading about, but helpful nonetheless.

You deserve to live with less stress on your shoulders. I encourage you to allow Lysa help teach you a way to do this. She's an amazing teacher who brings her vulnerability to the table, but also backed up expertise with professionals.  

Paper Ghosts

 

Paper Ghosts

By: Sarah Addison Allen

Summary:

For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir.

1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever.

Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all. A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen’s stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.    ----bn.com

Get ready for another whimsical, mystical book from one of my favorite authors!! I've been a fan since her debut book, Garden Spells, came out so I was ecstatic to read her newest novel. I was all set to get cozy and be putty in Miss Allen's creative hands. And I wasn't disappointed. I will say, Paper Ghosts, was a little different from her previous works, but I enjoyed it still. Elements and characteristics I've loved from each book is found in Paper Ghosts. 

WIllamena was from a wealthy family. Her grandmother had her entire life planned out for her- right down to the wedding dress to be worn whenever the wedding was to be had. And though Grandma is known around town for knowing things she shouldn't, she was the last to know about Willamena's love for Jack. When the young couple don't get grandma's approval, they decide to run away one night. But tragedy comes knocking when grandma confronts them. Willamena's life is forever changed that night. 

So, when Willamena's own granddaughter, Bailey, moves into the same house she quickly meets a stranger from the past. As Bailey struggles with events in her own life, her stand-offish grandma starts to open up. By the time the book ends, you learn grandma was a force to be reckoned with in more ways than one. 

I loved this book. I love how seamlessly Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of two women from different generations. The way she does it with a handful of whimsy, a dash of mystery I never get tired of. This book is the perfect book to start your fall reading with. 

I listened to this book on audio. The narrator did a great job of bringing the story to life. I enjoyed it. I was able to listen to the whole book in a day and I didn't get confused as to which character was which. So, if you're an auditory reader, you're going to enjoy Paper Ghosts.

And now... the countdown for her next book has begun.

Sea of Charms

 

Sea of Charms

By: Sarah Beth Durst

Genre: Fantasy

Summary:

Betrayed by love, Marin lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering an array of goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub as her crew.

On one of her routine trips to the capital, Alyssium, Marin finds a revolution underway—and her friend Dax in the line of fire.

What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home.

But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile—and realizes that perhaps she isn’t saving him. Maybe it’s the other way around  ---bn.com

You Guys!!! The way a yelped for glee and was so excited to review this book!! Not to mention the audio version of this book! I was blown away and couldn't wait to jump right into the next installment of the delightful SpellShop series.

Sea of Charms introduces you to Marin. Depserate to pay off the debt her parents took on Marin's deceitful former fiancé. She kicked him to the curb when she learned he was trying to bankrupt the business her parents have, but it came at a price. So, now she's a runner taking any job she can to pay back what they owe. In the beginning of the book you'll meet her sidekick- a sea serpent named Perri. She also adds a sailor shrub, Ree, to her crew and they set off.

As the story unfolds, you meet Dax. He's a friend of Marin's who is caught in the revolution Alyssium is embroiled in. She saves him, he acts as her boyfriend during a festival back home. It's a win, win. Or is it? 

As with the previous books in this series, you are in for adventures and travel. You're going to get caught in a magic storm. You really travel all over the place while Marin runs her and there with supplies. And while all this happens, love sneaks up along with loss and heartbreak.

As I said earlier, I had the privilege of listening to this book. I have to say, it's my favorite way to read the series. The narrator really brought everything to life. She gave each character a distinctive voice so you didn't really get confused. I loved hearing the story while I envisioned in my  mind what I was hearing. 

Sea of Charms is the third installment to the Spellshop series, but you don't have to read them in order. There were characters from the previous books in this one, but you didn't need their backstory. This book holds the same fun and adventure the other books hold. I do think this one had more since you travel all over. 

So add this cozy fantasy book (series, really) to your TBR this summer! 

Hot Girls Murder Club

Hot Girls Murder Club

By: Ashley Winstead

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Summary:

Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across L.A., all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build—including the justice she wants for Georgia—will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty.

Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over in Hollywood—an old reign of terror that, if brought to light, could be the fuel that ignites a reckoning the world over. --bn.com

If you're looking for a book where next to nothing is what is seems, may I introduce you to The Hot Girls Murder Club. This book took so many twists and turns as the story unfolded! Just when I thought I had things figured out, the story would take another turn and leave me guessing. I flew through this book and I didn't want to put it down. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next and if my theories were correct. 

When Scout's beloved sister is murdered at a Christmas party, Scout takes matters into her own hands. She and a few of her friends decide that revenge is their new hobby. Soon they are enacting revenge/justice on people who have done wrong. Is this limited to murder- nope! Blackmail is a handy tool they like to use, among others. 

What turns out to be an extra layer to the story is the detective assigned to the case. She, too, ahs lost a sister she dearly loved. And she, too, is taking the case into her own hands when the law wasn't able to do anything. But that's not where the similarities end. By the time you've read the last word, you'll see how spread out the story truly is. You'll be connecting dots you didn't think would ever connect. 

A perfect beach/pool read. Hot Girls Murder Club will keep you engrossed. You're in for a story that keeps the story moving from beginning to end. I hope you enjoy all the intricacies the story has. I know I did. 

 

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Hotter

 

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Hotter

By: Laura Clery

Genre: Memoir

Once upon a time Laura Clery and her husband, Stephen Hilton, were internet gold. Both talented and gifted: she in comedy, he in music composition. They teamed up to bring you hilarious videos and skits that brought laughter to millions. However, whenever two addicts build a life in which one isn't being truthful (or faithful), problems will arise. And when things go south, it is done publicly and in volcanic fashion. 

