The Everyday Psalmist

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Book Summary:  “If there’s anything we can learn from the many writers of the Psalms,” explains Leslie Calhoun, associate editor of Ink & Willow, “it’s that talking to God doesn’t have to be hard. Prayer can be raw, honest, and messy, and it doesn’t require fancy words or insider language to be meaningful and restorative on a deep soul level.”

 

The twenty-one devotions are divided into three sections—Life Is Beautiful, Life Is Hard, and God’s Got This—that each focus on different aspects of the spiritual journey with the accompanying appropriate Psalms. In addition to the guided prompts, each devotion also ends with a “Getting Real” section that invites readers to jot down what is beautiful about the day, what is hard, and where they need to see God most. 

This beautiful journal lays out simple, inviting prompts for readers who are longing to deepen their relationship with God through prayer but who might be struggling to find the words to accurately express how they’re feeling. Using the prayer language of the psalms as a starting point, The Everyday Psalmist provides an interactive, creative space for Christians to explore writing their own psalms and prayers as part of their daily spiritual practice while learning more about the biblical psalms—what they are, the different types, the origin, and how they are arranged. With quotes and reflections, this journal acts as writer’s guide that encourages reflection and, in the words of Eugene Peterson, helps get “everything out in the open before God.” 

With undated pages, an approachable layout, and calming images of nature, The Everyday Psalmist awakens gratitude and honesty, and most importantly, will enrichen spiritual lives in a personal, transformative way. 

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  The Everyday Psalmist is a beautiful book that encourages you to connect with God through thoughtful prayer. I really liked the thought-provoking prompts.  I read the section and questions and would think them over for a few days before journaling. I found I needed more time to really think about the prompts and what they meant to me.  I found writing a psalm very difficult, but I believe it is because I have never done so and felt it had to be one certain way. The guide will walk you through how to write one. 

The photos and saying thoughts in the journal are so beautiful.  There are several I would like to frame, however, that would mean tearing my journal apart....which I could never do. My favorite part of the journal (and easiest for me) was the "Getting Real" sections. Three questions are asked:

•     What's beautiful today?
•     What's hard right now?
•     Where do you need God most?

Even after completing The Everyday Psalmist, I can still answer those 3 questions in a daily journal.

The Everyday Psalmist would make a wonderful gift, but make sure you pick up a copy for yourself!

Ink & Willow products infuse contemplation and inspiration into the regular spiritual practice of creative-minded Christians, wherever they are in their faith journey. Each thoughtfully curated gift product is based in biblical truth and sparks a reminder of how God reveals beauty in the midst of our ordinary.

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It All Started With You

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Book Summary:  I always thought I was going to be a girl who did something. I was going to run my own business and find fame and fortune! Fall in love…

But here I am. Still waiting for it all to happen, sitting on the floor, surrounded by lilies and roses, trying to do my best friend’s wedding flowers because – in her words – ‘how hard can it be, Frankie?’. The answer is actually ‘very hard’ but it’s not the only thing that’s tough right now. My boyfriend won’t commit, I barely have a job, and once again I have the hangover from hell…

What I don’t know is that life’s about to throw me a curveball a new friend I will make with a beautiful, sad-eyed little boy who is so very tragically ill. I still don’t know about that heartbreak.

Even so, in this moment, I know that it’s time for some changes. Maybe it’s time to make my dreams come true? To try to become a marathon-running, healthy-living, wildly-in-love florist-to-the-stars!

Because I’m beginning to realise that you only get one chance at life. I don’t yet how you change everything, all at once, but what I do know is it all starts with me…

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Thoughts: I wasn't sure the direction It All Started With You was going to take based on the first few chapters. Once you get passed the out-of-control Frankie and get into the story, it is hard to put it down.  Her best friend, a powerhouse lawyer, loans her starter funds to purchase a flower shop.  As she learns how to run a business she develops amazing friends, grows into a fabulous person, and falls in love.  I loved the characters and together they made the story. 

My great-grandfather started a flower shop/greenhouse and it was passed down to my grandfather and later to my mother. I loved the magical part of the flowers in the story and how certain flowers impact the outcome of an event. 

Great read and I look forward to more books by Debbie Howells.

Debbie Howells’s first novel, a psychological thriller, The Bones of You, was a Sunday Times bestseller for Macmillan. Four more bestsellers followed, including most recently The Vow, published by Avon. Fulfilling her dream of writing women’s fiction, she has found a home with Boldwood and her first title with them, The Life You Left Behind was published in February 2022.

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The Millionaire's Wife

 ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  When Anna Blackwell opens an email from an unknown sender, the shocking image attached shatters her perfect world. A woman has been killed. And Anna knows who did it. The past is catching up with her.

Is it her turn next?

To protect herself and her husband Will, she must tell him the terrible truth about her first love. But as the secrets of her life unravel, Anna begins to realise that she is not the only one who has been living a lie.

Anna doesn’t know who to turn to: her best friend, her parents, her husband. But she knows that her ex-lover is dangerous and she must stop him, before it’s too late…

One (or more) Sentence Summary: The Millionaire's Wife is a book I couldn't put down.  There are so many plot twists that they kept me turning the next page and reading the next chapter.  It was too hard to put down. 

