Shadow of Night: (Shadow Lake Survival - Book 2)

 

Shadow of Night: 

(Shadow Lake Survival - Book 2) 

September 27, 2023

by Susan Sleeman (Author)

To protect her loved ones…
Rookie officer Sydney Tucker can handle threats to her life. After all, she’s a law enforcement. oEven when a killer demands she turn over evidence from a drug bust or he will kill her, she refuses to comply. But things change when he threatens the life of her teenage sister, and Sydney might consider turning over the evidence. If she had what he was looking for.

Will she pay the ultimate price—her life?
But even when Sydney tells the killer that she doesn’t possess the evidence, he doesn’t believe her, and his threats continue. Emerson County Sheriff Russ Maddox steps in, putting Sydney and her sibling under his watchful eye. But will his protection be enough? The killer is closing in, picking off the people and places that mean the most to Sydney. A list that now not only includes her but Russ as well.

My thoughts:  Ms. Sleeman has done it again with a page turning romantic suspense that will keep you guessing until the very end.  I am usually really good at knowing who-dun-it but this book kept me guessing.   You will fall in love with the main characters.  Highly recommended.   I was given a copy free and all opinions are my own.

An Interview with Brad Hambrick, Author of Transformative Friendships

 

An Interview with Brad Hambrick, Author of Transformative Friendships Building meaningful friendships can be difficult, especially in a culture that is lonelier and more disconnected than ever. In Transformative Friendships: 7 Questions to Deepen Any Relationship, counselor Brad Hambrick encourages readers to develop new rhythms, habits, and lifestyles that will shape and grow their relationships, both with casual acquaintances and closer friends.   Q: Transformative Friendships explores seven questions that you believe can deepen any relationship. What are those seven questions? Hopefully, it’s not intimidating to imagine yourself asking a friend these questions, or being asked them by a friend. In Transformative Friendships, we unpack how these simple questions can transform casual acquaintances into “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17) friendships that become dearer than family. 1.     What’s your story? 2.     What’s good? 3.     What’s hard? 4.     What’s bad? 5.     What’s fun? 6.     What’s stuck? 7.     What’s next? Q: Three of these questions seem to link together—What’s good? What’s hard? What’s bad? Why are each of these questions important and how do they each help in deepening our friendships? From a Christian perspective, this invites us to explore our identity in Christ (what’s good), suffering (what’s hard), and sin (what’s bad). If different Christian traditions, one of these questions may be emphasized more than the others. But if friendships are going to have a holistic and balanced influence on our life, then we need emphasize all three. Q: Is it better to have a few really close friends or many more casual friends? That’s a good question, but I think it’s better not to think in terms of either-or. There are benefits of having really close friendships, but if all our friendships were “deep” that would be exhausting and crowd out other life responsibilities. Casual friendships also enrich our life, but if all our friendships were “shallow” we would feel lonely in a socially crowded life. One of the things I want to do in Transformative Friendships is help people see the value of both and learn how to be intentional in taking a few of their casual friendships to a deeper level.

