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Christmas is coming, and in light of the festivities, today I am going to share with you an article to further inspire the Christmas spirit. Thanks to Julie from FSB Associates for providing this article for me!

The Ultimate Christmas Gift: Renewed Appreciation for the Lord's Prayer

Kathleen McGowan, the author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer

We are often reminded this time of year, and rightfully so, that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." I can think of no better way to celebrate what Jesus gave to us than to renew our appreciation for his most amazing gift, The Lord's Prayer. In the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus is asked by one of his disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray." He responds very specifically, with the Lord's Prayer. He also teaches this prayer as a component of the Sermon on the Mount. Thus we see in scripture that when Jesus teaches us to pray it is always with these words.

The prayer is perfect. It is our greatest spiritual gift, from the Great Spiritual Giver.

When I set out to write a book about the power of the Lord's Prayer, I was stunned to discover that there were very few published works that dealt with it in any depth. Nearly one third of the planet's population recites this prayer — over two billion people — and yet there were essentially no books about it.

The time had come! What I have been asked most often since writing The Source of Miracles: Seven Powerful Steps to Transforming Your Life Through the Lord's Prayer is: why did I feel the need to write it and why now? What is it about the Lord's Prayer that is so important for us to examine anew as we make our journey into the new world of the 21st Century?

The simple answer is that using this prayer in a specific practice has transformed my life and I have witnessed it as the source of extraordinary miracles, not just for myself, but for countless others. I know it can change lives, and maybe even the world, for the better. Therefore I equally knew that I had an obligation to share this prayer practice with as many people as possible — and fast. The world is at critical mass, people need hope to go forward, and this prayer can and will bring them that — and more. Everything we need for personal transformation is included in just over fifty words that most of us already know by heart, but many of us have forgotten how to use effectively.

In my own journey as a writer and researcher, I came across an amazing prayer practice that was taught by a Christian sect in France during the Middle Ages. For these medieval Christians, the Lord's Prayer was not only the cornerstone of their faith, it was the guidebook to living a perfect life. They understood that every word of the prayer was carefully considered by Jesus, and given to us as a loving and careful instruction for building our faith while living a joyous life through God. I began to work through this prayer as a spiritual practice in the medieval manner, which breaks the prayer down into seven lessons about life: Faith, Surrender, Service, Abundance, Forgiveness, Overcoming and Love. The results were astounding and immediate. My faith was strengthened and my life transformed in ways I could never have imagined prior to learning how to live through this prayer.

The Lord's Prayer is now, as it was when Jesus lived, the incorruptible formula for personal and global transformation.

While most of us can rattle off this greatest of prayers, many of us have forgotten the extraordinary power and meaning behind the words, if we ever thought about them to begin with. I learned the Lord's Prayer when I was three years old, in pre-school, many years before I would ever know what words like hallowed, trespasses or temptation meant. Like most children, we were taught to speak it on cue, like obedient little parrots who could make the appropriate sounds come out after endless repetitions, but had no ability to understand the somewhat exotic sounding syllables.

I can assure you that we were not taught the origins of the prayer as children, and even if someone had tried to explain it to us, we were far too young to understand it as a dynamic spiritual practice and a fool-proof recipe for creating a joyous and fulfilled life.

So many of us grow up never knowing that, with the Lord's Prayer, Jesus was giving us the formula for manifesting miracles; not only when we most need them, but on a very regular basis. It was his gift to us, and one that we can reclaim for ourselves and our loved ones this holiday season. We can create our own miracles in this season which is dedicated to them. It is literally the gift that keeps on giving!

The Lord's Prayer addresses the issues that hurt us, confound us, and impede our progress, and illuminates the way in which we can overcome these obstacles. The prayer is our guide to purifying our spirit of anything that troubles it and holds us back from functioning at our highest potential, a potential that leads directly to happiness and abundance. Using this prayer regularly as a spiritual practice creates real and lasting change at the soul level, change which becomes manifest in very earthly, visible ways.

When spoken with faith and intention, these are literally magic words.

I believe that if you study and hold tight to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, a handful of parables, and what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, verses 37-39 — love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself — then you pretty much have everything you need to live a perfect life and encourage peace on earth. But foremost of these gifts, the center from which all blessings spring, is the Lord's Prayer. While the other elements teach us valuable spiritual lessons, this great prayer is the tool that connects us immediately and directly to the source that is within each of us: the source of faith, the source of love, the source of forgiveness. And, in combination, those things are the source of very real miracles.

