Blog Tour: Book Review - Eat Your Peas by Cheryl Karpen

If you want a special way to celebrate your mother, look no more! Eat Your Peas for Mom is a 3-minute read with a forever message. Upon opening this little package, her heart will smile through the pages filled with affirmation, appreciation, and gratitude expressed for all the ways she loves and cares for you. Each page is artfully hand-illustrated for a charming and homespun feel. It's a perfect keepsake and reminder for Mom to hold onto forever.

Eat your Peas for Mom: Simple Truths and Happy Insights is a beautiful gift book.  It would be perfect for a mothers day present as a way to tell your mom how much you love and appreciate her.  Use it instead of a card.  A way to basically say sorry I was such a pain in the rear growing up - I learned a lot from you and love and appreciate.  It really does take just "3-minutes" to read.



About the Author:
Cheryl Karpen is the president of Gently Spoken Communications, an organization that is committed to providing others with encouragement and inspiration through books and speaking events. She is the creator of the Eat Your Peas Collection, which includes 21 titles, with nearly a million copies sold. A successful entrepreneur, Karpen previously sold nearly 700,000 copies of the Eat Your Peas books as a self-publisher. Other titles include versions for fathers, sons, teens, grandparents, sisters and even a title you can gift yourself. Karpen lives with her husband near Minneapolis in Anoka, Minn.

Content: clean

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Received through PR by the Book

Book Review: 33 Habits of a Really Good Man by Yvonne Swinson

Bill Wells wasn't a famous man, but he felt an invaluable legacy for those who knew him. He kept a little black notebook full of quotes, proverbs, poems, and stories that inspired him. He lived his life by these words of wisdom and taught his children to do the same. Compiled by his daughter Yvonne Swinson, 33 Habits of a Really Good Man shares Bill's legacy with you. Each mini-memoir includes one of Bill's favorite bits of wisdom and how making it a habit can lead to a "really good" life.

I agreed to review 33 Habits of a Really Good Man by Yvonne Swinson thinking I could then pass it on to my husband or father.  Little did I know this book about a "really good man" would be filled with such wonderful wisdom for "really good women" too.

This book really is a gem that would make a great gift book for just about anyone.  Yvonne was blessed to have an amazing father who left behind a legacy in his little black notebook.  Kudos to Yvonne for sharing such wonderful quotes, stories and life lessons.

This book was great inspiration for me.  Since today is New Years Day and I'm working on my goals and resolutions for the year this book helped me to focus on what is really important and on the kind of person I want to become.  Great motivation to become a better person.

Rating: 5 Stars

Content: Clean & uplifting

Source: From Author For Review

Book Review: Ansel Adams in the National Parks

With more than two hundred images, some of them previously unpublished, Ansel Adams in The National Parks will contain revelations even for longtime enthusiasts of this seminal nature photographer. Adams' classic pictures of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park are here, but there are also photos of the dozens of other national parks that he visited during his many decades as a photographer. (He visited his first national park in 1916; he died in 1984.) A major book by America's favorite nature cameraman.

With more than two hundred photographs - many rarely seen and some never before published - this is the most comprehensive collection of Ansel Adams' photographs of America's national parks and wilderness areas. For many people, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, and other iconic American wildlands exist in the mind's eye as Ansel Adams photographs. The legendary photographer explored more than forty national parks in his lifetime, producing some of the most indelible images of the natural world ever made. One of the twentieth century's most ardent champions of the park and wilderness systems, Adams also helped preserve additional natural areas and protect existing ones through his photographs, essays, and letter-writing campaigns.

Edited and with commentary by Andrea G. Stillman, the foremost expert on Adams' work, this landmark publication includes quotations by Adams on the making of numerous photographs and essays by Wallace Stegner, William A. Turnage of The Ansel Adams Trust, and journalist and critic Richard B. Woodward. This is a must-own for Ansel Adams fans and all those who, like Adams, treasure America's wilderness.


Ansel Adams in the National Parks is such a cool book! Filled with over 200 black and white images taken in the National Parks this book is beautifully done. Included are pictures from over 40 National Parks & Monuments. The photographs brought back many memories from trips I have taken to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mt. Rainier, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Carlsbad Caverns & Glacier National Park.