The once happily married couple are no longer together. Stephen gave the internet a blow by blow account while Laura stayed quiet, for the most part. However, she has decided to speak and is sparing little details of the hell their uncoupling became.

I was one of the countless who saw at least some of the Stephen's videos. And for a long time we only had his side of the story. So, when I learned Laura was putting hers on paper, I was eager to read the other side. I was not prepared for what I was going to read. I had no idea how bad things got. I had no clue of the suicide declarations, nor the breaking into the home. I was unaware of the long history of infidelity on his part. Nor did I know his drug relapse happened far more earlier than we were led to believe.

My heart broke as I learned what she and the kids had to see and hear in front of them. At the time, both kids were little and one is severely autistic. No one should have to be subjected to trauma like that, but it was harder to read and wonder how their son was going to handle everything. My chin was constantly dropping. More than once I had to stop reading because my heart hurt too much. To see what happens when addiction gets to have the control is devastating.

While I'm not saying Laura is perfect, no one should have to endure what she and the kids did. Nor for as long as they did. I remember watching the videos he made about intentionally taking drugs for his creativity. At the time, I thought it was nuts- like everyone else. There was so much we didn't know that you will now learn. 

If you're in the market for a book of how someone overcame all the obstacles that came their way, I recommend What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Hotter. If you just want her side of the story and read about what she got through all she did, grab this book. May you gain some strength from her trials. May you learn you can endure far more than you think you can. 

Summer Reads!!!

 

It's that time of year!!! Time to stock up on beach reads, vacation reads and poolside reads! I've been given the opportunity to get my hands on several historical fiction books and the audiobook of one that came out earlier in the year. With a Yes, No or Maybe I'll tell you my thoughts. 

 

Summary: History is made when New York City's most notorious madame (Polly-white) partners up with a New York City Assistant District Attorney (Eunice-black) to take on a powerful mobster running an illegal prostitution ring. 

I've been a fan of this author duo since their debut, The Personal Librarian. I couldn't put that one down when I found it on a family road trip. So, does their newest release hold the same magic? Maybe 

This book is more of a slow unfolding of the story. While the plot is great once it starts going, it does take a bit to get there. I was almost at the 50% mark when the two main female characters partner up. I do recommend this book just for the fact that it's the telling of true events that happened. The story is incredible- especially since 2 unlikely ladies are responsible for the fall of a huge crime syndicate.

These two incredible women risk it all to take a stand. But more than that, you get to know these two ladies and their motivation for all they do. You're going to see the risks they take, the punishments they receive, the struggles and the successes. While the story isn't told at a fast pace, things really pick up around the halfway mark. By the time you turn the last page and have consumed the last word you are in awe of what Polly and Eunice accomplished. Against all odds, they took down a Goliath in their town.

Summary- Fleeing the Nazis, two Dutch sisters come to the United States seeking freedom and new lives. While Ada & Ingrid leave their homeland on very different terms, their past is still breathing over their shoulders when the Red Scare in Hollywood brings the girls together again- along with enemies of their pasts.

Based on Audrey Hepburn, The Star Society, tells how Ada & Ingrid dealt with Nazis in their lives. While Ingrid escapes early on, Ada (Aleida) does undercover work. Doing all she can to help Jewish people get out, Aleida smuggles paperwork to those who need it. However, it's only a matter of time before she gets arrested. The sisters' mother becomes the mistress of a German Nazi and is the one who takes Aleida in and doesn't release her until he's left her with a permanent memory of him.

Ingrid and her husband get to Washington D.C. where she works for the US government's Anti-Communism department. When she sees a name she recognizes, Ingrid begs to be the one to gather intel on Ada. For she'd be able to gain access to the actress in a way no one else can- Ada is her sister, Aleida. Ingrid sets out to prove her sister has no connection to the Communist Party. But, Aleida's past isn't far behind them. Revenge comes calling with heartbreaking repercussions. 

Yes. I listened to this book on audio and enjoyed it. The narrator brought the story to life as history spilled out into the present. You felt the deep impact of betrayal as the story was read to you. You felt the urgency. 

Summary- Feuding Windsor brothers and their wives—some things, it seems, never change. The Windsor Affair recreates the cataclysmic events that nearly toppled the monarchy and incited the power struggle between Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Wallis Simpson. Told from the perspective of both women, the novel propels readers into the fabulous world of the debonair Prince of Wales, café society of the 1930s, and the glittering private lives of the Windsors. The first novel to be dedicated to this infamous rivalry, The Windsor Affair brings us all the gossip and intrigue between the two very different—yet perhaps more similar than they would admit—wives of royals. --bn.com

MAYBE. This story is a slow paced unfolding. If you're a fan of that, then YES. If you're not, I would recommend listening to the audiobook if you still want to read this book. This book goes beyond just the relationship with Wallis and the Prince. It continues on after the Prince abdicates the throne he takes as King. 

I've read several other books about Wallis and her infamous relationship, but I don't remember any of them delving into her past. The Windsor Affair takes you into her childhood and her past prior to ever meeting the Prince. You learn why she becomes the gold digger she became. In several ways, I came to feel sympathy for her. I never knew she had a marriage before the husband she left for Royalty. I had no idea how destructive it was and why it played a role in her swearing to never again marry for love, but security, instead. I felt badly to read rocks being thrown through her windows and to have vile names graffitied about her and said to her. However, it was the life she set out to obtain.

Reading how the Royal family saw her from the get go was also a side I'd only read brief references of. In this book, you become a fly on the wall for the Royal family. You see they pegged her for a gold digger right off the bat and didn't cater to her whims. You really see the battle of wills unfold as the story does the same. 

Okay dear readers. I hope one, or more, of these books may find it's way to your summer TBR. Enjoy!!