Book Review: The Shack

The Shack by William P. Young

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If everything in your life is perfect, if you have never experienced a tragedy, and you already know everything there is to know about God, then you have no need to read this book.  But if you have ever been broken, felt the longing for something else, wondered about God, then this is the book for you!



I started reading it, not knowing what to expect, being told it was an awesome book, but at the same time, reading the back cover, not sure I wanted to read what it was dealing with, the abduction of a young girl and the aftermath.



I laughed a little and cried a whole lot! This book was wonderful, and trust me I have never given 5 stars to anything! I moved me in so many ways and on so many levels, and that was just the firs time I read the book, the second time did even more.



I also loved the way the author portrayed God in different ways through out this book. It felt real, because he really captured the essence and the presence and the ideal of God in such a wonderful way, each portrayal at different parts of the book lead believablity to the book and to the account and to the truth of God.



Don' pick this up expecting a fun read, or a light read. This book will move you, and depending on where you are in your life and your own faith journey, it may even challenge you.  Make you feel that you need to or want to know God the way Missy knew God, understood God and believed in God.



It is a tremendous read for anyone, just be prepared to be rocked, to have you own faith questioned and if you are willing to grow from this book.



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A Scrapbooking Mystery

A Scrapbooking Mystery Series

By:  Laura Childs

1.  Keepsake Crimes
2.  Photo Finished
3.  Bound For Murder
4.  Motif For Murder
5.  Frill Kill
6.  Death Swatch
7.  Tragic Magic
8.  Fiber & Brimstone

I am a little OCD in that I just really, HAVE to read my books in order. There is no way that I could pick up and book to read, and then find out it was the third or fourth in a series, nothing in the world could make me read that book until I had read the ones that come before it. I know it's crazy but that is just how I am, so I am sharing the list of books that I have reviewed, in order for your information, as well as for my own. Have to keep a log of it someplace so I don't forget!

Book Review : Fiber & Brimstone

Fiber and Brimstone by Laura Childs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have enjoyed this whole series, and I enjoyed this book just about as much, although I was completely mistified by the murdered! I had no idea, it caught me completely off guard!

Now, I have to say that Carmela was a little, well many a bit more than a little snarky this whole book, in fact she seemed really off, maybe PMS or something, but she started out so sweet and this book she was anything but sweet.

Also, Ava was really off this book too. She is normally the height of fashion, so confident and sure of herself, and in this book, she was clingly and so afraid. It was so not like her.

Not sure what happened, don't know if this is suppose to be growth of character's but I did not like the unconfident and whiney Ava, or the snarky and mean Carmela.  I'm also getting a little tired of Quigg always taking advantage of Carmela. She is a good person, does good work, but he is a little too much.  Maybe Babcock calling him a sleazy slimeball is almost on target. 

I loved the southern charm, the holiday spirit and the New Orleans flavor of the book, but I felt abandoned by the characters I had come to enjoy so much throughout the series, almost as if I was reading a different series altogether.

So, if you didn't like the previous books in the series, you might enjoy this one, but if you did like the previous books, be forewarned.



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Book Review: Tragic Magic

Tragic Magic by Laura Childs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am defintely in a reading vibe right now, so I finished book 6, and started book 7, and luckly it was a quiet night at home, just me and the girls, and while they watched episodes of "Dance Moms" on tv, I read another book.

Finally, after seven books we see the finalization of Carmela and Shamus's divorce, you know I was really starting to believe that it would never happen, that they would just continue this bantering back and forth forever, but in the last two books, I have noticed a change in Carmela tone and attitude to Shamus, it is no more of the, maybe he'll grow up and we can work it out, but more of the, I'm threw this is a waste of time.

I have got to tell you, I didn't not have a clue who the real murderer was, and at the very end, when things pinged for Carmela, I still had the wrong guy pegged. The guy who did it never even crossed my radar. Really, how bad is that? You would think after ready seven books in this series that I would have a handle on them and be able to pick out the murder, I just couldn't come up with a motive for the guy I had pegged, then I was completely caught off guard by who it was and the motive!

I think it's pretty good, when you can still get stumped by a writer after reading seven in the series. I still loved the history and facts of New Orleans and I still loved the scrapbooking information and tips. Those are the things that originally drew me to this series, and are part of what keeps me coming back.



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First Baby Step

All in all, when everything is said and done, the first real step to finding my way is going to have to be accepting that I am past the baby-making years and on to a new phase of life.

That is so hard, because I was in that phase for so long! I was told at 23 I would have trouble getting pregnant, got married at 25, and at 26 we started actively trying to get pregnant with medications, finally at 31 I had Tiernan, actively went back on medicines when he was only seven months old and got lucky, three months later I was pregnant and had Maeve right before my 33rd birthday, then had Molly right before my 36th birthday. I "knew" in my mind that she was my last, but in my heart I still wanted just one more.

