Book Review - Live Loved (Max Lucado)

~ Posted on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 8:59 AM ~

Max Lucado. Need I say more...? I'm always on the look out for good Christian books. I  immediately jump at the chance to request this book the moment I saw it on the list of books available for review. Here is my review of the latest book from Max Lucado entitled: "LIVE LOVED: Experiencing God's Presence in Everyday Life". This book will be published on May 3rd and I'm so glad I get to review this book firsthand!

Author: Max Lucado
Publisher:  Thomas Nelson (** To be published on May 3, 2011)
ISBN-13: 9781404190061
Hardcover: 320 pages

Description from the Thomas Nelson product page:

"Imagine how your life would change if you were sure God loves you!
Using the same popular format as Grace for the Moment, Live Loved brings fresh, new devotionals based on the writings of Max Lucado. Included is a broad range of topics such as facing your fears, accepting His grace, and truly knowing God’s omnipresent love. Each devotional is accompanied by an ending prayer to nurture a stronger prayer life for new believers, as well as long-standing Christ followers. It’s a new devotional from one of America's leading Christian writers that will help men and women experience life from a whole new perspective.
"

This book is an assurance and gentle reminder to each of us on how we are loved by the One and Only awesome God. Now back to the book, it is broken down into 5 chapters, which I will note down my feedback in red for your easier reading:

# 1 - LOVE WITH A STEADFAST LOVE
My feedback: In the "Problems Have a Purpose" subchapter, I like the points where God will use whatever he wants to display his glory and  Rather than begrudge our problem, explore it and use it to the glory of God. I also like the verse given which is Psalm 34:19.


# 2 - LOVE WITH A PERFECT LOVE
My feedback: I love the 8 worry stoppers which were made up of the word PEACEFUL, taken from the "P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L" subchapter. You really have to read it to know it more!

# 3 - LOVE WITH A WISE LOVE
My feedback: In the "Slay the Desire to Be Noticed" subchapter, I like the following phrases mentioned: Hypocrisy turns people against GodDon't fake spirituality. When you talk, don't doctor your vocabulary with trendy religious terms and Slay the desire to be noticed, stir the desire to serve God.

# 4 - LOVE WITH A MERCIFUL LOVE
My feedback: Negative thoughts never strengthen you. Wow! What a strong and inspiring phrase taken from the "Positive Thoughts Purvey Hope" subchapter. I learned to think positively and not let negative thoughts drain me down.  

# 5 - LOVED TO LOVE OTHERS
My feedback: I am particulary attracted to these 2 subchapters: "Cherish Your Children" and "Our Kids Are God's Kids". In "Cherish Your Children", I learned that Children spell love with 4 letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time. I totally agree with it as it is one of the factors I thought of when I decided to quit my IT job to be a SAHM to take care of Benjamin full-time. In the "Our Kids Are God's Kids" subchapter, I am greatly reminded and humbled when I read these 2 phrases: Before they were ours, they were his. Even as they are ours, they are still his and  Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God. As parents, too often we forget that we are just the guardian of our children and we think we have the rights and final say in matters related to our children when in fact, we don't! We forget that God has the power of all things including us!

Apart from the above feedbacks for each of the chapters and subchapters, the one thing I don't like about this book is the cursive title on each subchapter. Maybe it's just me, but I find some of the title a bit difficult to read as I actually have to read the title at least 3-4 times just to be sure that I'm reading and understanding the correct title! Other than that, this book is just perfect!

We do need assurance that we are loved by God again and again despite of our shortcomings and all the mistakes and sins we made.

In any case, I beg you, consider getting a copy of this book when it is out for sale. You will not regret it!

You can purchase the Live Loved: Experiencing God's Presence in Everyday Life book from Amazon, Thomas Nelson and many more. 

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a galley proof of the book via my association with netGalley as a reviewer in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

Book Review - Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night (Christy Baldwin)

~ Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 10:19 AM ~

I can't believe my luck when Nicole from Tribute Books replied so swiftly to my email requesting for a book review opportunity with her company and within a few email exchange, she gave me the link to download the softcopy to a children's book by Christy Baldwin (illustrated by Sarah Barnes) called "Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night".

Author: Christy Baldwin
Illustrator: Sarah Barnes
Publisher: Tribute Books
ISBN-13: 9780976507215
Product Dimensions: 5.5" x 8.5"
Paperback: 24 pages

Excerpt from the book description:
"Nine great things happen when the sun sets for the evening. Each page includes a statement about what is happening and then some fun facts and information about that event. Written from a Christian perspective, the story describes how God made things when He created the Earth. While the story was written specifically for ages 3-8, children of all ages will enjoy this book. Even adults can admire the beautiful watercolor artwork done by illustrator, Sarah Barnes."

Christy Baldwin Bio:
"Writing has been a passion of Christy's since she was very young. As a child, she loved to write stories for her grandfather and poems just for fun. She lives in Mason, Ohio with her family and is active in church, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and volunteering with various organizations. Christy has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Cedarville University and a master's degree in Special Education from the University of Scranton. She is a stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with her kids and being involved in their schools. Her other children's titles include Care for Creation and Remembering Wilma".