Q: What are some of the factors that make having good friendships harder than it should be? This can vary from context to context. I currently live in a big city where people move in and out all the time. The frequency with which people move make friendships feel temporary. But I grew up in a small town where being vulnerable felt riskier because everyone there would know you for the rest of your life. There is also the factor of social media. Social media allows us to polish our image as we post the best pictures and narrate them in our preferred way. Because of this, lots of people know a lot about us, but we don’t really feel known. We put our curated information about ourselves, but that can impedes cultivating an actual relationship because of the limited engagement. I’m not against social media. I just think we need to be more aware of how it impacts what we call a “friend.” Q: As you’ve served as a counselor and worked to create church-based counseling models, what have you learned about people’s reliance on counseling over friendship? For many people, they begin to rely on counseling as a friend-substitute. Counseling is where they are “real” and talk about what’s “hard.” They think if they’re engaging in counseling (which I’m all for) that friendships can just focus on what is “fun” and “good.” The result is that their friendships become more superficial. Ideally, in my opinion, when counseling is needed it would be a place to learn to talk about and tame the hard parts of life in a way that makes those subjects more approachable in their closer friendships. An indication that someone is ready to graduate from counseling is when he or she feels like they can talk about their hardships in their friendships. Q: How does Transformative Friendships fit into the Church-Based Counseling series that you have written? The Church-Based Counseling series is primarily about helping churches create counseling ministries that are relationally sustainable, liability wise, and church compatible. But I didn’t want churches to think, “Now that we have a counseling ministry, that is where we send all the hurting people.” That would make the church less of what God intends it to be. Transformative Friendships is meant to be a resource that strengthens friendships in a church. That should serve a counseling ministry, if a church chooses to create one, in two ways. First, it helps those who are reaching out for counseling not to over rely on counseling. A counseling ministry cannot and should not privatize discipleship. Second, it creates a relational context for those receiving counseling that makes counseling more effective.  Q: In the book, you offer exercises for each of the seven questions that can fit in the rhythms of church life. Could you share some examples of those? Playing Good Gotcha: What if on the anniversary of someone joining a small group or ministry team, we took time to affirm the good things we’ve seen in their life over the last year? It would be a simple practice that wouldn’t take that long, but it communicates: we’re glad you’re here, we remember when you came, and we’ve noticed how you’ve grown. That’s powerful. Making the “Not that Bad” Phone Call: Every counselor, car mechanic, and pain management specialist has the same complaint about their clientele; namely, they wait until things are “that bad” to call. Who do we call before things are that bad? A friend. Transformative Friendships calls on people to develop the kind of friendships where they would do this. Imagine the heartache we could avoid if we did this. Q: Why is it important for our deepest friendships to be developed within the church? It is important, in part, because it is a matter of Christian obedience. The New Testament, depending on your preferred translation, has thirty to forty “one another” commands. Friendship with other believers is where we obey these commands. A friendless Christian is someone who has failed to put themselves in the position to obey these commands. Another reason is that the church is a logical place to develop friendships. It is a place of shared values and frequent rhythms of interaction. We have small groups and ministry teams. We have families with children the same age and who go to the same schools. We have people who have lived in that city who can orient those who just moved to the area. It is not just a matter of obedience; it should be natural if we give people enough structure to be intentional.

Q: One of the hardest questions to answer, even among good friends is: What’s next? Why is it important to talk about our dreams not just with our close friends, but with all of our friends? God made us for a purpose. So much of life begins to feel like we’re just executing day-to-day tasks. When this happens, like feels mundane and purposeless. Talking about our goals and dreams, even just exploring possibilities if we don’t know what our next dream is, is a great way to prevent life from feeling meaningless. Our friends, of a variety of depths, are going to be the people cheering us on as we pursue those dreams. Q: For each question, you provide five depths a friendship can move toward. Using the question, “What’s next?”, can you walk us through what these five depths would look like? We want our friendships to grow deeper. Early depths are achievable for casual friendships. Enjoy these early depths. Don’t rush them. But do begin moving some of your friendships to greater depths that can have a more meaningful impact on your life. ·       Depth One: The dreams that got you here. We can usually tell our life story through a series of goals. ·       Depth Two: The dream you’re working on. If I’m going to come alongside you in a meaningful way, I need to know what you’re working on. ·       Depth Three: The dream that is fading. A lot of maturity is letting go of some dreams. We know people who never got over high school or college. We know marriages that failed because they didn’t know what it meant to let young love mature. ·       Depth Four: The dream for the next season of life. Because the next season of life is unknown, it is always a mixture of scary and exciting. We should acknowledge that and invite people on that journey. ·       Depth Five: The dream you’re afraid to say. Big dreams won’t happen unless they’re spoken. Be more afraid not to try that you are afraid to fail. Q: You write, “This book is not a recipe for meaningful relationships. Instead, it’s a melody for friendships that can transform your life.” What do you mean by that? Having seven questions with five levels of depth each can sound mechanical. You don’t build friendships like you stack Legos following the instructions to create what’s on the cover of the box. The seven questions are intended for you to always have something to talk about. The five levels are meant to help you identify what area of a friendship is least developed and allow you to be intentional. If you have that level of awareness, go with where the conversation takes you. As musically inept as I am, I know a bit about jazz. With jazz, there is no sheet music, no lined chart with notes for each musician to follow. Instead, each musician riffs off the melody and adapts to the other musicians in the band. That’s what makes jazz feel more alive than other styles of music. Even the same song, played by the same musicians, is different each time. Your friendships will flourish the most if you treat these seven questions like the melody for a jazz band rather than the Lego instructions. Q: In the closing section, you talk about a couple of indicators that show when a friendship is growing imbalanced. What are those indicators and how does your book help us to avoid them? Does every relationship have to be a friendship? There are two ways friendships should be balanced: knowledge and investment. In a balanced friendship, our awareness of each other’s life is proportional and our investment in the relationship is also proportional. It may not be 50-50, but if it’s 80-20, it’s not a friendship, it is a helping relationship by the wrong name. There is nothing wrong with helping relationships. I’m a counselor and enjoy being in that role. But I don’t rely on my counselees to be my friends. I know their stories better than they know mine, and I’m supporting them. I respect and admire my counselees. But because the relationship isn’t balanced (and it shouldn’t be), it is not friendship. In church circles, there are often many sweet Christians who get burned out because they are calling imbalanced relationships “friendships.” It is important for people to understand, if a relationship is not reciprocating, it is not a friendship. It may still be worth cultivating, but it needs to be surrounded by reciprocating relationships in order for it to be sustainable for the “responsible friend.” Q: You also talk about friendships with non-Christians. How does Transformative Friendships help us think through these relationships in a way that creates opportunities to invite our non-Christian friends to consider Christianity? In many ways, it’s not that different from the rest of the book. But as we engage all of life (the seven questions) at a deeper level, we shouldn’t be able to talk about life at deeper levels without discussing our faith and the implications of the gospel. As we develop a more meaningful relationship with a non-Christian friend, we will gain more of a hearing from them. They will value our words and perspective more. We will be able to speak more specifically into their lives. Learning to be better friends should make us better disciplers with our Christian friends and evangelists with our non-Christian friends.

