Thursday, November 21, 2019

Reclaimed Book Spotlight and Giveaway

About the Book

Book: Reclaimed
Author: Stephanie Broersma
Genre: RELIGION / Christian Ministry / Counseling & Recovery
reclaimedcoverRelease Date: August 21, 2019

Stephanie Broersma lived a charmed life . . . until the day she discovered a deleted online conversation between her husband and another woman. When confronted, he confessed to a ten-year addiction to pornography and multiple affairs. Yet even as her world crumbled, Stephanie refused to allow Satan to turn her marriage into another dismal statistic.  
Reclaimed: Finding Your Identity after Marital Betrayal is Stephanie’s story—from revelation to reconciliation and all the pain and confusion in between. But it’s also a guide for those whose lives have turned upside down—a raw and honest look at the emotions, decisions, and difficulties women face in marital betrayal. It’s a collection of stories shared by real women, a journal with leading questions to help put words to feelings, and an encouraging compilation of Scripture verses to give strength to the weary. 
Stephanie’s goal in sharing her story is that you will realize that you are not alone. That you are not without hope despite the chaos and pain around you. That you will find healing from the shame, anger, and brokenness that overwhelms you. That you will gain confidence as you rebuild trust and self-worth. And that you will walk out of this fire with your head held high, giving God the glory for the amazing, reclaimed story of your life. 

Click here to get your copy.

About the Author

stephanie b author shot
Stephanie Broersma is a living example of how God brings beauty from ashes in the lives of His children. Married since 2002, she and her husband, Tim, have walked through the valley of marital betrayal and come out the other side stronger, more in love, and fully devoted to Christ. She now heads Reclaimed Ministry, an organization that seeks to help other broken brides recover from the pain and devastation of marital infidelity. For more information or to find help, visit reclaimedministry.com. 

More from Stephanie

FUN FACTS about the book and Stephanie:
– In keeping identities private, Stephanie had to come up with a system to replace names when sharing stories from other women. She replaced the names with cast members from her favorite TV series, The Office.
– Stephanie has walked in two Susan G. Women 3 Day breast cancer walks and has ran in races with distances from 5k-50k.
– Her goal is to run a race in every state by the age of 50. She’s welcome to invitations and races with causes.
“Reclaimed is here to walk you through your season of brokenness. To support you with authentic tools and scripture based guidance that supports you and meets you exactly where you are. My name is Stephanie and I also have come from a place of dark despair. I created these materials to guide you on the path to wholeness and living a redeemed identity.
If your husband has had an affair… if pornography or sexual addiction has hurt your marriage… if you have discovered an emotional affair… then this message is for you.
Here’s why…
The problem is most women don’t know where to go for help when they discover an affair. Many will get counseling. Some will talk to close friends and family. Many will hide and pretend everything is fine. But none of that brings about the healing we need.
  • We need to connect with a community that understands what we are going through.
  • We need to discover the healing available through Jesus Christ.
  • We need a life that doesn’t feel out of control.
What happens if you don’t find healing? If you just keep doing what you have been doing? You remain stuck in brokenness and shame and may even continue enabling the same patterns of abuse.
My heart is for you to
  • Find your true identity
  • Develop confidence
  • Learn to love again”

Blog Stops

CarpeDiem, November 19
Book Love, November 21 (Spotlight)
Artistic Nobody, November 22
A Baker’s Perspective, November 24 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, November 25
janicesbookreviews, November 26
SusanK. Beatty, Author, November 27 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain, November 28
Inklings and notions, November 29
Andrea Christenson, November 30 (Author Interview)
Quiet Quilter, December 1
Simple Harvest Reads, December 2 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Stephanie is giving away a $250 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Finding My Son Review & Giveaway

Finding My Son FB Banner



About the Book

finding my son front cover
Book: Finding My Son
Author: Eric Odell-Hein
Genre:  Christian Memoir, Adoption
Release Date: February 21, 2018
Eric was perfectly happy being one half of a dual income, no kids family. Having the freedom to travel the world with his wife Christine, while indulging his hobbies and furthering his education and career, was a pretty sweet life. 

 Christine wanted to be a mom. 

 Though he was scared he didn’t have what it took to be a good dad, Eric wanted to fulfill his wife’s dream. After years of trying to conceive, however, the couple received a devastating diagnosis: infertility. 

 For Christine, adoption was the obvious answer. Eric wasn’t so sure. 

