A Bonus Book Review?

  I didn't do so well on my revision goals last week. Sickness, holiday with family visitors--need I say more? It was too ambitious for me to revise 75,000 words in a month with all the going-ons so I'm going to give it another month, and I'm not going to feel badly about it. I'll just keep chipping away . . . Did you make your nanowrimo goals? How do you feel about it?
  I did make time to read *smiling* Maria Hoagland's debut novel, Nourish and Strengthen. First, the back cover blurb:
 After losing forty pounds, Chloe Taylor is finally happy with her body. What she doesn't realize is that she's not the one in control. When Chloe is called as the Primary president, she discovers that managing the highs and lows of a chronic illness may be easier than the ups and downs associated with family, friends, and church callings. Consumed by her won challenges, Chloe fails to recognize the issues her friends are facing and is in danger of losing their friendship. As Chloe sstrives to develop Christ-like love for herself and those around her, she learns that outer appearances are fare less important than inner peace and spiritual strength. But is she strong enough to face her most difficult trial yet?
  This LDS women's fiction novel was different from my typical reading choice so I had to gear myself into the mode of women with real-life issues and the fact that Chloe was going to talk about diabetes over and over again. It's an easy enough transition if you allow it. Hoagland could have been writing an auto-biography for all I know, with the detail and day-to-day reality in first-person. I thought she did an excellent job at keeping the scenes succinct and using nice description. Once the point was made, Hoagland moved on. She adds nice touches of description that do double duty to paint emotion into her visuals. And, of course, I learned a lot more about diabetes. There was even an aha moment when Chloe made me recognize something in myself that could have remained undiscovered. I got a bonus in the form of some self-helps to put into practice. Thanks, Maria, and good job! Even if others don't gain what I did, it's a thought-provoking read.
  You can find out more about Maria or order her book at one of the following:

blog: http://mariahoagland.blogspot.com/

Createspace for paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3647471

Smashwords for all eBook: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93675

Amazon for Kindle and paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Nourish-Strengthen-Novel-Maria-Hoagland/dp/0615535615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322271517&sr=8-1