Anna receives a photo on the day she is planning a party for her husband's birthday. Her past comes flooding back and she must figure out how to not have it ruin her life.

I really like her book The Secret Mother and can't wait to read more of her work.

Shalini Boland lives in Dorset, England, with her husband and two noisy boys. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter, but now she spends her days writing suspense thrillers and dark adventures.

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Golden Girls

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she's assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.

From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.

With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message—the people we lose never really leave us—Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  Another great novel by Elin Hilderbrand.  Golden Girls has a different twist than her other novels and started out Vivi (successful author) with a hit and run. Vivi nudges her loved ones along the way to investigate her death. Very good storyline with good characters. Definitely a different type of book from Erin - well worth the read!

Elin Hilderbrand is the proud mother of three, a dedicated Peloton rider, an aspiring book influencer, and an enthusiastic at-home cook (follow her on Instagram @elinhilderbrand to watch her Cringe Cooking Show). She is also a grateful seven-year breast cancer survivor. Golden Girl is her 27th novel. 

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The Fiancee

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  Summer’s looking forward to a break from hustling for acting work in Manhattan when she, her husband Gabe, and Gabe’s nine-year-old son arrive at the annual family get-together at her in-laws’ sprawling estate. On the agenda are leisurely gourmet meals, tennis matches, and plenty of relaxation by the pool.

But this year, Gabe’s brother Nick has invited his new flame Hannah, whom Summer immediately recognizes from a few years before. Oddly, her brother-in-law’s girlfriend claims not to know her. Yet she charms the other family members, and after Nick announces that he’s proposed to Hannah, Summer doesn’t have much choice but to grin and bear it.

Then the reunion is rocked by tragedy when a family member is found dead. Though the doctors attribute the loss to natural causes, a grieving Summer fears that the too-good-to-be-true Hannah is involved, even as Gabe dismisses her suspicions.

How far will Summer go to expose the truth? As she investigates just what Nick’s fiancée might have done to keep her perfect image intact, she begins to fear that the first death might only be the beginning . 

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  This is the first book I have read by Kate White and it will not be my last.  Really engaging while trying to figure out who is the one really plotting everything....Summer or Hannah? I would like to read other books by Kate White, especially the Bailey Wiggins series.

Kate White is the New York Times bestselling author of eight standalone psychological thrillers, including Have You Seen Me? (2020) and the upcoming The Fiancée (June 2021), as well as eight Bailey Weggins mysteries, including Such a Perfect Wife, which was nominated for an International Thriller Writers Award. Kate, the former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, is also the author of several popular career books for women, including I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion, and Create the Career You Deserve and Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead, as well the editor of the Anthony and Agatha Award-nominated The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. 

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The Newcomer

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  In trouble and on the run....

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanya’s ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister’s warnings: “If anything bad happens to me - it’s Evan. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.” So Letty grabs her sister’s Mercedes and hits the road....

With a trunkful of emotional baggage...

and her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where? Tanya, a woman with a past shrouded in secrets, left behind a “go-bag” of cash and a big honking diamond ring - but only one clue: a faded magazine story about a sleepy mom-and-pop motel in a Florida beach town with the improbable name of Treasure Island. She sheds her old life and checks into an uncertain future at The Murmuring Surf Motel.

The No Vacancy sign is flashing and the sharks are circling....

And that’s the good news. Because The Surf, as the regulars call it, is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds who regard this odd-duck newcomer with suspicion and down-right hostility. As Letty settles into the motel’s former storage room, she tries to heal Maya’s heartache and unravel the key to her sister’s shady past, all while dodging the attention of the owner’s dangerously attractive son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. Can Letty find romance as well as a room at the inn - or will Joe betray her secrets and put her behind bars? With danger closing in, it’s a race to find the truth and right the wrongs of the past.

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  The Newcomer is a book full of quirky but fun (mostly - not the bad guy) characters that make you want to keep reading.  Perfect book for the beach or pool, but you can enjoy any time you need to escape! Thrilling with some romance baked in as well. Like all Mary Kay Andrews books I have read....really enjoyable!

Mary Kay Andrews is The New York Times bestselling author of The Beach House Cookbook and more than twenty novels, including The Weekenders, Ladies' Night, Spring Fever, Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Deep Dish, Blue Christmas, Savannah Breeze, Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies, and Savannah Blues. A former journalist for The Atlanta Journal Constitution, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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These Girls

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  Family secrets may shape us all, but it's the rich, complicated layers of friendship that can save us.

Cate, Renee, and Abby have come to New York for very different reasons, and in a bustling city of millions, they are linked together through circumstance and chance. 

Cate has just been named the features editor of Gloss, a high-end lifestyle magazine. It's a professional coup, but her new job comes with more complications than Cate ever anticipated. 

Her roommate Renee will do anything to nab the plum job of beauty editor at Gloss. But snide comments about Renee's weight send her into an emotional tailspin. Soon she is taking black market diet pills - despite the racing heartbeat and trembling hands that signal she's heading for real danger. 