In Finding My Son: A Father’s Adoption Journey, author Eric Odell-Hein offers an unfiltered view into the heart and mind of a man who has experienced the sometimes messy and often awkward process of becoming a father through adoption. Encouraging men to acknowledge the fears they don’t want to admit while advocating a thoughtful, deliberate transparency as the best approach to even the most unnatural, uncomfortable aspects of the adoption process. Eric shares his misgivings and mistakes with an honesty that does not deny his insecurities. 

 A valuable resource for any man considering growing his family through adoption—or anyone seeking to understand the process—this engaging memoir is a testament to the beautiful gift of adoption and a touching account of a father’s love. 



Click here to get your copy!  

Guest Review from Gail Hollingsworth

This is a true story of one man’s journey to fatherhood. From the moment they married his wife wanted to be a mother. Eric was happy being a dual income family with the freedom to travel and pursue education with no encumbrances. After several years of marriage and no pregnancy they were both tested and found they both had issues. To please his wife they checked into possible adoption, although he wasn’t totally gung-ho on the idea.
I loved how his feelings began to slowly change as his story continued. He also got some valuable advice from a friend who had already traveled this road three times. The road to adoption is a very complicated and expensive pursuit. He tells of the application process, some of the questions asked on all the forms and why they chose the agency they did despite it being more costly than some of the others. Interestingly I learned that Foster Parents go through a more rigorous process than adoptive parents. That’s something I did not know. I would easily recommend this book for any couple or individual thinking of fostering or adopting.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through Celebrate Lit but was not required to write a review positive or otherwise. All opinions are my own.

About the Author

SONY DSCEric Odell-Hein (PhD, MDiv, MRS, ThB) is the president of Columbia Evangelical Seminary. The teaching pastor at Summit Evangelical Free Church, he is also the author of Recovering Lost Treasure: Finding Christ in Ancient Myth, Symbol, and Ritual and Systems of Evil: A Study in Comparative Theodicy. Eric lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with his wife Christine and their son Ephraim. All three are passionate travelers.
 

More from Eric

Adoption was a scary prospect for me. My mother and all her siblings are adopted, and the family dynamic for them was challenging. So when my wife decided we should adopt, I initially responded with a flat-out “no.” But my heart changed, and I am strongly convinced that our son, who joined us via adoption back in 2008 when he was just two days old, is the greatest child in the entire world. If you knew where I was emotionally prior to adoption compared with where I am now, you would marvel at the change. My adoption book is for people like me, particularly men, who struggle with the enormity of the choice to adopt and the constant challenges of the process. On a lighter and more personal side, when people learn about all the various aspects of my life, they often have to stop and process the seemingly incongruous pieces. Some people know me as a guy who has spent more than two decades in software and entertainment, primarily in various aspects of behind-the-scenes video game technology and management. My entire family plays games, and more often than not, when I get back home in the evening, I find my wife and son online with other members of the extended family playing Minecraft. Sometimes we’ll all get in an online session together, each one of us at our own TV on our own Xbox, and take on bad guys together in one game or another. Other people know my intellectual side, where I have earned several degrees in areas of theology and religion, including a Ph.D., as well as serving as president of Columbia Evangelical Seminary. I previously published two books on academic topics (evil among world religions, religious symbology) and have more in various stages of development, the next one being a focus on the ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmogonic/chaos-order symbolism in baptism. As a teaching pastor, I have a reputation for sermons with an intense ANE contextual emphasis that are part sermon and part seminary course. Check out my most recent four-part series on the Odell-Hein Books Facebook page here. I was born in Germany to an American family, and while my German-language skills have deteriorated, I love German music. I’m very excited that my favorite group, Juli, has a new album coming out later this year. It’s mild stuff compared to most of the rock or industrial music I listen to, but they’re good. Check out the first single from their upcoming album here. I’ll be one of the small handful of Americans who purchase the album on the day it first releases in the US. When not working or playing games with the family, I read primarily academic ANE books. When we’re in the car, I love to subject the family to my go-to podcast, the Naked Bible Podcast. No, it’s not what it sounds like. If you want to hear a serious scholar tackle the ANE context for the Bible, start with Dr. Michael Heiser’s Exodus series (it begins with episode 255).

