Book Review: Choices by Katrina L. Burchett

Choices by Katrina L. Burchett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm so glad I purchased this book, it had so much substance and situations that I could relate to having once been a teen myself (a LONG time ago). Before I get into my review, here is a summary of the book:



Choices is a thought-provoking story about five teenage girls in the city of York, Pennsylvania and how the issue of teen sex affects each of their lives..... Shauntice Johnston has faith in God but the world of domestic abuse she lives in has left her with very little faith in the male gender. And then comes Terry, and her obedience to God's Word (flee fornication) is tested. Angel Nichols doesn't know her earthly father, doesn't care about the heavenly Father and feels neglected by her workaholic mother. She has had numerous sex partners since she was thirteen, trying to fill the void inside of her. LaKeeta Wilson is a Christian, but instead of doing it God's way and waiting for marriage she purposely became pregnant out of wedlock. Bridgette Anderson practices abstinence in obedience to God, and, no matter what, she will not compromise her beliefs. But this saint still has her flaws. Hope Patterson is a plain dressing, soft-spoken timid Christian girl who lives a sheltered life because of her strict mother. The word 'sex' isn't in her vocabulary until she suffers a loss.



My Review:


I love that the author takes the time to develop each character so you get to know them.  I love that this is about Christian teens who are not afraid to share their faith and about those who are frightened about what having faith means.  I love that the author chose to share the characters' flaws and not make them perfect.  The story is well written, easy to follow and as the summary says, very emotional.  I think I read through this a few days but It was so well worth the read.  After I read it, I just wanted to shout from the rooftops to these young women having unprotected sex but moreso I wanted to fall to my knees and pray for these young women.  While this is a Christian book geared toward teens and young adults, anyone reading will not feel like it's preachy.  It has a good rhythm and really keeps you interested until the end.  I can't recommend this book enough! This is definitely a five reading glasses book!


Disclosure:  This is a book from my personal collection and the opinions expressed are my own!


Love and Blessings!

Margaret


View all my reviews

Closed - Emily Rose at Home Giveaway!

OK guys, you are going to love this giveaway. I mentioned on my VERSATILE post that I have my own business that my daughter and I run together. Well we have decided that we want to give YOU a gift from our Emily Rose at Home store!!! Our doll clothes are designed to fit the Madame Alexander 18" dolls (you can see them in our store here), the American Girl dolls (we are not affiliated) and other similar sized dolls.  We also sell high quality furniture and accessories!

We have so many great products that even for us it's hard to choose what to order first. With Halloween coming up, I know our dress up items are going to be a BIG hit.

We have scrubs for the little doctor:

Or how about a Native American Princess?

Or maybe go back a ways have a medieval princess!

Or maybe your dolly just wants to be a Girl Scout just like Mommy!

Whatever your child's (or your) imagination is, we have the outfit for you!  All of these outfits and more are available in our store!  To see these outfits, check out this section.  But take a look around at our other sections too!

Ok, so what are we giving away!  Well we will be giving TWO winners a $10 Gift Certificate to our store!  That is an ENORMOUS discount and we have never given it to anyone!  You don't want to miss this!  Can you say HOLIDAY SHOPPING??? 

Ok so here is how you win!

1) Mandatory: Go to our store at http://www.emilyroseathome.com/margaretrogers and tell me which Fantasy outfit  you like best.  Leave a comment with your email. 1pt

2) Mandatory: Become a PUBLIC follower of this blog 1pt

3) Become a PUBLIC follower of our business blog: www.njemilyroseathome.blogspot.com 3 pts

4) Blog about this giveaway on your blog (Please link your post) 3pts

5) Tweet this giveaway (provide the link below) 3 pts

The main rules are:

Entrants must be 18
We can only ship in the US at this time
Contest will end on 10/18/10 at 11:59 pm EST

Look for another BIG giveaway later this week!!

Disclosure:  These are items from my personal store, I did not receive any compensation for posting this giveaway.

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

CLOSED - Unexpected Break & Today's Giveaway!

Hello everyone! Well,  I was planning to do a giveaway a day last week but life just happened so I fell off the giveaway wagon!!  But I'm back!

My son is feeling 100% better so thank you all for your prayers!!   I was not happy that he had to play a football game in the rain today but I gave him a nice hearty dinner of some Grillin' Beans and hamburgers... YUM!!  Back to the football game, my baby got a sack and a tackle!! Go B Man!!!

On to today's giveaway!  If you've read my blog you will know that I LOVE books.  I mean I could easily sit and read for hours!!  My daughter is the exact same way.  She has been "sneaking" and reading in her room at night for up to an hour after her bed time!!  No wonder she hasn't been able to get up in the morning! LOL!

So today's giveaway is for the tween girls in your life. My goal this school year is to read some of the classics with my daughter and the little book club that we've formed.  The first on the list is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  While this is a pretty lengthy book, I think the girls will enjoy the antics and stories of the sisters.  We'll see if my advanced preteens can hang!  I haven't read it since I was in about sixth grade so I will enjoy reading it again.

Do  you think your preteen/tween would like to read this?  I hit the Scholastic Book Sale this summer and I picked up a copy.  I'd love for you to win it!  Just leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite classic is!

Here are the rules:

You must be 18 to enter the giveaway
You must be a follower of this blog.
At this time I'm only shipping to U.S. residents.
Giveaway will end on 10/18/2010.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

Not to BRAG but I'm VERSATILE!

Says Melysah from the Quintessential Housewife!  Thanks so much Melysah!  I do like to talk about different things so I guess that fits!! OK So the rule is I have to tell you 7 things about myself:

1. I love to read... I guess you might have figured that out by the number of book reviews that I do (when I'm not to lazy to post them!)

2. I collect dolls... and I play with them too!  I dress them for the seasons and do their hair real pretty! And I have a doll business to boot, check me out!

