Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Hello, and welcome 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 participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. In it, discuss and link to your posts for the week--whether they deal with theology, Catholic living or cute Catholic kids. I'm mostly a book blogger so my posts are generally book reviews, some Catholic, some not. Make sure that post links back here. Once you publish it, come back here and leave a link below.

I was a busy blogger this week.  I reviewed The Good Father, a story about a young father and his daughter.     I told you about Birchbox, a relatively new grooming products sampling service.  Another book review is Where the Azaleas Bloom is a romance novel.   Several of the books I've read recently have dealt with teen parents, so I wrote about marriage and young  parents.  I'd love to get a discussion going about that.  The Rancher's Secret Wife is a Christian romance and so is Lakeside Family.  I shared vacation pictures  and wrote a review of my cruise.

My Review: The Good Father

The Good Father

About the Book:

A beloved daughter. A devastating choice. And now there's no going back.

Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he's never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe.

But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he's worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble….

Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.

With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter's sake.

Even if it means he might lose her.

My Comments:
What would you do, as a parent, to support your child?  What if you had a busy life, a life that wasn't what you had dreamed of, but a life where you were getting by, and then several somethings happened and you were unemployed and homeless?  What if someone offered you the chance to make some quick money doing something you knew was illegal?  Would you leave your child with a virtual stranger so that you could take this job?  Would you do so by telling her you'd be back in a minute, and then driving off?  If you were the stranger, would you keep the child for two days, without knowing her last name, or much more about her?  If your answers to all those questions are "no", then I'd say you are normal.  However, if you can get over the highly improbable premise on which the story is built, Diane Chamberlain gives us some characters who are easy to love, and others who are easy to hate.

The Good Father is about Travis, an unwed  young father who took custody of the baby when the mother wanted to give her up for adoption.  The mother needed a heart transplant and was in no position to raise the baby.  Of course her father hated him and tried to keep them apart.  She was told he was married; he was told never to contact her again.  The mother, Robin, sees history repeating itself in the family of her fiancee and for the first time, she longs for the baby she surrendered.  The other main character is Erin, a woman who recently lost her own daughter, and who, as often happens in such cases, is now estranged from her husband.  She meets Travis, and his daughter Bella in a coffee shop where she whiles away time focusing on her grief.

Chapters are titled by the name of the character from whose point of view they are told.  This allows several separate stories to be told, stories that converge at the end.

Though the whole set-up was highly improbable, I enjoyed the story, so I'll give it a B.  I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  You can learn more about Diane Chamberlain at her website.

Other Chamberlain books I reviewed:
The Lies We Told
The Midwife's Confession

Birchbox

Well, I bit.  After reading about Birchbox on several blogs, I decided that it was only $10.00 and it might be fun.  Actually I did something like it way back in the day when I was in high school and I still remember a set of Mary Quant eye crayons that came in my "free" first box.  For the uninitiated, Birchbox is a beauty products sampling box service.  For $10.00 per month, subscribers are sent a box of sample products chosen for them based on responses to a survey completed when subscribing.

This month's box was sponsored by Glamour Magazine and featured the five senses.

Here is what I found inside.

These were in that green pouch.

My Review:

You'd think that with all the books I get in the mail, the arrival of boxes would be routine, not a treat; however if you thought that, you'd be wrong.  If money is tight, then a Birchbox is a silly way to spend it.  However, if you have some mad money, like to get packages in the mail and like to play with beauty products, subscribing to Birchbox gives you a fun surprise in the mail every month.

So what was in my box, and what did I think of it? Well, there were some bright blue and pick earbuds that my eight year old claimed.  There was some lip/cheek stain  which I like on my lips, but not my cheeks. There were Suki skincare products (all those envelopes) and I love it.  I've been having a real problem with rosacea and right now it looks better than it has in months.  Maybe it is coincidence, maybe not, but this stuff feels good on my skin and I'm going to order it--and I'm not one to usually buy fancy skin care systems.  There was an eyeliner liquid pen and I really like it too.  I can get a sharp line and I don't have to sharpen it.  There was a tasty nut bar and a perfume sample (gave it to my daughter, perfume gives me a headache).  

So, does writing this review get me anything?  I already told you I bought the box.  If I convince you to CLICK THIS LINK and subscribe, then I get points, and with those points, I can buy stuff from Birchbox--you see part of what they do is sell full sizes of the stuff they send for you to sample.  The more of you who subscribe, the more stuff I get to buy (and once you subscribe, you can ask your friends to join too).  

Review: Where Azaleas Bloom

Where Azaleas Bloom (Sweet Magnolias)

About the Book:

Single mom Lynn Morrow is determined to put food on the table for her son and daughter. Her soon-to-be ex-husband has failed to meet his obligations time and again – but it turns out that Ed is struggling with his own demons. Enter contractor Mitch Franklin, an unlikely knight in shining armor. A widower with two grieving sons, Mitch once admired Lynn from afar. Now he sees in her not only the sweet girl who got away, but a woman desperately in need of support. While rushing to the rescue of Lynn and her children comes naturally, he’s also wise enough to encourage Lynn to find her own way…hopefully straight into his arms.

My Comments:

I don't often "fall in love" with the heroes of romance novels, but if anything happened to my wonderful husband, I hope there is a Mitch in my life.  Actually, being the independent cuss I am I'd probably reject him  and his help, but it made for a good read.  Mitch  is just getting  life on a good and even keel after losing his wife.  Lynn is in the process of being divorced (her husband's idea, not hers) and besides feeling the sting of rejection, she's a woman who has always stayed home with kids who is now in deep financial trouble because her ex isn't meeting his financial obligations.  She doesn't want to impose on Mitch or her friends (the gang from earlier Sweet Magnolias books) but they rally to her support despite that.  

If it's important to you; Mitch and Lynn end up in bed before they are married and Mitch allows his son's fiancee and son to share a bed; however, in neither case do we get to watch the action.  

I've read quite a few of the Sweet Magnolias books but this one has been my favorite.  Grade B+

Other Books by Sherryl Woods which I have reviewed:

An O'Brien Family Christmas

Moonlight Cove

Sweet Tea at Sunrise

Honeysuckle Summer

The Summer Garden

Beach Lane

Others you may enjoy: