A Road Unknown by Barbara Cameron

  

BOOK SUMMARY:

Elizabeth is at a crossroad. She’s been given the chance to experience life outside of her community, away from the responsibility to care for her eight younger siblings, but Elizabeth Bontrager can’t decide which road to take. Goshen has its charms and pressures, but Paradise, Pennsylvania, sounds . . . well, like paradise. And it’s also home to her Englisch friend, Paula. Decision made. Elizabeth is Paradise bound.

But will the small town live up to its name? When Elizabeth meets Paula’s friend, Bruce, she quickly learns he wants more than a friendship. And the same might be true of Saul Miller, her new boss at the country story that sells Amish products to the Englisch community. As the two compete for her attention, Elizabeth is surprised to realize she misses her family and becomes even more uncertain about where she belongs. She has a choice to make: return home or embrace this new life and possibly a new love?

MY THOUGHTS:

This is Book 1 in the Amish Roads Series.  I encourage everyone to read it now! It is such a refreshing and heartwarming story of love, forgiveness and family. I love how Elizabeth's character grows in  her personal journey and how she comes to term with her choices and ability to move forward. Her character is very easy to relate to because everyone has choices they have to work through and be able to feel confident in them. 

Watching the relationship between Elizabeth and Paula grow despite their obvious differences was a testimony of how God can bring people in our lives at just the right moment. Paula helps Elizabeth start her new life, and is an encouragement to her.

Struggles come to the relationship with Saul and Elizabeth, but by working together and trusting each other we find an amazing story develop.

You can find the book for yourself on amazon.com. 

Learn more about the author here http://barbaracameron.com/

Disclosure: I received a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own and may differ from others.

Tangerine Morning by Rita Garcia

 Tangerine Morning is Book 2 in the Serenity Cove Series by Rita Garcia, here we find Jezzica at odds with God. Her husband was killed just a few years prior, and she is still dealing with the struggle of moving on. When a new detective comes to town she immediately has mixed feelings. She has a distrust of police because of their lack of being able to find her husband's killers.

Zach is determined to reach her. He wants to be friends and wants to help her uncover the truth. Along the way the feelings on both sides increases. The question is, will Jezzica allow herself to move on and trust another man. Can she take that step to moving beyond the feeling of being unfaithful to her husband?

Jezzica's sister, Catylen, has her own struggles that we learn about. The difference is that she is trusting God. She has the relationship with God where she knows the love regardless of circumstances. When Jezzica watches how her sister deals with her own personal agony, will that allow Jezzica to find a way back to God?

I really enjoyed this book. I feel it did a great job of teaching about putting our trust in God regardless of what we might be going through. Each character had his or her own difficulties they had to deal with, and gave a lot of variety in situations. I feel this was a smart way to provide the knowledge that everyone has different struggles, and God can help you through any situation.

This book would be great for young adult along with women in general who love a good story. It also would be a good way to help someone in need, maybe someone who doesn't fully have God in their hearts and is in need of that.

You can find the book for yourself HERE

Rita Garcia lives in California with her husband. They have 4 children and 7 grandchildren. You can find out more about her at http://www.ritagarcia.com/

Disclosure: I received a free ebook copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review. I was not compensated in any other way. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations. I am a part of CWA review crew

Garnier Olia

I was thrilled when I received notice from BzzAgent that I was accepted for the campaign to try
out the New Garnier Olia hair color. I have been needing to color my hair again and was excited about this new product. The first thing I liked was that it is oil powered and doesn't use ammonia. One of the worst things I think about coloring your own hair can be the smell that seems to last the whole day.
With the Olia, you don't have this problem. It really does have a nicer smell to it although you do still need to be in a ventilated room.
Usually when I dye my hair I use a light red color. This time I decided to try a little darker and picked the intense red color. It seems like it usually ends up not doing a lot of change, and I was interested in how much of a change this would do. I was a little..ok a lot...nervous. I wanted change, but wasn't sure how much of a change I could handle.
I will say that the process of applying the color while relatively easy in the tube, would work much better if you had someone helping you get the back of your hair. I found that trying to apply it to the back seemed to make more of a mess than I originally thought it would. I feel this is only because you can't see the back and while trying to take it down the length of hair, it drips.
I was amazed at the change it caused! I normally have medium brown hair, so the intense color was just that:) I liked it, just amazed that it changed so much more than other products did. I will say that my husband loved it. He decided it reminded him of Ariel from Little Mermaid and proceeded to play the music for me.
It is a vibrant and sleek color. It gives my hair a darker, richer look. I think I'll be glad when it relaxes in color a little bit. I colored it 4 days ago and have seen some change. I still have some coming out when I wash it, and the original wash did bring out the clear water.
I think I might go with a less intense red color next time, but I am hooked on Garnier Olia hair color now. If you want a great product, give this a try and see for  yourself what you think.


Disclosure: I received one box of the hair color free of charge for this review. My opinions are honest and my own.