Sunday Words of Encouragement January 26, 2020

I am thankful Hubby is getting better. We enjoyed Sunday School and church together this morning. Our Pastor completed his four-week series on The Bod (the Body of Christ). The conclusion was strong. Next week he starts a series on marriage which should be interesting.

Our Sunday School teacher continued his series on the fallen nature of man with a message this morning under the subtitle Temptation of the World. He noted that Jesus’ prayer to the father was to keep the disciples “safe”. John 17:15-17. He didn’t mean physical safety but safety from the evil one who seeks to separate men from faith and relationship with Jesus and God. Luke 22:31-32.

Thoughts are Satan’s tools. He attacks us through our thought life. We survive only with God's protection by staying close in faith and taking captive every thought.

We are in constant battle with the enemy. Satan is not equal to God but he does have power in this world. There are levels of power among angels and demons. Satan is not omniscient. He uses imps, demonic beings. Satan uses our thoughts to tempt us. The reality is that what we think about is rooted in our fallen nature. We are tempted by our own desires. James 1:14. The heart is deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9. Out of the abundance of heart, the mouth speaks. Luke 6:45. God told Cain to “just do the right thing” but Cain was controlled by his anger.

A fish is caught by a “lure”. Satan uses allure. Temptation is always an enticement to act contrary to God's will. We must hold fast against the Devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11-12.

I chose this song "One Step Away", which tells us to come home to God - we're only one step away.

Verses for Today:
Ephesians 6:11-12 (NIV)
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.


Lord, please help me each day to keep my eyes on You and to take captive every evil thought.

Sharing Beyond Books #387 Comment Giveaway January 25, 2020

Hello again and Welcome to Sharing Beyond Books, SBB, in 2020.

Thanks to everyone who commented last week.

Four commenters are not on either app, six are on Bloglovin, and nine do not know of the On the Fence App.

The Winner from SBB #386 comments is: #1 NATALIJA who can make a GC choice if international or book choice from the Updated (**Finally!) ARC/Review titles or (recently updated) Love and Christmas titles - all linked near the end of the post. -- [11/16/19 I plan to add some review books this week and maybe some new Christmas and Love titles as soon as I locate the box I put them in.  10/5/19 I have pulled some new books and will be adding them to the list in the next week or so.

**NOTE: I did post an Updated ARC and Other books for Giveaways. I have to go back and list the titles -- someday.
Please let me know your choice by completing the WINNER FORM.

WEEK #387

(One Question.)

Alina asks: Do you set yourself a reading challenge (on Goodreads or otherwise)??

Yes I set a reading challenge on Goodreads. I also set personal reading goals for TBRs, Audiobooks and Alphabet.

Here is the site to check if you want to find a challenge to fit your interests.
Image found at As Told by Tina.

Thanks to those who are sending in Questions. DON'T BE SHY! Surely everyone has a Q or two you'd like to ask. Input suggestions in this Suggested Question Form. At the end of each month, I draw from the suggestions I used during the month and that person will get a 1/2 book choice or $2.50 towards GC. I thank everyone for submitting questions. Thanks for sending in questions! The supply of questions is dwindling so share some if you think of any -- even if they are duplicates I'll weed through or try to modify
January Questions were provided by Marjorie and Alina who have each earned $2,50.

Your turn to share. Alina asks: Do you set yourself a reading challenge (on Goodreads or otherwise)??

SBB Comment Winners can choose a selection from the Updated ARC and Other books, including the "Love" and Christmas titles all in one post.

SBB Rules:
a) Must be a follower.
b) Share a comment on the question above.
Open internationally and an international winner may get a smaller book or a $5.00 GC if I decide the mailing is too much.
I will pick a Comment winner from all comments made through Saturday, February 8, 2020, at 5 PM central.

Audible Book Review: A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain

This was a quick, nice listen.

A Mind of Her Own
By: Paula McLain
Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 02-28-19
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Original
Genre: Fiction, Historical
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 3.75; Narration 4.0.

About This Audible Original
From Paula McLain, the best-selling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin, comes a breathtakingly intimate story of the brilliant, willful Marie Curie—a young woman in Paris on the verge of her greatest discovery yet: herself.
Marie Sklodowska, 25, is studying science at the Sorbonne—one of the only universities in the world that has begun to admit women. A thousand miles from her native Poland, with no money and the odds stacked against any woman daring to pursue a career in such a rigorous field, Marie throws herself into her studies. She’s certain that to succeed in a man’s world, she will have to go it alone.
Her meticulous plans get thrown slightly off-course when Marie attracts the attention of an accomplished physicist, himself on the precipice of greatness. Pierre Curie, famous for his work on symmetry, believes he has found in Marie an equal who shares his devotion to scientific discovery. He offers to help with her work, and soon begins to court her. But to Marie, men have always been an obstacle, love a distraction from her goals. She hasn’t come this far to let either stand in the way of her dreams—dreams Pierre insists they can share.
In A Mind of Her Own, McLain taps into the luminous mind and complex heart of a singular woman caught between order and chaos, science and love in the period just before the world would learn her name.
©2019 Paula McLain (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