Then there's Abby, whom they take in as a third roommate. Once a joyful graduate student working as a nanny part time, she abruptly fled a seemingly happy life in the D.C. suburbs. No one knows what shattered Abby - or why she left everything she once loved behind. 

Pekkanen's most compelling, true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate the complications of careers and love - and find the lifeline they need in each other.

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  These Girls somehow was placed and forgotten on my to be read bookshelf.  Over the holidays I pulled out some books that got pushed to the back that is when I (re)discovered These Girls.  

A great story about three different females and how their pasts impacted their present. Each one is part of the overall story. Each character unfolds as we learn more about their past and their desires. The acceptance they are all looking for in their jobs and lives bonds them into a friendship that allows them to be their for each other when it is needed most.

A quick read with great characters. I am sorry it got pushed back on my shelf as I do like everything I have read by Sarah Pekkanen.

Sarah Pekkanen is the bestselling author of The Ever After, The Opposite of Me, Skipping a Beat, These Girls, The Best of Us, Catching Air, Things You Won’t Say, and The Perfect Neighbors. Her work has been published in People, The Washington Post, and USA TODAY, among other publications. She lives with her family in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

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Catch a Star

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  When all she wanted was to fit in, Tamika Catchings stood out and felt left out, never knowing one day she'd stand out - as a basketball superstar and an inspiration. She faced being set apart by her hearing loss, separated from family, living up to high expectations, and the pain and discouragement of debilitating physical injury. Yet she reached for the stars with hard work, perseverance, and her faith in God. Through the silence, she found the way to shine. 

Catch a Star tells Tamika's story of overcoming: of leading the Indiana Fever to its first championship, being named one of the WNBA's top 15 players in history, earning three Olympic gold medals, and founding the Catch the Stars Foundation to help young people achieve their dreams. Her story will inspire listeners to face their doubts and fears, encouraging them to reach for their own stars, no matter what challenges come their way.

One (or more) Sentence Summary: I won Catch a Star at an event celebrating women. Tamika was the keynote speaker.  I had no idea who Tamika was....never heard of her....don't follow basketball.  I fell in love with her from the start.  She is an amazing woman who has learned how to deal with her hearing loss and is so successful.  She is an amazing storyteller.  Loved her book too! 

Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever was the WNBA's 2011 MVP. A three-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time WNBA All-Star, Catchings was a four-time All-American and a member of the National Champion University of Tennessee Lady Vols under legendary Coach Pat Summitt. Catchings' story of overcoming adversity, growing in faith, and achieving success despite the many challenges she's faced inspires the boys and girls served by her foundation, Catch the Stars, in Indianapolis.

Ken Petersen is a veteran in the book publishing industry. He has written numerous books in the categories of memoir, motivation, self-help, and theology, and he's coached a number of authors in writing and publishing. He lives with his wife, Rita, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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Everything After

 ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon):  The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice--and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.

Two loves. Two choices. One chance to follow her dreams.

Emily has come a long way since she lost her two passions fifteen years ago: music, and Rob. She's a psychologist at NYU who helps troubled college students like the one she once was. Together with her caring doctor husband, Ezra, she has a beautiful life. They're happy. They hope to start a family. But when a tragic event in Emily's present too closely echoes her past, and parts of her story that she'd hoped never to share come to light, her perfect life is suddenly upturned. Then Emily hears a song on the radio about the woman who got away. The melody and voice are hauntingly familiar. Could it be? As Emily's past passions come roaring back into her life, she'll find herself asking: Who is she meant to be? Who is she meant to love?

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  I was so excited to read Everything After since I loved Jill Santopolo's The Light We Lost. Everything After is filled with raw/real emotions of things given up in the past and what could have been in Emily's life. When Emily reconnects with her college sweetheart (and bandmate) at a venue he is playing - all sorts of "what ifs" come crashing back.  

Like all of Santopolo's books, you will not be disappointed in this one.  Short chapters (alternate between present and past), easy to read and fall in love with some characters and their stories, and some twists that make this book different from others.

Jill Santopolo is the internationally best-selling author of More Than Words, The Light We Lost, which was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, and the forthcoming Everything After (available March 9, 2021). Her books have been translated into more than 35 languages, and have been named to the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Apple, and Indie Bound bestseller lists. She is also the author of the Alec Flint Mysteries, the Sparkle Spa series, and the Follow Your Heart books. Jill has traveled all over the U.S.—and to Canada and Europe—to speak about writing and storytelling. She lives in New York City and Washington, DC.

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Lost Lake

~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon): The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby's past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that's left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.

It's a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing  Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve,  before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she's all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer... and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.

One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren't sure they needed in the first place:  love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended.  Can they find what they need before it's too late? 

At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.

One (or more) Sentence Summary:  Magical and very enjoyable read.  Great cast of characters that all have pasts at Lost Lake. Perfect for summertime book.

Sarah Addison Allen is the New York Times Bestselling author of Garden Spells (2007) The Sugar Queen (2008) The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010) The Peach Keeper (2011) and Lost Lake (2014). Her new novel FIRST FROST is now on sale. She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina.

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