Firstly, I think the book cover doesn't do it justice. I would have preferred if one of the more breathtaking content pages was used as the cover as seriously, the pictures on each page in the book are a delight to see. I just fell in love with the beautiful illustrations and the accompanying bible verses in the book! And I was feeling a tad sad as I came to the end of the book as I was hoping to see more beautiful pictures and scriptures...

I particularly enjoyed this page:

Beautiful and breathtaking right? You can view the book's video trailer below:

Overall, I give this book an 8 out of 10.

You can get Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night from Amazon website.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a softcopy of the book by the publisher in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

Book Review & Giveaway - Newborn Necessities (Jennifer Cigale)

~ Posted on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:19 AM ~

Few days ago, I announced that we are expecting our second child and now I have the privilege of reviewing a parenting book by Jennifer Cigale called "Newborn Necessities".

Author: Jennifer Cigale
Publisher: Tate Publishing (November 2, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1616633840, ISBN-13: 978-1616633844
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.2 inches
Paperback: 84 pages

Excerpts from the product description:

"Are you a new or expecting parent? Do you know someone who is? If so, this book is for you.

There are many items you will need to get ready for your baby, and Newborn Necessities is one of those things. As soon as your baby is born, your doctor, midwife, nurse, and/or pediatrician will ask you to keep track of his or her feedings and diaper changes. Make it easier on yourself by writing it down. Using the charts provided in Newborn Necessities will help eliminate common feelings of stress and anxiety associated with, When did I last feed the baby? Is he/she eating enough? When was their last bowel movement?

This book is designed for parents by parents. It is intended to make your journey into parenthood a little bit easier by providing you with easy-to-use charts to document this information. It is a quick, compact, and easy-to-understand way to chart this information, thus leaving you more time to spend with your baby and catch up on your sleep!"

A brief info about the author:

"Jennifer Cigale lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with her spouse and two children. As a new mother, she developed these charts for her own use and was soon sharing them with friends and family who were also starting families. She holds a master's degree in Occupational Therapy and has used her education and training as an occupational therapist to identify problems and develop working solutions for her patients."

I love the cover of the book! The color is so refreshing to the eye, the size and weight of the book is just nice. Not too heavy and not too flimsy either. Just nice! Content wise, it is a very handy and useful book to help a new parent to track the intake and output of their newborn child.

If only I have this book when we just had Ben 2 years ago, it would've save us lots of time and trouble as back then, what I did was writing down the logs for the day on our small whiteboard in our room. I only scribbled the time I breastfed Ben, duration each feeding, which side and only started keeping track of his diaper logs when Ben started his solids at 6 months old (never thought of keeping track from his birth hehehehe..). So yeah, if we have this book back then, all I need was just write down the daily logs on the specific page and the information is all right at our finger tips and the book can be carried around easily!

Now back to the book, it is divided into 2 categories: 

* Feeding Facts
Under this category, you will be able to keep track of your child's feeding log for 30 days, from the feeding time, either via breast (how many minutes) or bottle (how many ounces) and any comments you might want to note down.

* Diaper Diary
Under this category, you will be able to keep track of your child's diaper log for 30 days, from the time of peeing and pooping and any comments you might want to note down.

Now, please do not underestimate the importance of noting down the feeding and diaper logs as I did the same thing with Ben and I was able to give more detailed information to our paed on what Ben is taking in and producing out during each of his health visits.

I would however love to see notes of what to look out for or to be alert for (such as growth spurts = more frequent feedings or changes in poo which might be caused by illnesses etc) as these would be an added special touch for the book user.

In summary, this is a great book to have for expecting and/or new parents to help them keep track of the intake and output of their newborn child and can be a great gift to expecting and/or new parents as well!

You can purchase the "Newborn Necessities" book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Tate Publishing website.

But wait!!!

Jennifer has been so generous in offering me not one, but TWO copies of her book to giveaway to you guys! Now hear me out, TWO of my lucky awesome blog readers/visitors will be able to win a copy of Newborn Necessities! Yup! You read that right!

* Eligibility: OPEN WORLDWIDE!

* Giveaway expires on 7th March 2011 (Malaysia time)

* You must fulfil the mandatory entry 1st (which is letting me know you are participating as international/Malaysian blog reader or visitor, then providing your valid email address & answering the question), else you will be disqualified.

* Winner will be randomly drawn using Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to  my email notification or a new winner will be drawn.

* Both winners will receive their prize sent directly by the author.

* A copy of Newborn Necessities book will each be given to: 1 international blog reader/visitor AND 1 Malaysian blog reader/visitor (if your mailing address is not in Malaysia, I will disqualify you and choose the next one!).

To enter the giveaway, kindly click at the link shown below and the entry form will appear in a new window:

* Newborn Necessities Giveaway Entry Form *

(Link has been disabled as entry closed at 12midnight past 7th March 2011)

It'd be great if you could leave me a comment once you have submitted your entry so that I can check and ensure it's safely tracked into my database. So what are you waiting for?!! Hurry up! You have 1 month time from now to join in the fun and try your luck!

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with an actual copy of the book by the author in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"