My own life has been transformed dramatically by utilizing the Lord's Prayer as a regular spiritual practice. As a result, I have witnessed the most miraculous events, including wonders of life and death. My own life has been blessed with extraordinary abundance and joy, thanks to the gift of this prayer practice. I hope to share this joy with you through the great prayer that unifies us all and is available to everyone. Together, we really can create heaven on earth — just the way Jesus taught us. Amen!

©2009 Kathleen McGowan, author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer

Author Bio

Kathleen McGowan, author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer, is an internationally published writer whose work has appeared on five continents and in at least fifteen languages. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three sons. Kathleen is a dedicated activist, and commits a portion of her time and royalties to causes that protect women and children from the horrors of human trafficking and sexual slavery. She has teamed with The Emancipation Network and Made by Survivors to fund and participate in programs which provide shelter and safety for victims of abuse, and raise awareness of this global epidemic.

For more information about the book, please visit www.KathleenMcGowan.com.

Monday I will be posting my review of "Source of Miracles," and thanks to Julie at FSB Associates, I am able to post the introduction to the book as a sort of teaser for my review.

Introduction — The Lord's Prayer

Kathleen McGowan

Author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer

On Easter Sunday in the year 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that two billion people worldwide were united by one powerful common denominator: the Lord's Prayer. On that date, nearly one third of the planet's population

While Christianity has been divided since its inception into factions with theological differences, this single prayer unifies all of them. The content of the Lord's Prayer cannot be affected by dogma or politics. Even while different denominations may make minor variations, the essential words and the teachings they impart remain unchanged since the day that Jesus first taught them to his followers. The two billion souls who call themselves Christians often differ in more ways than they are alike, yet this single prayer is the common ground for all of them. Jesus gave us a prayer so universal and impactful that it would endure for thousands of years and against the harshest odds. It is not only indelible, it is eternal.

The Lord's Prayer is now, as it was when Jesus lived, the incorruptible formula for personal and global transformation.

Most Christians learn the Lord's Prayer in early childhood and can recite it by rote and without effort. It is so ingrained in our memories that we don't even have to think about it.

And therein lies the problem. We don't even have to think about it.

While most of us can rattle off this greatest of prayers and know that it is a cornerstone of Christianity, the full extent of our understanding often ends right about there. Many of us have forgotten the extraordinary power and meaning behind the words, if we ever thought about them to begin with. I learned the Lord's Prayer when I was three years old, in preschool, many years before I would ever know what words like hallowed, trespasses, or temptation mean recited that prayer in their native languages as an expression of faith.t. There wasn't a child in my class who could have told you the meaning behind the prayer, and yet we were all able to recite it flawlessly on Parents' Night. We were taught to speak it on cue, like obedient little parrots who could make the appropriate sounds come out after endless repetitions but had no ability to understand the somewhat exotic-sounding syllables.

I can assure you that we were not taught the origins of the prayer as children, and even if someone had tried to explain it to us, we were far too young to understand it as a dynamic spiritual practice and a fool-proof recipe for creating a joyous and fulfilled life.

So we grow up never knowing that, with the Lord's Prayer, Jesus was giving us the formula for manifesting miracles — not only when we most need them, but on a very regular basis.

While interviewing a random selection of Christians from different denominations, I was stunned to find how few of them even knew that this prayer came directly from Jesus. "Wait a minute — Jesus created the Lord's Prayer?" was the shocked question I heard over and over again. Even some truly devout churchgoers looked at me in surprise when I said this prayer was the work of Jesus. Some didn't believe me, even when I cited the gospel accounts that attest to this origin. One replied, "But they didn't teach us that in school," as if such an omission in our spiritual education were unusual!

But Jesus was, in fact, the author of this most perfectly constructed blueprint for spiritual change. In the New Testament, the Lord's Prayer can be found in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 6, verses 9-13, as a component of his Sermon on the Mount, and then again in Luke, chapter 11, verses 1-4, when one of the disciples asks Jesus to "teach us to pray." And teach us he did. In doing so, he gave us this priceless treasure: a set of simple and unchangeable directions, in the form of a prayer, for discovering the real secret of how to have the life you truly desire — a life filled with love, happiness, and yes, even wealth. The prayer shows us that all these wonderful gifts come about through an increase in faith: faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in our fellow humans — in that order.

