Rhonda's Doings !

Review of  A Season for Tending by Cindy Woodsmall  In a community where conformity flourishes, seeds of Rhoda’s odd behavior were planted long ago. Can she cultivate her relationships with the same care and tenderness that she gives her beloved garden?   Old Order Amish Rhoda Byler’s unusual  gift  and her remarkable abilities to grow herbs and berries have caused many to think her odd. As rumors mount that Rhoda’s “gift” is a detriment to the community, she chooses isolation, spending her time in her fruit garden and on her thriving canning business.     Miles away in Harvest Mills, Samuel King struggles to keep his family’s apple orchard profitable. As the eldest son, Samuel farms with his brothers, the irrepressible Jacob and brash Eli, while his longtime girlfriend Catherine remains hopeful that Samuel will marry her when he feels financially stable.     Meanwhile, Samuel’s younger sister Leah is testing all the bounda...

Review of The House That Love Built  by Beth Wiseman Brooke has only loved one man. Owen's heart is filled with bitterness. Can a mysterious house bring them together for a second chance at love? In the small town of Smithville, Texas, Brooke Holloway is raising six-year-old Meghan and ten-year-old Spencer on her own two years after her husband's death. Being a single-mom and running the family's local hardware store keep her busy. While Meghan longs for a daddy, Spencer has threatened to run away if Brooke even goes out on a date. But the last thing on Brooke's mind is falling in love. When a stranger moves to town and buys a house with a mysterious past, Brooke can't contain her curiosity. As she spends time with the new owner, she wonders if maybe God is giving her another chance at happiness. Owen Saunders fled the big city to start over in a small, rural town famous for baking the world's largest gingerbread man. Then he bought an old house to restor...

Winner of Grace Given  is Ida!!  Email has been sent!  contact me with your mailing address so I can get the book out to you, Ida!  Congrats! Thanks to all who entered!   

Review of That Summer by Jo Huddleston To escape his poppa's physical abuse and their dirt-poor farm life, Jim flees to an imagined prosperous city life where he can make his own choices, ignoring God patiently knocking on his heart's door. Settled in town, Jim strays from God and the way of faith his momma taught him. He meets a girl and loses his heart ... and meets another girl and loses his willpower. Jim wrestles with social and moral dilemmas as he makes a choice beside Caney Creek that will alter the lives of five people. MY REVIEW:  This was my first book by Jo Huddleston and I wanted to read it as I live in Virginia near the Appalachian mountains.  Jo focuses on the Tennessee Appalachian mountains in her story.   I was entranced by this story and simply could not put it down until I was finished.  My heart broke for dear Caroline and the pain she had to endure due to her choices in life.    I felt deeply for Jim and Louisa as well. ...

Review of Annie's Truth  by Beth Shriver In book one of the Amish romance series, Touch of Grace, Annie must leave the security of her family and community to find her true identity when she discovers she was adopted as a newborn and raised by her Amish parents. MY REVIEW:  I read the series backwards....lol.....I received a copy of Grace Given  previously and read it and reviewed it.  I loved both books.  I rather enjoyed reading it this way as it answered many questions that I formed as I read book 2.   I felt really badly for Annie though.  It seemed that her family was very hard on her for wanting to find her birth mother after she discovered that she was found in a field by her Amish faither as a newborn.   I would think that it would be natural for Annie to have questions about her birth and to want to find her own answers.  I suppose it is the Amish way and that would be one of the things I have trouble over in...

Giveaway of Grace Given By Beth Shriver  To enter, simply leave a comment with your email address so that I can contact you if you are the lucky winner!   For additional entries, share on facebook, twitter, or google +, follow my blog.  Tell me in the comments if you did some of the additional things to enter to win. Good Luck.  GIVEAWAY WILL RUN THROUGH MARCH 29, 2013, AT 11:55 P.M. AND I WILL ANNOUNCE WINNER!    You can read my review at:   http://colormeactive.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-of-grace-given-by-beth-shriver.html

Review of It's Just You and Me, Lord:  Prayers for a Woman's Life by Marion Stroud A woman's journey through life is marked by relationships, responsibilities, and concerns.Marion Stroud offers earnest prayers to inspire and encourage women through the daily and not-so-daily challenges of life.   She has written beautiful prayers in poetry form.  She includes scripture and quotes to further enhance each message.   Headings within the prayer book are:  A Woman Within, A Woman and Her Marriage, A Woman and Her Children, A Woman and Her Friends, A Woman at Work, A Woman and Her Family of Faith,  A Woman and Her Wider World, and A Woman Growing Older.  So you can see that there is something to speak to every woman's heart, no matter her age or situation in life.  This devotional prayer book is small and could easily fit into a purse, diaperbag, or briefcase for reading and meditating during lunch or coffee break time.   They are short ...

Review of The Pieces of Summer by Wanda Brunstetter Book 4 of an exclusive 6-consecutive-month release Amish serial novel.   Join Meredith and Luke Stoltzfus, an Amish couple who are faced with the greatest challenge of their young lives.  The Pieces of Summer  is part four of New York Times Bestselling author, Wanda E. Brunsetter’s The Discovery--A Lancaster County Saga. My Review: I am falling in love with the characters in Wanda Brunstetter's 4th book in The Discovery-A Lancaster County Saga.   Meredith and Luke are dealing with what appear to be insurmountable hardships.   How will they ever get back together?  I can empathize with the young nurse who seems to be falling for Luke and the young Amish man who is in love with Meredith and hoping to marry her.   God can turn the impossible for us into the POSSIBLE though, and that is the message of the book series to me.  I was once again left hanging from the cliff at the end...

