Long Time Gone

I was super excited when I requested this book. I thought it would be interesting being a cowboy story… being that I’m cowgirl and all that. And, well, the plot line was great. The action was great. Everything was great except… well… I uh…

I accidentally picked up a romance novel.

Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I don’t like romance novels. A little romance on the side is just fine and dandy, but… the entire focus being falling in love? That kind of sets me off a little bit. Mostly because romance novels are too unrealistic for me and they have the weird ability for the two main characters to be immortal because of their love.

I loved Long Time Gone with everything except for the romance. I thought the romance was… um, cheesy and unreasonable. I was disappointed when Angie was helping to tend to Cole (who was very close to dying) and was admiring his brother through it all. Excuse me, Angie… do you think you could work on saving Cole before starting to fawn over Justin?

And… Justin? Maybe perhaps it’s not the best time to be thinking about how much you love Angie in the middle of a gunfight. Please, get rid of the bad guys so that they don’t kill you and your family, and then you can do all the thinkin’ you wanna.

I was also sorely disappointed Angie’s inability to stick to her morals. Justin took her home once and she said that a man and woman shouldn’t be riding alone together. That was what she believed. That is what she didn’t follow. Again, she said that she wouldn’t let herself be alone with him. Guess what happened? Okay, occasionally it couldn’t be helped. But she also could have stuck to her guns (yep, pun intended) a little more on the times when it could be helped.

Well, ya know, other than that… it was great! Like I said above, I loved the plotline, loved what happened, loved watching Angie get “countryfied”. Everything was awesomeness. There was everything that there’s supposed to be a fiction cowboy western story!

 

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my opinion. All views expressed here are my own.*

The 100 Most Encouraging Verses of the Bible

Click on the cover to see on Goodreads. Alternatively, click here to see on Bethany House or here to see on Barnes and Noble.

Normally, I don’t do the non-fiction that’s offered via the blogging programs. Yet I made an exception for Troy Schmidt’s The 100 Most Encouraging Verses of the Bible was an exception. I’m glad I made that exception too.

It was a great book to read through. If you glance through my copy, you’ll see sentences that I highlighted, little thoughts that Troy Schmidt brought up that I never thought of before or just a phrase that I need to remember throughout my daily life.

Numbers 11:23 – Once His arms are there, they won’t let go.

Isn’t that just an incredible thought?

The format of the book was great. The first thing you saw was the verse; then his thoughts laid out like a short two minutes devotional. While I don’t like the idea of “five-minute devotionals,” I think this would be a great addition to a longer devotional or a small group lesson or something.

One thing I think would make this book better is if he would have added the references to other verses pertaining to the same things. That would make it a much more indepth study. Like with the 1st verse, he talks about God’s promises. Okay, so at the end of that little devotional, add verses about God’s promises or the verses where we can find God’s promises.

Other than that, however, it was an excellent little book. I would definitely recommend it.