Review:
Marie Sklodowska had to struggle to get to study at university and had to struggle against male bias to prove her abilities. She is helped by another female student who helps her get a grant and then Marie gets a lab job with her primary professor. When Marie is introduced to the accomplished scientist, Pierre Curie, she is not inclined to relinquish her hard-fought gains for the sake of romance. She doesn’t want to be relegated to the home but wants to continue her scientific career. What will it take for gentle, unassuming Pierre to convince Marie to share a life with him?

At first glance, this appeared to be a short biographical sketch of Marie Curie… but it is presented as historical fiction. The story shares a short slice of Marie’s life. Ms. McLain presents Marie’s experience at University and her meeting with and courtship by her future husband. The picture of the times is well done, clearly showing a man’s world before women were readily welcome in higher learning and in careers thought to be only for men. Marie’s internal reluctance to romance made sense considering her background and mindset. I do recommend this to readers with the warning that it is a light romance in a slice of fictional biography.

Audio Notes: Hillary Huber does a good job with the narration. Her accent fit the period and the location for a solid performance. I enjoyed the quick listen.

Source: March 2019 Audible Original Free pick. This qualifies for 2020TBR, 2020Audiobook and 2020Alphabet goals.

Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway January 24, 2020

Happy Friday! 
Hubby is up and about a bit. He still has pain but down to one pain pill a night.

TO ENTER FRIDAY PICK.

US Entrants: Leave a comment and tell me WHICH BOOK you would like to get from the Friday Pick lists.

INTERNATIONAL: Leave a comment indicating "Gift Card" (see further comments near the end of the post.)

CUT OFF TIME IS THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 9:00 PM CENTRAL so I do not have to stay up too late to do the winner post! I will randomly pick two winners to announce Friday mornings with the next Pick post.

Thank you to all who entered the January 17, 2020 Pick. There was one automatic wins this week. Automatic wins are those who requested the book four times without other people asking for that book during those weeks. There were no titles blocked.
Becky gets The Perfect Gift.

CONGRATULATIONS
to Random.org picked Winners from January 17, 2020 Pick:
LIFE'S SIMPLE PLEASURES gets a GC
and
ALINA gets GC.

All winners please fill in the Winner's Acceptance Form or email me to confirm your win, send your snail mail address information and let me know if you would like bookmarks - sensual, sexy or sweet bookmarks. {The form is new because Google changed their forms and the old one wasn't letting me print out the responses.}

It's cold and I will always chill with a book!
Image found at Pinterest from Blog Amelie Door.

New Book Group #88 November 8, 2019

PAIRS:
Connie Brockway: My Pleasure and My Seduction
Stella Cameron: Body of Evidence and Fascination
Singles:
A Notorious Proposition by Adele Ashworth
My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
A Lady Never Tells by Candace Camp
Dawn of Redemption by Starla Childs
Long, Lean and Lethal by Heather Graham
False Colours by Georgette Heyer
Chill of Fear by Kay Hooper
Treasures by Lisa Jackson (hardback)
No Limits by Alison Kent
The Education of Mrs. Brimley by Donna MacMeans
The Wedding Affair by Leigh Michaels
A Highlander's Temptation by Sue-Ellen Welfonder


New Book Group #87 August 23, 2019

SINGLES:
Captain's Paradise by Kay Hooper
Open Season by Linda Howard AUDIO CASSETTES
The Perfect Gift by Christina Skye


New Book Group #86 June 7, 2019
Another group of variety from my shelves.

SINGLES:
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett
Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze

Show No Fear by Marliss Melton
A Question of God's Balance (Vol 1) by Joseph Thek
King by Right of Blood and Might by Anna L. Walls


New Book Group #85 March 22, 2019
A variety from my shelves.

SINGLES:
Summer Skies by Judith Christenberry
Windfall (two stories) by JoAnn Ross
Daddy's Little Cowgirl (two stories) by Judith Bowen and Kimberly Raye
The Forever Year, Cold Pursuit, Lover's Lane and Temporary Sanity (Reader's Condensed)
ToxiCity by Libby Fischer Hillmann

New Book Group #84 December 15, 2018
Here are some Christmas titles to pick from.

