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weekend read: I Am Found (+ a giveaway)

A few years ago, my friend Laura wrote a Bible study and then led women at our church through it. I attended the Wednesday night Bible study and had my butt kicked in a very real way through the Holy Spirit and Laura’s teaching.

It was so powerful and moving that last year, Moody Publishing picked up this awesome study…and last week the book officially launched! I am so excited to be sharing it with you today, because I truly think it will change the way you’re living.

I Am Found

I Am Found by Laura Dingman is about quitting the game of hide and seek with God and others. It’s about breaking free of the shame that keeps so many of us from living the lives that God intended. It’s about walking in truth and learning how to rest in His grace no matter what our doubts whisper to us.

If you feel like too much of your life is spent hiding who you are from God and others, this study is for you. Get a group of women together, start a Bible study at your church, suggest it at your book club–I Am Found by Laura Dingman will shake up your life in the best way.

I’m so excited about this study, I’d love to give someone a copy of it. Leave a comment and your email address below if you’re interested, and I’ll randomly select a winner on July 26th. (Also, not to brag, but YOURS TRULY wrote one of the endorsements inside the book, so if you’ve always wanted a book with my name in it, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE.)

LOVE TALKING ABOUT BOOKS? ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK TO READ? WANT TO KNOW WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING? FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT DEDICATED TO ALL THINGS BOOK-RELATED: @THEMARYGRAHAMREADS.
DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MINE.

weekend read: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (+ a giveaway)

I first reviewed this book in February 2014 and LOVED it. Quirk Books, the publisher, is celebrating the five year anniversary of its release and have sent a really cool Miss Peregrine tote bag to give to one of my readers in honor of the anniversary (and the upcoming movie that releases in October). Here’s my original review and, at the bottom, you can leave a comment to be included in the drawing:

I’d seen this book in bookstores and on book fair tables for a while, but whenever I picked it up or thought about buying it, I’d end up putting it down. I just couldn’t decide if I wanted to read it or not. So when I found it in the school library before Christmas break, I grabbed it thinking it wouldn’t hurt to start it.

It took me a while to get into Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I didn’t immediately feel connected to this odd story of kids that do magical things, stories from an old grandfather everyone thought was a little off, and pages filled with weird vintage pictures. I just couldn’t get a feel for it in the beginning.

But I kept on, thinking it must be good because I was starting to pay attention when people talked about it and was hearing that it was well-loved.

And then one day, it clicked: I couldn’t put it down, couldn’t believe what was happening, and couldn’t take, on the last page, when it was over.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children centers on Jacob, a sixteen-year-old only child, who has grown up hearing stories from his Jewish grandfather about the time he spent living in a children’s home during World War II. His family had sent him there for safety and, when the war was over, he didn’t have a family to return to so he came to America and started over. The stories he would tell his grandson were accompanied by pictures as proof of the wild tails about boys who were full of bees and a girl with two mouths. But as Jacob got older, he became cynical, believing more and more that these were just Photoshopped pictures his grandfather used to rationalize his made-up stories.

Miss-Peregrines-Home-for-Peculiar-Children-m

Soon after, the pictures went away and Grandpa stopped sharing the stories. Years later, Jacob witnesses his grandfather’s death in the woods by, what officials declare are wild dogs, but Jacob knows it was something else. This claim prompts his parents to send him to a local psychologist to help Jacob with his post-traumatic stress.

While in his recovery, the shrink suggests Jacob travel to the home where his grandfather says he lived and do some investigating. Let Jacob learn that they were just stories and it will help him recover, the doctor says.

So Jacob and his dad take off. And what Jacob learns about his grandfather, his stories, and those pictures changes everything. And now Jacob can never go back.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is historical fantasy where real world events collide with magical tales. If you love when authors take inspiration for history to help them create stories, this book is for you. It was definitely out of my normal realm of reading, but I’m so very glad I read it. At times, I felt I was reading the first draft of a really good, visually stunning movie script. Not that it was rough and unedited, but that the imagery was so well-written and would play out so well on the big screen that it would be a travesty not to make it into a movie. (This coming from someone who normally hates when they turn a book into a movie…)

I didn’t realize until I neared the end that this book isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of a trilogy and the second one is already out (edit: called Hollow City–which I’ve now read and it’s just as good!). So I’ll be on the lookout for that one now. Because I have to know how this ends, it’s too important to leave things unsettled.

Have you read this one before? What did you think? And what about Jacob and Emma?? Did that weird you out a little bit?

Want to win a Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children tote bag to rock this summer and carry to the movie in October? Leave a comment below telling me why you loved the book or why you’d like to read it! I’ll randomly select a winner on  July 26th so make sure you leave your email address.

