Nicole's

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The 16-year-old me would kick my ass right now

October 4, 2013 confessions, Photography, thankful thursdays

In March, I scaled back on my blogging because other life priorities began stressing me out. I started my own business, which has consumed my nights, weekends. We started a garden, which meant canning/preserving/watering consistently. I took on a new role within my day job that offers a great portfolio and a higher degree of stress. I continue to write, edit and tweak my historical fiction. I volunteer with the Oregon Christian Writers and dedicate many hours a week to the cause. Family is still, and always will be, my number one priority that goes before all of these. These things have prevented me (now and over the past five...

Book Review: Code Name Verity

October 3, 2013 Book Reviews

Looking for a different kind of YA novel? Here you go. I couldn’t put this novel down. The characters drew me in. The premise fascinated me. It is a book that cannot be described so much as experienced. The plot will stay with you. You might even need a box of tissues close by. Don’t expect to get much done whenever you settle down with this one. Check it out.

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Book Review: On Distant Shores

October 1, 2013 Book Reviews, confessions

Description: Lt. Georgiana Taylor has everything she could want. A comfortable boyfriend back home, a loving family, and a challenging job as a flight nurse. But in July 1943, Georgie’s cozy life gets decidedly more complicated when she meets pharmacist Sgt. John Hutchinson. Hutch resents the lack of respect he gets as a noncommissioned serviceman and hates how the war keeps him from his fiancée. While Georgie and Hutch share a love of the starry night skies over Sicily, their lives back home are falling apart. Can they weather the hurt and betrayal? Or will the pressures of war destroy the fragile connection they’ve made?   My review: Sarah Sundin...

Book Review: The Lady of Milkweed Manor

September 26, 2013 Book Reviews

Description: Even a proper vicar’s daughter can make a mistake…and now Charlotte Lamb must pay a high price for her fall. To avoid the prying eyes of all who know her, she hides herself away in London’s forbidding “Milkweed Manor,” a place of mystery and lore, of old secrets and new birth. But once there, she comes face to face with a suitor from her past–a man who now hides secrets of his own. Both are determined, with God’s help, to protect those they love. But neither can imagine the depth of sacrifice that will be required. Sprinkled with fascinating details about the lives of women in Regency England, Lady of...

Book Review: The Invisible Girls

September 24, 2013 Book Reviews, confessions

I had the pleasure of hearing Sarah Thebarge speak at the Writer’s Connection meeting recently, and I picked up a copy of her book, “The Invisible Girls.” If her stories at the meeting weren’t enough to stir my soul, her book drove me to near tears. Amazon’s description:  Twenty-seven-year-old Sarah Thebarge had it all – a loving boyfriend, an Ivy League degree, and a successful career – when her life was derailed by an unthinkable diagnosis: aggressive breast cancer. After surviving the grueling treatments – though just barely – Sarah moved to Portland, Oregon to start over. There, a chance encounter with an exhausted African mother and her daughters transformed...