Book Review-The Reluctant Warrior

The Reluctant Warrior by Mary Connealy is the second book in the High Sierra Sweethearts series.  It takes place in the wild west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the late 1800s.
Summary: The book picks up as officer Cameron Scott and his sister have been unexpectedly stranded at a homestead high in the mountains.  They had intended to quickly retrieve Cameron’s daughter and nephew, who were staying there, only to be trapped as the bitter winter surrounded them.
Unfortunately, this isn’t Cameron’s only problem.  His daughter is afraid of him, Gwen-the children’s caretaker-wants nothing more than to have the children stay with her, and someone is trying to kill them all.
Will he be able to mend fences with his family and gain Gwen’s trust?  And how will they stop a madman determined to leave no witnesses?
My Thoughts: This book was a quick read, there is a lot of action, and it has an interesting storyline.  But, this book wasn’t my favorite-I would say it was just OK.  I felt the characters could have been more developed, the romance happened too quickly in my opinion-before they had a chance to know much about each other, and was a bit predictable in spots. It is not that it isn’t worth the read (especially if you enjoyed the first one), but I would say it is more of a check-out-of-the-library book, than a buy.  Also, I would definitely say it is not a book to be read on its own-it really helps to have the backstory of the first book.
I guess the true tell is that I am not sure I would pick up the third book, so I guess this one just wasn’t a home run for me.
But, as always, I thank Bethany House for providing me with a free copy of this book for my unbiased review.

Kids Craft Friday-Perler Projects

Today’s perler projects are from The Girlio.  I was quite concerned about ironing them as they were so big, but I must be finally getting the hang of it.  🙂


Pretty fun stuff she is making, huh?  🙂

Pinterest Thursday-Sunflower Art

Today’s Pinterest project was a sunflower art project we did a few weeks ago.
It was pretty simple-just paper, oil pastels, glue sticks, and glitter glue (we added the glitter glue-it isn’t part of the original design.)  The pin even includes templates, and it helped that we started with pre-cut shapes-thanks mom!  🙂
If you decide not to pre-cut the shapes, I would suggest splitting the project into two sessions.  It is simple, but takes some time to do.
Here are the kids’ projects:



pin found here

Wednesday Words

pin found here

First Snowcone Layout

Today I am sharing another layout!
I am still using up some of my older pictures that have been laying around.
Can’t believe how little The Boy looks in this one!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Letter Stickers: Blue (Doodlebug), Yellow (American Crafts), Red (October Afternoon); Other: Card Stock, White Signo Pen
I don’t think I have ever done a layout on black before, but I really like how it makes the pictures pop.
It was super simple to make, and I am glad to have another layout to add to the album.