Go to Sleep, Sheep! (Bedtime Barn) by Thomas Nelson

Book Description:  The silly sheep in Bedtime Barn don’t want to go to bed! Will they ever tire out?
“I’m thirsty!” squeaks a little voice.
“Please leave on a light!”
“I’m still not tired!” one cries out.
“Let’s have a tickle fight!”
Go to sleep, sheep!

My Thoughts:  I'm always on the look out for nice children's books.  
This is a colorful and cute book especially geared for toddlers.
The pages are hard and can easily be wiped with a damp cloth.  This is a board book.
Little ones love the bright colors and picking out the different animals in and around the barn.
A few of the lambs are fuzzy when one touches them.  
The two year old twins in our family love this book.
It is repetitive so little ones pick up the verse and can "read" it back to you.
Our favorite part of book is "Go to sleep, sheep!"  And then it's time for us all to go to our beds.
A great book for little ones and toddlers.

*This book was provided for review by BookLook*

• Age Range: 2 - 5 years
• Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten
• Series: Bedtime Barn
• Board book: 20 pages

WOW {Warm Oven Wednesday}

We love this dessert.  So easy!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent rolls
2-8oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter not margarine)

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into the bottom of your baking dish press the seams together. In a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla  spread over top of dough. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents. Mix the reaming 1/2 cup of sugar & cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture generously over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown. So easy and delicious! Cool, slice and enjoy!

Dixie Belle (Uptown Belles) by Debbie Mayne

Book Description:  In book one of the Uptown Belles series, sparks fly when Cissy Hillwood arrives in New York City from her Alabama hometown and meets her uncle’s fiercest competitor.

My Thoughts:  I love the cover of this book.  It reminds of that.coming.of.age where we all spread our wings and fly.

This is a refreshing read.  The author writes about life.  Real life issues! And how to deal with them as a christian.  

Small towns can be ever so cruel and this happens to be the case with Cissy Hillwood.  She's had a crush one of the football players for a very long time and when he asks her out she is so excited.  But they haven't been dating long when she finds out what kind of character he has.

She is visiting with her friends when he comes up and tells her that she will date him exclusively and then too prove it hits her hard across the face.  Cissy tells him no one hits her!  She ends up calling 911.  The police come and arrests Mr. Tough Guy and the town won't let her live it down.  Terrible!  Just terrible!  Like it's her fault!   ugh!

Anyway, Cissy's mother calls her brother in New York and makes a way for Cissy to go live away from the small mindness of the people in their community.

Cissy is no sissy, though.  And throughout the story we find that Cissy is tough as nails.

I love the way that Ms. Mayne writes about christianity.  How it's so easy to be a weekend christian but a follower of Christ is an everyday fellowship, in our every dealings of life.

A great read!

• Series: Uptown Belles (Book 1)
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Realms
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1621365247
• ISBN-13: 978-1621365242

Friday Book Humor...for real!

Room on the Porch Swing (An Amish Homestead Novel #2) by Amy Clipston

Book Description:  Laura Riehl is no stranger to heartache. Less than a year after her mother’s death, Laura finds herself burying another loved one: her best friend, Savilla, who has died after a brief and sudden illness. Laura feels heartbroken and alone, but her pain is nothing compared to that of Allen, the husband Savilla has left behind. He now faces a life so different from the one he imagined—plus a baby to care for on his own.

When Laura offers to help Allen with baby Mollie, he jumps at the opportunity until a permanent solution can be found. She’d do anything to lend a hand to Allen and to honor her best friend’s memory. Rudy, Laura’s boyfriend, is initially supportive of her plan, but the more time Laura spends with Allen, the more jealous and frustrated Rudy seems to become.

As Laura and Allen face hardships together, their friendship takes a surprising yet comforting turn—and she discovers an attraction she’s never felt with Rudy. Would falling for Allen betray the people she cares about most, or would denying those feelings betray her heart? This latest installment in the Amish Homestead series returns us to Lancaster County, home of the beloved Riehls, where a family’s strength—and advice from a new friend—may help Laura find God’s direction.

My Thoughts:  I love the cover of this book but the story is better than the cover!

This story is a bit sad but through sadness Laura and Allen discover friendship and love.  This is the second in the Amish Homestead novels. I did not read the first one and I wasn't lost so I believe this is a stand alone novel.)

Poor Allen he not only lost his sweet wife, Savilla, but he has a baby daughter to care for also.

Savilla was Laura's best friend so when she passed away Laura is heart broken.  Then Laura realizes that Allen must care for baby, Mollie, and work.  So, Laura tells Allen that she would like to take care of Mollie for him.

Allen jumps at the chance and he and Laura begin to create a friendship that turns to more than friendship.

Second chances come in surprisingly strange ways.  

A great story!

*This book was provided for review by BookLook*

• Series: An Amish Homestead Novel (Book 2)
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (May 8, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310349079
• ISBN-13: 978-0310349075

An Amish Heirloom: A Legacy of Love, The Cedar Chest, The Treasured Book, A Midwife's Dream

Book Description:  Four Stories from Amy Clipston, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Kelly Irvin

My Thoughts:  A Legacy of Love by Amy Clipston~ Amy Clipston is one of my favorite authors and the does not disappoint in this short story about Amish fireman and his ex fiancé  feelings about him.  Susie Bontrager is engaged to be married to another man but when her ex fiancé comes over to her house to repair her rocking chair she realizes that Leon King is the only man she has or will ever love.  
A great short story.

The Cedar Chest by Beth Wiseman~This was a slower paced story for me.  A Emma Fisher opens a cedar chest that use to belong to her grandmother only to discover letters, love letters written by her great grandparents.  And family secrets are revealed.  A somewhat of a tear jerker.  

The Treasured Book by Kathleen Fuller~ANother favorite auto of mine is Kathleen Fuller. And since I love and enjoy books so much this short story really stood out for me.  This short story is about Shane Broyles and he decides to join the Amish.  He's staying with friends, Noah and Ivy, and he is reunited with Lucy and old friend of Noah's family.  This is quite a story that incorporates an antique Bible.

The Midwife’s Dream by Kelly Irvin~Iris Beachy is a single Amish woman who is also a midwife for her district.  Then her friend's brother, Mahon Kurts, asks her to help deliver a baby of two teenagers.  But after the baby is delivered the teenagers realize that they aren't prepared to raise a child and leave the baby girl behind in an antique crib.  Mahon and Iris get out to find the parents and in doing so take turns caring for the infant. This little baby bonds them together.....     A sweet story of love.

*This book was provided for review by BookLook*

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; Combined edition (April 10, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031035188X
• ISBN-13: 978-0310351887

Just Let Go (Harbor Pointe #2) by Courtney Wash

Book Description:  For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out―and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town―and Quinn’s life―possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

My Thoughts: I'll be honest I picked this book based on the beautiful cover.  Not only is the cover gorgeous but the story is pretty sweet too. Sometimes we just have to let go.  Let go of petty ideas, prejudices and disappointments.

I like Quinn Collins.  She has a lot of plans and ideas.  But when her father and his funtastic friends jump in to help Quinn with her store renovations, Quinn finds herself in a much heated argument with a brazen, entitled skier, Grady Benson.

After the heated argument both Grady and Quinn must do community service for the, uhm, property damage from said  argument.  Quinn has a difficult time understanding Grady.  

When things worsen and Grady is kicked out of town Quinn begins to think that maybe just maybe she might like to be with Grady.

An interesting and romantic story.  

If you enjoy faith filled stories then this is the book for you.

*This book was provided for review by Tyndale*

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (June 5, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1496421523
• ISBN-13: 978-1496421524