Scripture and a Snapshot - February 14, 2015

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Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. it does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Three things will last forever -- faith, hope, and love -- and the greatest of these is love.

~I Corinthians 13:4-7; 13 ~

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.
The Weekend Brew is hosted by My Freshly Brewed Life.

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesdays - February 10, 2015

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

"Is she dead?"

Eliza was having the loveliest dream regarding a dashing hero who just happened to look exactly like Hamilton, but it seemed somewhat odd to have that particular question interrupt it.

~A Change of Fortune by Jen Turano, 30% on my Kindle

Shopping with Mother was difficult. Shopping with Margret and Mother was taxing. But shopping with Julie and Margret and Mother would be nearly unbearable. She steeled herself to endure the day.

~Where Trust Lies by Jeannette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan, 9% on my Kindle

Although I'd already gotten to 'know' Beth (the "she" in the quote from Where Trust Lies) by the time I read this far, I found it entertaining to meet up with a young lady who had to steel herself to endure a day of shopping for clothes!

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Scripture and a Snapshot - February 8, 2015

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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

~I Thessalonians 5:16-18~

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.
The Weekend Brew is hosted by My Freshly Brewed Life.

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Reads - The Dancing Master

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The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen - Alec Valcourt moves his mother and sister to a village in Devonshire, hoping to be able to support them as a dancing and fencing master. To his surprise, there is an unwritten law that prohibits all dancing, an edict from Lady Amelia Midwinter in response to some painful event in her past. Lady Midwinter hires Alec as a clerk on her estate, however, and he develops a friendship with her daughter, Julia. Julia seems reckless and flirtatious, and the attraction between the two is quite obvious, but Alec realizes that it's unlikely that he would ever receive permission to court her. Julia's relationship with her mother becomes more strained as she tries to understand what secrets from the past are still driving Lady Midwinter to view dancing masters with such disdain, and as she starts to unravel secrets about her own past as well. She also wonders what is hidden in Alec's past, since he avoids giving information about his life in London and why he left.

The theme of past secrets and shame intruding upon the present is woven throughout the storyline. Each of the three main characters (Alec, Julia, and Lady Amelia) have something in their past that haunts them and affects them deeply. Alec is an easy character to like and sympathize with, although one wonders at times why he is so enamored of Julia. Her behavior is spoiled, petulant, and self-centered a great deal of the time, but as I got to know her I sympathized with her more. Lady Amelia is definitely not a likeable woman at the beginning of the book either. There are several twists and turns as the mysteries and secrets of the past are uncovered bit by bit.

Overall, this was a wonderful and unusual story. It's rather different from many of this type in that so much of the story is told from Alec's viewpoint, and that Lady Amelia is a major character rather than a secondary one. This was the first Julie Klassen novel that I've read, but I know I shall be looking to read more from her!

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Reads - Where Courage Calls

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Where Courage Calls (Return to the Canadian West) (Volume 1) by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan - I have been a loyal reader of Janette Oke's books for ever so many years, and especially enjoyed the Canadian West series, which followed Elizabeth Thatcher's adventures as she became a schoolteacher in frontier Alberta and eventually married the RCMP officer she met there. So when I caught sight of a new book by Oke and her daughter that carries on the series, I bought it immediately.

Beth Thatcher is about to leave her beautiful Toronto home to become a schoolteacher in the little mining town of Coal Valley, Alberta. In many ways she is following in the footsteps of her relative and namesake, Elizabeth. The conditions in Coal Valley shock her at first - there is no school building, and there are very few of the amenities she is accustomed to. The children have had very little education, and most of them lost their fathers in a recent mining accident. The widows have little and are largely at the mercy of the mining company, but have banded together to provide their children with an education. Beth comes to love the people and think of the town as her home. She also finds that her affections are somewhat torn between Edward, the young man who is a family friend and has come west as an RCMP officer, and Jack, the Mountie who often visits Coal Valley in the course of his duties. When her year contract is up, she will have to make some difficult decisions about whether she wants to return, and which man will win her heart.

As in the previous books of the series, I loved reading about places that are familiar to me, being from southern Alberta. The story-telling takes a gentle pace, and explores Beth's thoughts and feelings as she adjusts to life on her own in a much different world than the one that she grew up in. For much of the book, the focus is on the relationships within the mining town and Beth's interactions with the people, but the possibility of romance is an undercurrent. There are a couple of surprise twists in the story that add some suspense, and I must admit that I really didn't know which of the two Mounties Beth would choose if she had the opportunity - not until the outcome was revealed!

I'm now eager to get through the next book and find out what happens next!

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesdays - February 3, 2015

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

 I finished Ticker by Lisa Mantchev a couple days ago - my review is coming soon!

"My dearest Miss Farthing, will you do me the unutterable honor of wearing this cheap bit of metal that will most likely turn your finger green, pretending to love and honor me as your husband for the purposes of subterfuge and strategem?"
"My hearts and stars, that will go down in the history books as the most romantic business proposition of the century, I am certain." Still my Ticker thudded in its new, horrible way as Marcus slid the ring onto my finger.

~Ticker by Lisa Mantchev, 68% on my Kindle

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Scripture and a Snapshot - January 31, 2015

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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
~Romans 5:1-5~

Scripture & a Snapshot is hosted by A Glimpse of Our Life.

The Weekend Brew is hosted by My Freshly Brewed Life.

©2008-2015 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/