Quick Review: A Catholic Mom's Guide to Working from Home

A Catholic Mom's Guide to Working From Home: 101 Tips to Help You Make Money Without a Commute

About the Book:

Many families have a problem: we want to pay the bills, but it is difficult – sometimes impossible – to survive on one income. But then we have these precious babies, and we want to stay with them, to witness their special moments and to care for them in the best way we can. In the words of Mother Teresa, “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.” 

So what should we do? It is like a grown-up tug-of-war with your finances and career on one side and your kids on the other. 

Society tells women that we can’t have it both ways. But I am telling you that you can. You can stay at home with your children and also make money, and I will give you 101 tips to make it happen. 

This guide will give you, in a Catholic context, ideas on: how to decide the job that is right for you, how to make time for an at-home job, work time vs. family life, Catholic spiritual advice and practical tips on everything from taxes to web design. 

If you want to start making money at home, this is the booklet for you.

My Comments:

This Catholic mom isn't really looking to work from home; however,  I have a college-student daughter who is home for the summer and not currently employed, so when offered a free copy of this book for review, I grabbed it, hoping it would tell me how she could get rich this summer.  Unfortunately, after reading all 101 tips, I've come to the conclusion that she will not be ready to pay her own way to school this fall or Europe next summer.  

Actually, if you would like to start working from home, this book is a good little guide to get the wheels in your head spinning, though I would have liked to see a little more concrete direction as well as an indication of the likely income.  Suggested jobs are writing, making crafts, running an in-home daycare, selling things, working for a company like Avon, or seeing a need and meeting it.  While it lists these jobs, there is no real direction about how to go about getting them and making them pay though there is some general advice about not getting in over your head with expenses and about how to legally set up a business.

The strong part of the book is the spiritual aspect.  Jennifer Rainey reminds you that if you are too busy to pray, then you are too busy.  As the book is aimed at stay-at-home moms, it reminds readers that taking care of the kids comes first and discusses how to fit your work around them.

The book itself reads like an extra-long blog post.  There is a bold-faced tip and then a paragraph or two of explanation--right out of "How to Write a Blog Post".  

I'd like to thank Jennifer Rainey for the free review copy.  Grade:  B.  

The Cottage on the Corner: My Review

The Cottage on the Corner (An Apple Valley Novel)

About the Book:

Charlotte Garrison's second chance is falling into place just like she's carefully planned. A few more sales of her heavenly sweets and she'll be able to turn the empty shop on Main Street into her own bakery--a plan much more sensible than ever again risking her heart. But when a rambunctious three-year-old girl lands on town deputy Max Stanford's doorstep, Charlotte finds helping the good-looking deputy care for her is sparking the most impossible dreams . . .

Max has never been much for settling down. But while he finds out if little Zuzu is really his daughter, Charlotte's warmth and caring makes him want to prove he's worthy of her trust. And as they struggle to come to terms with their pasts, Max will do whatever it takes to show Charlotte home is where dreams come true--and he and Zuzu are all the love and home she'll ever need.

My Comments:

Those looking for a sweet clean romance with just enough sizzle to keep things interesting should enjoy this book.  The second in Shirlee McCoy's Apple Valley series, The Cottage on the Corner features Max, who ended up with his grandmother when his parents were too irresponsible to care for him, and Charlotte, the widowed second wife of a bigamist.  The real star of the show is Zuzu, a child Max's ex dropped on his doorstep and claimed was his.  The book also contains a mild who-dunnit, but it isn't a major part of the plot.

The book is part of a series and those who played big parts in the first book, The House on Main Street (click for my review) get cameo appearance in this one and sometimes readers are left wondering who these people are and why they are paraded across the stage.  The book also left me with a feeling that I missed some backstory somewhere about both Max and Charlotte--even when they revealed their stories to each other.  Still, they got their happy ending and that's what books like this are all about, right?

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade;  B

Book Review: The Girls of August

The Girls of August

About the Book:

Every August, four women would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria was oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-flung friendships. They called themselves the Girls of August. But when one of the Girls dies tragically, the group slowly drifts apart and their vacations together are brought to a halt. Years later, a new marriage reunites them and they decide to come together once again on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast. There, far from civilization, the women make startling discoveries that will change them in ways they never expected.

My Comments:

I loved the writing.  I found myself reading passages out loud because I loved the way they sounded. The story was told in the first person and felt like I was sitting on the porch listening to her telling me what happened.   I liked reading a book about women who were not young anymore--these women were in their forties, for the most part.  Even though I really enjoy romance novels, I liked the fact that this book did not have a stock plot.  The beach setting was fabulous and Anne Rivers Siddons made it come to life in my mind.

What didn't I like?  I didn't like the way the three old members of the group treated the newcomer.  I found them to be mean and rude.  While I can  understand them not inviting this 23 year old into their inner circle, I found them to be rude to Baby.  I also found there were a lot of things going on that were never really explained--they were brought up and as a reader I'd hope for more information but it never came.  We know that all three of the older women will be facing big life changes when they get home, but the book ends with a boat on its way, not with them at home.  What made Baby marry a man that much older than she is?  What was her relationship with her family?  To me there were just too many loose ends and unanswered questions--we joined these women for two weeks on the beach, but we don't know what happens when they go home.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.   Grade:  B.  

Blog Tour and Review: The Vicar's Wife

The Vicar's Wife

About the Book:

Jane Hatton and her British husband Andrew relocate from New York City to a small village on the Cumbrian coast. Jane has been city-based and career-driven but when her fourteen year old daughter Natalie falls in with the wrong crowd at school in Manhattan, she and Andrew decide to try country living. However Jane has trouble getting used to the silence and solitude of a remote village. Natalie hates her new school, and eleven-year-old Ben struggles academically. Only eight-year-old Merrie enjoys country life. Has Jane made a horrible mistake? The Hattons have bought the old vicarage in the village. When Jane finds a scrap of shopping list, she grows curious about Alice, the vicar’s wife who lived there years before. As we follow the twin narratives of Jane, in the present, and Alice in the 1930s we discover that both are on a journey to discover their true selves, and to address their deepest fears.

My Comments:

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was a good read, but I didn't find it very realistic.  Jane and Andrew are the stereotypical NewYork City career couple, each of whom worked long hours at high-powered jobs.  They ordered take-out more than they cooked, sent their kids to expensive private schools and then, one day, they realized that all was not well with the kids.  In response, they return to Andrew's home country of England to live in a small remote town.  While Andrew has a good job not so different from the one he left, Jane becomes a stay at home mom.  She drops off and picks up at school, helps with homework and actually cooks dinner.  

They are living in an old vicarage that needs a lot of cosmetic work, work that falls to Jane.  While cleaning, she comes across an old shopping list and begins to wonder about the woman who wrote it.  That woman was Alice, the vicar's wife who lived in the house just prior to WWII.  Alice's story is told in chapters headed with her name and the dates of the happenings.  We see that these women who lived 70 years apart and whose lives seemed very different from each others were really very much alike--but in one sense, aren't we all a lot like each other?

What bothered me about this book is that while the lives Andrew and Jane were living in New York were clearly not good for their family; Jane was the one who had to make all the changes.  Andrew kept his career and seemed to continue to work long hours.  Returning to England put him closer to family.  Jane left her extended family, her friends and a job that was an important part of her identity.  Yes, her life was dis-ordered in New York, she spent way to much time at work and not enough with her kids--but so did her husband.  All's well that ends well, and this book does end well, probably a little too well.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available. Grade:  B.