The photos include everything from close ups of nature to majestic mountain scenes, lakes, rivers, geysers and magnificent formations.

Although I'm usually a fan of color photos these black and white images are amazing. This book would make a great gift book. In fact I know exactly who I am giving it to for Christmas.

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: From Publisher for Review

Book Review: Recipes for a Beautiful Life by Julie Keye & Madaline Hall

Calling upon verses and Psalms from the Bible, these inspirational messages are framed by breathtaking color photography of nature's splendor, including sun-drenched deserts, white-capped mountains, and people of all ages and ethnicities. A charming addition to these messages is a sumptuous array of natural recipes for the enhancement of a woman's beauty and relaxation, using simple ingredients found in one's home. A life open to God and filled with the beauty around you, sharing it with those you love, and finding time to relax so that you can be the best you can be: these are the "Recipes for a Beautiful Life".

Recipes for a Beautiful life is a unique book that would make a great gift for a Christian teacher or friend. This book is filled with beautiful pictures of both nature and people that are accompanied by short passages from the Bible. At the end is a short section with relaxation and simple home spa treatments for pampering yourself.

Content: Clean & uplifting.

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: From Author For Review

Review: I Asked Her Out, She Said Yes - Now What? by Jarett Waite

This book is a simple, straightforward, logical guide to dating the right way. No gimmicks, no tricks, just practical advice that really works. If you're new to the dating scene, fed up with short-lived relationships, sick of awkward dates with girls, or would just like to fine-tune your dating skills, this book is definitely for you. The advice in this book will restore your perspective, help you find relationships that last, and give you some practical hints and tips to help you-and the girl you asked out-feel great about the first date and beyond. Whether you're new to dating, or you've been doing it for years, you'll walk away from this book with the skills necessary to have success in dating.

I met Jarett Waite at the St. George Book Festival on Saturday. He was kind enough of offer me a copy of his book I Asked Her Out, She Said Yes - Now What?

I am obviously not the target audience for this book but I do have a son who turns 16 next month and thought it might be a book I could pass on to him.

I Asked Her Out, She Said Yes - Now What?: A Crash Course in Dates that Lead to Relationships is a quick, easy read. It's just 75 pages long which is a great length for the target audience. It's not intimidating and short enough to read in a single sitting. The books discusses dating basics including being creative, having fun, being yourself and a step by step walk through on planning a date.

Ironically when I got home on Saturday afternoon I found my son and his friends getting ready to go to a dance. They were surfing the internet looking for ideas on how to ask a girl to dance and how to talk to her. I'm sure this book would be right up their alley. Now to get them to read it. If I hand it to my son I'm sure he'll balk and want nothing to do with it so I'm just going to put it on his nightstand and hopefully he'll pick it up and read it.

If you have a son, grandson (or boyfriend) who is just starting to date this would be a good book to give to them. Even better for those who are a little older and need a few tips.

Content: Clean

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: From Author for Review

The Nativity Collection by Robert J. Morgan

Step into the wonder-filled world of Christmas with this endearing collection of original stories. Even though he has two million copies of books in print, Robert J. Morgan writes only one short story each year-an original work to share with his church on Christmas Eve. These Christmas stories are now available in one beautiful volume for your own enjoyment. You'll meet a shy, bookish boy who finds himself center stage in the Christmas pageant, a Pennsylvania family whose car disappears on December 24th, and a mountain man trapped in a blizzard with his grandson on Christmas Eve. From six different settings, you'll meet characters you feel you've known your whole life, who'll make you laugh one minute and cry the next. So this year, and the years to follow, gather your family and experience the true spirit of love at Christmas through this timeless gift of story.

Robert J. Morgan is a Nashville, Tennessee pastor. Each Christmas he writes a new fictitious Christmas story and reads them to his congregation on Christmas Eve. This beautiful gift book is a collection of six of those stories accompanied by beautiful photos.

Of the six stories in The Nativity Collection, the first story "Ollie" is my favorite. In this story a family's car filled with their gifts and Christmas feast disappears from a parking lot leading to a memorable Christmas Eve spent with a lonely elderly lady.

Content: Clean and uplifting.

Rating: 4 Stars