LOVE TALKING ABOUT BOOKS? ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK TO READ? WANT TO KNOW WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING? FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT DEDICATED TO ALL THINGS BOOK-RELATED: @THEMARYGRAHAMREADS.
DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.

weekend read: Dark Rising + a giveaway

Angels, humans, fallen angels, world travel, Biblical prophecy, romance, and lots of action is what awaits you in Dark Rising by Monica McGurk. It’s the second book in her Dark Hope series and even better than the first one.

Dark Rising by Monica McGurk

In Dark Hope, readers are left hanging on so many levels and Dark Rising picks up right in the thick of it, not missing a beat. This second book answers a lot of the questions that surfaced in the first book but so many new conflicts pop up that you wonder if anyone is going to survive. Like I shared with my Dark Hope review, this isn’t a genre I’m normally drawn to, but I couldn’t stop reading. I want you to read this series so I don’t want to explain too much (especially if you haven’t read the first one yet), but Dark Rising is rich in travel descriptions, old European churches, and full of action. The reader can’t help but be bitten by the travel bug as you read. With the mysteries that Hope, Michael, and their unlikely band of angels are trying to solve, I would compare a lot of this book to the great historical mysteries that Dan Brown writes, full of hidden signs, secrets to decode, and ancient artifacts. Throw in all of that goodness with a side of romance (always my favorite part) and Dark Rising by Monica McGurk is exciting, enthralling, and makes me super antsy for the last book.

I might have sent McGurk some threatening tweets about the ending of this one and plot suggestions for the third book because I’m in too deep and need a happy ending. She assured me that her final plot decisions have been run by her teenage daughter and they were approved. No pressure, McGurk, but this better end well.

Just kidding.

Sorta.

Okay, so here’s the best part (besides the awesome book), I get to give copy of Dark Rising to a lucky reader. Enter below using Rafflecopter and I’ll send one of you a signed copy courtesy of McGurk. How awesome is that? Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MINE.

 

LOVE TALKING ABOUT BOOKS? ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK TO READ? WANT TO KNOW WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING? FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT DEDICATED TO ALL THINGS BOOK-RELATED: @THEMARYGRAHAMREADS.

 

weekend read: Slaying the Debt Dragon

There’s just something about reading about other people’s finances, budgets, and debt-elimination plans that gets me going. I don’t know if it’s because money is something that many people don’t like to talk about or what, but I love hearing other’s money stories. I find them encouraging and I always learn something new.

Slaying the Debt Dragon by Cherie Lowe

So when I read Slaying the Debt Dragon by Cherie Lowe and heard her family’s story of getting rid of over $127,000 in debt, I was geeked the whole time. Lowe shares her mess, her faith, and her God-honoring plan that helped get her family from overwhelming debt to debt free. She’s upfront about this journey being hard, really hard, but something that can be done. And Lowe’s book is full of ideas and tips that help you get there. She’s encouraging, real, and funny, all things I appreciate in a writer.

As we prepare to start 2015, it’s easy to think about fresh starts and big goals. Why not decide to get a handle on your finances in 2015 also? Slaying the Debt Dragon by Cherie Lowe would be a great first step.

Bonus! I’m giving away a copy of Slaying the Debt Dragon because I loved it so much and I just know you will too. Comment below with one finance-related goal you have for 2015 and I’ll announce the winner next week. Good luck!

 

DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MINE.

12 Days of Trusty Chucks Christmas

Everybody get their Christmas shopping done this weekend??

Eh, me neither. Give me a few more weeks and I’ll get there. Mostly. Hopefully.

But in the mean time, I want to say thanks. Thanks for reading, thanks for coming here, thanks for sharing things that resonate with you. I know Thanksgiving was last week so I don’t have to be thankful for anything until next November, but I just wanted you to know I appreciate you.

12 Days of Trusty Chucks Christmas 2

So as a thank-you, I’m kicking off December with the 12 days of Trusty Chucks Christmas. You don’t have to share anything, go like a page, or send me your firstborn child (although, I’m thinking about adding mine to the giveaway…), all you have to do is do what you always do and I’ll share a giveaway wherever you’re at. So if you follow me on Twitter, I’ll be giving some stuff away there during the twelve days. If you subscribe by email, I’ll have a few special giveaways for you. If you follow me on Instagram, I’ll show you some love too.

This isn’t a ploy for more followers or readers, I just want to thank those I already have so I’m giving away some of my favorite things like books, DVDs, chocolate, running supplies, chocolate, Starbucks, music, and more. Also, chocolate.

I just want to send some of you presents for Christmas and this is the best I could come up with because Chris wouldn’t let me cash in our retirement account. Sorry guys, I tried. There are no sponsors involved or super-secret advertising, I just want to share some of the things I write about all the time as a thank-you for being a part of this community.

