The best of me.. a review.... :)

the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they've taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past.

I LOVE, LOVE getting books for my birthday, and lucky for me, Nicholas Sparks, My all time favorite author, usually releases a new book...  RIGHT before my birthday...  So every year I know what to expect!  ;)  and this year was no different...  Thanks little sister for the awesome book...  I LOVED it!  I'm thinking this is one of my all-time favorites...  Who am I kidding?  They're all my favorites!!  ;)  So if you have a chance you should read this one...  Who doesn't love a good love story?  and let me assure you, it was definitely a good one!  :)  

Heaven is For Real, A Review........

The Book

It's Description!

A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

The Review!

Have you ever held a book in your hand that ABSOLUTELY sucked in after the first few pages??  I have a few times, and those are my favorite reads...  THIS book did just that for me...  I meant to just read a few pages, and move on to the rest of my day...  and 3 hours later, I was at the end...  I couldn't bring myself to put it down! I must admit that it WAS an ABSOLUTE beautiful sunday and reading it poolside may of made it better...  ;) 

Heaven is For Real really hit close to home, I think it's a book that "speaks" to us, as long as we're open and willling to hear what it is telling us... 

Colton's "story" is nothing short of AMAZING, and it reminded me of something my aunt told my mom when my dad was really sick in the hospital, while we were waiting and unsure of what the outcome of his surgery would be...  (This is something that I haven't shared with a lot of people, it's something that again, can only be "believed" if we are open and willing...) 

My mom and Aunt have got to be the most Faithful people I know, we were waiting for his incision which had reopened to heal back up...  It had to have been the MOST, and I mean the MOST stressful few days EVER for us...  Basically they had told us, we could wait and hope for it to heal on it's own, if not they would have to go back in and try to close it, and the chances of him making it out of THAT were pretty slim...  We decided to wait a few days...  and on the last day we all prayed and pleaded for a miracle some more, and one actually came...  It came to my aunt though...  I still remember my mom telling me she got a call on her way to the hospital, my aunt told her she had a dream and she saw the "hole" close...  just like that, then she woke up...  weird...  at least we all thought it was, for a little while....  I'm not sure I was a complete believer then...  UNTIL the surgeon came back in and told us that the incision was in fact healed and they wouldn't have to go in...  she couldn't believe it, said she couldn't explain why...  WE ALL COULD though, it was our miracle, the one we had all prayed for...  God had heard us and everyone that had been praying for us...  During his stay at the hospital, my dad, who is also very faithful in his own way held a miniature child of prague in his pocket...  THE WHOLE TIME!  He said it was him that kept him safe...

We all have our beliefs, our ways in which we communicate with God, Our own personal ways in we choose to see the things that God places before us... 

Colton's story is also a reminder that God is always looking out for us...  I can't say that I have ever read another christian type story before...  This one I LOVED, I already let my friend borrow it, I told her it was a MUST read...  and it most definitely is, EVERYONE should read it...  and if you want to borrow mine you're more than welcome too!!  ;)

The lucky one, a review...

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Nicholas Sparks?  I think I have read all of his books at least twice...  I think everyone should give him a try, his stories are seriously amazing, and this one was no different. 

This is a story about a U.S. Marine who finds a photograph of a woman in the dirt furing his third tour of duty in Iraq.  At first he thought of tossing it asside, but then thought twice about it, he tries to see if anyone will claim it, and when noone does he keeps it, and carries it in his pocket...  ALWAYS!  Soon he starts to experience luck, he starts winning at poker, and he even survives deadly combat in which some of his friends die...  his best friend Victor is the only one who seems to have an explanation for his fortune, the "lucky" photograph, his lucky charm.

Eventually, Thibault, the Marine, decides to go out and try to find the woman in the picture.  She ends up being a divorced mother of a young son, and she also ends up being the girl he's been waiting his whole life to meet.  Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, he keeps the story of the photo and his luck a secret.  As he and Elizabeth embark on a passionate love affair, the secret he carries threatens to tear them apart, destroying not only their love, but also their lives...  (that's the description on the back of the book!)

LOVE, LOVE this story, and I think everyone should read it!!  :)  let me know if you want to borrow my copy!!  ;)

A Stolen Life..... A Review.....

I LOVE to read....  Autobiographies are some of my favorites...  Books written on experience, on people's thoughts, and feelings, I LOVE to read, and become part of the story, to see, and feel how the people feel, I think it makes people more compassionate...  I know it has made me more compassionate, it has helped me to realize that no matter how hard I think my life is, someone else is going thru something UNIMAGINABLE... 

Jaycee Duggar is one of the strongest people I have ever even thought of reading about...  The things she endured for 18 years are unimaginable to anyone out there...  I bought the book, with the intention of reading it...  It arrived the other day, I stared at it...  would I be ready to read it??  ummmm...  no, not just yet, I knew it would be graphic...  she stated that on the Dateline interview I saw her in...  I knew it would be unbelievable, I had a feeling that it would make me ANGRY!  I don't have kids... BUT I do have nieces, ok, they're mostly all "adoptive," BUT it counts, I have LOTS of friends with little girls.  I wasn't sure I would be able to read thru it... I talked it over with a friend from work...  and we decided that we would try, and see..  so it took me 2 days....  and a lot of staring at it, but I finally picked it up this morning...  I thought I would wait until I was done to write my review...  But after 2 hours of reading, and lots of mixed feelings and emotions, and a few FB breaks here and there I thought I would start now...  I thought it would be a good idea just to note how I felt throughout the book!!  ;)

• Page 18, I was SOOOOO unbelievably angry with the guy that I seriously wanted to go find him and punch him in the face....
• Page 52, Time to take a brake, the book is very "detailed,"  WAAAAYYYY more detailed than I readied myself for...  I must now get ready to go to a bridal shower, and I think it's best if I "reflect" a little on what I've read...   

August 17-19th

 I finally picked up the book again while on the plane to NY!  It definitely got easier to read after I got back to it...  Most of the "details" were within the first 52 pages...  :)

I ended up LOVING the book, really finding the story interesting, and educational..

I learned that the system REALLY did let this poor girl down... 

She is one of the most positive and hopeful people that I "know"...

Her spirit and willingness to "move on" are amazing to me...

I thoroughly recomend everyone read this book... 

BUT BE WARNED AND ADVISED THAT IT IS VERY SERIOUS READING...  there are a lot of things that I learned that I wish I hadn't learned, but I LOVED the bool nonetheless...  and I loved getting the story from Jaycee herself!!  :)  Happy reading everyone!!!