The Lord's Prayer addresses the issues that hurt us, confound us, and impede our progress, and illuminates the way in which we can overcome these obstacles. The prayer is our guide to purifying our spirit of anything that troubles it and holds us back from being "fully realized" human beings — which is to say, human beings functioning at our highest potential, a potential that leads directly to happiness and abundance. Using this prayer regularly as a spiritual practice creates real and lasting change at the soul level, change which becomes manifest in very earthly, visible ways.

When spoken with faith and intention, these are literally magic words.

On the eve of my thirtieth birthday in the spring of 1993, I became an ordained minister as an expression of my commitment to studying and understanding the teachings of Jesus. Fifteen years, thousands of pages of reading, and hundreds of hours of spirited discussions later, I have come to what some may consider a simplistic, and therefore perhaps controversial, view of Christian teachings. I believe that if you study and hold tight to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, a handful of parables, and what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, verses 37-39 — love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself — then you pretty much have everything you need to live a perfect life and encourage peace on earth. But foremost of these gifts, the center from which all blessings spring, is the Lord's Prayer. While the other elements teach us valuable spiritual lessons, this great prayer is the tool that connects us immediately and directly to the source that is within each of us: the source of faith, the source of love, the source of forgiveness. And in combination, those things are the source of very real miracles.

My own life has been transformed dramatically by utilizing the Lord's Prayer as a regular spiritual practice. As a result, I have witnessed the most miraculous events, including wonders of life and death. I have been blessed with extraordinary abundance and joy. But this was not always the case.

To show you how I came to truly know the Lord's Prayer as the perfect formula for dramatic transformation — and how you can do the same — I must first take you with me into the past, through the once locked doors of a secret society and into the heart of a medieval mystery school.

I must first introduce you to the Mystery of the Rose with Six Petals.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer by Kathleen McGowan. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2009 Kathleen McGowan, author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer

Author Bio

Kathleen McGowan, author of The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life through the Lord's Prayer, is an internationally published writer whose work has appeared on five continents and in at least fifteen languages. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three sons. Kathleen is a dedicated activist, and commits a portion of her time and royalties to causes that protect women and children from the horrors of human trafficking and sexual slavery. She has teamed with The Emancipation Network and Made by Survivors to fund and participate in programs which provide shelter and safety for victims of abuse, and raise awareness of this global epidemic.

For more information about the book, please visit www.KathleenMcGowan.com.

I am "stealing" this from The Story Siren. If you want to find out more about it in my blog. Anyway, these are books I got this week at the bookstore, library, and in the mail, of course. This week was the winter season Library Sale... yes, I said LIBRARY SALE! The great thing about library sales are that the books are not in perfect condition — which means that when my students dog-ear the pages, break the spines, tear the covers, or sneeze on the pages (yes, that happens) it doesn't really matter! I love it! I got three bags worth for $6! For Review: Won: From the library: Purchased:

• "Midnight for Charlie Bone" (Audio)
• "Tuck Everlasting" (Audio)
• "Burned"
• "The Book Thief" (Second copy)
• "The Au Pairs" (Second copy)
• "City of Ashes"
• "The Time Capsule"
• "Where Are the Children" (one of my FAVORITES from High School!)
• "Crusade"
• "Brian's Winter"
• "Titanic Crossing" (favorite from Middle School)
• "The Secrets of Sarah Revere"
• "The Battle of the Labyrinth"
• "The Diary of a Teenage Girl: I Do"
• "Holes"
• "Brinsingr"
• "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"
• "Fahrenheit 451"
• "Eldest"
• "The Lightning Thief" (second copy)
• "Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code"
• "Pretty Little Liars #1" (third copy)
• "The au pairs: Skinny-Dipping"
• "Speak" (third copy)
• "The Virginity Club"
• "The Year of Secret Assignments"
• "I Am Not Esther"
• "The Sight" (exciting find!)
• "Flawless"
• "Flawless" (second copy)
• "Ghostgirl" (MOST EXCITING FIND)
• "Blood Promise"
• "The Truth About Sparrows"
• "Jane and the Genius of the Place"
• "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy"
• "13 Little Blue Envelopes"

• Well, it's been a month since my last bookshelf post. I feel like my book shelf has changed dramatically — mostly due to the huge dent I made in my review TBR pile: Lighting Their Fires, Prince Harming Syndrome, and The Recipe Club. Plus, after my Thanksgiving at the Inn Giveway, I lost TWO more books. It's been a crazy couple weeks.
• Here is my bookshelf as a whole
• Notice my green journal, "A Death for Beauty," Ipod, alarm clock, Purell, and fan on top? First shelf is my Harry Potter books for class

• 

  Second shelf is divided: the left side is Review/Recreational Reads and the left side is dedicated towards textbooks. Notice I only have two more Review Reads (as of write now) — very excited! I feel like I'm making progress!