SINGLES:
A Family for Thanksgiving
On this Holy Night
Christmas Haven
King Harold's Snow Job


New Book Group #83 November 30, 2018

(Starting bottom left and continuing up then down)
SINGLE
Seductive Secrets by Lynne Connolly
Seven Up by Janet Evanovich - Audio Cassettes
A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein Audio Cassettes
Three Reader's Digest Condensed Books - each hardback:

Cold Harbour and The Courtship of Peggy McCoy
The Things We Do for Love, Three Weeks With My Brother, The Murder Artist and Night Train to Lisbon
Follow the Stars Home, Hunting Badger, The Quiet Game and Second Wind

New Book Group #82 November 9, 2018

Stella Cameron: Key West
SINGLES:
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Killing Time by Linda Howard
The Wedding Night by Barbara Dawson Smith

New Book Group #81 August 17, 2018

SINGLES
Best Laid Plans by Allison Brennan
Darkness Tell Us by Richard Laymon
Cooking Most Deadly by Joanne Pence


New Book Group #80 August 17, 2018

Note: The Final Judgment and
The Book of Fate are Audio Cassettes
SINGLES:
Summer’s Moon by Lacey Baker
The Final Judgment by Richard North PattersonAudio Cassettes
Firebird by Janice Graham
No Getting Over a Cowboy by Delores Fossen
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer Audio Cassettes


New Book Group #79 July 13, 2018
I found this box of books buried under some other boxes.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lenox by Maggie O’Farrell
P.S. by Helen Schulman
Her Sexiest Surprise by Dawn Atkins (personally autographed)
Dakota Child by Linda Ford
Calling the Shots by Ellen Hartman
Promises, Promises by Amber Miller
This Time for Keeps by Jenna Mills
A Daughter’s Legacy by Virginia Smith
Another Man’s Baby by Kay Stockham


New Book Group #78 April 27, 2018

SINGLES
Blackberry Bush
Breaking Point
A Tangled Affair
To Wicked to Love
Roses are Red Audio Cassettes


New Book Group #77 February 16, 2018- All gone

New Book Group #76 November 3, 2017
13 books remain of the original 37:

I finally Have them Listed!
Boots & Booties by Kristine Rolofson
Saucer the Conquest by Stephen Coonts
The Scorpion Seducer by Bonnie Vanak
Hell On Earth by David L. Porter
White Night by Jim Butcher
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
Crisscross by Harmon Henkin
Maelstrom by Anne McCaffrey
Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker
101 Commonsense Rules for the Office by John R. Brinkerhoff


This shelf of 35 books are what is left from Groups #1 (11/27/09) through Group #75 September 29, 2017

(Title list reads left at bottom to right at top - 14 titles.)
Rehabilitation
Secret Blessing
Named of the Dragon
Daring by Jillian Hart
Aunt Erma's Cope Book
JoAnn Ross: Confessions
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Bound by Destiny by Rayka Mennen
Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven

(Title list reads left at bottom to right at top - 21 titles.)
Plan of Attack by Dan Brown
(*Three more very old books from my Gothics box.)
*The Man in the Garden by Paule Mason (1969 - yellowed)
Fire Dancer by Ann Maxwell
*Four books are very old; pulled from a box of gothic novels I found.
*Maggie – Her Marriage by Taylor Caldwell (1953 very old, yellowed pages, some stain damage doesn't effect reading)
First Things First by Stephen R. Covey- Audio Cassette
Trilogy Of Mysteries Audio Book Shadow Prey, There Was A Little Girl, Smokescreen Audio Cassettes (NOT CDs)
Raintree Haunted by Linda Winstead Jones (spine creases)
The Shadowing by Joan Overfield
The Sweetheart Dance by Patti Ann Colt
BOX 4 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 47-53)
Undateable by Ellen Rakieten & Anne Coyle
Jezebel by Katherine Sutcliff
The Hidden Truth of Cytech's Randall Forty by Vickie Kennedy
Breakfast in Bed by Sandra Brown - Audio Cassette Tapes (link is for mass media version)
BOX 3 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 39- 47)
Shetland Summer by Janet Lynnford
BOX 2 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 24- 38)
The Trailsman: Texas Lead Slingers by Jon Sharpe
A Courtesans Guide to Getting Your Man by Susan Donovan and Celeste Bradley -- NOTE This book has dog bite damage; it is missing half back cover and the edges of pages in the back third of the book... it does not effect the text but I will understand if no one wants this one
An Honorable Man by Rosemary Rogers (spine creases)
The Willful Widow by Valerie King (spine wear)
Foundation (Foundation Novels) by Isaac Asimov
BOX #1 2015 (reboxed from Boxes 1- 23)
Ghost Writer (Shivers #3) by M.D. Spenser
Alien Chronicles - The Crimson Claw by Deborah Chester

If you saw the pictures posted of my bookshelves and boxes you know I do have lots of books! And that doesn't include the other eight or so boxes at my office!! And more books as I find deals too good to pass up! I am sharing my book bounty by these Friday Pick Giveaways.

