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Books I Read – January 2017

Published on by Amanda Tero1 Comment
The first month in 2017… and I’m nine books ahead of my reading goal of 52 books in 2017! That means… *gulp* … I’ve already read 13 books this year. Wait… *looks back* … Okay, so four of those I started in December. That just means I read 9 books this month. How in the world did I find time for that? (because seriously, January was crazy!) Well… we had two Louisiana trips, in which we had between 16-20 hours on the road. According to my log, I read/finished five books in the van. And then… this past weekend, I’ll admit: I binge-read. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Non-Fiction Books
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I picked this one up at a thrift store, recognizing the author from Lady in Waiting (my review of that one). I was not disappointed at all!! Read my full review here.
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Yep! Another Elizabeth George book. 🙂 It’s the last one I have on my bookshelf, though. :/ I greatly enjoyed this one! It seemed to be slightly more in-depth than some of her other studies. More of my thoughts here.
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Writers? This book is great. That’s the short of it. The long of it is here. Seriously, if you feel like you’re drowning in novel-writing and planning, this book has some amazing tips! I know I won’t use everything there, but there is a lot of great help!
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Short, but truly amazing! I read this in about forty-five minutes. You can see some of my favorite quotes here.
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This was a cool book! Seriously… beautifully put-together, well-organized… and clean. I mean yeah, it’s a Civil War book, there is death and prisons mentioned, but for a CW book, it was very clean. I didn’t have the exact book pictured above, as I didn’t have the CD, but just the book itself was rich in history. Yeah… I think I liked it. 😉 Review here (cause that was a rave, not a review… 😉 )
Children’s Books
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You probably saw this cute cover pop up on my blog a few weeks ago. Yeah. it was cute.
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THE VIKING QUEST SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I’m not much into fan-girling… but seriously… I have waited to read these books TEN whole years. When one of my friends texted me if I knew anything about a Christian viking series, I slammed her with, “By Lois Walfrid Johnson?!?! GET THEM!!!!” She did. 😉 And then she lent them to me, like the good friend she is. 😀 I grew up reading Lois Walfrid Johnson’s Northwood Series, and when I realized our library had The Riverboat Series (now called The Freedom Seekers series), I grabbed them up. They both had a little more boy/girl stuff than I liked, and because the kids were thirteen, I seriously rolled my eyes at them. But, there is something about Mrs. Johnson’s style that I love. Maybe it’s childhood memories. At any rate, I probably liked the viking series best… largely due to the fact that there is NOT all of the boy/girl stuff. There is a hint of romance, but mainly in the last book, and I thought it mature and well-handled.
But, for my reviews of each book, click on the titles.
Oh, and that binge-reading weekend? Yeah… *guilty grin* The Viking Quest was the culprit…
Fiction
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The reading of this book actually has a little story to go with it. I had read all of the rest of Mateer’s books 2015-2016 and when this one went on sale for Kindle last year, I grabbed it, but hadn’t found time to read it yet. Well, on one of our trips home from Louisiana, I had read all of the books I brought to read, and was just going to sleep the rest of the way home (after all, it was close to midnight). My brother who was driving home ahead of us by a few miles hit a deer on the interstate. My brother is okay, but he totaled his car. We sat on the side of the road for about an hour with Dad talking to road-side assistance. Now fully awake, I decided to look on my Kindle app and see what I had. This one had been on my to-read list for so long, I picked it to read, and finished it that night. Now that you’ve read my story of WHY I read this book, you can see my thoughts of it in my review. 😉
Coming up for the month of February… I’ve agreed to review-read two books by author friends, plus one of my friends gave me a book for Christmas I want to read… but those are all fiction. I like to balance out my reading diet, so I have a few books on writing on my shelf, and I already started reading a book on flash photography. I doubt thirteen books will be my February book-count, but with another Louisiana trip…we’ll see!

What’s on your reading shelf right now?
Did January see more books than you expected to read, or fewer?
Can you read in the car?

Flower Mug Cozy | Crochet

Published on by Amanda Tero6 Comments
Turns out I do have another craft project to share this week. 😉 I decided to try my hand at a mug cozy. I half-invented the pattern for two reasons…
1) The pattern I found was a slip-over cozy and I wanted it to tie onto a coffee mug.
2) I accidentally did the basket stitch wrong (first time… give me a slight break, okay? 😉 ). For those of you who know crochet, you’re supposed to do two rows one direction, then flip it. I flipped it after one row. 😉
So… the cozy!!!

Oh yeah, and the flower… this was the first attempt at it…
Yeah. It didn’t turn out like the pattern (I though I had the pattern saved to my crochet Pinterest board, but apparently I don’t; sorry I can’t share it!). Thankfully, this whimsical octopus-looking-flower pleased my youngest sister as a hair band. So it wasn’t a wasted practice. 😉

My second attempt went way better… It’s still not as perfect as the pattern-picture (of course), but blocking it helped some. 😉

Have you worked on any projects this week?
What color combinations do you like?

