Month: April 2014

I heard someone say recently that our emotions do not define us.

You can be angry without being an angry person.

You can be brave without thinking of yourself as courageous.

You can find peace in the rocky places of life.

You I can be kind to someone without forgiving them.

The point is that we are more than the sum of our emotions and actions.

Grief or feeling betrayed or hurt or angry is a fleeting thing. What matters is how we respond in the long run.

I’m trying to choose peace and kindness. Some days are better than others.

Summer’s coming so it must be time for another Susan Mallery Fool’s Gold trilogy.

First up is When We Met.

Taryn Crawford was introduced to us in last year’s books when her PR firm partners decided to relocate to Fool’s Gold. Angel Whittaker is part of the bodyguard/security training school. We saw them eye each other in Three Little Words.

Taryn is a strong, independent woman, used to holding her own in a man’s world. She works with former professional football players but she’s all girl. Angel is scarred both physically and emotionally. He lost his family and blames himself. They embark on a fling because neither intends to fall in love. Since this is a) a romance, and b) a Susan Mallery romance, we know where it’s headed. But the fun is in the journey.

I love how each book follows the same formula outline, but Mallery makes it so enjoyable that we forgive the predictability and go along for the ride. We also touch bases with past book heroes and heroines, so it’s a nice way to keep up with favorite characters.

Next month will be event planner Dellina’s story with one of the football players, Sam the former kicker. Mallery has been dangling Dellina in front of fans for a while now and I’m thrilled she finally gets her story. I’ll let you know how it is!

If you enjoy fun, light romance, I recommend When We Met. I always add a caution, the sex is fairly graphic, so consider yourself forewarned. Although I think there was less sex in this book than in previous books and it definitely came later in the book than some of the others.

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of When We Met in return for a fair review.

I blogged here about Heaven is For Real when Stud Muffin and I were invited to preview the movie.

Last week we went to see the other current faith-based movie, God’s Not Dead. I went in with pretty low expectations because, let’s face it, most “Christian” movies are … not great. But I’d heard good things about this one and was intrigued enough to plunk down some money and see it for myself.

It’s good. Quite good.

The acting is better than in many of its brethren. The biggest name is undoubtedly Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo. He plays an atheist college professor who posits that God is dead to his freshman class. One student objects and he offers the student three twenty-minute slots to present his case that God is not dead.

There are several interwoven stories that are loosely connected. The Gospel is clearly presented, unlike in Heaven is For Real, which gives God’s Not Dead the advantage in a head-to-head battle.

Heaven is For Real will appeal to people who like to believe there are many paths to heaven and Jesus is just one option. God’s Not Dead is for those who know what the entrance cost to heaven is and that Jesus already paid it.

There’s a place for both movies at the multi-plex. Neither one is going to convince anyone to become a Christian, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. But either movie may convince someone to open up a Bible and read it for themselves. That can only be good.

 

I’m pretty good with most social media. I tweet occasionally. I check Facebook most days. I’m on email several times a day to keep on top of it. I can Instagram and Pinterest although I don’t spend hours on either. LinkedIn. Tumblr.

Some days it seems that my social media is running me, instead of the other way around.

There are blogs to keep up with, friends and family to connect with, and other writers to wave at along our shared journey.

It seems as if the whole point of social media–being social–is forgotten. When someone would rather check in with their friends on Facebook instead of chatting with their friends who care enough to show up at their real life events, something is wrong.

I heard someone ask a question the other day about what Twitter could do for him/her in terms of marketing. The conversation zoomed by too fast for me to jump in but the thing to remember is that Twitter and all the social media platforms are not about what they can do for you, it’s about connecting. There’s a real person on the other end of that wifi, sitting at their keyboard, typing away.

When you move away from the What’s In It For Me (WIIFM or Whiffum) mentality, connecting is not as much about work as it is about making friends.

Those who are missed at the end of their lives aren’t those with the most followers, they are those with the most personal connections: family and friends.

 

I’ve loved Claire Cook’s books since I picked up Must Love Dogs and read it before it was a movie. I’ve read most of her other books and loved them all.

This is book 2, a sequel to Must Love Dogs. We’re back with Sarah and her quirky and crazy family, and her new boyfriend John, all introduced in the original book.

I expected to love this one as I do everything else by Claire, but … I didn’t.

It was just … okay.

I’ve been mulling and thinking for a few days, trying to put my finger on the problem.

Part of it is the John character. He and Sarah are dating exclusively now. John has a dog, a cute and fluffy thing named Horatio who doesn’t really like Sarah much. John turned into a bit of a girl, the way he fawned over the dog, and put the dog ahead of Sarah. I didn’t like him for that. He seemed weak and not the alpha-male-hero I like in fiction.

Part of it was the plot. A lot of Claire Cook’s charm is in her quirky secondary characters and the crazy things they do. Nothing much happened until Sarah, two of her siblings, and dad hit Savannah for a brief vacation.

I’ll continue to read Claire Cook, but I’m hoping this one slipped past her usual editing team and the next ones will recover their customary glory.