I started Friday Pick on November 27, 2009 and in almost NINE years I have posted 88 groups of 16 plus an additional 21 totaling 1,429 books to find new homes! (as of November 8, 2019).

I am happy to say that so far about 1,297+ books have found new homes through this feature! YAY. [A year or so ago I posted I had reached 2000 books given away. As I calculated the numbers 11/2/17 I realized that had to be an error. I realized I went from 1098 to 2001 instead of 1101. Guess I was tired; sorry for the error.] I have to update my print out to check the exact number sent out - a few were never claimed. I periodically update the lists - deleting those won. You can still go to the Friday Pick list link to see older posts and the older lists book pictures if you want!

Note rules here regarding international entries.

Because postage to overseas can be prohibitive I am willing to give a $5.00 book certificate to international winners - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, ARe, TWRP, ClassAct Books, eTreasures, Desert Breeze, etc....you tell me where and I'll set it up. So for my overseas visitors, your comment may indicate a smaller book and I'll check postage or note your choice of gift card.

I learned that The Book Depository does not ship to everywhere. The postage for some of the books to faraway places runs between $7.00 and $10.00 and up. Since I would award $5.00 for The Book Depository to an international winner, as an alternative you may choose a smaller book and we will hope the postage will not exceed $6.00. If the postage is more, or if you want to pick a larger book and you are willing to pay any extra postage beyond the $6.00 I will work with you on that. This may not make a difference to many but if it helps one or two of you to give one of my books a home that will make me happy too. :o)

Repeating this helpful blog tip: You can right click on a link and you will be given the choice to open the link in a new window or tab so you do not navigate away from the screen you are on!! I use this all the time!

Audible Book Review: Southlands, Lee Harden, Book 2 by D.J. Molles

This episode gripped me and had me listening hoping for better luck for the primary characters.
Southlands
Lee Harden, Book 2
By: D.J. Molles
Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Series: Lee Harden, Book 2
Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 05-28-19
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Genre: Action & Adventure, Military Sci Fi, Post-Apocalyptic
My Rating: 4.75 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.75; Narration 5.0.

Publisher's Summary
After being sequestered to a bunker to recover from his wounds, Lee Harden is finally going topside with his fellow Project Hometown Coordinator, Terrence "Tex" Lehy. Lee wants to ally the UES with Texas, in order to combat the threat of a powerful oil cartel to the south. But Tex's methods raise serious questions, and Lee quickly discovers that Texas has its own set of problems.
In the Fort Bragg Safe Zone, the conflict with the Lincolnists is rapidly escalating. Master Sergeant Carl Gilliard has just returned, and he’s intent on destroying the Lincolnists, using whatever means are necessary.
Angela is caught in the middle, unable to reconcile her sense of civil morality with her desire for justice. One thing remains certain: before there is peace, there will be blood.
©2019 D.J. Molles (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Review:
Lee Harden continues to struggle for freedom each day. He is off in Texas with Julia and Abe to pursue their current mission. They are meeting with fellow Project Hometown Coordinator, “Tex”, in the hopes of gaining the Texas military elements as allies to fight the threat of a powerful cartel to the south. Lee realizes that Texas has its own issues and struggles to take into consideration.

Meanwhile, the Lincolnists in the Fort Bragg Safe Zone are becoming more of a threat to the community. The elected president, Angela, is caught in the middle of military pressures and the rights being demanded by the rising group of rebels. She is leaning toward restraining the military as she tries to uphold ‘constitutional’ and civil rights.

Molles manages to provide strong characters and intense plot situation which keep me up too late listening. I was intensely invested in the events of this continuing story which were likely to lead to battle, blood, and loss. There were moments when I was shaking my head and clenching my fists suspecting a trap or betrayal and suspecting decision errors would lead to disaster. Now I am wondering how the characters I care about will continue to survive.

I initially thought book 3 wasn’t out yet but in checking, I am glad to see it is available. It is on my purchase list for series to continue. I recommend this series, starting with the Remaining series, to readers who like intense action with characters you become invested in. After all – who wouldn’t be concerned about whether the uninfected humans can survive and rebuild society while facing corrupt and power-hungry politicians, infighting rebel groups and external threats from evolving zombies?

Audio Notes: Christian Rummel continues to do a stellar job with the narration of the series. He provides unique voices that fit each of the characters. I totally enjoy listening to this series.

Here is a Link to my reviews of other books in the series. 

Source: December 2019 Audible Sale $5.98. This qualifies for 2020TBR, 2020Audiobook and 2020Alphabet goals.