Excerpt from Slippers | Writing Update

Published on by Amanda Tero4 Comments
I’m writing again! I know that seems funny to say, because to some people, it probably looks like I write all of the time. However, I’m in the middle of a busy season — my oldest brother is getting married in less than two weeks, Lord willing! And, we are finishing out bedrooms upstairs so we can rearrange bedrooms.
Anyway, I was able to do some writing in the car over the weekend (8-hour round trip) and in that time, the Lord helped me to reach a “moving forward” point in “The Secret Slippers” rewrite. Then, I had time yesterday to actually sit down and WRITE (not just “try to get a few words as I am taking a break from something.”). I am now excitedly eager to see the end of Raoul’s journey. I have rewritten up to the point I had, but the story has to go further… I’m not 100% sure what to do there. Praying for answers! Then, I have to go through Lia’s part (which, I’m hoping and praying is just editing and tweaking, not a full rewrite like Raoul’s).
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 19… I can’t give too much, cause I don’t want to give away any important information. 😉

The wind blew in short puffs, threading its invisible fingers through Raoul’s hair as he walked through the center of town, where Jolin and Gale had agreed to meet him. Though he knew it was unlikely that Ellia was in the crowded streets, he couldn’t keep from observing each lass’ gait. They all skipped or steadily walked as they did their tasks. Which was a good thing, unless one was looking for a lass who was unable to do either.

How was your weekend? Did you get to do any projects you were looking forward to doing?

Scripture Graphics 24

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“Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God….Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:6, 8
The more we know and believe about God, His eternal power, and His everlasting rule over all, the less we will fear; the more we will be confident in Him.

There Were Six of Them…

Published on by Amanda Tero2 Comments
And these six are now making their entrance into the world via their own short story…

There were six of them…
And these six children have an important lesson to learn
when it comes to Mr. Hartly and his manor. Is he the scary
man that Rees says he is? Or will the children discover
something else as they get to know him?

Available today on Kindle

Hook, yarn…afghan!

Published on by Amanda Tero6 Comments
Okay, so now I’m just getting corny with craft post titles. 😉 If you didn’t see last week’s title, you probably won’t get it. 😉 And no, I probably won’t have a craft done for next week, but I figured that since I HAD them this week and last, I’d just as soon post them. Cause honestly, I like crafts, and in many ways,  I feel like technology is stealing us from being as creative with our hands (okay, okay, so I just need to speak for myself here…). So, if you haven’t done a hand craft in a while, why don’t you pick something up? All you need to do is a few minutes a day and before long, you’ll be holding a completed project!

When my computer crashed in November, I picked up crocheting (for the first time in probably ten years), with a simple Granny Square pattern. It gave me something to keep my hands busy when watching movies or visiting with people (yes, I usually did computer work when watching movies; no, I can’t keep still for long). Just finished it last weekend! And I think gray is my new favorite color!

What do you usually do when watching movies?
Do you do any hand crafts? If so, what kind?


Hallelujah! What a Savior | Music Video

Published on by Amanda Tero3 Comments

When I was about seven, we started going to a new church. If we had sung “Hallelujah! What a Savior” before then, I honestly don’t remember it. This was the pastor’s favorite song, so we got to know if very well. I used to play it all exuberant and loud. But when I got to reading the words…reflective is also a good style for it.

One of my favorite things about this arrangement is that it is arranged using simple timing (no eighth notes).
Information about the sheet music here.

Want Writing Help?

Published on by Amanda Tero2 Comments
If you’re like me, you’ve probably looked into a few writing conferences just dreaming…because you knew that it really wouldn’t work into your schedule (or budget) to attend one quite yet. Well! A fellow author is putting together an e-conference! That’s right… a writing conference that you can attend from your computer!

I will be participating in this conference a day or two. It won’t be until March 20-24, but let’s get excited already, can’t we? 🙂 Find our more details here.

Scripture Graphics 23

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“The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Isaiah 26:7-9
So much in these verses!
– Is my path in uprightness?
– Do I wait, keeping in the way of God’s judgments?
– Is my desire to God’s Name?
– At night, do I let my thoughts wander or turn them to Christ?
– Do I seek God early? (Early in the day, early in a decision)


Do I put as much effort in *living* Christian as I do in trying to “sound Christian?” God can see through a facade. We may deceive others into thinking we’re pleasing God, but He knows our heart and motives.
Do I search God’s Word (daily!) for myself to see His standard for fear and honor? Or do I apply rules that man has set because it “sounds good for a Christian to do that?”


This was spoken to Israel, but it also applies to us. We tend to think if God answers “no” or “wait” to our prayers that maybe He didn’t hear, or maybe we didn’t pray hard enough or use the right words, or He didn’t understand our request. But it easily could be that God is waiting because He is being merciful and gracious to us.


Instructions for all people: praise God. Instructions for older generations: make known God’s truths. If these two pillars crumble, society will crumble. Which begs the questions: Am I actively praising God? And, even though I’m not a parent, am I making God’s truths known to others?


“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour….I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isaiah 43:11, 25
What comforting words: “I, even I.” Isaiah has several beautiful promises attached to “I, even I.” I encourage you to look them up today!