• The final shelf is, apart from the curlers, what I have read and need to take home to 'clear' my shelves. Although, the two massive books are literature unit books for my educational methods class. I won't be taking those home, and will, in fact, be quite glad to return them to the library soon.

  

• 
  

Over at Reading with Tequila, book bloggers have compiled a list of book blogger recommendations. When I say a list — I mean a LIST! It's 266 books long! The list was compiled by 34 book bloggers and the ranking order "was painstakingly compiled factoring in how high the book was ranked on each bloggers personal list as well as how many bloggers mentioned the book." From this list there will subsequently be a Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge for 2012.

Of the 266 favorites listed — I have read 34 (a measly 14%). For the most part I agree with the standings of the list, although my personal top five would be different. But most of my favorite books are listed — the only one left out that I notice right now is "The Goddess Test" by Aimee Carter.

I think it's important to realize that as book bloggers we look at books different than the "average" reader because we read more than the "average" reader. Our comparisons between books are more vast. We also are in the "know" of good writing versus bad and all of the drama that exists in the publishing/reading/blogging world. I am, of course, alluding to "Twilight."

On this list "Twilight" is listed as # 266. Despite the "bad writing," I would have personally listed "Twilight" much higher on the list simply because I really did enjoy it as a guilty-pleasure read.

What about you? How do you fare according to the list compiled? I see tons of books on my TBR that apparently need to be moved up.:)

Thanks to those book bloggers who have compiled The List:

Em @ A Beautiful Madness
Marce @ Tea Time with Marce
Melissa @ Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
Sarah @ Sarah Reads Too Much
Jessica @ Book Bound
Alita @ alita.reads.
Riv Re @ Riv Reads
Fiona @ The Book Coop
Ivy Pittman @ Visible Woman Online
The Keeper @ Tales from the Crypt
Creative Mind @ Creative Mind
Jennifer @ Reading with Tequila
Belle @ Belle's Bookshelf
Shannon @ Books Devoured
Suey @ It's All About Books
Jennifer @ Jenaissance
Ash @ Typing Tiara
Amanda @ The Vintage Bookworm
Nulaane @ Katzenjammer
Hilde @ The Turn of the Page
Amy @ Bookzilla
Heather @ Proud Book Nerd
Jennifer @ Fictitious Musings
Penelope Lolohea @ The Reading Fever
Nancy O'Berry @ Romancing the Blog
Samantha @ Paper Cuts
Sana Deen @ Book Sisterhood
Jenn Baker @ PonyTails Book Reviews
Kristie J @ Kristie J
Michelle @ Realizing my Dreams & More
The Book Vixen @ The Book Vixen
Scribacchina @ Parole/Words
Rae Reads @ The Novel Nymph
Janina @ Synchronized Reading

"It definitely had it's "oh" moment... I just couldn't stop the gasp of air or the look on my face." — Miss Remmers

From Amazon.com...

"Loyalty, loss, and the ties that bind. These are the ingredients of The Recipe Club, a "novel cookbook" that combines an authentic story of friendship with more than 80 delicious recipes.
Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic—and surprisingly ambitious— struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true. In childhood, "LillyPad" and "ValPal" form an exclusive two-person club, writing intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets—and recipes, from Lilly's "Lovelorn Lasagna" to Valerie's "Forgiveness Tapenade." Readers can cook along as the friends travel through time facing the challenges of independence, the joys and heartbreaks of first love, and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred. The Recipe Club sustains Lilly and Val's bond through the decades, regardless of what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart... until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal. Now, years later, while trying to recapture the trust they've lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more—only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer?" This book, again, was different than any book I've read due to the unique set up. I read this book in less than 24 hours and I enjoyed it. The first couple 'emails' between Lilly and Val definitely caught my attention and interest — making this a book I couldn't put down for long. I also loved the recipes — and I will probably need to make a few of these.. I loved reading the letters between the two girls as they grew up and learning about them.