So here’s the first giveaway: one of my favorite books to teach and some delicious chocolate. If you haven’t read The Giver, you need to immediately. It’s a pretty easy read, but the topics are tough to wrestle through and the conversations that we have in class about this book always teach me something new. The movie came out this year, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’m a little afraid to, truthfully. Sometimes the movie just isn’t worth it.

Comment below with whatever you want to write and I’ll choose a winner later tonight. Good luck and thanks for reading!

12 days of Trusty Chucks Christmas day one

The Influence Conference giveaway!

Influence conf pic
via
TWO lucky readers will win a ticket to the 2015 Influence Conference. The conference is a three day event held in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Westin Hotel. You will meet women from all over the country who are seeking to learn the right tools for their passions. There will be workshops, classes, speakers, coffee, & shopping. There will be bloggers, mothers, small business owners, writers, and the list goes on & on.

Two Places At Once     //     What She Saw     //     Rivers & Roads

Oaks & Oats     //     Amy Cornwell     //     Simplicity Relished

Rachel Rewritten     //     Trusty Chucks     //     Wear Flowers In Your Hair

She Lives Free    //     Elah Tree     //     Mandy Living Life

 

Vallarina Creative     //     Camp Patton     //     23 and 9 Creative
Ann Swindell     //     Heavens to Betsy    //     A Beautiful Exchange

Wetherills Say I Do      //     Oh Simple Thoughts     //     Frankly My Dear
You do not have to be a member of the Influence Network to enter the giveaway OR to go the conference but I can personally attest to the growth I have seen in my life through the network and the relationships I have built through it.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
**Please note that this giveaway is in no way sponsored by The Influence Network. We are a group of independent women who are joining together to make this conference happen for two of our readers. The two recipients will only receive tickets to the event & are responsible for ALL other expenses, including but not limited to travel, lodging, meals, parking, etc. If for some reason either of the winners cannot attend the conference they will be expected to contact one of the hosts immediately so that another winner can be chosen.

weekend read: Dark Hope

Can we talk about how I keep getting pushed out of my reading comfort zone and I’m loving it? Take Dark Hope by Monica McGurk for example. It’s got angels and prophesies, sex-trafficked kids and Asian mafias, all things I wouldn’t normally be drawn to, but once I got into this book, I was hooked.

Dark Hope is the first in a trilogy (and we know how much I love a trilogy!) about Hope, a teenage girl who has lived an extremely sheltered life. It all started when Hope was younger and was kidnapped while at the local playground with her father. Thankfully Hope was rescued a few days later but her father never fully recovered from the incident he felt was his fault since it happened while she was at the playground with him.

Dark Hope by Monica McGurk  

Fast-forward a decade and Hope’s parents have separated (although never divorced) and have been living a part for years. Hope lives with her overly-religious father who can’t hold down a job because he’s too focused on keeping his daughter safe, training her for survival in case she goes missing again, and cramming her head full of Bible verses.

Finally at fifteen, Hope makes a request to the judge to move in with her mother and her mom welcomes her home with open arms. Hope immediately enrolls in public school, starts making a few friends, and enjoys the freedom that was unheard of while living with her father. One friend Hope makes, Michael, seems to be almost angelic in his appearance and demeanor. And he only has eyes for Hope in a way that could either be super-romantic or super-creepy.

As Hope gets to know Michael better, she learns secrets that make her past come back clearer and brighter than ever before. And as Michael reveals his true self to her, she has to decide what to believe about God, angels, good versus evil, and how to stand up for those that don’t have a voice.

It took me a little longer than normal to get feel connected to the characters and to care about them, but once I did, I couldn’t put Dark Hope by Monica McGurk down. I read it during class, I read it sitting in my car in the driveway at my house, and I read it late into the night until it was finished. And there’s a love story that’s pretty hot in an unconventional way that kept me pretty entertained. I loved that every time I picked up the book, another plot twist was waiting for me. It made putting it down, especially near the end, really hard.

And here’s the great news! I have a copy to giveaway to a lucky reader! If you or someone you know loves young adult novels or is looking for a new trilogy to obsess over, this would be the one!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

slowing down for a moment // and a giveaway!

coffeemate natural blisscoffeemate natural bliss 0

Recently I saw a quote about how we need to stop glorifying busy. It stuck with me. I like to say this season is busy, this week is busy, this month is busy. But really, it’s only as busy as I make it. I control my schedule. I make plans. I say yes. I don’t say no enough.

So when we get a weekend where nothing is planned, nothing is scheduled, I drink it up. We stay in pajamas all day, eat breakfast late, and dinner early. I nap with my toddler. We watch Christmas shows on Netflix and leave mess clean-up for another day.

coffeemate natural bliss 1 coffeemate natural bliss 2

I ignore a desk piled with unopened mail and take pictures of my dirty dishes.