Transformative Friendships: 7 Questions to Deepen Any Relationship  Church Based Counseling Series By Brad Hambrick  Print ISBN: 978-1-64507-333-8 March 18, 2024 / Retail Price: $16.99 RELIGION/Christian Living/Personal Growth

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About the Author

Brad Hambrick, ThM, EdD, serves as the Pastor of Counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, NC. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition He has authored several books, including God's Attributes: Rest for Life Struggles, Making Sense of Forgiveness, Angry with God, and the Church Based-Counseling series. Hambrick also served as general editor for the Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused curriculum. Hambrick, his wife, Sallie, and their two sons live in Raleigh, NC.  Learn more about Brad Hambrick and follow his blog and podcasts at bradhambrick.com. He can also be found on Facebook (brad.hambrick.5), <a style="color:#f26631; font-style:normal; font-weight:400; text-decoration:underline; font-family:Poppins, "Helvetica N

Lantern Beach Exposure #5 Deceptive Shallows by Christy Barritt

Deceptive Shallows

(Lantern Beach Exposure Book 5) 

by Christy Barritt (Author) 

He lost her once. He won’t lose her again . . .

After waiting for years, Brandon Hale is finally about to marry Finley Cooper, the woman of his dreams. But when things start to go haywire on their wedding day, Brandon can’t shake the feeling that something terrible looms . . .

Just as Finley emerges to walk down the aisle, federal agents surround her and place her under arrest. Someone has gone to extreme lengths to ensure Finley will spend the rest of her life in prison. But why? Who would frame her for treason?

Brandon and Finley must dive deep into danger to find the answers and prove her innocence. If they don’t find the culprit, their dreams of happily ever after will be lost again . . . this time forever.

My thoughts:    Deceptive Tides is a fast paced romantic suspence that keeps you engaged as you race through the pages to see who-dun it.   I guess who the villian is right away but had to keep reading to see if I was right.   Ms Barritt is a talented author and writes quickly so she has new books coming out all the time.  I'm a bit behind in my reading.   Grab your copy of Decptive Shadows today.  Recommended.   I was given a copy free and all opinions are my own.

Welcome to the Tennessee Wildcat Celebration Tour! #giveaway

 

About the Book

Book: Tennessee Wildcat: On the Trail of Laura Ingalls Wilders’ Mr. Edwards

Authors: Robynne Elizabeth Miller and J.D. Rushmore

Genre: Nonfiction/Historical Biography/Literary History

Release date: August 24, 2023

Mr. Edwards … that colorful Tennessee Wildcat Laura Ingalls Wilder so deeply loved. He helped Pa build the family’s cabin, saved Christmas by carrying presents across a raging creek, and spit further than Laura thought possible. Though he was a little rough around the edges, Laura simply adored Mr. Edwards. Through her vivid, heartwarming stories, we came to love him, too.