The thing was, even after Molly, even though we weren't trying anymore, there was always that little chance. Even after Brad insisted and got his vasectomy there was still always that slight chance, and I held onto that in the back of my mind. I always held onto to the idea that there was a chance of an oops and one more baby, until my surgery. Now there are no more chances, no more oops. It's all over.

I know I should be thrilled, overjoyed that I have three healthy beautiful children and I am. I just had my hopes and dreams set on at least one more. I loved being pregnant, I loved giving birth, even if it was a scheduled c-section, and I loved those first sleepless months nursing. It was the greatest time in my life, a time when I felt the most alive, the most needed and that I had something wonderful to give to the world.

I know I have other gifts and talents, and I know that I am still important, but I don't feel that way. Not that I can no longer have babies, I feel lost. I feel like there is nothing that makes me special anymore and nothing I can do for anyone else. I know that isn't true, but herein lies my lostness. If I am every going to find my way out of the lost feeling, I have to come to terms with the fact that I am in a different phase of life, not the baby phase, but the mom phase, the wife phase, the almost teenager phase. Anything but the baby phase.

I'm trying, and maybe by putting it out there, by admitting to it in writing I will finally be able to say goodbye to that phase and move on, to be able to find my place and what I want to do and were I am suppose to be in this world. I just want to stop feeling lost!

Book Review: Death Swatch

Death Swatch by Laura Childs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love to Scrapbook, in fact I have a number of albums in progress for my children and for holidays and such. I am always checking out new techniques and supplies. So I guess it comes as no surprise that I liked this book.

When the author is describing Memory Mine, the Scrapbook story, I can see it clearly in my mind, and when she talks about a technique that they do in the store, I can clearly see exactly what she is talking about, and I think that is probably one reason that I really like this series.

Carmela has grown in the books, less dependent on the ever-present, and still soon-to-be-ex-husband Shamus after all these books. Yes, Shamus is still dragging his heels and not settling the divorce. The longer the series goes the more party-boy Shamus becomes and the more grown woman Carmela becomes.

Ava, her bet friend, is still there and more grown up and less flighty. But then again, it has been a long time since I read the first of the series. I started it when the series first came out, but then lost track of it waiting for the next book to come out, and just revisited it now while I am waiting for more books to come out in other series.

I tend to do that, get interested in one series and read all that are out in that series, then move on to another series. Kinda hoping that logging the books I have read here will help to keep me from losing a series again.

Anyway, the mystery revolves around Mardi Gradi, and the facts and history of the krewes that are included in the book, make it that much more fun. I find that I enjoy learning about the unquie way of life that is New Orleans, and since this book occur after Hurrcaine Katrina, and talks about the slow road back, I feel it is a great boast to the city. I think that the books have been a great resource and have given people insight into New Orleans.

Carmela get talked into invetigation the murder of a friend, and as that goes, he does a good job of putting together a lot of mall clue, that finally lead to the answer and who did the murder. Although there were some dead-ends and false leads, he finally stumbles onto the correct answers.



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Lost in Space

May of 2010, the time I became lost.  Completely lost and not knowing which way to go or how to get found.

May of 2010 was when I had my hysterectomy, and although it was needed. I was in tremendous pain from ovarian cysts and a fibroid in my uterus, and even though I said I was ready for it, and I wanted the pain gone, I really wasn't ready for it, what I really wanted was just one more baby, even though I was already 40.

So when I came home after the surgery, I found myself lost, I'm still lost. Since then we have been trying different hormones and combinations to make me feel more like me again, but I am still lost. Although the medicines are starting to make me feel like a person again and I feel like doing the fun thing with my family again, I am still lost.

Who am I now? What defines me? I'm still a woman, I just don't have most of those part anymore, and yet that sometime make me feel like less than a woman. I'm still a mom, but yet I don't feel like one anymore, I feel like me kid don't even need me anymore except as a taxi driver. I'm still a wife, but I don't feel like being much of one since then and I wonder how long he'll be able to stand that. I'm so lost.


I just want to find a place, a purpose for being now. I don't know where to look anymore, what to start with, or even how to figure it out. What once made me happy doesn't feel the same anymore, it still makes me happy, but there i a void, or empty space in it. I even tried sewing today, something that always made me feel good and like I had accomplished something. It felt good to sew, but something as missing, I still felt empty inside.


There is no magic pill out there that is going to take care of this, it is something that I have to figure out myself, I have to learn to deal with what has happened and come to terms with it and find a new purpose and plan. Just don't have and idea where to start.