Review of The Hope of Spring (Part 3 of the Lancaster County Discovery Saga) Part 3 of 6 parts by Wanda Brunstetter Book 3 of an exclusive 6-consecutive-month release Amish serial novel.   In  The Hope of Spring , part three of New York Times Bestselling author, Wanda E. Brunsetter’s The Discovery--A Lancaster County Saga, Meredith Stoltzfus is trying to piece her life back together, while in a hospital miles away, a young man is fighting for his life and remains in a coma. . . . Weeks away from the baby being born, Meredith has never been so scared. She aches for Luke and knows her baby will need his father. She’s nearly out of money; can she somehow manage to provide for herself and her baby—alone?  My Review: I read Book 2 and Book 3 in one night as I was so anxious to know what would happen for Meredith and the young man in the coma.   A lovely young nurse, Susan, is caring for the unknown young man and even accidentally meets Meredith while ...

Review of The Silence of Winter (Discovery Part #2) By Wanda Brunstetter Book 2 of an exclusive 6-consecutive-month release Amish serial novel.   In  The Silence of Winter , part two of New York Times Bestselling  author, Wanda E. Brunstetter's The Discovery--A Lancaster County Saga, Meredith anxiously waits to hear that Luke has arrived safely in Indiana for a new job opportunity. . .but Luke’s call never comes. Instead, Meredith receives news that tears her heart to shreds and leaves her just barely living—and only for the sake of the little one growing within her. How will Meredith ever go on without Luke? My Review: oh, my heart simply breaks for Meredith and for Luke.   Meredith must struggle with both tragedy and joy and will she ever have Luke to share her life with again?  I don't want to "spoil" the book, but I will say that I have been hanging on the edge of my seat as I read.   The volumes, I realize, have upset some rea...

Review of My Father's House by Todd Saville Have you ever awoken to find the life you’ve always wanted, to be a life of always wanting? A life of always chasing? Then one day you stop in your tracks, questioning what it is you are wanting and chasing? And you realize a harsh truth: you’ve been running blind for years.  In two short weeks, that’s what workaholic Cole Jansen discovers. Still single at thirty-two, he’s more focused on managing his clients’ money and his own material success than he is with any woman who gets close, or reconciling his estranged relationship with his parents.  But when his father’s ill health leads him from urban Cedar Rapids, Iowa to the tiny rural community of Harmony, Minnesota for a rare visit, his myopic life is suddenly questioned when he meets Rachel Miller, a young Amish woman committed to her church and family – and conflicted by forbidden dreams of meeting him, the man in the pictures she ritualistically dusts each week as part of ...

Review of It Is Well With My Soul by Shelly Beach Shelly Beach has taken the words of a beautiful favorite hymn and written a collection of meditations or devotions for those who are dealing with chronic illness, aging, daily pain and more.  She includes many examples from her own personal story which is highly moving as well as the stories of many others. She includes scripture readings and prayers with the meditations.  I have many chronic illnesses personally which forced me to quit teaching at the age of forty-nine and live on disability.  I have had to give up much, but have gained time for more prayer, more Bible reading, more study, and a deeper relationship with Christ and those I love due to my disabilities.  Shelly's writings helped me not to feel so alone and to realize that others have felt the same struggles and pains which I feel daily.   Thank you so much.    ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shelly Beach is a writer, public speaker, ...

Review of Breathe by Elena Dillon Jasmine’s life wasn’t normal for a 16 year old girl. It hadn’t been normal since the murder of her older sister, Daisy, two years ago. Her life had been changed forever. The monster that murdered Daisy was never caught. That was the reason her family decided to move away from their hometown in Southern California, to start over. Hopefully in a place where the last name Rourke wouldn’t bring on staring or judgment or morbid curiosity. In Lafayette, Louisiana things are quite a bit different but in a good way. Good manners, Cajun accents and a whole lot of Southern Hospitality all make her think things are going in the right direction. On top of that the most gorgeous boy she has ever met is interested in her. Her new friends are better than she could have hoped for even if she is worried about what they might think when they find out who she is. Life would be perfect if odd things didn’t keep happening. Creepy phone calls, texts, and flowers in h...

Review of Katie Opens Her Heart by Jerry Eicher  Bestselling Amish fiction author Jerry S. Eicher (nearly half a million copies sold) returns with the first book in another of his delightful and compelling series. Here is the touching story of an awakening young Amish girl, Katie Raber, who finds she wants more from life than to be known as simply "Emma Raber's daughter." Emma has refused to remarry since Katie's daett died soon after she was born. And in an effort to keep Katie home, Emma has forbidden her from participating in the rumspringa tradition. When widower Jesse Mast calls for Mamm's hand in marriage, Katie hopes to move into a new phase of life and leave the old "Emma Raber's daughter" behind. But Emma is having none of it, and Katie must consider abandoning all hope of ever changing her mamm's bitterness or of ever having popular Ben Yoder notice her. Out of sheer frustration, she begins attending nearby Mennonite youth gatherin...