Monday Memes

This month Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Savy Verse and Wit.

I am beyond annoyed at Google and Amazon and the governments of some states who have gotten into a dispute about collection of sales taxes and have, as a result, shut down the handy gadget blogger offered for adding Amazon  links to posts.

Anyway, what did the mailman bring me this week?

It's Monday What Are You Reading is hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey.  She asks what we read last week, what we reviewed last week and what we plan to read this week.

I read Home at Last Chance, Home Sweet Home, and The Wonder of Your Love.

I published reviews on these books (clicking the link takes you to the review):

An Angel for Christmas

A Lawman's Christmas
The Wounded Heart

I chimed in with another take on Banned Books Week.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I'd like to welcome everyone to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other.  To particpate, go to your blog and create an entry titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  In it, highlight one or more of your posts from the past week that you believe would be of interest to Catholic bloggers---whether they are posts reflecting on spiritual matters or posts about antics of Catholic kids, or anything in between.  Come back here and enter the URL of that post below.  Finally, go visit other participants, and leave comments!  If you want a weekly reminder to post, join our yahoogroup.

This is the last week of Christmas in September, in which I'm promoting Christmas books.  It includes a contest, and one of the prizes is Kathleen Basi's Joy to the World.  I'm drawing winners on Wednesday so enter the contest by either linking to a review you did of a Christmas book or by leaving a comment on the Christmas in September page about one of the books linked.

Lots of book reviews this week (click on titles for review)
Kisses from Katie:  18 year old American girl goes to Uganda and ends up adopting a houseful of orphans.
Heiress:  Christian historical romance set in the early 1900's
An Angel for Christmas:  Christmas story
A Lawman's Christmas:  Christmas Western romance
The Wounded Heart:  Amish romance
1225 Christmas Tree Lane:  End of Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series

My top ten list this week was a list of 10 bloggers who follow me.  Some Catholic bloggers are in that number, so check out their blogs.

Book bloggers were observing Banned Books Week and I decided to offer an opinion a little bit contrary to what many of them were saying.

What about your blogging week?

Review: Kisses from Katie

Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption

About the Book:

What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because the rest of them think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person but didn’t know any of the language? A passion to make a difference. Katie Davis left over Christmas break her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved by the people and children of Uganda that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. She has given up a relatively comfortable life—at a young age—to care for the less fortunate of this world. She was so moved by the need she witnessed, she's centered her life around meeting that need. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, is in the process of adopting 13 children in Uganda, and she completely trusts God for daily provision for her and her family. 

Despite the rough conditions in which Katie lives, she has found a life of service to God to be one of great joy. Katie's children bring constant delight and help her help others by welcoming whoever comes to their door. As the challenges grow, so does Katie's faith and her certainty that what she's doing in Uganda, one person at a time, will have far-reaching rewards. It isn't the life she planned, but it is the life she loves.To further her reach into the needs of Ugandans, Katie established Amazima Ministries. The ministry matches orphaned children with sponors worldwide. Each sponsor's $300/year provides schooling, school supplies, three hot meals a day, minor medical care, and spiritual encouragement. Katie expected to have forty children in the program; she had signed up 150 by January 2008; today it sponsors over 400. Another aspect of the ministry is a feeding program created for the displaced Karamojong people—Uganda's poorest citizens. The program feeds lunch to over 1200 children Monday-Friday and sends them home with a plate of food; it also offers basic medical care, Bible study, and general health training.Katie Davis, now 22, is more than fascinating, she's inspiring, as she has wholeheartedly answered the call to serve.
My Comments:
Despite anything negative I may have to say about this book, let me assure you that Katie herself gets an A++ 100++ in my book. She is a remarkable young woman who has answered God's call in her life and realized the true joy that comes from self-sacrifice and obedience to the will of God.

That being said, the book, while enjoyable, got a bit preachy and repetitive at times. However, she said a lot of things that bear repeating, so I'm going to quote one, realizing that what I read was a NetGalley, and that the final copy may not be the same.

From the forward:  

People who really want to make a difference in the world usually do it in one way or another, and I've noticed a something about people who make a difference in the world:  They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, and that every life matters....They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound.  They aren't determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they're satisfied with small changes.  Over time, though, the small changes add up. 

They don't do anything to call attention to themselves, they simply pay attention to the everyday needs of others, even if it's only one person.  

The book takes us with Katie as she heads to Uganda for the first time, to when she returns there instead of going to college.  We follow her back the US for a year of college and then home to her adopted children in Uganda.  You can get a feeling for her writing style at Katie's blog.  

Ok, maybe the writing shouldn't earn this book an A, but I'll give it one anyway.  

Heiress: My Review

Heiress (Daughters of Fortune)

About the Book:

The beautiful heiress daughters of newspaper magnate August Price have been given everything their hearts desire. But what if they want only to be loved--without an enormous price tag attached? When one daughter pursues a desirable marriage, she secures for herself a comfortable and glamorous life. But among the duties of privilege, will she also find the happily-ever-after she seeks? Her sister rejects the trappings of wealth, choosing instead to build a new life on the still-untamed frontier. Will she find happiness in independence or discover that she's left her heart behind in New York's glittering society? Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, each woman discovers that being an heiress just might cost her everything--including the chance for true love.

My Comments:
Two sisters, raised in New York City during the Guilded Age, make different choices, each seeking success as she understood it.  Esme is her father's daughter.  She wants to be in the news business, and is even contributing anonymously (and without her father's knowledge) to her father's newspaper.  Jinx wants to marry a rich man, but her father won't let her marry until her older sister does, and Esme keeps rejecting suitors.  Finally, their father arranges a marriage for Esme, but things don't go as planned.  Esme ends up out West running a newspaper and Jinx ends up in an unhappy marriage.  Eventually both girls find God and happiness.

While my summary makes the book sound trite and ordinary, it wasn't.  I found it to be a well-written novel with characters of real depth.  While Esme was my favorite of the two sisters, I liked watching Jinx grow from a self-involved girl to a woman of depth.  Unfortunately, like much growth, it came at the expense of pain.

It appears to be the first book in a series, but there were no unresolved plot lines.  In short, a well-written historical romance set in the early 1900's.  Grade:  B+

I'd like to thank the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book.  Unfortunately I don't remember when I was supposed to post on it, so I'm doing so now.