It did get a little confusing, I found myself forgetting to look at who wrote what and when it was written — it wasn't until halfway through the book that I decided a note card was necessary in order to tell the two girls apart and keep them separate.

It definitely had it's "oh" moment, and unfortunately I was in the Writing Center, where I tutor, waiting for my next appointment when I read this particular part and, I'll admit it, people looked. I just couldn't stop the gasp of air or the look on my face.

I will definitely be keeping this book for my classroom — it's appropriate in that it's interesting, captivating, and has enough 'spice' (PUN!) to keep readers' interests. The theme of moving on and growing apart if one that any high school girl can relate too. I think that female readers will be able to relate to the relationship between Lilly and Val. Plus, I think that students will really appreciate the recipes.

Favorite Quotes:
"How do you fix a broken heart? Maybe with ricotta cheese" (128).
"Sometimes people we love can't love us in ways that we wish to be loved. Not because we aren't worthy of that love, but for other reasons, beyond our control" (128).

This week I'd like to welcome Sheila from One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. Thank you Sheila!
*********************** From Amazon.com... "I'm marooned.
Abandoned. Left to rot in boarding school... Viola doesn't want to go to boarding school, but somehow she ends up at an all-girls school in South Bend, Indiana, far, far away from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Now Viola is stuck for a whole year in the sherbet-colored sweater capital of the world. Ick. There's no way Viola's going to survive the year—especially since she has to replace her best friend Andrew with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there. She resorts to viewing the world (and hiding) behind the lens of her video camera. Boarding school, though, and her roommates and even the Midwest are nothing like she thought they would be, and soon Viola realizes she may be in for the most incredible year of her life. But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in."
OMG! LOL! Really and truly I adored this book! I enjoyed this book from the first sentence, “YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO BE ME.” I loved the dramatic voice of our fourteen year old Viola. I remember those days when the world was going to end because things did not go the way you wanted. Life was so…. intense. So here I am deeply engrossed in a book all about Viola and her wonderful BFFAA (Best Friend Forever And Always) Andrew, her three new roommates in boarding school who seen to have already pegged her from hour one, and the possibility of a new relationship with a boy who’s love is calculated by the number of IM’s, and texts, four kisses, one hand holding, one date, one cookie and one book.
Ahhhh… first love. ♥

Tie all that in a hip and happening Grandma (Grand) who has a back ground in acting, two adoring but at this time anyway distant parents… and you have the making of one great read.
I have to thank Jennifer at BookClubGirl who introduced me to this book and then sent me a copy to read and be part of the live chat with the author Adriana Trigiani on Wednesday of this past week. I didn’t get to say a lot during the live chat as I had to run Chance to Youth Group in the middle of it but it was fun to participate and see the conversation roll out.
A great YA…. I applaud Adriana Trigiani for this youthful book and I plan on looking into more of what she has written.
*********************** Thank you so much Sheila for such an awesome review! Check out Sheila's original review here! Please stop by and visit Sheila and share some book love! Thank you!

"While a bit of a let down after "Need," "Captivate" surpasses it's predecessor in regards to plot and with an added "drool-worthy" male protagonist (or antagonist)." — Miss Remmers

Book Description:

"Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town.

A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure — despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life — and his."

Why I read this: I enjoyed the first novel in the series, "Need, " and wanted to continue with it.

Plot: I much more enjoyed the plot of "Captivate" than the plot of "Need." With "Need" I felt left out of the loop, constantly curious about what I had missed. "Captivate" was just as fast paced and captivating (no pun intended), but I didn't feel lost in all the mystery. I still love the idea of evil pixies, but I'm not even more in love GOOD pixies! I'm definitely Team Astley (if there were such a team).

Characters: If you look at my review of "Need, " you'll notice a significant decrease in my love (or lack there of) for these two books. "Need," despite the overly mysterious plot, was fantastic. "Captivate," at times, made me cringe and I feel like a lot of it has to do with characters and dialogue. The dialogue felt forced, overly dramatic and self-righteous; I really struggled with the tone and voice of this novel. To me, because it sounded so forced, it sounded fake and weak when the characters were meant to be real and strong. The monologues of self-righteousness just killed me as well as the monologues filled with Buffy pop-culture. While the plot line of Buffy and these novels are extremely similar, I would have never recognized it without the character constantly bringing it up. Now that I'm aware of the similarities it is all I can think of.