This weekend was full of laziness. It felt great to take a break from December’s crazy and just slow down. I got to sit and drink a cup of hot coffee made delicious with Coffee-mate’s Natural Bliss Sweet Cream. I didn’t abandon it halfway through because I got distracted or too busy. I just sat and sipped while I watched a reindeer movie with my girls.

coffeemate natural bliss 3

Slowing down is something I have to do with intention. My friend Mindy apologized this week for not sending a Christmas card to us, but, she explained, it’s part of her goal to simplify and she just couldn’t doing it this year. I thought that sounded bold and wonderful and there was no reason to apologize.

It’s nice to sit and not have anywhere to go. Just being home is what I want right now. And  enjoying a cup of coffee with Coffee-mate Natural Bliss makes that time home just a little bit sweeter. Made with only four ingredients, it brings simple pleasures with every cup. Which is what I want from life right now: simple, easy, happy moments. And to help spread the everyday, happy moments, Coffee-mate Natural Bliss is giving one lucky reader a prize pack that includes things to help you slow down and celebrate: a coffee tumbler, scented candle, biscotti cookies, a $5 Target gift card, and a Coffee-mate Natural Bliss coupon. This prize will help you recover nicely after the Christmas chaos and constant running around when it will be nice just to sit and relax.

Enter below using Rafflecopter and good luck!

If you can’t wait to win the prize pack, head to Facebook and like Coffee-mate for an instant coupon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MINE.

Merry Giveaway // win a Visa gift card!

Truth: every December rolls around and I’m not as prepared as I planned to be. All year we put a little money back for Christmas shopping, but then it’s never as much as I want it to be and I always wish we were better about putting away money in our Santa account at the bank. Anyone else feel me on that one?

So, in the spirit of Christmas and blessing others, some of my favorite people (who just happen to be bloggers) have come together to spread a little cheer. Because whether you need a little extra to cover presents this year or you want to help another family in need, a little extra spending money around the holidays is never a bad thing.

Good luck, friends!

The Lily Field // Life on a Mission // Trusty Chucks // Mercy Ink // Teressa Jane

Waiting with Joy // Unfading Grace // Sweet Home Santa Barbara // Heather Boersma // See You There

a Rafflecopter giveaway

open to U.S. / Canada residents ONLY // giveaway dates: December 2nd – 8th, 2013 //
winner will be notified no later than Tuesday, December 10th and will have 72 hours
to claim prize – failure to do so will result in forfeiture and a new winner will be chosen //
TWO winners will receive $100 Visa gift cards // this giveaway is NOT sponsored by VISA //
best of luck!

Happy Meal Books and a McDonald’s Giveaway

In a perfect world where I didn’t have to work and food didn’t make me gain weight, I’d spend my days sitting in bed reading books and eating McDonald’s French fries. Throw in a Diet Coke (large in a foam cup, please and thank you) and I would never leave.

I’m still working out the kinks on that dream, but until then I’ll just have to survive on McDonald’s Happy Meals and the super-cute books they’re putting in there for the next few weeks. McDonald’s is all about celebrating family and reading so between now and November 14th, children (or adults, ahem) who order Happy Meals will be able to enjoy one of four brand-new books that focus on eating right and healthy choices. We were there this weekend and got two copies of Ant, Can’t. It’s a big hit with my girls.

mcdonaldsbookcollage

To go along with the Happy Meal Books, McDonald’s of Central Indiana is leading the “Give a Book, Get a Book” campaign. Drop off a new or gently used children’s book at one of the locations listed below and in exchange you’ll receive a Be Our Guest card good for one free Happy Meal.

Book Donation Sites: Hussey-Mayfield Public Library (Zionsville), Attica Public Library, Elwood Public Library, Barton Rees Pogue Memorial Library (Upland), Brownstown Public Library, Indy Reads (downtown Indy), and the Ronald McDonald House (435 Limestone St.). Additional sites are being added daily so be sure to check out the updated list here.

ENTER DESCRIPTION - INCLUDE OFFER INFORMATION IF AVAILABLE

Happy Meals and books. Throw in a Diet Coke and perhaps an Oreo McFlurry and my week would be made. In celebration of Happy Meal Books and all the “Give a Book, Get a Book” campaign goodness, McDonalds is giving one lucky reader a week’s worth of Happy Meal coupons, a $10 Amazon gift card, and a copy of a Happy Meal book.

So until I can figure out the whole no-working-and-eating-French-fries-all-day thing, why don’t you go ahead and grab a Happy Meal, read to a kid (any will do), donate some books, and win a little something for your efforts. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE: THIS IS A SPONSORED POST BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE MINE.

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