3. I've been married for 21 years!!  Yes I know you couldn't guess because of my youthful glow... but it's true!

4.  I have three beautiful children (two boys, one girl) and two grandchildren (one of each).  My daughter and granddaughter are both 10 as of today!!  Happy Birthday Gabby!

5. I tend to spoil my kids.  I know I shouldn't but I can't help it.. they are really good kids!!

6. When you first meet me, I'm VERY quiet, but once I get to know you, I don't shut up! LOL!

7.  I'm the only girl out of six children.  My Daddy did NOT spoil me no matter what my Mom tells you!  I'm in the middle and we are paired off.  The two oldest are in TX, me and my middle brother are her in NJ and my two youngest are in AZ.  Weird how that happened.

So that's some little known facts about me!  Now I'm supposed to pass on the award!

Now for the rules for winning this award

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Pass the award along to 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous.
• Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.

1. Keep Me Curly
2. Big Mama
3. Happily Ever After
4. Living Rich With Coupons
5. A Mom After God's Own Heart
6. Black Doll Collecting
7. Cherish My Daughter
8. For the Little Doll in Your Life
9. Praise and Coffee
10. Roxanne's Dolls
11. Squarepeg's Misc Musings
12. The Holistic Health Maven
13. Mother of Pearl it is
14. Air Force. Wife. Life.
15. American Girl Doll Hairstyles

CLOSED - Don't You Love Me? And Day 3, Another book Giveaway!

Come on guys, Make me feel a little bit popular!!  Both of the giveaways I posted have VERY low entries, so do me a favor and tell your friends... PLEASE!

OK, enough of that.  I have another book for you today! It's called Forget Me Not by Vicky Hinze.  I reviewed this book here.  It was a really good read!!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Same rules:
Must be 18.
Must be in the US.
Must be a follower of this blog.

Thank you!

Disclosure: Waterbrook Multnomah sent me a copy for my review and a copy to give away.  The opinions expressed are my own! 

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

CLOSED - Busy Day and today's giveaway!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being so late today but my son was sick and ended up staying home from school!  I felt so bad for him!  Anyway, I had to work from here and run him to the dr. and then pick up his meds and then pick up my daughter and her friend that I watch and then we had the school district strategic meeting and... well you get the picture!  Time just got away from me!

If I can ask, please say a prayer of healing (sinus infection) for my baby boy!  Here's a picture so you know who you are praying for:

Handsome isn't he???  Speaking of my baby boy, he's a teen now, and as a Christian parent, I know he's going to face a lot of challenges over his lifetime. He's going to make some HARD choices some right, some not so much.  But even more importantly,  there is an opportunity to do the RIGHT thing, even when it's hard.

This year, I had the chance to review the book Start Here: Doing Hard Things, Right Where You Are by Alex & Brett Harris.  It's a very quick read (in other words short!).  This book gave solid examples of teens who took a stand and did what they knew was right, what needed to be done.  In fact, Alex and Brett were only 18 when they wrote the book!  I was FLOORED by some of the accomplishments of the teens in this book.

In the near future, I plan to read this with my son and my daughter!  I believe that the teens in this book are inspiring and it will help them realize that they can do just about anything they set their mind to.

I'm so happy to be able to offer one of you a copy of this book to share with your teen.  Just leave a comment below and I will do a drawing on 10/11!  Make sure to leave your email!

Just some quick rules:

You must be a U.S. resident
You must be 18
You must be a follower of this blog

Thanks so much for your participation in my giveaways!!

Disclosure:  This book was provided for my review by Waterbrook-Multnomah and I received an extra copy to give away.  The opinions expressed are mine alone!

Love and Blessings!
Margaret

CLOSED - Novica Review and Giveaway!

Since this is my birthday week, I'm doing a giveaway a day and I have some really special surprises for you!  First up is Novica!!  I was contacted a few months ago to do a review of their corporate gift section and I must say I was very impressed!

First let me tell you a little about the company, this is some information from their website.  Here is a portion of the mission statement:

" We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.
At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.  We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it."

Now I'm going to be real and let you know that to me Corporate gifts = $$$$$!  Boy was I surprised.  I found beautiful home decor items and jewelry for VERY REASONABLE prices.  For example, this beautiful Soapstone Jewelry Box  or this Ceramic vase are both outstanding pieces to give as gifts but they won't break the bank!  And what is also unique is that when you visit the page to find out more about the item, there is a bio of the artist!  You get to "meet" the person who crafted your item, I thought this was very cool!

It was a tough decision but I ordered the Purple Orchid earrings by the Thai artist Danai

These gorgeous earrings arrived in a BEAUTIFUL saa paper box with a decorative leaf insigna.  Inside was a little booklet with a note from the artist and a description of the earrings.  I LOVE the packaging and I wouldn't even need to wrap these to give as a gift!

The second item was also a pair of earrings from Thailand.  This time they were Amethyst floral earrings by Narareet.  The crafting is beautiful and I know whoever receives this as a gift will be thrilled.

Since I know your curiosity is peaked now, I would LOVE to give one of you a gift certificate to the Novica store!!  Novica has graciously provided me with a E-certificate in the amount of $37.50.  Here are the rules for the giveaway:

1)  Visit the Novica Corporate Gifts section and tell me which item you would love to gift to someone, and maybe you can share who you would gift it to!

2) Be a follower of this Blog

That's it!  That's all you have to do to be entered into the drawing for the E-certificate!!  But you must do both steps to receive an entry!

Edited to add:

Must be a US Resident
Must be 18 years or older

This giveaway will end 10/11.

Disclosure: I was provided with a gift certificate for $37.50 to purchase and review products from the Novica website.  The opinions expressed are my own.

Love and Blessings!
Margaret