But who was he? Virtually all Laura’s Little House characters were real people … even those whose names were changed to protect their reputations.

Mr. Edwards, however, wasn’t so easy to track down. In fact, he’s the sole Little House enigma … the only mentioned character that hasn’t clearly surfaced via historical records.

Was he fiction, for the sake of illustrating pioneer stereotypes? Was he a composite character, built from several men Laura knew during their time in Kansas? Was he a loose collection of memories and family lore, cobbled together for the sake of the narrative? Or was he a real man, whose full identity had previously evaded discovery?

We wanted to know the answer …

So, we dusted off our boots and headed out … hot on the trail of the wildcat from Tennessee!

 

 Marilyn's thoughts:     Tennessee Wildcat is a thorough research into Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Mr. Edward she portrayed in her books. The authors included their in depth search with graphics, facts and their own conclusion since the research did not produce one particular individual as Mr. Edwards. This is an interesting read with all the history of the prairie with homesteading, distance of neighbors and the stories penned by Wilder in her later years of life. Fans of Little House on the Prairie will enjoy the history the authors found in their conquest to discover the actual Mr. Edwards.

 

I received a copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and the authors without any obligation to write a positive review. I have expressed my own thoughts.

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Authors

Robynne Elizabeth Miller holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction and Fiction and a B.A. in English Literature. She’s the author of ten books and countless articles, including Tennessee Wildcat, From the Mouth of Ma, and The Three Faces of Nellie.

Along with speaking nationally, Robynne is a writing and publishing coach and mentor, a writing teacher at writers conferences, workshops, and retreats, the Writing Track developer and director for Unbound, and the director of the Vision Christian Writers Conference at Mount Hermon.

She’s passionate about helping writers bring their stories and messages into the world and delving into the real people and places which populated the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

 

J.D. Rushmore is a history and genealogy buff, with a particular interest in American history before 1900. He’s enamored with the opening of the west, pioneers, the gold rush, the Oregon trail, etc. He’s particularly passionate about researching historical mysteries, especially when they relate to the Little House series of books.

He is a musician in his spare time, as well as an “at everything” father, husband, and friend. He prefers the smell of historic archives to fresh air (unless it involves poking around a remote historic cemetery!) and has a knack for reading handwriting on historical documents that is illegible to others. Nothing thrills him more than finding the one tiny detail that, after being overlooked for decades, or even centuries, changes EVERYTHING.

More from Robynne

If you’re a Little House fan like us, you know how risky it was to delve into Mr. Edwards. Rumors have flown for decades as to his real identity, and some folks have double-downed on who they believe he was … declaring a particular name with certainty.

But it just didn’t add up. Through all our team’s collective Little House research and general love of 1800’s history, the name that had been put forward just didn’t make sense.

So, we had a choice.

We could avert our eyes, go about our other writing projects, and leave this mystery untouched. Or, we could, with as much neutrality and meticulous research as possible, see if Mr. Edwards’ true identity could be established.

We risked two things: upsetting some people if our findings didn’t support their theories, and crushing our own hearts if Mr. Edwards turned out to be the one character who Laura Ingalls Wilder constructed purely from her imagination.

We hope our respect for previous researchers, and the strength of our newly discovered information, helped avoid the first worry. And, the second? We were thrilled to discover Mr. Edwards almost certainly wasn’t a work of fiction!

Blog Stops

Alena Mentink, May 10

Lots of Helpers, May 10

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 11

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 12

Holly’s Book Corner, May 12

Lighthouse Academy Blog, May 13 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 14

Texas Book-aholic, May 15

Mary Hake, May 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 16

Blogging With Carol, May 17

Tell Tale Book Reviews, May 18

For Him and My Family, May 19

The Lofty Pages, May 20

Life on Chickadee Lane, May 21

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 21

Connie’s History Classroom , May 22

Cover Lover Book Review, May 23

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, May 23

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Robynne is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon Card, copy of Tennessee Wildcat and The Three Faces of Nellie, and a goodie bag of Laura Ingalls Wilder related gifts, including a piece of the actual Loftus Store, mentioned prominently in The Long Winter!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2b591/tennessee-wildcat-celebration-tour-giveaway