All is not lost, however, because of the fantastic character that is Astley. He is the reason I will continue to read this series. Fantastically mysterious and potentially dangerous at the same time, I can't wait to find out what happens next (and I pray that Zara doesn't break his heart)!

Cover: Again, isn't this cover fantastic!!

Random Thoughts: I think I covered most of my random thoughts about dialogue and monologues when talking about characters.

Final Thoughts: While a bit of a let down after "Need," "Captivate" surpasses it's predecessor in regards to plot and with an added "drool-worthy" male protagonist (or antagonist).

Originality: 10/10
Ending: 8/10
Characters: 5/10
Plot: 10/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 8/10
Theme: 10/10
Imagery: 10/10
Setting: 5/5
Voice: 3/5
Style: 3/5
Tone: 3/5
Cover: 10/10 (I LOVED this cover!)
Overall: 85/100 B

To the FTC, with love: Bought

The third NEED novel, Entice, will be released on December 14th, 2010.

In case you missed my big Twitter Announcement, last Saturday I got ENGAGED!! Dan and I went to a corn maze in Harrisburg, SD; about half way through, while I was navigating and looking at the map, Dan dropped to the ground (I thought he fainted) and pulled out the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen and asked me to marry him. I obviously said yes and cried like a girl.

We've set the date for June 10th, 2011 in Bismarck, ND. I am so very happy and excited for the next eight months or so. I am very thankful for the out-pour of "Congrats" that we received via Twitter — it's great to feel so loved! Stay tuned for the juicy details (you know I won't be able to keep the drama a secret! just kidding!).

The very spot! Moments after the proposal!

No Spoilers!

"It's a bit hard to review such a talked about book. I don't have really anything to add besides: AMAZING!" — Miss Remmers

From Amazon.com...

"Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12."

It's a bit hard to review such a talked about book. I don't have really anything to add besides: AMAZING!

Why I read this: This is clearly obvious. The Hunger Games was fantastic. Period.

Plot: Fast-paced and captivating, Mockingjay did not disappoint. While the ending was a bit abrupt and not as romantically enhanced as I would have preferred, it kept my interest. The ending plot line was absolutely fantastic and heartbreaking at the same time, but it was the perfect ending (except romantically...) .

Characters: The beloved characters of The Hunger Games are still the same beloved characters, sort of. I found Katniss to be less self-centered and whiny and then there's... well, you know. At first this dramatic character change upset me, but now that I've had time to think about it, I realize it made the story that much more intense. I did feel a lack of character connection throughout the novel, even in the Epilogue. This made me sad simply because I needed that connection as closure. But, who am I?

Cover: Perfect for the story. I love it!

Random Thoughts: Absolutely a fantastic read! Thank goodness it was "Recreational Reading" day in all of my classes! What a great invention! Without giving anything away, I'm just going to say: TEAM PEETA!

Final Thoughts: Highly recommended (obviously)! I can't wait to talk about this book with my students who read it in the future!

Originality: 10/10
Ending: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Plot: 10/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 10/10
Theme: 10/10
Imagery: 10/10
Setting: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Style: 5/5
Tone: 5/5
Cover: 10/10
Overall: 97/100 A

To the FTC, with love: Library Loan

Comments, of course, are always appreciated. But please remember not everyone has read the book yet; I don't want to indirectly be responsible for spoilers being leaked to unexpecting students/readers. Please be "spoiler conscious."

This week I'd like to welcome Sharon from Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews as this week's Guest Reviewer! Sharon is so enthusiastic about my mission that I've decided to post this review on a completely random day — my birthday! Most Guest Reviews are on Wednesdays, but it is my birthday — so I figure I can do whatever I want (right?).

*******************

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte — Syrie James

From Amazon.com...

" "I have written about the joys of love. I have, in my secret heart, long dreamt of an intimate connection with a man; every Jane, I believe, deserves her Rochester."

Thank you SO much to Sharon from Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews. I've been meaning to read this and it sounds so great! Thank you for your enthusiasm and for spreading the word, to all of my past and future Guest Reviewers, I'm so glad I'm not in this fight alone. Make sure to stop by to visit Sharon and share some book love!

If you're interested in fighting the good fight — find out how here.