Blog Stops

Vicky Sluiter, November 7 (Author Interview)
Simple Harvest Reads,  November 10 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, November 11
janicesbookreviews, November 12
Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 13 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain, November 14
Inklings and notions, November 15
By The Book, November 16 (Author Interview)
Through the Fire Blogs, November 18 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Eric is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon certificate and a signed copy of each of his three books!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

The David Years Review & Giveaway

The David Years FB Banner

About the Book

The David YearsBook: The David Years  
Author: Lillian Duncan  
Genre: Woman's Lit  
Release Date: August 2, 2019

Nia looked at her aunt and asked, “So what am I ‘spose to do now?” “Have you ever heard of King David from the Bible?” “I guess.” “There were a lot of years between the time David was anointed as the king and he actually became the king. It’s a time for you to grow in your relationship with God.” “And then later I get to be king?” Nia giggled. “I meant that figuratively not literally but these are your learning years--your David Years.”' “My David Years. I like that.” Nia Johnson has spent the past four years developing a closer relationship to God. She wants to believe she’s still anointed to become a healer at Puzzle House but as each year passes, she has more and more doubts. Now that she’s graduated from high school and is an adult she is sure it’s time to take the mantle of healing Rachel passed to her so many years before. But the harder she tries, the more it eludes her.
 
Click here to grab your copy!

Guest Review from Donna Cline

What I think you should know:
The David Years is a Puzzle House Novel. This can be a stand alone novel, but it does reveal many things that happened in The Puzzle House.  Nia was healed of what the doctors called terminal cancer and during her time at the puzzle house she lost people very dear to her. Rachel believed that Nia can be a healer when she allows God to work through her but Nia is disappointed and questions her gift when things do not happen on her timeline

What you might want to know:
Nia is a childhood cancer survivor.  In the book, she is a sort of mentor to others with cancer.  Lillian Duncan, the author, also includes addiction, loss, and false teachers. However, she does it in a way that is not gut wrenching. 

What touched me about this book:
This book has so many wonderful, but hard messages. Nia is in what her Aunt calls her David years.  She has been anointed, but must mature into what God has called her to be. The wait for her is long and hard.  Duncan did a great job of presenting false teachers. The characters were easy to relate to and very quick to draw me into their story. The David Years is a beautiful story of learning that your way is not always God’s way and waiting for God to move in your life.

Who will love this book (just to name a few):
Contemporary Fiction Fans
Christian Fiction Fans

I received a complimentary copy for this book from Celebrate Lit, this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own.

About the Author

Lillian DuncanLillian lives in a small town in Ohio with her husband. She writes the types of books she loves to read. Even though her books cross genres, they have one thing in common, faith-based stories that demonstrate God’s love—and lots of action. OK—that’s two things. She was a school speech pathologist for over 30 years but retired in 2012 after being diagnosed with bilateral brain tumors due to Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), a rare genetic disease. Whether as an educator, a writer, or a speech pathologist, she believes in the power of words to transform lives, especially God’s Word. To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit: www.lillian-duncan.com.

More from Lillian

The David Years is the second novel in the Puzzle House series. In Puzzle House, Nia was anointed to become a healer. The David Years starts out where Puzzle House stopped. Nia looked at her aunt and asked, “So what am I ‘spose to do now?” “Have you ever heard of King David from the Bible? There were a lot of years between the time David was anointed as the king and he actually became the king. David was tested many times during those years. Those years were very important to David’s growth as a man so that he would be the king God wanted him to be when the time was right.” “So what are you saying, Auntie?” “I’m saying these are your David years.” And so the story begins. Most of the book takes place after Nia’s high school graduation during her first year in college. She’s impatient to begin her time as healer and tries to make that happen in her timing—not God’s. But God will not be rushed and whether Nia likes it or not, she’s still in her David Years—her learning years. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘we learn from our mistakes.’ Well, Nia learns a lot that year. In other words, she makes a lot of mistakes. My college years are long, long past so I thought it might be hard to get into the mindset of a college student, but it really wasn’t. I thought back to all the mistakes I made during my college years and the story took off from there! Even though Nia is a college student, her story will resonate for anybody who’s facing changes in their life, no matter the age. We all have learning years throughout our lifetime—our very own David Years. Life changes whether we want it to or not. A new marriage. A baby. A divorce. A new job. Retirement. No matter what age we are, we all struggle with finding our place in the world, especially when life changes. The good news is that as Christians, we may not have all the answers, but we know where to find them.

Blog Stops

CarpeDiem, August 3
Book Love, August 4 (guest post from Donna Cline)
Artistic Nobody, August 5 (Spotlight)
Power of Words, August 8 (Spotlight)
Simple Harvest Reads, August 10 (Spotlight)
Texas Book-aholic, August 12
Bigreadersite , August 13
janicesbookreviews, August 14
A Reader’s Brain, August 15

Giveaway


To celebrate her tour, Lillian is giving away a grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card and the choice of one of her eBooks!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e57c/the-david-years-celebration-tour-giveaway